Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast · Earwolf and Scott Aukerman

Crust Is Gutters, Undercarriage Is Grundle (Ben Schwartz, Ryan Gaul, Gil Ozeri)

·1 hr 30 min·5 clips

Chave Portnoy says he does "Two Bites, Everybody Knows the Rules" and rates pizza by "grundle" and "cheese gutters."

1. Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast centers on Ben Schwartz's 40th appearance and a long annual January visit. 2. Scott Aukerman frames Ben Schwartz as "the elegant Mr. S" and "Benny Schwa," which matters because the nickname game drives the opening banter. 3. The episode asks what happens when Scott and Ben keep a 14-year first-episode tradition going while improvising almost everything else. 4. Scott counts Ben's run back to episode 29 in 2009 and says this is the 40-timers club. 5. Ben and Scott argue over credits like "House of Lies," "Sonic the Hedgehog," and "Parks and Recreation." 6. The conversation keeps returning to the Fireball commercials and whether they were redubbed in post. 7. Ben says "Benny Schwa" still follows him around, and Scott compares him to Jack Quaid as "Hollywood's good boy." 8. The Sonic thread expands to Amy Rose, who Ben describes as a pink hedgehog with a "pika-pika hammer." 9. Ben improvises an Amy Rose audition, including the line that she burrows to the center of the Earth and says hello to Satan. 10. Scott and Ben swap public-domain ideas such as Steamboat Willie, Superman, and Peter Pan. 11. Ben says he would rather play "old man Superman when he's like 90 years old." 12. Scott brings up "Dear Evan Hansen," and Ben jokes that he could still play a seven-year-old. 13. The conversation leans hard on playacting, with Scott and Ben repeatedly switching voices and pretending to be studio people, movie characters, and even a bus driver. 14. Ben mentions Simon Rich's play "All Out" and names Abby Jacobson, Jim Gaffigan, Eric Andre, Wayne Brady, and Cecily Strong. 15. Scott and Ben move into a Hamilton digression after Ben says he saw it again when Leslie Odom Jr. was in the cast. 16. Ben and Scott joke about "take a break," Burr, and the fact that Burr actually shoots Hamilton. 17. The episode's style is fast, meta, and interruption-heavy, with Scott steering and Ben matching him line for line. 18. The guest structure is loose and comedic, with Chave Portnoy arriving later and turning the second half into a family-business and pizza-review bit. 19. People who like improvisational banter, recurring CBB callbacks, and Barstool-adjacent comedy will likely enjoy this episode. 20. People who want a tightly structured interview or a single topic probably should skip it.

As heard by us

A reunion episode that turns a pizza order into a family-and-wedding bit.

Scott Aukerman opens the year with a returning regular and lets the hour grow from there, turning a simple setup into a long-running improv game about language, roles, and how far a bit can be stretched.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a reunion that turns one pizza order into a pretend family tree.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast