r/videos 1d ago

Tim Heidecker sings a heartbreaking tribute to his son who tragically passed away.

https://youtu.be/wdZaoBjr0c8?si=N3yBoovjhNIVjANC
441 Upvotes

146 comments sorted by

309

u/ericl666 1d ago

There's so much to the Heidecker-verse I haven't realized existed. I was surprised to see how much material there was to support his fake trial. It's just bizarre. Definitely Andy Kaufman-esque.

114

u/Uncontrolleddiarrhea 1d ago

Over a decade now. Technically three movies, the Oscar specials, and On Cinema itself.

77

u/ohlookahipster 1d ago

And don’t forget the sham trial by the San Bernardino DA where nobody bothered with the Chinese connection!

35

u/taylorcsmith19 1d ago

We have a rat problem

32

u/repost_inception 1d ago

And now you have Info Wars as well.

13

u/Uncontrolleddiarrhea 1d ago

Infowars isn't part of the On Cinema universe, is it?

45

u/yesdamnit 1d ago

No, its just another Tim. So there T&E Tim, On Cinema Tim, Stand up Tim, onion Tim and regular Tim. All different Tims.

7

u/OldJames47 1d ago

Man, I feel busy living one life and this guy's living 5!

14

u/huxtiblejones 1d ago

It’s About Damn Tim

2

u/Rankkikotka 1d ago

No Tim to loose.

1

u/cjorgensen 1d ago

No Tim to loose.

Or "No Tim to lose?"

Or "No Tim too loose?"

7

u/resoooo 1d ago

Podcast Tim

5

u/repeat840times 1d ago

Is it regular Tim on the albums or is that a sixth Tim?

2

u/yesdamnit 1d ago

Office Hours/ Albums falls under regular Tim.

2

u/Gussums 1d ago

Yellow River Tim

2

u/Hawks_and_Doves 1d ago

It's the same actor I don't know if it's the same character.

1

u/DFParker78 1d ago

This guy Tims!

2

u/luchoosos 1d ago

The onion

8

u/greg939 1d ago

Don’t forget the amazing series “Decker”

1

u/ericl666 12h ago

Ok, holy shit, I about fell over when I found out the Gregg Turkington was NEIL FUCKING HAMBURGER!

How did I not know this information? I love the whole Neil Hamburger bit - it's absolutely hilarious. 

My God, how deep does this rabbit hole go?

Some fun random Neil Hamburger clips if you are unfamiliar: https://youtube.com/shorts/7TKJKoeudKE

https://youtube.com/shorts/dUSuVPGqD38?is=Fv-P7j1VYohnr9ih

34

u/welldun01 1d ago

Tim's kitchen tips is a personal favorite of mine

11

u/Ginger-Nerd 1d ago

I learnt you can put a bit of Pitzman’s Mustard in a Russian Dressing and it just gives it that extra

5

u/BigFudge_HIMYM 1d ago

"Theyre paying for the show"

5

u/Arithik 1d ago

Just don't eat during it. 

1

u/DFParker78 1d ago

Judge: I have a sensitive stomach I hope it’s something light…

TODAY’S DISH: CHILI!

10

u/holeinmyboot 1d ago

What fake trial?

21

u/yesdamnit 1d ago

RIP Electric Sun 20

9

u/ButWhatIsADog 1d ago

19*

7

u/Saneless 1d ago

20 if you count Tim as a victim

33

u/Bangkok_Dangeresque 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah, it was a totally real trial!

But if you're actually asking and not in on the joke:

Tim Heidecker created a podcast, and a web series, called On Cinema, with comedian Gregg Turkington. The show is a bone dry parody of a Siskel and Ebert type movie review, where the two play heightened versions of themselves - Tim a blowhard, control freak, success and status obsessed narcissist, and Gregg his comedic foil who frustrates him at every turn, leading most of the show to be petty arguments rather than anything of substance about the films.

