Awesome Tour Diary

Holy Shit! What a tour! We had no clue all of you lunatics were gonna come out and help us rock this thing every night. It was an unreal experience that we'll never forget. Thanks to everyone who sent us their great photos and videos. There will be a full tour documentary on the Season 2 DVD! BOSTON Our first night! We've never played Boston before! We are pumped! Although I was very nervous about playing two shows in one night. In fact I enlisted the help of a man to get my body prepared for such a battle. I wasn't used to dancing my ass off in spandex for hours straight. But we did it! And the people of Boston were so cool and warm and smelled a little like lobster. Balls Ready for action:

Boston Backstage

Flying ball leap:

Tim and Eric dance:

Tim's balls are blonde:

Mine are black like the night:

Sox:

NYC Got into a major traffic jam on the way into the city. Of course! Welcome home! Mugar almost had a heart attack, but we made it to the show on time. The Highline Ballroom was beautiful and humungous. Two shows of 700 people each. We've never performed to a crowd that size! Uh oh! MAJOR tech problems before the show, the security guards were making fun of our outfits, I was drinking pepto bismal like water, yikes! But everything went great. Lots of BFF's in the crowd. Good to be back east. Crew:

Jon Mugar- Tour Manager/Stage Manager/Honkman.

Ben Berman- Lights/ Sound/ Shot and edited "Not Live" our tour documentary. Btw, if you haven't seen this epic: http://www.superdeluxe.com/sd/series/tim_and_eric_not_live

Clark Renking- Production Master/ Merch Wiz/ Beardsman

Doug Lussenhop- Audio Visual Master

DJ DOUGGPOUND Pound ripped it up this year. NPR joke just took him over the edge. I prefer the corned beef stuff, but everyone has their fav. Doug's greenroom:

In the mix:

Pace:

Cool flyer:

PHILLY Got off the van and headed directly for DiBruno Bros. Italian hoagies!!! Played at the North Star. Boy that place has changed. I had such fond memories of that club living there, but oh well. Sorry it was so hot and impossible to see. Should have stayed at the Franklin Institute! Mom and Dad showed up. They didn't wear their matching leather jackets like last year. Bummer. PETITE FEET

Gearing up for what a man sounds like:

ASHEVILLE The best show on this trip hands down. Possibly the greatest show we've ever done. And don't get me wrong, most of the cities ruled, but there was something very special about this Asheville show. I think we were all so exhausted and sick of the large city vibe at this point. It felt good to roll into a beautiful mountain town and not know a single soul there! Actually, that feeling is equally scary. Will anyone show up? Will woodsmen rape us at the after party? Well, Asheville came through in a big way. It was truly awesome. And you chippies were totally insane. This was the first show I couldn't hear myself sing over you lunatics. Thank you Asheville. (except the raver in the big hat that got mad at us cause we wouldn't do the beaver boy dance for him. We're not monkeys bro) Outside the club:

ATLANTA Visited the sad remains of superdeluxe. Lazzo brought us amazing brownies. I hid Harrigan's laptop behind his fridge. We played in the Plaza movie theater. Super cool space with a massive screen. Had to get out of their quickly due to a Rocky Horror screening at midnight! CHICAGO Total deepdish! Doug brought us to a whacky art show where he performed. He put his mom on the guest list plus 14! They all brought cut outs of doug's face. And when something funny happened, they would hold up their doug cut outs and shake em! So awesome. We met Jeanine. She protected the projector. Pound fans:

A talented man brought us this:

FYE signing:

ST. LOUIS Had to stop back in St. Louis. The people in this city are just amazing! Visited my cousin who just got back from the hospital. She had height reduction surgery. KANSAS A contender for most enthusiastic crowd EVER. Maybe it's because you guys are soooo far from the ocean? Who knows, but you guys rule. Oh, and I crowd surfed for the first time in my life! I grew up in the punk scene and always wanted to participate in the sweaty fun, but I'm a LARGE man. And Lawrence is strong! Backstage in Lawrence:

Crowd Surfin in Kansas:

PAPA JOHNS Friends and fans both agreed that this may be the best bit for the 08 tour. Tim and I are obsessed with fake advertising, (and some real advertising- ABSOLUT) so we jumped at the chance to put on a informational chat about The Papa's new email service. And who doesn't like free pizza thrown at their faces? It's all about the graphics:

Photo op:

Papa screams:

Jpeg signature (free of charge):

Pie launch:

Reaching people:

AUSTIN Last time we were here we had a shitty time due to SXSW lameness. But this show was killer. Youngest fan ever attended. Casey & His Brother

Cops and Robbers:

Feeling some sunsets:

Burger jump:

Fav photo from tour:

Dog toss:

Big Ben:

Train:

Tangled:

2nd best photo from tour:

SEATTLE The rest of the talent arrives! David Leibe Hart, James Quall, Palmer Scott (Sit on You), and Ron Starks (Do Dah Doo Doo) Tim and I are excited to change up the show a bit and see how people react to the new guys. Had a day off. We love this fucking town. So beautiful and clean and fresh and hilly and yummy. David Liebe Hart

David tells us a story about how James "spit up" in the hotel room.

