It’s an Awesome Show, But It’s Not For Everyone

Tim_and_Eric_Awesome_Show_title“Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show: Great Job” is a show on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, like “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” “Squidbillies” and “Moral Oral” that manages to get big time laughs in spite of a 12-minute run time and poor production values. Different in the fact that it’s a live-action show, rather than an animated sitcom, it always finds itself hovering on the insane and over the top, making for some interesting television that is unlike anything else on the air right now.

Think “Kids in the Hall” meets “The Whitest Kids You Know,” with an extra strength prescription of vicodin to get you relaxed and an extra large cherry flavored-slurpee for flavor.

The show’s hosts, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, are weird in every sense of the word and go out of their way to make sure they embarrass themselves in every episode. It’s an eccentric mix to say the very least, but it works in the sense that they can consistently make you laugh at their misfortunes.

Not a way to cement a career, granted, but it is a way to establish one’s own comedic niche.

That is exactly what happens here. While it is nowhere as revolutionary as something like Monty Python, it’s funny in its own right.

However, in spite of its off the wall antics and weird premise, it isn’t for everyone, as some may even be turned off by its lack of structure and bizarre nature.

Nevertheless, the show’s first season is a great place to sample the comedic stylings of the pair, as it is their best to date.

Consisting of 12 episodes on one DVD, the first season of the show can be watched in a few hours. It is here where some of the show’s best skits, ranging from phony commercials, prank phone calls and even music videos are featured, highlighting the absurdity and no-holds barred comedy the show is known for.

Because of its unique style, the show has attracted a wide range of celebrity guest stars, ranging from John C. Reilly, who serves as the nervous Dr. Steve Brule in a reoccurring role and David Cross who explains to a buxom chick, who wants some “sausage” that she can pleasure him in other ways besides using her mouth. Zach Galifianakis, also does a pretty job job explaining the importance of gravy stealing, that is also extremely entertaining.

It’s moments like these that make the show as daring as fun as it needs to be, but in the end, it is the wacky performances of the show’s hosts that give the show the strength and appeal it needs to be successful.

Sure, it doesn’t exactly make sense at times.

Sure, it may be disgusting too.

But it works.

Sometimes, appreciating a show means looking past obvious faults and finding hidden strengths. With wit, charm and passion, Wareheim and Heidecker have masked their obsession with their own shortcomings, immaturity and peculiarity.

That makes their show a hit and something worth watching.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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