The Found Footage Festival is a tour that showcases outrageous but hilarious found videos. Past seasons have featured clips ranging from awkward public access programs to an angry RV salesman’s outtakes and Marky Mark’s old workout video. Most of the clips are almost painful to watch, but the creators and hosts, Nick Preuher and Joe Pickett, add witty commentary for the audience.
The Found Footage Festival will stop in Atlanta Thursday as part of its 75-city tour. The event will be at the Plaza Theater at 7:30 p.m. This year, the festival will include a self-hypnosis video designed to teach viewers how to be better lovers, businessmen and bowlers, an exercise video starring Cher, a home video from 1986 and a ventriloquism how-to video.
The Found Footage Festival has been featured on National Public Radio, Jimmy Kimmel Live and G4 TV’s Attack of the Show. It has also been named critic’s pick in publications such as The Village Voice and The Los Angeles Times.
Both creators have written for The Onion, but Preuher’s past jobs in particular have prepared him well for his current work. In addition to working for The Colbert Report, Preuher was the head researcher for Late Show with David Letterman, where part of his job was “tracking down old embarrassing footage” of celebrities.
Pickett and Preuher are currently working on a short film and book of 200 of their favorite VHS covers with accompanying jokes, expected in October. In addition, the two are working with comedians Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! to create a TV show based on a friend who “got booked on a dozen morning news show as a yo-yo expert even though he can’t yo-yo at all,” Preuher said.
Both Pickett and Preuher seem to thoroughly enjoy their work.
“One of our favorite things in the world is when we are able to meet and track down the people in the videos, because for us they’re like movie stars. They’re actually bigger than that in our small little world,” Preuher said.
In April, Pickett and Preuher plan to meet the star of a video called Rent a Friend, a “kind of concept video where if you were lonely you could pop this tape in and the guy on screen would be your friend for an hour,” according to Preuher.
According to Preuher, the video begins with the man asking viewers questions about themselves before “revealing far too much about himself. … You watch this guy unravel before your eyes.”
Pickett and Preuher not only enjoy meeting the stars from their found footage, but try to be a part of it as much as possible. In past seasons, they have appeared on a few of the public access shows they feature in their tour, and the two plan to make an updated version of Rent a Friend upon meeting the host.
“We always like to interact,” Preuher said. “If I can be a part of the video, that’s a dream come true.”
For this year’s tour, the hosts are showing a video called Sing Along with Frank Woehrle, a series of homemade sing-along videos starring an old man in a cowboy hat.
Pickett and Preuher noticed a 1-800 number on the back of the tape and decided to give it a try. To their surprise, the number was still in service. In turn, Pickett and Preuher brought Woehrle out of a 20-year retirement to make a custom sing-along video for the Found Footage Festival. It will be presented at the end of this year’s show.
When in Atlanta, Preuher said their favorite places to visit are Ria’s Bluebird Café (“I love the Bluebird,” Preuher said), Paris on Ponce and the Righteous Room.
“We just like to wander around and hit thrift stores,” Preuher said.
