Tim Heidecker hates Kyle Mooney. A minimum of, that is the impression you’ll get when you watch any of the pair’s latest interactions, which have been so palpably awkward and tense that many followers are questioning simply what Mooney has carried out to stoke the ire of his alt-comedy forbear. Whenever you drill down into it, nevertheless, you uncover you are witnessing among the best long-running bits of the previous couple of a long time … or are you?
For a very long time, Tim and Eric, the beloved comedy duo made up of Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, refused to play ball with interviewers. On YouTube, there’s a complete universe of brilliantly unsettling and hilarious interviews that includes the pair, who merely reject the entire idea of the interview outright and use each interplay with the press as an excuse for inflicting comedic mayhem. After a number of years of this, nevertheless, the duo turned extra open to discussing their work, and probably the most vital issues to return out of their newfound candor was Heidecker citing Steve Martin as an affect.
Because the comic as soon as defined on his “Workplace Hours Reside” podcast, he was impressed as a teen by Martin’s try to “get to that place the place you are with your mates, and also you’re laughing, and you do not even know why you are laughing.” One of these comedy, which, as Heidecker famous, is not “following the patterns and rhythms of conventional setup-joke, setup-joke punchline-style comedy,” usually results in some unusual and absurd locations. The most effective examples of latest years is the alt-comedy legend’s feud with “Saturday Evening Reside” alum and equally esteemed alt-comedian Kyle Mooney, which additionally occurs to be funnier than any of the perfect comedies of 2025.
Tim Heidecker and Kyle Mooney have been feuding for years
Tim Heidecker — who appeared in Kyle Mooney’s Rachel Zegler-led apocalypse comedy “Y2K” — has lengthy stored the spirit of Andy Kaufman alive, whether or not it is because the psychopathic narcissist host of “On Cinema” (additionally named Tim Heidecker) or because the recently-divorced clown who confirmed up on “The Late Present with Stephen Colbert” to advertise his and Eric’s “Clown City” Broadway present just for the entire thing to devolve into tragedy when Tim shattered his nostril after taking a pie to the face. In the meantime, Kyle Mooney has carried the torch admirably himself, venturing out as his disastrously insecure interviewer to speak to reptile lovers and extra just lately embracing a complete new persona as musician Kyle M.
It is with Kyle M that we discover the 2 comedians coming to blows. On November 21, 2025, Mooney posted a video for his new tune “Mrs. Claus is Getting Down” to Instagram, just for Heidecker to remark, “Corny as hell.” What prompted such disdain? Effectively, that is however a tiny piece of a long-running feud between the pair that stretches again a number of years. Not solely does this beef span a number of retailers and venues, nevertheless it additionally turned so heated that at one level, “Moist Sizzling American Summer season” and “The Concept of You” director Michael Showalter needed to step in for an intervention.
Naturally, many onlookers are confused by the obvious dangerous blood between the 2 comedians, who in any other case appear to have a lot in widespread. However these prepared to vanish down this specific rabbit gap can be rewarded with probably the most deeply uncomfortable, laugh-out-loud hilarious long-running bits for the reason that days of Tony Clifton.
Heidecker and Mooney’s beef is certainly, in all probability a bit
Tim Heidecker and Kyle Mooney’s feud might be higher described as Heidecker being relentlessly imply and dismissive of Mooney, who stays unendingly gracious within the face of the insults. Issues actually kicked off when Mooney visited “Workplace Hours Reside” in 2023, and Heidecker primarily mocked him for 2 hours. Afterwards, Heidecker spoke about folks contacting him to ask what was happening between the pair, with one specific particular person turning into so involved he approached the comic at a social occasion to verify all the pieces was okay.
That particular person seems to have been Michael Showalter, who later visited “Workplace Hours” throughout Mooney and Beck Bennett’s episode to ask whether or not the entire thing was a bit and whether or not Mooney was snug with Tim’s mockery. That dialog particularly blurred the road between actuality and fiction, with Mooney seemingly admitting he wasn’t at all times snug however by no means giving freely whether or not he is critical.
The battle has since performed out on Mooney and Bennett’s personal “What’s Our Podcast,” the place Tim as soon as once more belittled his host, suggesting that he and Bennett create a brand new podcast interrogating why they have not turn out to be big stars within the wake of “SNL.” Followers then posted about being “bummed out” by the looks, questioning whether or not issues received too actual. Now, with Mooney’s musical profession, the meat has moved to the IG feedback part, the place Heidecker has dismissed the Christmas EP as “lame” and “worse than AI slop.”
This entire factor certainly will get really uncomfortable at instances, however that is kind of the purpose. It is not “setup-joke, setup-joke” comedy. In truth, it isn’t even at all times comedy — it is efficiency artwork that, as foolish as it’s, genuinely evokes a variety of feelings and remembers Mooney, Heidecker, and people who got here earlier than them’s finest work.