Photo by Steve Cross for the Nashville Scene
“I like parties, I like fun. I want to live in a hamburger bun.” Don’t we all? Comedy duo and stars of the Comedy Central TV show, “Tim & Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!” invaded Nashville last weekend with their live Christmas (Chrimbus) spectacular show, which has been touring the United States this winter.
The show took place at the Cannery Ballroom on Friday night, but a few lucky Nashvillians were pleasantly surprised to catch a secret performance at Third Man the evening before. This consisted of Tim Heidecker doing a “fake” set where he pretended to be a really terrible standup comedian who only did impressions of presidents.
Friday evening brought us one of the more wildly inappropriate shows we’ve ever witnessed—(the only comparable ones that immediately come to mind are Peelander Z at Exit/In and the Totally Snake show at The Basement where the lead singer wore a diaper and continuously exposed himself to the audience). It wasn’t until the very end that anyone could actually determine who had performed and when—(most people thought the entire thing was actually over at 11 pm)—and it’s doubtful that anyone could comprehend what the hell had just taken place, given the random nature of the show and how there were “so many things,” as Cy Barkley put it, so the general sense of confusion was pretty awesome to witness.
The Chrimbus spectacular incorporated pre-filmed, supplementary skits that were shown on a projection screen, in combination with the live acting by the participants, who lit up the stage with their portrayals of our favorite Tim & Eric characters. A variety of props and costumes were used to really make the show come alive; (cue Eric making jazz hands and a sparkly smile). They even had many of the show’s original cast members on tour with them, including everyone’s favorite bumbling health expert, Dr. Steve Brule, played by John C. Reilly. Some audience participation was used as well, and generally made everyone feel pleasantly uncomfortable.
The audience participation was especially prevalent in the set of the third act, Pusswhip Banggang, a four-man band featuring Tim & Eric. Surprise, surprise. They were just as absurd as the nonsense that occurred before their performance, playing all original, classic rock and hair metal tunes about strange things like jambalaya and crude sexual subjects. But they both actually played instruments—Tim on guitar and Eric on percussion—which was so impressive amiright?! They opened with a song called “Pussy Whipped,” that ended with Eric shrieking, “I’m leaving,” before he pranced off the stage because the audience wasn’t screaming “pusswhipped” loud enough. At one point, Tim uttered, “Thank you very much ‘Nishville’,” in a most debonair manner, before making everyone in the audience scream their uncle’s name. Despite the excessive amount of bathroom humor, the show left us feeling privileged to live in Nishville. —Erin Manning
P.S. Check out a slideshow of the night here, compliments of Nishville Scene 😉
