'Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!' is an American comedy sketch show made by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. The piece that I am analysing is a faux-commercial taken from this programme, featuring a fictional corporation, Cinco, which satirises American consumerism, advertising and culture. The programme focuses on mocking existing styles and themes, in this case the standard format of infomercials from the 1980s and 1990s, through employing amateur actors, using terribly executed green screening and brash, obnoxious special effects. The intention is to create humour through the impression of absolute incompetence, unease and discomfort.
American cable network Adult Swim hosted 'Tim and Eric' between 2007 and 2010. Generally, many programmes that the channel hosts are considered experimental, transgressive and surreal, and as a result have created narrow audiences for themselves, but because of their video format they remain widely accessible. This media allows the stilted line reading, shots that linger for slightly too long and attention to unnecessary details in Tim and Eric's sketches, that form the essence of their humour.
The 'Cinco Food Tube' video begins with two couples sat in a relaxed, pleasant looking restaurant whilst a piano plays in the background. An 'incident' is mentioned, which triggers a montage of scenes of the first man screaming and being violently sick in a flash-back style. The waiters appear with the diners' orders, then the second man begins to eat with his fork. The first man screams again, which lasts for 17 seconds resulting in blood pooling around his eyeballs, before he exclaims "The fork! It's too dangerous! You're gonna poke yourself with that thing!". The following discussion then introduces the Cinco Corporation's latest product, the 'Cinco Food Tube'. This alternative way to eat a meal is explained in an infomercial style, and is broken down into steps. A poorly produced, grotesque section of the video then explains how the food tube is 'installed' into the first man's body. A large metal machine is wheeled over to the dining table by two men in white coats, who clumsily drill a hole into the table whilst the diner continues to explain the process. Food is scraped off a plate, through the hole and into the machine along with a 'softening cream' where it is blended and driven up a tube into the diners mouth. A tacky looking font and crudely edited 'before and after' photographs demonstrate the 'Food Tubes' effect.
This video perfectly demonstrates the way in which this genre satirises the American consumerist culture. The contrast between the classy feel of the restaurant and the absurdity of the Cinco product results in a kind of ridiculous sensory bombardment which leaves the viewer amused and baffled. Commenting on the infomercials of the 80s and 90s, phrases such as “Wow, what a great tube...I want to be a Food-Tuber too” and “Well you can, with the Cinco Food Tube System” are used. This acts as a reflection and a mockery of the unrealistic, overly contrived dialogue often heard in these advertisements.
The idea behind the Cinco Corporation is that it parodies the "typical soulless corporation" through its crude, poorly produced and bizarre adverts, aiming to sell useless, pointless and in most cases, physically harmful products. I feel that I have only just begun to explore the visual and linguistic devices used to achieve this, but at this point, in the case of Tim and Eric, I think it could be argued that the medium is the message.
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