Comedy-wise, we are in the Age of the Podcast, of the hangout — group activities that go where they may. The digital era has let a thousand Algonquin Round Tables bloom and invited the wide world to eavesdrop. Quite often these sessions are recorded in front of a live audience, amplifying the feeling of community, of a movement, of belonging.
Such is the case with “2 Dope Queens,” the 2-year-old WNYC-sponsored popular podcast of writer-comedian-actors Jessica Williams (late of “The Daily Show”) and Phoebe Robinson (“Broad City,” “Search Party”), which has been transferred to television by HBO for a four-episode run. Network money gives them a fancy set — a rooftop overlooking the New York skyline — a wig and wardrobe budget and a big, elegant space in which to play, the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, with no loss of the original’s scrappy delightfulness.
Like the podcast, and many other podcasts, “2 Dope Queens” mixes tussling banter — there are few jokes but much funniness — with stand-up spots and interviews. The guest comedians may be better or lesser known (Baron Vaughn and Rhea Butcher are among the former group here); the interview subjects are often better known, lending shine to the show. The joke that brings out the guest in the two HBO episodes I’ve seen is the request for a stagehand: Jon Stewart arrived to dust the set, Sarah Jessica Parker to help with a “shoe situation.” And the crowd goes wild.
The beauty of these shows is their informality or, in any case, the impression of informality they give. Good comedy always seems to come from the moment, when you can’t tell the old material from the improvised.