The Eric Andre Show is the late night, anti-late-night talk show breaking the “talk show” mould by deconstructing and redefining the late-night interview. Quickly devolving into chaos, host Eric Andre, along with his apathetic co-host Hannibal Buress, subvert all late-night conventions.
Taking place on a dingy public-access TV channel within an alternate reality, The Eric Andre Show creates its own distorted pop culture universe by conducting interviews with an unpredictable mix of actual celebrities, “fake” celebrities and extreme real-life weirdos.
These interviews are broken up with deranged man-on-the-street segments, surreal flashes of inexplicable studio chaos, talk show desk pieces and the general deconstruction of late night’s most beloved tropes.
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Global News spoke to Eric Andre about The Eric Andre Show and what viewers can expect to see if they tune into the late night, anti-late night talk show.
Global News: Can you explain The Eric Andre Show for people who haven’t watched an episode yet?
Eric Andre: We’re launching Adult Swim Canada in the Great White North. The Eric Andre Show is a kind of bizarro, absurdist alternative universe talk show in the spirit of Space Ghost and Tom Green and Jiminy Glick and it has elements of Jackass and The Ali G Show. It’s prank-based, where we prank celebrities in the studio and we do men on the street, hidden camera pranks on the streets of New York.
Is it scripted or is it mostly improv?
It’s mostly improvised. It’s very like contained improvisation. Hannibal Burress — who’s my co-host — and I, we know, like, the pranks we’re gonna do on the guest but we improv within the pranks and the street stuff is improvised.
How is the atmosphere on set?
Very tense and nihilistic (Laughing).
Do you have a favourite segment to film? Do you like doing the street bits more or do you like being in studio best?
No, they’re all my children. I love it all.
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How do you pick your guests for the show?
We try to pick guests that are the least informed about what the show is and what Adult Swim is. We intentionally try to have the fish out of water-type guests.
Currently running, no. But there are some of my influences that I mentioned before. It has some similarities to Nathan Fielder’s show Nathan for You in the prank aspect of it but [they are] still two very different shows.
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What do you want your audience to take away from the show? Do you hope that they can’t wait to watch the next episode? What is the vibe for you?
Yeah, there’s that. I just want to express myself. I think I want to be understood and loved because I am coping with deep-rooted insecurities.
How does working on this show compare to any other show that you’ve worked on?
Well, I get to be the boss, which is rare, and I’m constantly hurting myself and psychologically torturing celebrities and attempting to defecate on my desk. It’s a little bit different than 2 Broke Girls.
Is there any comedic limits for you on the show?
No, I’ll joke about everything. There’s good-bad taste and there’s bad-bad taste. And we’re always riding the line and trying to figure it out but nothing’s off limits. I think that comedy is a way of coping with tragedy and processing tragedy. And so you need to dance close to the edge to release the tension from the torture of existence and the human experience.
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(This interview has been edited and condensed)
The Eric Andre Show airs on Adult Swim Canada from Monday to Thursday at midnight, starting with Season 1 and rolling through to Season 4.
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