Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

[madhair60]

Here's a teaser:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/a8250afb53/t-e

Not much to see yet.  Excited, though.

[Slaaaaabs]

Oh my god I can't waiiiiii

[Famous Mortimer]

I'll go and see the first thing they do when they're finally bored of making themselves up to look really ugly, pulling dumb faces and roping in mentally ill public access TV  people.

I'm sorry, I'll shut up. I've no desire to see anything else they ever do, so my opinion is pointless in this thread.

[RickyGerbail]

apology accepted.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

I'll go and see the first thing they do when they're finally bored of making themselves up to look really ugly, pulling dumb faces and roping in mentally ill public access TV  people.

I know where you're coming from - and I'd certainly say Eric is far more guilty of your above description, being the much more limited performer of the two - but Tim in particular has shown himself to be a remarkable astute and varied performer and satirist (in amongst the face pulling and such).

[Onionlimit]

Looking forward to this very much.  I hope the trailers continue on with the hyperbole while showing very little.  I particularly liked them addressing the phrase 'game-changer'.  That phrase annoys me so much and it's only the last few years that it's become common - I think Avatar was the big culprit for this.  And 'Motion picture event' or 'experience' or any variant is just utterly wrong.

But this looks funny.

[I accept the terms of the]

Ideally it would be like Check It Out, and the worst case scenario is something like the Chrimbus special (which the posters match up most closely with, sadly. They've done the cocaine addict extreme L.A. stereotype stuff enough now, haven't they?)

Mortimer: Out of interest, did you ever like T&E? If so, what was the turning point?

[Famous Mortimer]

Ideally it would be like Check It Out, and the worst case scenario is something like the Chrimbus special (which the posters match up most closely with, sadly. They've done the cocaine addict extreme L.A. stereotype stuff enough now, haven't they?)

Mortimer: Out of interest, did you ever like T&E? If so, what was the turning point?

Yes, I liked "Tom Goes To The Mayor" a lot, and their web-only stuff before T&E, and early season 1, the deliberate oddness of it, but there seemed to be a lot of craft there too. I think it was either late in season 1 or early in season 2, where they did an extended storyline about someone dying, or being really poorly, or going missing (my memory is pretty poor, sorry) and by the end of that episode I just knew I was done with it. Also, I watched "Hollywood Public Access" at around the same time  - a documentary about people from LA who do public access, prominently featuring David Liebe Hart - and the extent of Hart's mental illness and T&E's use of him and others became something I couldn't keep supporting.

But I don't want to get dragged into a debate about them, as this should just be for people who are at least interested in watching this film. Sorry for bringing it up, really.

[I accept the terms of the]

It's interesting, I'd like you to talk about it if you've got more to say.

I do feel uncomfortable about the freak show element. I also find it very funny, to my shame.[nb]Liebe Hart just talking and being himself is funny. Nothing about T&E exploiting him is funny, they just happen to be giving him the platform. Difficult.[/nb] About 1/2 of Awesome Show was rubbish, especially after the first series. I think they must be aware of it a bit. It's their meal ticket. I think they mentioned having to make concessions like poop jokes so that they could still have the show.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

The Liebe Hart and James Quall situation is very tricky and my opinion of it changes to such an extent that I'm not certain what I think about it anymore. I think when the joke is their bad acting, it's justifiable, but when it's actually at their expense as people it's horrible and uncomfortable to watch.

Tim and Eric have defended using them by saying that everyone on their show is made to look ridiculous, but it never satisfied me as an argument because other people are definitely in on the joke and it's their choice to be made a fool of.

It's especially unpleasant when T+E fans make cameraphone videos of Liebe Hart where they can barely contain their sniggering.

[pk1yen]

I think there is a lot of respect with DLH and James Quall -- I certainly have a lot of respect for both of them. (Quall especially is a regular bad actor, as far as I'm concerned - which makes him a fantastic comedian.) DLH is perhaps debatable -- but it's not like he's not doing exactly the same act on his own show.

Should we feel the same about the slightly-unhinged Tommy Wiseau, when he appeared? He was doing the same thing in The Room. I look at it the same way.

The illusion of bullying is uncomfortable -- but that's part of the beauty. It's a fairly complex moral quandry to be thinking about during a ten-minute sketch show, and I love that.

