This is the hilarious and true story of Raymond and Peter, the world’s oddest couple and how their surreal arguments, taped by the students next door, became a worldwide viral phenomenon in the era of the audio cassette.
One of the more insightful and entertaining docs to hit screens this year... a wildly entertaining ride with a surprising amount of heart.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2011
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure 2011
‘If you wanna talk to me, then shut yer fuckin’ mouth!’, sprays Raymond, one half of a pair of hilarious miscreants who became a viral cult phenomenon long before YouTube. In 1987, Eddie Guerriero and Mitch Deprey moved to San Francisco for some bohemian good times; instead they got an apartment with paper-thin walls and two raging alcoholics as neighbours. Raymond, a homophobe, and Peter, a flaming queen, were two men whose unfathomable relationship consisted of surreal torrents of explicit verbal abuse. Initially recorded by Eddie and Mitch to mount a complaint, audio cassettes of their conversations were eventually passed around the world. Then came the adaptations, comic books, audio mash-ups, stage plays and feature films. Shut Up Little Man! features killer archival footage, interviews, re-enactments, copyright theft, invasion of privacy, and accusations of exploitation, all while being hilarious, unsettling and poignant. — AT