Eric André Pulls Out All the Stops with ‘Shark Tank’s Daymond John
Ask Eric André if he was expecting one, let alone two Emmy nominations for his Adult Swim sketch comedy series this year, and he’ll tell you straight up: “Not at all.”
“I went into the show not thinking anybody was even going to watch it from the beginning, so to get the nominations is pretty amazing,” says the creator and star of The Eric André Show.“The show is insane.”
The sheer number of elements packed into its 11-minute episodes, which parody public-access talk shows, adds to the outlandishness of the series, in which André does everything from delivering surrealist monologues in the studio to playing clever pranks on unsuspecting citizens and interviewing celebrities — Donald Glover, Jon Hamm and Natasha Lyonne are the latest to sit in his oversize shaggy pink faux fur guest chair.
The show, now in its sixth season, received a nod for outstanding shortform series, with André also receiving a nomination as a performer.
How did you settle on 11 minutes as the sweet spot for episode length?
With the quarter-hour formula, you’re just in and out. It’s like, here it is, here’s the idea, and you’re out. They always leave you wanting more. And you can always marathon it if you want to. I think it’s a perfect swallow; it’s the perfect size for a show so insane. You don’t want to ever be like, “Yeah, OK, I’ve had enough.” It’s so crazy, you just want to hit it, experience it and then move on.
The episodes look pretty intense. What are shoot days like for you?
It depends on if we’re shooting in the street or studio stuff. The pranks are stressful, because people have pulled out knives and guns on me before. I got arrested before. That’s why these nominations mean so much, because I’ve sacrificed my safety and my criminal record for the show.
You once considered not doing your show anymore, but then you thought about the privilege of having full creative control and decided not to give that up. What has that freedom meant to you as a creator in the comedy space?
I feel understood. I feel acknowledged and accepted. It’s one thing to show up as an actor in something and you kind of just spout the lines that somebody else wrote. It’s way more exciting, and you have much more of a sense of accomplishment, when you wrote it and you produced it; it’s like your baby. I’ve been doing different versions of this thing since 2003, 2004 — 20 years — before it was even a TV show. It’s been a long road.
Which guest did you have the most fun with this past season?
Oh man, Lil Yachty was really great, and Daymond John from Shark Tank; he didn’t know what the hell was going on. We took that man on a journey. We brought his brain to the precipice of reality and life. He looked me in the eye in the middle of the interview and said, “I’m never going to forget about this interview for the rest of my life.”
This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.