“I didn’t brush my hair the whole year, I grew out my fingernails like Howard Hughes, I lost 10 pounds, I didn’t go out in the sun the whole time, [and] I got very pale....”
Is it all that surprising that Eric Andre’s prep work for Season 4 of his namesake Adult Swim series sounds closer to Oscar winner Brie Larson’s preparation for “Room”? The funnyman has proven that he’ll do just about anything for a laugh, and his signature shock style on “The Eric Andre Show” has had us expecting the unexpected for three seasons. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the faux talk show’s unsuspecting guests.
The setup is simple: Andre (an actor best known for “Man Seeking Woman”) is a fictional public-access talk show host who invites celebs ranging from Chris Rock to Seth Rogen to Chance the Rapper in for a chat. Little do they know that a thoughtful conversation is the furthest thing from Andre’s mind; he mostly wants to break them down and make them as uncomfortable as possible.
“The guests have no idea what they’re getting themselves into—we make sure of that,” Andre says. “Honestly, 90 percent of the guests didn’t even know me or the name of the show or [had] even seen any footage. We go to great lengths to totally conceal as much as possible and just pray that people don’t do their research. And for the most part, they don’t.”
In addition to his unshowered unprofessionalism, Andre incites on-camera improvised lunacy with co-host Hannibal Buress (“Broad City”) that usually amounts to erratic and offensive banter, a mental breakdown, and physical set destruction. At the time of this interview, Andre, who performs all his own stunts in said destruction, was still in physical therapy for an injured hand. In other words: Don’t try this at home.
Unbeknown to many of Andre’s growing base of at-home viewers, there’s even more happening off-camera to further get a rise from interviewees.
“We’d put old clams under their seat that had been sitting out for weeks. Or we’d have people jack off a realistic-looking dildo next to the camera,” Andre says. His brainstorming sessions with Buress and writing partner Dan Curry have at times become so unhinged that their ideas’ legality came into question.
Andre’s also gotten a midinterview walk-off or two. Perhaps most memorable was Lauren Conrad, whose publicist threatened that Andre would never work again after he drew a swastika on his face. (He and that same publicist have grudgingly worked together since, with Jimmy Kimmel.) But Conrad is just one of the series’ many highlights. Andre has trouble choosing a favorite guest—everyone leaves a little shell-shocked.
“I love them all, they’re all my children,” he says. “I’ve been through every range of emotions with my guests. I have had people walk off, and I’ve dated two of my guests after they were on the show, [having met] them on-camera. So it’s a little bit crazy.”
Guests for Season 4 include T.I., Stacey Dash, Jack McBrayer, Jack Black, Howie Mandel, Ariel Pink, Jesse Williams, Kelly Osbourne, Amber Rose, Haley Joel Osment, and Flavor Flav, and the list goes on.
Pairing the interviews with man-on-the-street pranks and stunts around New York City, the Adult Swim series is must-watch TV—if only because you can’t look away. Like “Jackass” and “Da Ali G Show” before it, “The Eric Andre Show” is equal parts hilarious, distressing, and gloriously absurd.
“I’ll never have this much creative freedom again,” Andre says of the series, which he first developed 10 years ago before finding a home at Adult Swim. “We can be as absurd and surreal and nonlinear as we want to be, and Adult Swim gives us carte blanche to do anything we want.”
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