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Meet Tatayet, the horrific Belgian puppet


 
Play this record if you’re having trouble sleeping at night. In the mid-1980’s Belgian puppeteer Michel Dejeneffe and his terrifying creation named Tatayet were an enormous sensation in Europe. The Tatayet Show was broadcast on RTBF (the public channel for the French-speaking part of Belgium) every Sunday evening and as result of their success, an entire discography of Tatayet LP’s and 45’s were released to widespread acclaim. The 1986 dance single “At the Graveyard” which received much radio airplay featured a memorable chorus that anybody could sing along to: “At the graveyard, stiff and ten feet underground. In a pine box, like potatoes, with a ton of earth on top of the pine box.”
 

 
More fun with Tatayet after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Doug Jones
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10.11.2016
08:04 am
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‘Memory Hole’: Your best source for America’s most DEMENTED home videos


 
Do you realize that America’s Funniest Home Videos is currently in its 25th season? Well, it is. It’s on ABC, every Sunday evening. I didn’t know it was still on.

Someone who knows it’s still on are the geniuses behind Memory Hole, the most striking recent entry into the well-populated found-video universe. What Memory Hole does is, they take videos that did not make the cut to be on America’s Funniest Home Videos and they add creepy audio and abrupt edits (Actually, the videos aren’t 100% un-fucked-with, but the bulk of the effect comes from the addition of new audio and jarring cuts.) That recontextualization transforms videos submitted to a nationally televised “laff-riot” suitable for the broadest of audiences America has to offer, into an avant-garde commentary on the inherent strangeness of the American people.
 

 
As we reported in September, Memory Hole is what happens when the Everything Is Terrible found-video collective somehow obtains access to storage space containing a whopping 300,000 videos belonging to the producers of America’s Funniest Home Videos. The crazy thing that you realize is just how much footage is out there, countless thousands of people have been sending ABC their nutty little videos for a generation now—as well as some videos that aren’t so nutty. (For fear of legal action, I reckon, Commodore Gilgamesh, one of the found-video geniuses behind the site, is obliged to refer to his source material as coming from “the longest running prime-time television series in history,” which, apparently, it is.)

Some of the Memory Hole videos are single-take masterpieces, whereas others are compilations on a theme—few are longer than about a minute. Two of my favorites are “Is She Sleeping?” in which the game is to try to figure out if Grandma is dead or alive, and “Shaving Cream Torture,” in which ... well, you just have to see that one for yourself. Another fascinating one is “Body Horror,” which is a compilation of double-jointed-and-who-knows-what-else-what people showing off the quirks of their insane bodies.
 

 
The great thing is that, much as with Adult Swim’s Too Many Cooks, which Richard brought you yesterday—that’s a must-see—or Chris Elliott’s brilliant Action Family one-off from 1986, which I wrote about earlier this year, you realize that virtually anything can be made “funny” as long as you put some sprightly music nearby and pipe in a canned laughtrack. In that sense, the creepy music added by Memory Hole is helping expose the true nature of this ridiculous footage, in some cases.

It makes you realize how much America’s Funniest Home Videos actually was the YouTube of the 1990s. This is the most “Tim and Eric” thing I’ve seen in a while, and it was all done without manipulating video imagery (much), it’s done by manipulating audio, in the manner of one of my favorite fucked-with TV intros, the “creepy” version of the intro to Diff’rent Strokes. It’s a simple trick but it works wonders.
 

 
Two more Memory Hole videos after the jump…..

READ ON
Posted by Martin Schneider
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11.07.2014
11:58 am
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Drop down The Memory Hole with America’s Surrealist Home Videos
09.11.2014
09:40 am
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Sweet Jesus, have you seen The Memory Hole yet, or their Vine account? It’s truly… something... Exactly what it is, I cannot put into mere words, but it’s something, that much is for certain. Something hideously funny. Grotesquely hilarious, even.  You’ve spent hours losing brain cells on Internet K-Hole haven’t you? This is a video version of that. Be prepared to get sucked in.

Although there has been some coyness about the actual people behind this project, it’s “rumored” to have been culled from over 300,000 VHS tapes housed in a basement storage space belonging to the producers of America’s Funniest Home Videos by the madcap geniuses of the Everything is Terrible collective.

