Eric André Would Much Prefer to Talk About Comedy Than Emily Ratajkowski
Eric André could see the trick coming from a mile away. When The Wall Street Journal sat down with the comic to talk about the new season of The Eric André Show, it held its potentially touchiest question for (almost) last: “The next time you’re ready to do a relationship hard launch on Instagram, how do you think you think you’ll top your most recent one, with Emily Ratajkowski?”
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“This question is always saved until the end of the interview,” André said about the romance that Ratajkowski ominously called a “situationship.” (She also said she’d already broken up with André days before the naked Valentine’s picture was taken, so this was in their “let’s be friends” era?) “Beck said every time somebody asks him about Scientology, it’s at the very end of the interview.”
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While André didn’t storm out of the interview, he also didn’t have much to say about future relationship hard launches. “I don’t know,” he responded. “Time will tell.”
That’s what you call “six-word terse.”
As it turns out, the Ratajkowski question was only second-to-last. The interview ended with a more traditional journalistic query about the one piece of advice that André relies on. The comedian had a lot more to say about that subject. “This is so hack,” he admits when revealing that golden guidance nugget: “‘Don’t overthink it.’”
André then told the story of being a young comic, just 23 and about to go on-stage. As he was about to ask a question, a more seasoned comic told him, “Don’t overthink it” before the query was out of his mouth. “He didn’t even know what my question was,” André explained. “He could just feel it coming out of me.”
When André was freaking out about his Netflix special, he got more great advice from Dave Chappelle. “He said, ‘You don’t have to be funny for all 60 minutes. You just have to be interesting for 60 minutes.’” (Considering all of the opinions Chappelle has been throwing around about comedy lately, this particular bit of wisdom is definitely a best-case scenario.)
The words immediately set André at ease. “I just felt this weight lifted off my shoulders, “ he told the Journal. “Take the pressure off of every single sentence that comes out of your mouth. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about having a distinct point-of-view.”
Also helpful to remember: No Netflix special is more pressure-packed than dating Emily Ratajkowski.
