I am an absolute sucker for wacky absurd comedy, and I believe the height of that in our modern world comes from none other than Eric Andre. Everything that man does shocks and delights me, and I’d do anything to be a part of his wild shenanigans, even for a fleeting moment. His show is modeled after late night talk shows and parodies them excellently. His episodes contain the classic structure of these shows, but turns the genre on its head by making it disgusting, insane and plain torture for his guests. Without further ado, here are my top ten favorite Eric Andre interviews.
10. Nick Cannon
This interview is actually from the episode titled “The Hannibal Buress Show,” which is a fun spin on the show’s formula, because Buress is hosting and cracks me up the entire episode. My favorite part is when he has an actor come out on stage with his d*** out pretending to be his father, returning to his life after leaving him when he was a child. The man, visibly not Buress’ father, argues with him and asks for a hug, to which Buress screams at him “F*** you, Dad!” Cannon is completely confused, and can only respond to the entire ordeal with a disappointing “yeah.”
9. James Van Der Beek
James Van Der Beek has had my heart since he played Dawson in “Dawson’s Creek,” and he very much wanted a normal interview, but also had no idea how insane his interview would get. Andre pulls one of his best and my personal favorite stunts, where he brings out actors to play as doubles of him, Buress and the guest. Van Der Beek is so confused by this, since there is an actor to his right, dressed identically and copying everything he says. As Van Der Beek puts it so eloquently, “This is like a fever dream.” To top off this interview, T. Pain’s beautiful autotune singing (and puking) is featured.
8. Steve-O
Steve-O plays along with the wackiness. Andre asks him a real question about the current economic system ruling the world, and Steve-O has a full fledged intelligent answer. However, this episode comes back to its craziness when Andre asks an outrageous, inappropriate question, to which Steve-O can still keep up with him and shocks Buress. I love the guests who can play along.
7. Jack McBrayer
This little cutie. He does not deserve anything bad in this universe, but Andre tortures him anyway. McBrayer has a heart of gold throughout this interview and wants to help Andre pull off a good interview, but Andre destroys any chance at normalcy and wrecks the entire segment by being incredibly weird. He eats weird grey food and convinces McBrayer that he hasn’t slept in weeks, which is what’s causing him to be so terrifying, and all McBrayer tries to do is help him and it’s so sweet and so funny. McBrayer looks the most terrified out of any guests the show has seen.
6. Jillian Barberie
I honestly love this interview because Barberie doesn’t care how weird Andre is, and the band spends so much time singing her name that it gets stuck in my head whenever I watch that episode. Watch it, you’ll know what I’m talking about, since most of this show is impossible to explain. The entire interview is basically them singing her name ’til it drives her crazy. It’s fantastic.
5. Dennis Rodman
He eats M&Ms off of the floor, and says the creepiest stuff about North Korea that even Andre and Buress can’t keep up with. Rodman makes no sense, sweats profusely the entire interview and basically claims that North Korea doesn’t exist. Also, Andre’s nails are oddly long during this and it’s so captivating. Rodman also says he’s slept with people who are asleep, and alludes to the fact that he’s kissed dead bodies. This interview is such a whirlwind and I can’t get enough.
4. Flavor Flav
First of all, Andre introduces Flavor Flav as a civil rights leader, which is funny enough in itself. Flav also confuses Andre, similar to how Rodman does, so much so that he asks “What in the Goddamn Hell are you talking about?” The highlights of this one are that Flav threatens to beat up a stage-hand and Andre himself for grabbing his d***. Then, Andre turns his desk into a bathtub, strips completely naked and freaks Flav out. To top off the segment, Buress roundhouse kicks Flav in the face. Iconic.
3. Tyler the Creator
Tyler the Creator is a master in this segment. Andre and Tyler have an amazing dynamic as they turn the interview into a weird therapy session. Andre asks Tyler if he believes in God, Tyler cries, Andre farts and Tyler’s “dad” appears, who is really just a creepy little man in the rafters. The segment ends with them dancing to 311, and I love its amazing, weird hilarity.
2. Pauly D
This interview is one of the funniest in the entire series. Pauly D plays along throughout the episode, allowing Andre to go full crazy on him. It incorporates so many of the key elements he parodies, such as a stupid game called “guess the celebrity,” where he just rubs hot dogs on Pauly, and he goes full fever-dream, as Van Der Beek would put it, by introducing doubles of everyone on stage. Andy Samberg plays Andre’s double, and this is the best version of that bit since all the actors are able to mimic one another almost effortlessly. Samberg’s refusal to take his pants off while Andre is standing there with his d*** out cracks me up every time, especially with Samberg’s killer insult, “I’m doing much better than you,” after Andre gestures to him to pull his pants down.
1. Lauren Conrad
This interview is the most iconic one of all. Sweet innocent little Lauren Conrad, is subject to Andre vomiting all over his desk, then slurping it back up to her dismay. Conrad was mortified by this, and left the set. She couldn’t handle the heat so she got right out of kitchen. Her publicist was fuming with Andre, and they wanted to sue but couldn’t. She didn’t even stay to finish the interview; she left the moment Andre ate his own puke. Obviously, it wasn’t really his puke, it was just some oatmeal he put in his mouth when she wasn’t looking that he spit up and then ate, which in itself is gross enough.
