Eric André Explains How to Prank People Without Getting Stabbed

Summary

Good One (Vulture): Eric André Explains How to Prank People Without Getting Stabbed

Date: March 26, 2026
Host: Jesse David Fox
Guest: Eric André

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Episode Overview

In this live episode of Good One from SXSW, comedian and provocateur Eric André sits down with Jesse David Fox for a raucous, honest, and often chaotic conversation about the business and art of pranking, the philosophy of failure, and surviving both literal and comedic danger. André reflects on his career, offers insider perspectives on hidden camera comedy and making Bad Trip, reveals lessons from industry legends, and talks about the next phase of his creative journey.

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Key Themes & Topics

1. Life Updates & Festival Reflections

• Vasectomy & John Waters Encounter

  • André recounts recently having a vasectomy, likening the occasion to sending friends sonogram photos. ("I was, like, showing pictures of my vas defron snips. I was like, I made it to the finish line." [01:59])
  • Painfully attended a Nine Inch Nails show, unable to "jump or run" due to recovery.
  • Fanboyed over John Waters, leading to post-op regret: "My balls felt like a pair of maracas." [01:54]

• Changing SXSW

  • André reflects on two decades of SXSW attendance and rues missing its original, less commercial, "punk rock" phase.
  • "All festivals kind of have the same trajectory...then they become popular and corporations want to bukaki all over. That's how life is. That's life." [04:03]

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2. Technology, AI & Corporate Critique

• Tech Infiltration & AI Fatigue

  • On constant AI discourse: "Do people have AI fatigue? Let's talk about it then." [04:47]
  • Sees duality in AI: potential for collective good but warns "a lot of the billionaires behind it are evil psychopaths that apparently eat children." [05:02]

• Experience with Tech Giant Portrayal

  • Discusses "The Internship" film as a light touch, "propaganda movie" for Google.
  • Shares cinephile passion for Soy Cuba, a Soviet-Cuban propaganda film with innovative camerawork. ("They did shots in that movie that were never replicated in any other movie...real cinephile nerd shit." [06:43])

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3. The Comedy of Failure & Evolution

• Podcast Evolution: 'Bombing'

  • André describes evolving the format to embrace "chaos," now featuring multiple guests and unscripted energy. ("Put a little more chaos in it because the premise of just asking a comic about their worst gig...but it's evolved and devolved since." [08:35])

• Philosophy on Failure

  • "Failure is the mother of success...There's no better way to learn a lesson and what not to do and be traumatized by the failure so that you never, ever...repeat it again." [08:56]
  • Cites John Waters’ “good bad taste, bad bad taste” mantra as a guiding principle. [09:18]
  • "Just because you're offended doesn’t mean you’re right." (Explained via moral intention and karma, referencing Buddhist thought.) [10:32]

• Memorable Bombing Story

  • Opening for Chris Rock in New Orleans: bombed so badly an audience member said, "Come on, you're better than that, Eric." [14:46]
  • Chris Rock reassured him, sharing the story of Prince being booed by Rolling Stones fans and the necessity of failure for growth. [16:46]

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4. Art of the Prank

A. Mining for Chaos

• André distinguishes "mining for chaos" (desired outcome in his field pieces) from comedy "bombing" (unintended failure). [18:22]
  • "I'm like a truffle pig, mining and sniffing around for the deepest, dankest prank in the street." [18:22]
  • "A prank that bombs on the street is just like, the person didn't have a good reaction." [19:07]

B. The Making and Journey of Bad Trip

• Took 7–8 years from inception to Netflix release; shooting required iterative filming and testing with real reactions.
• Details corporate mismanagement and near-miss with Quibi—film was almost broken into 6 iPhone segments and released on a doomed platform before Netflix finally acquired it. [20:39–24:46]
  • "They were willing to take it, sell it off at a loss at Quibi...versus making money on it at Netflix, where it was the number one movie in the world." [24:46]
  • Despite the film’s viral success, André personally made less than $20k for 7.5 years of work, due to streamer economics: "I probably made 19,000 bucks off of eight years of work on the biggest movie in the country." [25:28]

C. Anatomy of a Prank

• The 'Zoo/Gorilla' Prank (Bad Trip)

  • André falls into a gorilla enclosure; mocked up as a Harambe parody, the prank builds to the gorilla "butt-fucking" his character in front of real onlookers.
  • Crafted with animatronics, Cirque du Soleil performer, and multiple takes to sell realism.
  • "...They bought it. Jeff [Tremaine] was like, I did not think they would buy it. It was...so big." [29:13]

• High-Risk Moments

  • In another scene, chased out of a barbershop with a knife, after pranking with prosthetic penises ("Chinese finger trap" bit). Relieved shopkeeper signed release, preferring the prank to having potentially "committed double homicide." [31:22]

• Release Forms & Ethics

  • Most difficult releases? Not the angry or frightened—often those are easiest, as people are so relieved it’s a joke.

D. The Dangers & Wisdom of Pranking

• Lessons from Sacha Baron Cohen and Jeff Tremaine: "Never get stabbed because it's bad for production." [36:01]
  • "If they hit your kidneys that takes, like, so long to repair...You'll lose your production insurance."

E. Prank Lineage & Inspirations

• Praises the influence of Jackass, Tom Green, Sacha Baron Cohen, and magicians like Penn Jillette.
  • "Imitation is the highest form of flattery...I grew up worshiping Ali G Show and Tom Green show. Tom Green, especially." [40:55]

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5. Worldview, Humanity & Industry Reflections

• On the Nature of People:

  • "Most of humanity...aren't incredibly violent...People are actually pretty, pretty sweet and pretty helpful." [38:11]

• Entertainment Industry & Streaming

  • Recognizes the story of Bad Trip as emblematic of industry upheaval, especially regarding financial participation in streamer-dominated era: "People will always want entertainment. The mediums will always change and evolve and devolve..." [25:52–26:26]

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6. The Eric André Show & Next Steps

• Season 6 was unexpected ("I don't know if Adult Swim really exists anymore...it kind of disintegrated." [39:37])

• Interested in reinventing the talk show format for a new era, possibly larger or distributed on YouTube.

  • As he ages: "I'm just more tired. Yeah, that's...It wouldn't be more mature. There'd be fart jokes aplenty. But go to bed earlier." [40:22]

• On Comedic Offspring:

  • Proud of alumni (e.g., Sarah Sherman); praises her special for breaking standup conventions.
    • "She like brought it into the 21st century...I remember being, like, jealous of her special." [42:30]

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7. Travel Show Ambitions

• Pitch for new travel show: "Anthony Bourdain meets Jackass meets Hunter S. Thompson meets David Tells Insomniac." [46:20]
  • Wants to "synthesize cocaine from coca leaves" in Bolivia, and experiment with Colombia's "devil's breath" scopolamine—comedic chaos through immersive cultural taboos. [46:47]
  • Original concept: Taboo—exploring customs by breaking (and learning from) taboo practices internationally.

