Artwork by Johnny Ryan (www.johnnyr.com)
Let's face it: when shopping for an exercise video, most of us aren't looking for one starring Milton Berle. Nor does Dolph Lundgren come to mind when contemplating -- for whatever reason -- workout tapes. Suzanne Somers or Jane Fonda, sure; but Milton or Dolph? NOT.
Nevertheless, when the Found Footage Festival returns to Tucson for two shows at the Loft on Saturday, September 26, the allure of such seemingly, um, misguided video endeavors will be exposed for all - even the skeptics among us - to enjoy.
It turns out Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett, curators and presenters of the Found Footage Festival, have unearthed workout videos by both Berle and Lundgren. The event features "found" video clips that Prueher and Pickett have painstakingly edited together for maximum comedic effect. The pair screens the reel and accompanies it with their special narration, which consists of mercilessly making fun of the material. Unlikely fitness guru wannabes, strange cable TV concepts, weird home movies, asinine local commercials and inadvertently comical "professional" training videos are all fair game here, and the combination of video clips overlaid with heavy duty mocking makes for a guffawing good time.
Indeed, Prueher and Picket have a knack for finding such unseemly and downright bizarre transcriptions. Years of combing through discarded videos at thrift stores and garage sales (or just right in the garbage) have yielded miles of VHS tape and a Queens, New York apartment-load of video cassettes. "Right now I'm editing some Dolph Lundgren video at this office we're renting in Brooklyn, getting ready for the tour," Prueher said in a recent phone conversation. "Our apartment's so crammed with this stuff - we needed to rent more space for working."
The Wisconsin natives are "film makers by trade, but this is a passion of ours." Prueher and Pickett both wrote for the satirical newspaper, The Onion, back in 1994, when they were fresh out of high school. (There, they collaborated on the classic article, "Study Reveals: Babies Are Stupid".) In college, they roomed together and majored in TV, Radio and Film. After graduating from college, Prueher interned for the cult TV series, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). "When I first saw that show, I was in disbelief. I thought, 'Wait a minute, you can do this professionally? Make fun of stuff for a living? Sign me up!'" The MST3K "genre" fed the developing roots of the Found Footage Fest.
The unexpectedly hilarious joys of found footage have been exploited by Prueher and Pickett since about 1991, when the teenagers would screen mock-worthy videos for their friends. Their original found footage was a custodial training tape discovered in a McDonald's break room. "Maybe it came from not having a lot to do in Stoughton (WI), where we grew up," Prueher offered. "But we entertained ourselves by developing a running commentary for these unintentionally funny videos."
The deep appreciation for found footage seems to be a worldwide phenomenon. The Tucson shows on September 26 will be an early stop on a tour schedule stretching from the West Coast of the U.S. to a week's worth of shows in London. Prueher and Pickett have also brought the show to Paris and Amsterdam, and though they weren't sure how it would play to non-English speaking crowds, it turns out "the language of stupid videos is universal."
"Tucson is one of our favorite cities in the world to play," Prueher enthused. "The people at the Loft and the people who come to the shows just get it." Indeed, the Loft's program director, Jeff Yanc, lobbied the guys to bring the Found Footage Fest to Tucson 3 years ago. "It's definitely one of our favorite events that we host here at The Loft. Nick and Joe are great, their live comedy is hilarious, and of course, they have impeccable taste when it comes to sniffing out the weirdest, crappiest and most amazing found footage ever."
Apparently, Tucsonans enjoy cutting loose on crappy video; that first Found Footage gig at the Loft sold out on "some random weeknight," says Prueher. "This year, Tucson will be the third stop on the tour, and we'll be taping the new DVD (Volume 4) there." According to press materials, the new show features "a collection of the worst Saturday morning cartoons ever to turn up on VHS" and "highlights from a 1987 video reel found by David Cross." In addition, Prueher mentioned that Found Magazine (a separate outfit, with whom Found Footage enjoys mutual admiration) donated some tape to be included in the upcoming show.
"Pretty much, if people have a lot of ambition, very little talent, and access to video equipment, that's when the magic seems to happen," Prueher laughed when describing the "outsider" appeal of comedy in general and found footage in particular. Yanc from the Loft echoed that sentiment. "There's something very appealing about 'lost' material, especially when you can enjoy it on a whole other level from what was originally intended. I can't wait to see what videos Nick and Joe are going to unleash this time."
Wanna come be part of the big, rowdy audience for the Found Footage Festival's taping of Volume 4? Here's the dealio:
www.FoundFootageFestival.com
Sat., Sept. 26
8 p.m. & 10 p.m.
The Loft Cinema
3233 E. Speedway Blvd.
Tickets: $8.50
www.LoftCinema.org
