I watched "The WNUF Halloween Special" a few years ago with some friends and found it to be kinda boring. It was unflinchingly dedicated to simulating 1980's local TV, from the dry, awkward segments to the overbearing flood of fake commercial breaks. It was a better idea than a piece of entertainment.
The "Mega Tape" is more fast and loose, playing closer to a feature-length episode of Tim & Eric. The subject matter helps more, too -- "WNUF" featured a newscaster venturing into a supposedly haunted house looking for ghouls you knew he didn't really believe in, giving it a more self-serious tone.
Here, the targets are trashy daytime talk shows from the 90's and a Sightings-esque paranormal program called "Out There", giving them a much greater range of cheese to work with. There's a lot more actual jokes, too, leading to an end product that is wackier, funnier and more entertaining than the original WNUF.
I'm still not entirely sure I loved it, because at the end of the day it's long unedited stretches of "live" TV with all the commercials left in. Now, I like a good "they left the commercials in" VHS recording, but I like them because I'm nostalgic for things I remember. All the commercials in both WNUF and the Mega Tape are fake, so there's less to be nostalgic for beyond a general vibe, and that's present even without the ads. They seemed to have a lot of fun making their fake commercials, but interrupting your movie for constant non-sequiturs is some of the worst qualities of commercials without any of the real benefits.
That being said, it definitely wouldn't feel right if you chopped all the commercials out, so I don't think I have anything more valuable to say about that. It just is what it is I guess, but at least that means it's still more fun than The WNUF Halloween Special.
The "Mega Tape" is more fast and loose, playing closer to a feature-length episode of Tim & Eric. The subject matter helps more, too -- "WNUF" featured a newscaster venturing into a supposedly haunted house looking for ghouls you knew he didn't really believe in, giving it a more self-serious tone.
Here, the targets are trashy daytime talk shows from the 90's and a Sightings-esque paranormal program called "Out There", giving them a much greater range of cheese to work with. There's a lot more actual jokes, too, leading to an end product that is wackier, funnier and more entertaining than the original WNUF.
I'm still not entirely sure I loved it, because at the end of the day it's long unedited stretches of "live" TV with all the commercials left in. Now, I like a good "they left the commercials in" VHS recording, but I like them because I'm nostalgic for things I remember. All the commercials in both WNUF and the Mega Tape are fake, so there's less to be nostalgic for beyond a general vibe, and that's present even without the ads. They seemed to have a lot of fun making their fake commercials, but interrupting your movie for constant non-sequiturs is some of the worst qualities of commercials without any of the real benefits.
That being said, it definitely wouldn't feel right if you chopped all the commercials out, so I don't think I have anything more valuable to say about that. It just is what it is I guess, but at least that means it's still more fun than The WNUF Halloween Special.