Upon hearing that Eric André would be coming to Bailey Hall for an evening of stand-up comedy and Q&A, I was immediately curious as to how the night would play out. I’ve been familiar with his surreal comedy for many years, having watched countless bizarre clips from Adult Swim’s The Eric Andre Show on YouTube. Throughout his career, André has established himself as a pusher of comedic boundaries who devises elaborate bizarre pranks which confuse (and sometimes upset) celebrities and strangers in public. On one occasion, André entered a NYC subway car donning a dog cone and asked unsuspecting riders to feed from the cone after he poured milk and Froot Loops cereal into it. Another standout prank shows André entering a restaurant in a purple octopus costume with four people with dwarfism posing as his tentacles. With these sorts of insane pranks in mind, I was sure that André’s appearance at Cornell — especially the Q&A session — would be full of must-see surprises.
The night began with 20 minutes of stand-up comedy from comedian and actor Derek Gaines. Gaines skillfully executed his set, with jokes focusing on topics ranging from airlines to political correctness. Though much of his material followed an observational humor set up and punchline framework, Gaines’ inclusion of sex and drug-related jokes helped ease the audience into the shock humor André is known for.
After beginning his set with a few jokes about his half-Black and half-Jewish heritage, André turned toward a number of topics of political significance.
Less than 90 seconds into his set, the comedian stated, “I’m Jewish, but free Palestine,” eliciting significant audience applause. Afterward, he launched into a short routine highlighting the absurdity of the TV show Cops using reggae music for its theme music considering that the show often sensationalized the use of extreme state violence against marginalized communities. André then shouted into the microphone, expressing his hatred of the constant news in which Trump is “destroying the world” and comparing the president’s seeming invincibility to that of “star power” from Super Mario. I deeply enjoyed this small segment of his routine, with his comedy offering a much needed sense of catharsis and relief in a time of extreme stress caused by the administration’s actions.
After a few minutes of political jokes criticizing former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, André transitioned to the shock humor he is best known for. He began by recounting the information his friend told him about the extreme size of the breasts on chickens farmed by KFC, with André masterfully subverting expectations by quipping that he wanted to travel to the factory farms for sexual gratification rather than to stop their practices. Further material included his idea for a cocaine helmet variant of the beer helmet, an MDMA trip gone wrong and an experience in which a masseur in Taiwan unexpectedly performed sexual acts on him while his girlfriend received a massage in the same room.
In addition to his memorable material, André also demonstrated skilled crowd work throughout his set. The comedian made fun of his own age in response to one audience member’s ignorance of the movie Home Alone and got the crowd to give a round of applause for a man in one of the front rows who was dressed as a wizard. Most notably, though, his routine included a segment wherein he borrowed a student’s phone and texted his mom while the phone screen was projected for all to see. After a few minutes of ominous and alarming texts, André accepted a FaceTime from the student’s mom, meeting his family over the phone and repeatedly asking them to take their shirts off (to which the student’s father briefly obliged).
Following his stand-up, André was joined by student moderator Jacob Irons ’27, co-president of Cornell’s Whistling Shrimp improv group, for the Q&A session. It was immediately clear, however, that this would be no normal interview. Throughout his entire time on stage, Irons maintained character as a bumbling moderator with about as much charisma and awareness as a slice of white bread. Irons would preface almost every one of his questions with something like “I have a question for you” or “my next question is,” despite André’s increasing mockery of Irons’ performance as host. Additionally, whenever André would respond to a question or ask Irons something, Irons would simply reply with “interesting” or “okay” before moving on to something else entirely. The highlights from the segment included André texting and FaceTiming Irons’ mom for all to see, with the added bonus of audience member texts appearing on-screen after Irons revealed his phone number to the crowd.
Finally, André capped off the evening with a ranch chugging competition, with two audience volunteers competing to drink an entire bottle of ranch on stage as fast as possible. The competition perfectly balanced cringe and amusing, with the two students gagging as they struggled to consume what was likely 2,000 calories worth of the salad dressing.
In all, Eric André’s visit to Cornell was a masterful display of the power of absurd humor. Most of the comedians invited to campus typically fall into more traditional schools of comedy, so it was greatly refreshing to see a different style explored on-stage and the typical Q&A format completely turned on its head as is done in The Eric Andre Show.
Matthew Rentezelas is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is an assistant Arts & Culture editor on the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at mrentezelas@cornellsun.com.
