PopSyndicate.com

The second season of Tim and Eric’s theater of the uncomfortable continues bringing riotous laughs and spine-freezing cringes.

To start off with, I’ll assume you’ve never heard of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and give you a quick prep. Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are the titular creator/stars of the sketch/musical program. They play most roles in their [adult swim] sketch show, though plenty of guest stars and regular contributors get some of the quarter-hour show’s time. The overall feeling of the show is a series shot with 80’s technology run by a couple of junior-high geeks with beautifully low levels of maturity. Any episode is accessible to new viewers, as the in-jokes and loose “continuity” characters add another level of the series’ enjoyable absurditude.

For those already in the know, the second season picks up the cliffhanger from season 1. Casey (nervous and fugly singer of “Uncle Muscle’s Hour” hosted by Weird Al Yankovic) lost on some dark streets was picked up by a stranger in a van. The suspense is cut as the van blows up, ending Casey’s career. Except he shows up later and no one seems to notice.

Other regular cast/characters that show up are the shrimp-and-white-wine-indulging Beaver Boys, the elderly and awkward Richard Dunn, the office “romantics” Carol and Mr. Henderson, and John C. Reilly as the socially ill at ease Dr. Steve Brule. Jeff Goldblum, Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, Rainn Wilson, and very good friend of the show Bob Odenkirk all show up . Goldblum’s “Jeff Goldbluman Group” and Galifianakis’s “The Snuggler” are the two best appearances, though all are great.

Extras range from the standard (bloopers, deleted/extended scenes, promos) to the stranger. There are karaoke videos for several songs from different episodes accompanied by the appropriate video. An in-depth look at background cast members Kaz and Edgar Allen Poe IV give perspective on an inside joke and casting techniques of Tim and Eric. And the Tim and Eric outdoor festival Awesomecon 2008 is shown in highlight footage format (including but not limited to a costume contest and a tug-o-war event).

There’s also a behind-the-scenes documentary for the Tim and Eric Awesome Tour 2008 with plenty of footage from live shows, mostly song numbers from the series. I can only imagine how bizarrely amazing the shows must have been and I’m kicking myself for not going when they came through town. The sketches are broken up by a side story – while the guys are in between gigs, they go on a hunt for coke, making terrible decisions along the way, resulting in a dumpsterrific fatality. The whole scenario is played to the T&EASGJ! standards of uncomfortably. Childish and beautiful humorosity.

So if you like performance art on ‘roid rage and can appreciate the esoteric dipped in the infantile, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season 2 is for you. Otherwise, your just going to be confused in your “adult”, humorless world. You poor, poor thing.

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