Following the World Premiere of Chop & Steele at Tribeca 2022, we interviewed Ben Steinbauer (co-director), Berndt Mader (co-director), Joe Pickett (subject of the film) & Nick Prueher (subject of the film).
The 2022 Tribeca Film Festival just came to an end. We were thrilled to attend the event and discover a number of gems we hope you’ll get to catch when they play near you. Among them is Chop & Steele, a one-of-a-kind documentary directed by Ben Steinbauer and Berndt Mader.
Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher are living the dream. Sure, they never got rich or famous doing comedy. But neither of them have day jobs, and they tour full time as The Found Footage Festival, sharing clips from their vast collection of VHS ephemera with appreciative audiences. But the duo is knocked out of its analog groove when an especially humorless media company sues Pickett and Prueher over an innocent—and absolutely hilarious—morning-show prank. Tossed into a nightmare world of corporate lawyers and frivolous lawsuits, Pickett and Prueher do what they do best: Make a big old joke out of it.
Chop & Steele is a David and Goliath of unexpected comedic proportions, a story about two men with an ambivalent relationship with success who learn that you can’t hang around in a hoodie making fun of everything forever—or can you? Bobcat Goldthwait, David Cross, and Reggie Watts all appear in this tribute to Pickett and Prueher as friends, comedians, and dedicated pranksters.–Cara Cusumano.
We were delighted to chat with the team behind Chop & Steele.
