Tim & Eric are an American comedy duo consisting of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. They are the creators and stars of the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

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''.

Background

Both

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

natives, Heidecker and Wareheim met in 1994 at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

; 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 (Penn or UPenn) is a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of founder and first pr ...

'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 Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer. He started his career as a comedian and comedy writer before expanding his career by acting in dramatic works. His List of awards and no ...

, 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 Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

of '' Tom Goes to the Mayor''. 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 '' Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'', which ran for five seasons and established a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

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". Their projects often feature amateur performers and intentionally crude or tacky production values inspired by low-budget advertising,

public access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-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 specia ...

, 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. V ...

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 commerc ...

series that was on the

programming block on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

. Wareheim and Heidecker had mailed copies of an early version of the show to comedian

, who agreed to take on the project as the

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

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.

''Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' 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 or anti-comedy is a type of alternative humor that is based on the surprise factor of absence of an expected joke or of a punch line in a narration that is set up as a joke, which in turn can have a humorous effect to some. This kin ...

public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

-style performances, bizarre faux-commercials, and

kitsch ''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste. The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...

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

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

'' 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, Will Ferrell, Jeff Goldblum, John C. Reilly, Erica Durance, and Will Forte, 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 Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

special 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 in developing his TV pilot '' The Neighbors'' for Adult Swim, but later backed out of the project due to creative differences with Wiseau. In 2011, the duo appeared in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' episode " The Food Wife", voicing two characters as well as performing a song they wrote. Tim and Eric, along with

LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem is an American Dance-punk#Contemporary dance-punk, dance-punk revival band from Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy (electronic musician), James Murphy, of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy (vocals ...

frontman James Murphy and comedian Gregg Turkington, starred in the 2012

dramedy Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

'' 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, philanthropist, record producer, and winemaker. He is best known as the singer and primary lyricist of the rock bands Tool (band), Tool, A Perfe ...

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 Michael Austin Cera ( ; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor. Over his career he has received nominations for a British Academy Film Award, three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. Cera beca ...

, Sarah Silverman and

Reggie Watts Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, musician, beatboxer, and actor. His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. He refers to himself as a "disinfo ...

in the creation of the

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

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

owned by Heidecker, Wareheim, and producer Dave Kneebone. It produced '' Tom Goes to the Mayor'', '' Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' and '' Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule''.

References

External links

Abso Lutely Productions Website
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Interview on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn
{{Authority control 21st-century American comedians American comedy duos American performance artists Black comedy Surreal comedy Screenwriting duos Performing groups established in 2001