When “The Eric Andre Show” returns to the Adult Swim airwaves tonight after a three year hiatus, fans of Andre’s brand of surrealist talk show humor will be treated to another round of awkward interviews, deranged pranks, and naked PAs.
The series, which premiered in 2012, made Andre a star in alternative comedy circles. But after a successful five-year run, he paused the show in 2020 to pursue bigger projects. In a new interview with the Associated Press, Andre said that his decision to bring the show back for a sixth season was partially due to his Netflix movie “Bad Trip” not being the financial windfall that he expected it to be.
“I was going to end the show after five seasons and then I didn’t make any money on ‘Bad Trip,’” he said, before adding that he still enjoys making the show and is open to more seasons. “Why permanently close the door on a show where I have full creative freedom?”
While Andre says that he was disappointed with the financial results of “Bad Trip,” the comedian teased that the film paved the way for some bigger projects — but he’s not ready to announce them just yet.
“It’s not even my corporate overlords. It’s superstition,” he said of his reasons for remaining tight-lipped. “So, I’ll tell you when the time is right.”
Andre’s comments about the creative freedom that he enjoys on the show echo similar remarks he made to IndieWire in 2020, when he said that it would be hard to ever permanently end the series.
“As I was going through the editing and finishing post production, I was like, ‘This is the funnest show to make and I’m so blessed to have this opportunity that this is my job. I have full, complete creative freedom,’” he said. “I was sitting at home thinking about how much I enjoy the process of the show and how we have it down to a science and our team is a tight, cohesive family and was like, ‘Why would I close the door on this?’ I’m gonna keep the door open. I don’t know if I’ll do it every single year, other projects will come and go and I’ll have to adjust, but I love the show too much to retire it and this is the best season yet and we’re so in our groove. It doesn’t feel right to end the show. It’s just getting started.”
