Found Footage Festival in Grand Rapids: Laugh out loud VHS fun at UICA

Recently over the holiday break, I discovered a crate of old VHS tapes from the late ‘80s and ‘90s. Not only was I shocked to uncover this treasure trove of motion images captured on magnetic tape, but as they unspooled on a screen in our basement, I roared with laughter at what I would discover. 

This is experience is similar to what it is like to attend the touring Found Footage Festival, which returns to the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts this Saturday night.

The festival is a beautifully odd and downright laugh-out-loud hilarious time as hosts Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett give the Grand Rapids audience a tour of their latest and greatest found videos.

Both hosts have a history of embracing the absurd and funny since they have worked with The Onion and The Colbert Report. This tour also presents their all-time greatest VHS finds from 25 years of collecting into “Cherished Gems,” which is debuting at UICA on Friday, Feb. 8th at 8 p.m.

Nick and Joe want you to know that if you have seen them in the past, then prepare yourself for a fresh show where highlights of this tour will include: 

•  Excerpts from two ill-advised episodes of a Los Angeles cable show called “Dancing with Frank Pacholski.”
•  An arts and crafts how-to video starring Dee Gruenig, a woman who’s a little too enthusiastic about sponge painting.
•  A montage of unwittingly hysterical exercise videos, starring Angela Lansbury, adult film star Traci Lords, and a bearded hippie named Zar.
•  Highlights from Pickett and Prueher’s appearances on local morning news shows as a fake yo-yo expert, fake celebrity chef, and fake strongman duo Chop & Steele.

Please purchase your tickets in advance for what is certain to be a full house this Friday night for one of the funniest film festivals you could ever hope to attend.