Review: “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!: Season 2″
March 8th, 2009 | San Francisco ComedyBy Sean Keane
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!: Season 2 was recently released on DVD by Warner Home Video. If you haven’t seen Season One, don’t worry. It’s not like The Wire: you don’t need to catch up, and you can watch episodes in any order. For those of you unfamiliar with the program, Awesome Show is a sketch comedy show on Adult Swim, starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, plus an assortment of public access television all-stars, occasional Hollywood guest stars (including Jeff Goldblum promoting the “Jeff GoldBluMan Group”), and regular appearances by John C. Reilly as “Doctor Steve Brule”. It’s like getting the high points of fifteen hours of public access programming distilled down to 11.5 minutes.
What sets “Awesome Show” apart from other sketch shows?
The format: Because they’re limited to just 11.5 minutes, sketches rarely drag. In general, each episode will have a multi-scene story involving Tim & Eric that bookends unrelated sketches, songs, and appearances by Christian science-fiction enthusiast and ventriloquist David Liebe Hart. Often there are commercials for products from fictional conglomerate “Cinco”, makers of products such as the Encyclopedia of Numbers and a grandfather doll called “Pep-Pep”.
The aesthetic: The season is available on DVD, but it seems more appropriate that it would have come out on laserdisc, or an old Betamax tape. “Awesome Show” is full of awkward pauses and transitions, primitive graphics, ugly clothes, and outdated technology. Eric Wareheim elaborated in an interview with the Onion AV Club:
“Tim and I are pretty conscious about creating a universe where certain things are not welcome. You know? You’d never see an iPhone in any of our skits. We always use shitty phones, VCRs, dumb cars, old PC computers.”
This is best exemplified when Tim & Eric give an extended endorsement of Cinco’s “Innernette”, aimed at people who are afraid of e-worms and computer viruses. Instead of an internet connection, it distills the entire internet into a mini-CD-ROM. There’s over 100 web sites, and you can chat with up to five virtual friends!
The tone: Invariably, Tim & Eric remain straight-faced and deadpan in every scene. For other actors, it’s not so much the performance that matters, because the directors (Tim and Eric, plus Jonathan Krisel) seem to thrive on capturing the in-between, non-acting moments: odd looks, long stares, moments where it’s unclear whether the actors know the camera is rolling. What it reminded me of most was the legendary GI Joe PSAs; not coincidentally, their creator, Eric Fensler, writes for Awesome Show.
The music: You could describe some of the lyrics and content of Tim & Eric’s music as “delightfully stupid”. What sets it apart from other “funny” music is that Awesome Show has legitimately good melodies. For example, the Shins cover “Wipe My Butt” (also available on Awesome Record, Good Job!) at the end of the “Pepperoni” episode, and it’s easily the loveliest song about a refusal to use toilet paper ever recorded. The concept of a guy who goes around sitting on people is funny, but “Sit On You” is rewatchable because of the catchy tune.
The consistent weirdness: The last episode begins with an ad for “D’Ump”, the robotic umpire shaped like a deer. Things that make it a typical Tim & Eric sketch: The commercial is in French, and then Russian with English subtitles. It looks like a weird 60’s documentary about camping. The audio eventually changes to English, but the subtitles don’t match the words. There are dramatic silences that last just a little too long. Also, the product is solely designed for undefined baseball-spinoff games played in the wilderness.
I thoroughly enjoyed the season, but the show is not for everyone. Those who like it often really like it, and those who don’t like it usually hate it. It’s polarizing, as shown by the user reviews from Amazon.com: 19 5-star reviews, 4 one-star reviews, nothing in between. Based on the reactions of friends I’ve forced to watch Tim & Eric, that sounds about right. In conclusion, I don’t think “Good Job” is quite strong enough, so Season 2 contributors? Great job.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:27 am
This is a dumb show! but of course moderators won’t let you say anything but good about the show. Adult Swim is dumb but if people like Tim and Eric I know are world is full of dumb people.
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:17 pm
I just felt like offsetting the love to hate ratio of this show.
This show and Adult Swim are great. If you don’t like it, good for you. That means you don’t get it. The humor is suppose to be random and awkward, which is what makes it funny for SOME people. Just because you think it sucks doesn’t mean it sucks.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:37 pm
note: I deleted 2 of the negative comments because they were also by “Nate”, but written using a different name.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
I hope adult swim takes a hard look at the people that watch this show, and then take a while to think if they can get an audience of people who will succeed in life. People only like this show so they can be different, and remain in their outcast lifestyle with their outcast friends. Go read some Manga.
April 4th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
…those who ‘hate’ it do get the show. Not everyone has the humor of an 11 year old boy.
April 14th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Tim and Eric have a sense of humor that is not for everyone. I think that it is one of the greatest shows ever made because that is my kind of humor. It makes no sense at all and the glitches and songs are so strange that it is intriguing. And as for you Ryan, Tim and Eric fans are not outcasts. I watch the show because I like it, not because I want to fit in. Oh and manga sucks. Come on man it has nothing to do with Tim and Eric you have no idea what you are talking about. road trip
April 25th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I whatch adult swim becuase i work a gravyard shift, I used to hate this show, now its the highlight of the night. I also like Tom goes sees the mayor. Im probably one of the last people that you would expect to enjoy them.
January 9th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Such a weird show. Its more of a WTF!?!? kind of humor than anything else, and sometimes i dont laugh. However, sometimes the show has me busting a gut laughing because its just so frickin weird and odd. Steve Brule gets me every time.
January 23rd, 2010 at 7:00 pm
@Nate
“Adult Swim is dumb but if people like Tim and Eric I know are world is full of dumb people.”
OH THE IRONY!!
February 20th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Are you guys kidding me? This show is amazing, the thing that’s really upsetting me is that right now adult swim is holding a contest to vote for a new show, and alot of adult swims fans are anime geeks… and there’s 2 shows on there that are taeasgj type of humor, and because there’s a bunch of geeky nerds who only like anime the shows that are more cartoony and have less of a style of humor are winning…. ITS BULL SHIT!
July 10th, 2010 at 7:06 am
This show is so so crappy. There isnt anything remotely funny about it. I guess you have to be a fudge packer to get the jokes. All I see is two gay guys prancing around acting silly. and how the hell do they get well knownn actors to appear on the show is anyones guess. They must have lots of money to throw at them.
Adult Swim do us all a favor and axe that stupid show!!!
July 19th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
I love this show; it’s one of Comedy Central’s best, and the fact that it exists gives me hope for humanity.
Stylistically, the show is surreal and post-modern; for me, that translates to interesting and thought provoking. I especially enjoy the mixture of tenderness, strength, and fragility in the minor characters. Often, they are the embodiment of pure-insecurity that somehow manages to stand-up and act despite their overwhelming, internal doubt. Seeing these guys is like exposing my fears to disinfecting sun light. It’s like a trip to a confessional.
With regard to people who say that “anyone who likes this show is dumb,” you’re the stupid boo-boo head — not me.
May 28th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
This tv show sucks the humor is bad and what they do is pointless the effects are as bad as watching a 80s tv show.
December 30th, 2011 at 1:09 am
Tim and Eric is a stupid show. Random for the sake of being random, isn’t funny. If you honestly think it takes advanced humor perception, you’re a fucking moron. The show is meant for stoners and idiot teenagers. If you like it, you honestly have some serious brain damage. It’s not funny, and it shouldn’t be wasting air time that other writers who actually have talent should be getting.