Eric André Live Near Broadway Review

Join Swimpedia as we review a screener of Eric André Live Near Broadway with minimal spoilers.

[MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD]

Adult Swim’s first premiere of 2024 takes Eric Andre live in front of a crowd for his filmed “stand-up” special, but we find that this stand-up much more resembles a live version of his classic Adult Swim series. Eric Andre has been on the road the last few months with his “Eric Andre Live!” tour, and this special features footage from his show in Manhattan near Broadway. Each tour date was filmed, and the show adjusted night by night as they discovered what was and wasn’t working. Eric’s long-running, classic Adult Swim series “The Eric Andre Show” is filmed in a closed stage with no crowd and only a series of celebrity guests for Eric to torture. In Live Near Broadway, Eric Andre does all the typical hijinks he is known for, but this time with a live crowd to engage with and join in on the fun. Eric takes full advantage of his crowd, running around the floor and spraying poncho-wearing audience members with super soakers, dousing front row audience members’ hands with “hand sanitizer” that he then reveals is actually glue (before drinking some himself), and even spraying ghost pepper hot sauce into the crowd. If you are going to an Eric Andre live show, then you know to expect insanity, and the entire crowd was more than happy to play along. Two audience members also got to come on stage and engage with Eric directly, which led to interesting and hilarious results.

The addition of a live crowd and audience members on the stage to engage with is what truly elevates this special from a normal episode of the Eric Andre show, but all the usual trappings of the Adult Swim series are here as well. Eric is joined by season six fan favorite the Fridge Keeper, as well as cohost Reese Witherspoon and a celebrity guest, this time the actor/singer Billy Porter. The live stage offers less leeway for Eric to truly torture a guest, so Billy remains in on the joke most of the time, doing things like drinking a coffee/wine mixture and debating Eric on whether or not he actually supports R. Kelly.

Premiering in May 2012, the Eric Andre show is now one of Adult Swim’s longest running programs, and for a show built so heavily on shock value, you might think that after 12 years it’s beginning to get old. Thankfully, Eric has managed to keep his show fresh with new pranks, new hosts, and new material, and this new, live format adds even more energy to Eric’s insanity, creating a hilarious half hour of hijinks guaranteed to please anyone familiar with Eric Andre.