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8. Lessons, Regrets, & Memorable Interactions

• Turning Down Oscar-Winning Role:

  • Turned down Jesse Eisenberg's Poland film (later played by Kieran Culkin), missed out on both an Oscar and EU citizenship.
  • "I could have walked away with EU passport and an Oscar. Those are the two things I need the most, man. So it's a real kick in the crotch." [49:11]

• Upcoming Projects:

  • Lead in "Little Brother" (with John Cena), role in "Street Fighter," and projects with Boots Riley and Pete Farrelly.
  • Launching a rum company—a genuine passion, not a typical "celebrity liquor" cash-in.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Corporate Absorption of Art:

  • "All festivals...start out punk rock...then become popular and then corporations want to bukaki all over..." [04:03]

• On AI:

  • "It has the potential for good. But a lot of the billionaires behind it are evil psychopaths that apparently eat children." [05:02]

• On Good vs. Bad Taste:

  • "John Waters has a quote...there's good bad taste and there's bad bad taste. And that is like, what? That's like my mantra." [09:18]

• On Learning from Failure:

  • "Failure is the mother of success. Failure is the greatest teacher." [08:56]

• On Hidden Camera Comedy:

  • "For everything we film...we only show, like, 15% of what we filmed because that much material is not usable pranks. It's a lot of trial and error..." [19:07]
  • "Never get stabbed because it's bad for production." — Sacha Baron Cohen advice [36:01]

• On Industry Economics:

  • "I probably made 19,000 bucks off of eight years of work on the biggest movie in the country." [25:28]

• On Humanity:

  • "Most of humanity...are pretty sweet and pretty helpful. I don't think humanity would have made it this far if people didn't have like Good Samaritan nature." [38:11]

• Travel Show Vision:

  • "I want to go to Bolivia, synthesize cocaine from coca leaves and make the original coca cola recipe...I want a bunch of comedians to blow [devil's breath] into my face and...do embarrassing things in the streets of Columbia." [46:47]

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Highlight Moments & Timestamps

• Vasectomy and Nine Inch Nails mishap: [01:54]
• Corporate bukkake festival arc: [04:03]
• AI billionaire roast: [05:02]
• Failure as greatest teacher: [08:56]
• Good/bad taste mantra: [09:18]
• Chris Rock/Prince bombing story: [14:46–16:46]
• Making of Bad Trip and Netflix saga: [20:39–24:50]
• Gorilla enclosure prank: [28:51]
• Getting chased with a knife for a prank: [31:22]
• Sacha's "never get stabbed" advice: [36:01]
• Tired but not more mature: future of Eric Andre Show: [40:22]
• Travel show pitch: [46:20, 46:47]
• Turning down Oscar role & missing dual citizenship: [49:11]
• Favorite Morrissey story (not his own): [57:37]
• Joke he'd defend to the grave (lecture a ghost): [61:06]

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Conclusion

This Good One episode captures Eric André at his rawest and most open—spinning wild stories, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the treacherous, hilarious labor of pranking, interrogating the lines of taste, and reflecting on high-profile near-misses and expanding horizons. Listeners walk away with a new appreciation for the difficulty and craft of chaos, the grind behind viral gags, and the value of surviving (and even chasing) failure.

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Listen for:

• André’s war stories from the cutting edge of prank comedy
• How to prank without getting stabbed (literally and figuratively)
• Observations on show business absurdity and advice for thriving in a chaotic industry
• Lots of NSFW jokes, warmhearted (if irreverent) wisdom, and pure comedic insanity

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Transcript

[Eric Andre]

Ugh.

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[Eric Andre]

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[Eric Andre]

And the kicker is. And then Jesse Eisenberg, Poland, granted him EU citizenship. And I've been trying to get dual citizenship since Trump got in the White House in 2016. I've been trying to find my escape country. So I was like, I could have walked away with EU passport and an Oscar. Oh, yeah. What's up, y'? All?

[Jesse David Fox]

All right, welcome, everyone, to Good One live at south by Southwest. I am Jesse David Fox, senior writer at Vulture and author of comedy book. My guest is Eric Andre, comedian, actor,

[Eric Andre]

sex symbol, Sex symbol host, Aries.

[Jesse David Fox]

So, as we like to start, what is the funniest or strangest thing that's happened to you this week?

[Eric Andre]

This week specifically? So two weeks ago, I got a vasectomy.

[Jesse David Fox]

Congrats.

[Eric Andre]

Thank you. And then for me, that's like having a baby. I was like, I have, like, pictures of it. You know, like, someone gets pregnant, they send you the. What's it called? The sonogram or whatever. Like, oh, it's gonna be a girl. I was, like, showing pictures of my vas defron snips. I was like, I made it to the finish line. So anyway, I got a vasectomy a couple weeks ago, and then I went to Nine Inch Nails a couple nights ago, and John Waters was, like, right next to me before I went in. And I loved John Waters so much that I started jumping up and down and giggling before I went over and talked to him. But you're not supposed to, like, jump or run after you give sexectomy, so my balls felt like a pair of maracas the entire nine Inch Nail show. I put my balls in tremendous pain.

[Jesse David Fox]

How are they now? Are they okay now?

[Eric Andre]

What's that?

[Jesse David Fox]

Are they okay now?

[Eric Andre]

They're all right.

[Jesse David Fox]

I didn't want everyone to be worried about your balls. The entire panel.

[Eric Andre]

They're better than they were a couple nights ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

So you've been coming to south by Southwest periodically for. For a while now?

[Eric Andre]

Maybe 20 years. Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

What do you make of it first and how do you feel about how it has changed over the last few years to of be more tech centered?

[Eric Andre]

I wish I saw it in its Gen 1fa. I didn't experience it in the 90s. Right. When did it start? How old is it? 87.

[Jesse David Fox]

87.

[Eric Andre]

87. Was it just like Steve Albini, arms folded in the middle of the Congress? Like, was it like really humble beginning? Nobody knows that reference. Was it just like Husker do and like a couple indie bands like Scrapping

[Jesse David Fox]

it might have that,

[Eric Andre]

that. I wish I saw it in that like Gen 1 phase, but that was

[Jesse David Fox]

like the blog era. So it's like 20 years ago. It's like when there's like all the music blogs are like putting on panels and stuff. Not panels, but like parties.

[Eric Andre]

I'm not a historian. I couldn't tell you how much it really changed. But all festivals kind of have the same trajectory where they start out punk rock and you know, creative and artistic and then they become popular and then corporations want to bukaki all over. That's how life is. That's life.

[Jesse David Fox]

I didn't want to deprive people and have this panel not also be partly about AI. So I was curious, what are your feelings and thoughts about.

[Eric Andre]

So is every panel an AI question?

[Jesse David Fox]

The sense I have is that is the case.

[Eric Andre]

Do people have AI fatigue? Let's talk about it then.

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, I imagine your take on this might be different than everyone else talking about how it will fix X industry.

[Eric Andre]

You know, it's such a broad topic and it's so triggering for people. I think, you know, it depends on what are you talking about. Are you talking about like truck drivers losing their jobs or are you just talking about like a program that's easier to use than after effects to animate graphics? Are you taking jobs away people? Or are we all using it collectively to make our jobs and our lives easier and hopefully get a day work week and not a five day work week. So it has the potential for good. But a lot of the billionaires behind it are evil psychopaths that apparently eat children. So I'm not so crazy about that part of the whole demonic, evil, sociopathic part of it. That's troubling.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. I think that trouble you're in, that movie, the Internship 13 years ago, that was about working at Google.

[Eric Andre]

Sure was.

[Jesse David Fox]

Did you meet Google employees then?

