This show is FUNNY. I almost didn't give a chance, just because I recognized him from Tim and Eric, but I laugh so hard at this. But I'm curious, is he just improving these weird mannerisms and stupid remarks? It seems like it might be made up as he goes, and if so, I'm impressed.
shareYes, I think that's a safe assumption. The other part of the hilariousness comes from the editing. Some stuff Tim and Eric would have wrote, like the situations and some dialogue, but for the most part they would let him improvise in character, because that's how they get the performances they want. Usually they take that approach with the 'regular' people who appear on Tim and Eric, because they have no talent at acting, and almost always make themselves look stupid with the help of some light editing. It takes a talented actor to pull something like this off - Not trying to be funny or in on the joke.
shareIt is absolutely improvised - but with a theme. That is what he excels at. Heck, look at Talladega Nights. A lot of his lines are improvised in that too. They just keep the funniest iterations for the movie.
shareOn the Awesome Show it was just John improvising in front of the cameras and they would choose whatever came out best from the session.
sharei'm sure there's a lot of improvising, but i wonder just how much. in the credits, all three are credited with writing it. whatever the case, it's genius, and john c. reilly blows me away every time i watch it (and i watch it a lot).
maybe if the dvds ever came out, we'd find out in the special features. where are those dvds?!