Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure

Cult audio history was made in 1987 when two young Midwest transplants named Eddie and Mitch moved into a rundown apartment in San Francisco and found that their next-door neighbors, aging chronic alcoholics Raymond Huffman and Peter Haskett, fought verbally and sometimes physically throughout the night. Initially the youths made cassette-tape recordings as potential evidence for the police, but soon their taping of the profane harangues, homophobic slurs, and almost ritual insults (“Shut up, li'l man!”) became an entertainment pastime. Eddie and Mitch included samples in music-mixtapes circulated amidst friends, ultimately issuing some 14 hours of Raymond-Peter arguments, which went “viral” before the term was coined. The ensuing years have witnessed Raymond and Peter CDs, remixes, stage dramatizations, and at least three Hollywood film projects that failed to launch—and now this oft-uproarious Australian-made documentary, written and directed by Matthew Bate, that details the backstory. The bulk of the film consists of interviews with Eddie and Mitch, supplemented by archival photos and footage, a few re-enactments, and contributions from graphic novelist Daniel Clowes and others. Along the way, Bate considers the impact the tapes had on pre–reality TV pop culture, and raises (but never really answers) questions about copyright and whether the whole phenomenon simply exploited two sad drunks (a finale aspires to restore some dignity to the now-deceased roommates). DVD extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, an interview with cartoonist and comics scholar Ivan Brunetti, and deleted scenes. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)