Fred Armisen and Bill Hader are no Little and Big Edie, but their impersonation of these *staunch* characters (renamed Little and Big Vivvy) on the new IFC show Documentary Now! was nothing short of sublime. The series, which premiers tonight at 10pm, will bring you a different 20 minute fake documentary every week, parodying much-loved classics like Thin Blue Line and Nanook of the North as well as the shock-and-awe, gonzo-style annals of VICE Magazine’s hipster-journalist HBO docs.
But the first episode is a Grey Gardens mockumentary, the Maysles Brothers’ 1975 cinema verite classic about a mother and daughter living alone on a decaying estate. And if these pre-released clips from IFC are any indication, tonight’s episode will be a delightfully awkward comedic tour de force. Did I mention Seth Meyers is a co-writer? He is. Did I mention the whole series is framed like a faux 50th anniversary show celebrating “integrity and excellence in documentary filmmaking” and Helen Mirren stars as the faux-host? She does. The creative forces at work here are reliably amazing.
Check out the rest of the spoof clips here, but more importantly, tune in for the full premiere tonight – at the very least, you’ll get some kickass fashion inspo from Hader-as-Little-Edie, who in one scene wears a pair of sweatpants as a headscarf.
Images and clips via IFC
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