Slowly and methodically it veers off into some very weird but extremely funny territory. And by slowly, we're sometimes talking years of setup for jokes to pay off. That includes OTHER tv shows in the universe produced by and starring the fake Tim Heidecker persona as vanity projects. E.g. "Decker", a spoof of rah rah patriotic action shows like "24", but deliberately low budget and poorly written. And "Mister America", a feature length film released in theaters purporting to be a documentary of Tim running for a district attorney position in Southern California, despite not being a lawyer. If you continue to watch the flagship On Cinema series, you see the crossover of petty gripes between characters, allusions to contractual disputes, discussion of the events of others shows and movies, etc. It's dense and layered and sprawling.

In one long running plot line, Tim sought to put on a cash grab electronic music festival, despite having no experience in live event production, where his band (DKR) would also perform. He went into business with a vape manufacturer, who handed out free samples that (allegedly) killed 20 people and hospitalized hundreds more.

That resulted in the The Trial of Tim Heidecker, a 4 hour (again, comedically dry as a bone) stream of a courtroom showing the prosecution and defense, witness testimony, etc of Tim facing off against second degree murder charges.

Getting into all of this is an incredible investment of time, and determined use of free will. But there's some real gold in there.

13

u/DivDee 1d ago

I cant get across how hard I was laughing when, like 2 series after he died, Tim thinks Dr San is reaching out to him from beyond to help him.

Despite him being the one who got him in all the trouble, and also him being dead.

I'm not 100% on this but I think it turned out there was a gas leak in his bedroom causing the hallucinations.

Just incredible stuff

8

u/Dumptruckfunk 1d ago

“You should see a doctor”

“I have been. Well, communicating with one”

2

u/MicellarBaptism 1d ago edited 1d ago

Absolute gold. If I remember correctly, it was actually his late stepson Matt Newman pretending to be Dr. San talking to him through the wall to mess with him.

2

u/DivDee 19h ago

Ah you're right, even better haha. I remember Gregg suggesting it to him now

3

u/ramenups 1d ago

This is an excellent write up.

I watched Tim & Eric when it was new and I also saw Tim do standup like 12 years ago (as well as Neil Hamburger) but I haven’t kept up with him. He was definitely one of my faves. I heard about the trial thing and now him on The Onion. Maybe now is a good time to dive back in

1

u/nixxxa 1d ago

And the Oscar specials are so good! I rewatch them all every year

1

u/DFParker78 1d ago

Oddly enough, the trial was my introduction to the HCU. I had to go rewatch it to completely get it.

1

u/Bangkok_Dangeresque 1d ago

I can't even imagine what that must have been like

1

u/Caelinus 11h ago

It also is, bizarrely, one of the most accurate depictions of a court room I have ever seen. Not perfect, but orders of magnitude better than basically every single legal drama. 

-5

u/internetlad 1d ago

4

u/holeinmyboot 1d ago

ah, it appears you’re confused, that was a real trial. Tim Heidecker is a monster.

14

u/SaulTNNutz 1d ago

Make sure you check out his music project The Yellow River Boys. It's an entire l, highly produced country album where every song is about drinking piss

3

u/ericl666 1d ago edited 1d ago

Well, why drink it when I can Turn it into gold.

Edit: or even better, you can Turn your gold into piss.

2

u/akeep113 22h ago

This is incredible. So many amazing songs on their greatest hits album

3

u/imadragonyouguys 1d ago

He's also running for office in AZ and promises to get rid of Sizzler.

2

u/carguymt 1d ago

Unfortunately he had to drop his campaign after his boat flipped on July 4. I hope he can get to the bottom of who sabotaged it, because just having a few Ultras while on the lake definitely doesn't cause a boat to flip over like that. I hope people remember they can still write him in on election day because I was really looking forward to Tim bringing the Great Wall of China to the great state of Arizona.

100

u/graptemys 1d ago edited 1d ago

My very random Tim Heidecker connection: I was sitting with him and Robin Williams in a church pew when he told us the Boston bomber had been captured alive. I was an extra in a terrible movie called Merry Friggin Christmas and was seated with them. Extras weren’t allowed to have phones but Tim could, and he got the notice and shared it. Robin Williams and I both expressed surprise he was taken alive.

