Comedy Bang! Bang!: “Eric Andre”

Considering the fact that Scott Aukerman and Eric Andre are basically the kings of alternative talk shows—if you can actually call either of their shows that—I was absolutely anticipating “Eric Andre Wears a Cat Collage Shirt and Sneakers” more than almost any other episode this season. Literally, anything could happen with these two. And while that’s the case with any episode of CBB, with these two, the added possibility of chaos is definitely upped quite a bit.

What I strangely underestimated was the appearance of Weird Al Yankovich. Last time Yankovich appeared on the show, in the Season One finale “Weird Al Yankovich Wears a Hawaiian Shirt,” we were taken on a universe-destroying journey through the entire season, and he gave us one of the best episodes of the series. In this penultimate episode, Yankovich does something similar, and once again guests on one of the best episodes of the series.

With “Eric Andre Wears a Cat Collage Shirt and Sneakers,” Scott and Reggie go on a time-traveling adventure. As they both aim for the perfect show, they continually have to go back in time, until we’ve got six Scotts and Reggies in costumes, one Reggie has died, and the time traveling inventor Mike Cankers—played by Yankovich—attempts to ruin the show that ruined him.

What’s been so wonderful about the last few episodes of this third season is the show’s attempts to try something very different—at which they’ve often succeeded. This week, only about half of the episode takes place on the actual couch, which is a great change. As much as a great guest can make or break this part of the show, it’s such a welcome change putting the show’s focus somewhere else, all while still making the episode largely about the interview segment.

Eric Andre does get a lot of fun moments during his interview, and he and Scott are incredibly fun together. Watching Eric “ruin” the set like he does on the show (only to have CBB ruin it for him in post), leaves the studio in flames and turns Reggie into a clip art of a reindeer with sunglasses on. And it’s always hilarious to have someone go on a Neil Campbell written rant, as Scott uses some “bad language” (i.e. “kicking a little butt”), leaving Eric to say that he likes his snacks salty, but not his language, and he might like his balls blue, but not his language. The Campbell diatribes have been popping up with much more consistency this season, but they’re so ridiculously stupid fun, how could you mind?

A big part of this season’s fun has pertained to the friendship between Scott and Reggie. Watching them constantly have to go back and back in time, and their increasingly dumb costumes is funny in and of itself, especially when we have half a dozen Scotts and Reggies clogging up the screen. But the real greatness of “Eric Andre” comes from Cankers and Scott chasing each other through the past episodes of the season, as Bill Cosby Bukowski is shocked by the duo, and Jesse Ventura proclaims he knew that there were real time travelers. And hey, even Paul “Rusty” Rust makes an appearance!

“Eric Andre” is one of the season and series’ best episodes, because it changes things up quite a bit, focused on Scott and Reggie, and ties up the entire season in a weird, totally CBB way. Scott and Reggie might’ve been searching for the perfect episodes, and I’ll be damned if they don’t come pretty close.

Ross Bonaime is a D.C.-based freelance writer and regular contributor to Paste. You can follow him on Twitter.