Pierre

PORTLAND Another super beautiful city. I may live here at some point. We played another old movie theater. This is the way to go. Late night house party afterwards! Marty on drums! Backstage in Portland. Yes, we are on a 45 degree angle in a hallway. Kinda made it perfect:

James Quall

James had new jokes for each city. He kinda blew our mind on this trip. A true jokesman. Doug was a little jealous. SAN FRANSISCO Ok, yet another beautiful effin city. Michael Schmidt

Palmer Scott

He was favorite part of the show for sure. LA We're back home! Thank god Tim had the smart idea of playing two days back to back instead of two shows in one night. We were fucking exhausted. Lot's of BFF's and family in the house. Thought LA was gonna be way too cool for school, but turned out to be some of the best shows. The first night Bob was our stage manager. So good to hear the roar when he takes the stage. He's still the fucking man:

The second night Rainn did the same thing. Karlor?

FINALE! Warming up the crowd with my tinsel:

Glitter drums:

Red Dragon:

First tier- find that dragon:

Trust me friend:

Celebration:

Gross:

Richard and Tanese closed the show with a lovely poem about the tour:

Apologies To all the janitorial staff that had to clean up after our shows:

(Been getting a bunch of "what do you like?" emails lately. so here's some fun facts!)

Watching:
Look Around You
Jam
Poker After Dark

Listening:
Crystal Castles
Battles
Japancakes "Loveless"
Ratatat
Flying Lotus
The Tim Heidecker Masterpiece

Reading:
The Timewaster Letters

Eating:
Gingergrass

Looking:
Jen Stark

Wearing:
Boxer Briefs

Internetting:
Hakken
The Poundcast
Y'all So Stupid

myspace.com/thebirdandthebee

I dressed up as an athletic Robert Smith this year. I imagined what it would be like for Robert before a Cure tour. And I think I nailed it. Tight biker shorts and huge rats nest hair! Success! Now onto your outfits. These made me so happy and a little scared. What do your parents think of you dressing like Casey! I love it.


Look at the size of Jan's head in this photo. This guy could easily be on our show. And Wayne, nice suede vest.

The cotton ball beard makes this for me.

I don't think the Beaver Boys would ever have facial hair.

Perez Hilton style. Very nice.

This has to be the best one. Gravy Robbers? Amazing!

Take out those raver earrings and you've got an amazing look.

Truly frightening. Like my real brother.

It's all about the details.

My favorite Pep Pep!

Very Important Videos:

The best:

Why did it take me so long to find this:

Hi Friends!
Thank you all coming out to the tour and making it an amazing experience. And thank you for sending me your pics. You guys rule.
TIM & ERIC AWESOME TOUR CREW
Tour Manager: "Krinkle" (aka Kraaanks, Kroeger, Krunks, DJ Krinkle, Kranky, or anything starting with a K.) Also known by his family as John Mugar. He's a writer and producer on the Awesome Show.

Documentarian: "Beard" (aka Ben Berman) Ben is an editor and a producer on the Awesome Show

DJ Douggpound: (aka Doug Lussenhop) Opened the entire tour as well as running samples/video for us. Doug is an editor and a writer on the Awesome Show.

DJ Douggpound kicked some serious ass on the tour. Everyone should check out his act. He does a "remix" set where he tells jokes then remixes them with beats and silliness.


BOSTON
What a fucking mess. Because of Adult Swim's "bombs" we had to postpone this show. We are so sorry about this chippers in Boston. And we are working hard to come back asap.

NYC
Our first show! Holy shit! My stomach felt like I've been eating razors all morning. Lots of our BFF's were coming out. What if I peed myself on stage?

We performed at the Knitting Factory which is where T and I did one of our first live performances ever! We did Father Mulligan's class about 5 years ago as part of Matt Carlin's variety show. Felt awesome to go from the basement stage to the main stage for a sold out show. Kinda surreal actually.

Here's our first live bit of the night, "Old Lady." Tim comes on stage and sings, "here comes my lady." I stumble through the crowd towards the stage. Tim needs to help me up. I started really bumping into people halfway through the tour. I loved seeing angry dudes turn around to reveal a large old lady trying to get through.

