Tim Heidecker On Showtime's 'Moonbase 8': 'We Wanted To Make Something That Would Make You Laugh'
(CBS Local)-- Showtime is the place to be this weekend because a hilarious new comedy called "Moonbase 8" starring John C. Reilly, Fred Armisen and Tim Heidecker premieres on Sunday, November 8. The series is about three astronauts training at NASA's Moon Base Simulator in the Arizona desert and they are wondering if they will ever get their opportunity to go to the moon.
While training, these astronauts encounter many challenges like loneliness, self-doubt and their own incompetence. Heidecker has known Reilly and Armisen for years and he thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with two great comedians in this arena.
"It was a lot of fun. I have been friends with John and done a lot of work with John C. Reilly," said Heidecker, in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "I've done some stuff with Fred [Armisen] and we just had this desire to work together. We wanted to find a way to cram us all into the same room and literally in the show that's where we find ourselves. We are isolated from the rest of the world in the middle of the desert training to live on the moon. It was this homegrown, homemade project that we did on our own with A24 and luckily found a home with Showtime."
Heidecker has been making audiences laugh for decades as a stand-up comedian and an actor/producer in projects like "Bridesmaids" and several Adult Swims shows and specials. He says that this is exactly the show that he, Reilly and Armisen wanted to make.
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"We wanted to make something that would make you laugh and that is failure done in the right context," said Heidecker. "We love The Three Stooges and Abbott and Costello. The type of classic comedy where you put very capable people in stressful situations that require a lot of experience, talent and knowledge. The other thing that we were interested in is as the space program becomes more and more normal, it's important that it's not just these test pilots that have this daredevil kind of attitude. It is going to require regular types to be somewhat involved. We take it to the extreme place where these guys don't belong in the program."
Heidecker says the best part of this show was being able to work with his friends. While he has known and worked with Reilly and Armisen in the past, "Moonbase 8" provided the runway for their comedy to shine in a new way.
"I got to work with one of the best actors working in John C. Reilly and working with one of the funniest people I know in Fred Armisen. We wanted to capture that sense of humor that we enjoy privately with each other between the takes and on set as you're waiting for things to happen. That's the spirit and energy we had in making this project. We're very proud of the show and I'm very proud we were able to do it in the way we wanted to do it."
Watch "Moonbase 8" on Showtime and watch all of DJ Sixsmith's interviews from "The Sit-Down" series here.
