Stu here, before we get stuck in, go to Stuart Goldsmith.com slash comedy to find details of all of my work in progress shows leading up to this year's Edinburgh Fringe.

I'm doing shows in London, Mahantlath, Lemington, Exeter, the Green Phoenix Festival, Oxford, and then the Edinburgh Fringe, 11th to the 17th of August at the Monkey Barrel.

See you there. Stuartgoldsmith.com slash comedy.

Hello and welcome back to the show. This is the Comedians Comedian podcast. I'm Stuart Goldsmith.

And it occurs to me, I always say welcome back to the show, which I think is a good thing that is warm for people who repeat listeners.

And maybe if you're a first time listener, and this is your first episode, maybe it's a warm, nice thing to do to you to say, welcome back to the show even if you're new to it. Or maybe it's just annoying, hard to tell. If you are new, this is very much the tone. Today I am talking to Scott Ockerman, best known as the host of Comedy Bang Bang, which is, as you will hear, I'm absolutely fawning over not just the podcast, but the TV show was so, so good. It's a hit comedy radio show which blends interviews with real guests with

off-the-wall improvised characters. And later, Scott co-founded the influential Earwolf podcast network

in 2010, with shows that included Conan O'Brien needs a friend and stuff like that.

But he's also the co-creator and director of Between Two Ferns with Zach Gallowfenakis.

He made that incredible series on Funny or Die, and it won an Emmy, or more than one Emmy.

And he started out his entire career by writing and performing on HBO's cult favorite show,

Mr Show, with Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.

So he really is not just comedy royalty, but also podcast royalty and improv royalty and general royalty.

In the first half of the episode, we will discuss how he is,

in my own words, the alternative Lorne Michaels, although I will say, I think I got that phrase

either from Charlie Satello at Southpye or from Dan Pasternak, who Charlie was kind enough to

link me to in preparation for this interview. And I think it is,

I think it is emblematic of the high esteem in which Scott is held that Charlie had never

hooked me up with anyone to say, you've got to speak to this guy in order to feel like you've

done your research first. I will chat to you in the post-amble of this show about South by South West comedy, because it looks

very like this recording will be among the last from South by Southwest. We still have a Pana

Nanchurla to come out soon. I recorded with her earlier this year. But big things have been

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