[Eric Andre]

No, I think the director didn't like me that much. And it was a little softball. It was just like, hey, man, Google's cool. It wasn't like, hey, man, Google's spying on you. It was a bit of like a propaganda movie. I like some propaganda movies. Soy Cuba. That's a cool propaganda movie. You ever seen that shit?

[Jesse David Fox]

I have not.

[Eric Andre]

Oh, yeah? That's cool, man.

[Jesse David Fox]

What's it about?

[Eric Andre]

Apparently, when the revolution happened in Cuba, like a couple years after they. That Russia sent a bunch of Soviet filmmakers to Cuba to film this, like, propaganda piece about, like, how, like, awesome Cuba is and how much better it is with Castro. And now it's like, better because it's communist, but they send these really amazing Soviet filmmakers over there, and they did shots in that movie that were never replicated in any other movie. They had like these weird contraptions where they would put the camera on a wire essentially, and have it, like, move through the crowd. And this is like before steadicams, techno jibs, you know. Like, this is really like, I want to say 1960, you know, and they would just have all these cool. It's real cinephile nerd shit. I don't know. You just have to watch the movie. I'm not gonna do anything.

[Jesse David Fox]

And we'll play it right? Yeah, play right there.

[Eric Andre]

Pull up the clip.

[Jesse David Fox]

So you're perform. You'll be doing a live episode of your podcast Bombing here at south by Southwest.

[Eric Andre]

You coming?

[Jesse David Fox]

When is it? I think.

[Eric Andre]

I don't know.

[Jesse David Fox]

I feel like. I think I might be out cop.

[Eric Andre]

You gotta tell me if you're a cop or. It's entrapment, dude.

[Jesse David Fox]

So the podcast used to be you and one person just talking about bombing, but recently changed to you and a sort of grouping.

[Eric Andre]

Yeah, I thought that the first gen version of it seemed kind of boring. After a while I was like, I need to motivate myself to come to work, so why don't I have like a bunch of my friends now? It's like too many people, and I kind of like it.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah, now it's like everyone's interrupting each other. Someone's cooking, and then the dominatrix might walk in.

[Eric Andre]

You're correct. I just, like, brought it back to my basics, you know, put a Little more chaos in it because the premise of just asking a comic about their worst gig, I think that, like, that fills it up. That kicked it off, but it's evolved and devolved since.

[Jesse David Fox]

About bombing. You said, failure is the greatest teacher. What does that mean to you?

[Eric Andre]

Failure is the mother of success. Failure is the greatest teacher. There's no better way to learn a lesson and what not to do and be traumatized by the failure so that you never, ever, hopefully never repeat it again.

[Jesse David Fox]

Can you think of a failure that you particularly learned from? Can you think of an example?

[Eric Andre]

All of them. I think like that Google movie you mentioned. The first 10 years of my resume, two broke girls and all that fucking stupid shit I did. Just doing horrible jokes. I'm like to bring up John Waters again. John Waters has a quote in his book Shock Value where he says there's good bad taste and there's bad bad taste. And that is like, what? That's like my mantra. So I try to be shocking and offensive with love. Thank you. One dude did seem like he.

[Jesse David Fox]

He was hoping everyone would start clapping

[Eric Andre]

along, but nobody did. Nobody gave a shit.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you feel like you are still figuring out or you for a while were figuring out where the line was between the good and bad?

[Eric Andre]

I am. Every time, anytime I make any joke, you know, you're always figuring it out and the line is always moving and changing with the wind.

[Jesse David Fox]

Can you think of an example where you felt either a joke or a prank or something where you're like, this is exactly my line at this time, or this is exactly what I hope.

[Eric Andre]

It's not mathematical and, like, being offended is in the eye of the beholder, so. And also, people use being offended by, like, trying to have some moral leverage over you. But just because you're offended doesn't mean you're in the right. There's people that are offended by gay marriage and there's people that are offended by interracial marriage. And if my parents listen to those people, I want to exist maybe for the better. This fucking world sucks right now. Maybe I do agree with those people, but just because you're offended doesn't mean you're right. So I don't know, it's up to the. You know, it's a subjective, personal call, but, you know, I think it comes down to intention. Karma is defined by intention, you know, intention of your actions. So if a Buddhist monk is walking across the grass and steps on a bug and kills it, just because they're walking across, that's not a negative. Karmic charge. But if a Buddhist monk. It doesn't even have to be a Buddhist monk. Anybody? Sure, sure. Anybody? I learned that from a Buddhist monk. If somebody goes up to the bug and kills the bug in the eyes of a Buddhist, that's a negative karmic charge. So what were we talking about?

[Jesse David Fox]

I believe that was your metaphor for one's attempt.

[Eric Andre]

Good bad taste for Dramamine right now, brother. So I don't barf on stage at the.

[Jesse David Fox]

Did we put a bucket out?

[Eric Andre]

Fucking palace. Where are we? Do you have a favorite time you trump decorate? Just the ceiling. Remember when his wife fell down the stairs? Nobody investigated that. My ex wife fell down the stairs. Uh huh. There's an entire documentary called Staircase where the guy was like, oh, my wife fell down the stairs. Like, you killed the shit out of your wife, dog. Like, she didn't fall down the stairs, she fell down the stairs like Bugs Bunny. Like, you know how hard it is to die by falling down the stairs? Kind of fucking MC Escher house to live in that your stairs are like. Yeah. What I'm trying to say is the President murdered his ex wife.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you have a favorite time you bombed?

[Eric Andre]

Allegedly. Sorry, yes, yes, allegedly. He's probably not a violent person. Show me proof that he has a record of violence against women and children. We live in hell. Okay. I thought he was going to make my eggs cheaper, Derrick. And he's eating kids like corn on the cob. Gosh, we're fucking doomed, man. We're doomed. It's fucking so bleak. But as long as I'm making a cheap ass omelet, I'm. Sorry, I'm getting off track here.

[Jesse David Fox]

No, it's fine.

[Eric Andre]

You know, when that Dramamine hits, dude, you're just flying, brother.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you have a favorite time you bombed?

[Eric Andre]

A favorite type of bond?

[Jesse David Fox]

A favorite time you bombed?

[Eric Andre]

Oh my gosh, how much time you got? I mean, 46 minutes. 46 minutes. Okay, great, perfect. You know, I opened up for Chris Rock one time in New Orleans and his crowd doesn't want what I'm selling. You know what I mean? Like, like imagine you go to see Usher in concert and then like a shitty punk band opens up for him. You'd be like, what the fuck is going on here? That's what it was like opening up for Chris. I would always like kind of do mediocre and hold my ground. But like one night I just like, I don't know, I was phoning it in or something and this guy from the back went next. And I'm Used to doing, like, podunk chicken chip bar shows. So I was like, this is like a huge whatever, amphitheater. So I was like, why'd you come up here and say to my face, motherfucker? Like a scene from Roadhouse or something? And Hannibal was on the side of the stage. He was like, no, no, what are you doing? Don't do that. And God, I just, like, imploded into myself. And this dude in the front row, as I'm telling my last joke, that's like horrendous. I'm getting nowhere. This guy in the front row looked at me and goes, come on, you're better than that, Eric. Which is like a anti heckle. It was like, motivational. And I don't know, I just grew up on Chris Rock. He's my hero. So he was so sweet afterwards. He was like, ah, yeah. And he gave me a big hug and he's like, no, bombing is awesome. It's part of life. And he goes, ask me what happened when Prince opened up for the Rolling Stones for the first time. I go, what happened? He goes, people were booing him and throwing bottles at him. And then his tour manager, who used to tour manage James Brown and all these famous musicians, he was like, oh, yeah. When we were. He was like an old jazz cat kind of guy. He was like. When we were touring London, Chris bombed. Like, that was like the first night of the tour. And he was so frustrated in the middle of the dinner, he got back up and went back to the club and asked the club to reopen, and he had to do a set again just so he couldn't freak out the crew and bomb the very first night of tour. So it's part of life.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. I feel like if any comedian. Chris famously bombs a lot.

