Tim Heidecker concert set for Thalia Hall in Chicago

Call it a rock show, or call it a comedy show. Tim Heidecker just wants you to call it a good time.

The singer-songwriter better known as half of the comedy duo Tim and Eric is returning to Chicago with his Very Good Band for a full set of straight ‘70s-flavored rock, but not the surrealist sketches that have made him a household name for a generation of oddball fans.

Or at least, there won’t be quite as many of Heidecker’s trademark “spoofs and goofs,” he says.

“There’s a multitude of layers of stuff going on,” Heidecker told the Sun-Times after wrapping up the West Coast leg of his “Slipping Away” album tour that arrives at Thalia Hall on Friday.

“There’s going to be a fair amount of mood shifts, and it’s going to be a little whiplashy. We’re going to go from some pretty dark, heavy, serious stuff to some very, very silly, stupid stuff quickly.”

It’s Heidecker’s second time hitting the road in the last three years with a focus on sincere tunes that grapple with everyday insecurities and anxieties of modern life.

And it’s a far cry from the bizarro jingles that previously defined much of his comedy with partner Eric Wareheim, with whom he penned painfully catchy odes to men with “petite feet” and unhinged penchants for guzzling shrimp and white wine.

That juxtaposition has left some observers still wrapping their heads around Heidecker’s new act.

“I just like making stuff, and sometimes it comes out funny, and sometimes it doesn’t. I just think that my goal is to make sure it’s clear about what it is so that you’re not confused. And I think I’m doing a pretty good job of that lately,” he said.

Comedian and singer-songwriter Tim Heidecker comes to Thalia Hall Friday, Jan. 31.

“There’s going to be a fair amount of mood shifts, and it’s going to be a little whiplashy. We’re going to go from some pretty dark, heavy, serious stuff to some very, very silly, stupid stuff quickly,” says comedian and singer-songwriter Tim Heidecker of his upcoming concert at Thalia Hall.

Emilio Herce

“I think something’s kind of happened in culture where we’re very quick to categorize things and put things in bins and and tag things as certain genres, and I am trying to loosen myself up from those ideas and just try to express myself through whatever means I feel inspired to express myself through. And hopefully there’s an audience out there that appreciates different modes of entertainment or creative expression or whatever it is that we’re doing.”

  5 biggest financial regrets and lessons from baby boomers

“I’m not hitting anybody over the head with, like, ‘Don’t laugh, this is serious.’ I’m empathetic to the fact that people might not get it, or that they might be struggling with it,” he said. “One thing that really helps is the band is legit in a way that I think is very entertaining but also surprising. And there’s no question that the music is, is, is to be taken seriously, by the way it’s performed by the band.”

Following his 2022 album “High School” that reflected on his formative years, Heidecker confronts middle age, writer’s block, COVID-19 pandemic gloom and other decidedly unfunny topics on “Slipping Away,” released by Chicago-based Bloodshot Records.

On “Dad of the Year,” Heidecker sings that “someone like me can only go so far.”

“There’s a version of what I think, I thought success or working in this industry would be, or what it would feel like,” he said. “And the reality is I can make a living doing it, and I’ve been very lucky and have have fun doing it. But no one’s ever probably satisfied with where they’re at in that, in their journey.”

The sometimes melancholy lyrics are buoyed by a driving, electric backbeat in the vein of The Beach Boys, The Band and any number of golden-years singer-songwriters.

“That’s just the kind of music I love. And when I write music, that’s what comes out of me. It is a completely different part of my creative expression than the comedy.”

Tim Heidecker (left) and Eric Wareheim, pictured in 2012 talking about their full-length debut, "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie."

Tim Heidecker (left) and Eric Wareheim, pictured in 2012 talking about their full-length movie debut, “Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie,” which was panned by legendary Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert. Heidecker says that “was very crushing” but informed his thinking on movie criticism. “Maybe not everything needs to be reviewed. Like, if you don’t like something, you could say this wasn’t for me, and maybe be champions of things that you do.”

Rich Hein/Sun-Times, file

On another post-pandemic track, Heidecker sings of “cities burning, people turning into people making bows and arrows again” — which took on a different meaning for him and his bandmates when wildfires ravaged parts of hometown outside Los Angeles.

  Dear Abby: I can't forgive sister for ruining the low-key wedding I wanted

It forced his keyboard player to drop out of the first half of the tour, and led to Heidecker enlisting Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen — another Chicago-area tie for a comedian with plenty of them.

Tim and Eric are comedy disciples of Berwyn native and “Mr. Show” co-creator Bob Odenkirk, who helped launch their TV careers long before his ascent to “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” fame.

Chicago native John C. Reilly served as their demented muse in the Tim and Eric spinoff TV show “Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule.”

And long before Chicagoan Doug “DJ Douggpound” Lussenhop became a sidekick on Heidecker’s “Office Hours Live” call-in podcast, he perfected the offbeat, whiplash video editing styles signify classic Tim and Eric bits.

It’s a shared deadpan, absurdist Midwest sensibility that extends to Heidecker’s native Allentown, Pennsylvania, he said.

“It certainly feels like that same culture: Germanic, hardworking, blue-collar, a little suspicious of the elite, and the norms, of what’s presented to us as how things should be. I think there’s a little bit of cynicism in there,” Heidecker said.

“I think that is a good place to start from, a comedy place, seeing the world as kind of an absurd place that’s out to get you. And I’m sure that’s a common feeling in the Midwest and some of the forgotten towns out there.”

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *