Comedy Bang! Bang!: “Thomas Middleditch Wears an Enigmatic Sweatshirt and Sweatpants with Pockets”
“Thomas Middleditch Wears an Enigmatic Sweatshirt and Sweatpants with Pockets” is a funny episode of sketch comedy. There’s no doubt there. Thomas Middleditch, the breakout star of Silicon Valley, brings his awkward charm to the blue couch in the same week David Letterman, a clear influence on Aukerman, put in his final show. It’s hard not to compare Bang! Bang! with early Letterman, especially in terms of tone and point of view. Aukerman’s character on Bang! Bang! is wide-eyed and sarcastic, a childlike homage of Letterman’s cranky old man. The most absurd Bang! Bang! bits borrow heavily from Late Show classics like “Know Your Cuts Of Meat” and “Beat The Clock.” Watts is a mellow Shaffer minus the sunglasses (but keeping the keyboard). It makes “Thomas Middleditch Wears an Enigmatic Sweatshirt and Sweatpants with Pockets” an excellent love letter to an important influence.
Teen superstar Brody South Dakotee serves as the frame story for the episode. Scott has been surreptitiously doubling as Brody for admittedly unknown reasons (“No one’s making me do this!”). But as decreed by tween television tropes, he must keep up a separate persona as cool teen Brody South Dakotee. The fake show intro has some wonderfully self-aware lines (“This is a lot like Hannah Montana”). Bang! Bang! doesn’t dive as deep as it normally does here, but the callback to Darren Schlepping, Dirty Little Weasels creator from “Simon Helberg Wears a Sky Blue Button Down Jeans”, was gratifying.
At the beginning of the episode, a small studio audience is set up on bleachers just off-set. Evidently there’s always a studio audience, they just haven’t laughed. At anything. Ever. I’m praying for a callback to this at some point. For “Thomas Middleditch Wears an Enigmatic Sweatshirt and Sweatpants with Pockets,” the audience is mostly made up of South Dakotee’s friends, there for Aukerman’s interview with Brody. The problem, of course, is that Brody is Aukerman. Hijinks obviously ensue.
Middleditch won me over on Silicon Valley and then stole my nerd heart over on his Twitch channel. He performs admirably here, better even than some of his more experienced peers. The accent game is a thing of beauty, with a pretentious Middleditch requiring a precise address to get the correct intonation. “Who knew they would be that different?” Aukerman asks. “I did,” an incredulous Middleditch responds.