[Eric Andre]

Does he bomb a lot?

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Eric Andre]

Really?

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah. There's. Well, there's a famous story of Martin Lawrence opening for him. Have you heard this story?

[Eric Andre]

No.

[Jesse David Fox]

This was after Chris was on Saturday Night Live and so he was able to draw, but he wasn't really doing that much stand up. And he was doing a show in Chicago, and he's in the green room and Martin Lawrence was opening for him. He's in the green room and he just heard a loud noise and he thought a fight had broken out. So he went to go see, and it was just Martin Lawrence crushing harder than he realized A comedian can crush. And then. And then he goes on. He goes, all right, well, I'll show you I'm famous. And he bombs the entire time. He opens with his closer. And that inspired him to do Bring the paint. He goes, I need to get better. He then, like, started going to clubs and blah, blah.

[Eric Andre]

Interesting. Interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you ever go into situations hoping it goes wrong?

[Eric Andre]

No. What am I.

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, not. Not just. Well, like, you can.

[Eric Andre]

The.

[Jesse David Fox]

I guess the version of. It's like, let's say you're going to. Out on the street to do a field piece. You want not to go exactly as planned. You want chaos, or maybe not.

[Eric Andre]

Well, chaos. Mining for chaos and anarchy is not bombing. That's the. That's the desired result. So, you know, the person I'm pranking, they might feel, you know, something to the equivalent emotionally of bombing, but I'm like a truffle pig, mining and sniffing around for the deepest, dankest prank in the street.

[Jesse David Fox]

And that. That is wrong. It's not wrong as one would think of it. It is. There is no right or wrong. It is just sort of the.

[Eric Andre]

I would say a prank that bombs on the street is just like, the person didn't have a good reaction. Like, their reaction was kind of bland or they figured it out. Figured out it was a prank. They're like, oh, this is bullshit. This is a prank. That's a bomb. Yeah. So, yeah, and that happens quite a bit. You know, for everything we film, we filmed a movie called Bad Trip, which was like a narrative prank movie. And probably in the final cut of the movie, we only showed, like, 15% of what we filmed because that. That much material is. Is not usable pranks. It's a lot of trial and error with pranks. A lot of failure. So. And I remember reading, like, Sacha Baron Cohen saying something like that, like Borat and Bruno. It's only like 10% of what he shot. Because you're just like, only showing the Jackass movies, too. It's like they shoot a tremendous amount between like, 50 and 100 days of shooting, like a Kubrick movie, and then they only show the best 84 minutes.

[Jesse David Fox]

You know, I was gonna ask you about Bad Trip. So Bad Trip was supposed to premiere at south by southwest six years ago, March 20th.

[Eric Andre]

Yeah, that's right. 2020.

[Jesse David Fox]

I don't know what happened, but for some reason.

[Eric Andre]

No, I was here.

[Jesse David Fox]

You're playing the movie. No one was. You've told the story about how it ended up on Netflix before when it came out, and. Yeah, but I think it'd be useful in this setting. Can you talk about its journey to actually be released?

[Eric Andre]

God, it took us seven and a Half years to make the movie. Maybe eight years between, like, the earliest writings to it finally premiering on Netflix. And you. We kept filming in, like, fits and starts. We would like. We would write on and off. First of all, I didn't know how to write a movie because I was coming from, like, this, like, sketch and variety background of the Eric Andre show. So I. We were writing on and off for a few years. Finally got MGM to say yes. They were, like, the only company to say yes to it. Then we were shooting on and off for a couple years because we needed to, like, film a little, edit it, see what we needed, film a little, edit it, see what we needed. It's not filmed or produced like a traditional movie. And Rel had a show on Fox that came in the middle of that, so we had to wait for his show to come and go. It was a slog. We finally make the movie. We lock the cut, we deliver it to mgm. They submit it to South By. We get, like, one of the headlining spots at south by. 2020. Two weeks before I'm about to fly out to Austin, 2020 Covid hits, and Apple pulls out and Netflix pulls out. And it was just like a domino effect. And I was like, fuck, I've been waiting forever for this thing in south by would have been the best audience for it. And then, you know, Covid was like, hey, it's only gonna be three weeks. And then it was like two years. So then the movie was nowhere. Then mgm, all the people that worked on the movie fired or got quit. Got fired or quit. And so the movie was just in limbo. And then all this shady shit was happening where the new president, new guard at mgm, was trying to just sell the movie to Quibi behind our backs. Which I don't know if you guys remember Quibby. It lasted for, like, three seconds. You could only watch it on your iPhone. They had to break every movie up into six segments, and it had to be an iPhone ratio. And so the only reason we found out they were trying to, like, slit our baby's throat and get rid of it behind our backs was because Jeff Tremaine, our producing partner, who's co created Jackass and directs all the Jackass movies, my mentor, he had final cut of the movie in his contract. So they had to go to him and ask him to cut it into six Quibi segments so that they could sell it to Quibi at a loss, by the way. They were gonna lose money on it. And Jeff was like, what are you talking about? Quibi what the fuck are you talking about? And my other producer, Dave Bernad, was like, why wouldn't you try to sell it to Netflix right now? And they were like, nah, we tried to sell it to Netflix. They didn't want it. We asked them three times. Trust me, they don't want it. Turns out they sent it to the wrong department and they sent it to a person that started working at Netflix like 10 days before she received the email. And they sent it to Amazon and it leaked for a day too. It was a disaster. I was like, what is going on? Finally, thank God, Dave Burnett, he swooped in and he goes, I'm going to email the head of the film department at Netflix. The proper person, the proper department. Stuber. And he loved the movie. He was like, where has this been my whole life? This is amazing. We want it on Netflix. They were clicking their heels and thank God that was an email for him because he, Dave forwarded back to the guys at mgm and he goes, I know you tried three times. I guess fourth time's a charm because now Netflix wants to buy it at a profit. So they were willing to take it, sell it off at a loss at Quibi, where no one would have seen it, versus making money on it at Netflix, where it was the number one movie in the world. It was the number one movie in the U.S. certified Fresh and Rotten Tomatoes and I think 40 million people watch in the first 28 days. Something like that.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Eric Andre]

So thanks. Not you.

[Jesse David Fox]

But also part of this.

[Eric Andre]

I didn't make any money off of it, but so like we said, we don't want to make any money off it. Put all the money in front of the camera and we'll just have profit participation at the box office. But without a box office, streamers don't have box office. So I made for working on a movie for 17. I'm sorry, for seven and a half years, I may. I grossed 60k. So 40% of that goes to taxes and 30% goes to my reps. So I probably had like 19,000. I probably made 19,000 bucks off of eight years of work on the biggest

[Jesse David Fox]

movie in the country.

