A Former SNL Star Is Feuding With An Alt-Comedy Legend And Fans Are Bewildered

Tim Heidecker hates Kyle Mooney. At least, that's the impression you would get if you watch any of the pair's recent interactions, which have been so palpably awkward and tense that many fans are wondering just what Mooney has done to stoke the ire of his alt-comedy forbear. When you drill down into it, however, you discover you're witnessing one of the best long-running bits of the last few decades ... or are you?

For a 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 whole universe of brilliantly unsettling and hilarious interviews featuring the pair, who simply reject the whole concept of the interview outright and use every interaction with the press as an excuse for causing comedic mayhem. After several years of this, however, the duo became more open to discussing their work, and one of the most significant things to come out of their newfound candor was Heidecker citing Steve Martin as an influence.

As the comedian once explained on his "Office Hours Live" podcast, he was inspired as a youngster by Martin's attempt to "get to that place where you're with your friends, and you're laughing, and you don't even know why you're laughing." This type of comedy, which, as Heidecker noted, isn't "following the patterns and rhythms of traditional setup-joke, setup-joke punchline-style comedy," often leads to some strange and absurd places. One of the best examples of recent years is the alt-comedy legend's feud with "Saturday Night Live" alum and similarly esteemed alt-comedian Kyle Mooney, which also happens to be funnier than any of the best comedies of 2025.

Tim Heidecker — who appeared in Kyle Mooney's Rachel Zegler-led apocalypse comedy "Y2K" — has long kept the spirit of Andy Kaufman alive, whether it's as the psychopathic narcissist host of "On Cinema" (also named Tim Heidecker) or as the recently-divorced clown who showed up on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to promote his and Eric's "Clown Town" Broadway show only for the whole thing to devolve into tragedy when Tim shattered his nose after taking a pie to the face. Meanwhile, Kyle Mooney has carried the torch admirably himself, venturing out as his disastrously insecure interviewer to talk to reptile lovers and more recently embracing a whole new persona as musician Kyle M.

It's with Kyle M that we find the two comedians coming to blows. On November 21, 2025, Mooney posted a video for his new song "Mrs. Claus is Getting Down" to Instagram, only for Heidecker to comment, "Corny as hell." What prompted such disdain? Well, this is but a tiny piece of a long-running feud between the pair that stretches back several years. Not only does this beef span multiple outlets and venues, but it also became so heated that at one point, "Wet Hot American Summer" and "The Idea of You" director Michael Showalter had to step in for an intervention.

Naturally, many onlookers are confused by the apparent bad blood between the two comedians, who otherwise seem to have so much in common. But those willing to disappear down this particular rabbit hole will be rewarded with one of the most deeply uncomfortable, laugh-out-loud hilarious long-running bits since the days of Tony Clifton.

Tim Heidecker and Kyle Mooney's feud is probably better described as Heidecker being relentlessly mean and dismissive of Mooney, who remains unendingly gracious in the face of the insults. Things really kicked off when Mooney visited "Office Hours Live" in 2023, and Heidecker essentially mocked him for two hours. Afterwards, Heidecker spoke about people contacting him to ask what was going on between the pair, with one particular individual becoming so concerned he approached the comedian at a social event to make sure everything was ok.

That individual appears to have been Michael Showalter, who later visited "Office Hours" during Mooney and Beck Bennett's episode to ask whether the whole thing was a bit and whether Mooney was comfortable with Tim's mockery. That conversation in particular blurred the line between reality and fiction, with Mooney seemingly admitting he wasn't always comfortable but never giving away whether he's serious.

The battle has since played out on Mooney and Bennett's own "What's Our Podcast," where Tim once again belittled his host, suggesting that he and Bennett create a new podcast interrogating why they haven't become huge stars in the wake of "SNL." Fans then posted about being "bummed out" by the appearance, questioning whether things got too real. Now, with Mooney's musical career, the beef has moved to the IG comments section, where Heidecker has dismissed the Christmas EP as "lame" and "worse than AI slop."

This whole thing indeed gets truly uncomfortable at times, but that's sort of the point. It's not "setup-joke, setup-joke" comedy. In fact, it's not even always comedy — it's performance art that, as silly as it is, genuinely evokes a range of emotions and recalls Mooney, Heidecker, and those that came before them's best work.