Series / The Eric Andre Show

Ladies and gentlemen, it's The Eric Andre Show!^note  And yes, he is attempting to interview the fire.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" *CRASH*

— Eric Andre rampaging on his own set at the start of each episode

The Eric Andre Show is a "talk show" that airs on [adult swim], created, written and hosted by actor, comedian, and all-around crazy person Eric André, with various fellow comedians as co-hosts. We use the term "talk show" loosely since it barely begins to capture the essence of what this show truly is — imagine a live-action Space Ghost Coast to Coast, but a hundred times crazier.^note Andre has even noted Space Ghost as one of his influences for coming up with the idea for his show.

The crux of the show is in its interviews of celebrity guests (who are totally unaware of what they're supposed to expect 90% of the time), engineered to be as bizarre as possible. During the interviews, Eric will almost always go off on unrelated tangents, just not pay attention at all while random and absurd things happen, spring crass and explicit jokes on the fly to gross out his captive audience, or just go berserk without warning and attack whatever thing in the room makes him the angriest at the moment, be it furniture, equipment, or person.

The show's primary co-host for its first four seasons was Hannibal Buress, who helped co-create the show with Andre. After leaving the show early in its fifth season, the show has rotated through a variety of co-hosts, including Hannibal's "clone" Blannibal,^note Played by actor and musician James Hazley comedian Felipe Esparza, and "Reese Witherspoon."^note Played by comedian Kyle Bostic in a wig

These co-hosts only add to the surrealism of the show, tending to fill the roles of Cloudcuckoolander and Straight Man simultaneously. Further chaos is induced through recurring elements including sketches, candid camera street pranks and monologues courtesy of Eric, and the show's set. The set is specifically designed to keep the guests not exactly relaxed, in ways such as putting a heater in the guest's seat beforehand or spraying water all over the guest. Eric also has a habit of wrecking the set at the start of every episode (after which it gets magically fixed by stagehands).

The show premiered in 2012 and ran for four seasons until fall 2016, with a TV special in Paris later airing in early 2018. In late 2019, a fifth season was officially announced; it premiered on October 25, 2020 and ran until November 22. In late 2022, the show was renewed for a sixth season, which premiered on June 4, 2023.

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Trope me, brotendo.

• Actually Pretty Funny: Some of the guests or people in the street segments with a good sense of humor will actually laugh at the nonsense happening around them:
  • Raymond Cruz is probably the best example, even cracking a clever pun during his interview.
  • At the end of the "Octopus" segment, when Eric and his tentacles surround a man who apparently has nobody else to eat with and start chanting "ARE YOU LONELY? ARE YOU LONELY?" at him, the camera zooms in to show that the man in question has a small smirk on his face.
• Adam Westing: Henry Rollins pops up to deliver the full force of his intimidating stage presence in a screaming monologue... about frozen yogurt.
• And I Must Scream: Eric seems to be in this situation. One monologue has him asking Hannibal how to escape the show, falling into a void only to reappear on stage, and then screaming for help as occult symbols flash on the screen, implying that he is doomed to forever host the show in some sort of personal hell.
• Anti-Humor: On the few occasions where Eric attempts to do a normal talk show monologue, his jokes are staggeringly unfunny. The audience is always reduced to hysterics anyway.
• Always Someone Better: Hannibal is repeatedly shown to be much more rich and successful than Eric. For example, during the time Hannibal was the main host of the show he opens the episode with a one liner that not only reduces the whole audience into hysterics, but also causes him to spontaneously win several awards as "Best Talk Show Host" and "Best Talk Show Co-Host". Eric is understandably peeved at his success.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Hannibal's father (inexplicably a white man with his penis hanging out) randomly appears during his interview with Nick Cannon to half-heartedly apologize for not being there for him. Hannibal is appropriately non-plussed.
• Apathetic Citizens: Apparently, absolutely no one on the street thinks it would be a good idea to intervene when Eric is beating the shit out of Santa Claus.
• Artistic License – Gun Safety: Of all the places you'd expect to see this, this one is impressively averted in the famous "Who killed Hannibal?" gag. Eric doesn't point the gun at anything besides Hannibal, and after running the mag dry, he reloads with his finger off the trigger and the muzzle pointed downwards. Eric Andre practicing proper gun safety while gunning his friend down for no reason is much funnier than him being careless in doing so.
• Ax-Crazy: Eric, in every intro.
• Bait-and-Switch: Pretty much the entire point of the show. It's set up for unknowing celebrities to come on expecting a relatively ordinary talk show, while the actual content of the show is...not that.
• Battle of the Bands: One episode ends with a bass-off between Thundercat and Hannibal 9000...the latter of whom does nothing other than move his head in contrast to the former's complex bass licks. And then "Hannibal's dad" enters pantsless, calmly breaks it up and hugs Thundercat, much to Thundercat's dismay.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: Dennis Rodman is, and remains, possibly the only guest ever on the show to be so weird that Eric and Hannibal are the ones left feeling confused and uncomfortable.
• Bilingual Bonus: Jay-Z mostly talks in untranslated Cantonese, with some broken English mixed in.
• Black Comedy: One of the street skits has Eric take a suitcase out onto a busy street...but with a human hand emerging from the open zipper and a woman audibly sobbing inside as Eric repeatedly insists to the horrified passers-by that there's nothing weird about his suitcase.
• Black Comedy Rape: The ending of Raymond Cruz's interview.
  • The end of Haley Joel Osment's interview has Eric announce that it's time to play "forced to orgasm". The scene cuts off before it goes any further.
• Black Is Bigger in Bed: Apparently, Barack Obama is, at least according to that sexually explicit picture of him that Eric has repeatedly shown to his female guests.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • Eric has, erm, "advertised" Sudway sandwiches and Spiite soda before.
