UK-based Comedian Jack Lattimer Unearths Analog Treasures for His Online Review Show TAPE DANCING! Prepare for Some Serious Analog Archaeology!
After showing off some acting chops on the BBC in his early years, analog media aficionado Jack Lattimer has recently returned to entertainment to introduce his online love letter to all things tape he calls TAPE DANCING. And this show isn’t just limited to our beloved slabs of magnetic magic, either, my friends. Lattimer and crew are digging deep through bottomless delete bins and unearthing utter analog obscurity through the magic of VHS, Beta and audio cassette in order to offer reviews on some of the most unheard, unseen and sadly unloved tape-committed treats you’ve probably never heard of. Chock full of mal-tracked, fuzzed out aesthetics, peppered with glitched out video game graphic nostalgia and packed with laughs o’plenty, Jack Lattimer’s TAPE DANCING posits pure analog affection laced with an awkward and endearing sense of humor. But don’t take my word for it, mang. Read on, and ingest some insight from Jack himself on his dance of anti-digital delights…
There are a few rules to TAPE DANCING. Either the footage I show can't be found online, or has little to no views. I want to show you things that you most likely have not seen before. Also, another rule is that I have to own everything on hard copy. The show would be too easy if I just dragged weird stuff off YouTube. By following these rules, the show will look more authentic and will offer more in terms of originality.
savior the lost and forgotten and bring them back to life in a new era… but you guys at Lunchmeat know all about that. I'm definitely not alone. Which is nice. It's like we have a scene.
live.co.uk - Thanks!
Oh, hold up... this looks good. Yeah... yeah... AND a robot voice?! MAN, TURN THIS SHIT UP!
LM: Can you give us a little bit about your background? Your acting history? JL: I come from a family of film extras. My Grandfather has been in over 700 films. He was Geezum and a stormtrooper in RETURN OF THE JEDI along with my Grandmother and my mother who all go to Star Wars conventions and sign autographs for fans. It turns out that the avid fans (or should I just call them Jedi?) all want to meet everyone involved in their religion. My family introduced me to the background artist’s world, but I wanted to step it up a little and actually get a speaking roll. At the age of 11, I was cast as the co-presenter of BBC's Linford's Record Breakers starring Olympic gold medalist Linford Christie and myself and as his mini-sidekick. After that, I got a few roles in different shows but ultimately I wanted out. I had to retire from acting at the tender age of 14.
The many shades of Jack on the show. Dig that rat / pony tail, brotherrrrr.
What led you to do TAPE DANCING? What was the inspiration? Basically, I have always had a love for analog long before I knew what "analog" meant. My Dad was a gadget man in the 70's and 80's so we had Betamax, reel to reel and many other strange recording formats hidden in the corners of our attic. Every time I went up there I found something new. However, when the internet came along with the digital age I didn't know how to transfer footage to the new medium. Thanks to the birth of the DVD Recorder a while back now, this became possible.
Look how happy and floaty this VHS tape is! If you watch TAPE DANCING, similar things will occur.
What's the plan for TAPE DANCING? Do you have a set schedule, like a season per se? Are you looking to do online only, or branch out if the opportunity arises? The plan is to keep making episodes and one day develop it into a live show with a studio audience. Is that too much to ask? Hopefully not.
Who wouldn't want to see this kind of stuff on the big screen?! With accompanying live hilarity, no less! THIS IS ENTERTAINMENT.
Why go for a show with this theme? Do you have a personal attraction to analog formats? Or do you think it's because analog formats seem to contain some of the weirdest, most unbelievable stuff imaginable and therefore make great subjects for comedy? There are so many shows on TV at the moment which just analyze other shows. Shows about shows. So I wanted to create a clip show for everything before the "over-analyzing era". TAPE DANCING doesn't scrutinize or make fun of its victims. Low budget entertainment gets a lot of shtick but it shouldn't. It has a lot of soul, which should be celebrated.
If the clips from the MACK MACAIRE music video VHS ain't got soul, I don't know what does. Click HERE for the full on experience.
Your first couple of episodes seem to go for stuff that isn't exactly top of the heap... and that's awesome! Do you think you'll ever try to spotlight something that could be considered more adept? I hope you know what I mean...
And speaking of originality, this is what I'm talking about. Technical difficulties? Just throw out a prehistoric cartoon landscape with a flying bat. BOOM. FIXED.
You're taking these analog artifacts and pulling a lot of comedy from them, but in the same way, you're also preserving them by way of recognizing that they do indeed exist. Why do you think it's important to preserve all of the wacky, insane and obscure media on tape? I feel like if someone doesn't do this then a whole load of effort and passion will be forgotten forever. No one trawls though all the unlabelled VHS tapes at junk sales and hardly anyone watches anything without a solid recommendation from a friend or an entertainment critic. So now, it's my job to
But what about this scene, man? TAPE DANCING is offering a prize pack of groovy goodies and chocolate if this is you. So, if this IS you, you should tell them. And share the chocolate. That would be cool.
What are your thoughts on the resurgence of interest in analog formats? Do you collect VHS, cassettes, etc.? I think it's all about nostalgia. Kids who grew up in the eighties and nineties are now older and have jobs and babies. They like to reminisce about when life was simpler. I hope TAPE DANCING can be their twisted fix of what they missed. The show is filmed on various VHS and Betamax Cameras, to give it that analog look. As for collecting, I myself try not to be a hoarder anymore. I have refined my collection to strictly rare items only. I live in a room in London so there isn't much space for boxes of Betamax and cassette tapes, etc.
This is lined up for TAPE DANCING Ep. 3... NUFF SAID.
Anything else you'd like to say to all the Tapeheads out there? Yes! Please subscribe to my Youtube channel! The channel is called Jack Lattimer which coincidentally is my name! Thanks for reading about TAPE DANCING and feel free to e-mail the show with a question or whatever. The address is tapedancingThank YOU, Jack, for seeking out and sharing some of the weirdest, wildest and most mind-melting analog-oriented obscurity the UK has to offer! I encourage all my fellow Tapeheads out there to groove on over to Jack’s channel and peep the first two episodes of TAPE DANCING for a laugh out loud fix of esoteric tape celebration. And while you’re there, be sure to rummage through all his other videos, too. Shit is funny, man. FOR REAL. I laughed. A lot.
Groove and Groove and Good for Her.
Josh Schafer