Odd comedy worth a look
There are eight episodes of the new TV series Nirvanna The Band The Show. I have seen four of them.
So how does one describe a project that spells Nirvanna with an extra “N?”
Hmmm ... let’s see ... you know, it’s on days like this that my ability to sum up TV shows in a few simple words really is put to the test.
Nirvanna The Band The Show is a show, within a show, within a show, within a show, within a show ...
I could go on like that forever. And maybe I should.
Point being, Nirvanna The Band The Show is one of the oddest comedies I’ve ever seen.
But it is spectacularly ambitious in its amateurism, if that makes any sense, and it debuted Thursday, Feb. 2 on Viceland and City (subsequent episodes will be shown exclusively on Viceland and at viceland.com).
Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol are talented, funny guys. I laughed plenty. And it sure doesn’t drag.
Rolling Stone named Nirvanna The Band The Show as one of its 25 most anticipated TV shows of 2017, which undoubtedly has helped with promotion.
And it screened last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival. But the roots of the project go back far further than that.
Developed from a web series, Nirvanna The Band The Show follows Johnson and McCarrol on their calamitous capers to try to book a show at the Rivoli, a Toronto club. That’s their dream of all dreams, playing the Rivoli.
The series isn’t shy about having Toronto front and centre, but not in a way that will make anyone feel excluded, wherever you live.
The comedy travels, both figuratively and literally. In one episode, the plot takes Johnson and McCarrol to the Sundance Film Festival, where Johnson sneaks a film into the program and gets some sage advice from none other than Kevin Smith.
Johnson and McCarrol’s supposed two-piece band, known as “Nirvanna the Band,” isn’t even really a presence here.
This is more about the scheming. They sit around their Toronto house, with McCarrol playing the piano, and Johnson improvising and acting out various concepts, both inspired and insane.
Then they’ll burst into action, as one of them comes up with yet another ill-fated idea to scam the Rivoli into booking them.
Some examples? Let’s put a giant poster of ourselves on a building right across the street from the Rivoli (it goes poorly).
Let’s sneak a float into the Santa Claus Parade, which runs right past the Rivoli (it goes poorly).
Let’s put a concert announcement into a local paper that says we’re playing the Rivoli, so then they’ll have to let us play (it goes poorly).
A good chunk of Nirvanna The Band The Show is shot “in public,” with Johnson and McCarrol being the only two who are completely in on the joke.
I’ve never been a big fan of putting everyday people, who initially don’t know they’re being filmed, into uncomfortable situations, but this never gets to the point where I’m cringing, thankfully.
What I most appreciate about Nirvanna The Band The Show is the little stuff. Like when Johnson and McCarrol try their “first coffees,” and just minutes later in the episode, they’re both totally addicted, talking about different roasts, and mixing blends, and evaluating various coffee specialties. It really cracked me up.
Johnson and McCarrol throw a lot of stuff up against the wall, and not all of it sticks.
But even if it doesn’t stick, if you blink they’ve moved on, to another layer, or another tangent, or another show within a show, within a show, within a show ...
Remember, that’s Nirvanna with two N’s. Just watch it and you can spell it however you like.