  • During his appearance on the show, Wink Martindale took time out to shill Scoap mouthwash.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Some of the guests clearly aren't who Eric says they are, but he treats them as if they were the real deal anyway. For example, Russell Brand is an elderly shirtless Ethiopian man, Reese Witherspoon is a black guy wearing a wig, Arnold Schwarzenegger is comedian Bruce Vilanch riding a motor scooter, Beyoncé and Jay-Z appearing together as a white red-headed woman and a short Asian man respectively, and Joe Biden is a cooked duck hanging from a string on the ceiling with a cutout of Joe Biden's face glued to its head.
  • For a non-celebrity example, there's the time when a random old white man walks out on stage with his penis hanging out and claims to be Hannibal's father and the time another old white man was introduced by Eric as Tyler, the Creator's dad.
  • Eric also likes to make up stuff about his guests to annoy them. Like accusing them of making a racist post on Twitter or something just as incredulous. Such as on Pauly D's interview:
  Eric: Your mom is Paula Deen?
  Pauly D: Who said that?
  Eric: That's what it says on my notes. (camera cuts to show Eric's "notes" are just a bunch of flashcards with swastikas crudely drawn on them)
  • There was also the one time Eric claimed to have footage of Krysten Ritter's new movie, much to Krysten's confusion. Said footage was actually 2 Girls 1 Cup.
• Bloody Hilarious: Just about every time Eric or Hannibal kills or injures the other or himself.
• Body Horror: See Teleporter Accident below.
• Bound and Gagged: Unlike other celebrity guests, Rick Springfield is wheeled in, apparently kidnapped, tied up and with a cloth over his mouth (which is taken off afterwards), solely so Eric and Hannibal can beat him up. He remains like this for the last segment of the episode.
• Breakout Character: Occasionally parodied with Hannibal, who has at various points entered the stage to raucous applause (compared to the tepid claps Eric gets), won the award for best talk show while filling in as host for Eric, received his own spin-off series where he travels to Japan, and had his reality show Snail Down!, a competitor to Eric's Bird Up!, get greenlit for several seasons within seconds of premiering. Of course, in the cases of both the latter examples, his shows end up getting cancelled before getting past the opening credits.
• Break the Cutie: Jack McBrayer's appearance on the show. Known for being one of the most chipper, nicest guys in the business, it seems like Eric and co went out of their way to pull out no stops with the Surreal Horror on the poor guy.
• Breathless Non Sequitur: Eric does this constantly to confuse his interview subjects.
• Brick Joke: During the Lance Reddick episode, Reddick delivers his iconic "I wish I were LeVar Burton" monologue. Two seasons later, it comes full circle once LeVar Burton himself cameos and says, "I wish I was Lance Reddick."
• The Bus Came Back: George Clooney, Reese Witherspoon, and Russell Brand (not the celebrities, but the weirdos who have their names) return in season 5 after being last seen in season 3. Hannibal and Blannibal return after leaving the show, with Hannibal revealing that he was a figment of Eric's imagination.
• Butt-Monkey: Eric.
  • That poor, poor drummer.
  • As of Season 4, Kraft Punk is turning into this. Every time he comes on camera Hannibal and Eric run him off and hurl insults at him.
  • The naked PA, who exists solely to be tormented by Eric.
• Call-Back: Early in Season 2 there was an extremely uncomfortable interview with Eric Balfour from Haven where Eric asked if he'd ever slept with any "Oriental background actresses". A few episodes later, Eric mentioned meeting up with some Oriental background actresses during one of the "Ranch It Up" segments.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Hannibal does this when his "dad" crashes the show.
  "You haven't been in my life at all! AND I'M INTERVIEWING NICK CANNON, FORMER R. KELLY COLLABORATOR, AND STAGE HANDS LET YOU WALK IN HERE WITH YOUR DICK OUT!"
• Calvinball: A running gag is Eric making his guests play nonsensical games during interviews for the sake of tormenting them. Most notable is Rapper Warrior Ninja, where contestants had to freestyle rap during an obstacle course for Eric and Hannibal's amusement.
• The Cameo:
  • Pete Wentz appears for a few seconds at the end of the Lorenzo Lamas episode to deliver An Aesop and walk away.
  • Chris Rock briefly appears near the end of the Season 3 finale as the director of the "Bird Up!" segments.
  • Sebastian Bach barges into the Demi Lovato interview to plant his leg on the desk and ask the visibly confused woman if she likes his hair, before leaving moments later.
  • John Kricfalusi shows up in the New Year's Halloween Spooktacular, doodling on a large canvas in the background.
  • Adam Conover of Adam Ruins Everything appears in one of the Season 5 intros, explaining how the set being destroyed by Eric isn't real and only designed to be destroyed. Eric then proceeds to throw him over the desk and beat him to death.
  • Lizzo also appears to put her own spin on "Bird Up!", performing a segment called "Bird Down" in Eric's place.
• Candid Camera Prank: A lot of them, including but not limited to Eric having sex on a bed in a store, pretending to scalp himself, setting up a smoothie stand and sticking his hand in the blender, dressing up as a construction worker and faking being electrocuted, destroying a "NYPD car", dragging around a suitcase with a crying woman trapped inside, breaking into a dojo to deliver a "pizza ball", taking pictures of a fashion model while wearing cyclops prosthetics, becoming a black scientologist, destroying an art gallery, running from a bunch of guys dressed as him, pretending to be blind and swinging a walking stick around a lightbulb shop, turning his body into a Froot Loops communion, and making out with a cop who has just apprehended him. Some of the most popular ones have to be "Ranch It Up!" and "Bird Up!".
  • Even Kraft Punk got in on the fun with his prank show Kraft Punk'd (or Kraft Dunk'd).
• Captain Ersatz: Kraft Punk is designed after the members of Daft Punk, robot helmet and all.
• Careful with That Axe: One of the guest performers on the show was Eric himself. His performance consisted of him manically screaming into the microphone over a jazz drum solo.
• Cargo Ship: In-Universe. Eric apparently raped his desk.
