Tim & Eric Talk About The Warped World Of ‘Bedtime Stories’ And Their Favorite Sketches

Whether you’re a diehard fan or you’ve stumbled onto their absurdist work at 3 a.m., you know who they are. For over a decade now Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim have been creating their own warped, confusing, and ultimately hilarious brand of comedy. The comedy duo is so influential to the alternative comedy scene, they practically established Adult Swim’s intentionally low-budget and faux public access tone. Thankfully for all of us, Heidecker and Wareheim have stayed busy.

Though the duo is best known for their sketch show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, their most recent anthology series Tim & Eric Bedtime Stories is on its way to become another cult hit. Much like a homemade version of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror, the anthology series puts an absurdist spin on horror stories. The resulting show is packed with bad accents, the duo’s signature brand of overly-intense and stone-faced acting, and lots of very funny, very dumb moments. Following the finale of the show’s second season, Decider had a chance to speak to these masterminds of oddity about the challenges and triumphs of their latest Adult Swim project.

“The first idea we had about the show is that we wanted tell short stories, not be confined to any set characters ,and be kind of loose to make something to tell a story,” Heidecker said when asked about the inspiration for Bedtime Stories. “After making the first season, some of [the episodes] were dark and some of them were not so dark. Some of them were a little silly. And the ones we ended up liking more, I think, were the ones that felt really new and fresh were the darker ones.”

Bedtime Stories marks a creative return to narrative storytelling. “Our first show, Tom Goes to the Mayor was pretty narrative based. It was these little stories, and a lot of time they would turn absurd but they would have a little bit of a story running through it,” Heidecker said.

“When we started in film school it’s always been fun for us to try [more narrative storytelling]. We also get really bored really quickly, and we’re like let’s try something new,” Wareheim said. “It’s hard to tell a story in 11 and a half minutes, but it works for the audience.”

When asked if they had any favorite episodes from one of the greatest horror anthology series out there, Black Mirror, Wareheim pointed to “San Junipero.” “That’s like one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said. “It’s very positive. They kind of like flipped it on everyone.”

One of the best parts of Bedtime Stories is its all-star cast. Heidecker and Wareheim have always been pros when it comes to absurdist comedy, but seeing well-known actors and comedians in their warped world is a delight. “The people that we work with over and over again, there’s almost a shorthand. There’s really not a steep learning curve — they get it right away,” Heidecker said.

One of the most memorable moments from this latest season happens in “The Demotion.” The emotional height of the episode features Heidecker’s character trying to relax a strung out Will Forte with a deeply awkward handjob. “Because we work with them and because we get along with them, [the actors are] usually on board with whatever we have in mind, and they trust us a lot. That scene in particular was neat,” Heidecker said. “We were just cracking each other up. He was like ‘I normally don’t crack up a lot’ but this whole accumulation of that scene just got to us.”

“They’re all such good actors,” Wareheim said. “One thing we’ve learned from this show is that by putting good actors in these crazy stories just works different than Awesome Show! where we could play with non-trained actors. It’s a different vibe. We’ve had a good time with people selling these emotions within one minute. It’s like really hard to do. You just believe these guys right away.”

“It’s a challenging show to make because it’s not like a sitcom where you’re shooting on the same stage or location every time. So you kind of need actors who can just be like first take they’re off book and they’re doing it right away,” Heidecker added.

Warheim also shared an episode idea the duo really wanted to make but ended up scrapping. “One funny thing that happened this year but didn’t get fleshed out is that we like the idea of taking a show like Lost and casting as many people from that show as possible. We had Hurley [Jorge Garcia], but we also wanted to get Sawyer [Josh Holloway] as the lead,” he said. “It’s a weird idea to take a whole other show and make it our show.”

Wareheim also revealed his favorite Bedtime Story episode from this new season. “Mine would be ‘Squat’ which just aired which was kind of a dark horse,” Wareheim said. “It just came together is such a good way. Some of the concepts we write, we’re unsure if we can sell it. For example ‘The Duke,’ which is the Ray Wise one. That concept is so weird to understand.” The episode in question — “The Duke” — involves a gambler losing his wife but gaining a mysterious stranger as his father.

“You’re asking the audience to accept a lot really quickly,” Heidecker said. “We leave a lot of mystery I guess, or a lot of unanswered questions, which I like, because people have been asking me ‘What was this supposed to mean?’ And it’s like whatever. There’s nothing else outside of the episodes. They’re meant to create ambiguity and confusion.”

The duo also spoke about the show’s unexpected cult popularity. “It’s funny like even when we we did the first season, the specials, you don’t feel like there’s a lot of people watching it. And then we did our live tour this year, and we say ‘Oh we have a new season of Bedtime Stories’ and the place like roars,” Heidecker said.

“I think more people will be able to watch it if it goes to Hulu again. Right now it’s so difficult to watch it, it’s always been our struggle. Even my friends don’t know how to watch it,” Wareheim said. “Some day there will be like 30 of them and it will make more sense to watch it as a long series. Right now it’s so mish-mashed.”

Considering the pair’s long comedy career, it was difficult for them to choose a favorite sketch. Heidecker revealed that he personally feels more attached to the more recent projects they’d completed. However, he did highlight one sketch he was especially proud of — “Spaghetti Again.” According to Heidecker, “It was one of those ideas that started as very specific and very small and risky because it’s like I don’t know. Does anyone even think this is really funny? This relationship and this concept.”

“Everyone got it,” Wareheim said.

“The song really worked. The acting was great. The cinematography by Eric was really good. And it’s just like a fully realized three minutes of the best something could possibly be,” Heidecker added.

The duo also revelaed what they’ve been watching lately. While Wareheim has been diving into old episodes of Scooby-Doo, Heidecker almost exclusively watches documentaries. “I watch documentaries almost exclusively instead of those made up stories. Tell me the truth,” he joked. Right now he’s watching Ken Burns‘ The Vietnam War. “I’m still working my way through it. It’s massive. But it’s important. It’s important to understand our history,” he said.

Stream Season 1 of Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories on Hulu

Stream Season 2 of Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories on Adult Swim