Tim & Eric are an American

comedy duo A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...

consisting of

Tim Heidecker Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. He has also appeared in films, including '' Bridesmai ...

and

Eric Wareheim Eric Alexander Wareheim (; born April 7, 1976) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, musician, and winemaker. He is best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, alongside Tim Heidecker. He also had a recurring role on the Netf ...

. They are the creators and stars of the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

television series ''

Tom Goes to the Mayor ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' is an American adult animated series created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on November 14, 2004 and ended on September 25, 2006 with a t ...

'', ''

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' is an American sketch comedy series created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Adult Swim and ran until May 2010. The show features surreal and often sa ...

'', '' Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule'', '' Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories'', and ''

Beef House ''Beef House'' is an American sitcom created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. The series premiered on Adult Swim on March 30, 2020. The series is a parody of 1980s and 1990s American family sitcoms, featuring Wareheim and Jamie-Ly ...

''.

Background

Both

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

natives, Heidecker and Wareheim met in 1994 at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

; they became instant friends and collaborators, creating short films and cartoon strips that they put on TimAndEric.com. A short film by the duo called ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' was selected for screenings by the Philadelphia Institute of World Cinema and was included in

The University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

's Institute of Contemporary Art. In 2001, the two compiled a tape of their sketches and mailed it to various comedians they looked up to; one of them, Bob Odenkirk, reacted with enthusiasm and agreed to collaborate with them on a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

of ''

''. The pilot was submitted to

, who offered to turn the short into a series which ran on the network for two seasons. Their next project with Adult Swim was the surreal sketch show ''

'', which ran for five seasons and established a cult following for the duo. They released a CD with music from ''Awesome Show'' called ''Tim and Eric Awesome Record, Great Songs!'' and released a feature film, ''

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie ''Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie'' is a 2012 American absurdist comedy film starring, written, directed, and produced by the comedy duo Tim & Eric (Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim) in their feature directorial debuts. The plot follows Heide ...

'', in 2012. The duo's work is known for its distinctively surreal and often grotesque nature, typically featuring what ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' called "bad fashions, worse hair, intentionally stilted line readings, takes that linger two seconds too long, and an intense attention to the

tchotchkes A tchotchke ( , ) is a small bric-à-brac or miscellaneous item. The word has long been used by Jewish-Americans and in the regional speech of New York City and elsewhere. It is borrowed from Yiddish and is ultimately Slavic in origin. The word ...

and hobbies everyday people substitute for personalities". Their projects often feature amateur performers and intentionally crude or tacky production values inspired by low-budget advertising,

public access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

, and

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

Projects

''Tom Goes to the Mayor''

Wareheim and Heidecker became the creators, writers, and stars of ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'', a

limited animation Limited animation is a process in the overall technique of traditional animation that reuses frames of character animation. Early history The use of budget-cutting and time-saving animation measures in animation dates back to the earliest commerci ...

series that was on the

programming block on Cartoon Network. Wareheim and Heidecker had mailed copies of an early version of the show to comedian Bob Odenkirk, who agreed to take on the project as the executive producer of the series and sold it to Cartoon Network. Wareheim played "The Mayor," an official who always managed to destroy Tom's (Heidecker) well-intentioned plans often along with the entire town as well.

''Awesome Show'' and breakthrough success

In 2006,

greenlit '' Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' and before the end of the year episodes were produced. It was created by and starred Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, and premiered February 11, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim comedy block and ran until May 2010. The program features surrealistic and often satirical humor (at points

anti-humor Anti-humor is a type of indirect and alternative humor that involves the joke-teller's delivering something that is intentionally not funny, or lacking in intrinsic meaning. The practice relies on the expectation on the part of the audience of so ...

public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

-style performances, bizarre faux-commercials, and

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...

editing and special effects.

''Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule''

''Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule'' is a spin-off of ''Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' starring

John C. Reilly John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and writer. After his film debut in ''Casualties of War'' (1989), he gained exposure through his supporting roles in '' Days of Thunder'' (1990), '' ...

as Dr. Steve Brule. Heidecker described the show to ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' as "a show that genuinely feels like this guy made it himself. It's as if it's 4:30 in the morning he had snuck into the studio to make this show without getting permission. It's bare bones. Lots of technical problems. Just a mess. The whole thing is a big mess. A big beautiful mess."

''Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie''

''Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie'' (shorthand B$M) is a 2012 comedy film starring, and written and directed by Heidecker and Wareheim. Supporting actors include

Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in ''Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show '' Late World with Zach'' on VH1. Galifianakis has starred in films including ''T ...

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...

Jeff Goldblum Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films of his era, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and ''Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels. ...

Erica Durance Erica Durance (; born June 21, 1978) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Lois Lane in the WB/ CW superhero television series ''Smallville'' and as Dr. Alex Reid in the CTV medical drama '' Saving Hope''. Early life Durance was b ...

, and

Will Forte Orville Willis Forte IV ( ; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Forte is known for being a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (2002–2010), a recurring character on the show leading to a feature film ada ...

, many of whom guest-starred on Awesome Show. It was released in theaters on March 2, 2012, and was released to iTunes and on-demand January 27, 2013.

''Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories''

Adult Swim picked up '' Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories'' after the pilot episode aired as a Halloween

special Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...

on October 31, 2013, with a seven-episode season debuting on September 18, 2014. The series, which aired an additional two episodes in 2015, is an anthology horror series. The series' second season premiered in 2017.

''Beef House''

''Beef House'' premiered on Adult Swim on March 29, 2020.

Other projects

In 2009, Tim and Eric tried to work with

Tommy Wiseau Thomas P. Wiseau ( or ) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for writing, producing, directing, and starring in the 2003 film '' The Room'', which has been described by many critics as one of the worst films ever made and has gaine ...

in developing his TV pilot '' The Neighbors'' for Adult Swim, but later backed out of the project due to creative differences with Wiseau. Tim and Eric, along with LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy and comedian

Gregg Turkington Gregg Turkington (born November 25, 1967) is an Australian-born American entertainer, actor, musician and writer. He is known for his performances as Neil Hamburger, a stand-up comedian persona he developed in the 1990s. Alongside Tim Heidecker, ...

, starred in the 2012

dramedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

'' The Comedy''. Tim and Eric provided a few faux interview pieces with

Maynard James Keenan Maynard James Keenan (born James Herbert Keenan; April 17, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and winemaker. He is best known as the singer and primary lyricist of the rock bands Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Pusc ...

that were used during

Puscifer Puscifer () is an American rock group formed in Los Angeles by Maynard James Keenan, known as the lead singer of the bands Tool and A Perfect Circle. Initially, Keenan was the only permanent member, and as such he considered the project to be h ...

's 2009–2010 live tour. These vignettes were also included on the DVD/Blu-ray releases of Keenan's 2010 wine-making documentary

Blood into Wine ''Blood into Wine'' is a 2010 documentary film about the Northern Arizona wine industry focusing on Maynard James Keenan and Eric Glomski and their Caduceus Cellars, Caduceus brand wine. It was released in February 2010 theatrically and on DVD an ...

. Tim & Eric collaborated with

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears'' and portraying a young Chuck B ...

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced '' The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...

and Reggie Watts in the creation of the

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

comedy channel Jash. They released a series of six shorts on the channel, titled ''Tim & Eric's Go Pro Show'', in which they attach cameras to their heads and film a reality show. Tim and Eric published a book, ''Tim and Eric's Zone Theory: 7 Easy Steps to Achieve a Perfect Life'' in July 2015.

Abso Lutely Productions

Abso Lutely Productions is a film and television

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

owned by Heidecker, Wareheim, and producer

Dave Kneebone Dave Kneebone is an American television producer. Along with Eric Wareheim and Tim Heidecker, he founded and runs Abso Lutely Productions, which produces a variety of comedic television shows and films. His role has been described as the busines ...

. It produced ''

'', ''

'' and '' Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule''.

References

External links

Abso Lutely Productions Website
* * *
Interview on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tim and Eric American comedy duos American performance artists American stand-up comedians American comedy writers Black comedy Surreal comedy Screenwriting duos 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American screenwriters