• Casanova Wannabe: Eric frequently hits on his attractive female guests, but they're inevitably far too distracted by the absurd, vulgar, or disturbing madness going on around them to respond well to his advances.
  • Notably averted with Amber Rose, as she actually briefly hooked up with him for a while in real life after her "interview".
  • Hannibal, for once, made a few lame attempts at flirting with Krysten Ritter during her interview, which got her to crack up.
• Catchphrase:
  • "Time for some RANCH!"
  • "You guys are watchin' Bird Up!, the worst show on television!"
  • During interviews, Eric likes to say "I want you to have sex with my wife." and "You seem like the kind of woman who likes Doritos." as a quick way of confusing the person he's speaking to.
• Censored for Comedy: Hannibal signing the lyrics to "Hard in da Paint" by Waka Flocka Flame, where the most offensive lines are beeped out but not the multiple N Words.
• Chest of Medals: Hannibal's Brother has this even though he's a Walking Shirtless Scene.
• Chewing the Scenery: More like "violently destroy the scenery with a baseball bat" (which, on this show, is often a Literal Metaphor).There will always be at least one person per segment (sometimes Eric, sometimes a random stagehand or extra) who is living LARGE and doesn't care who sees it. Hannibal's brother is probably the best example.
• The Chew Toy:
  • Street Correspondent Paul Littleson appears a few times, in all of them, he is being hurt in a mundane but funny way.
  • Again, as it bears repeating, but that poor, poor goddamn drummer.
  • And, of course, there's the Naked PA.
• Ching Chong: When Eric reads what he claims to be a tweet from Amber Rose:
  Eric: "Ching chong ching chong. Go back to your country."
  Amber: That's a fuckin' lie. I never said that!
  Eric: Why would you say something so controversial, yet so brave?
• Chubby Chaser: Hannibal appears to be this, as he was once confronted in the middle of the Asa Akira interview by an ex who was fairly hefty. On another occasion, he was distracted from an urgent phone call with Eric by an extremely heavy Big Beautiful Woman taking off her robe in front of him (to reveal a gangster-themed Looney Tunes novelty t-shirt). The same woman would later show up (wearing the same Looney Tunes t-shirt, no less) in the Ryan Kwanten interview to accuse Hannibal of cheating on her and then make out with him for almost the entire rest of the segment.
• Church of Happyology: Addressed directly by name in the Black Scientologists skit.
• Clean, Pretty Childbirth: Averted when Eric's desk has a baby, which comes out covered in amniotic fluid.
• Cloud Cuckooland: The set of the show itself starting in Season 2; Eric himself credits a dream sequence in Twin Peaks as an inspiration for the set. Lampshaded by Questlove:
  Questlove: "...What is this place?"
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Eric, and fake Russell Brand in spades. Some of the guests can act this way as well.(Hannibal is generally the voice of comparative, critical reason.) The drummer in season 4 is pretty strange as well.
• Comedic Sociopathy: All over the place, with Eric as the most frequent victim.
• The Comically Serious: The producer, who's often seen on the backstage with a complete deadpan reaction at the antics going on in the show or even joining in on the antics himself (like randomly firing a gun during an interview) still with a complete deadpan reaction.
• Continuity Nod: The New York interview has Eric call back to the incident where Hannibal kicked Flavor Flav in the face, remarking how funny it was that Flavor Flav "took it like a little bitch."
• Cool vs. Awesome: Eric vs. Nardwuar the Human Serviette, each fighting to get the other one to break character. More than a few YouTube commenters have not-inaccurately compared it to a battle between two Greek gods.
• Costume Evolution: In the first season, Eric wore a causal outfit consisting of a light grey t-shirt, black jeans, and a dark-grey/brown suit blazer. The next season had him wear a light grey suit with a green tie with a woven basket pattern on it. He wears the same suit in season three, but with a different blue and black tie and a hairstyle made to resemble Katt Williams. In the fourth season, he wears the grey suit once more, but with a white pleated dress shirt and a gold bowtie; he's also brought back his afro, but in a more clumped, dread-like style and now has severely uncut fingernails. In the fifth season, almost all of his body hair is shaved off and he's gained considerable weight, as well as being far tanner; he now wears a gaudy cream colored suit with floral patterns etched on to the blazer.
• Couch Gag: Eric destroying the set during the introduction sequence has different actions per episode, with the scenes being inter-cut in the middle of Eric's rampage. All of these sequences end with the set repairing itself and Hannibal walking on-set, oblivious to what just happened.
• Crazy-Prepared: The stagehands. One imagines they have a warehouse full of desks at the ready, because each one is promptly replaced the moment that Eric breaks it.
• Creative Differences: In-Universe: Parodied when Hannibal joins Eric’s new band, Kuwait Grips, only to quit less than a minute later in order to go in his own musical direction. Namely, combining scatting and autotune.
• Cringe Comedy: Most of the guest segments. Especially Tatanya Ali and Sinbad. The show is basically half this and half Surreal Humor.
  • The street segments in Season 2 take this up to eleven.
• Cuckold: "I want you to have sex with my wife" seems to be one of Eric's go-to phrases, using it on both men and women.
• Dance Party Ending: Tyler, the Creator's interview ends with him, Eric, and a random guy breaking out in dance after the random guy demands to "investigate 311".
• Deadpan Snarker: Hannibal, usually in response to Eric's attempts at telling jokes.
• Death Seeker: Eric attempts to kill himself more than a few times.
• Deconstructive Parody: Of late-night, mid-90s public access talk shows. Imagine the comedy talk show from Hell, and that's pretty much it. Eric specifically stated in an interview with Larry King that he set out to make the worst talk show of all time.
• Depraved Kids' Show Host: Hannibal as the Safety Stegosaurus who proceeds to make kids recite disturbing phrases like "I don't wanna die", eat directly out of a garbage can in front all of them, and then vomit afterwards.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • He often intends to inflict this on his interviewees; of note is Sinbad during the "Wheel of Prizes" segment, in which he becomes so tired of the never-ending wheel spinning^* Eric mentioned behind the scenes that the wheel actually spun for about thirty minutes before Sinbad intervened he ends up stopping the wheel himself on "Move to North Korea", just to make it end.
