Nabbing Oscar-nominated actor John C. Reilly for a gross, silly comedy tour was a coup for the Los Angeles-based duo Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim.
Reilly, who’s no stranger to comedy in movies like “Step Brothers” and “Talledega Nights,” is nonetheless a celebrated stage actor and character player in films such as “Boogie Nights,” “The Aviator” and “Chicago” — the last of which netted him a Best Supporting Actor nomination in 2003.
But he also portrays the titular, clueless character in “Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule,” an intentionally absurd and low-budget comedy show on the Adult Swim network that spun off from the cult series “Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!”
Reilly had only played the character on stage a few times, mostly at Los Angeles-area promotional shows, until Tim and Eric persuaded him to join them for a cross-country jaunt.
Or, more accurately, Dr. Steve Brule persuaded him.
“After the third season came out, (Reilly) was so stoked on the show,” Warheim said over the phone recently. “He got so much critical love from the press and friends and said, ‘I’m finally embracing this as the funniest character I’ve ever done. Let’s do this!’ “
The 25-city “Tim and Eric & Dr. Steve Brule Tour,” timed to coincide with the Sept. 18 premiere of their new Adult Swim series “Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories,” features songs, videos and costumes that waver between inspired, experimental and cringe-worthy, often in the same frenetic bit. It visits the Paramount Theatre on Sept. 15.
And while Tim and Eric’s brand of humor doesn’t always work — see their 2012 film “Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie,” which squandered some of their TV goodwill — it is always, at the very least, fearlessly bizarre.
Read our full interview with Wareheim below.
Q: The tour lasts about five weeks and starts soon. What are you doing at the moment to rehearse and prepare?
A: We just came from our first rehearsal, where it was Tim and me and John C. Reilly joining us for the first time. We were all laughing our asses off trying to get work done. It was just ridiculous. We’ve been working on it the last couple weeks now. It’s like previous tours but a little more structured. We’ll do some bits, show a little clip, have some multimedia up there.
Q: You’ve performed live with John C. Reilly before, but how does having him on stage for a whole tour change your dynamic with Tim?
People freak the f— out when he comes on stage. First of all, he’s a theater-trained actor so he knows how to work a room, even if he’s playing this crazy huge theater. He could just get up there with no material and do an hour show and it would be great. That’s the level of talent. It’s unbelievable. When we premiered our last season (of “Check It Out!”) he just riffed with the kids for an hour at this (L.A.-area) show and it was truly amazing.
Q: What’s his role on stage?
A: This time we have a bunch of bits lined up. He has a song, he has interaction with fans, and then there’s a big number where where Tim and I come out as… Well, I don’t want to give too much away. It’s just a little more produced than previous stuff. But every time he comes out he just destroys. The audience applause goes on and on.
Q: Whenever I watch “Check It Out!” I can’t imagine how he, you or anyone else on set manages to not laugh the entire time.
A: It was hard. Today was first rehearsal and we couldn’t even get through a line. Just one line! But you do it enough and then once you’re on stage you get to that professional level and try to turn away if you’re laughing. Worst-case scenario, you crack up and the whole crowd goes crazy, just like on “Saturday Night Live.” But we didn’t stress it too much. We try to keep it as professional as possible, but truly this is fun for us. It’s so different than making TV shows. There’s this instant-energy feedback from people that you don’t get when you make a TV show.
Q: I know the tour coincides with the premiere of “Bedtime Stories.” Will that have any presence on the tour?
A: Tim and I have four different acts that we do and in-between we’ll show some clips. Like, we have one episode called “Toads,” so we want to do this stuff that’s really funny on stage, and that will be a counter-balance to something that’s a little more creepy or horrifying. We always use new clips as something that gives us a quick costume change or a little break.
Q: I remember seeing you do a quick-change at South by Southwest in 2007 when you had a show with the guys from Human Giant. It seemed really hectic.
A: Oh my God, I can’t believe you remember that. That particular South by Southwest show was f—ing nuts. It was definitely not the most conducive spot for one of those shows. Now for this tour, we went with big, beautiful theaters that have big backstages because it’s a more mature show. I mean, it’s still really f—ed up and childish, but more theatrical in its presentation. So it’ll be a little more… Well, not like the South by Southwest experience, but you’ll want to get into your seats and hold on.
