Ask Eric André if he expected one, let alone two Emmy nominations for his Adult Swim sketch comedy series this year, and he’ll tell you flat out: “Not at all.”
“I went into the show not thinking anyone was going to watch it from the start, so to get the nominations is pretty incredible,” says the creator and star of The Eric André show. “The show is crazy.”
The sheer number of elements packed into its 11-minute episodes, which parody free-to-air talk shows, adds to the extravagance of the series, in which André does everything from surreal in-studio monologues to clever pranks on unsuspecting citizens to celebrity interviews — Donald Glover, Jon Hamm and Natasha Lyonne are the latest to sit in his oversized pink faux-fur guest chair.
The show, now in its sixth season, received a nomination for best short-form series, with André also receiving a nomination as a performer.
How did you choose 11 minutes as the ideal length for an episode?
With the 15-minute format, you come in and you come out. It’s like you have the idea and you come out. You always want more. And you can always make a marathon out of it if you want to. I think it’s a perfect sip; it’s the perfect size for a show that’s this crazy. You never want to be like, “Yeah, OK, I’ve had enough.” It’s so crazy that you just want to live it, experience it, and move on.
The episodes look pretty intense. How do you guys go about your filming days?
It depends if we’re shooting on the street or in the studio. Pranks are stressful because people have pulled knives and guns on me before. I’ve been arrested before. That’s why these nominations mean so much because I sacrificed my safety and my criminal record for the show.
You once considered quitting your show, but then you thought about the privilege of having total creative control and decided not to give it up. What has that freedom meant to you as a comedy creator?
I feel understood, acknowledged and accepted. It’s one thing to perform as an actor in a film and repeat lines written by someone else. It’s much more exciting and you have a greater sense of accomplishment when you’ve written and produced a film, it’s like your baby. I’ve been doing different versions of this project since 2003, 2004, 20 years, before it was even a television show. It’s been a long road.
Which guest did you have the most fun with last season?
Oh man, Lil Yachty was really awesome, and Daymond John from The shark pool; he didn’t know what was going on. We took this man on a journey. We took his brain to the edge of the precipice of reality and life. He looked me in the eye in the middle of the interview and said, “I’ll never forget that interview for the rest of my life.”
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