Eric Andre Review

By: Sage Larson

 One thing I will admit about Eric Andre is he certainly has a strong stage presence. He’s loud and energetic—definitely gets you excited for a good time. Then he opens with a joke about masturbating on the audience and being the next Louis C.K. Yeah.I’ve been practicing comedy (improv, sketch, stand-up) for a few years now, and I’m by no means an expert, but I have been able to garner a broader perspective than someone who just watches Netflix specials and calls it a night. This past summer I took a really great class in Chicago with the Lincoln Lodge called Fem Com. In that class, I put on a show with other female comedians in a space separate from men, and I suppose I would call it one of the most enriching experiences of my comedic academia. It was great to get to know female comedians from Chicago—hear their insights and their stories. The class also provided a stark contrast for the comedy scene outside of the Fem Com doors: a sausage fest in every sense of the term.It might not surprise you to learn that most of the stand-up comedians around town are men. It may also not surprise you to learn that about 80% of those men have routines and bits about sex, masturbation, or just their dicks in general. 10% is pee-pee, poo-poo, and fart jokes. So knowing all that, it may also not surprise you that I was unimpressed when Eric Andre, a decorated, famous comedian, spent most of his set doing... all of that. I even tried giving him a better chance by getting drunk (because I’m a silly drunk who laughs at anything), and I barely managed to crack a smile. I guess I was grateful I didn’t have to pay forty something dollars to see him, though I was kind of pissed I wasn’t getting compensated for having to stand through his opener who was even worse.In my humble, someone-who-has-never-had-a-comedy-special-like-world-class-funny-guy-Kevin-Hart-who-we-all-obviously-respect-as-the-pinnacle-of-humor opinion, it was simply not good. Fart, pee-pee, penis, and masturbation jokes are tolerable if I’m listening to them for free at Schubas waiting for my turn with the mic, but when it’s someone charging you money off name alone, that’s when it becomes a review-worthy issue for me.There were definitely bits that were alright. I found that when he actually leaned more into his liberal politics or even just a kind of crazy randomness that wasn’t entirely sexual in nature, I had fun! Another part of the show I’d be begrudged to not mention is when he spent probably twenty or thirty minutes taking peoples’ phones and using autofill to text their parents which then evolved into facetiming peoples’ parents. That was totally a lot of fun, but it was, again, one of those name-alone type things. It wouldn’t have been as awesome if it wasn’t someone famous doing it, and it wasn’t particularly creative. I could autofill text my mom for free. The only difference is that the famous guy is putting next to no effort into that portion of his set, and yet it’s still funnier than anything else he’s said or done the whole night. For me, Eric Andre works great as a character on his show and as an opportunity to say, “Hey! I saw Eric Andre!” I can stand small bursts of him doing absurdist sketches in public with the help of a confused, scared audience, crazy props, or other people to bounce his lines off of—but having to watch him by himself on a stage for almost two hours, I felt like I was seeing someone who was burnt out and just throwing whatever the fuck at the audience in a (truthfully successful) attempt to get cheap laughs. Again, the energy? Excellent! When he imitated what ejaculating would feel like (multiple times throughout the night), I never doubted he was putting his whole self into those outrageous howls and screams. But the actual jokes themselves? Shallow, unoriginal, and something I could find at any open mic bar with men on the waitlist.  Final Verdict: 4/10 with the help of two double shot vodka cranberries.