Cable channel IFC officially announced its upcoming comedy programming Tuesday.
The shows in the lineup, slated to debut at various points throughout the next year, is anchored by a third season of "Portlandia," as well as a new show created by and starring Marc Maron and a batch of other new shows largely centered around up-and-coming comedians.
Scott Aukerman and Reggie Watts, the host and "one-man bandleader" respectively of the upcoming talk/variety show "Comedy Bang! Bang!," hosted the first-ever IFC upfront Tuesday night, which the network nicknamed "Upfront-landia." In addition to "Bang! Bang!," the network previewed the comedy game show "Bunk" and announced a Marc Maron comedy, a new installment of R. Kelly's urban operetta "Trapped in the Closet," a second season of the reality show "Whisker Wars," and an adult, animated program entitled "Out There."
The news of Maron's show, which is currently using the working title "Maron" (and not "WTF" as had been previously speculated), was reported by Laughspin last week, but IFC has now officially announced that a 10-episode season will air sometime in the third quarter of 2013. The show revolves around Maron playing a barely fictionalized version of himself, a neurotic comedian who records a podcast out of his home.
Maron told The Huffington Post that almost no details had been finalized for the show's production, including whether or not Ed Asner would reprise his role as Maron's father from the pilot episode, or whether the show would continue to shoot at Maron's actual home.
The comedian also indicated that the show would not interfere with recording his popular podcast, "WTF."
New York-based comedian Kurt Braunohler is hosting "Bunk," a show reminiscent of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" and "Win Ben Stein's Money." In the game show format, Braunohler gives challenges to a panel of comedians and arbitrarily awards points.
"'Bunk' is barely controlled chaos," Braunohler said. "At one point, we had a child emerge from one of the podiums and all the contestants [had] to break a harsh truth to him. It was beautiful."
A mini-version of the show was presented at the upfront, featuring comedians Chris Gethard, Ethan T. Berlin and Michael Che as panelists.
The 10-episode seasons of both "Bunk" and "Bang! Bang!" will debut June 8. Clips of "Bang! Bang!" were shown, and included glimpses of Zach Galifianakis, Jon Hamm, Amy Poehler, Andy Richter, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Adam Scott. The irreverent talk show, based on the popular podcast of the same name, ventured out of the studio frequently, and seemed similar to early episodes of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" as well as "Pee-Wee's Playhouse."
Live versions of "Bunk" and "Bang! Bang!" were also performed at the IFC Crossroads house at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, last week.