During the golden age of public-access television in the 1980s, a gloriously low-rent corner of the media world flourished. In the absence of expectations of network executives and their advertisers, individuality reigned, and all manner of oddball delights were waiting to be discovered by curious teens: fanatical televangelist preachers, talent-show hacks, prank-prone call-in shows, and programs broadcasting the unedited perspectives of a multitude of marginalized people—minorities, LGBTQ folks, atheists, clowns.
Given Gadlin’s full embrace of the absurd, there was no better Chicagoan to interview Heidecker and Wareheim. He spoke to each of the comedians separately over the phone in advance of the duo’s three live shows at the Vic celebrating the tenth anniversary of Awesome Show. Their conversations have been edited together. —Steve Heisler
I feel like [Chicago’s food] is representative of Chicago people in terms of comedy. They’re accepting of new, experimental cuisine, and it’s the same as comedy. Everyone’s open-minded and willing to freak the fuck out.
EW: Yeah. But, I mean, we were on our own. We had no reference point, we had no fears, we were literally making stuff in our basement by ourselves. Now that I think about it, I’m very happy I didn’t grow up in a comedy scene, because that would’ve tainted our experience.
EW: Do you feel like being in Chicago, there’s a specific flavor to the performances you get from people on public access?
TH: It was a thing to do after having drunk a 40 or two. We would call the local video store and mispronounce movie names—[instead of The Shining] we’d ask for Steve Cooby’s Shiners. Just dumb shit.
The Vic
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