I met Joe Pickett when his family moved to Neillsville around 1990. I can't imagine how dull and sad my middle/high school years would have been if Joe had never moved to town. Joe would make me be part of his pranks, and real-life comedy improv, like dressing up like old men and going to the movies, or acting like I didn't speak english and he was my interpreter. Joe's interest in good underground hip hop in rural Wisconsin in the early 90's made him more punk rock than anyone I knew. Joe would print up signs saying things like, "smoking encouraged in gymnasium" and hang them up before basketball games. Joe and Nick Prueher had been close friends before Joe moved to Neillsville, and they got back together during their college years, and began making short films. Soon they began work on "Dirty Country", a documentary on R-rated country musician Larry Pierce, but when their budget ran out, they put together a show featuring the best of the worst found VCR tape footage they had acquired in thrift stores and garage sales over the years, and called it the "Found Footage Festival", to fund their movie. The FFF struck a chord with audiences all over the world, and they've been on tour with the show since 2004. Joe and Nick are comedic geniuses and great Americans, I think they should be household names.
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