Comedy Bang! Bang!: “Karen Gillan”

As Scott mentions at the beginning of “Karen Gillan Wears a Black and White Striped Pullover and Coral Skirt,” comedy should come from the heart, not from the brain. Between this week’s episode and Thomas Middleditch’s episode last week, we’re beginning to see that Comedy Bang! Bang! has a heart of darkness.

It’s great to see the sunny TV show take on some of the stranger, darker humor of the podcast, even if it is just lightly sprinkled in here and there. “Karen Gillan” introduces us to Harvey Wrinkleman (Bob Einstein), one half of the legendary Wrinkleman and Irons comedy duo, who shows up just in time to teach some of Scott’s punk writers something about comedy. But Harvey just sleeps for the majority of the episode and when he does wake up, his stories focus on him sexually assaulting Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield.

Over the last few weeks, Comedy Bang! Bang! has been on a roll with getting great guests that play off Scott really well. This week, Karen Gillan is plenty of fun and completely game for this weird show. She’s especially great as Scott tries to teach her how to speak American, and then spent hours deciding who would win in a fight—Amy Pond from Doctor Who or Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy. Her response: “Shut Up, You Dork!”

The highlight of the episode comes from Gillan, as she reveals the list of new Guardians that will be making appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. The list starts off strange, as she mentions the Owls of Ha’Hoole from Legends of the Guardians will show up, but as the list goes on, its becomes hilariously obvious it’s just a list of the most insane people put together that the writers could come up with. The list includes Zohan from You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, Fat Bastard, Tommy Pickles, Michael Oher from The Blind Side, Edward Norton—specifically his skinhead character from American History X—Dominique Wilkins, Lego Bilbo Baggins and Reggie Watts. And of course, the poster is absolutely brilliant.