Seeing as Eric Andre‘s job entails pranking celebrities, he’s met his fair share of famous people. Still, there are times that the comedian gets star-struck. One such instance was before he got famous. Andre was able to meet the late MF Doom, who he recalls as “very grounded and sincere,” and even mustered up the courage to ask for an internship.
Speaking in an interview with NME, Andre, who was a college kid at the time, recalled meeting MF Doom when he wasn’t wearing his signature mask and asking if he could intern at Stone’s Throw records: “I ran backstage and got to see him without his mask on, which was very cool. I was like, ‘Hey I’m finishing college, I want to intern at Stone’s Throw records. How can I do that?’ And he gave me somebody’s email that worked at Stone’s Throw. He was very patient with me, very grounded, and sincere. For me at 20-21 years old, to see a hero of mine telling me to just email the people at work, he seemed like salt of the earth.”
Andre also noted that MF Doom’s death had a huge impact on him:
“I was fortunate enough to get to meet him. I met him when I think I was 19-20 years old. He played at my friend Christina’s college spring break show in Manchester, New York. He was very nice, I’ve never heard a bad thing about the guy. I love his work, I love his collaboration with Madlib. He always had good taste in beats. A buddy of mine said he is what rap should be. Rap isn’t macho and aggressive. It shouldn’t be run by jocks. Rap is very mellow, it should be relaxing and simple. Wordplay is just like fun with the poetry and flow of rhyming and the musicality of that. MF Doom captured that spirit and had such a unique voice and such a unique point of view. I rarely cry when a celebrity dies. He was one of the few celebrities that brought tears to my eyes when I found out he passed away.”
Andre isn’t the only one who has honored MF Doom following his tragic passing in 2020. Musicians like Open Mike Eagle, Madlib, Playboi Carti, and many more have paid tribute to the iconic MC.
