What Is Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie? The Pranksters Breaking All Copyright Rules
Meet Matt and Jay, the best band of movie buffs.
Anything is possible in moviemaking, but not everything is legal. You can film anything, but you couldn’t, say, bring a camera into an opening-night premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, film the screen, and then incorporate that into your TV show. Except, that’s exactly what Nirvanna the Band the Show did in 2017.
In the episode, Matt Johnson (playing a fictionalized version of himself) watches Star Wars for the first time way too close to the screen, rendering himself blind. What follows is a series of misadventures where his bandmate Jay McCarrol (again, playing himself) takes advantage of this fact, all wrapped up in a parody of Daredevil, including a pitch-perfect opening title. It may be multiple pop culture references all wrapped up in each other, but that’s just par for the course with these two.
Now, these two are moving up in the world with the festival hit Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. But can you watch it without knowing about the TV show? The answer is sort of, but it’s better with the background info. Here’s what you need to know.
Nirvanna the Band the Show began as a 2007-2009 comedy webseries following two members of a band named Nirvanna the Band (no relation) as they attempt to play a show at the Rivoli, a local restaurant and music performance space in Toronto. Using a combination of mockumentary-style filmmaking, guerrilla filmmaking, and re-staged scenes, the line between what is real and what is scripted gets very blurry.
In 2017, the webseries was remade with a higher production value into a series for Viceland, running for two seasons. These episodes — most of which are long parodies of sitcoms, TV shows, or movies — stretch the possibilities of the form. For example, one episode follows the boys as they make a movie and premiere it at Sundance. They were able to film at the festival because Matt Johnson was actually premiering his movie, Operation Avalanche.
Jay McCarrol and Matt Johnson time travel in an RV in Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is the ultimate combination of these efforts. Using impressive stunts, clever special effects, and footage from the original web series, Matt and Jay try their biggest ever plan to play the Rivoli, and it results in a long time travel saga that becomes an enduring tale of friendship.
While you don’t technically need to watch the webseries or the TV show to understand the movie, knowing how long these two have worked together both on and off screen makes the movie hit even harder. But even aside from that, if you love movies and TV in any capacity, then you’ll fall in love with Matt and Jay: the ultimate fanboy artists.
