Some indie rock? Why not.
How about both on the same bill?
The number of artists who can pull that off is limited. The number who pull it exceptionally well may be limited to one person: Tim Heidecker.
Heidecker, who will appear at San Antonio’s Charline McCombs Empire Theatre on Wednesday, Aug. 2, is a man of many talents. While he first came to fame with sketch comedy, he's since become known for standup and for music.
We could go on and on about the things he’s been involved in, but let’s keep it easy and manageable.
Heidecker came to prominence via the Adult Swim sketch comedy show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! He’s the host of the podcast Office Hours Live. He’s a social media star, though recently walked away from a high-follower Twitter account, citing the site’s rightward lurch.He’s released six indie-rock albums, most recently last year's High School. He’s collaborated with Weyes Blood and members of Foxygen.
He’s even played tennis with Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus. Naturally, that one’s on video.
And he’s a noted Bob Dylan fan, having paid tribute via pastiche as well as through a hilarious bit that skewers the Dylan obscurity “Lenny Bruce.”
If that’s not enough, he also appeared in the movies Bridesmaids and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
The Current spoke to Heidecker via Zoom in advance of his San Antonio show. The call was at 8 a.m. LA time, though his well-known wit wasn’t dulled by the early hour. Naturally, the conversation included talk of music and comedy. He even said some funny shit, despite swearing he wouldn’t.
The following interview has been edited and condensed.
What are you doing up so early? I’ve always heard that standup comics and rock 'n' rollers are drug-crazed wildmen.
I’m a dad, so I’ve got two young kids, 6 and 9. And I’m up first. I’m an early bird. I get most of my work done early, when I’m not on the road. In my normal life, I’m an early riser and pretty productive after a couple cups of coffee.
Do you bring your family on tour when it’s summer?
Oh, hell no! With all due love and respect, it’s worked out to be a very nice break for all of us.
You’ve got some comedic improv chops, obviously. How do you react in your real life when someone says, “Hey, Tim, say something funny!”
I say something like, “Oh, you gotta pay me.” Or “That’s my job, I don’t just give it away.” That’s usually enough of a joke to move things along.
Well, here you are promoting the show, so you’re working. Can you say something funny now?
Uh, no! I’m an unassuming guy. It’s funny, you go to the PTA things and the family functions and stuff at school and I keep it pretty dry. I like that people don’t know who I am. But I did pull this movie star move where all the kids were going to a Dodgers game and they were gonna walk around the field for this Little League day. I wrote to Justin Turner, who’s my daughter’s favorite player on the team. I wrote him on Twitter and said, “Hey, we’re gonna be walking around the field.” He said, “I’ll come out and say, 'Hi.'” He saw me and said “hi” to my daughter, and all the other parents were like, “Who the hell is that guy?”
What’s the most difficult heckler you’ve had, and how did you deal with that person?
There’s a lot. My character that I do as a standup character has this sort of shield where I can be very brutal with an audience member and it’s in the guise of this character, so I can kind of get away with really giving people the business. We were doing a series of warm-up shows [for this tour] and there was this woman on her phone. The light from the phone was distracting, because it was a pretty small room. I asked her to put her phone away, and she was like, “I can’t.” (Laughs.) Like, “I’m dealing with something right now.” And I was like, “Get the fuck out of here right now. Get the fuck out!” And I kicked her the fuck out. And everyone clapped. She went to the box office and was very upset and said that she was going to contact my booking agent and complain. (Laughs.) Go for it. My booking agent’s going to love to hear that. I’m going to set the terms of how this is going to go. I don’t mind hecklers, but you know. I had a guy when we were in England. I was doing a show in Manchester. During the music portion, we do this thing where we kinda do a little dance onstage. Like a Springsteen-Courtney Cox thing. “Dancing in the Dark.” He was very happy to be up there, and it was St. Patrick’s Day. I think he was a little pissed, as they say over there. He was like moshing with me up there. He was coming up and ramming me. And I gave him a look like, “No, that’s not what we’re doing here.” And then he did it again and knocked me over. At that point my tour manager came and got him outta there. But yeah, it’s an active shooter situation every night, you know?
Speaking of the current tour, how’d you come up with the “Two Tims” concept? You’ve used the idea in the past, too.
It’s a big undertaking to decide to do 30 or 40 cities. There’s a lot that goes into it. I wanted to do a solo tour that reflected all the music I’ve been putting out. And I’ve never really toured the standup. So, there’s a lot of versions of me out there, you know, making stuff. There’s my On Cinema world, there’s my Office Hours podcast. A lot of different ways I could tour. Through writing and talking about it with a lot of people, it felt like there’s a good show there that’s half my standup character and half my music life. I have a lot of people that come that are there for the standup and don’t know what to think about the music, if it’s real or not real. And they end up saying at the end of the night — this sounds like Donald Trump — “I’ve heard people say that.” (Laughs).