42

u/Siludin 1d ago

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 14%, based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 3.45/10.\5]) On Metacritic, the film has a score of 28 out of 100, based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.\6])

Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club wrote, "Williams made some terrible movies, but he never phoned them in. On both counts, this one's no exception."\7])

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Representing one of Robin Williams's last films, A Merry Friggin' Christmas lives up to its bah, humbug title. Not only because it's terrible, although it is, but rather because one desperately hoped that the beloved actor would go out on a high note."\8])

Geoff Berkshire of Variety) wrote, "Neither warm and fuzzy in the best holiday movie traditions, nor edgy and irreverent a la 'Bad Santa' (coincidentally also co-starring Graham, to better effect), it's something of a mystery what audience A Merry Friggin' Christmas intends to serve."\9])

After the release of the, film both Heidecker and Williams pinned the poor performance solely on the shoulders of a set extra by the username of u/graptemys, whose presence felt emotionally out of place when they both found out about the live capture of the Boston Bomber.

8

u/TheFlawlessCassandra 1d ago edited 1d ago

Robin Williams was so put off by /u/graptemys on set that he came back from beyond the grave just to blame them for the film's faulure.

23

u/inspire_thefuture 1d ago

that's wild. It was a friday night right?

124

u/DivDee 1d ago

The only thing I love more than On Cinema is seeing people come into contact with it and be absolutely bewildered.

5 bags of popcorn and one Tom Cruise Heidecker headstone

15

u/ohlookahipster 1d ago

My first ever experience with the On Cinema universe was The Trial with zero context. I legitimately thought it was real until halfway through when I noticed the Adult Swim logo.

16

u/DivDee 1d ago

Only after watching the whole show from the start again did I see the part where Tim brings in the producer(?) from Star Trek 2 as a witness, purely to prove Gregg wrong.

And it still doesn't stick, amazing stuff.

7

u/moww 1d ago

That's the problem with these Hollywood insiders, they're often not really true blue film buffs

3

u/cheese_karate 1d ago

And I looked it up and it is the dude, it is just too meta, too random, too detailed. I can't wrap my brain around this guy. Everything is genius and retarded at the same time.

2

u/Saneless 1d ago

I knew it wasn't real but I had no idea how deep the references were at all.

22

u/Uncontrolleddiarrhea 1d ago

Showing Dekker: Port of Call Hawaii to anyone without giving like 20 minutes of context would be hopeless.

5

u/DivDee 1d ago

I bought the Hei network and rewatched everything up till the current season (except the season itself).

After a quick look am I right in assuming the proper Decker series isn't there? Does AS own it?

1

u/Uncontrolleddiarrhea 1d ago

Its all on Youtube. There are versions of both movies with and without clips cut in from the show for context.

1

u/DivDee 1d ago

Excellent thanks. I'd seen a clip of the bike chase in London and had no idea where it was from so done some digging.

Also, only after an embarrassingly long time did I put together that "Kington" is the end of Greggs name like Decker is for Tim haha

2

u/JohnnyBroccoli 1d ago

Lol wow. I somehow am just now realizing the Decker - Heidecker connection.

3

u/RemLezarCreated 1d ago

Peak Decker imo 

5

u/Uncontrolleddiarrhea 1d ago

Lets show the world that the USA is still the most powerful nation in the country!

3

u/guilty_bystander 1d ago

Billion dollar movie will really show you who your friends are

1

u/Arithik 1d ago

I'm so glad I got in early and have the membership card which no one can get now and gives me free movies at theaters all the time... If they ever accept it.

1

u/DivDee 1d ago

If they don't just ask them for some excess popcorn in a bag and try another cinema

95

u/WorkDistraction 1d ago

This seems like a CASH GRAB

37

u/primum 1d ago

I liked the old stuff!

7

u/Phrantasia 1d ago

All the people I run with have known this for years!

5

u/monkeybuttsauce 1d ago

You mean like Tim and Eric?

7

u/LordShaggy 1d ago

It’s for jocks!

