The Eric Andre Show is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life, which is mostly thanks to the legends that are Hannibal Buress and Eric Andre. Those of you who haven't seen this show will probably know Hannibal from his brief role in Captain America: Civil War. With the news that Eric Andre has landed a role in the upcoming Lion King remake, I decided it was appropriate to take a look back at the show that made him famous in the first place. The Eric Andre Show is an Adult Swim original show (which would explain the surreal humor) that began airing in 2012. There have been four seasons as of the day this blog was published, with plans for a fifth in the future. Personally speaking, this show has given me some of the biggest laughs I've ever had. It's quotable, it's hilarious, it can even be disturbing at times. But what exactly about it makes it work as well as it does? Well, that's what I'm here to find out.
Eric was heavily influenced by Space Ghost: Coast to Coast when initially creating this show, which you could argue is what drives the more sporadic humor that this show has become infamous for. Even so, I believe that The Eric Andre Show has grown to adopt it's own personality, which mostly consists of making as many people uncomfortable as humanly possible. The show is at it's best when Eric is "interviewing" celebrities. I put the word "interviewing" in quotation marks because of the fact that his guests have no idea what's gonna happen to them when they go out on stage (mostly. I'm pretty sure some do). That is one of the main things that will always pull me into this show. The best interviews, in my opinion, are the ones with Lance Reddick, Flavor Flav, Wiz Khalifa, and Jack Black. Every interview is comedy gold from beginning to end, but those four are prime examples of this show is at it's most hilarious. Lance's in particular is worth noting because of the moment when he genuinely startles Eric, which is something that very rarely happens to him. All Lance did was punch Eric's desk, but it happened so abruptly that it threw Eric frickin' Andre for a loop. Lance deserves an award just for being able to successfully pull that off.
The tone of the show is said quite clearly at the beginning of every episode, when Eric goes on a rampage and destroys the entire set while the band plays their catchy tunes. The set is then perfectly put back to normal in mere seconds while Andre tries to catch his breath. By the way, there's no AC in the room that the show is filmed in. That's gotta make all the physical comedy an absolute nightmare to record. The fact that he knows this and still goes over the top with his antics is very admirable. The show has also given birth to a handful of memes over the years (i.e. "Who Killed Hannibal?", "What if it was purple!?", and Hannibal's very well-delivered "Why are you booin' me? I'm right!"). Hannibal gets a lot of really funny lines, too. Him and Eric have perfect comedic chemistry. The first season was filmed with a low-quality camera, which I'd argue adds to the tone of the show. It looked like someone had Adult Swim dug the footage up out of his garage one day and said, "I can make this work". In the later seasons, the camera and set is upgraded. Personally, I prefer it looking like a VHS show. It gives it much more of an uncomfortable tone. However, they can do a lot more jokes with an HD set, so it's a fair trade off. The set design gets upgraded with every season, and it always looks good. It's also funnier cause it's just gonna get demolished at the beginning of every episode anyway. Adult Swim probably has to pay a lot in damage repairs.
Another thing that I find endearing about this show, which is especially evident in the later seasons, is the amount of effort Eric goes through to make people uncomfortable. As the show gets more and more popular, the "on the street" skits become more and more difficult to pull off due to more and more people becoming aware of Eric's schtick. This forces him to go above and beyond with his improvisations, and it really does wonders for the show. My favorite one is when him and eight random people walk into a restaurant dressed up as a giant octopus. Eric's ramblings are what really make it memorable. Who knew that saying "Bill Cosby is innocent" could be so funny? I also really like the fact that, specifically in the first seasons, a good bit of his celebrity guests are just people in costumes. Sometimes, very poor costumes. The actor that portrays George Clooney does a good job, but the people playing Reese Witherspoon, Russell Brand, and Arnold Schwarzenegger are so blatantly out of place that it becomes hysterical. Special mention goes to "Arnold" driving through Eric's desk in what looks like a motorized shopping cart. The smash cut to the "We'll Be Right Back" tune is what really sells it. That tune plays a lot during the series. You hear it one time and it instantly latches itself onto your brain, cause of how catchy it is.
I gotta give props to Hannibal, though. I feel like he doesn't get enough credit. He is so funny in this show. Everything he does is pure gold. Reviewing pretzels, kicking Flavor Flav in the face, having his robot take over for him at random points, scatting in autotune, screaming in autotune, randomly shouting out Christina Applegate Basically, everything is great. He has the perfect voice for this type of show. It's mostly run through improv, and Hannibal's delivery of the things he says is just flawless. Special mention goes to him wondering what people did before ladders were invented. It raises a good point, to be fair, but it's presented in a way that is impossible not to laugh at. He gets an episode in the third season where him and Eric swap roles. Hannibal is the host and Eric is the sidekick. It's one of the best episodes of the entire show. He's also the source of a lot of the memes that the show has spawned (the best ones being "Wack" and "Haha, this sucks man"). Eric is an eccentric performer, yes, but this show wouldn't be as good as it is if it weren't for Hannibal Buress. Him and Eric play off of each other excellently. I also really love the occasional random one-off celebrities that pop up. Pete Wentz showing up out of nowhere to remind people to wear their seatbelts and vote, Tony Hawk beating Eric up, Tom Green briefly assisting with the carnage in the season 2 finale. My favorite one, though, was was T-Pain was on. He appears in the Steve-O episode in season 2. His appearence basically consisted of autotuned yelling. Special mentions go the moment where he intentionally poorly sings the National Anthem and the moment where he screams about not knowing where he is.
There are a couple bits that The Eric Andre Show used to do that I wish would be brought back. For example, having some of the actors do random things in front of a green screen and then passing it off as the interviewee's new movie/music video. Those bits were always funny. "Russell Brand" taking his short off and screaming, "Jack Nicholson" shooting himself in the crotch for ten seconds, "Jay-Z" mumble rapping into the camera. It's really funny stuff, and it needs to be brought back in the fifth season. It's too good to leave behind, especially when the interviewee is actually a celebrity that gets to react to it. The Hannibal Minute is also something I'd like to see more of. Hannibal sitting in front of a green screen talking about nothing for a few seconds? Yes, please. I'd also like to see more of the actors that are obviously not the people they say they are. An exchange between this show's Russell Brand and the actual Russell Brand would be awesome to see. Also, side note that has absolutely nothing to do with what this paragraph is about, but can Eric just vomit on command? He does it very often, it looks real, it's gross, and I need to know how he does it. Is it oatmeal? It might be oatmeal, but what about when he vomits while he has a guest on? Is that real? I don't know, but maybe Eric has said it in an interview. I don't watch interviews very often.
If I had to describe The Eric Andre Show in just one sentence, I would say "Filthy Frank with a budget". I love this show for it's unbridled randomness, for the hosts, for the guests. I think this show is one of the funniest things to ever have existed, and I am very glad that the whole series is on Hulu. I'm excited to see what Eric brings to the table in the Lion King remake, and I always have a blast rewatching this show. It's so funny, I can't stress that enough. The random nudity, Hannibal's moments where he has to desperately stop himself from corpsing (and failing a good bit of the time), the music acts. Every moment of this show is perfectly-crafted hilarity. I wanted to do this blog in order to spread the word of this show's existence to those that might know about it. I thoroughly enjoy this show. It's insane, it's uncomfortable to watch at times, it's the perfect amount of Adult Swim zaniness. If you're looking to lose yourself in a weird yet entertaining series, then add The Eric Andre Show to your list. You won't be disappointed.
