Paul F. Tompkins: The Gentleman Improviser of Alt Comedy

Paul F. Tompkins is the best improviser in comedy podcasting and one of the best-dressed men in stand-up. A cast member and writer on Mr. Show in the 1990s, he went on to make wordy, elegant stand-up specials, then reinvented himself as a character improviser on Comedy Bang! Bang!, where his deliberately inaccurate impressions of real people became a genre of their own. This is a guide to how he works and where to start.

A quick biography

Tompkins was born in Philadelphia in 1968 and started doing stand-up there as a teenager. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1990s and became part of the alternative scene that produced Mr. Show with Bob and David, where he was a featured performer and writer. He was also a regular on VH1's Best Week Ever in the 2000s, and for years hosted a monthly variety show at Largo, the Los Angeles venue at the heart of alt comedy.

His stand-up recordings run from Driven to Drink (1998) through the albums Impersonal (2007) and Freak Wharf (2009) to the Comedy Central specials You Should Have Told Me (2010) and Laboring Under Delusions (2012), with a later hour, Crying and Driving. From the 2010s, though, podcasting became his main stage.

The stand-up: a raconteur in a three-piece suit

Tompkins' stand-up persona is a fussy, florid gentleman of a slightly earlier century: suit, tie, waxed vocabulary, and an anger that expresses itself through very long sentences. The comedy is in the gap between his elevated diction and the trivial targets (a pretentious restaurant, a bad celebrity anecdote, a dessert he will not stop thinking about).

His best material is long-form storytelling. Laboring Under Delusions is built around his years working at a coffee shop and the strange colleagues he met there, and it shows his talent for structure: digressions that loop back, characters that grow across the hour, and a payoff that ties everything together.

The improviser: Comedy Bang! Bang! and beyond

For many fans, Tompkins is first a voice on Comedy Bang! Bang!, Scott Aukerman's podcast, where he has appeared more often than almost anyone. His trick is to arrive as a famous person and then not do an impression at all.

• Cake Boss: a version of the TV baker who has very little to do with cakes and a great deal to do with whatever nonsense Tompkins has decided this week.
• Andrew Lloyd Webber: a theatrical grandee with no resemblance to the real composer, forever pitching musicals.
• Garry Marshall: a rambling, gravel-voiced showbiz veteran with an endless supply of tall tales.

The real figure is just a launch pad. The comedy comes from how fast Tompkins can invent a backstory, defend it under questioning from Aukerman and other guests, and call back to it forty minutes later. It is improvised character work at a level that most stage improvisers never reach, delivered entirely in audio. For more on the form, see our guide to comedy improv.

What makes his improv work

Listen to enough Tompkins and the techniques become visible, which is a good lesson for anyone who improvises.

1. Yes, and then some. When another performer challenges his character's story, he never backs down. He accepts the contradiction and builds an even stranger explanation on top of it. The audience laughs at the audacity of the save.
2. Language as a weapon. His characters speak in ornate, almost Victorian sentences, which buys him time to think and makes every invented detail sound authoritative.
3. Long memory. A throwaway detail from early in an episode will reappear as a crucial plot point an hour later. It makes improvised material feel written.
4. Generosity. On ensemble shows like Threedom and Spontaneanation, he sets up other players as often as he takes laughs. The scenes get better because he makes everyone else look good.

These are the same skills that underpin good stand-up storytelling, which is why his stage work and his podcast work feel so connected.

The podcasts

• Spontaneanation (2015–2019): Tompkins interviewed a guest, then led a team of improvisers through a long-form scene set in a location the guest chose. A showcase for his skill as a host.
• Threedom (from 2018): with Scott Aukerman and Lauren Lapkus. Three improvisers, no format, just games and bits. Ideal if you like the CBB energy without the interview frame.
• The Neighborhood Listen (from 2019): an improvised serial about a neighbourhood watch group, with recurring characters.
• Stay F. Homekins (from 2020): a looser show made at home with his wife, Janie Haddad Tompkins.
• The Pod F. Tompkast and The Dead Authors Podcast: earlier projects, the second featuring Tompkins as H.G. Wells interviewing improvisers playing famous writers.

Our list of the best comedy podcasts of all time puts these in context.

Screen and voice work

• BoJack Horseman (Netflix, 2014–2020): the voice of Mr. Peanutbutter, the cheerful Labrador whose relentless positivity is its own kind of tragedy. Probably his most widely heard role.
• Comedy Bang! Bang! on IFC, reprising podcast characters on television.
• After Midnight (CBS, 2024–2025): a recurring player on Taylor Tomlinson's late-night panel show.
• Make Some Noise on Dropout, the improv-prompt show where his speed is on full display.
• A long list of voice roles, including Bentley Wittman in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2025).

Why he matters

Tompkins links two eras. He came out of the 1990s alt scene, the world of Mr. Show and Largo, and then helped build the podcast-comedy era that followed. He is a reminder that alternative comedy is not only about anti-jokes and discomfort; it can also be about pure, joyful skill, the pleasure of watching someone invent a world in real time and never drop it.

If you like Paul F. Tompkins

• Patton Oswalt, another wordy, literate voice from the same 1990s scene.
• Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, his Mr. Show bosses.
• John Mulaney, a younger storyteller with a similar love of formal phrasing.
• Reggie Watts, his fellow Comedy Bang! Bang! regular and the TV show's bandleader.

Frequently asked questions

What characters does Paul F. Tompkins do on Comedy Bang! Bang!?

His recurring impressions and characters include Cake Boss, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Garry Marshall, plus many one-off creations. The impressions are deliberately inaccurate: the joke is the character he invents around the name.

What podcasts is Paul F. Tompkins on?

He co-hosts Threedom with Scott Aukerman and Lauren Lapkus, created the improvised neighbourhood soap The Neighborhood Listen, and hosted Spontaneanation from 2015 to 2019. He is also one of the most frequent guests in Comedy Bang! Bang! history.

Was Paul F. Tompkins on Mr. Show?

Yes. He was a featured cast member and writer on HBO's Mr. Show with Bob and David in the 1990s.

Who is the voice of Mr. Peanutbutter?

Paul F. Tompkins voiced the relentlessly upbeat Labrador Mr. Peanutbutter across all six seasons of Netflix's BoJack Horseman.