So said one of the many young men standing near me at last night's kickoff show of the Tim and Eric Awesome Tour, Great Job! Chrimbus Spectacular 2010, the third live tour from comedy duo Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, stars of Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! The guy standing near me said this before the show had even started. No doubt the feeling only grew more intense as the show went on.
But before we get into the weirdness, a little context is in order: Five seasons in and on the fence for a sixth, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is made up of short episodes of "nightmare television" (their term), including bizarre sketches and songs starring Heidecker and Wareheim and featuring a menagerie of freaky characters in segments and musical acts that most closely parody the sad, surreal and often insane landscape of late-night public access television.
It's hard to explain, and often hard to watch. It's a polarizing form of humor, and a polarizing show. For every die-hard who thinks the show is a brilliant, twisted satire, there's another who claims Tim and Eric are talentless idiots who have tricked a cult of stoners into thinking their random weirdness is humor. (The names on this long list of big-name comedians and actors who have popped in to play along clearly lend the former camp some major credibility.) And, however polarizing I just said the show was, there are still those of us in the middle, who love some Tim and Eric segments, flatly "don't get" others, but always try to appreciate what they do, if only for the sake open, unabashed weirdness on television. (And Dr. Steve Brule.)
So that's where I stood when I walked into last night's show in Seattle, their first of this third tour in support of their upcoming hour-long Chrimbus Special, which airs December 5 on Adult Swim. I was kind of excited, because it's hard to be fully excited when you don't know what to expect. And, having never seen their live shows before, I wasn't sure how the humor would translate from screen to stage, or what the audience vibe would be like. Even though the people most predisposed to laugh at everything are those predisposed to buy tickets to a Tim and Eric live show in the first place, not everything these two do is going to hit the right note with everyone. That's what happens when you build a show on surreal anti-humor. And when enough of your comedy involves jokes about lactation and poop, your live shows are bound to attract at least a few douchebags.
For all my pre-musings on the nature of their show, though, enjoying the Tim and Eric Awesome Tour, Great Job! Chrimbus Spectacular 2010 was a lot simpler than that. ("Finally! She's talking about the show!" - You.) A lot simpler than its so-inappropriately-long-it's-appropriately-absurd name, too. Simply put, it was a lot of fun. With minimal interruptions by d-bags. And a few incredible, hilarious surprises that made the show, to borrow their term, a "great job."
After a pleasantly unpleasant opening set from alternative comedian/"America's funnyman" Neil Hamburger, whose latest celebrity targets include Michael Jackson, Robin Williams and Gene Simmons, Tim and Eric emerged, fully decked out in their Chrimbus gear to explain the rules of their twisted holiday, which range from the silly (the traditional gift seems to be packaged shrimp) to the suggestive ("keep your Chrimbus bush trimmed and wet") while a chorus of creepy adult elves sang along on a screen behind them.
Chrimbus will get main billing on the December 5 TV special, but, as Heidecker reminded us at the end of the night, they revealed very little material from the special during the live show. Instead, the rest of the show was a mix of live, interactive sketches and pre-taped interlude packages featuring favorite recurring Tim and Eric characters including James Quall, David Liebe Hart and Zach Galifianakis' Tairy Greene.
Heidecker and Wareheim took the stage as a variety of their own familiar characters, including idiotic party boys "Jim and Derrick" and as the new cast of Blues Brothers 2012, the remake-they'll-never-actually-make, sponsored by Terminix, that the duo "pitched" at this summer's Comic Con. These scenes starring recurring characters seemed to get more laughs out of the audience than the opening Chrimbus number (maybe even with Tim and Eric, some element of familiarity is desirable), and, impressively, never dragged. Their 11-minute episode format leaves no room for lagging or boredom, and their live show, though closer to two-hours, reflects that punchy sensibility as well. Just before a joke got tired, they'd run offstage and move on to the next. Better to have your face hurt from laughing too much than make room for a yawn. And I did laugh. A lot.
The best surprise came mid-way through the show, when John C. Reilly appeared on stage as Dr. Steve Brule, who was such a hit on the original Tim and Eric that he got his own Adult Swim program, Check It Out!, this summer. After answering some "health questions" from a clipboard in his characteristically inept style, Dr. Brule pulled up a female audience member for a "health exam" that included a live (consented) breast exam. Reilly's appearance was a true surprise--he wasn't billed on the show at all--and I don't know whether he's slated to appear on the whole tour, but I hope for other audiences' sakes that he will. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I call Reilly as Brule a brilliant performance, and seeing a segment live was the highlight of my night.
Ticket-holders for the upcoming month's worth of Chrimbus shows are in for lots more, including a live performance by Tim and Eric's band, Pusswhip Banggang, but it's probably best not to give much more away. Elements may vary, and that's probably also for the best. One of my favorite moments of the show was an impromptu declaration by Heidecker, when confronted by the third audience member to climb on stage when he'd only asked for two, that he "[doesn't] hug understudies."
The unrelenting energy and bizarre charisma that Heidecker and Wareheim bring to Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! isn't an act, and that is one element that translates perfectly to a live show. I left not only with a renewed appreciation for the previous Tim and Eric seasons, but with the upcoming Chrimbus Special permanent-markered into my calendar. I suggest, if you have the money and capability, that you attempt to see both in the next month.
But don't just take my word for it. Take my fellow audience members', too:
(Images courtesy of Adult Swim)
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