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Getting ready for bed with Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim

 November 4, 2015      William Fortune      Features, Television    

Tim and Eric

There are two prevalent attitudes toward the comedy of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. There are those who find their humor intolerable and those who revel in its absurdity. They are the most polarizing force in modern comedy. For fans, that is exactly what makes them so special. Yes, they are weird, silly, and at times disgusting, but to understand their genius, you have to embrace the chaos. They produce sophisticated satire that masquerades as buffoonery. Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! provides sufficient proof of this. After all, why would such legends as Will Ferrell, Bob Odenkirk, and Jeff Goldblum appear in anything less than great? In recent years, the two have explored other realms of parody with hilarious undertakings like Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule, Tim’s Kitchen Tips, and even a self-help guide titled Zone Theory. Their most recent show, Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories, kicks off its second season this Friday with a half-hour special on Adult Swim.

TAEBS is a bit of a departure from their conventional work. Most of their shows try to expose the tropes of comedy or critique how we digest media. This is an oversimplification of their work, but it holds true for a lot of it. The classic sketch ‘It’s Spagett!’ from TAEAS is a great example of how they manage to subvert our expectations with hidden camera shows. Tim and Eric seemed less concerned with satire in the first season of TAEBS, and more interested in creating surreal vignettes of experimental filmmaking. Certain scenes are reminiscent of filmmakers like David Lynch, John Carpenter, and Terry Gilliam. It is no wonder they have described the show as Twilight Zone-inspired. In an episode titled “Toes”, Bob Odenkirk plays a surgeon in a twisted world where everyone wants to have their toes surgically removed. It is a strange and unnerving premise, but its execution is oddly artistic. Over all the season seems like one never-ending surrealist nightmare. That is not to say there is nothing funny about the show. It incorporates a good amount of their typical comedy. The pilot is a great parody of the horror genre. It has Tim and Eric living out their lives in a haunted mansion with Zach Galifianakis. ThisTim and Eric - Sauce Boy echoes the B movies of William Castle and Vincent Price (We’re looking at you, House on Haunted Hill!). The second season is likely to incorporate this blend of horror and comedy

Season two of TAEBS premieres this Friday, November 6 on Adult Swim. The half-hour special is titled “Sauce Boy” and is being described as “a dark tale of addiction and organized crime”. From the trailer it is clear the episode is aiming to lampoon the gangster genre, which is evocative of Mel Brooks. They just take their style of genre parody to absurd lengths. The trailer is out now on Adult Swim’s website, so be sure to check it out. Longtime fans of Tim and Eric love the names of their characters. The outlandish names serve as a great parody mechanism. This new episode features ‘Gary Rice’ and ‘Johnny Roastbeef’, which fit well into a humorous crime world.

Aside from TAEBS, the two have a variety of side projects. Their first attempt at written word appeared over the summer with Tim and Eric’s Zone Theory. The book relies on trippy imagery and over the top dialogue to serve up their target, the self-help genre. In addition, the two have independent projects. Tim’s Adult Swim web series On Cinema, is well into its seventh season. Accompanied by longtime cohort Gregg Turkington, Heidecker mocks self-righteous movie talk show hosts. The two pretend to be cinema experts, but fumble with the names of actors and oftentimes never talk about film at all. Decker is Tim’s attempt at an 80s action hero parody. The Adult Swim web series is intentionally awful, incorporating terrible video editing and simplistic dialogue. On November 13, Entertainment will be released. Heidecker co-wrote the film with Gregg Turkington and director Rick Alverson (The Comedy). Calum Marsh of The Village Voice said the movie is “what new films ought to strive for: to strike back against the familiar”. Eric Wareheim is starring in Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix series, Master of None. All ten episodes of the series start streaming on Friday, November 6. Reviews of the show are starting to appear, and they are favorable. These are a few of the projects the two have going on right now.

Marc Maron described Tim and Eric as the Frank Zappa or Ween of comedy on an episode of WTF. In a lot of ways, that is a fair comparison. The two are pioneers in an increasingly homogenous sea of modern comedy, pushing back against the familiar. The more scripted and crafted Bedtime Stories provides a glimpse into their ever-evolving style. If you have yet to explore the first season, it is worth checking out. With the second season premiere this Friday, Tim and Eric are likely to continue venturing into uncharted comedic waters.

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