[Eric Andre]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

I asked because I do think that story is a nice portrait of sort of the modern entertainment industry. I was curious, you know, even having worked since, how do you feel? I mean, this part of why the most recent strikes happened were things like this. What do you make of the sort of state of the industry wrecking with streaming and back end and trying to make things in this climate?

[Eric Andre]

I think people will Always want entertainment. The mediums will always change and evolve and devolve, but people have a natural need to be entertained. And since the caveman days. So I think it's stupid to ignore the future. Once the genie's out of the bottle, that's it. So, you know, I think we'll just have to adapt to new mediums.

[Jesse David Fox]

So I think of Bat Trip as a sort of masterpiece of the prank genre.

[Eric Andre]

Thank you.

[Jesse David Fox]

And I thought it'd be interesting to see how a prank happens from, you know, we see the final product and it's like, you know, you're laughing, you're not thinking that, like, years of work went into it.

[Eric Andre]

Right.

[Jesse David Fox]

And I love to talk about the zoo prank from Bad Trip.

[Eric Andre]

Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

For those who haven't seen the movie

[Eric Andre]

yet, pull it up.

[Jesse David Fox]

We don't have a clip, but can you explain what happens?

[Eric Andre]

We did a prank in the middle of the movie where we, like, make a pit stop at a zoo. And there is a bunch of unsuspecting, you know, real civilians in this prank scenario. And we're at this, like, outdoor zoo, and I. We go up to the gorilla enclosure. This. We wrote it around the time of Harambe. I don't know if you remember Harambe. There's a kid that fell into the gorilla enclosure, I think, at the Cincinnati Zoo or something. And they had to kill the. The gorilla because, you know, gorilla could stab and go violent. Kill a kid. So. And it was a very controversial thing. Animal rights people were upset. So we were like, what if I fall into the gorilla enclosure and instead of getting murdered by the gorilla, he butt fucks the shit out of me? So and so, yeah. So Jeff was like, this prank isn't going to work. We couldn't do it with a real gorilla. Obviously, it's dangerous and impossible to train a gorilla to do that. So we got. We had this very, I would say realistic. I thought it was realistic enough looking gorilla suit. And this, like, C. Soleil guy that puppeteered it. And this, like, animatronics team. We got, like, the top special effects team on it. So I go into the. So I go up to the gorilla enclosure and I tell my character, tells Rel's character, like, hey, dude, I'm gonna get a selfie with a gorilla. Like, you know, I think it'll be great for Maria, the girl I'm in love with. She loves animals. It'll melt her heart. He's like, what are you doing? So I, like, break through the fence. I start taking selfies with the sleeping Gorilla. And then the gorill ray drips my pants down and starts butt fucking me in front of all these middle aged black women. And they were shocked. They were like, oh, my God, the gorilla's, you know, he's fucking my face. He's fucking me specifically.

[Jesse David Fox]

You leave and then go back.

[Eric Andre]

Oh, you left your phone. I show them the selfie I got. I go back in because, oh, no, no, I don't show the selfie. I leave. I realize I left my phone in there, so I gotta go back to get the selfie. And they're like, no, why would you go back? The gorilla starts fucking me again. It was pretty ridiculous, but they bought it. Jeff was like, I did not think they would buy it. It was one of the first pranks we filmed. And they bought it. And it was. It was the. Definitely the. So big.

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, it was the commerce. So it ends. You're like, you got whatever you felt you got. And then you have to get these people sign releases. I assume you what happens when you call, cut or end a sketch.

[Eric Andre]

You have to get release forms or you can't show their face. So you have. We had our first ad, Joe, who does all the Jackass movies, and he came in with this. With this slate, you know, you guys know what the slate is like the. And actually came in with his slate. And he goes, that shit was crazy, right, y'? All. And the women are like, all confused. They're like, what? And he goes, well, I'm glad we got it all on camera. And they were like, oh, my God, this one lady was like, I needed my blood pressure medication. And they were so relieved that a man wasn't brutally butt fucked by a gorilla that they all signed the releases. I think maybe there was like one or two blurs in the background that we tried to edit around. And yeah, we got the releases on that. Yeah, there was a guy on bad trip that chased me and Rel out with a knife. You know, there was a scene where our penises are stuck in a Chinese finger trap. And we went in this. We went to this black barbershop in the hood in Atlanta, and we merely politely asked the proprietor of the barbershop for scissors to cut us out. Of course, of course. Our penises being stuck together with the realistic looking, prosthetic silicone penises that were like, stretch. And you know, all of his customers in there. And the guy went to a homicide rage. He was like, oh, hell no. I'm going to kill you. And he told us later, he's like looking for his gun that he usually brings to work for protection. Thank God he didn't. He forgot his gun at home that day. And then he grabbed a knife and he chased me. And Rel can barely run in this thing. We're joined at the. It's like two jockstraps, and we're joined at the cock in this fucking, you know, contraption. So the guy chases out with an. I was going to kill us. And then we were like, it's a prank. And, you know, something's weird. Like, when somebody's so angry, those are, weirdly the easiest releases to get. He was so relieved that it was a prank and he didn't have to commit double homicide. He was like. He was like, what? Oh, y' all are hilarious. What the fuck? He's like, yeah, you don't want to do that prank in this neighborhood, man. People get. People get shot for way less in this neighborhood. And he was cool. He was like, when's this movie come out? I was like, seven years from now. He's like, all right.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you remember your first, like, intentional prank where you're like, I'm gonna do this thing to get people to laugh, regardless of those films?

[Eric Andre]

Yeah. I was in. Towards the end of college, I was. I realized I wanted to do comedy, so I was shooting, hitting camera pranks on these big, bulky VH sc, like, consumer camcorders. And I would have my friends hide them in backpacks, and I would, like, crash big, like, auditorium classes at BC Boston College, which I didn't even go to. I went to Berkeley, like, miles away. The jazz school. So we would take the tee in Boston all the way to the end of the line and crash these schools that were teaching Western Civ, too. And I would come in, like, Spicoli with a. From Fast Times at Ribjant High with, like, a blaring boombox. And I would order pizza to class and, like, come in on a skateboard and, like, say all this, like, inappropriate shit to the teacher, and the teacher would kick me out of the class. And, like, it was very, like, senior year of college, kind of like pranks. But that character's name was Chase McDude. And that was kind of. That was kind of the first. I kept asking. The teacher was like, is there going to be a test on this? To be a test on this? Is there going to be a test on this? And I'm like, where's the cigarette machine, dude? In the teacher's lounge. I got to pick up a pack of Cools, brother man. And the Guy was like, get the out of here. I was a nuisance.

[Jesse David Fox]

What is your most recent prank? Have you done a prank the last few years?

[Eric Andre]

I'm sure I have. The last one I remember, I did this one where this guy was outside of a wig shop selling wigs on the street, and he had this little, like, kiosk set up on the streets. We're in Newark, New Jersey, out front of a wig store. So I went up to him and I went, hey, can I try on one of your wigs? He's like, yeah, no problem. And I'm like, can I try some of this lipstick? He's like, oh, okay. Can I try these huge sunglasses? He's like, yeah, whatever. And he's kind of like, you know, we're all goofing about it and having a laugh, and then this cop comes up and he's like, behind me. And the cop goes, have you seen this guy? And he takes out a wanted poster. He goes, yeah, he's wanted for murder. He's running around the neighborhood trying to hide in various disguises. And the guy was like, he's rich. And I went to the guy and went, don't you say a fucking word. And then two seconds later, we had a mall security guard come up behind the cop and take out a wanted sign. And he goes, have you seen this guy? He's impersonating a cop. He's wandering. He's wandering all around the city, but he's wanted for murder. And the guy was like. And the cop went, don't you say a fucking word. And we all joined arms around him and started saying, don't you say a word. Don't you say a word. We blew the guy's mind. He was like, what the fuck? We ran off, and he was like, what the is happening?