  Sinbad: I'll just move to North Korea. I just-I'll just move to North Korea, ok?
  • Rory Scovel crosses it while showing us how to cook like a pro, going into a nihilistic monologue about The Nothing After Death before crushing glass into his face, pushing the table to the floor, and collapsing on the floor while crying.
  Eric: Yeah, uh... can't wait to try that at home.
• Dirty Old Man: Fake George Clooney is both this and a Depraved Bisexual.
• Dissonant Laughter: The "studio audience" responds to almost everything that happens on set, be it obscene acts of vulgarity, spontaneous violence, frequently naked cast members or staggeringly unfunny jokes with bouts of raucous laughter, which makes the whole thing even more surreal.
• Distant Finale/Downer Ending: Parodied at the end of the first season. R.I.P. Eric Andre (1983–2028)
• Doppelgänger: James Van Der Beek and Pauly D's interviews have Eric summon identically-dressed doppelgangers of him, Hannibal, and James and Pauly themselves, who stand next to and copy everything that their respective original does. The Jillian Barberie-Michaels interview also has a similar premise, only it involved Eric ripping apart his desk to reveal a pair of dwarves dressed as Eric and Jillian conducting an interview, complete with miniaturized furniture.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In-Universe; Hannibal is constantly calling Eric out on this.
• Drop the Cow: Happens whenever that episode's guest has become just a bit too comfortable. Usually arriving in the form of Eric or a random stagehand beating the other up or getting shot. Jack McBrayer notably gets a gauntlet of these during his interview; a man in white facepaint bursts through Eric's desk and yells at Jack about prices, a row of firecrackers detonate on-stage, and someone begins primally screaming backstage that leaves poor Jack a nervous wreck for the remainder of the interview. Joey Fatone, for his part, had one happen right at the end of his interview, when a motorcyclist suddenly crashed into Eric's desk.
• Drone of Dread: One suddenly takes over the soundtrack when Questlove makes the mistake of saying "Questlove's in the house."
• Dumbass Has a Point: Once in a blue moon, Eric will suddenly make a genuine point amid his usual nonsense which is equal parts shocking and hilarious for the sheer Mood Whiplash factor of it all. See Take That! for an example.
• The Eeyore: The black saxophonist, who often has a mopey expression.
• Eek, a Mouse!!: Stacey Dash has nearly this exact reaction when she notices the rats emerging from Eric's desk.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Octopus, who is covered in poison (or as the French say, la poison), has a Hive Mind with its tentacles, and believes Bill Cosby is innocent.
• Eldritch Location: The set itself, which has been repeatedly hinted to be some kind of nightmarish Hell where Eric is trapped and forced to reenact public access talk show programs forever.
• Electric Torture: Jack Black has a shock collar strapped to his wrist and is forced to answer questions and is shocked whether or not he tells the truth.
  Eric: You're well known in Hollywood... as a liar.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • In the "Who Can Hold the Most Babies?" sketch, Eric is clearly just as uncomfortable as the people in the sketch and completely breaks character, saying, "I hate this bit" after he unintentionally makes a child cry.
  • Eric and Hannibal are both always visibly annoyed and disgusted by Kraft Punk's antics whenever he appears, and, by season 4, try to kick him out before he gets to do anything as soon as he shows up.
  • In the Drives Like Crazy prank "Goober Driver" in season 6, Eric quickly drops his act when a passenger attempts to actually escape the car by openeing the door while the car is still speeding.
• Fan Disservice: Lots of penises get whipped out on this show and not just Eric's.
• The Friend No One Likes: While Eric tends to be abusive with most of his staff, he and Hannibal openly can't stand Kraft Punk, and actively boo and try to get rid of him whenever he appears in season 4.
  Kraft Punk: "WHAT'S UP GUYS, I'M KRAFT PUNK."
  Eric: Ugh, this guy sucks.
  Hannibal: Get outta here, Kraft Punk!
• Funny Background Event: Even the background is not safe from the bizarre and random occurrences happening during each interview.
• Gainax Ending: Nearly every episode and segment ever.
• Gender Flip: Parodied by a reboot of Eric's other in-universe star vehicle Bird Up starring Lizzo. Eric winds up having a Heroic BSoD on the spot after watching an episode.
  Lizzo: These are my streets now, Eric!
• Genre Blindness: Those poor, innocent foolish celebrity guests who seem to think that this is a ''real' talk show. Demi Lovato is probably the worst example of this, as she's visibly about this close to running off the stage screaming once the madness gets started.
• Genre Deconstruction: This seems to basically be the concept of the show.
  • Deconstructive Parody: Of the talk show, more specifically, public access talk shows.
• Grossout Show: The show doesn't shy away from this in the slightest. Expect to see a lot of jokes involving bodily fluids or, on occasion, body horror.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: Eric's interview with Nardwuar the Human Serviette was dedicated solely to see who could get on the other's nerves more and make them break character. YouTube commenters have compared it to various things including a battle between two Greek gods, and an unstoppable force (Eric) meeting an immovable object (Nardwuar).
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take a whole lot to set Eric off. Fake Jay-Z also reacts very poorly to questions about his music or his personal life.
• Hell Is That Noise: Loud and disturbing noises are one of the many weapons in his arsenal Eric uses to torment his guests, like when the drummer inexplicably lets out a tortured and demonic-sounding scream during Jack McBrayer's interview.
• Heroic BSoD: Eric occasionally descends into catatonia when the Surreal Horror becomes too much.
• Heroism Motive Speech: After being insulted by Eric, Hannibal retorts with an emotional speech about his childhood and what his brothers taught him growing up, while a family video (possibly of Hannibal?) is overlayed on top. Finally, he punctuates the speech with "And... *beat*... you a bitch-ass nigga."
