Found Footage Festival Brings Unconventional Laughs to Jacksonville

By Lea Hervey | gargoyle@flagler.edu

On Oct. 27, 2014, comedic pals Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher displayed footage from Volume 7 of their Found Footage Festival at Sun Ray Cinema in Jacksonville, FL.

Founded in 2004, the Found Footage Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary and showcases Pickett and Prueher’s “latest and greatest VHS finds” from yard sales, thrift stores and warehouses across the U.S.

During the show live commentary is provided by the hosts as they share their discoveries, adventures and updates on the people featured in the videos.

The show contains a variety of VHS footage, including home movies, 80’s infomercials, educational videos, high-school projects and public access television. Pickett and Prueher have two rules when selecting videos to show: first, the content cannot be intentionally funny and second, it cannot exist anywhere on the internet.

Pickett and Prueher’s journey began in 1991, when they began collecting VHS tapes after finding a McDonald’s training video entitled “Inside and Outside Custodial Duties” in Wisconsin, their home state. Since then they have been gathering and increasing their collection of hilarious and strange videos to share with the public at shows around the U.S. and Canada.

Pickett and Prueher have previously written for The Onion and Entertainment Weekly, along with directing the award-winning documentary “Dirty Country.”

Pickett and Prueher’s book, “VHS: Absurd, Odd and Ridiculous Relics from the Videotape Era,” which can be purchased on the festival’s website, contains roughly 270 pages of the strangest and silliest VHS covers of the decade of 1988-1998 as well as commentary from Pickett and Prueher throughout.

The Found Footage Festival has been featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Tosh.0 and National Public Radio. The show has also been featured in Punk Planet magazine and on Wired.com.

After touring through Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami the festival will continue west, ending on March 28, 2015 in Nebraska. Their website, foundfootagefest.com, hosts videos, VHS covers, blog posts, an online store and tour tickets and information for upcoming shows.