Chop & Steele documentary by KU alumni gives thanks for strengths
Director Ben Steinbauer’s latest, Chop & Steele, is “a feature-length comedy documentary about childhood friends turned professional comedians.” For fans of underground video and weird things like Everything Is Terrible!, the Found Footage Festival and Steinbauer’s previous film, Winnebago Man, keeps alive a treasure trove of forgotten VHS detritus scoured from thrift stores and yard sales.
However, Chop & Steele is about more than just the art of finding and curating videos by Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett. It’s also the tale of what happens when this pair take to the airwaves and infiltrate morning news shows with a series of pranks and find themselves on the receiving end of a lawsuit. As much a story of friendship as it is one of perseverance, Chop & Steele has a surprising amount of heart for a movie that features grown men stomping wicker baskets.