Monday, October 7, 2019

Friday evening, mockumentary Mister America had its world premiere at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California as part of Hulu’s Beyond Fest film festival. Mister America is a continuation of the elaborate multimedia universe of Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington’s web series On Cinema at the Cinema. Wikinews attended the premiere.

The film follows a fictionalized version of comedian Tim Heidecker who hosts the absurd and shallow On Cinema film review Web series with purported film expert Gregg Turkington. When Heidecker narrowly avoids a murder conviction, he sets out to run for District Attorney of San Bernardino County and fails to even be on the ballot.

The premiere was accompanied by a question-and-answer session moderated by Canadian comedian Nathan Fielder, delving into the logistics of shooting with a five-person crew over the course of three days on a shoestring budget. Fans in the audience probed the stars about their comedic backgrounds, including Turkington’s alias of insult comedian Neil Hamburger and Heidecker’s interest in political comedy.

In addition to the cast of the film, additional On Cinema alumni including Alessandro Serradimigni, Joe Estevez, and Manuel Giusti were in attendance.

The Beyond Fest 2019 continues through October 8 and Mister America debuts to a wider audience on October 9.