• Hollywood Atheist: Rory Scovel, judging by his nihilistic monologue during his "Cooking Like a Pro" segment.
• Hurricane of Puns: Ariel Pink's performance, which was followed by Ariel Stinks (aka Ariel Pink with sewage dumped on him), Ariel Plink-182, Ariel *NSYNC and... Ariel Black, which is just Hannibal wearing drag.
• Incredibly Lame Fun: The "What If It Was Purple" segment, which has Eric and the audience applauding (and vomiting) at the sight of various purple things.
  Hannibal: Nothing about this game is that intense.
• In Name Only: Most of the "celebrity guests", which leads to more confusion as they get more obscure and you actually don't know if it's the real one or not.
  • Happens much less often after season 1, which feature mostly actual celebrities with a couple fake ones recurring from the first season.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: What Jack Black's interview devolves into.
• Jive Turkey: Parodied and exaggerated to no end in Eric's "Ranch It Up!" skits, which run on Eric's character having a completely nonsensical frat boy slang.
• Jump Scare: Often deployed against the show's guests, usually involving something bursting out of Eric's desk.
• Kick the Dog: One segment had Eric violently assaulting a little person dressed as a leprechaun during the opening sequence for no apparent reason.
• Kubrick Stare: The trombonist/singer in Season 4 has a habit of doing this directly into the camera. It's appropriate, considering that the band in season 4 is an homage to The Shining.
• Laugh Track: Wouldn't be a surreal fever-dream-nightmare-parody of talk shows without it. The clips chosen for the show in particular seem specifically selected to sound as fake and unconvincing as possible.
• Lighter and Softer: The Raymond Cruz interview is probably the only time a guest has actually enjoyed his time on the show.
• Line-of-Sight Name: Eric's "Top 10 Things of 2012" list, which included desks, chairs, Hannibal Buress, and desks again.
• Little People Are Surreal: Quite a few dwarves show up on the show, to Lynchian effect. In particular, the Octopus skit has Eric in an elaborate octopus costume, with Eric in the costume's main body and a few little people as its tentacles, who proceed to terrorize an innocent restaurant. One poor little guy showed up in the opening sequence of one segment dressed as a leprechaun, where Eric beat the shit out of him for no apparent reason.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: The black saxophonist is apparently Questlove's father.
• Made of Iron: The shit that Eric puts his body through is ridiculous. It'd be impossible to count how many times he's just been shot.
  • More literally with Kraft Punk, who commented that he is unable to die and subsequently proved so by shooting himself in the head multiple times with no effect.
• Madness Mantra: "Everything... is in... the NEWS today..."
  • "Hey Hannibal... Did you hear about this... Did you hear about this..."
• Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: Pick a random segment of a random episode. Any segment of any episode.
• Mind Rape: Arguably the entire goal of the show. Eric and Hannibal always position themselves so that the guest can never watch both of them at once, making it that much more traumatic for the poor interviewee.
• Mind Screw: Constantly and Played for Laughs. Some segments seem particularly Lynchian, such as "Savion Glover", who just ran around screaming with a rotisserie chicken taped around his head and over his face while wearing a wig and breaking things, and... tap dancing? The Bird Up! episode might be the crowning example of this trope in the series; featuring the regular studio segment getting completely overridden by the Bird Up! sketch, which in turn gets repeatedly overridden by other Bird Up! sketches, which get overridden by other Bird Up! sketches and... you get the picture.
• Mistaken for Special Guest: While fooling around at the RNC 2016 event, Alex Jones mistakes Eric for Trevor Noah and invites him on-stage at his rally, with Eric saying his usual stuff.
  Eric: I want you to have sex with my wife.
• Mood Dissonance: Frequently. A good example is the segment where Hannibal briefly hosts the show in Eric's absence, where, when after he wins the award for Best Talk Show Host, seemingly the entire crew hoists him on their shoulders to celebrate, with the exception of the house band, who is crowded around the bassist that Hannibal gunned down during the opening sequence, as he lies dying on the floor, thrashing weakly.
• Mood Whiplash: Equally frequently.
  • Eric and Hannibal's New Year's Eve Halloween song starts with intentionally stupid Halloween-themed lyrics before it gets... strange.
  "Hey everybody! It's that special time
  When ghouls and goblins, ghosts and mimes
  Come alive and dance and have a great time
  It's that special time
  When there's no forgiveness
  You know what you've done is wrong
  It's that New Year's time
  The spookiest time of the year!"
• More Dakka: Whereas Eric destroys the set by turning himself into a human wrecking-ball, Hannibal (when he was hosting the show) has this as a simpler solution by unleashing a hail of bullets on the set and at the band while they're performing.
• Mundane Made Awesome: "And now, ladies and gentlemen, Flying Lotus CHECKS... HIS... EMAILS!"
• N-Word Privileges:
  • Hannibal's Brother is trying real hard to say it less.
  • Hannbal drops N-bombs a lot and Eric (who's half black and white) has used the word "mulatto".
• Naked People Are Funny: Eric will often appear naked while trashing the set in the opening credits.
  • A Running Gag in the street segments of season 1 was Eric streaking. Inverted in one episode, where he crashes a nudist colony wearing a tuxedo, shouting "We're going reverse streaking!"
• Nausea Fuel: In-Universe; apparently, the sight of a purple rabbit is this to Eric, as it makes him vomit instantenously.
• Negative Continuity: To say the least.
• Never My Fault: After Eric shoots two magazines worth of ammunition at Hannibal, he whispers:
  "Who killed Hannibal?"
• The Nicknamer: Eric's "Ranch It Up!" character.
  "Wait, I know you! You're Pimple Pete!"
  (guitar riff)
  "'Sup, Pimple Pete?"
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Frequently done by Eric to his crew during the opening segments, like the one time he beat the shit out of a midget dressed as a leprechaun for no apparent reason.
• Non Sequitur: Extremely frequent, not just in dialogue but in the many, many random moments per episode, such as a two-second cut to Eric running maniacally through the street screaming and holding a chicken.
