What Makes 'The Eric Andre Show' A Meme Classic?

The meme world changed forever in May 2012, when none other than Eric Andre aired his low-budget talk show parody on Adult Swim. The Eric Andre Show's excessive combination of irreverent comedy, exaggerated visuals and shock humor has evolved the show into something of a cult classic. Its long-awaited fifth season is set to premiere in October 2020 and is something that any meme creator worth their salt should keep their eyes peeled for.

To meme enthusiasts and creators alike, the show's success is no secret. The Eric Andre Show has generated its fair share of meme hits, most notably Who Killed Hannibal?, Why Would You Say Something So Controversial Yet So Brave? and Why Are You Booing Me? I'm Right, to name a few.

However, its primarily visual humor lends itself well to memes in video format. In fact, many of the show's best bits become viral hits in their own right, such as Andre's 2016 visit to the Republican National Convention, where he was escorted offstage after asking Alex Jones to have sex with his wife.

The unrelenting chaos that Eric Andre's show is known for has also adopted a personality of its own. The show's signature "We'll Be Right Back" tagline has become something of a meme staple, now as a near-universal symbol for something going terribly, destructively wrong.

What Makes It a Meme Classic?

There are elements to the show's general success to which we can attribute its prominence on the web, such as the absurd nature of its bits. The show found its stride in season four by leaning into its fast-paced, surrealist humor. It's no wonder that The Eric Andre Show struck a chord on the web, with its unforgiving chaos and ultimate disregard for context and meaning.

Absurdity is a defining characteristic of the web's collective sense of humor. Most importantly, the internet also tends to find the largest range of utility from material which is just as absurd out of context as it is in context. Jokes that require a long setup and context may sometimes find their way into memes, but this typically strips the joke of its context to provide new material, unrelated to its original setup.

The Eric Andre Show suffers no such constraint, as the rapid-fire, contextless nature of it means that memes derived from the show's bits retain nearly every inch of the character and demeanor of the original material. Eric Andre doesn't need to adapt to fit on the web, as his show is already in peak form to deliver to that audience.

What Can We Expect From Season 5?

In season four, we've seen the absurdist aspects of the show's personality reach new heights, propelling it to the top of the meme charts. We can expect this trend to continue if season five tends toward those same elements that have popularized it online in the first place.

Even though The Eric Andre Show is, first and foremost, a TV show whose success isn't wholly contingent on its success on the web, it's highly unlikely that the show will deviate from the format and personality that made it successful in the first place. As long as season five carries the same personality as the prior seasons, we can expect it to be just as much a meme goldmine as it is a commercial success.

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