ERIC ANDRE

BY CHRIS LONGO | PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK MORGULIS

Ever a man of extremes, Eric Andre, who buffed up into the best shape of his life as a bit for the new season of his late-night Adult Swim prank show, shows up to our interview in a bright green Newport Cigarettes tracksuit. “I’m polluting my body yet again,” he says. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a Newport in my life. [Laughs] I’m a fraud.”

When we meet Andre, he’s a handful of days into a trip to Austin, Texas, promoting The Eric Andre Show at the SXSW Comedy Festival. The new season arrives at a time when Andre’s career continues to ascend. In 2021, his long-gestating prank film Bad Trip was released on Netflix, becoming a global hit for the streamer. And for the sixth season of his show, Andre and his producers have roped in an impressive caliber of guests: celebs such as Jon Hamm, Natasha Lyonne, Raven-Symoné, Diplo, and Cypress Hill are tormented like never before.

In honor of what is undoubtedly his sexiest season yet, Andre graciously let us shower him in rose petals (see the shoot on page 54) before we sat down to discuss more than a decade of man-on-the-street pranks, gross-out moments, and the evolution of the show’s physical comedy.

The question on everybody’s mind right now is: how did you do it? How did you get swole, jacked, goosed for season six?

Oh, it’s just food and exercise. It’s nothing crazy. I was looking into doing steroids. But I’m scared of cancer. So I just ate a ton of meat. I constantly snacked on meat.

Did you go the Kumail Nanjiani route and go for Marvel Cinematic Universe trainers?

No, I had trainers that I worked out with before. I tried to get jacked. So they really helped me, but it’s mostly just [eating] meat all day. It fucking sucks.

In season four, I tried to get as skinny as I could. I wasn’t good at it. Season five, I gained 40-45 pounds. But I wasn’t even good at that. My weight fluctuated throughout the shoot. Then this season, I lost 40 pounds and got my body fat down to like the best I’ve ever been since high school.

How did that feel?

It felt good, but I was hungry. It’s no quality of life. Because you can’t drink alcohol. You can’t go out to restaurants. The joys of life are taken away from you.

Seems like you’re taking it back with this [gestures to Andre’s Newport Cigarettes tracksuit]. Yeah, I’m polluting my body yet again. I don’t think I’ve ever had a Newport in my life [laughs]. I’m a poser. I’m a fraud.

In the clips of season six Adult Swim sent us in advance, there are moments where you try to get the guests to acknowledge that you got ripped, but they wouldn’t do it. Were there any guests that actually validated you?

I got completely naked in front of Jon Hamm. He complimented me, and he’s a handsome man, so it meant more. It felt good. He saw my whole cock. We had this gag where my clothes were attached to a fishing line. And right when I got up to greet him, our special effects team pulled all my clothes off. Cock out. And he was shocked. But he said I was in great shape.

You guys pulled some really good talent and guests on the show this season. Tell me a little bit about what your producers did to…

Our producers lie. They lie to every publicist and agent. We’re duping celebrities.

Is that the only way?

[Laughs] It’s the only way to get people on there. Nobody knows what they’re getting into. Some people think they know what they’re getting into. But a lot of people wouldn’t even tell them my name or the name of the show. And I’m meeting them for the first time on camera.

So they walk onto set, and then they realize they’ve been lured into The Eric Andre Show?

No, as long as the guest is over 35, they have no idea who I am. Daymond John from Shark Tank had no idea who I was. Meagan Good had no idea who I was.

Daymond has a moment where he looks directly into the camera lens like he’s questioning his entire life. He goes, “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life, and I never will again.” And I was like, “That’s accurate.” He was really cool. At the end, he was like, “I gotta have your number, man. We got to hang out.” He was shook. He was in too deep. I think at the end of the day, people know I’m just joking around. There’s no malicious intent.