There are people in this world who will go to great lengths to entertain us. Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher are two of the curators of the Found Footage Festival. Their mission, as curators, is to scour garage sales and resale shops, buying all the VHS tapes they can, hoping to find snippets of life that are too strange for fiction. The videos are then edited and compiled into one feature length presentation and VOILA! A Found Footage Festival is born!
The festival is presented to the audience as if you were watching the deleted scenes of a movie with constant commentary from the directors. Both Pickett and Prueher would take a break in between segments to give historical background or explain inside jokes that have arisen from the video’s existence.
One video in particular was an edited version of an at-home-birth-for-dogs instructional. Very quickly, the joke was in the term originating from bicce. After the presentation, the audience was informed that there are 83 unique uses of the term.
Although some videos were very odd and almost embraced alternative humor too much, the dedication of these men amazed me. They have created a series of shows similar to that of “Tim and Eric: Awesome Show, Good Job.” However, Tim and Eric have the luxury of writing scripts. Pickett and Prueher are creating amusing, absurdist comedy using the actual lives of actual people. The statement, “It’s funny because it’s true!” rings very true.
Some of the segments were too strange for fiction. In a video found in a storage bin in the basement of an old broadcasting station, we meet a preacher man. The video recording of his show seems simple enough, although he does seem to be very radical in his political opinions. Then, very abruptly, without editing, the preacher rips off his shirt and paints his face like he is an early version of the WCW’s Sting. Clad in nothing but pants and neon face paint, he conveys messages of warning to the Jehovah’s Witnesses and even apologizes to his mother. Repeatedly.
Possibly the most crowd pleasing segment was entitled, “Cover Stories.” For this bit, the curators sat next to a projection screen as still images of movie box covers they had found appeared. Commenting on the absurdity and the aesthetics of the boxes showcased their true comedic talent. Often times, the hosts would break character and need a moment to laugh amongst each other.
A final highlight for the show emerged from an old collegiate final project. An aspiring broadcaster had made an interview show in Kenosha, Wis. Not only did the curators show us that video, unedited, but they even invited the host, Tim, on stage. Here, Tim directed them through an equally embarrassing live action version of his show.
The Found Footage Festival is a very well-produced night of entertainment. Although the format has the air of a drunken night in a dorm watching YouTube videos, the entertainment can come at you from any angle. It’s also fun to think that perhaps next time you film yourself, it could end up in a comedy show 20 years later.