Recap Tim And Eric at the Ogden Theatre

Tuesday night at the Ogden Theatre, Tim Heidecker’s and Eric Wareheim’s live performance of their insane and insanely popular Cartoon Network series certainly shit, puked, and bled all of the deliriously loony charm one would expect from the duo. Drawn out to two hours, though, the effect was altogether exhausting. Tim And Eric deserve major props for managing to pull off a stage show that even comes close to matching the deliberately blundering, absurdist brilliance on display in every one of their series’ 30-plus episodes. But so much of what many fans cherish about those gems—the clumsy film editing, the painful pauses—seemed lost in front of a live audience. Intentionally awkward can be hard to pull of in front of a bunch of obliterated bro-dudes shouting requests.

Not that the bulk of the audience at the Ogden on Tuesday would have admitted Tim And Eric delivered anything other than total satisfaction. The comedy geeks queued halfway down the block prior to the show, snapping photos of themselves in front of Tim And Eric’s awesome tour bus and giggling in stoned, spastic glee. The adoring crowd roared with approval for almost every cheesy pun warmup act (and recurring character) DJ Douggpound had to offer. Douggpound informed the throngs that “fuck that” is the new “hell yeah,” and the throngs took to it with aplomb; “fuck that” cascaded from the back of the room throughout the rest of the show.

Finally, after 10 minutes of tension-building and some dramatic smoke, Tim And Eric exploded onto the stage in matching, bulge-accentuating yellow jumpsuits, belting out “Diarrhea,” a seven-plus minute song that meanders through several genres but never departs from its sole lyric of “diarrhea.” It may just be the greatest opener in comedy history. Tim And Eric would certainly agree. They immediately awarded themselves with the John Hickenlooper Award for Best Comedy Sketch in Denver. Next the twosome bounded off the stage to show a video on the giant screen behind the stage, a rhythm that continued throughout the night—sketch, video, sketch, video—with a few guests from the TV show sprinkled throughout. And none of it was bad. In fact, The “Road Trip” sketch and a clip where Tim And Eric compete to slash prices on prices were both top-notch. But stretched out for two hours, the smorgasbord that so gleefully overflows from each of the duo’s 15-minute television episodes became nauseating, like some seizure-inducing Japanese cartoon. Although, knowing Tim And Eric, that might have just been the goal.