Nirvanna The Band The Show (The Movie?) The Post
March 27, 2025 10:57 AM Subscribe
Start here, because everyone knows about the Wii Shopping Channel, and everyone loves to shop on it every Wednesday.
Nirvanna The Band The Show is a project by comedians Matt Johnson (perhaps known more widely as the co-writer and director of BlackBerry ) and Jay McCarrol. It started as a web series in 2007, and then was picked up by Viceland and expanded into a full TV series for two seasons from 2017-2018, before Viceland went kaput. A third season has been mostly completed but is in limbo due to the shuttering of Vice.
The premise of the show is that Matt and Jay have a band and want to get a show at the famed real-life Toronto venue, the Rivoli. (I think this must be partly informed by the Rivoli's place in the ascent of The Kids in the Hall.) There may be some confusion in later episodes about whether they need to get on "The Band List" or off "The Banned List".
The first season is available on archive.org, here.
Season two is also there, and additionally on youtube.
Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie recently premiered at SXSW. "A Chaotic Masterpiece."
If my post has a specific intent, it's to get someone to watch the "Wii Store Update" short in the intro, and thereby convince them to watch the penultimate episode of season 2, The Band List. The episode is a parody of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, complete with John Williams' score, but one remarkable thing about it is the heist filmed at Royal Ontario Museum, which has a somewhat bewildering aura of authenticity. I do not think anything is lost by jumping immediately to s2e7. They discussed the execution of those scenes on the Lackluster Video podcast.
Here's hoping the movie helps season 3 see the light of day.
Nirvanna The Band The Show is a project by comedians Matt Johnson (perhaps known more widely as the co-writer and director of BlackBerry ) and Jay McCarrol. It started as a web series in 2007, and then was picked up by Viceland and expanded into a full TV series for two seasons from 2017-2018, before Viceland went kaput. A third season has been mostly completed but is in limbo due to the shuttering of Vice.
The premise of the show is that Matt and Jay have a band and want to get a show at the famed real-life Toronto venue, the Rivoli. (I think this must be partly informed by the Rivoli's place in the ascent of The Kids in the Hall.) There may be some confusion in later episodes about whether they need to get on "The Band List" or off "The Banned List".
The first season is available on archive.org, here.
Season two is also there, and additionally on youtube.
Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie recently premiered at SXSW. "A Chaotic Masterpiece."
If my post has a specific intent, it's to get someone to watch the "Wii Store Update" short in the intro, and thereby convince them to watch the penultimate episode of season 2, The Band List. The episode is a parody of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, complete with John Williams' score, but one remarkable thing about it is the heist filmed at Royal Ontario Museum, which has a somewhat bewildering aura of authenticity. I do not think anything is lost by jumping immediately to s2e7. They discussed the execution of those scenes on the Lackluster Video podcast.
Here's hoping the movie helps season 3 see the light of day.
Is "two guys sitting around staring at the Wii store, singing the names of games to the tune of the background music loop", funnier if you own a Wii and presumably have that tune embedded into your brain deeply enough to see it in your dreams? Because I don't own a Wii and found this recommended place to start really uninspiring.
posted by egypturnash at 12:22 PM on March 27 [1 favorite]
posted by egypturnash at 12:22 PM on March 27 [1 favorite]
No, familiarity with the Wii has nothing to do with humour. I also never owned a Wii, used the Wii store, etc. I would say it's not for you, then, and that's fine - that's kind of the purpose of a low-investment entry point!
posted by neuromodulator at 12:41 PM on March 27 [1 favorite]
posted by neuromodulator at 12:41 PM on March 27 [1 favorite]
You know, people always ask me 'Hey Gabe, if there was a 'Wii Croquet' included in Wii Sports, what would the sound track sound like?' and then... so, I wrote it.
Not being familiar with NtBtS, I enjoyed the intro! I can't watch more right now but I'll put it on the list for later. In the meantime I discovered Gabe has put the Unofficial Wii Sports Soundtrack (the album) on Bandcamp, which may be of interest to other people who like Wii music humor (there must be dozens of us!).
posted by SaltySalticid at 12:51 PM on March 27 [3 favorites]
Not being familiar with NtBtS, I enjoyed the intro! I can't watch more right now but I'll put it on the list for later. In the meantime I discovered Gabe has put the Unofficial Wii Sports Soundtrack (the album) on Bandcamp, which may be of interest to other people who like Wii music humor (there must be dozens of us!).
posted by SaltySalticid at 12:51 PM on March 27 [3 favorites]
The songs on the Wii have a great easygoing earworminess to them and the Update Day sketch is a great exploration of that. The way he sings "Donkey Kong Junior Maaaaaaaath" stays stuck in my head for hours.
I tried watching the Nirvanna The Band The Show series a while ago but couldn't get into it (the characters they play are just a liiiiiittle bit too dumb) but maybe I should give it another shot.
posted by zsazsa at 2:54 PM on March 27
I tried watching the Nirvanna The Band The Show series a while ago but couldn't get into it (the characters they play are just a liiiiiittle bit too dumb) but maybe I should give it another shot.
posted by zsazsa at 2:54 PM on March 27
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posted by Kitteh at 11:18 AM on March 27