There’s an unofficial theme to this week’s Staff Picks, as senior TV editor Erik Adams recommends a fictional TV station and staff writer Matt Schimkowitz uncorks the latest sequel in a fictional film franchise.
Erik Adams: Programme 4
A few years back, a video came across my Twitter feed that entranced me in ways online videos rarely do. It helped that it had very few hallmarks of the contemporary internet: From a stockpile of found footage, some pitch-perfect typography, and a pop-damaged smart-ass sense of humor, filmmaker Rachel Lichtman had constructed the opening credits to The William Joel Show, a theoretical sitcom vehicle for Billy Joel à la The Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart Shows. My imagination was immediately fired. What other hitmaking icons of adult contemporary radio would fit in this comedic mashup game? Was there an entire alternate-universe equivalent of the classic early-’70s CBS Saturday-night lineup that subbed out Moore and Newhart for Elton John and Steely Dan? And, if so, would Carole King lead into the 11 o’clock news instead of Carol Burnett?
Turns out Lichtman had already answered my questions. The William Joel Show is just one of the many fine television programs of Programme 4, a fictional TV station operating out of the equally fictional town of Golden Sands. The Melonville to Programme 4’s SCTV, Golden Sands is populated by a gaggle of colorful personalities—silky-voiced on-air host Joyce Van, brash producer Jim Robeck, solo shag-carpet-business proprietor (and not afraid to use valuable air time to remind you of it) Don Browner—responsible for commercial parodies, opening titles, and variety-show sequences that all carry a faint whiff of polyester and cigarette smoke. The whole endeavor is unified by Lichtman’s impeccable eye for vintage graphic design and some of the deepest-cut pop-culture allusions you’re likely to hear outside of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 rerun. One minute, Jason and Randy Sklar are extolling the pleather-bound elegance of Golden Sands’ “only three-crown restaurant,” Ramon’s Venetian Room; the next, clips from The Prisoner are being re-cut and rescored into a light-hearted seaside romp titled Be Seeing You.
The TV time warp is taken several steps further in the version of Programme 4 that Lichtman has been screening across the country this spring, which pairs her original one-hour “broadcast” with new additions like a spot for a local harpsichord dealer that absolutely killed at the tour’s Chicagoland stop. Three more live dates remain—the last of which, in New York, is the revue-style “Browner Presents: Television Of Tomorrow,” which, at the show I saw, had luminaries like Joel Murray and once-and-future MST3K villains Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff on stage reading live ad copy and affecting bumbling sales-presentation schtick. (The New York lineup boasts Programme 4 regular Ted Leo, comedians Josh Gondelman and Dave Hill, and Golden Sands’ resident Marianne Faithfull impressionist, Tammy Faye Starlite.) It’s an immersive, at times overwhelming experience—anything this dense with jokes and psychedelic imagery is bound to be. But I had to agree with what my friend and former The A.V. Club editor-in-chief John Teti told Lichtman as we exited the venue: “I want to live in your world.”
Matt Schimkowitz: The Napa Boys
Comedy is subjective. What tastes like robust Château Cheval Blanc ’61 to one, is like drinking fucking Merlot to another. So this recommendation of The Napa Boys, a nasty independent spoof of a genre that doesn’t exist anymore, comes with caveats. Released earlier this month on “Uncork4d and Unrat8d” Blu-ray, The Napa Boys is exceptionally funny, but it’s also annoying and off-putting, especially since half the movie feels like an inside joke made specifically for co-writers, co-directors, and stars Armen Weitzman and Nick Corirossi. When I saw the film in February, my seatmate walked out after 20 minutes, and a post-screening Q&A began with moderator Tim Heidecker asking, “What the hell was that?” Still, despite some reservations, I picked The Napa Boys simply because I giggled like a lunatic throughout its 92 minutes and haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
Most will know if this is for them by the premise: The Napa Boys is the fourth in a non-existent series of direct-to-DVD sequels to Alexander Payne’s Sideways shot through the prism of American Pie Presents: Band Camp. That explains why the film’s full title, The Napa Boys 4: The Sommelier’s Amulet, isn’t revealed until the second title screen (I still don’t quite understand why there are two title screens). Three sequels in, the series has disassociated itself from Sideways, aside from a few necessary ingredients. There’s wine, wine country, and a couple of beautifully shot, lyrical interstitials that give hints of Alexander Payne’s original artistry. Neither Miles (Paul Giamatti) nor Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) returns for these faux sequels, which follow the sex-capades of their idiot sons, Miles Jr. (Armen Weitzman) and Jack Jr. (Nick Corirossi).
Shot in nine days, the film aims for the unbridled silliness and sprawling ensemble of Wet Hot American Summer, and unsurprisingly, David Wain is the film’s biggest get. It is a sketch movie, with a loose and often forgotten overarching wine competition plot. The central contest is nothing more than an excuse for various bits, such as female Napa Boy Puck’s search for the amulet with sommelier Mitch Mitchellson (Mike Mitchell), Squirm’s (Paul Rust) latest attempt at getting one over on the Boys, and Loretta’s (Vanessa Lee Chester) lengthy movie-stealing monologue.
But what’s truly remarkable about Napa Boys is that it got made at all. Comedies are in short supply, and ones this specific and unconcerned with mainstream audiences rarely get made at all. The Napa Boys welcomes turning some off as it follows its muse wherever it may lead, no matter how stupid or profane or ironic the punchline might be. Napa Boys is a down and dirty, sticky and sweet, anti-comedy in the Freddy Got Fingered and Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy mold, one that turns the unfunny into the hysterical through aggression and depression. Also, Jay and Silent Bob are in it for some reason. It’s not for everyone, but those who like the taste will be going back for another gulp. Even if it’s from the spit bucket.
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