Austin holds the title of the “Live Music Capital of the World” and is widely known for its music and film festivals as well as its nightlife. Zane Lamprey, host of HDNet’s “Drinking Made Easy,” recently visited Austin’s 6th Street to get a taste of Austin’s bar scene, literally.

Austin was just one of the stops of Lamprey’s 53-city, 80-day show and comedy tour, with his friends, coworkers and fellow comedians Steve McKenna and Mark Ryan. Lamprey said he particularly chose Austin because of the great atmosphere and vibe the city gives.

The following is what Lamprey had to say about his show and Austin.

David Bobb: What is the show about?

Zane Lamprey: The show is about learning different drinking cultures across the U.S. It is not about the coolest club. Some people are like, “Hey, why didn’t you go to that place?” That place might have been a really fun place to go, but it doesn’t have the original drinks or cocktails that we were looking to spotlight with each city. We wanted things that are completely original.

We went to La Condesa because the “Enlightened Austin Martini” is the 2010 official drink of Austin. At Rio Rita it was the spicy Bloody Mary–that was an original. We were able to hang out with Tito Beveridge, creator of Tito’s vodka. The guy has made such a huge impact on the vodka market, and he’s all out Austin. He sang me songs about Austin. And of course, we showed Shiner Bock. They have such a long history, 101 years. They have a lot of great beers and are very passionate and meticulous about the product that they put out.

DB: Was the comedy tour part of the tour for the show, or was that separate?

ZL: We did shoot the comedy tour to have a Seinfield-ish hint to the show because originally we decided that the TV show and the tour were the same machine, in that it was us on two tours. But you don’t see many aspects of the comedy tour in the show because we felt that the drinking culture around the U.S., especially Austin, doesn’t need to have any sort of busty antics. For the show, we focused on the cities first, then the drinks, next the people, then our interactions with the people. The comedy tour was a different component as far as the show is concerned.

DB: How was your experience in Austin compared to the other cities you toured?

ZL: Austin is one of those places where I go, “Yes, I could live here”–and I am particular. Right now I live in Los Angeles, and I think everybody’s goal, in Los Angeles, is to live [there] until they can afford to do their business from someplace else. Austin is one of those places where I could do my business. I really like the place because it is big city meets small town. It is very atypical to the rest of Texas. There is lush green and the river, but I’m still upset at those bats.

DB: How does touring with friends Steve McKenna and Mark Ryan help the show and the dynamics of the tour?

ZL: Steve and I went to college together. We’ve been friends for 15 years. It was funny because we’ve always been friends but never lived together. Here we were living on a bus where the square footage was smaller than anybody’s one-bedroom apartment, and there were three of us on it. We survived it, though, with all of us, and it was too much fun to be a job, a little unrealistic. We worked hard, considering our job is drinking, and played hard. Mark even did the Don Juan Taco challenge at Juan in a Million.

DB: How was the Austin culture, in particular, the Austin drinks?

ZL: I had the infused Bloody Mary at Rio Rita, and for whatever reason the build-up for that was like I was meant to be intimidated by the drink because it has habanero, horse radish, hot sauce and Tito’s. I thought it was going to be an unpleasant experience, but once I drank it I used it [as] a measuring stick for the rest of the Bloody Marys I had along the way. I don’t think there was one better than the spicy Bloody Mary at Rio Rita. At La Condesa, we had the watermelon drink, and the watermelon drink was very good, but just hanging out there was such a blast.

DB: How was the idea for the show inspired?

ZL: I was hosting a show called “Three Sheets,” which came to me from the Travel Channel, and that was 52 episodes but it was mainly me. Sometimes Steve McKenna joined me in the different countries. That show went off the air, so I was planning a big comedy tour after a dry run. Well, it wasn’t dry; I was drinking. We did a test run in California towards the end of 2009, and it went really well. So I said, “Let’s go on a national comedy tour.” We did that first, and then I called Mark Cuban and told him that “we are doing this tour, and we might as well turn this into a TV show,” and he replied, “Yes.” So it morphed into this show of us learning about drinking cultures along the way. If you’re in good with Mark Cuban and do something that he likes, you can continue doing it. We showed him the show, and we were off to the races.

Now that the tour is over, Lamprey is juggling comedy performances and postproduction of the show and trying to launch his beer, called “Pleepleus” after the stuffed monkey mascot on the show. Zane said another season of “Drinking Made Easy” is in talks and will likely happen, with a whole new set of cities.

“People liked the show, and we put a lot of energy and effort into this project,” Lamprey said. “HDNet likes it; Mark Cuban likes it. If it’s not broke, make more.”

“Drinking Made Easy” airs new episodes every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. central time on HDNet.