Tim warming up the casio:

Struggling to get to my man:

Glad I wore my panties that night:

Looking for a hand:

Upright:

Smile:

Tim getting ready. He puts on 3 layers of costumes so he can rip them off easy during changes:

Look at all the beard glue on Tim's shirt:

Fan Video:

PHILLY
Our homecoming show! Tim and I went to school at Temple University. Hootie Hoo! So great to come back home. We performed at the Franklin Institute. (yes, the science museum) My parents were in the crowd. They both wore leather jackets to fit in with the cool kids. I sang them a special song as our encore for that night. The song lyrics were, "This is my son. Just an average American son. Just look at my son. Aren't you proud of my son?" We put together a short video/cd rom that my mom could take home with her. It's a collection of photos of me growing up and then what I look like now. The purpose is to show how proud my mom is of me to her normal suburban friends without actually seeing what I do on TV. Anyway, the footage will be on the dvd. For now here's a couple of the images from the video.

ERIC GROWING UP:

ERIC NOW:

We ate some real deal hoagies at Chickies South Philly Deli. Krinkle was impressed which made me happy.

Philly Crew: (Tim went to bed early that night)

CHAPEL HILL
This was the first night I didn't real know about anyone coming out to our show. Who lives in Chapel Hill anyways? (besides college bros?) Matt Harrigan (our exec at Adult swim) showed up to party. Turned out to be a packed house filled with amazing people. Krink and Doug got us really lost on the way back to our hotel, which was a sports themed Holiday Inn. Perfect!

Our gross greenroom:

Band photo:

Our backstage setup:

Here's our second live bit of the night, "Keytars." It starts with some video of a band playing a kick ass beat and drum vamp. Tim and I are introduced and go into wailing solos. My instrument cable falls out showing the audience that I wasn't really playing at all. Whoops.

Getting into it:

Favorite photo from the entire tour:

Solo:

Things got a little messy:

ATLANTA
Time for BBQ! The Adult Swim dudes always take us to this amazing place called Harold's BBQ. I broke my no beef/pork diet to take part in this scrumptious lunch.

The show was awesome. Of course the live broadcast was cancelled due to legal bullshit. But they taped the show and it'll be available on adultswim.com someday soon. I hope. We hung out at the William Street the next day. Good to see all those bros and bitches. We brainstormed a new billboard with Lazzo. Child Clowns! Coming to billboards in May!!!

Our 3rd live segment was "Father Mulligan's Class." This is my favorite thing to perform live by far. It starts really slow and delivers such a juvenile payoff.

Singing the intro song:

Steven's sketches:

Listening to Father Mulligan's lecture:

We did a produced version of this back in the day:
http://timanderic.com/new_movies/tom_goes_to_school.mov

After "Father Mulligans" tim and I check in with each other about the tour. It's an emotional time:

I wasn't here for this, but I love this photo:

Here's some asshole who kept showing us the same magic trick:

In the RV:

SEATTLE
Tim and I are way into this town. We fell in love back when we recorded Sir Mix a Lot for TGTTM. Mix doesn't fly, so we came up to shoot the "My Big Cups" video.

We ate lots of chowder and smoked salmon. I had to sit in this tiny staging are for an hour before the show. There was no secret door to sneak around and do "Old lady" so I had to hide while people showed up.

Our 4th live segment is a live version of Uncle Muscles stars: Casey and hid brother. This may have been the biggest highlight of the tour for some folks.

Casey:

Dance solos:

Trying to get it together:

Instrument solos:

Fan Video:

Casey's Encore:

PORTLAND
Another mystery town for us. Do people watch Adult Swim here? Turned out to be radical as usual.

Our 5th live segment was a screening of our infamous "celebrity" video. We are never showing it again so feel very lucky if you got a chance to see it on this tour.

We wore robes while explaining the insanity:

Doug took this on our flight from Portland to San Fran:

SAN FRANSISCO
This city is beautiful! We did a very touristy thing and took a cable car ride. It was awesome! I may need to move here someday. Our hotel was in a hobo den though. Lots of sales on windshield wipers. Late night trips to Carl's Jr. Gross.

Our final live segment is called "Tim Heidecker Mountainbike Extreme!" It starts with an impressionist dance using silver tinsel. Then I introduce Tim and shit gets nuts! Tim does his "Great Wall" stunt using volunteers form the crowd.

My warm up dance:

Tim's sweet bike moves:

Energizing the volunteers:

Body slamming the volunteers:

Getting the crowd HIGH!

Congratulating each other:

Tim and I signed many man chests:

LOS ANGELES
Our grand finale! We had the honor of Neil Hamburger opening the night. And TV Sheriff closed it out. Holy fuck what a show. Felt so good to come home to such a warm crowd.

LA crew:

We started doing a trivia contest as our encore. Whoever was wearing a "Rats off to ya!" shirt was allowed to compete. The prizes were penis drawings!

And we also gave away a few of Tim Heidecker's Extreme Mountain bikes:

That's it for now! See you fuckers in Austin and Boston!

XO,

E