Comedian Nick Prueher rose to Internet celebrity earlier this year when he pranked Midwestern news anchors by posing as a chef on live TV and hosting an absurd cooking show (one recipe was for ice cream cones stuffed with mashed potatoes). The prank, as it turns out, was an elaborate promotion for Prueher's actual project, the Found Footage Festival, which is touring the country in its 10th year of screening bizarre VHS footage found in dumpsters, thrift stores and garage sales. Co-curated by Joe Pickett, the 90-minute festival hosts not one but two identical 90-minute screenings this week in L.A., which is appropriate considering that much of this year's footage was acquired from a VHS collector with an extensive archive of Los Angeles – based public-access shows. Part of the festival's appeal is that Prueher and Pickett attempt to track down the subjects of their videos and fly them out for a live interview onstage. For the fest's L.A. shows, they've gone so far as to hire a private detective to reunite two TV personalities from one of their most famous pieces of found footage. While the details are a surprise, Prueher promises, “There won't be a dry eye in the house at the New Beverly.” New Beverly Cinema, 7165 W. Beverly Blvd., Fairfax; Thu., May 8, and Fri., May 9, 9 p.m.; $13. (323) 938-4038, foundfootagefest.com.

Thu., May 8, 9 p.m.; Fri., May 9, 9 p.m., 2014
(Expired: 05/09/14)

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