Q: I know John C. Reilly is in some of these “Bedtime Stories” episodes too. Is there a particular one you’re excited about?
A: There’s one called “Baby” in which is John C. Reilly plays this schlub that gets f—ed with his whole life, and it’s based off a nightmare that I’ve had. Actually, it’s not even a nightmare. Sometimes in reality you go through a day and every experience you have that day is just a nightmare. “Everyone f—ed with me, no one smiled at me.” And so in this episode he’s this guy — we trick him into this scam and eventually he has this epic scene with Laurie Metcalf at the end, and it’s one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen. It’s really scary and a very different kind of vibe for us. So that’s why that episode is my favorite, because I truly feel like we did something new. “Toads” is right up there, too. I love “Holes.” I’m just appreciating all of them.
Q: Were you wondering where to go creatively after “Awesome Show,” which pretty much pushed that surreal-cable-access aesthetic to the limit?
A: Yeah, we felt like we did it. We f—in’ did it and people started imitating us and we saw our stuff all over the place. People would use the term “Tim and Eric-y” to describe things to studios, so we were like, “We did it, and we’re moving on.” We got really turned on by doing those shorts for HBO, one was “The Terrys.” We just loved making these short, cinematic films that put you into this more serious tone, but with this nice juxtaposition of “I feel like I’m in a movie, but then all of a sudden — Oh my God, my toes are being clipped off!” We love playing with that, whatever medium it is, that counterpoint between beauty and horror. But it’s really just a show that we want to watch. This is sort of where we think comedy is going. It’s almost not about the laughs anymore. It’s about the conceptual nature of it, showing these nightmarish things. I can relate to that.
Q: To be fair, comedians have been taking the power out of nightmarish things for awhile by making it OK for us to laugh at them.
A: That’s true, but this is also dealing with these really f—ed up issues like father issues and trust. It’s horrifying and absurd and everyone goes through it.
Q: I remember interviewing you before Season 2 of “Awesome Show” and you said Adult Swim was getting a great deal out of you for very little money, in terms of content. Do you still feel like that, or do you get bigger budgets and more respect these days?
A: We’re definitely getting more respect. The budgets have quadrupled since “Awesome Show” for this show, but also the concept of it (was that) we wanted to up the production values. Adult Swim (which started as the late-night programming block of Cartoon Network) has also quadrupled its audience. It’s sort of all relative. So many people are watching that network that they’re still being able to take these chances. This show is still f—ed up for Adult Swim audiences. Like, “What the f— is this horror?” And it’s so cool they’re doing well so they can take the chances on experimenting with comedy. I hope they embrace it and I know they love the show.
Q: I was cleaning out my work desk the other day and found a package of “Chrimbus”-brand dried shrimp with Tapatio sauce. Do you have any insane, disgusting stuff to throw at the audience from the stage for this tour?
A: Yes. Oh my God, we have a bit where there’s going to be like a holy communion, but Tim and Eric-style. We call it a hosanna-fication. Someone’s going to home with a lot of party favors.
Q: Are you working on another movie yet?
A: There are no plans, but we have a script for “Tim and Eric’s Trillion Dollar Movie,” which is so f—ed up. It’s Tim and Eric in Africa, but the last movie was so hard and insane. It took a year of our lives just editing it and promoting it. It was so massive that we really wanted to come back to a shorter form for awhile and make these “Bedtime Stories.” I definitely think films are in our future. It’s always been our No. 1 goal. But I think we’re going to wait another couple years until we try another. It just sucks the life out of you.
Q: Tim has been acting more lately and you’ve been directing music videos for Depeche Mode, Beach House, Maroon 5 and the National. How has it impacted your creative partnership?
A: We love having outside stuff. Tim loves doing his acting thing and I love directing music videos on the side. In any relationship you need to have those outside, full-control, creative fun zones because that makes us come back together and really value what we have together. Working together is still our primary target. We still think the Tim and Eric thing has many years to go and create new stuff. We just have a good balance. We have fun making lots of different things. We hadn’t made a TV show together for awhile and “Bedtime Stories” was our first one back, so we’re really excited. I mean, making TV is hard as f—. It f—ing sucks. The only fun thing about production is writing the script, because from then on it’s all about compromising. It’s a nightmare. But we actually got all our team of people together from the past and had a blast making this. We loved it.
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642, jwenzel@denverpost.com or twitter.com/johnwenzel
