Welcome to the world of extreme randomness, lunacy, and offensiveness that is "The Eric Andre Show," which airs on Adult Swim. This show has no off limits and I love it. If you get offended easily, particularly about religion, are sensitive, and are grossed out easily, then I'm sorry, but this show is not for you.
This show is basically a parody of other shows, but specifically talk shows. I dislike 99 percent of television shows to begin with, so a show that makes fun of those shows is pretty hilarious for me to watch. It's difficult to explain in writing what this show is about and the structure of it, but I'll give it a go.
Each episode lasts 12 minutes and is broken down into two parts -- the talk show and the "We'll be right back" segments. The show begins with Eric Andre, the host of the show, acting insane, running into walls, destroying his desk, beating up the drummer for the show's theme song, and for lack of better wording, doing other ridiculous things.
The Talk Show
The stage looks like any talk show. Eric has a desk, which he destroys at least once every episode. I think he's poking fun at the fact that since every talk show host has the same beige wooden desk, so why not break it? In fact, most of the show's budget goes towards purchasing new desks for the next episode.
Eric's co-host is Hannibal Buress. Hannibal's role in the show is usually to calm Eric down, bring him back to reality, or act confused as to why Eric just said some bizarre joke.
"We'll Be Right Back" Segments
These segments are usually short street sketches where Eric basically dresses up as unique unconventional characters to evoke bystanders' confused reactions. There's about three of these segments per episode and they tend to be the funniest parts of the show.
One of my favorite segments is "Ranch it Up," a skit where Eric dresses up like some sort of chill drugged out Ranch-dressing lover and just messes with people. He has a few re-occurring gags such as bringing up the band 311, pretending he's gay, and asking people if they mind if he takes a hit of ranch dressing. If you're already lost in what I'm talking about, I don't blame you.
Another favorite segment of mine is "Bird Up," a segment that Eric introduces as "the worst show on television!" Eric goes up to people while wearing a green suit and a toy bird on his shoulder and tells people, "act like I'm not here and talk to the bird." The people look amused and say some things, Eric says some more things, and then the picture freezes and you hear Eric yelling "BIRD UP!" as the camera zooms in closer and closer to an embarrassing still picture of someone in the foreground or background.
Guest Celebrities
Once these short segments are over, the show resumes back on set and Eric has a couple of guest celebrities come on his show. Sometimes the guests are actually who they are but other times it's actors portraying famous celebrities. One of my favorite examples is a raw chicken with a paper cut-out of Joe Biden's face taped on it. Another re-occurring fake celebrity is someone who portrays George Clooney and makes him seem like a real creep.
Musical Guest
The show ends with a musical guest, but there's always some sort of twist. One time each member of the band wore shock collars that zapped them every few seconds. Another time it was Brian McKnight singing one note on the piano because Eric claims "that's all the show could afford."
The large chunk of the humor from this show comes from the editing -- the sound effects, quick cuts, camera angles, morphing faces together, and montages.
The reason I love "The Eric Andre Show" is because it doesn't take itself seriously at all. The show makes no sense. Nothing flows. Nothing is off limits. There are no rules. I love all that. This show reminds me about how much I dislike structure with the many creations this world has to offer. Sometimes I just like people doing weird, unpredictable acts for no reason at all and "The Eric Andre Show" delivers just that.