• No-Sell: When Questlove appeared as the drummer on the show, he knocked Eric out with one punch when he tried to attack him in the intro sequence.
• Not So Above It All: Most of the time Hannibal is the Straight Man to Eric's wacky antics, but occasionally he'll join in the madness happening on set, like punching Eric in the face, screaming while trying to stuff a bunch of pancakes into his mouth, gunning Eric down apropos of nothing, or asking him if getting crabs is more embarrassing than getting AIDS.
• Once an Episode: Eric trashing the set. More specifically, Eric violently assaulting the drummer of his band, usually by tackling him through a wall and then punching him in the face.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Hannibal, relatively speaking.
  • The saxophonist of the first band. While the rest of his band often joins in on the madness, he's the only one who seems genuinely unamused by events transpiring. This doesn't stop him from claiming to Questlove that he's his father, though.
• Overly Long Gag: Hannibal explaining to Harry Shum Jr. what he'd want his Fatality to be if he were a Mortal Kombat character. It's basically Hannibal standing still and repeatedly pantomiming throwing an apple.
  • The "Wheel of Prizes", which keeps spinning for nearly a full minute and only stops turning when Sinbad physically intervenes and grabs it. (It lands on "Move to North Korea".)
  • During one opening, Eric grabs a random scientist and starts punching him for a solid thirty seconds. It takes so long that even the house band eventually stops playing in exasperation.
  • In the middle of asking Chris Jericho how he got his start, Eric starts spasming and moaning. This lasts for the entire rest of the segment while the set grows increasingly chaotic and poor Chris just stares ahead with a frozen expression of stunned disbelief the whole time.
• The Pigpen: Eric didn't bathe or do any kind of personal grooming throughout the entirety of season 4's filming and it shows; with him looking visibly greasy and unwell and the guests often commenting on how awful he smells. Even outside of that season, Eric is prone to casually engaging in absolutely disgusting behavior to make his guests retch.
• Politically Correct History: Subverted and disrupted for laughs when Eric and Hannibal run through a Civil War Reenactors' camp dressed as runaway slaves.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: One of Eric's most reliable tactics for setting a guest on edge is reading off some hideously offensive or racist statement that he claims the guest made before congratulating them on their "bravery".
• Practical Joke: Eric does a lot of absurd, creative pranks on the city streets... like running from a pack of guys dressed up just like him. He longs for people to stop and stare, confounded at human bizarreness.
• Race Lift: In-Universe, Eric claims that L. Ron Hubbard was a black man whose real name was L. Ron Hoyabembe.
• Rage Breaking Point: Steve Schirripa is mostly calm throughout his interview right up until Eric tries to interview his penis and insinuates that it's been dormant for years, at which point Schirripa promptly starts manhandling him.
• Rapid-Fire Comedy: So many, many examples. Eric's usual strategy is to unleash another bizarre event on his guests the literal second he thinks they're getting comfortable, or even when they aren't comfortable.
  Eric: Speaking of climate change, when is Hannibal Burress gonna start thinking about some underwear change? Am I right, ladies? (Audience cheers, without missing a beat Eric turns around and shoots Hannibal half a dozen times, reloads, and shoots Hannibal even more before turning back to the audience with a confused expression) Who killed Hannibal?
• Real Life Writes the Plot: See the chair on fire in the picture up there? The segment lasts about 15 seconds before the crew cuts the segment because it was about to endanger the studio.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Eventually, Eric Balfour has enough and completely tears into Eric and the show, yelling at everyone for the uncomfortable and unsanitary conditions they put guests through in order to milk funny reactions and tells Eric that he has no hope for a career as a talk show host because nobody relevant would ever agree to come on.
  Eric Balfour (Single Tear rolling down his cheek):...What's going on with you, what are you talking about? You sound insane.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Eric (Red) and Hannibal (Blue).
• Refuge in Audacity: The show runs on this. Expect constant speechlessness from guests and witnesses to street segments.
  • To cite one particular example: Eric Andre actually put up Seth Rogen's cell phone number for people to call, despite Seth's repeated demands that he don't.
  • According to his appearance on Hot Ones, one episode was supposed to have an interview where a transgender couple were having sex just off-camera, with Eric and Hannibal acting like it was perfectly normal, and after that got shot down he then suggested having a trasngender woman taking a dump out on the street.
    Eric: ...he's like, "you can get in serious trouble". He's just tryin' to keep me out of jail, which I've been to. I've already been arrested on the show, I almost got arrested again this year (2016).
    Sean Evans: How'd you almost get arrested?
    Eric: I've been legally advised not to discuss.
• Retraux: The first season is shot in low, analog quality reminiscent of 1970s talk shows.
• Rule of Funny: And occasionally Rule of Scary.
• Rule of Three: In the Season 3 premiere, Eric repeats the "Season 3? More like Season Pee" joke three times, each time making it more disgusting.
• Running Gag:
  • Eric seems to like bringing up famous sex offenders and Scientology at awkward times.
  • The sliding doors used to enter the set seem to become more and more difficult to push open as time goes on.
  • Jokes about Barack Obama, who Eric insulted in the New Year's Special. On at least two other occasions, he pulled out a (photoshopped) sexually explicit picture of Obama to the horror of that episode's female guest.
  • Eric's "notecards", which contain obviously untrue and increasingly offensive "facts" about his guests (and in close-up shots are usually revealed to contain just scribbles or no information whatsoever).
  • The voiceclip of that guy screaming "YES" in almost every episode.
  • Having random old men introduced to black cast members and guests (like Questlove, Tyler, the Creator, and Hannibal himself) as their "real fathers." Said old men in question are usually extremely white.
  • Kraft Punk randomly appearing to plug his latest (invariably terrible) hidden camera prank show.
• Sensory Abuse: Loud noises and disturbing visuals are frequently employed for the sake of disturbing both the viewers and the guests.
