Tim Heidecker - Too Dumb For Suicide: Trump Songs - LP Vinyl

In the dizzying, ludicrous, sociopolitical climate America has reduced itself to, what used to feel relevant now seems impotent. Take the overlapping forms of political comedy and protest art. Humor remains useful as a way to avoid insanity, but mocking someone as self-evidently farcical as Donald Trump is sadly futile. At worst, comedy right now can come off as clueless about how bad things really are, like laughter at a funeral. Protest art faces an even bigger quandary: how can artists hope to sway the consciousness of a public paralyzed by endless distractions, algorithmic bubbles, and weaponized lies?

It’s fitting, then, that one of the few explicitly anti-Trump albums released since the November election comes not from a truth-telling comic or a hard-hitting musician. Instead, it’s by an anti-comedian known not for satire or commentary but absurdity and layers of irony. As you might expect, some of Tim Heidecker’s bluntly titled Too Dumb for Suicide: Tim Heidecker’s Trump Songs has the what-the-fuck quality of his surreal TV programs “Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!” and “On Cinema at the Cinema.” When he’s in this mode, the ambiguity of his sincerity—how funny is this really supposed to be?—becomes the point, rather than just making you laugh or giving you clear messages to think about.

But even though there’s a fair share of goofy meta-comedy on Too Dumb For Suicide—an alt-rock anthem about Trump’s bowel movements and a parody of Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville” called “Mar-A-Lago” being the most obvious examples—the best parts of the album can actually be taken at face value. Heidecker wrote these songs quickly, “with the blood still boiling from whatever indignity or absurdity had popped up on my newsfeed that day,” as he put it. That expediency apparently pushed him to be more direct in places, helping him capture some of the fear and anger in our current miasma.

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