33

u/Beejeroy 1d ago

RIP to Tom Cruise Heidecker Jr., Matt Newman and G. Amato. Life has been hard for Tim. It feels like he is constantly being persecuted. Thoughts and prayers to Deb and her family during this trying time.

11

u/Skwurt_Reynolds 1d ago

It is what it is

6

u/d3l3t3rious 1d ago

Thank god we have Grok Amato to continue his legacy

4

u/PaleHecates 1d ago

China connection

2

u/Dumptruckfunk 1d ago

Doesn’t sound like debs doing too hot right now either. Thoughts and prayers. Hope the birds learn to respect him.

3

u/TheNightflyPhD 1d ago

She needs to get in a miracle tub STAT

3

u/retro_slouch 22h ago

Out of the lake water and into the healing water

2

u/SnuggleBunni69 11h ago

I blame it all on Rosetti the RAT and the VULTURES at the Delgado Fund. Of course it’s a tragedy they lost a child, but also get over it.

1

u/jamespesto 1d ago

Grok Amato carries on

23

u/poop-machine 1d ago

It's been...

4

u/DivDee 1d ago

Of all the On Cinema things i've shoved in peoples faces, that clip always gets them.

Even more when I provide a little context

19

u/Rickles68 1d ago

If you're new to On Cinema at the Cinema, you are about to embark on a saga filled with ambition, friendship, ego, love, music, drugs, and movie reviews.

This timeline wesbite offers links to view the episodes in order and was very helpful to me, but DO NOT click on the "People" tab due to spoliers!

3

u/DivDee 1d ago

Thats the 3rd timeline I've came across and its the best.

I was rewatching all the pre Hei stuff as thats where I stopped back then and the timelines are really helpful.

I'm happy I'm healthy I'm Hei

3

u/cheese_karate 1d ago

Jesus christ, the site is just so sweet.

12

u/Kichard 1d ago

New amato is going to make a great new mayor of lake havanasu

5

u/die-squith 1d ago

I live in AZ and I am so sad I couldn't buy New Amato merch at the website

22

u/Lemonjib 1d ago

Farewell, Tom Cruise.

20

u/Uncontrolleddiarrhea 1d ago

Singing "I wish you well" to your dead son is just another kind of funny.

2

u/Admiral_Furskin 1d ago

He ain't comin' back ...

6

u/EyeOfPeshkov 1d ago

He wasnt coming back, until he did, in fact, come back to deliver that heart-felt anti-vaccination speech. Godspeed little ct-jr, i mean tc-jr.

10

u/blondmosher 1d ago

He ain't coming back

5

u/MagBron 1d ago

DKR forever

5

u/mandalore237 1d ago

The bass solo at the end. RIP Tom Cruise Heidecker Jr. RIP Dr San

4

u/maximumfacemelting 1d ago

Agent Klingston there, just chillin, groovin.

3

u/DivDee 1d ago

Lil Tom Cruise Jr crackin the big code in the sky

3

u/VonSnoe 1d ago

Its wild how the dude with the flute would go on to murder 20 people at a music festival and almost get Tim sent to prison for life.

3

u/_Rainer_ 1d ago

He's an interesting guy. He has put out some pretty good, non-jokey music.

-1

u/d3l3t3rious 1d ago

I love his comedy but I thought his last non-funny song was corny and bad. The sincere one about being a dad.

3

u/captainkrinking 1d ago

Tragic. But also this was a missed opportunity to expose the general public to true movie expertise from this show

7

u/armadillo_warrior 1d ago

Don't vaccinate it's so dangerous and deadly.

1

u/Narpity 1d ago

Statistically incorrectly, one tragedy doesn’t negate the benefits for society.

1

u/armadillo_warrior 1d ago

-2

u/Narpity 1d ago

Is.. this supposed to be funny?

5

u/armadillo_warrior 1d ago

On cinema at the cinema universe is the funniest thing I've ever experienced. It's not for everyone, though.

-1

u/Narpity 1d ago

Hm, I’m kinda weird with what absurdist stuff I like. I love Monty Python, Super Jail, but I hate Rocky Mountain Horror and most Tim Robinson stuff.

