THU 2 DARK MEAT
DRAKKAR SAUNA
FRI 3 JUCIFER
HAMMERTOR • THE SIXTEENS • THE OLD BLACK
SAT 4 KIOSK BENEFIT DJ COLDFISH & BANDS TBA
SUN 5 BATTLEFIELDS
 IREPRESS * STUUL * DAVID HASSELHOFF ON ACID
TUE 7 ASTROKITTY'S DRINK & DRAW
A GATHERING OF LOCAL ARTISTS
WED 8 JAPANTHER
NINJAUSING • COAT PARTY • FORTUNING
THU 9 THE DEAD GIRLS
THE ART • PEOPLE NOISE • NEWMATICA
FRI 10 CHARLES S. MCVEY CD RELEASE
1850 DA
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THU 2 EL PASO HOT BUTTON
THE KINEIKIS
FRI 3 THE SERVICE INDUSTRY
OLD COUNTRY DEATH BAND
EARLY ALL AGES PATIO SHOW 6PM
LOOK MEXICO 10PM
THE TAMBOURINE CLUB
SAT 4 SPINDRIFT (MEMBERS OF THE BRIAN JONESTONE MASSACREI) THE CALAMITY CUBES + ALBERTO ALFONZO
SUN 5 EARLY PATIO: DEADMAN FLATS
THE BARNYARD BOYS 6PM
MON 6 METAL SCHOOL W/DJ MOTLEY CRUZ
notice
In 2004, Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher began collecting videos from garage sales, thrift stores and dumpsters. The two compiled the found footage and showed it to friends for entertainment. Eventually, the just-for-laughs show they put on for their friends became a national tour called the Found Footage Festival. Pickett and Prueher travel the country to show the videos and perform live commentary to go along with them. The Found Footage Festival will make its first appearance in Lawrence at the Granada tonight at 8.
Prueher also wants to remind everyone to bring video footage tonight to use in future festivals.
Nick Prueher, cofounder of the Found Footage Festival
What video started it all?
It all started with a McDonald's training video I found in the break room of a McDonald's that I worked at in high school. It was a video for McDonald's custodians and I could not believe how stupid it was. My first thought was, 'I have to show this to other people.' I immediately showed it to my friend Joe and we became obsessed with showing it to friends and making smartass remarks over it. So we figured if this video was right under our noses, what else was out there? So that started the quest to scour thrift stores, garage sales and garbage cans and other out of the way places for VHS tapes. Now, instead of showing the videos in my parents' living room, we show them in theaters around the country.
I don't know if it's legal, but our lawyer assures us that what we're doing is under fair use of satire.
So is this legal?
Do you and Joe have jobs outside of the Found Footage Festival?
This is our passion, but it's just part-time. Joe works at The Onion and I work at The Colbert Report.
Contributed photo
Funny times. Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett,founders of the Found Footage Festival,find old VHS tapes with unusually funny material and present it to audiences across the nation.The festival is tonight at 8 at the Granada.
Do you look for new material in every city you visit?
Yep, the first thing we do when we get into a new town is ask around to find out where the good thrift stores are or if there are any garage sales going on. We go straight to the VHS section of Goodwill or Salvation Army and start digging. We've found that stupid videos are pretty universal; there's no region of the country that has more than another.
Are there certain places that have especially good material?
We were in Alaska last year doing a show and there's a place called the Bishop's Attic on the outskirts of town. They had a huge VHS section that had everything from Blockbuster Video training videos to home movies to locally produced exercise videos.
Do you guys have a favorite clip?
We find exercise videos most often, mainly because every celebrity who had even minor success in the '80s or '90s made an exercise video. Those are always big hits because of the fantastic fashion choices and poor production value. Ones featuring Zsa Zsa Gabor, Angela Lansbury or any range of celebrities who have no business making fitness videos tend to go over the best with audiences. Although in the new show we've got some anti-sexual harassment videos that have great enactments of what not to do while at work.
What's the best part about doing all of this?
It's like a needle in a haystack finding that perfect video that's awful in all the right ways. We wade through hours and hours of the most boring stuff to find that one gem. But when we do find that one clip that we know will make people laugh, that's what makes it worthwhile.
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For more information and clips from previous festivals, visit www.myspace.com/ foundo footagefestival.
April 2, 2009
Madeline Hyden