Found Footage Festival to showcase hilarious old VHS finds
Joe Pickett and Nick Preuher hosting the Found Footage Festival. The show will be arriving at McKnight Theatre in Cone Center at UNC Charlotte on Tuesday, September 11 at 7:30 p.m. Photo courtesy of the Found Footage Festival.
On Tuesday, Sept. 11, the Found Footage Festival will be making a stop at UNC Charlotte.
Presented here in Charlotte by the Light Factory: Contemporary Museum of Photography and Film, the festival is a live comedy show that showcases old unintentionally hilarious videos found at thrift stores, warehouses and even garbage cans throughout the country.
The show is put on by comedic geniuses Joe Pickett and Nick Preuher, who began collecting video tapes in 1991 after Preuher stumbled upon a McDonald’s custodial training video while working for the fast food chain.
After noticing how ridiculously hilarious this particular tape was, Preuher brought the tape to Pickett’s attention and both began finding and preserving entertaining tapes that truly define the VHS era.
The pair collected old tapes for over a decade.
In 2004, after watching countless hours of random footage, Pickett and Preuher compiled the most hilarious bits and pieces into a 90 minute show.
And thus, the Found Footage Festival was born.
Linnea Beyer, the Director of Film for the Light Factory, expresses why the Light Factory is bringing the event to Charlotte for the third time.
“While the show plays on society’s love of viral videos via Youtube, it’s founded in the birth of viral videos, the VHS tape. The show also examines our cultures obsession with recording everything, no matter how bizarre,” Beyer said.
Pickett and Preuher have had remarkable success since their first tour in 2004, selling out shows in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.
Throughout their career, they have appeared on “Attack of the Show” and National Public Radio, along with being critic’s choices in publications such as The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times.
The pair recently appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” showing off some of their classic video finds while promoting their new book, “VHS: Absurd, Odd, and Ridiculous Relics from the Video Tape Era.”
Beyer believes that UNC Charlotte students will enjoy the festival because it is like witnessing what YouTube would have been like 10 years earlier.
“For some reason, the human race feels the need to express itself, and video is the medium de jour in this day and age,” Beyer states.
“Whether it’s an infomercial, a self help tape, an exercise video or amateur art, many of us fail miserably in our attempt to capture ourselves on video. You can’t help but laugh at it.”
The festival will start at 7:30 p.m. at the McKnight Hall in Cone Center. Tickets will be $10 at the door.
For more about Pickett, Prueher and the festival, go to foundfootagefest.com.
Category: Arts and Entertainment, Niner Times
About the Author (Author Profile)
Patrick is the A&E Editor for the Niner Times. He is pursuing a Communications major with minors in Film Studies and Journalism at UNC Charlotte. Contact him at ae@nineronline.com.Subscribe
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