Eric Andre
Sweaty, high-volume physical comedy that barely resembles traditional standup.
1 special · 2020
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Eric Andre performs at a full sprint. He screams, he sweats, and he throws his body across the stage. A typical bit skips the standard setup and punchline, opting instead to push a strange premise until it collapses into physical exertion. He operates purely on volume and momentum, yelling about bodily fluids while looking like he might vibrate out of his skin. When he interacts with the crowd, he skips standard banter in favor of invading their space, like taking an audience member’s phone to auto-fill text their mother.
Specials
On stage
He occupies a strange cultural space as an alternative comedy hero who built a massive audience by mocking the late-night talk show format on television. Because his screen work relies heavily on ambushing unsuspecting guests or pulling public pranks, his live tours are the rare space where the room knows exactly what is coming. He plays large theaters to crowds who show up to watch the chaos happen in real time.
As a pure joke writer, his material is thin. Long stretches of his act depend entirely on shock value and volume rather than crafted angles. A routine about a drug trip or a sexual encounter usually survives entirely on how hard he throws himself around the stage while telling it. But the traditional mechanics of standup are not the draw here. The appeal is watching a person physically exhaust themselves on stage. When he occasionally pauses to deliver a pointed observation, like questioning why a television show about police brutality uses a reggae theme song, he proves he can write a tightly structured joke. Then he immediately abandons it to resume screaming at the ceiling.
Turning points
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Filming the DIY Brooklyn Bodega Pilot
André independently shot a chaotic demo reel in an abandoned Bushwick bodega with Hannibal Buress and spent over a year editing it himself before Adult Swim greenlit the series.
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Release of Standup Special Legalize Everything
André released his first full-length Netflix standup special, filmed in New Orleans, blending absurd physical set pieces with sharp cultural critiques on the show Cops and drug prohibition.
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Filing Airport Racial Profiling Lawsuit
Alongside comedian Clayton English, André filed a federal lawsuit challenging an unconstitutional police stop-and-search drug interdiction program at the Atlanta airport.
At a glance
Fans also like
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Hannibal BuressBuress served as André's long-running deadpan sidekick and co-host on The Eric Andre Show, providing a grounded straight-man counterbalance to André's surreal mayhem.
Also on screen
- 2012–2023
- The Eric Andre Show
- 2012–2013
- Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23
- 2015–2017
- Man Seeking Woman
- 2018–2023
- Disenchantment
- The Lion King
A clip to start with
Eric Andre - Texting An 80's Movie Villain