Why Eric André Made A (Surprisingly Good) Classical Music Album
Categoria: Musica
As BLARF, the Berklee-trained comedian put out Film Scores for Films That Don't Exist — and conducted the orchestra playing on it.
Por Billboard | 04/06/2026
As the boundary-smashing, beyond over-the-top talent behind Adult Swim’s long-running The Eric Andre Show , comedian and actor Eric André has presided over some of the more bizarre, surreal pranks, stunts and hilariously cringe moments to ever be aired on television. But André’s latest project might just manage to stun his audience even further. Under the not-so-serious name of BLARF, André has just released a surprisingly serious album of classical music, Film Scores for Films That Don’t Exist (out now on Stones Throw Records). A collaboration with composer Prateek Rajagopal, the album features eight pieces for full orchestra, ranging from the silly ( “1869 Overture,” essentially a very out-of-tune take on Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”) to the quite beautiful ( “Stars Without Light” ), which riff on both film score archetypes and the composers who write them. Related Eric Andre Says He Was ‘Way Too Intimidated’ To Flirt With Madonna When She Slid Into His DMs: ‘She Needs to Be Romanced’ Lil Nas X Has Absolutely No Idea What Is Going On During Bizarre Preview of ‘Eric Andre Show’ Season 6 Eric Andre Talks Epic ‘Bad Trip’ Movie, Chilling With Borat and Tasing Rappers André is, in fact, no goofy novice: Before he pivoted to comedy, he was a serious upright bass player who attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music (where he also studied conducting — a skill he recently put to use in front of an orchestra at the only concert of this music thus far, at Los Angeles’ Zipper Hall in late April). “This is like a big wish fulfillment thing for me,” André says of making Film Scores . “I’m just happy that it came together, and I have so much gratitude towards Prateek for pushing it along all the way.” He spoke to Billboard about his conservatory past, conducting an orchestra in Hungary, and what’s next for BLARF. You told Pitchfork of your first BLARF album, 2019’s Cease and Desist , “I dare you to get through six minutes of it, it’s f—in’ unlistenable.” I wouldn’t say the same of this one! I think I always wanted to make a completely different album each time. I’ve only made two [BLARF] albums, so you won’t notice that that agenda until, like, I have three, four or five albums. Comedy is a full-time job, so this is just passion project stuff and I don’t have time to crank out that much, but I always wanted to. I started doing comedy when I was 20 years old, like halfway through college, and then I just pivoted to it, but I always wanted to continue to make music, not for any kind of commercial success attempt, more just for my own creative gratification. How do you know when it’s time to do a new BLARF project? I’m constantly doing it in the background between gigs — they just take a while to complete, and then I release them upon completion. I’m still making new music now; I’m trying to make new hip-hop loops on Abl