Though known for a brand of anti-comedy layered in crude production and aloofly employed stereotypes, often to a self-obfuscating degree, Heidecker says a genuine political awakening around 2008 reinforced his desire to engage with anonymous bad actors online. “We’d play around with dressing up or gender-bending, which made us a target on 4Chan.”
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“We were aware of so-called trolls online going as far back as Tom Goes to the Mayor ,” says Heidecker, referring to Tim & Eric’s gonzo predecessor, which ran from ‘04 to ‘06. comedy figure, recently appearing in Jordan Peele’s Us, Heidecker has fringey roots in late-night Adult Swim time-slots, which seemed to offer him and writing partner Eric Wareheim a sneak-peek at a sort of vitriol now widely associated with alt-right circles-namely sex- and gender-based hate speech. On the contrary, Brokenhearted is the latest installment in Heidecker’s ongoing repartee with the everyman’s grotesque offspring, the alt-right nationalist, whose ire the Tim & Eric star has frequently stoked over the course of his musical and comedic career. But where such musical everymen may have served to exalt the ubiquitous average-joe experience as gritty yet dignified, Heidecker doesn’t claim a rose-tinted vision of American life.
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Tim Heidecker’s new album, What the Brokenhearted Do… has the foot-tapping sonic hallmarks of Americana-unpolished vocals waxing poetic on heartache, sprinkled with organ riffs or a bit of cowbell, conjuring the likes of Dylan or Neil Young.