Comedy will become a bigger part of Acast’s business as comedian Scott Aukerman teams up with the podcaster to create a slate of subscription shows. The foundation will be the Comedy Bang! Bang! series that Aukerman launched in 2009. Beginning October 1, subscribers will be able to sign up at the Comedy Bang Bang World website to get exclusive access to new comedy series, ad-free listening, and the full back-catalogue episodes of Comedy Bang! Bang! The programming will be powered by Acast, which will enable fans to listen to the subscriber-only content across the podcast app of their choice.
Comedy Bang! Bang! World is co-founded by Brett Morris, who will be executive producing the programming along with Aukerman. Morris previously led production at Earwolf.
“I’m excited to finally dip my toe into making podcasts, which were invented about three years ago, as far as the public knows,” said Aukerman, who also co-founded Earwolf — the network that will continue to distribute recent, ad-supported episodes of the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast free for listeners.
The lineup will include Scott Hasn’t Seen, a new weekly series that will feature Aukerman and Shaun Diston. There will also be a podcast called CBB Presents! that will feature new content from a variety of people from the Comedy Bang! Bang! universe. There will also be new ad-free episodes of Bonanas for Bonanza, The Seth Morris Radio Project, and Mike Detective. Plus the back catalog of series including Affirmation Nation with Bob Ducca, We Have To Stop Talking TMNT on CBB, and The Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project. The creators say Comedy Bang! Bang! World will continue to expand with new series, benefits and content, featuring established and up-and-coming comedic talent.
Subscribers can choose from two different pricing tiers with various benefits. The first is what it is calling the Legacy tier at $4 per month. The other is the Maximus tier at $7 per month with subscribers getting exclusive access to programming and benefits, depending on the subscription tier.
“At Acast, we’re driven to help all creators find their audience, and deepen their relationship with listeners and fans — and that means making their content available widely, as part of the open podcasting ecosystem,” said Rebecca Steinberg, Director of Development at Acast. “This partnership gives us the opportunity to bring Comedy Bang! Bang!’s incredible podcasts to more people than ever before.”