Aidan Sweeney

Capstone

Dr. Bednar

9 February 2021

Context/ Description Paper

Introduction

This paper is to provide context for the research object I have chosen, which is the Eric Andre

Show. This object proves to be pertinent to the field of communication studies through the framework of comedy, which is a rhetorical tool. In addition, it is useful to know the specific aspects of comedy and literary tools that make up the Eric Andre Show, such as parody, anti-comedy, and even surrealism, and how he uses these things to break the expectations of genre and of those who chose to watch or participate in the show. Parody has been talked about by many communications scholars, is used as a means of comedy, and can be used as a means of commentary as well. As for the Eric Andre Show, its use of parody of course has some commentary, as is the purpose for parody, however it focuses more on the comedic aspects of parody to create very chaotic comedy. Other things that are important to go into are: genre, anti-comedy, and surreal comedy. All these things will shape a viewers’ perception of the show, and that is to say, what they will get out of the show when the watch it in accordance to the reaction that the writers and creators of the show (mostly the doing of Eric Andre) seek from their audience. Of course, most of this will be broken down in the analysis, but it is important to show what makes this study pertinent to comm.

Context and Description

A Little About the Eric Andre Show The Eric Andre Show is an anti-talk show (Zinoman) that first aired on Adult Swim in 2012.

Its cast consists of host Eric Andre and co-host, Hannibal Buress, along with famous guests that appear on every episode such as Tyler the Creator and Jack Black. The show is based in New York

City and has aired for five seasons now. Co-host Hannibal Buress is no longer on the show, but was on the show for the first four seasons. Buress, started his career as a stand-up comic at open mics, played smaller roles and is most esteemed for his appearance on Broad City as Lincoln Rice, and, of course, the Eric Andre Show (Wikipedia). Host and creator of the show, Eric Andre, actually graduated from Berklee School of Music with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, although he does most of his work in film and television. He has done many things since his career started such as be a voice actor for various animated shows and movies such as Robot Chicken and The Lion King (the most recent one), and has made brief appearances in other shows such as the Big Bang Theory and

Zeke and Luther. However, his biggest involvement is, of course, the Eric Andre Show (Wikipiedia).

At first glance, it looks like your average, low budget talk show, but it makes very apparent from the beginning that this show does everything in its power to create a lore of surreal anti-comedy. The show consists of a deranged host who is unhinged and seeks to push whatever boundaries he can, a co-host who is somewhat disconnected and critical of Andre’s attempts of comedy, a studio audience and crew that seems halfway dissatisfied from the show with sparse applause, a crew that participates in the show such in ways that either seems random or forced and sketches and pranks that are deliberately absurd and nonsensible that attempt to warrant laughter from their shock value. Guests on the show consist of two things: musical and entertainment acts that conclude the show (like a band would on a regular talk show like Conan) which are parodies of amateur musical acts from sketch-comedy talk shows, and celebrities invited to be interviewed who are made uncomfortable by Andre and his unfiltered methods of interviewing. In any case, the show does its best to be off the rails and make a parody of a talk show by bringing the spirit of anti-comedy to help guide the way.

Genres Considered in the Eric Andre Show

The Eric Andre Show is, at its core, a talk show parody. It is staged like a talk show, looks like a talk show, and even operates like a talk show. However, instead of talking about current events/ news, interviewing guest celebrities, and having fun little skits in a “normal” fashion, Eric Andre decides to take all those ideas and make fun of them in a surreal and anti-comedic kind of way. He stumbles through monologues, telling bad jokes and inaccurate details about the news (or just says crazy things). He interviews celebrities starting with valid questions, then completely bails on them by interrupting them or staging a prank, and his skits are normally off-the-rails adventures through New York City in which he attempts to prank people and break the norm and get reactions out of pedestrians in an absurd way involving anything from race, history and politics, to things that are just completely random as if he is trying to make a movie scene in a real-life scenario. There have been other talk show parodies that have been aired in recent years like The Colbert Report (IMBD), which was a satirical parody of a conservative talk show, however, Eric Andre is not as much focused on satire as he is pranks, surreal comedy and anti-comedic episodes, which would make his work more closely related to Andy Kaufmann, who was commonly referred to as an anti-comedian during his career in the 1970s and 1980s. This would help explain Eric Andre’s techniques of comedy a little bit better, for his show is situated in a different form of comedy that is called “anti-comedy”, which is related to something called surreal humor (Shibles).

Surrealism was a movement that developed after World War 1 (Khan Academy), and it was an art technique that involved juxtaposing things from varying realities which would defy logic when put together and represent a dream reality in a piece of art, such as a painting of elephants with Tubas for heads (Khan Academy). A lot of art uses surrealistic concepts, and it has made its was into other mediums, most namely, for the sake of this paper, comedy. Surreal humor is basically humor based in no logic. It aims to have jokes that are incongruent with its initial expectations, and it does things that are inherently and obviously against reasoning (World). Anti-comedy is within this realm because it does not resonate with jokes and witty skits meant to be relatable and therefore funny, but rather jokes that are deliberately bad, things done that are meant to be absurd such as pranks, deliberately violating logic and reasoning for jokes that are incongruent with expectations, making a fool out of oneself and having no shame and making others uncomfortable and throwing them for a loop by the other techniques just described (Shibles). It is similar of what others have tried to do such as Bad Grandpa with Johnny

Knoxville and Borat with Sasha Barron-Cohen, however, Andre really takes it to a new level. So, to debrief, the Eric Andre Show is a surreal, anti-comedic parody of a sketch comedy talk show, or simply put, an anti-talk show (Zinoman).

Initial Conclusions

So, what are Eric Andre’s comedic techniques and how do they commit to breaking expectations? What are good examples of surreal comedy and anti-comedy what does it come from?

How does genre play a key role in the Eric Andre Show? How is parody and comedy used as a rhetorical device in the show if even at all? All questions will be answered in due time, that is to say, in the analysis. For now, it is safe to say that we are dealing with an object that has been unique throughout communication studies and there is much to be said about what the Eric Andre Show really is in the eyes of comedy and how comedy can grow from it and further itself into modernity.

Work Cited

“The Colbert Report.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 17 Oct. 2005, www.imdb.com/title/tt0458254/.

“Eric Andre.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Andre.

“Hannibal Buress.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Buress.

“Surreal Humour.” World Heritage Encyclopedia .

Shibles, Warren A. Humor Reference Guide: A Comprehensive Classification and Analysis September 28, 2007.

“Surrealism, an Introduction (Article).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/dada-and- surrealism/xdc974a79:surrealism/a/surrealism-an-introduction.

Zinoman, Jason. “The Rise of the Anti-Talk Show.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 June 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/arts/television/the-rise-of-the-anti-talk- show.html?pagewanted=all.