For the uninitiated, Nirvanna the Band the Show began life as a Canadian mockumentary web series created by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol, revolving around the eponymous band – consisting of Matt delivering improvised monologues and Jay on piano – and their increasingly madcap schemes to land a show at Toronto’s iconic venue the Rivoli. And all that was way back in 2007. A stint on Viceland Canada followed a decade later, before the unceremonious closure of the channel scuppered the pair’s plans for a third series. Following the sleeper success of Johnson’s offbeat kinda-biopic BlackBerry in 2023 (about the inventors of the BlackBerry phone), the duo were able to finally revisit their beloved early brainchild, bringing Matt and Jay to a stage even more prestigious than that of the Rivoli.
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie sounds like the sort of cult comedy project that wouldn’t translate to the big screen (even the title is a mouthful), but there’s something powerfully endearing and earnest about the culmination of Johnson and McCarrol’s project, which sees the band’s relationship put to the test as they inadvertently discover… time travel?
Now that they’re in feature-film territory, the dramatic and emotional stakes are much higher, and after a skydive from the CN Tower goes wrong, Matt decides to try out a new scheme inspired by Robert Zemeckis’ 1985 fantasy favourite, Back to the Future, that sees the duo land in the Toronto of 2008, where Black Eyed Peas were bumping on the radio and cinema audiences were laughing it up at The Hangover. Hijinks naturally ensue, as the pair end up in an alternative timeline where the band break up and Jay becomes a worldwide solo phenomenon, leaving Matt in the dust. The zany set-up is a little Bill & Ted, a lot Spinal Tap, but maintains the homespun aesthetic and distinct sense of humour that made the original series so beloved. This includes fourth-wall breaks, niche pop-culture references, meticulously cluttered production design and baffled extras who may or may not be in on the joke.
If Tim Robinson’s excellent 2025 bromance horror show Friendship bore the tagline “Men shouldn’t have friends”, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie’s rejoinder ought to be, ‘Men have never needed friends more’. The relationship between Matt and Jay is this story’s beating heart as the hapless losers allow themselves to dream big more out of a desire to spend time with each other than genuine certainty that they’ll eventually hit the big time. While viewers will absolutely get more out of this feature-length adventure if they’ve done their homework, the stakes and archetypes in play are familiar enough to transcend the fandom. After all, at its core it’s a film about the joy of hanging out and creating stuff with your pals – a daffy but delightful ode to delusional dreamers the world over with an admirable commitment to the bit.
