Tonight The Eric André Show is kicking off its third season on Adult Swim, and we can promise you that you have no idea what you’re in for. We screened the first two episodes, and we couldn’t even tell you what you’re in for. Eric André’s comedy series (co-hosted by Paste favorite, Hannibal Buress), is arguably, the most bizarre, insane talk show on television. And somehow, it works. This season looks to be its most epic yet, with guests like Andy Samberg and Chris Rock joining in on the madness, and—perhaps most importantly—Eric André rocking a bold new look, inspired by the incomparable Katt Williams.
Paste caught up with man and legend Eric André, to talk Daffy Duck, babies, music, and Reese Witherspoon.
Paste Magazine: I was on your website trying to to do a little research and read up on you! I thought I might find some interesting tidbits there.
Eric André: (laughs) You were wrong!
Paste: If I seem ill-prepared, it’s because I’ve been drawing with that little penis thing for a while now.
Eric André: (laughs) It happens!
Paste: Thanks for that. Now, I did find an interesting article about you from a while back on NPR, and one of my favorite comments about you came from a reader who said you were “like a real life Daffy Duck” when you ended an interview by jumping through a fake wall.
André: I hold Daffy Duck in high esteem, I love the original Daffy Duck who was actually more daffy, and then they changed his character, and made him a little more mean. But when he first came out he was awesome.
Paste: Well as a real person, and not a cartoon, I’m curious to know about the toll this show has taken on your body. How far are you willing to go—physically—for comedy’s sake?
André: Hmmm, I’m willing to die on camera! (laughs) Nah, you can’t kill yourself, but you want to be entertaining. So, I don’t know, it’s case by case situa-tion.
Paste: Sure. Now. your Throwback Thursday posts on Instagram are pretty fun. Assuming you even consider yourself to be funny, who in your family would you is funnier than you?
André: If my mom was here, she would elect herself. She thinks that I got all of my comedy from her. But she’s delusional! She’s out of her mind. My dad is pretty funny, he’s pretty goofy. My sister is pretty straight-laced. I’m the baby, and the baby’s always the comedian.
Paste: That makes sense! I have three boys, and the younger one is starting to freak me out a bit, but in an entertaining way.
André: The baby relieves the tension in the family. He’s always cracking jokes and making people smile, so he’s probably gonna become a comedian. I noticed a lot of comedians are the babies in the family, and I also noticed a lot of comedians have at least one parent who’s a teacher. Dave Chappelle, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher I think. Hannibal’s mom was a teacher, I believe. My mom was a teacher, my Dad was a doctor. It seems like people who value education always have a kid that’s, like, a hyperactive lunatic.
Paste: (laughs) Good to know. I remember reading an interview Hannibal did a while back, and he was saying that it’d be so cool if you guys could get Chris Rock on the show—and you guys got him for this season.
André: We got him! It was amazing. He called me out of nowhere, and he was like, “Man, I love the show. Let’s do it.” I was just totally beside himself. And he was great.
Paste: And you have a bunch of other cool guests for Season Three, like Andy Samberg, Wiz Khalifa, Carmen Electra…
André: I keep forgetting we got Andy Sambergh! Wiz, Seth Rogen, Nick Cannon, Jimmy Kimmel, Tyler the Creator, Lauren Conrad, Natura Naughton, Asa Akira.
Paste: What’s your initial reaction when someone agrees to come on the show?
André: I’m just like, “What are you thinking? Are you out of your mind?”
Paste: Do you explain to them the “premise” of the series?
André: I used to explain a little bit, like, “I kinda play a crazy guy.” This year I didn’t explain anything! I just really kept people in the dark because it makes for a much more interesting interview.
Paste: One of this season’s big shockers is that you got Academy Award-winning actress “Reese Witherspoon” to make an appearance.
André: Yes! She was fantastic. She was phenomenal.
Paste: She was kind of intense in that episode. What was it like working with her?
André: She just brought it. She knocked Hannibal out, she was shouting obscenities.
Paste: It’s like this whole other side to her.
André: Yes (laughs). It’s a side we rarely see. She was lit up!
Paste: (laughs) Last season you had Curren$y on an episode, and also Chance the Rapper. I just saw Curren$y in concert, and I feel like he attracts a particular type of hip-hop fan. Who else are you listening to right now?
André: Curren$y for one—I love him. I listen to a lot of Death Grips, Venetian Snares. That’s the kind of music I listen to while I’m writing. But Joni Mitchell too, I like her.
Paste: What’s next for you? I saw that you’re doing a new FXX show with Jay Baruchel.
André: Yes, I am! It’s called Man Seeking Woman. It’s about a man seeking a woman. Jay gets dumped by his girlfriend at the top of the series, so his heart’s broken but he’s trying to get back out there in the dating scene. I play his kinda ladies man/womanizer best friend who tries to coach him back into the game. It takes place in this semi-real, semi-fantasy reality—kind of like Walter Mitty. It’s like sketch comedy-meets-random sitcom.
Paste: You strike me as someone with interesting taste in movies. If you were stranded on an island for an indefinite amount of time, which three films would you want to have with you?
André: Three films? Uh, Two Girls, One Cup, The Holy Mountain—it’s a great movie, you gotta look it up if you haven’t seen it. And UHF, it’s a Weird Al Yankovic movie.
Paste: I’m a little scared to look into The Holy Mountain.
André: Watch the trailer. It came out in the ‘70s, it’s the most tripped out movie. It’s my favorite movie of all time. John Lennon and Yoko Ono funded it, and Alejandro Jodorowsky is the filmmaker. It’s the most psychedelic, surreal, Salvador Dalí painting of a movie I’ve ever seen.
Paste: (laughs) Awesome. Thanks so much for this!
André: Thank you.
Shannon M. Houston is Assistant TV Editor at Paste, and a New York-based freelance writer with probably more babies than you. You can follow her on Twitter.