‘Our characters like to be naughty’: the makers of the Nirvanna mockumentary on illegal skydiving, taboo-breaking and time travel

Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol’s (non-Cobain affiliated) movie feels like Jackass via Back to the Future. They talk about how the supreme silliness was stressful to film, and how times have changed since their ‘tasteless’ 2007 web series

If there is ever a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for fictional bands, the likes of Spın̈al Tap and the Rutles will be guaranteed a place. Less certain is the fate of the duo created by Toronto college friends Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol in Nirvana the Band the Show, a 2007-08 mockumentary web series that was later picked up for two seasons by Vice TV. Johnson and McCarrol play incorrigible no-hopers Nirvana the Band, nothing whatsoever to do with Kurt Cobain’s grunge pioneers, who pin everything on securing a gig at Toronto’s Rivoli club. Undaunted by a total lack of songs, they pull off one cockamamie stunt after another, many filmed among unwitting members of the public, to promote their as-yet-nonexistent show.

From smashing a display case in the Royal Ontario Museum and being pursued by security guards to jumping on to the tracks of the Toronto subway, they are willing to do anything – except simply ask the venue for a gig. Then again, common sense isn’t their strong suit. Receiving a cease-and-desist letter pertaining to their name, they are incredulous: “There’s already a band called the Band?”