There is certainly an issue with the fan's actions though -- sniggering iPhone videos are (always) just cunty.
But speaking for myself, and all my friends who love T&E, we all have a huge amount of genuine respect for DLH as a performer. It's just so fantastic that he exists.

A similar thing happens on Britain's Got Talent and the X-Factor every week. Hey, get the bad singer on stage!
But I get the opinion T&E are less cunty than the makers of those programmes - DLH and James Quall's performances are in the context of a bad comedy show, good because it's bad -- not put up in front of a studio audience and told you're an awful cunt by celebrities.

[yokel]

DLH and his puppets gives me the willies and his bits feel more exploitative, but Quall is rather charming I think.  However, I just like it when Tim and Eric  or John C Reily on the main stars and when they goof around like here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwSX90nZHuU

[The Region Legion]

They played an actual trailer for the film at the London show earlier this year - it's a movie with a plot, not a feature length Awesome Show, which is what this teaser makes it look like.

[RickyGerbail]

We gotta get rid of these old men.

[SavageHedgehog]

Should we feel the same about the slightly-unhinged Tommy Wiseau, when he appeared? He was doing the same thing in The Room. I look at it the same way.

Wiseau's head must have been in a wierd place when he made The Room, but he clearly gets the joke now, and has even been able to turn it around to his financial advantage, which suggests a certain savviness too. It's not the same.

[Goldentony]

Would watch a feature length Steve Brule movie. I wish they'd focus on him a bit more because Check It Out! was one of the most exciting things i'd seen in years and it's still not available on DVD, twats!!!

[I accept the terms of the]

Would watch a feature length Steve Brule movie. I wish they'd focus on him a bit more because Check It Out! was one of the most exciting things i'd seen in years and it's still not available on DVD, twats!!!

Agreed. I wish they'd do more things like this. Tim and Eric's equivalent of Look Around You would be a magical, loved thing. I can't see the movie being anything like that. It has to be a crowd pleaser. I'm expecting it to look like L.A. Guys and Beaver Boys.

[riotinlagos]

Would watch a feature length Steve Brule movie. I wish they'd focus on him a bit more because Check It Out! was one of the most exciting things i'd seen in years and it's still not available on DVD, twats!!!

Season 2 of Check It Out! is currently being made.

A proper trailer should be up on IGN at some point today, and I may as well post this:

[riotinlagos]

...and here's the full trailer!
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2011/12/02/tim-erics-billion-dollar-movie-red-band-trailer

[Retinend]

My prediction is that Roger Ebert will hate it

[hedgehog90]

Big T&E fan. Just saw the trailer...
Hmm... ? :( ? :/ ? :).... no wait, :(
I know, you should never judge a trailer by it's movie, but the movie doesn't look too good.

TBH i'm more interested about another season of Check it Out. Is this confirmed?
Just googled. It is. YAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
http://www.movieweb.com/news/check-it-out-with-dr-steve-brule-season-2-promo-art

Came across this too:



This is such a wonderful picture. I want it as a poster.

[ThickAndCreamy]

The movie looks like it's going to be a terrific disaster and just as inconsistent as the show is. I can't imagine the second series of Check it Out! being anything but gold however, the first is endlessly quotable and effortlessly funny.

Also mentioning David Liebe Hart, at the moment he's touring the US with his band. http://davidliebeharttour.tumblr.com/

I'm permanently fascinated by him and his life. I've just bought this watch from his merch site as it's one of the strangers presents I can give myself for Christmas. I would love one day to meet him and for him to draw a caricature of me outside his building. He's such a lonely, eccentric and wonderful man, a true outsider.

[Phil_A]

This is such a wonderful picture. I want it as a poster.

Possible inspiration?

[The Region Legion]

I'm looking forward to the film. I think making themselves characters rather than playing characters will lend itself well to a story - you only need to look to the other Heidecker thread right now to see many examples of that working. The trailer is funnier than the entire Crimbus Special so there's already hope.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Hmm. Worried it looks like a case of stuff they've already kind of done before but with a "Too hot for TV!" 'edge'.

[I accept the terms of the]

That trailer alone made me laugh more than anything I've seen in ages.

