Destroying the Television Set(ting): The Anarchic Pleasures of 'The Eric André Show'

'The Eric Andre Show' Adult Swim

"There is no better starting point for thought than laughter; speaking more precisely, spasms of the diaphragm generally offer better chances for thought than spasms of the soul." --Walter Benjamin

At first, it feels like a lost transmission from the late '70s or early '80s, the opaque and grainy warmth of its images both hypnotic and alienating. "The Eric André Show," which started its second season on Adult Swim last week, is a cognitive rift on the TV screen, a conceptual manslaughter of the clichéd rituals of late-night talk shows and their soothing intimacy. The cordial musical number is replaced with an outburst of free jazz on whose notes Eric André, the boisterous host and creator of the series, barges in ripping the set apart, literally.