Tim Heidecker Wants to Turn Infowars Into Adult Swim for the Internet
Tim Heidecker Wants to Turn Infowars Into Adult Swim for the Internet
蒂姆·海德克想把 Infowars 变成互联网上的“成人游泳频道” (Adult Swim)
When The Onion announced that it would take over Infowars in 2024, I had a hard time imagining a single funnier and more perfect thing than the ghoulish legacy of Alex Jones being stomped all over by the satirical news outlet. 当《洋葱新闻》(The Onion) 在 2024 年宣布将接管 Infowars 时，我很难想象还有什么比这更滑稽、更完美的事情了：亚历克斯·琼斯 (Alex Jones) 那令人毛骨悚然的“遗产”，被这家讽刺新闻媒体狠狠地踩在脚下。
A few years and several legal back-and-forths later, The Onion still doesn’t quite own Infowars. But it is proceeding apace and recently announced that none other than comedian Tim Heidecker would serve as creative director (and chief Alex Jones impersonator) when Infowars’ brand is finally handed over. 几年过去，经过几轮法律博弈，《洋葱新闻》目前仍未完全拥有 Infowars。但收购进程正在推进，他们最近宣布，一旦 Infowars 品牌最终移交，喜剧演员蒂姆·海德克 (Tim Heidecker) 将担任创意总监（兼首席亚历克斯·琼斯模仿者）。
And just like that, something even funnier and more perfect came to be: In Heidecker’s first video as Jones, an 18-minute “Emergency Broadcast,” he offers up a spectacular impersonation of the conspiracy theorist, announces an alliance between God and Satan, and ends by imploring viewers that “Infowars is a movement, and you’re on it. You’re on our ship. Come on board.” (While drinking a wine glass full of adult blood, obviously.) 就这样，一件更滑稽、更完美的事情发生了：在海德克以琼斯身份发布的首个视频——一段 18 分钟的“紧急广播”中，他精彩地模仿了这位阴谋论者，宣布了上帝与撒旦之间的联盟，并在结尾恳求观众：“Infowars 是一场运动，而你们身处其中。你们在我们的船上。快上船吧。”（当然，他当时正喝着一杯成人血液。）
At WIRED, we’re longtime fans of both The Onion and Tim Heidecker—a match made in heaven, if you ask me—so I had to take the opportunity to sit down with Tim and find out more about what kind of movement, exactly, he was busy plotting for the Infowars of the future. 在《连线》(WIRED)，我们一直是《洋葱新闻》和蒂姆·海德克的忠实粉丝——在我看来，这简直是天作之合——所以我必须抓住机会与蒂姆坐下来聊聊，深入了解他究竟在为未来的 Infowars 策划一场什么样的“运动”。
We talked all things Infowars, including the latest on The Onion’s legal efforts to acquire the brand and its archives, plus the shift of Heidecker’s own comedy into newsier terrain, his thoughts on the death of late-night, and why he never tries too hard to get attention online. 我们谈论了关于 Infowars 的一切，包括《洋葱新闻》收购该品牌及其档案的最新法律进展，海德克个人喜剧风格向新闻领域的转变，他对深夜脱口秀消亡的看法，以及为什么他从不刻意在网上博取关注。
Read our conversation below, watch it on YouTube, or listen at the podcast provider of your choice. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 请阅读下方的对话，或在 YouTube 上观看视频，也可以在你选择的播客平台上收听。本次采访经过删减和润色。
KATIE DRUMMOND: Welcome, Tim. 凯蒂·德拉蒙德： 欢迎你，蒂姆。
TIM HEIDECKER: Thanks for not calling me Eric. 蒂姆·海德克： 谢谢你没叫我埃里克 (Eric)。
Oh my god, I can’t even imagine. Has that happened before? 天哪，我简直无法想象。以前发生过这种情况吗？
Yeah, and even with close friends. 是的，甚至连亲密的朋友都会叫错。
I have to start by asking, what goes into the uncanny parody of Alex Jones? How did you try to capture his id, if you will? 我必须先问一下，你是如何做到对亚历克斯·琼斯进行这种神还原的模仿的？你是如何捕捉到他的“本我”的？
I guess I just can do it. I don’t know. I don’t think about it. I’ve been doing it for 10 years or more. 我想我就是能做到。我不知道，我没怎么想过。我已经模仿他十多年了。
When he was at the first Republican convention in Cleveland, a guy I do a lot of work with, Vic Berger, we went to the convention, and at the time, there was this chat—what was it called? Snapchat—which I guess still exists. 当他在克利夫兰参加第一届共和党全国代表大会时，我和经常合作的维克·伯格 (Vic Berger) 一起去了现场。当时有个聊天软件——叫什么来着？Snapchat，我想它现在应该还存在。
Yeah, I missed that boat. I don’t understand it. 是的，我错过了那个潮流，我不太懂它。
For a minute there, it did really good face-swapping—or, it probably still does. But you can do that real-time face-swapping. So I was doing it with Alex Jones, and he was there. So I just started doing it, and I could do it. I don’t know how I could do it. I guess the key to it is to not stop talking, and to keep going, and filibuster as much as you can with not really any information. 有一阵子，它的人脸替换功能做得非常好——或者现在可能依然如此。你可以进行实时换脸。当时亚历克斯·琼斯也在现场，我就试着用那个功能，结果发现我能模仿他。我不知道自己是怎么做到的。我想关键在于不停地说话，一直说下去，在没有任何实质信息的情况下尽可能地进行“冗长辩论”。
In the 10 years that you have been parodying him, have you learned anything about the guy? Do you have a better understanding of his whole deal? 在你模仿他的这十年里，你对他这个人有什么了解吗？你是否更理解他的那一套逻辑了？
No. I think he’s a great entertainer, a great talent. There’s great broadcasting talent there. He’s taken it into a very dark place, where essentially it’s a pills delivery system. That’s the business. 没有。我认为他是一位伟大的艺人，非常有才华。他具备极佳的广播天赋。但他把这种天赋带向了一个非常黑暗的地方，本质上，这成了一个卖药的渠道。这就是他的生意。
Right, they sell supplements. 没错，他们卖补品。
They sell supplements. I think that’s the bread and butter. That’s what they’re there to do, and to keep people afraid. 他们卖补品。我认为那是他们的经济支柱。这就是他们的目的，让人们保持恐惧。
If there’s anything that might prevent you from becoming part of the many casualties of the globalists, it is to be stocked up with iodine and various silver components and things. So it’s a big circus, you know, a big P. T. Barnum-y kind of a blustery thing. 如果说有什么东西能让你免于成为全球主义者阴谋下的牺牲品，那就是囤积碘片、各种银成分制品之类的东西。所以这就像一场大马戏，你知道的，一种类似 P.T. 巴纳姆式的虚张声势。