We are Tim and Eric. AUsA

Hi. Tim here. will begin my answers with a T

Hi

I just wanted to say something here, if you'll let me be all gushy for a minute (I apologize if its a bit effusive or long-winded, but hear me out): From the first time I flipped through the TV one night and stumbled across Tom Goes to the Mayor back in 2005, I became hooked on something that, as strange as it is to say it, has come to be a big part of my life and has come to define my sensibilities in a lot of ways.

Prefacing this with the fact that I don't usually like people blindly proselytizing how great this or that TV show/movie/album is... Just about every single thing you guys have put out has been so consistently and uncommonly good, and it just continues to get better with time. I was never a fan of Adult Swim in general, found the cartoons to be goofy and contrived, but your stuff always stood out as different. As you progressed to Awesome Show, I followed, and what you say with your work - the editing, the timing, the style, the discomfort, the obsolescence and absurdity of things in the T&E universe - is so refreshing, unique, and brilliant. And more importantly, all the nightmarishness/public-access/infomercial parodying and commentary is always secondary to things just being plain funny in themselves. That is, more than any other comedy group/show/movie/material, I can sit down with Awesome Show or Check it Out (Or hell, even Tim's twitter account) time and again and laugh until my stomach hurts, because you guys just intuitively understand what is funny. What the viewer sees is not people who just write comedy for a career, but two people who are so naturally funny themselves in realtime, that the dialogue and interactions generated (I immediately think of conversation between Tom and the Mayor in the Mayor's office, or the Blues Brothers2012/rango interviews, etc) make for an endless comedy gold mine.

I'm always baffled how people just plain don't get it - commentary on the show is always filled with mention of "what drugs you guys must be on" and the "random and crazy acid-induced public access channel" style of the show. While the aesthetic is certainly there, the substance of your work is, in itself, of such high quality that it is easily on par with (and beyond) any of the great TV comedy we've had in the past 10 years (Arrested Development, early seasons of The Office, etc). While your work will always be polarizing, I think you guys often get lauded for being wacky and don't get enough credit for making incredibly sharp, layered, smart, meaningful comedy: it is honest-to-God cutting edge.

I just wanted to say thank you for creating and doing all of this. I buy everything on itunes and DVD as it comes out and have never had another artist/musician/etc who I feel so confident supporting. I have seen the "Family" Episode of Check it Out and all the Morning Prayer with Skott and Behr sketches so many times that its embarrassing. From TGTTM, the podcasts, to Awesome Show, Nite Live, Check it Out, the Terrys, Father and Son, you guys just keep getting better and better as your style and message mature. Thank you for doing what you do, and thank you for putting out consistent, high quality art. It has been a great pleasure following your work over the years. Finally, and I really mean this... thank you for bringing so much enjoyment to my life. You guys are truly my heroes.

aaaand fanboy rant over.

thanks! let's get this "question" viral!

Hey, a few years ago in my Adult Swim class at Kent State we were supposed to have an in-class interview with you guys. But when it happened it was only eric, and he said tim was stabbed by some kid on pcp. The whole class started laughing and thought it was a bit....I was wondering if there was any truth to that?

very true. check my facebook for the whole account.

When will you guys be bringing back more Steve Brule material with John?

LAte march. 6 new eps... they are insane.

holy shit dudes, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtOUttm2UyA&feature=g-sptl&cid=inp-hs-hpr

Just how nuts was Gary Busey on the set of TGTTM? Would you work with him again?

a real nightmare. he yelled at us for writing a terrible script. he was truly out of his mind, scary, intimidating... but if you were lucky enough to see us on tour a few years ago, we screened a secret tape of his visit to our office.... one day it will see the light of youtube.

I own Spagett.com and I would like to know if you guys would like me to do anything else with it? I used my superb MS Paint skills to create the layout and I think my talent has now peaked.

gimme that site.

You guys have used a lot of actors that played the fathers from early 90s sitcoms (Patrick Duffy, Alan Thicke, Reginald Veljohnson, Michael Gross). Did you specifically seek these guys out because of those previous roles?

After casting a few and realizing how great they were, as they were so professional, we realized we should keep doing it and try and capture as many TV dads as possible.

First of all, I just need to say that you have inspired the comedic aspirations of my roommate and I so heavily over the years, and I will always love you guys for that. I say this with complete sincerity.

As for my question - Obviously, there are implications that the use of drugs is involved in your work. I have been a follower since TGTTM, long before I experimented with anything, and have always found your humor to be consistently side-splitting and complex. Are you bothered when people just write your guys' work off as "stoner" humor, or for that matter, people who think it "makes no sense unless you are watching it while under the influence"?

it's a bit of a joke at this point. we've said it time and time again... all of our work is created stone cold sober. i don't care what you do while you watch our show, but I think it can be used INSTEAD of drugs.