If you really want it to be Trump, you have to get “sir” in there.
Exactly. “They came up and they were crying. Sir, I didn’t know your music, but now I’m a big fan.”
How did you decide on the pacing? Why is the music the second half of the show?
The standup character works great as opening act, cause he’s such a failure. It would be funny if this guy was real and flopped in front of a band. Even though he’s a terrible standup comedian, he’s very popular in that room that night because the audience that’s there to see that show loves that character. You go see a show and you get what you want right away? There’s something about that. It’s not like you gotta slog through three bands.
“No More Bullshit” is how you describe the persona. On the other hand, your band is called The Very Good Band, which strikes me as maybe not the most sincere thing. So, it’s “no more bullshit” and then you hit us with a bullshit band name.
It’s funny, because it does seem like I’m being ironic or sarcastic with the name of the band. But it’s quite literal. They’re surprisingly good. That’s one of the reactions we get. “Dude, your band is really good. How did that happen?” Well, I got lucky, and I like good music. So, I’m happy every night to play with these people. There is this shift, and that’s sort of the interesting thing about the show. The first half is sort of steeped in sarcasm and irony, meta-comedy. Nothing is real. And then this shift happens where it does take a little bit of time to know what’s going on. But about halfway through the music set there’s this sense of “this is a rock show.” This is not a joke. It doesn’t mean we can’t have fun and I don’t try to make you laugh throughout. It’s kind of my natural instinct to be funny and to keep the energy light and fun. I don’t turn into this mopey, emo, rock weirdo. I play funny songs and everything. I try to make the whole night fee like, “Wow, that was a whole range of emotions.” There’s a feeling of “I laughed and I cried.” Old-fashioned showbiz stuff.
You’re clearly a fan of indie rock and guitar music. And yet “the kids” — as we’ll call them — love their hip-hop, their pop and so forth. What do you see as the future of guitar music in 20 years?
That’s impossible to know. I guess there’s still a place for it. I’m amazed there’s still a place for it. On my podcast we’re having this band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. They’re coming in, and they just did the Hollywood Bowl last night. If you look at their music, it doesn’t feel they’re connected to whatever pop music is now. It’s definitely guitar-driven rock.
They even seem to have jumped into the Phish/jamband scene. Is that scene flying the flag for guitar rock? You like Pavement, and that group has some jammy elements. What do you think about jambands?
I want to be in one, but I don’t like it, you know what I mean? It seems like a fun thing to do. A fun life to have where you’ve got this audience and you’re playing music with friends. I personally don’t like Phish. I like what they’re doing with the visuals and the community and stuff, but I would never put on the music, you know? I do see a world where whatever show I put on has a similar intention. There’s a little universe there that feels connected to the jamband world, in a way.
Speaking of music, what was it like to collaborate with Maynard Keenan and Puscifer?
That goes back a while. For Eric and I, some of our earliest fans were musicians. Built to Spill. And I was fans of all these people. Frank Black. Pixies. These people were early fans. Ben Folds. Maynard was in that early stage. He saw our stuff and was really into it. I’m not really a big fan myself.
You’re trashing everybody today! Get ready for the backlash.
I’m an open book, you know? I can’t choose who likes me. It’s not that I actively hate it, it’s just that the music was never for me.
Politics is a frequent topic on your social media accounts. What do you think about RFK Jr.?
He’s a wingnut, a tinfoil hat kind of guy, for a long time. And it’s weird that he’s here running for president. He’s one of these guys — like any fringe nut — he’s gonna say some things that you agree with. He’s gonna talk about the corruption in politics and the military-industrial complex. All of these things that, as a lefty, I’m gonna kind of agree with. But then he’s gonna say something like “Wi-Fi gives you cancer.” So I don’t take him seriously, but it’s interesting to have him in the conversation. I don’t know if he’s an intentional spoiler, like a Roger Stone rat-fucking kind of situation.
It's possible. He posed for a photo with Michael Flynn and Stone himself.
I haven’t seen it, but I know it’s out there. So, yeah, there’s that possibility. Also, enough with the Kennedys. Enough, enough, enough. I don’t want to know or hear anything about the Kennedys ever again. So that disqualifies him right there. I like that Trump, in his Fox interview, called him JFK Jr., though.
But didn’t QAnon tell us he’s coming back?
Yeah, the Q people must have gone nuts there.
$39.50-$57, 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2, Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 226-5700, majesticempire.com.