These demented transmissions emanate from a flickery nightmarish twilight world that exists as the creepy crawly low res flipside to cute baby and pet videos. It’s very Gummo meets Un Chien Andalou meets like Andy Milligan meets Tim and Eric. The producers are aspiring to get either David Lynch or Werner Herzog to host the show as a computer generated character. The pilot they’re currently shopping around Hollywood is probably the hottest thing since Jackass started making the rounds on VHS in the late 90s. Everybody wanted to see that tape and the same thing seems to be happening for The Memory Hole‘s sizzle reel which already has quite a reputation.
 

 
The Memory Hole is a terrifyingly REAL glimpse into the dark heart of America in the later part of the 20th century… it’s also a gut-busting, hilariously “new” form of comedy. For 24 years, week in, week out, anybody with a camcorder was sending in tapes like these and they’ve just been sitting there, growing mold… until now.

The Memory Hole will fundamentally change you.”
—Anonymous

The Memory Hole trot out a new video each week on their Facebook page.
 

 
Fall down The Memory Hole, after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Richard Metzger
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09.11.2014
09:40 am
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‘Hispanic Star Trek’: The shitty stand-ups of ‘Comic Relief Zero’
05.08.2013
03:15 pm
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My god does this guy suck. He’s the pits! What VHS rock did the merry geniuses at Everything Is Terrible turn up to find this garden slug of comedy?

As one of the commenters quipped, “I didn’t know Carlos Mencia was white and had a mullet back in the 80s.”

This nameless goofball is apparently a big part of their latest found footage opus, Comic Relief Zero, made entirely out of the world’s worst stand-up comedy clips.

Comic Relief Zero will be getting a sneak preview at Chicago’s Up Comedy Club on May 16th at 8PM.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.08.2013
03:15 pm
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Nightmare on Drug Street: ‘NO PIZZA, NO PIZZA, NO PIZZA, NO PIZZA, NO PIZZA…’
01.02.2013
01:24 pm
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Our friends over at Everything is Terrible made this “modified” version of the 1989 anti-drugs film, Nightmare on Drug Street. It’s quite special.

Here’s a vintage review of the film, from the online archives of People magazine:

While there is no attempt to be scientific or systematic in this dramatized 39-minute tape, its hip, impressionistic attitude may reach otherwise unreceptive minds. The tape opens on a black screen that is gradually lighted to show three youngsters sitting in deep shadows: a Hispanic boy about 16, a white girl about 14 and a black boy about 11. True, it’s an obvious, one-of-each-type setup. But the three actors, Raymond Cruz, Joleen Lutz and especially little Adam Jeffries, are relaxed and natural as they reenact drug involvements that led to their deaths—Cruz’s from drunk driving, Lutz’s from a cocaine-and-unidentified-pill overdose, Jeffries’s from crack’s effect on a heart problem. Written by Entertainment Tonight associate director George Larrimore and directed by Traci Wald Donat, a recent USC film school grad (and daughter of Helen Reddy and Jeff Wald), the tape uses idiomatic language and creates a sense of menace without hysterics. The vignettes also make the point about how hard it can be to resist peer pressure. It’s likely too that a youngster who might resist this line coming from an adult might accept it from Lutz: “Anything that can make you feel silly can make you act stupid.”

This video made me feel silly, I ain’t gonna lie to you…
 

 
HT to Mark Allyn Goodall!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.02.2013
01:24 pm
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Shit gets weird: ‘The Everything Is Terrible! Holiday Special’ (NSFW)
12.05.2012
06:44 pm
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To celebrate the impending end of mankind, the weirdos behind Everything Is Terrible! are doing the impossible! As the Mayan long count is about to run out, EIT! are going to be spreading their own unique brand of Holiday Cheer ON 2 TOURS AT THE SAME TIME! What the fuck?!

