Found Footage Festival @ Underbelly Cowgate

Take your strongest stomach to revel in this treasure trove of visual delights

Review by Polly Glynn | 22 Aug 2018

Imagine if Woody Harrelson and Graham Linehan were BFFs who loved finding the oddest things on old video tapes. Now imagine it’s a collection of the weirdest, grimmest, funniest things you’ve ever seen and has taken the internet by storm. That’s Found Footage Festival: After Dark.

As they say, "one man’s trash is another man’s treasure", and with Found Footage it’s in no short supply. Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher have curated videos which range from a tutorial on how to have the safest sex possible to a man extracting mucus from his own mouth before setting fire to it on his kitchen stove. The latter one is taken from a smalltown US public-access show called Something’s Happening – it certainly is.

'Wound Round' (as in a roundup of horrible flesh-gaps) is stunning, as is one particular video played without warning at the top of the show. Both are unbelievably funny while simultaneously being the grossest things ever committed to celluloid.

It’s a shame, perhaps, that quite a few of the videos focus too much on weird sex stuff (which we're sure anyone could find if that was their thing). Also, the hosts’ live commentary doesn’t add much to the hour. However, gems like the rage-filled RV salesman and 'Dinner Dancing with Frank' are worth the ticket price alone.


Found Footage Festival: After Dark, Underbelly Cowgate (White Belly), until 26 Aug, 10.40pm, £10-11

Scroll on to read more of The Skinny's 2018 Edinburgh Fringe comedy reviews; click here for a round-up of all the best reviews from this year's comedy and theatre programmes

http://www.underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/whats-on/found-footage-festival-after-dark