It does look like Awesome Show, but the stuff from it that I like. So I'm good to go. It seems like they've tied that up with a proper narrative and they're playing characters who you don't just hate (I was worried it would be L.A. Guys) so that's super.

[Lyndon]

What is this talk of the Chrimbus special being bad? It was the best thing about my christmas last year. I can't remember it being much different from Awesome Show. Except genuinely christmassy which isn't a bad thing at all.

[I accept the terms of the]

Just too obnoxious and "shocking", really. Just a bunch of hunks.

[hedgehog90]

I was just watching this interview with David liebe Hart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0XjVnsy29EU#t=364s

Here's the facts:

• DLH appears at the end of T&E's B$M speaking to a spielberg lookalike
• He's appearing in Season 2 of Check It Out
• He's appearing in a new T&E show for adult swim called Bulls and Latinos starring Zach Galifianakis

New show. Zach Galifianakis... Ohhhh boy :)
Just noticed this video was posted before either Check it Out or Bulls and Latinos were even announced.

[Retinend]

The Chrimbus Special is full of bits that are either hideously unfunny or astonishingly good. I would say most of Awesome Show is like this, so I ranked the episode as very good, considering how much of it was up there with the best of the 5 seasons.

The hideous:

Winter Man (he's fat and ugly, we get it, please end, please end soon)
The Mr. Henderson stuff. The song is especially bad. The 'gross, open-mouthed eating' sections of their comedy I haven't ever understood (see also: Beaver Boys). I never found the Mr. Henderson sketches funny past the first Awesome Show sketch, though.
Dr Steve Brule, unfortunately. EATING PUBES SO RANDOM!!!
Ben Hur and the 'panties over my head' thought bubbles
Zach Galifianakis/ Tairy Greene. Fortunately it's pretty quick.
James Quall. His appearances always feels a bit ethically dubious. As a person I find him more unnerving than hilarious.
"DV- I wish you were my son" song. Nothing funny about it as far as I can tell. Where are you supposed to laugh?


The astonishing:

The satirical conceit of creating a Xmas special designed solely for retailers to persuade them to buy units of DVDs, starring a DVD-monster mascot and adverts for more Cinco products included in the show. It's the same message as the South Park Xmas special, in which the boys convince the town to stop spending so much quality time with their family and to stimulate the flagging economy - in the true spirit of Xmas. Only it's more parodic in style.

Which leads onto... the Cinco products. The 'Pasta Bear' might be the single funniest Cinco advert since 'O-Hungee'. When she says "I wish there was food inside the animal; TIRED OF THIS HAPPENING?", you expect the joke not to become much more absurd than it already is - but it just escalates and escalates. There's a golden bit of physical comedy in every shot - the finger snapping whilst drying the bear; the guy burning his fingers; the bear catching on fire; the germs only being partially destroyed; the lazer-eyes; the hunting knife; the bear being chucked away; and all the while the joke itself is one of the most satirically salient parts of any Awesome Show episode. It's a brilliant parody of those American (or american-style) infomercials.

The Cinco Food Tube is a really disturbing bit of imagination. The two actors are fascinatingly incompetent. It just keeps getting more and more ridiculous - the teeth removal; 'holing the table'; the sawdust on the food; the novacaine; "I wanna be a foodtuber too!!". Very trippy stuff.

summary now because it's getting late:

what IATTOT calls the 'LA Guys' style of T&E character, I personally really get a kick out of the way they dress themselves up and make themselves look incredibly unflattering. The whiteness of their teeth is a constant source of humour throughout. Tim is a lot funnier than Eric in their respective shticks, however. I think their chemistry in their characters here is very similar in humour to their roles in the Night Live episodes, so I'm surprised IATTOT dislikes the Chrimbus Special if he liked those.

The opening "what am I gonna get?' medley is my favourite musical moments in comedy since Knowing Me, Knowing You. The dancer's costumes; the annoyance in his voice as Tim sings "keep it trimmed and wet!"; the "FOR CHRIMBUUS!" coda.

The robotic audience reactions, and the look of all the oddballs they've collected through the years assembled like that.

The "psst psst psst psst" bit in the first scene, and the line "DV grew up to be Me Me!" at the closing.