This holiday season, world-famous psychedelic soldiers of found footage Everything Is Terrible! return with another epic masterpiece! Over the last 5 years, EIT! has built upon their classic Holiday Special regarding everyone’s least favorite time of the year, piling on layers of erotic Santas, Nazi elves, misplaced sentimentalities, fistfights over toys-for-tots and an endless parade of singing kids that will surely destroy us all. As they sculpt an ever-more-abominable collage out of a millennium’s worth of VHS memories, EIT! asks: will this holiday season be our last? Will our Mayan brothers and sisters of so many moons ago be correct in their prediction of doom? There’s only one way to find the answers — and that’s to watch one more crappy holiday special. As always, EIT! will appear live to present the evening’s festivities in all of their fur-covered glory — and this time, they promise to convert every stage into the tackiest winter wonderland imaginable with all the trimmings: puppets, sing-a-longs, candy, fake snow, and a visit from the big man himself. The word “miraculous” falls short to describe the happenings of this Cataclysmic Transformation!

Coming soon to your town (or one just like it):

EAST
12-7 - Detroit @ Corktown
12-8 - Toronto @ Lee’s Palace
12-9 - Montreal @ Pub Brouhaha
12-10 - Worcester @ Firehouse
12-11 - Troy @ 51 3rd St
12-12 - Brooklyn @ Bell House
12-13 - Philly @ PhilaMOCA
12-14 - Boston @ Coolidge Corner
12-15 - Baltimore @ 5th Dimension
12-16 - Pittsburgh @ Filmmakers
12-17 - Cincinnati @ Mayday
12-18 - Nashville @ Belcourt
12-19 - St. Louis @ Mushmaus
12-20 - Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
12-21 - Chicago @ Lincoln Hall

WEST
12-7 - San Francisco @ Roxie
12-8 - Oakland @ ABCO Arts
12-9 - UC Davis @ TCS Building
12-10 - Portland @ Hollywood Theatre
12-11 - Olympia @ Le Voyeur
12-12 - Vancouver @ Biltmore Cabaret
12-13 - Seattle @ Central Cinema
12-14 - Boise @ Spacebar
12-15 - Salt Lake City @ The Coffee Pit
12-16 - Denver @ Denver Film Center
12-17 - Albuquerque @ Guild
12-18 - Tucson @ Loft
12-19 - Phoenix @ Filmbar
12-20 - San Diego @ Che Cafe
12-22 - Los Angeles @ Cinefamily

Get tickets here for The Everything Is Terrible! Holiday Special—Is it comedy? Is it found footage? Is it both? It’s just seriously fucking fucked up, that’s all I know. Don’t miss this!!!
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.05.2012
06:44 pm
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Cinematic Titanic: ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ alums riff on ‘The Doll Quad’ (1973)

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Just a reminder to our Los Angeles readers that tonight marks the start of the third annual Everything Is Festival, co-sponsored by Everything is Terrible!, Cinefamily and Cinespia

Tonight the festivities kick off with the former cast members of the much-loved Comedy Central cult hit Mystery Science Theater 3000 who now go by the collective name of Cinematic Titanic:

Join us at the gorgeous Saban Theatre, where we’ll watch our favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000 stars and writers — Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, J. Elvis Weinstein and Mary Jo Pehl — in their new incarnation Cinematic Titanic, riffing their way through Ted V. Mikels’ The Doll Squad (the 1973 film that has been rumored to have been the inspiration for “Charlie’s Angels”) on a gigantic screen, in a newly-restored 1930s movie palace. It’s fair to say an entire generation of comedy fans are deeply indebted to these gurus of riffery for their reference-heavy jokes, their goofy spirit, and the thousands of hours’ worth of good times they gave us all. As well, the fact that many of us Earth citizens were exposed for the first time to otherworldly mutant film classics like Pod People, Manos: The Hands Of Fate and the Joe D’Amato sword-and-sorcery anti-epic Cave Dwellers (aka Ator, The Flying Eagle) makes MST3Knot just a landmark of experimental television comedy, but a tireless missionary of B-movie culture. They truly brought all these cinematic oddities to the masses! Plus, our partners at Cinespia are bringing DJs, Cinefamily’s gonna bring the crazy pre-show action and plenty of special surprises, and there’s gonna be a huge afterparty!

