Feature

I may not watch enough television to accurate make this statement, but I’m willing to risk hyperbolic assumptions when I say that Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job is the worst show still on the air. I’m willing to back up just about every [adult swim] network program with at least one nice word, but this one is simply abominable. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.


Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are like a tenth year music student that records an entire album on cassette using only a Casio keyboard and their own voice, not because the cassette tape and Casio keyboard somehow validate or complete their artistic vision, but because they’re under the false impression that enough irony will somehow cover up their lack of talent. Tim and Eric didn’t have the skill to be the next Andy Kaufman or Kids in the Hall, or even Mad TV (how sad is that?), so they choose to hide behind the thin veneer of plausible deniability. If I don’t find it funny I must just not get it, right? Wrong, I get it, and it’s still just two sub-Tom Green man-children posing as performance artists.

The only saving grace is the small possibility that the real masterminds behind the show have secretly been inspired by David Cronenberg’s Videodrome to perform their own brand of retroactive Darwinism. Maybe Tim and Eric Awesome Show actually gives the viewer cancer when viewed in large portions. Maybe decent human beings are expected to be disgusted by the sheer unfunniness of the show and change the channel, thus only those with the worst senses of humour can possibly be infected. It might be less diabolical; perhaps the show just leaves viewers infertile. This is the only explanation for the participation of such admirable celebrities as Maria Bamford, Michael Cera, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Brian Posehn, John C. Reilly, Paul Reubens, Fred Willard, and Jeff Goldblum—they must think they’re doing some kind of public service.


Another theory pertaining to the show’s continued airing is that Heidecker and Wareheim own large shares of stock in Adult Swim, or perhaps have incriminating photos of Mike Lazzo in their possession. Why else would they even get a second chance after the resounding failure of their first series Tom Goes to Mayor (which was pretty bad, but nowhere near this bad)? Unless, of course, Lazzo and the Adult Swim network is in on the ‘killing in the name of good taste’ plot.

Video

Tim and Eric Awesome Show is usually supposed to look like a cheap public access show, how-to video, or local advertisement, and it succeeds on this nominal level. When they want it to look good the show is pretty clean and detailed, but when they want it took look like crap the compression is thick, and the artefacts are thick. Colours are super-saturated and often bloom or bleed into other colours. The digital versus analogue look may be the only slightly amusing thing the show has in its favour (hence the one point I’ve awarded it).

Audio

Apparently the price for 5.1 audio on Venture Bros. and Boondocks is 5.1 audio on Tim and Eric Awesome Show. It’s a waste of time, but the LFE is surprisingly thick and well separated during the Casio keyboard songs. The dialogue is unfortunately crystal clear, even when it’s meant to sound poorly mixed. All in all the audio track is shockingly competent.

Extras

‘How’d Dey Do Dat?’ (clever wordplay) is a collection of bone dry behind the scenes footage. This is mostly made up of producers, actors and directors laughing at the frightful unfunniness, alternate camera angles on the frightful unfunniness, and frightfully unfunny pranks, and it lasts almost fourteen minutes. This is followed by seven deleted scenes. Deleted scene is another word for the stuff that wasn’t good enough for Tim and Eric. There are more extended scenes at the end of the disc, and those last more then fourteen minutes as well.


‘Awesomecon’ is some kind of meeting of series fans in a park. These fans are ordered to play elementary school outdoor games for no prize (oh, how nihilistically whacky). Shockingly everyone seems to be wearing ironic t-shirts. ‘Oops and Ding Dongs’ (I know, it’s hilarious) is the blooper reel. The five-minute blooper reel. It’s followed by promos and ads.

There’re also commentary tracks for each episode. I lasted through two of them before I wanted to die, so all I can say is critically is that there’s a little information, but it’s mostly stilted and awkward. And not awkward in the way that Tim and Eric normally find funny, it’s more like no one has anything to say. It seems that even when talking about their irony-laced show these guys can’t help but act slightly smug, ironically we must assume.

Overall

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job is that kid in your third grade class that did anything for attention, the one the phrase ‘ignore it and it will go away’ was invented to stop. It’s that guy that thinks he’s the life of the party when he quotes Dumb and Dumber who wears the same Goonies t-shirt every Tuesday. It’s that teenager that buys a guitar and only learns the opening chords of Metallica’s most popular songs. This is Dadaism for beginners who don’t want to read the textbook or graduate the class. I hate it.

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Review by Gabriel Powers