• Scary Black Man: Hannibal's Brother.
• Screaming Warrior: Eric is a viking berserker with a seething and unquenchable hatred for the set.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Only two guests walked off the set during their interviews:
    • T.I. walked off after seeing a random crewmember with no underwear on arrive just as he was about to suggest something to Eric.
    • Lauren Conrad noped out of there after seeing Eric suddenly vomit^note He actually spit out hot oatmeal he put in his mouth when she wasn't looking. and then play with his vomit.
  • Tichina Arnold came very close to walking off the set when Eric brought out a coffee cup filled entirely with cockroaches.
  • Eric and Hannibal have had one of these moments too with the grizzly bear interview; the two immediately ran for the hills the moment the bear started manhandling Eric's desk after having ripped up the couch next to it.
• Self-Deprecation: All the time. One sequence near the end of Season 1 has a montage of interviews with people on the street about The Eric Andre Show, all of whom have either never heard of or hate it. This causes Eric to have a Heroic BSoD.
  • "You guys are watching Bird Up!, the worst show on television!"
• Serial Escalation: Every episode seems to be more violent and destructive than the last.
  • Each season finale apparently sets out to be crazier than the previous one.
• Shaped Like Itself: From the Season 3 premiere monologue.
  Hannibal: Yeah, what's up with your hair, man?
  Eric: Got it done like Katt Williams, baby!
  (studio audience claps politely)
  Eric: Katt Williams? More like FAT Williams! (motions to indicate a fat belly)
  Hannibal: (angry) NEXT JOKE! Katt Williams is very thin!
  Eric: Which one is Katt Williams?
  Hannibal: Katt Williams!
  Eric: Right.
• Shout-Out: Many to Twin Peaks in the second season, such as the change to red curtains and the statue from the Black Lodge, and a segment where Eric empties two whole mags of ammunition into Hannibal mid-monologue, looks straight at the camera, and asks "Who killed Hannibal?", after which it segues into a parody of the Twin Peaks intro.
  • One prank has Eric crashing a public basketball game while dressed as a werewolf, which is a reference to the movie Teen Wolf.
  • In one of the openings, Eric ends up in space and suffers Explosive Decompression (wherein his eyes and tongue pop out) like in Total Recall (1990).
  • The stage band in Season 4 are dressed up like the staff at the Overlook Hotel. At one point the singer appears covered in blood and asks Eric "It's a great party, isn't it?", mirroring a scene from the film.
  • One sketch is just called "Seinfeld". It's...not quite that.
  • Lance Reddick gives a double shout-out to Levar Burton's two most famous roles in his interview by wearing a VISOR and Combadge over chains and a slave outfit.
    • Then in season five, Levar Burton appears in a cop uniform as a shout-out to Lance Reddick's own role.
  • "Battlefield Earth should have been a Tyler Perry movie!"
  • In episode 9, when Hannibal suddenly disappears and Eric believes him to be dead, the show goes into a parody of the pottery scene from Ghost (1990).
  • One of the openings has Eric do the famous "pull the chain and get drenched" shot from Flashdance.
  • Hannibal shooting Eric and a bird emerging from the gunshot wound is a reference to Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain.
  • In the first intro of the fifth season, Eric crushes a stagehand's head in the same way as the memetic head-crushing in Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky.
  • The ending of the 50th episode is one to the ending of The Muppet Movie.
• Skyward Scream: Hannibal, who is usually the Straight Man, has a habit of startling the guests by randomly screaming at the ceiling at the top of his lungs.
• Soapbox Sadie: Eric briefly became one in the "Society's Lies" bit.
• Soft Glass: Averted when Chef Rory Scovel starts smashing glass on his face and then rubbing the resulting blood into the food he's making.
• Sophisticated as Hell: In his interview, J-Mo talks about Gena Rowlands and her performance in A Woman Under the Influence, which he found so poignant that he wants to smell her farts even with her pushing 80.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Happens frequently thanks to the band and certain guests performing during the worst times, like when the band suddenly starts playing off-kilter music while Henry Rollins screams about frozen yogurt. T-Pain also started singing the national anthem in an overly dramatic manner during Rory Scovel's nihilist monologue and his subsequent breakdown.
• So Unfunny, It's Funny: Whenever Eric tries to actually tell jokes, it ends up being like this, with requisite mockery from Hannibal.
• Stealth Insult: Hannibal describes Nick Cannon as a "former R. Kelly collaborator".
• The Stoic: Hannibal is completely unfazed by all the lunacy happening around him every episode.
  • Eric himself gets into this at times, on the occasions when his emotional responses aren't cranked to maximum they're invariably set to absolute zero.
• Straight Man: Hannibal; the fact that he manages to be this and a Cloud Cuckoolander at the same time speaks about how weird this show is.
• Stunned Silence: A frequent and logical response by the guests to Eric's antics. Chris Jericho is probably the worst, the poor man doesn't say a word the entire time or even change his expression.
• Stylistic Suck: Everything about the show, especially in the earlier seasons. The cameras seem to come from a different decade each, mostly from the seventies to the early nineties, and the sets are made to look as cheap and fragile as possible. As seasons have gone by the sets have become more and more elaborate, but also more and more gaudy and ugly.
  • The recurring "Bird Up!" segment is this in spades. The entire premise is that Eric is going to be green-screened out, which rarely if ever actually happens. Not only that, but the editing is frenetic and all over the place. And to further drive the point home, Eric proclaims that it is "the worst show on television" during the beginning of every bit.
  • Inverted during the segment before the Hannibal Buress Show, where Hannibal is seen at his mansion and the production quality is hilariously improved, featuring color grading and dolly shots. Makes for good contrast with Eric's trashy apartment and static camera angles.
• Surreal Humor: And occasionally Surreal Horror.
• Swarm of Rats: The Stacey Dash interview randomly has rats emerge from Eric's desk, which she doesn't notice until one of them is biting her foot.
