Tim Heidecker: 'I'll be watching a Burger King review and think, what am I doing?'
It’s been such a difficult time with everything happening in the US with the Black Lives Matter movement, which I think it’s so important for us all to continue to support. I haven’t been able to focus on TV as much as usual as a result, but I’ve really enjoyed This Time With Alan Partridge, which is on HBO Max in the US. We don’t have anything quite like Partridge – so specific and so dry – probably because our country is so broad and big, with so many different types of people.
Your TV guilty pleasure
As with most people these days, YouTube is TV for me. I find myself going deeper and deeper into incredibly time-wasting rabbit holes on there. I’ll be watching someone review a chicken sandwich for 45 minutes and suddenly think, what am I doing? I’m a 44-year-old man with a career in television watching a 22-year-old guy talk about Wendy’s and Burger King while my children play in the other room. I hope to break out of that cycle pretty soon.
The show that should never have
I thought Watchmen (HBO/Sky Atlantic) was beautiful and great. I was disappointed that it was only one series because it seemed like something that I’d want to watch more of. That said, I never know what it means to be cancelled any more – there are reboots, and people like Larry David, who go away for five years and then come back.
The best TV villain of all time
It’s between [US political commentators] Tucker Carlson and Lou Dobbs. I think a sign of evil is when you know what you’re doing and you know that you’re causing harm. There are a lot of these people whose job it is to just be contrarian all the time – it must be exhausting.
The TV role you wish you had played
I was in a season of Eastbound and Down, and whenever I see what [Danny McBride] and those guys are up to, I’m like, I would love to be around them again. Their latest project is The Righteous Gemstones (HBO/Sky Atlantic), and when I watch that I’m like, boy, I love those guys so much. They’re so fun to be around that I would be an extra just to be on set. With Gemstones, there’s a Coen Brothers seriousness to it that I’m impressed with, too.
The best episode of TV ever made
As someone who consumes a lot of television it is impossible to choose, but there are certainly bits of The Sopranos I think are just about perfect, like the Pine Barrens episode. In terms of my own work, there’s an episode of Check It Out! with Dr Steve Brule called Stevie that is one of my favourite things that we’ve ever done. It’s presented as a live morning show and every second of it is a nightmare. It’s really apocalyptic but really funny, too, and layered with physical comedy and conceptual things. I’m nominating it as a collaborative piece, as there were obviously other people involved besides me.
The show you love that might surprise people
My wife and I went through a phase of watching QI before bed, which was very peaceful and calm, and took our minds off of the news of the day. I also recently discovered the British game show Golden Balls [hosted by Jasper Carrott], where you have to have to decide if you’re going to steal or split the prize money. It’s demented and stressful and mean, so kind of the opposite of QI.
Your favourite show when you were 10
Probably The A-Team. They were always helping the little guy, which perhaps makes it an inspiring fable for us today. Mr T was one notch below Santa Claus for me – he was way larger than life, a mythical figure. It’s hard to believe that he was real, and that he’s alive and just hanging out and probably watching TV right now. I don’t know what kids today are watching but I think, like me, they are probably just watching hamburger reviews.
Beef House is available on All4 now.