The Eric Andre Show remains one of the most unique and fearless programs on Adult Swim’s eclectic programming block. Right out of the gate, the show pushed Eric Andre to his limits with stunts and pranks. There have been plenty of series that try to blend unscripted chaos with the unsuspecting public, whether it’s Jackass, Nathan For You, or the works of Sacha Baron Cohen. But shooting The Eric Andre Show has resulted in injuries, the wrath of the law, and shocking body transformations for its star. Never one to turn down a challenge, Andre has made sure that the upcoming The Eric Andre Show season 5 is the craziest one yet.
The faux talk show subjects its guests to torturous, unsuspected acts. Even when guests think they know what they’re getting themselves into, Andre will make sure that everyone is thrown for a loop. Few comedians would be so committed to their bits that they’d make themselves look like Katt Williams for a season or go a year without cutting their hair or fingernails, but the lengths that Andre has gone for the upcoming season is even more absurd than his previous stunts. Andre even describes his new look as “unrecognizable.”
“I put on twenty pounds,” Andre tells Den of Geek in a recent interview ahead of his star turn in the feature film Bad Trip. “I got rid of all my body hair, shaved my head—I kept my eyebrows—but I Bic’d my head bald. I did a ton of tanning. I sat in many tanning beds.”
It can be difficult for a series like The Eric Andre Show to still be able to operate incognito in its fifth season, but Andre insists that these extensive lengths really masked his identity to the public. “I kind of made this weird Uncanny Valley version of myself,” Andre explains. “I looked like a Dominican guy that runs a bodega in my old neighborhood in New York. I looked older. I looked weird. I had a double chin. I looked like a bum, to be honest.”