Tim Heidecker
Timothy Richard Heidecker is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. He is best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, along with Eric Wareheim. They are noted for creating the television shows Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories.
Heidecker has also acted in several films, including Bridesmaids, Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, The Comedy, Ant-Man and the Wasp and Us. He currently co-hosts the parodic film review web series On Cinema and stars in the comedy series Decker, both alongside Gregg Turkington.
Early life
Heidecker was born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He attended Allentown Central Catholic High School and Temple University.Career
Heidecker and Wareheim first became known as the creators, writers, and stars of Tom Goes to the Mayor, a limited animation series that originally aired from November 2004 to September 2006 on the Adult Swim channel. Tim plays "Tom," the protagonist of the show. He continually brings his ideas to the Mayor, who ends up thwarting them in most cases and leaving Tom worse off than when he started. According to their website, Wareheim and Heidecker had mailed copies of an early version of the show to comedian Bob Odenkirk, who agreed to take on the project as the executive producer of the series and sold it to Adult Swim.The duo's next show, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, premiered on February 11, 2007, on Adult Swim. The eleven-minute show features "live action, sketch, animation, emotions, phone calls, love, etc."
Heidecker starred in Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie. Wareheim and Heidecker appeared together as Debt Collectors on the Adult Swim special, The Young Persons Guide to History and have made guest appearances in the movie Let's Go to Prison, as well as the Scottish video game series VideoGaiden and a Version 2 episode of Mega64. Heidecker also had a small role in the 2011 film Bridesmaids, and a leading role in the 2012 independent drama The Comedy, directed by Rick Alverson and also starring Wareheim. In July 2012, Heidecker starred in an episode of Workaholics. In August 2012, he guest starred in Dinosaur Jr.'s music video "Watch the Corners." In the same year, Heidecker made a cameo appearance on the independent movie reviewing site, Red Letter Media. Heidecker appeared in an episode of the RedLetterMedia series, "Half in The Bag." The episode is titled "Season Finale: Step Up Revolution." Within the short sketch comedy, Heidecker plays a VCR repairman named "Tim". Shortly after his introduction into the scene, he flies through the ceiling and makes his exit from the skit.
Heidecker starred in a series of films for Absolut Vodka's website with Wareheim and Zach Galifianakis. In March 2010, Heidecker and Wareheim directed a series of Old Spice commercials starring actor Terry Crews. Using characters and skits from Awesome Show, Heidecker and Wareheim created an online-only show called "Tim and Eric Nite Live!," originally broadcast on the website SuperDeluxe.
Since 2012, Heidecker has been hosting a parodic web series and podcast called On Cinema, where he and special guest discuss films from past and present. In 2013 an On Cinema Film Guide app was released, featuring the voices of Heidecker and Turkington reviewing over 17,000 films.
Heidecker, Wareheim, Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera, and Reggie Watts announced on the podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! that they were starting a comedy YouTube channel called Jash.
The duo's anthology horror series, Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories ran on Adult Swim from 2014 to 2017. A sitcom starring the duo, Beef House, premiered on March 29, 2020.
Since 2016, Heidecker has hosted the podcast and web series "Office Hours Live” along with Vic Berger and Doug Lussenhop. It features phone and video calls with fans, comedians, musicians, and political commentators.
Music
Heidecker played in various indie rock bands while in Philadelphia. He made an appearance in the 2008 Ben Folds and Regina Spektor music video entitled "You Don't Know Me".Although Davin Wood composed the music for Awesome Show, Heidecker would sometimes sing and write lyrics. Williams Street Records released both Awesome Record, Great Songs! and Uncle Muscles Presents Casey And His Brother in 2008, featuring music from the first two seasons. Wood previously composed the music for Tom Goes To The Mayor, and he and Heidecker form the duo Heidecker & Wood. Inspired by 1970s soft rock, they released their first album, Starting From Nowhere, on March 15, 2011. The duo released a second album in the same style on November 12, 2013, Some Things Never Stay the Same. They cite the influence of Randy Newman, Warren Zevon, Harry Nilsson, and Boz Scaggs. The duo will perform in October at Festival Supreme.
In October 2012, Heidecker contributed a parody campaign jingle for Herman Cain's presidential bid titled "Cain Train". This was the first of nine songs which would eventually become a full album, titled Cainthology: Songs in the Key of Cain. All of the proceeds from the album's sales go to benefit the Violence Intervention Program. The number nine was chosen as the number of songs, and $9.99 the original price, in reference to Herman Cain's 9-9-9 financial plan.
Before the release of Bob Dylan's album Tempest in September 2012, Heidecker released a Dylan pastiche called "Titanic", spoofing the news that the album would feature a 14-minute track about the RMS Titanic. In 2013, he released two more Dylan parodies—"Running Out the Clock", inspired by Dylan's 1983 album Infidels, and "Long Black Dress", a song in the actual style of Dylan's album Tempest—and collaborated with the indie band The Earth is a Man on a cover of Dylan's "All the Tired Horses."
In December 2013, Heidecker released the album Urinal St. Station under the Drag City label with his band, The Yellow River Boys. The lead single, "Hot Piss," was released in June 2013. Vice Magazine named Urinal St. Station as the best album of 2013.
Heidecker and Davin Wood composed and performed the song "Weatherman" which was used in the 2014 film The Age of Reason.
On June 24, 2014, Heidecker and Wareheim released a 12″ single, "Jambalaya", as Pusswhip Banggang.
Heidecker's solo album In Glendale was released May 20, 2016 on Rado Records.
He released via Jagjaguwar on November 8, 2017—a year to the date since Trump's election. It includes songs about Richard Spencer, the white nationalist with the trendy haircut; about the inner monologue of Trump's private pilot, who intends to kill Trump by crashing the plane ; and about the colorectal complications stemming from Trump's poor diet of fast food staples like KFC, among other topics.
Personal life
Heidecker is married to Marilyn Porayko. They have a daughter, Amelia, and a son, Charlie.Heidecker joined the Democratic Socialists of America in June 2018.
Heidecker describes himself as an atheist and an agnostic.
Filmography
Film
Podcasts
Web series
Television
Discography
- 2002: Theatre of Magic
- 2008: Awesome Record, Great Songs! Volume One
- 2008: Uncle Muscles Presents Casey And His Brother
- 2011: Starting From Nowhere
- 2011: Cainthology: Songs in the Key of Cain
- 2013: Some Things Never Stay the Same
- 2013: Urinal St. Station
- 2014: Jambalaya 12" single
- 2016: In Glendale
- 2017: Too Dumb for Suicide
- 2018: Another Year In Hell: Collected Songs from 2018
- 2019: What the Broken-Hearted Do...
- 2020: Weyesendecker
Awards and honors
- Webby Award for best actor as part of the comedy team of Tim and Eric