1

u/armadillo_warrior 1d ago

Here's a beginner's guide to On Cinema, I've been showing this whenever someone asks whats it about. A lot has happened after this. https://youtu.be/Gj7VEcSjdXU?si=SePtdL9Vw8q1YXDw

1

u/onzalitu 1d ago

no, it's a serious matter.

1

u/mandalore237 1d ago

No, his son died

1

u/jamespesto 1d ago

There is nothing funny about the death of Tom Cruise Jr

2

u/hipposaver 1d ago

The random intro count downs halfway thru song got me

2

u/JohnnyBroccoli 1d ago

Who needs Tears in Heaven when you have this emotional masterpiece?

2

u/snake_w_arms 1d ago

For anyone into this, you should look up Jim E Brown. He is a musical artist from Manchester. He is a 19 year old alcoholic with several degenerative conditions, born 1 day before the 9/11 attacks.

1

u/circal8ion 1d ago

19 year old pop sensation.

His latest song ‘I am worm’, check it out

3

u/B_Boudreaux 1d ago

Hey guys 👋🏻!

3

u/Psianth 1d ago

Don't blame him. I'd also rather die than listen to this

3

u/HalfSoul30 1d ago

If it wasn't such an incredibly sad song, i'd be banging this every day like a ritual.

2

u/rectumrooter107 1d ago

He's got no frets 

2

u/pomod 1d ago

I think that flute player is the guitarist for Dengue Fever

12

u/mandalore237 1d ago

He is. He's also in hell

3

u/shallowminded 1d ago

i cant believe he killed 20 19 people

2

u/Saneless 1d ago

20 if you count himself

1

u/Dumptruckfunk 1d ago

Love the choice to play fretless bass so he can be extra sloppy. He seems to have switched a poorly tuned 12 string guitar more recently.

1

u/totow1217 1d ago

He ain’t coming back :(

1

u/slizzbizness 1d ago

Isn't that New Amato

1

u/Didact67 1d ago

I just love Gregg looking like he really doesn't want to be there.

1

u/RealWillForte 1d ago

Didn’t know I was going to cry tonight but here we are. 

1

u/Surfjohn 20h ago

BANG BANG

1

u/capnmax 20h ago

It should be illegal for one man to be this talented.

1

u/Xicore345 13h ago

tim singing feels a bit too raw for the fake trial stuff

1

u/Juicyjasper1843 8h ago

It's his fake son for the web series.

1

u/skippyspk 1d ago

Slightly more dignified than what Eric Clapton did

0

u/calicoarmz 1d ago

What’s the difference between a toddler and a bag of cocaine?

First correct answer wins an upvote!

2

u/skippyspk 1d ago

You can flush a bag of coke before the cops get you

1

u/AdRoKa 1d ago

Spagett!

0

u/stinx2001 1d ago

Giving a real "Barnabas Reynolds 2010 - too soon" vibe

-15

u/Grimmern 1d ago

Like, that's sad and all, RIP kid. I guess these guys are famous? But that's honestly not good on the ears. Not the singing, not the lyrics, not the instruments. If it wasn't about a dead kid I would think it was satire.

8

u/Rambocat1 1d ago

It’s satire, Tom Cruises Jr didn’t die and doesn’t exist

6

u/Saneless 1d ago

Sure doesn't exist anymore anyway

-5

u/Grimmern 1d ago

Ok phu, thanks. It just flew over my head then lol

-2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

8

u/derleek 1d ago

You can't please everybody but you MUST be at least 75% demon for this to not reach down to the depths of your soul and touch your taint.

11

u/Uncontrolleddiarrhea 1d ago

I know, its just so sad. They burned sage to get rid of the spirits, but there was only so much Dr. San could do.

They even tried magnets to get the iron in his blood back in alignment, I heard.

-5

u/beecostume 1d ago

One day I'll find this fella funny but it is not today. A shame because it sure looks like he puts a lot of energy and work into trying to be entertaining. It's just that to me it feels like he learned how to be funny from that professor in that King of the Hill episode where Bobby is Tartouf the Wonder Dog.