Back at Cinefamily home-base, the festival picks up again on Monday night with more MST3000 shenanigans when Joel Hodgson takes part in Cinefamily’s Show & Tell series.

The Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA, 7pm
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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08.19.2012
10:07 am
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‘The Lord, Puppets and Me’

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The latest 2-minute trash compactor from our friends at Everything is Terrible! This one is particularly… terrible, but, you know, in a good way!

For the next like four years or something the EIT gang will be criss-crossing America on their DoggieWoggiez! PoochieWoochiez! traveling cinematic roadshow, featuring a screening of the aforementioned new film. DoggieWoggiez! PoochieWoochiez! dares to pose the questions: “What if we make a movie composed ENTIRELY out of dog-related found footage?” and ‘‘What if this magickal movie, made up of thousands of other dog movies, is also a remake of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1973 masterpiece The Holy Mountain?” —and then answer them!

With our heroes, those gurus of found-footage viral videos back on the road again anything can happen, America.

Get a copy of the brand-new DoggieWoggiez! PoochieWoochiez! DVD!

See the Everything is Terrible! roadshow in YOUR lousy town!
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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02.06.2012
06:02 pm
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Samurai Cop
05.19.2011
01:54 pm
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This weekend, as some await the Rapture, fans of mutant movies in Los Angeles are looking forward to another Everything Is Terrible! presentation at Cinefamily with a special VHS screening of Samurai Cop:

Even in an era when action sludge was more common than shoulder pads or skinny ties, 1989’s Samurai Cop stood out as a true anomaly. Perhaps living legend Joe Bob Briggs summed it up best: a “recently unearthed, soon-to-be-classic kung-fu action-comedy skin flick with gratuitous gore elements.” That’s a good start, and yet there’s so much more! Ex-Stallone bodyguard Matt Hannon stars as Joe Marshall, a rock of a man who will do literally whatever it takes to punish the guilty—even if that means taking dozens of innocent lives in the process!

Teamed up with truly hilarious black sidekick Frank (his race and genitals are mentioned waaaay more than once), Joe embarks on an adventure so psychedelically violent and sex-tastic, there’s a chance Hunter S. Thomson will return from his “space ashes” just to drool along with us. Oh, and fear not, Robert Z’Dar fans, you’ll see plenty of the chin that made the Z famous, in rare bearded form. What’s that, you say? One cop ain’t enough to flog ‘yer fists? Fine, we’ll also add demented Samurai Cop auteur Amir Shervan’s Hollywood Cop into the mix—if you can handle it!

The Samurai Cop/Hollywood Cop double feature commences at 10pm on May 21 at Cinefamily, 611 N Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles, $10
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.19.2011
01:54 pm
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Everything Is Terrible! and Cinefamily present the Everything Is Festival!

 
For readers lucky enough to live in Los Angeles, this weekend there promises to be a pretty fabulous terrible event in the form of the Everything Is Festival! sponsored by the very wonderful people at the Cinefamily organization and the Everything is Terrible! video terrorists. Dangerous Minds will be attending so please say “Hi” and offer us free drugs:

Imagine a weekend where all your fantasies come true.  A weekend where you can just be…free.  Laugh until your sides literally split open, and feel as cool as a skateboarding, shade-tippin’ dog.  We’re talking about the festival to end all film festivals—Everything Is Festival! (aka the 10th Annual Gathering Of The Terribles)!  For reasons beyond our control (God’s plan), we at Cinefamily are giving the found footage freaks at Everything Is Terrible! free range of the weekend, and letting them do whatever the hell they want (note: we did have to say “no” to the all-night helicopter foam party).  This makes it the official L.A. premiere of their latest mash-up feature-length film, 2Everything 2Terrible 2: Tokyo Drift, not to mention some of EIT!’s favorite movies in their uncut glory, plus dance parties, BBQs, a return of the Cinefamily Found Footage Battle Royal, and top-secret über-rare prints from the vaults of Cinefamily and Austin, TX’s famous Alamo Drafthouse! For more info on becoming a contestant in the Found Footage Battle Royale, click here!

Sounds pretty good terrible, doesn’t it?

More from Everything is Terrible! This clip is especially terrible.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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08.27.2010
02:42 pm
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