Comedy Bang! Bang! introduces Scotty to the Clone Club

Comedy Bang! Bang! and Orphan Black are obviously two shows that don’t have a lot in common—other than being Emmy eligible, that is—but the bridge between the two has ended up being shorter than one would assume. Orphan Black stars/Comedy Bang! Bang! fans Tatiana Maslany and Kristian Bruun have both been on the podcast, with the former even playing a character and the latter popping up again on the Comedy Bang! Bang! live show. Unfortunately, that has not led to either of them being on the show yet, but “T-Pain Wears A Shredded Jeans And A Printed Shirt” makes up for that with its own approach to the wonderful world of cloning.
What at first feels like a “being in two places at once” storyline for Scott Aukerman—which the show pulled off pretty well in a previous episode—quickly turns into Comedy Bang! Bang!’s attempt at fringe science-meets-magic with the introduction of a cloning machine. As expected in such scenarios, the Scott Aukerman clones each have different hair styles, outfits, and accents; and conveniently, they’re also pretty similar (despite any character development) to Orphan Black’s clones.
But as this is the world of Comedy Bang! Bang! and all things narcissistic, multi-millionaire playboy Scott Aukerman, this Orphan Black scenario is not so much one of constant fear and danger as it is the clones being used as slave labor for the “original” Scott himself. Because why deal with all that fear and danger when you have a bunch of clones? You can just have them all go shopping, sign things, fold laundry, and form a barbershop quartet for you. “T-Pain Wears A Shredded Jeans And A Printed Shirt” realizes that, just like it realizes that Alison Hendrix’s style really suits Scott Aukerman well.
At the same time, for such a high concept framing device, it’s that decision to make Scott’s use for the clones so inconsequential (despite “Weird Al”’s early protestations about technology) that actually makes the entire episode even more relaxed than expected. To describe the episode in the form of a character, it’s basically the hidden, lazy, original Scott of Comedy Bang! Bang! episodes. It’s certainly the calmest episode in recent memory, despite the recipe for madness that the entire clone concept (especially the T-Pain/fly hybrid) creates.
Both of the episode’s guests add to that more relaxed nature of the episode too. First of all, as the celebrity guest, T-Pain actually works surprisingly well in this episode. He’s not exactly the best actor—and really, no one was expecting that of T-Pain—but at the same time, he’s given very good material to work with and constantly comes across as truly getting what Comedy Bang! Bang! is all about. T-Pain’s work in this episode is comparable to Schoolboy Q’s in season four, though T-Pain is far more game to get weird as a result of his comfort with the format, as opposed to relaxing too much with the role. He’s also not afraid to play the fool during bits, whether it’s his vendetta against “Weird Al,” his SoundLoud headphones, or the new hit song “Bleep Bloop Blap.”