Chug, Chug, Chug! The prevailing chant of The Eric Andre Show Live as the famed absurdist comic brought his touring live show to Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion this past weekend.
Andre is right. Aussies love chugging things. And so each and every guest – singer Donny Benet, comedian Nikki Osbourne, and a few audience members – were pressured into drinking various things on stage, ranging from bottles of wine and beer to hot sauce and, of course, ranch.
Yes, a ranch chugging content. Twice in the same segment. It was very clearly one-sided and yet Andre considered the confected competition a tie, instead opting to watch as each contestant punch their way out of a box. It was no Rapper, Warrior, Ninja, but at least they had fun.
Sound random? Sure was. That’s the Eric Andre Show in a nutshell, and the live version is absolutely no exception. But randomness and funny are often two different things.
You see, as ludicrously funny Andre can be at the best of times, it’s clear he needs various recurring characters and prank segments to make the whole thing work. Live, he has very few of those to play around with. While it was great to see Big Little Lies star Reese Witherspoon (yes, the real one*) serve as co-host, the absence, of his trusty “live band”, characters like Russell Brand (yes, the real one*), and fresh street goofs like Bird Up and that one where he dresses as an octopus and causes absolute chaos in a restaurant, was felt.
Yet that’s not to say Andre can’t hold his own. The man is charmingly immature and relentlessly annoying. He stretches bits to the point where you have no choice but to laugh at the madness of it all, even for the parts that are objectively a bit cringe. Because, in a conventional sense, Eric Andre is not very funny live.
Not in a Michael Richards way. But in a Tom Green way.
And that’s fine. Your idea of “funny” should be challenged and checked at the door. Even though, if you’ve seen the Eric Andre Show before, you know exactly what to expect.
He isn’t jokey like Jerry Seinfeld. He isn’t didactic like Hannah Gadsby. He isn’t incisive like Ricky Gervais. Eric Andre sets himself apart quite brilliantly by just being an eccentric-yet-good-natured troll, but that also means he’s even more divisive than those that have come before him. And he freakin’ loves it.
Andre’s brand of comedy isn’t unique, but the man has refined it with charm, sass and a whole lot of unapologetic nudity. That much is clear as soon as he channels Janet Jackson’s iconic “Would You Mind” routine and brings an audience member up on stage, ties him to an X-cross, and goes to give him a lap dance only to make him faux-ejaculate all over the crowd.
If you’re the type of person who uses words like “punching down” and “Kanye West is evil because I don’t understand what bi-polar mania is”, chances are, you’re not going to find Andre very funny.
On a night when tens of thousands of positive people packed into Accor Stadium to witness the greatest living artist of all time, Taylor Swift, lead a wholesome care bear stare and exchange friendship bracelets for a few hours, Eric Andre traumatised the Hordern Pavillion with darkness and problematic male toxicity. For a night, he was the Kanye of Sydney. The villainous outcast set upon the world to act as a dark counterpart to Taylor’s paradigm-shifting, groundbreaking and overwhelmingly positive light.
He was a sub for Kanye in the ultimate pop culture battle of good versus evil. If only for one night. The man is unafraid of a society that keeps laying out eggshells for people to walk on. He’ll step all over those fragile egos with a smile, and miraculously do it without offending anyone.
Yet, as “offensive” as some of Eric’s comedy may be, the man does it in a way that feels like it actually has a chance in the court of child-splaining public opinion. I’m sure that’s a hard balance to achieve, and so it’s worth noting. I hope Eric Andre lives forever. Or at least as long as the overbearing shame his final guest felt (no spoilers, in case it’s a bit – don’t ever tell Eric Andre that you just broke up with your partner).
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
*not the real one
Presented by Frontier Touring, The Eric Andre Show continues its Australian tour in Brisbane tomorrow, before moving onto Adelaide, Perth and Auckland. Head HERE for tickets and dates.
