Legalize Everything
Netflix · 2020 · 51 min
An hour of chaotic, drug-fueled stand-up from New Orleans.
Eric Andre on a stand-up stage is less a traditional comedian and more an agent of sweaty chaos. For his first Netflix special, he brings the same manic energy from his Adult Swim series to the live stage, trading the talk-show desk for a microphone and immediately setting a tone of performance art. He enters shouting at the top of his lungs, quickly escalating into physical antics that involve climbing directly onto audience members and calling a fan’s mother on FaceTime to ask for her credit card.
Filmed at Republic NOLA in New Orleans in late 2019 and released in June 2020, the set is framed by an opening hidden-camera sketch where Andre, dressed as a police officer, stumbles out of a squad car with a massive bong to hand out drugs on the street. On stage, his material leans heavily on drug-fueled stories, ranging from an edible-induced Scrabble game with his mother to a breakdown of the bizarre choice to use reggae music as the theme song for the show Cops. This latter bit gained unexpected cultural relevance when Cops was briefly canceled in real life just weeks before the special premiered. While long-time fans embraced the frantic pacing and shock value, critics and traditional stand-up audiences were more divided, with some finding the constant screaming and loose transitions exhausting over a full fifty minutes.
The set list
-
Hidden-camera prank opener dressed as a New Orleans police officer
Stumbles out of a police cruiser filled with beer bottles and weed smoke, enticing pedestrians to consume drugs, fellating a nightstick, and dropping his pants
-
Critique of the reality television series Cops
Examines the incongruity of using a reggae theme song for a show rooted in law enforcement and white supremacy, punctuated by screaming and self-deprecating vulgarity
-
The closer (spoiler). Show it
Calling an audience member's mother on FaceTime
Engages an audience member's mother live via FaceTime, prompting her to show her marijuana and American Express card on camera
-
Dropping acid and anime
Declares that he masturbates to anime every time he takes acid while furiously miming the act
-
Proposal to legalize all drugs except salvia
Delivers a rapid, impassioned critique of the War on Drugs and political corruption while singling out salvia as terrible
How it plays
- Tone
- Absurd, raunchy, surreal, manic, and anti-establishment
- On stage
- High-energy, chaotic, confrontational, absurd, and physically unrestrained jester who makes himself the butt of every joke
- Pace
- Rapid-fire tempo, frantic physicality, jumping around, screaming, rolling on stage, and relentlessly sweating
- About
- War on drugs and substance use, Police brutality and law enforcement, Pop culture detritus, Sex and bodily humor, Autofill and fast-food icons
What the critics said
Praised as a breathless, chaotic, and physical experiment that successfully translated Andre's abrasive sensibilities into stand-up, offering a manic respite during 2020 even if individual bits varied in effectiveness
In the room: Highly receptive fan crowd willing to endure shock, extreme physical intrusion, and boundary-pushing audience interaction
Backstory
Filmed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and released in June 2020 amidst national protests over police brutality and the cancellation of the TV show Cops
Details
- Released
- Taped
- 2019, The Republic, New Orleans
- Runtime
- 51 min
- Where
- Netflix
- Director
- Eric Notarnicola
- Topics
If you liked this
-
Mike Rice Nasty Character
YouTube
-
Steph Tolev Filth Queen
Netflix