Tim & Eric
Tim & Eric are an American comedy duo consisting of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. They are the creators and stars of the Adult Swim television series Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule, Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories, and Beef House.[1]
This article is about the comedic team. For their television show, see Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!Tim & Eric
Television, film, theatre, books, audio
2001–present
Background[edit]
Both Pennsylvania natives,[2][3][4][5] Heidecker and Wareheim met in 1994 at Temple University in Philadelphia; they became instant friends and collaborators, creating short films and cartoon strips that they put on TimAndEric.com.[6] 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's Institute of Contemporary Art.[7]
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 of Tom Goes to the Mayor. The pilot was submitted to Adult Swim, who offered to turn the short into a series which ran on the network for two seasons.[8] Their next project with Adult Swim was the surreal sketch show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, 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, in 2012.
The duo's work is known for its distinctively surreal and often grotesque nature, typically featuring what The A.V. Club called "bad fashions, worse hair, intentionally stilted line readings, takes that linger two seconds too long, and an intense attention to the tchotchkes and hobbies everyday people substitute for personalities".[9] Their projects often feature amateur performers and intentionally crude or tacky production values inspired by low-budget advertising, public access television, and video art.[10]
Other projects[edit]
In 2009, Tim and Eric tried to work with Tommy Wiseau in developing his TV pilot The Neighbors for Adult Swim, but later backed out of the project due to creative differences with Wiseau.[15]
In 2011, the duo appeared in The Simpsons episode "The Food Wife", voicing two characters as well as performing a song they wrote.
Tim and Eric, along with LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy and comedian Gregg Turkington, starred in the 2012 dramedy The Comedy.[16]
Tim and Eric provided a few faux interview pieces with Maynard James Keenan that were used during Puscifer'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.
Tim & Eric collaborated with Michael Cera, Sarah Silverman and Reggie Watts in the creation of the YouTube comedy channel Jash.[17][18] 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.[19][20]
Tim and Eric published a book, Tim and Eric's Zone Theory: 7 Easy Steps to Achieve a Perfect Life in July 2015.[21]