FXX’s Man Seeking Woman just earned a second season renewal which is great news for people who like their comedies bizarre and twisted. Created by Simon Rich, the series stars Jay Baruchel as the ‘man’ in the title who is horrible at connecting with women. Eric Andre plays his best friend, Mike, who constantly gives the worst dating advice possible.
As the series heads toward its season one final, Andre took part in a conference call to discuss the comedy series, his character, and working with Jay Baruchel.
Man Seeking Woman airs on Wednesdays at 10:30pm ET/PT on FXX.
How much of your character is you, and how much of him is not you?
Eric Andre: “I improvise a lot, and they actually end up using some of the stuff I improvise. The character I take from all of the biggest douchebags I grew up with in Florida and I channel them and put them into Mike.”
Is he a guy you would hang out with in normal life?
Eric Andre: [Laughing] “No. I would run for the hills.”
How is it working with Jay Baruchel?
Eric Andre: “Jay’s the best. He’s a maniac. He’s a smart, smart cookie. He’s coming up with funny [lines]. He’s a real funny guy. The good thing is he’s a writer as well as an actor so I can always go to him for funny lines.”
Your character is basically the moral center of the show, in that everybody should do the opposite of what he says. Do you think we’ll ever get a piece of good advice from Mike?
Eric Andre: “I think so, with time. […] We saw some softer sides of Mike. Towards the end of the season, the subtle nuances of Mike’s character will come out where he’s a bit of a walking contradiction. He has a softer [side] or he’s in touch with his feminine side more than we think, eventually.”
How did you hear about Man Seeking Woman in the first place, and what made you want to do it?
Eric Andre: “I read the script. My manager sent me the script and I read it, and I loved it. Then I found out that Jon Krisel was directing it, and he’s fantastic, I just auditioned really hard. Then I met with Simon [Rich] and we clicked right away. I auditioned and got it.”
What do you think Mike sees in Josh that most people don’t?
Eric Andre: “That’s a good question. What do I think Mike sees in Josh that most people don’t? I think there’s an inner playboy in Josh that Mike is trying to channel. They have a Mr. Miyagi – Ralph Macchio kind of relationship sometimes there I think he’s trying to change. He sees potential. He thinks Josh is like the young grasshopper and his flower is waiting to blossom like a Georgia O’Keeffe painting.”
I don’t know how you guys make it through some of those scenes.
Eric Andre: “Ha, we don’t.”
Who’s more likely to break up, you or Jay?
Eric Andre: “I’m pretty bad. I guess we’re both pretty guilty of it. It depends on the scene.”
How do you recover?
Eric Andre: “We don’t. We usually just disintegrate on set.”
Mike staged an intervention for Josh a little bit earlier in the season when he was getting too serious about Kayla. Why do you think it’s important for Mike that Josh remain single?
Eric Andre: “Because I think Mike always needs a wingman. I think it’s for selfish needs. Also, I think Mike is a little jealous. That’s his bro. He doesn’t want anybody to take his bro away from him.”
Do you think Mike will ever get a serious girlfriend, or will want to?
Eric Andre: “Maybe with time. Mike’s a complex individual. His brain is like a Rubik’s Cube with some of the pieces missing, so you never know if you got it correctly.”
Do you have any trouble explaining the series to people?
Eric Andre: “Yes. It’s not easy. I say cartoon come to life. I say John Cusack rom-com mixed with a Salvador Dali painting. I say the Meg Ryan movie You’ve Got Mail on Peyote. It’s a psychedelic rom-com.”
Do you think that Josh and Mike have a symbiotic relationship, as in Josh needs Mike as much as Mike needs Josh?
Eric Andre: “I think so a little bit. There’s a little bit of co-dependency in their relationship, for sure.”
How would you separate Mike from other best friend characters? Do you really approach it differently, or is it just pure Id?
Eric Andre: “A little more of the latter. I think it’s pure Id, but it has some of that classic…I get my best friend into sh**ty circumstances. I don’t know. I think it’s just pure Id, and I’m just pulling from all the kids I hated in high school.”