[Jesse David Fox]

You've. You've worked with the Jackass Guys. You. You've talked about, you've developed a relationship with Sasha Baron. Con. Have you gotten prank advice from other people? Have you learned from other people?

[Eric Andre]

Oh, yeah, yeah. From Nathan Fielder and the Impractical Jokers? Guys, sure. Even. Even magicians like Penn Jillette has told me some little gags you can do in real time. And.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah, can you think of anything? Can you think of any advice in particular?

[Eric Andre]

I remember showing Sasha Baron Cohen. I pranked Alex Jones at the RNC a long time ago, and it was during a Bikers for Trump rally outside in Cleveland. Everybody was armed, and there was, you know, biker gangs and neo Nazis there and stuff. And I was being a nuisance I asked Alex Jones to fuck my wife. And on stage, and they kicked me off the stage and they were kind of roughhousing me and stuff. And I remember when I showed that to Sasha, he goes, oh, never get stabbed because it's bad for production. You'll have to. He said it very matter of factly. He was like, you gotta go to the hospital and you know, if they hit your kidneys that takes like so long to repair and you know your production, you'll lose your production insurance. And Jeff Tremaine told me the same thing. The guy that does all the jackass memes, he goes, oh, don't. During Bad Trip, he goes, don't actually get punched in the face, he goes, because then you'll break your jaw. We'll have to wire your Joshua, we'll lose our insurance. The guy that punches you because he can claim that you riled him up so much that he had to break your jaw. And I was just like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's good advice.

[Jesse David Fox]

What is the worst injury that you've gotten from your comedy?

[Eric Andre]

I punched my hand through a glass window of a car and sliced it all up. And one time John Cena threw me through a shelf. And he did the stunt properly. It wasn't on him, but my. The art department forgot to put sandbags on the shelf. And it like, it like after I like bashed through like the scored part, the metallic like outline, whatever, the frame of the bookshelf fell over and clocked me in the head and I had a big. I had a concussion and a big Fred Flintstone bomb. But I had to go to the hospital and do CAT scans and stuff like that. Stuff.

[Jesse David Fox]

The worldview of Bad Trip, I think ultimately is like, that people are ultimately good regardless of. Do you still feel that way?

[Eric Andre]

I think like the most working class people are good. I think most of humanity. When I travel all over the world, most people aren't incredibly violent. They're not human trafficking children on a private island. Oh, did you guys just hear about that? Have you guys read the news for the past 10 fucking years? It's a nightmare. You know, people that want to run and control the world are typically have a propensity to violence. But I think most people are. They just want a decent quality of life and they're not trying to bother anybody. And people are actually pretty, pretty sweet and pretty helpful. I don't think humanity would have made it this far if people didn't have like Good Samaritan nature.

[Jesse David Fox]

It's been three years since the Sixth season of the Eric Andre Show. You said originally you were planning to do five, then you ended up doing six, partly because you didn't make any money on bad trip, but also, why turn down a place. You said that.

[Eric Andre]

God damn right.

[Jesse David Fox]

But also why turn on a place where you have creative control? Is there another season on your horizon, even if it's not the next year?

[Eric Andre]

I don't know if Adult Swim really exists anymore. All the people that worked there when I was doing the show for all those years either quit or got fired, and it kind of disintegrated. So I would love to bring the talk show back, but in a bigger and better formation and maybe on a different network or on YouTube.

[Jesse David Fox]

Different. So same type of show, but not necessarily the Eric Andre Show.

[Eric Andre]

Yeah. Maybe like a new evolved form for, like, the next decade of the show. It'd still be my, you know, comedic sensibilities and point of view, but, you know.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah, I was thinking you had not done a season after you turned 40, and I was like, oh, what is the sort of more mature version of

[Eric Andre]

the show that's still. I'm just more tired. Yeah, that's. It wouldn't be more mature. There'd be fart jokes aplenty. But go to bed earlier.

[Jesse David Fox]

Obviously it was its own thing. But I think over the last few years, there's been a number of shows that have popped up that I think are either directly influenced or part of a lineage of the show. It's like Adam Freeland show, Zua Chicken Chop Date, I think, is a version of it. What Bobby, although does. I think even, like, the idea of Hot Ones feels somewhat an extension of, like, what if we tortured celebrities?

[Eric Andre]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jesse David Fox]

What do you think about that? In the sort of state of.

[Eric Andre]

I mean, imitation is the highest form of flattery. I'm flattered by that. And I don't know if they're even directly imitating me or, you know, we're all part of the same zeitgeist and we all live in the same world. And I'm just part of. You know, that's because I grew up worshiping Ali G Show and Tom Green show. Tom Green, especially. Tom Green was before Jackass and. And Sacha Baron Cohen. He was the first. So he was the first guy I saw willing to get injured or arrested for the sake of a very stupid comedy sketch, you know, so, you know, Jackass and Tom Green, those are. That's the lineage.

[Jesse David Fox]

Yeah.

[Eric Andre]

This mic is shaking. Does that mean there's an earthquake coming? Wondering, are you On a tectonic plate here in Austin.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do we know, is there an earthquake happening right now? We're getting no's, but I was noticing it. Mine was shaking as well.

[Eric Andre]

I also got the shakes. I got the DTs because I haven't had a drink in like an hour and a half.

[Jesse David Fox]

I think there's.

[Eric Andre]

Mine is shaking and the floor was kind of shaking or I'm having a shaking.

[Jesse David Fox]

Mine are shaking as well.

[Eric Andre]

Okay, good.

[Jesse David Fox]

Let's stop moving. We'll see. Okay. I think we're not. I think we're good.

[Eric Andre]

Yeah, it's fine.

[Jesse David Fox]

There was a lot. A lot of great comedians came through the writing staff of the Eric Andre show. And I was thinking, even watching Sarah Sherman's most recent standup special. Do you see that? And go, I'm so proud when she's pooping out of a giant butthole or whatever like that.

[Eric Andre]

I'm very, very proud of Sarah. And I was like, in awe of her special. I thought she, like, kind of broke the genre and the medium into like. And she, like brought it into the 21st century. I felt like it was like, I remember being like, jealous of her special. Being like, oh, man. Like, she not only just like, told straight ahead jokes, but she went into this like, kind of like filmmaking kind of part at the end with the finale. I thought it was so brilliant. So I'm like very, very proud of her.

[Jesse David Fox]

As I said, you had a number of comedians right for you. I was curious, what is it like when people think they know your voice but pitch incorrectly? Like, do you. Can you remember bad pitches where it's like, oh, I know what you do.

[Eric Andre]

You should like them. Yeah, it's usually like, it just lacks nuance, you know, like, it's just like, what if you come in to a restaurant, kick someone in the face? I'm like, I don't wanna. That's. That doesn't seem. That doesn't seem nice. Seems uncivilized.

[Jesse David Fox]

How do you. I'm curious how you approach an interview segment. If you can pick a favorite one of just sort of.

[Eric Andre]

How do I approach what?

[Jesse David Fox]

The interview segments. I believe you shoot for like 90 minutes, but what do you go in plan for? I mean, I was just thinking of the most recent season, like the Black China episode or like the little yachty episode where you have these bits planned but you're shooting for 90 minutes. How much do you go in knowing? How do you think about it?

[Eric Andre]

Well, we write like 200 gags. We bring like 200 gags into. I would say we write 5 to 600 gags and we bring 200 into production. Then we have a giant wall in my office that has every single gag on index cards. And then once the celebs are starting to get booked and fill up, then we assign like 10 to 15 gags per guest and there's 20 guests a season. So that's kind of how we do it. It's our Wheel of Fortune wall. We're like, all right, Blac Chyna, she seems like she would be uncomfortable around explosives. We have a baby alligator that day. So let's put that in there. Let's. Cockroaches that fly, we'll put those in there. We just kind of see. We watch tape on the guests and see their body of work and their interviews and try to kind of guess their temperament for certain things. So. But you still never know, you know, that's why I do so many gags and that's why I shoot for 90 minutes to two hours because I want to like throw the whole kitchen sink at them and then pick. Pick the best moments.

[Jesse David Fox]

I've heard you talk about how you have a goal to do a travel show and think of south by Southwest as a place with people with a lot of money come and you want

[Eric Andre]

to get some money tonight, dog.

[Jesse David Fox]

Well, I'm saying because it's. You said all the networks pass and you might self produce. And in case you're looking for any financers, I want to give you an opportunity to pitch the show.

[Eric Andre]

Do you know anybody we'll see?

[Jesse David Fox]

I don't know. Does anyone here have.

[Eric Andre]

All venture capitalists. We don't know. It's very.

[Jesse David Fox]

The lights up here are very bright. I don't know how many of these people are venture capitalists.

[Eric Andre]

Below the lights, everybody's in a tuxedo dressed like the Monopoly man, top hat, eating foie gras, beluga caviar. Let me adjust my monocle and see your materials on such travel show. Yeah, if you got a rich friend, man, hook it up, dog.

[Jesse David Fox]

Can you.

[Eric Andre]

What.

[Jesse David Fox]

What is the general premise of the show or what you would hope for?

[Eric Andre]

I would. My log line is like, you know, Anthony Bourdain meets Jackass meets Hunter S. Thompson meets David tells Insomniac. That's kind of what I would love to do. Travelogue where I get in trouble.

[Jesse David Fox]

Can you think of a specific travel experience that influenced that or would capture what that might look like?

[Eric Andre]

Well, I'll tell you a couple things. I'll tell you a couple things. I want to do on the show. I want to go to Bolivia, synthesize cocaine from coca leaves and make the original coca cola recipe and drink a six pack of it. There's also a super roofie in Colombia called scopolamine. Its nickname is the devil's breath. It's like people that are trying to mug you or they'll blow it in your face and you become catatonic. You completely disassociate. It's like a super ketamine and you're kind of a zombie and you'll do whatever they say. So I want a bunch of comedians to blow it into my face, and I want to walk around and I want them to have me do embarrassing things in the streets of Columbia and just like, chores, like paint their house, go grocery shopping. Yeah. And, you know, the original version of it was called Taboo. I wanted to, like, access the cultures through each. Each custom, each country's customs and taboos. So I wanted to go to the ping pong shows in Thailand and learn how to do that with my butthole. Did you want all the answers for this question? Okay.

[Jesse David Fox]

They're laughing. Each one.

[Eric Andre]

Okay, good. Well, it's so early in the day. I don't know if I can say butthole this early in the day.

[Jesse David Fox]

I think we already said it a couple times.

[Eric Andre]

There's some older folks in the audience. I don't know if they were. They're keen to that. They lived through it. They lived through it. They lived through the butthole generation. There was the Dust bowl generation and the butthole generation.

[Jesse David Fox]

The two generations.

[Eric Andre]

The only two generations was the Paleolithic era before that.

[Jesse David Fox]

I'm just generally curious how you think about your career and what projects you take. And you mentioned you've talked about how you were offered Kieran Culkin's role in a real. The role that Kieran Culkin won an Oscar for the Jesse Eisenberg.

[Eric Andre]

I'm aware. Sure.

[Jesse David Fox]

I know they're aware. So can you talk about why you ultimately said no and how that reflects what you do wanted?

[Eric Andre]

Well, you know, you get scripts, like, emailed to you all the time. And 90% of scripts that you read are typically not great. Like, I would say 5 to 10% of scripts, you're like, oh, what a good script. Holy cow. So. And I'm not even talking shit about this script. I thought Eisenberg's script was great. It was just seemed like a very depressive movie. It wasn't in my lane or wheelhouse. Maybe that's a good Thing sometimes. But I was also preparing for another project. So I was like, do I want to take time away from the project I'm prepping for and do a really depressing movie about my Polish ancestry that died in the concentration camps? It seems like a bit of a bummer. So I was just like. I read it, and it was great, and I was like, but it was a lot of work. It was a ton of dialogue. I was on every page. I was on, like, 110 pages, and I was like, do I want to go to Poland for two months and mope about the Holocaust, or do I want to prep this other comedy project I'm working on? And Jesse was kind of rushed for an answer because, like, when you make an offer to an actor, you have to wait for them to say no before you go. You can't reach out to, like, protocol. You can't reach out to, like, 10 actors and whoever jumps first, because then if three people say yes, then you're kind of in this awkward position. So he was kind of like. I'm not gonna say rushing me, but he was like, you know, he wanted an answer kind of right away, so if he needed to move on, he could move on, because he wouldn't need to get the movie made. So I didn't want to hold up his process, and I just didn't think that I would, like, do that well of a performance in this, like, dramatic role. I'm down to do a dramatic role, but this specific thing, I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna bring to the table. I'm gonna knock it out the park. And it seems like such a depressing and upsetting subject matter. And also, I just. I had this other project, and I just wanted to focus my mental energy on another project. It wasn't even that deep. It's only deep in hindsight, because then he offered it to Kieran Culkin, and Kieran Culkin won an Oscar. And the kicker is, and then Jesse Eisenberg, Poland, granted him EU citizenship. And I've been trying to get dual citizenship since Trump got in the White House in 2016. I've been trying to find my escape country. So I was like, I could have walked away with EU passport and an Oscar. Those are the two things I need the most, man. So it's a real kick in the crotch. And I emailed Jesse after the movie came out, and it got all the awards, and I go, I emailed him, remind me to always say yes to you no matter what you Email me. And he was just like trying to tell you, brother. He doesn't talk like that. That'd be cool if you talk like that. My man, I'm Jesse Eisenberg trying to tell you, brother. He talks like Tracy Morgan or something.

[Jesse David Fox]

In turn the next movie. I believe next year you have. This year you'll have I love Boosters Little Brother, which is a movie you're in with John Cena. You're in the Street Fighter movie. What? Why were those projects you were like, I want to be involved in?

