The Eric Andre Show (2012 - 2016)

The Eric Andre Show review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Eric Andre mentioned while filming The Eric Andre Show that he’d be watching episodes of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast before filming to be inspired. Indeed, his talk show is very much akin to random and over-the-top nature of the Space Ghost show, where there is far too much going on with the host and the set to take that much notice of the guest. The result is a brilliant transference of the insanity of William Street’s writing style carried over into a Tim & Eric Awesome Show environment.

The show is pure chaos. Every episode begins with the band starting up and Eric proceeding to destroy the entire set, as well as attacking some of the band. The set is then quickly replaced and out comes Eric’s sidekick of Hannibal Buress, delivering dead-pan jokes. One monologue and skit later, the guest comes out and has no clue what they’re in store for. Sometimes they’ll be asked weird and random questions about phone numbers and preference in music. Sometimes they’ll be roped into odd games such as Pick a Hot Chick’s Briefcase. And sometimes they’ll just be freaked out by sets that ooze everything from coffee to bugs.

There’s a brilliant unpredictability to the show that never fails to make me laugh for how much crazy stuff goes on during the interviews, usually resulting in Eric’s desk being destroyed. He may piss his pants or beat up a naked PA. One can never be too sure. It can be sensed that the guests have little clue about what Eric will do on stage, as was the case with Lauren Conrad who quickly stormed off the set after Eric vomitted during the interview and continued to ask questions while he ate his own puke. Eric would later reveal in an interview that Conrad admitted before coming on the show that she didn’t know if it was live-action or a cartoon, a statement that made Eric giddy with ideas.

Also present in the show are pranks Eric pulls in public that are both clever and insane. A brilliantly hilarious segment features him running into a shop and being arrested by a cop chasing him. After he is cuffed, Eric proceeds to passionately kiss the cop, confusing patrons. He does a lot of subway bits as well where he ambles around in odd costumes, such as a cone around his neck he fills with Froot Loops and milk. The apparent villain of the show is the aptly titled Kraft Punk, a version of Daft Punk as though they were sponsored for a Kraft Mac & Cheese commercial. Perhaps the most bizarre and surreal of these bits is the Bird Up segments, where he parades around New York City in a greenscreen suit with a bird on his shoulder, spouting the most random of sentences while freaking out everyone around him in a smash-cut of insanity. And it always makes me laugh.

The Eric Andre Show is nothing short of the most freakishly funny series Adult Swim has pursued in recent years. I still throw it on when I need to a quick giggle and it always gets me with how fast and hilarious every episode turns out to be.