Two years ago, the night Drake’s bodyguard was shot, the subreddit for the oddball series Nirvanna the Band the Show was captivated. In the background of TV news footage at Drake’s mansion, the sitcom’s director, Matt Johnson, could be spotted filming his fellow co-star, Jay McCarrol, for an upcoming movie spinoff. One Redditor wondered how Johnson and McCarrol were outside the singer’s home within hours of the gunshots.

“We’re like tornado chasers,” McCarrol recalls of the incident. “We heard there were helicopters and police outside Drake’s mansion, and we scrambled to shoot there.” In the resulting film, Nirvana: The Band the Show the Movie, McCarrol flees the premises as if the authorities have arrived to arrest him. “It’s exciting to steal footage,” McCarrol continues. “It’s fun and magical when something’s unapologetically real but narratively fits your story. We love that people watch this movie and predominantly feel: ‘How did they do this?’”

Ever since Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie toured the festival circuit, the recurring question indeed has been “how did they do this?” but also “when will this play UK cinemas?” After a frustrating wait, the mind-boggling time-travel movie finally has a theatrical release – such is the anticipation, a number of London previews, timed with Canada Day on July 1, sold out two months in advance. On Letterboxd, it’s the second-highest rated film of 2026, just ahead of Obsession. It’s the cult comedy of recent memory.

Johnson and McCarrol, both Canadians in their early 40s, uploaded to the internet 11 episodes of Nirvana the Band the Show between 2007 and 2010, with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” blasting over the end credits. Relaunched in 2017 on Viceland, the show was renamed, for legal reasons, to Nirvanna the Band the Show but with the same inherent premise: Johnson and McCarrol star as Matt and Jay, a musical duo who struggle to get their group, Nirvanna the Band, booked at a local Toronto venue, the Rivoli. Instead of speaking to the Rivoli directly, they dream up absurd schemes: imitate Mrs Doubtfire to get hired by the Rivoli’s restaurant; hijack a kid’s request for the Make-a-Wish Foundation; or, in one episode, rely on being mistaken for Nirvana themselves.

Directed by Johnson, the series and film are unscripted and unfold amongst unsuspecting members of the public. On a Zoom call in June, I get a taste of Johnson and McCarrol’s mischievous nature when they grill me about how I watched the film (Johnson is faux-furious that I didn’t accost other journalists after the screening for their thoughts), but then answer each answer’s questions: Johnson is strolling around an airport, while McCarrol is at a home studio, not that I get any specifics.

“Look at your collage!” says McCarrol, referring to my custom-made Nirvanna the Band virtual background.

“It’s not a collage, Jay,” says Johnson. “It’s an actual airport.”

“I’m not talking to you, Matt,” says McCarrol. “I’m talking about Nick’s background.”

I then ask Johnson, who’s spinning his phone’s camera around the airport, about his background.

“My background?” says Johnson. “I’m half-Finnish, half-Icelandic.”

I try again. What’s in his physical background?

“Mine?” McCarrol interjects. “I have a red couch, a red guitar. People think I’m obsessed with red. But I’m not! It just came together that way.”

The film is designed to be watched without any prior knowledge of the web series or Vice incarnation. My suggestion, though, is to revisit Back to the Future. After catching the 1985 sci-fi blockbuster on TV, Matt builds a time-travel machine that transports the duo back to 2008 (they realise the year when a cinema crowd laugh at a homophobic slur in The Hangover) and creates an alternate future. Exactly like in Back to the Future (including a direct musical cue), they need to power the time machine’s flux capacitor with lightning and a vehicle travelling at 88mph, just on the streets of Toronto amidst curious passersby.

Originally, they were going to shoot an entirely different version of the film in the UK. “I was in Ireland, hearing people’s accents, and then I took a plane to Glasgow,” says Johnson. “I was like: ‘Nirvanna the Band should be a world tour, starting in the UK. We go to all the Commonwealth countries.’” Advised that a multi-continent shoot would be arduous, Johnson then envisioned The Trip but in the US. After dissatisfaction with early material, the duo switched to their time-travel idea in Toronto.

Is there a connection between Canadians and awkward Brits? “No,” says Johnson, who now frames the camera so that it’s a close-up of his eye. “People on the streets of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dublin were extremely outgoing and vivacious. They had a zest for life. It may have been the drinking. Plus, we have a shared history. Canada is the son – the forgotten son! – of England and the Queen.”

It’s the opposite of Borat mocking members of the public?

“Maybe not the opposite,” says Johnson. “Our goal is that anyone who appears in Nirvanna the Band would be happy they’re in it.”

What we share with [Curry Barker] and Kane Parsons is that we’re very, very internet-driven and self-made. They’ve been training and practising for years. We did the exact same thing

In the airport, Johnson’s phone loses internet signal. First the image disappears, and then, after insisting he’ll return, the audio drops as well. McCarrol is left to complete the interview on his own.

“When people compare ourselves to Borat or Nathan for You – it’s harsh when people say they’re mean-spirited, because we’re big fans of those guys,” says McCarrol. “We’re not being altruistic. We’re just showing reality. We want to be fools who look foolish in the face of people being reasonable – and that’s funny.”

Outside of Nirvanna, Johnson has co-written and directed four features, all of which McCarrol has composed the score. These include Tony, a soon-to-be-released Anthony Bourdain sort-of biopic for A24, and 2023’s critically acclaimed BlackBerry. The latter materialised after a third season of Nirvanna was largely shot but never released. “After Viceland collapsed, we had a lot of different movie ideas,” says McCarrol. “Every one of us was surprised that BlackBerry was the one we were going forwards with. But because it succeeded the way it did, we had the opportunity to make Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.”

By incorporating footage from the web series, present-day Matt and Jay interact with their 2008 selves like a remixed Boyhood. Does McCarrol see a parallel with Obsession and Backrooms, two movies by directors who started online? “What we share with [Curry Barker] and Kane Parsons is that we’re very, very internet-driven and self-made,” he says. “They’ve been training and practising for years. We did the exact same thing.”

McCarrol has also noticed young fans at Nirvanna screenings with practical questions. “So many students come out of the theatre and go, ‘I could do that.’ They might be in for a rude awakening because there’s a lot to make it look so effortless. But it doesn’t surprise me that a young, creative crowd get a lot out of it. It has a real DIY vibe, and Matt speaks about filmmaking in a way that feels accessible and inspiring.”

The hurdle, though, is the title, which in itself has about three jokes. McCarrol reveals they considered Censored the Band the Show the Movie, Matt and Jay’s Excellent Adventure (a wink towards Bill and Ted), and, in its earlier incarnation, Matt and Jay Go America. “People are confused by the title, and that’s worked against us. But that’s who we are. We embraced it. If you can get through the title and the first 30 seconds of us talking and not be repulsed, then you’re in.”

It’s the end of the interview and Johnson never returned. I note that it mirrors the plot of the film: in an alternate timeline, Jay becomes so successful as a solo artist, he owns Drake’s mansion. “That’s right,” says McCarrol. “I’m getting all the questions now. I’m famous Jay.”

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is in UK cinemas from July 3, with previews from July 1.