Not Tim and Eric

About

Not Tim and Eric refers to a popular description for pictures, videos and other media that resemble the lo-fi, surreal humor of the comedy team of Tim & Eric but remain unaffiliated.

Origin

On February 14th, 2012, Redditor animal_backwards launched the /r/NotTimAndEric subreddit.^[1] The board specializes in the type of off-kilter, surreal comedy found on the comedy television series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! However, the videos posted are not affiliated with the comedy team. The subreddit was created after non-Tim and Eric videos kept appearing in the /r/TimAndEric^[5] subreddit.

The page's content guide describes the type of content they are looking for:

This is subreddit for videos that are similar to content that could be found on the Tim and Eric show.

The Tim and Eric show is an absurdist anti-humour comedy show which is heavily influenced by kitsch and the aesthetics of public access television and relies on awkward presentation to over-stimulate and/or unseat their audience. While Tim and Eric employ these devices intentionally to create a surreal comedic environment, these elements are also active in other content (whether they are applied intentionally or not)--/r/nottimanderic is a home for that content.

If you are still unsure as to what type of content you should be submitting you can check out the first few pages of our top all-time submissions.

Redditor^[4] Boncef posted one of the earliest examples to gain traction on the subreddit on December 2nd, 2012. The video "Kevin Claps for Ann" (shown below), which features an awkward interaction between a young girl playing the violin and a young boy complimenting her, received more than 620 points (98% upvoted) before archiving.

Precursor

The phrase "Not Tim and Eric" has been used to describe things of this nature before the subreddit as well, however, in a less tangible and documented way. The earliest known use of it as a description came from Livejournal^[2] user etched on June 22nd, 2011. Describing a video by musician and actor Jon LaJoie, the user says, "I don't like things that look like they belong in Tim and Eric but are not Tim and Eric.

Spread

Later that year, The Daily Dot^[3] reported on the subreddit. According to the report, the subreddit "was created after subscribers to the actual subreddit for Tim and Eric continually posted links to similar material."

“Despite the bold red text on the submission page saying that non T&E related material will be removed, I still remove a few posts per week that are sort of T&E’s style, but completely unrelated,” said o85, then-moderrator of both /r/NotTimAndEric and /r/TimeAndEric.

As of August 2017, the subreddit has more than 67,000 subscribers.

On April 24th, 2014, Redditor HalfTime_Show started the /r/NotTimAndEricPics, a subreddit that focused the on the surreal photographs that resembled Tim and Eric's comedy (examples below). As of August 2017, the subreddit has more than 7,800 readers.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References