One imagines that in life Peter J. Haskett and Raymond Huffman would ever want or pursue the sort of fame they wound up receiving in the 1980s. A pair of old drunks who fought constantly in their old age in a run-down apartment complex next to a pair of young twenty somethings Mitch & Eddie, the duo found underground fame via a series of tapes entitled “Shut Up Little Man” after one of the more famous insults from the duo.
Unlike the viral videos of today, Raymond and Peter found fame amongst the tape traders of the day but were much more underground than they would be today. Shut Up Little Man! follows the chronicles of the now middle aged former roommate as they go back and explore the cult phenomenon that was their tapes.
“Shut Up Little Man” began as a series of audio recordings of Peter and Raymond as they drunkenly fought late at night in their apartment. Given to their friends as a series of mix tapes interspersed with music from the ‘80s, the tapes took on a life of their own as they were traded across the country in the days before the internet. Adapted into many things, including a stage play and an indie film, Raymond and Peter have turned the recordings into a cottage industry selling them on CD, etc, and the film follows their progression from taping the two out of curiosity to the legal battle over the rights to try and cash in on it that eventually followed.
It’s a really fascinating documentary because it contrasts the nature of fame and sensations before and after the internet. Contrasting it with the nature of fame as it stands now, as a video or moment can become famous worldwide within hours now as opposed to the length of time it took back then. We get to see just how people got their hands on the tapes as a handful of artists, et al, discuss the amusing anecdotes they had about discovering the wacky adventures of Peter and Raymond.
Matthew Bate taps into the universality of how we experience things like this and it takes what’s a relatively unknown subject and gets as much as he possibly could. Shut Up Little Man! is an interesting documentary that’s accessible on a grander level about the nature of how we discover things using two wacky, drunken roommates. The problem is that we don’t get enough of either Peter & Raymond or the nature of how things randomly become popular; it’s an uneven 90 minute mix that feels like it has much more to say than it eventually does.
There’s a Return to The Pepto which follows Eddie and Mitch as they go back to their old apartment and see how it’s changed over the years and talk to the residents of both apartments.
An Extended Interview with Ivan Brunetti, an illustrator of some repute, about Peter and Raymond is included. Some Recreations of moments from the tape series are included. You sound like an idiot is a recollection from Eddie and Mitch about playing their tapes in front of Raymond and Peter.
Shut Up Little Man is a solid documentary with some lackluster extras. It’s worth a rental at a minimum.
Tribeca Film presents Shut Up, Little Man!. Directed by Matthew Bate. Running time: 90 Minutes. Not Rated. Released on DVD: January 24, 2012. Available at Amazon.com.
