Nirvanna the Band the Show Hijacked the Texas Theatre for a Hilarious Night of Time-Traveling Chaos

The laughter started before you even crossed the threshold of the Texas Theatre on Wednesday night. It echoed from the marquee, which, in a perfect display of meta humor, read: “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie the Tour the Marquee.” This recursive joke set the stage for an evening that was less a simple movie screening and more a hilarious, chaotic immersion into the minds of Canadian filmmaking duo Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol.

For the uninitiated, Johnson and McCarrol are the masterminds behind the cult web series turned three-season TV show, Nirvanna the Band the Show. They also happen to be the director/star and composer, respectively, of the critically acclaimed films BlackBerry, Operation Avalanche and The Dirties. On Wednesday, they brought Dallas a special preview of their long-awaited feature film, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, ahead of its Austin stop and eventual Valentine’s Day 2026 release. What followed was a one-two punch of cinematic anarchy, accompanied by a post-screening Q&A that felt like a guerrilla filmmaking masterclass by two stand-up comedians.

Upon entering the historic Oak Cliff theater, attendees were handed a souvenir ticket and a poster, small tokens for the wild ride they were about to embark on. The film itself is a marvel of creative recycling and narrative gymnastics. It resurrects footage shot as far back as 2008, when Johnson and McCarrol were just two guys with a camera, a fedora and a dream of playing a show at Toronto’s Rivoli. The plot, if one can pin it down, involves the duo mistakenly inventing a time machine and zapping themselves from the present back to 2008, where their actions trigger a potential butterfly effect that could unravel their entire future.

It’s a glorious mess of pop culture references, from Back to the Future to outdated early-aughts humor, which forces a modern audience to confront how much has changed. The film is stitched together from old bits, new footage and real-world interactions with unsuspecting bystanders, creating a puzzle box that is both ingeniously constructed and side-splittingly funny.

At one point, Johnson declares with mock-seriousness, “Be a decent human, please,” before his character does the absolute opposite, sending the audience into fits of laughter at the sheer absurdity. This blend of audacious confidence and instant self-sabotage is the lifeblood of their comedy. The packed house erupted in laughter throughout, proving that you don’t need to be a long-time fan to get swept up in the fun.

After the credits rolled on what is sure to be one of the biggest laughs of 2026, Johnson and McCarrol took the stage. The Q&A that followed was an art form in itself, and a perfect example of why the Texas Theatre’s curated events are essential Dallas experiences. The discussion was a whirlwind tour through their creative process, which can be best summarized by their philosophy: “That’s more or less the whole story of the band, is us doing something and people being like, ‘you shouldn’t do this.’”

They revealed that nearly all the dialogue in their project is improvised, and that the film’s complex, time-bending structure was pieced together by editors tasked with finding “thematically interesting things” in over a decade’s worth of footage. McCarrol explained the challenge of creating a score that had to sound like a knock-off Back to the Future soundtrack, noting that he “had to compose an entirely original score that evoked the unmistakable spirit of Back to the Future — recreating its playful, adventurous vibe from scratch — without directly copying any of the iconic music, thanks to copyright restrictions.”

The Dallas connection came into sharp focus when an audience member asked about Johnson’s production company, Zapruder Films. Johnson explained the name is a direct nod to Abraham Zapruder, the Dallas-based clothing manufacturer whose amateur footage of the JFK assassination became an infamous piece of history. It was a fittingly dark and Dallas-centric reference for a filmmaker whose work constantly blurs the line between fiction, reality and historical record.

The entire evening was a celebration of scrappy, do-it-yourself creativity. Johnson and McCarrol are champions of the idea that you don’t need permission or a perfect plan to make something. As they put it, “you do not need to know how to make a movie.” Their career is a testament to that ethos, from getting footage for their show by crashing a Sundance screening of their own film, Operation Avalanche, to their first failed attempt at making this movie as a road trip story.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the Q&A came when a fan in the audience made a surprising confession. He announced that the duo’s knack for navigating legal gray areas and constant copyright dodging had actually inspired him to go to law school. The theater roared. Johnson, with his trademark cheeky wit, seemed both amused and slightly horrified. It was a perfect encapsulation of their impact: inspiring a new generation of creatives —and apparently, their legal counsel.

Leaving the Texas Theatre, with the film’s absurd jokes still rattling around in our heads, it was clear this was more than a movie night. It was a hilarious lesson in filmmaking, a comedy show and a community gathering all rolled into one. Johnson and McCarrol have a unique ability to make you feel like you’re in on the joke, or the joke is on the unsuspecting public, and even when the joke is on the creators themseleves. They are, as one of their characters proclaims, “armed and dangerous,” and Dallas was lucky to be in the line of fire.