• Swivel-Chair Antics: Eric pulls off probably the least impressive swivel-chair stunt in history during the Raymond Cruz interview. The audience applauds anyway.
• Sympathy for the Devil: One drunk interviewee in Season One has some kind words for Osama bin Laden.
  "Bin Laden was a badass. Bin Laden was a man who smoked his grass. Osama bin Laden, you'll be in my memories. Osama bin Laden... you've really been a good friend to me!"
• Synthetic Voice Actor: Kraft Punk speaks with one.
• Take That!:
  • Eric throws a vicious sidewinder at the Thatcher administration (and by extension, those who consider her a "feminist role model") during the Mel B interview.
  Eric: Do you think Margaret Thatcher had girl power?
  Mel B: Yes, of course!
  Eric: Do you think she effectively utilized girl power by funneling money to illegal paramilitary death squads in Northern Ireland?
  • When Eric disappeared after the intro in one episode, Hannibal got up to the mike and started doing stand up, targeting Woody Allen for marrying his former step-child.
  Hannibal: Woody Allen is in the news, huh? Well, he's not, but I think his whole existence is weird. Midnight in Paris, good. Sleeping with your stepdaughter, bad. Are we just cool with that? Are we just cool what he's living with? Cuz, I'm not. BOOM! Really. Topical. Humor.
  • In a interview with Aubrey Peeples, he asked why she retweeted the quote: "I believe in a white supremacy until blacks are educated to a point of responsibility", said by none other than John Wayne. And yes, the Duke actually said that.
  • In a season 4 episode, Eric tried appealing to Middle American viewers by having Jeff Dunham's "racist puppets" appear, which were just knock-offs of Achmed, Jose Jalapeno, and Sweet Daddy Dee, but without their funny gimmicks.
  Black Puppet: (holding a paper bottle of Colt 45) I'm a big, old black guy.
  Middle-Eastern Puppet: (sinisterly) I am a terrorist.
  Mexican Puppet: (sleepily) I'm lazy.
  Hannibal: (shaking his head in disapproval) Dude...
• Teleporter Accident: In one episode, Eric gets "one of those Star Trek transporters". He is wiping his face when transported, and comes out with his hand fused to his face. Hannibal has the person operating the transporter send Eric back to his chair, and he comes out as a shapeless blob.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Fake Beyoncé and Fake Jay-Z.
• Toilet Humor: Frequently, to say the least.
• Totem Pole Trench: Eric uses this for no apparent reason in the "buying a car" segment, which instantly puts the car dealership owner on edge, since he doesn't trust like that. Lil' Jon also does this when performing in the show as Big Jon.
• Trash the Set: At the beginning of every episode, Eric is seen rushing in and breaking everything (while also doing... other things). The set is always rebuilt within literally seconds—the net effect is to make Eric seem like a soul condemned, Sisyphus-like, eternally to roll a talk show off the edge of a cliff and then host it again.
  • Exaggerated in the Season 2 Finale when the entire episode is basically Eric breaking the set.
• Totally Radical: Ranch Guy is this mixed with massive amounts of Cloud Cuckoolander.
• Troll: Eric's comedic style, in a nutshell. Both the interviews and hidden camera segments revolve around him making unsuspecting bystanders as uncomfortable as possible.
• Understatement: Frequently. The crowning moment is probably Eric grumbling in exasperation, "This thing is broken", as the mug on his desk is spraying coffee into the air like a fire horse.
• Unfazed Everyman: In stark contrast to almost every other guest on the show, Ryan Kwanten from True Blood barely reacted to Eric and Hannibal's absurd antics other that to ask "What's with the jizz flying everywhere?"
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A major component of the show's humor is Eric and Hannibal's complete non-reactions to the antics of his guests, including, on one occasion, a fire.
  • Occasionally, random citizens will completely ignore whatever surreal stunt Eric is pulling during the street segments and respond to whatever question he's asking with a completely straight face and serious tone.
• Voice of the Legion: How the Octopus talks.
• Vomit Chain Reaction: Eric fake-puking onto his desk (it was actually oatmeal he had in his mouth) very nearly made Lauren Conrad do the same for real.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Eric has a habit for these, especially during public pranks, even when it makes no sense.
• Vulgar Humor: Expect lots of vomit, bodily fluids, and naked cast members.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Fake Russell Brand and Hannibal's Brother.
• Wrap Around Background: The set is apparently this, given one segment where Eric chucks his desk offscreen only to be immediately hit in the back by that same desk.
• Who Writes This Crap?!: After trying two pretzels in "Hannibal's Pretzels", Hannibal turns to face someone off-camera and incredulously asks "What is this segment?"
• With Friends Like These...: Even when Eric and Hannibal aren't actively trying to kill each other, they're prone to slinging insults between themselves that move beyond playful banter straight into genuine antagonism. Perhaps best shown during the Howie Mandel interview:
  Eric: You had a talk show back in the day?
  Howie: I did. It was nothing like-
  Eric: Did you have a little bitch ass cohost like Hannibal Buress?
  Hannibal: What the f--- man, I been supporting your wack ass jokes!
• Word Salad Lyrics: Every song they sing.
• Word-Salad Humor: The show frequently devolves into this. Recurring guest "George Clooney" in particular is a master of this craft.
  Clooney: [apropos of nothing] I was hip deep in that astronaut for about 3 days of every orifice blowing the walls and, phew, well, once you’ve unloaded everything you’ve stored in your body and there’s nothing left you’re just gagging and heaving and gagging and heaving. It’s pretty good to be back in the States though, you know? [...] Stuck in a capsule, you know? I'm proud of what my buddy Brad's doing.
• World of Ham: The set.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Flavor Flav is appropriately shocked when Eric strips naked and dunks himself in a bathtub that was inexplicably beneath his desk.
  Flavor Flav: That motherfucker's not joking!

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Life is stupid, do whatever
You could die or live forever
What to do now, we just don't fuckin' know!
'Cause that's all we... had planed for...
The show!

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