[Eric Andre]

I love Boosters. Easy as hell. I love Boots Riley. Boots is like, I got a small part for you. He's the best. So I was like, boots, I want to be in anything and everything you direct forever. Just let me know. And it was a real casual. He just texted me, he's like, you're gonna do this? And I was like, yes, I'm in. Whatever you need. And then Street Fighter, I grew up playing. She was one of my favorite childhood video games. And then my good. One of my best friends directed it. Who's Kitao Sakurai, who I basically co created the Eric Andre show with. So, you know, his son is my godson. So like, you know, he's like one of my closest friends. So to shoot Street Fighter in Australia with Kitao and I knew Kitao would let me do whatever I wanted creatively, that was a no brainer too. The movie with John Cena was written specifically for me. I'm the lead of the movie. I'm the. It's called Little Brother. I am the little brother. I'm the titular character in the movie. So that's kind of like the biggest opportunity I've had in my career. And I love working with Cena and my good friend producer Dave Burnett, who did. He's producing White Lotus right now. He's abroad doing White Lotus, but he did Jury Duty and he produced Bad Trip. He saved Bad Trip's life. He's the one that emailed it to the right people at Netflix. So he came up with the story for Little Brother based on one of his. His friends. So says it was written completely for me. So those are very easy yeses. And. And then the other movie I got coming out this year is Balls up with Pete Fairley directing and Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser. And I just, I just grew up on Dumb and Dumber and then. And something about Mary. I just can't say no. But you know, Pete is like Boots Riley. It's like those. There's some directors like, no matter what, you're just like, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Jesse David Fox]

You know, in general, as you look at all the different things that you've done, like, do you feel like there's an overall, like, Eric Andre project? Do you have, like, a goal of, like, I'm trying to have a career in which I'm doing X Big picture.

[Eric Andre]

Yeah, it's a trap. I want to make more bad trips, not a direct sequel, but I want to make more hidden camera narrative films and I want to make that travelogue and I want to make another talk show and I want to make love to you on this stage. No, no. Backstage. I'm not an animal. And I'm making a rum. I'm starting a rum company. I love rum. I'm obsessed with rum. I just went all over the Caribbean and went to all these rum distilleries, so. And I just, like, hate the stigma of celebrity liquors. They're just like, typically so bad and have all this crap and additives and the celebrity doesn't know a goddamn thing about the liquor they're hawking. I actually have, like a deep, profound love and obsession with rum, and I could go toe to toe with any rum head. And it's like a passion project.

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[Jesse David Fox]

So now it's time for the final segment which is like a lightning round, but it doesn't actually have to be fast answers. It's just sort of at the end. So we call it that. Do you have A short story of an interaction with a legendary artist, comedian, musician, actor, director, living or dead. You're willing to share with us?

[Eric Andre]

I'm sure I do. But let me tell you a story about Morrissey that's not even my story. Sure. Because I think it's way funnier than anything I could come up with about myself. So friend of a friend saw Morrissey at a bar. This is like 20 years ago, maybe. And I guess Morrissey was having a drink. I don't know if he drank still or ever drank. Or maybe he's, I don't know, non alcoholic drink. So Morrissey's at the bar having a drink. And this was in Hollywood. So my friend's shocked he's seeing Morrissey and, like, right in front of his eye. So he goes up to Morrissey and he goes. Hey, sorry to interrupt. I know you're with your friends. I just wanted to tell you how much your music means to me. How important it is. I love the Smiths. I love your solo work. Your music has changed my life. And I just wanted to show my deep, deep appreciation for your entire body of work. And Morrissey turned around and went, get the fuck away from me. It's like, he's like such a dick that I was like, that's actually a way better story. Like, if he was just like, thank you, man. Like, boring. Like the fact that he was like, get the fuck away from me. Like, especially after the guy was just so sincere about how much he loved him. Oh, shit. That's not my story. But it'll never be told. Cause it's just like a friend of a friend who's just like a rando drunk dude. What was the question?

[Jesse David Fox]

Would you have a short story of an interaction you had with a legendary person?

[Eric Andre]

Yeah. Alejandro Jodorowsky, who directed the Holy Mountain. I went to his apartment and he read my tarot. And he gave me a psychomagic prescription before we started Bad Trip. It was fucking amazing. And he's like 99 years old. And he's like the most eccentric man of all time. And there's this other. There's this performance artist, visual artist. Paul McCarthy. Not McCartney. McCarthy, who I'm obsessed with. He looks like a dirty, homeless Santa Claus. He's older as well. And I think he's one of the greatest artists of the late 20th century and early 21st century. And he was making these, like, poop paintings. And we figure he's just using brown paint. And we're like, what do you. What do you use? What's the material you use for the. For the shit paintings you're making. And he goes, it's shit. And we were like, oh, fuck. Shit.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you have a favorite day ever on set?

[Eric Andre]

Set.

[Jesse David Fox]

Any type of set? Prank acting. You could just visit.

[Eric Andre]

I think Jack asked because although it was terrifying, it was like I grew up watching it. So it was like. So it was like Make a Wish foundation without the cancer. I was like. I was like, happy as a clown. I was like, this is so cool being on the set with these. With these guys. I'm scared out of my mind, but holy. That was like, total dream come true.

[Jesse David Fox]

Do you have a joke bit or prank that you thought was funny that either bombed or your people said, it doesn't. Won't work. It won't. That you'll go to your grave? And like, I was right. They're wrong. This is a great idea.

[Eric Andre]

I had a joke like that for a while, but I wasn't right. They were right. The audience is always right. If the audience is not laughing, the joke does not work. And only your ego will say, I had this. It's not gonna work. You want to hear the joke? Fucking. It's dumb and it's bad and it never worked. It kind of worked once and it never worked. And I was like. I was like, I'm sick of all these ghosts around town haunting my apartment and shit. They're like, I have unfinished business. I have unfinished business. Well, you should have finished it while you were alive, pal. That's me lecturing a ghost.

[Jesse David Fox]

That's it.

[Eric Andre]

It doesn't work. Just a small one act. I think the premise of. Of lecturing a ghost that's harassing you, it's like, dude, you procrastinated, then you died. And, yeah, like, it's my burden. Like, go fuck yourself. I'm sorry I'm in your house. You're dead. You no longer live there. I just, like, I resent ghosts.

[Jesse David Fox]

That's right. Last one. Do you have another bombing story you'd like to share?

[Eric Andre]

Oh, man. I mean, like. Like I've had so many panic attacks on television. And I remember I auditioned for 30 Rock and like, the first season of 30 Rock, this is years ago, maybe 20 years ago. And the audition was at 30 Roc, a fella plaza where SNL and the Tonight show are filmed. And I walked in and I looked at the casting director. I go, man, it's funny. What a coincidence that we're. I'm auditioning for 30 Rock at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. She goes, that's not a coincidence. And I was like, I'm not getting this job, am I?

[Jesse David Fox]

Thank you so much, Eric Andre. Have a great festival.

[Eric Andre]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Jesse David Fox]

That's it for another episode of Good One. Good One is produced by myself, Zachary Mack, Neal Janowitz and Ann Victoria Clark. Music composed by Brandon McFarland. Write a review and rate the show on Apple Podcasts. Five stars please. I am Jesse David Fox and you can follow me at Jesse David Fox. Buy my book, comedy book, wherever books are sold. Thanks for listening to Good One from New York magazine. You can subscribe to the [e-mail] pop. You're back with a new episode next week. Have a good one.

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That's a great attitude.

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