The Full History Of Lance Reddick's Unforgettable Eric Andre Interview

There was no talk show guest experience like going on Adult Swim's "The Eric Andre Show." Andre, a surrealist prankster comedian whose antics regularly offended, did his best to terrify and torture his guests on the talk show from Hell. There were some memorable interviewees who managed to get on the same weird, Dadaist level as Andre, like rapper Tyler, the Creator and skateboarder Tony Hawk, but no one expected "The Wire" star Lance Reddick to sit down in the stuffy warehouse and put up with the show's bizarre gauntlet. 

Reddick's appearance on the 2013 episode of the late-night series was pretty unexpected in and of itself, but his actions were even more surprising. In the episode, Reddick not only punches Andre's desk and storms off, he then comes back dressed in rags with chains, a visor, and a Starfleet communicator badge on his bare chest. The actor always committed completely to a role, but it's truly wild to see him commit to a truly ridiculous comedy bit with the same passion. 

Reddick died at the age of 60, and fans everywhere posted the video of his appearance on "The Eric Andre Show" to honor his ability to absolutely nail every task he set himself to. In an interview with Jim Norton and Sam Roberts of the "Jim and Sam Show" on SiriusXM, Reddick explained how the whole bit came to be, and it makes the whole thing even more incredible. 

Lance Reddick explained that he got the offer to do the show and had never heard of it, so he went online to check it out and was understandably confused. For those who have not seen Andre's bonkers bits, it's sort of one-part "The Tom Green Show" and one part "Jackass," and most of the jokes are born out of pure absurdity. It's not the kind of thing actors of Reddick's stature tend to tackle, but he was intrigued. After talking to some friends and being convinced, he and Andre got on the phone to discuss bits. That was a pretty big deal for Andre, who likes to shock his guests, but apparently, Reddick was given a lot of control:

"I get there that day, and all that stuff goes out the window. So then he decides, 'Oh, let's try this.' So that's literally in the dressing room, like I don't know, 15, 20 minutes before I'm supposed to go out there he pitches me this LeVar Burton thing. And he hands me some stuff, he said, 'Kinda say this stuff, but you can ad-lib too. So, and the moment — I mean, there was some crazy stuff that didn't even get on. Like, for example, at one point he had an exercise video on a television screen playing, and he wanted me to be sitting in the chair kinda trying to do the exercises with the video. And the getting angry thing, he said, 'On the next take just get pissed off and walk away.' And then — I mean, to slam the desk, that was just spontaneous."

There were only a few times where Andre seemed genuinely startled or frightened by his guest's reactions, but Reddick slamming the desk was definitely one of them. 

After Lance Reddick storms off, he comes back wearing a LeVar Burton-inspired get-up and goes on a wild riff, yelling about how he wants his own slave role. It's, uh, a lot, but Reddick viewed it as just another role to take on:

"I mean, I am a bit of a clown, so I love that kind of stuff. I mean, my background is traditional theater, not sketch comedy. So I'm always a little nervous about being asked spontaneously to improvise. But generally if I just kind of say — can you say swear words here? Okay great. So if I just, part of me says f*** it and just kind of jump off, I'm fine."

The initial idea and costuming were Eric Andre's, but everything else was all Reddick. The swearing, the wild ad-libs (including "you need a new table" right after slamming it), and the pure intensity were the performer leaning into the wildness of the setting. Even "don't rainbow read me" was ad-libbed, and that's some seriously funny stuff right there. Lance Reddick could do anything, and he will be deeply missed. 

"The Eric Andre Show" can be purchased on Prime Video.