As people that have been in the industry for a while now, what are your views on piracy (music/video/etc)?

I'm pretty open about this on twitter and my facebook.

Do you consider The Kids in the Hall to be a big influence?

It was for me.

How do you feel about Zack Galifianakis' current boom with mainstream audiences?

happy for him. he's just a good actor it's natural that's he's having success.

What's your creative process for coming up with the ideas for your sketches?

Edit: Also, I love your stuff. Great Job!

we hold a general ideas meeting with the guys who work on the show, doug, krisel, mugar and eric fensler.... everyone would come with a ton of ideas, or clips from the web, etc... and then we'd just sit around and pitch them... then eric and I would pick out our favorites and go write scripts for them (sometimes the scripts would be pretty on point to what you see, and sometimes they'd just be a suggestion.)

Can you guys please go on Howard Stern for an interview??????????

i don't think we could handle it. we're both huge fans.

Tim can you tell us how scary it was to be stabbed by a person high on PCP?

What is your main source of inspiration for your shows?

Any plans on bringing TGTTM back? New season of T&EASGJ?

What do you guys have planned for the future??

Thank you so fucking much for doing this!!!

1. so fun
2. inspiration is the world we live in. i find it totally bizarre on every level.
3. No new season of either of those shows.
4. Make another movie?

3 questions for ya!

I’ve noticed that you both are almost always in character when you go for interviews or talk shows, etc. Why is that? Would you ever consider doing more interviews out of character in the future? (I would really be interested in seeing some!)

You guys have become increasingly more popular in the past few years, and your work has clearly influenced other people’s comedy as well. Did you ever think you would come this far? How does it feel to know that you have made an impact on comedy today and to have so many people supporting what you do?

If you could give advice about how to get started in film/comedy, what would it be?

Thanks so much for doing this AMA, guys. I love you both.

Whether or not we do interviews in character really depends on the interviewee, our energy levels and if we have an idea that would be fun. generally when it comes to TV appearances our goal is to make it as entertaining as possible, which usually involves some kind of bit.

[deleted]

when i feel like it.

What happened with "Lucky" from Season 5 of Awesome Show? It was taken off, put back on replaced with a CGI kid...

I think someone's mother complained after some other mother complained about what pierre was doing in that scene. It was harmless on our end, but I think she read something else into it.... we pulled it and replaced the kid. no reason to hurt anyone.

Would you guys ever consider working on or writing for a video game? I loved what you did with Saints Row 3.

sounds like a nightmare. but probably also the future.

Will we ever see the release of Awesome Record, Great Songs II? I'd love to have a full version of the Snow Party song

would love to see a Vol. II... so many great songs in seasons 4 and 5... I would start badgering Adult Swim for one.

I've always been curious, did Microsoft actually pay you money to advertise for Bing or was that whole thing more like the Shrek 3 thing?

that was an early twitter joke. not a cent.

What books have you read that most influenced you?

Confederacy of Dunces Breakfast Of Champions The Mezzanine Getting Even/Without Feathers The Magic Christian Dog of the South

When will B$M be available to non-US people? We are just as keen as US folks!

Eventually, we hope the whole world will have access to B$M... please be patient... or call your State Department and demand it.

[deleted]

I think we should replace Leno. or Conan.

What are your thoughts on John C Reilly?

he's a dream.

Do your wives/girlfriends watch the show? If so, do they still want to have sex with you?

As a female fan, I have always pondered this upon watching each episode.

get your mind outta the gutter.

How do you deal with fanboys and fanladies who constantly repeat the "in jokes" from Awesome Show at you?

"deal with"

every time i watch your show, i'm convinced you just hire random homeless people off the streets to be in your shows.

Fact or Fiction?

almost always fiction.

Is there any chance at a live action Tom Goes to the Mayor?

we tried it on Awesome SHow and it didn't work that well.

Out of all of the skits that are shown, how many start out as being something COMPLETELY different from what it turns out after editing? The Ooh Mama skit comes to mind, as an example.

And as far as the editing, do the two of you put in the ideas for the effects, or is it the editors that come up with the ideas and you guys give the go with it?

that's a great example of a bit not working and us going to doug and saying "can you make something happen?"

in the beginning we worked very closely with the editors and it was more of a lab, just trying things... but lately our guys know what we like and we can get to a good thing quicker.

Do you see yourselves working together in the long run, or doing more stuff individually?

we are year 7 into a 25 year contract.