Eric Andre and the Art of the Non Sequitur

 

Often, when I love a piece of media I will take small components of it and incorporate it into my other work. Sometimes this happens when I take thematic statements from other peices, such as "Che Guevara T-shirt" taking from Network. Or I will take effects, most prominently displayed through "Fire Race Car" using the transition effects of Fargo. More often than not, this comes in the form of me taking individual shots from the movies that are playing with similar thematic terrain, as seen in the mirror shot from "Speaking of Valor" coming from Bojack Horseman 

However, I have only once seriously considered copying a piece of media completely. About a month before lockdown Me, Ed, and Zach were in the early stages of planning an Eric Andre Show rip off. Ed and I still talk about it as a possibility. The Eric Andre show presents a near perfect rule set for improvisational weird artists like me and Ed. If an idea is bad it forms itself into the show and can become good, traditional measures of quality are irrelevant, rather simple commitment can drive the show forward. When we watch the show we are laughing not only at the pranks, but also the character that would commit these pranks. With these two basic elements, the show gives the artist complete freedom. But, these base paramotors that attracted me as an artist are not the reason the show itself is generous, other shows have had similar freedom (namely Tim and Eric), rather it is Andre's special mastery of the Non Sequitur. 

A good Non Sequitur needs to be random enough that a majority of people have no idea where it is coming from, however there needs to be some basis in an original idea to back up the thought. Often when people attempt to do "random" comedy it comes off as a cringe attempt to think of the weirdest thing with no understanding of the surrounding situation. In comparison, Andre embraces the random, yet there is a simplicity to what he is doing that makes the actual occurrence understandable. When he holds up a clamp asks "what is this" he is still playing within the rule that this scene is an interview. The non sequitur comes from the base parody. 

Alternatively, Andre's non sequiturs are formed through him going one thought out from the base idea he was going to express. Unfortunately, there are not that many great examples of this that are not gross, refer to the Mel B interview above for some examples. 

Beyond having good starting points, the impressive thing about Andre is that he maintains them and forms his characters through completely nonsensical characters. The obvious example of this is the base character, however all of his recurring street characters are similar bi-products. From bird up to bird up Andre changes just slightly, but noticeably. To be honest, his use of non sequiturs only scratches the surface of Andre's genius. For me Andre is a difficult figure to assess. While my other art gods have obvious factors that make them good, Andre is almost unexplainable. All I can say is his understanding of the weird is perhaps unmatched. 

Work log:

Monday- Begun the search for assets 

Tuesday- Continued the search for assets 

Wednesday- Figuring out camera settings 

Thursday- Discussed costume with Ed 

Friday- Editing a music video