Comedians of Comedy

The idea behind The Comedians of Comedy, its name a play on The Original Kings of Comedy and similar tours, involves the comedians performing at smaller indie rock venues instead of comedy clubs. Both the film and television series alternate between footage of the comedians on stage and other aspects of their lives on the road.

The film The Comedians of Comedy, shot during the fall of 2004, had its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival in March 2005. It is one of the first films to be financed by the DVD-rental service Netflix, also the film’s distributor.

The film inspired Comedy Central to commission a six-episode Comedians of Comedy television series, involving a six-city tour during the summer of 2005; the show premiered in November of that year. The episodes were shot in Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Boston and Martha’s Vineyard. The series was notable for providing some publicity for Robert Kirkman’s comic book Invincible, which Oswalt spoke about during the first episode while shopping at a comic book store.

After ending their run on Comedy Central, Oswalt, Posehn, Mirman and Morgan Murphy performed in a 2006 Comedians of Comedy tour. The Comedians of Comedy also appeared as one of the Friday opening acts at the 2007 Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival, including San Francisco Bay Area comedians Brent Weinbach and Jasper Redd.

On October 2, 2007, a DVD of a live performance from the Troubador was released, featuring the cast of the film alongside other notables like Eugene Mirman, Jon Benjamin, David Cross, and others.
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