Jimmy Kimmel Does SXSW: Asks Fans About Fake Bands In "Lie Witness News: SXSW Edition"

by uInterviewMarch 14, 2014, 12:00 am >

Jimmy Kimmel is broadcasting his late night show Jimmy Kimmel Live from Austin this week in celebration of SXSW, and Thursday he presented a segment spoofing young hipster culture and their love of obscure bands.

In “Lie Witness News: SXSW Edition” Kimmel had a reporter go out into the crowds at SXSW and ask festival attendees about fake bands. As Kimmel rightly observes in his introduction of the segment, “people who come to music festivals pride themselves on knowing who the new acts are, even if they don’t actually know who the new acts are.” Certainly, this trend has made it extremely easy for Kimmel’s camera crew to find footage for the funny segment, in which wannabe music fans praise fake bands, including ‘Neil Patrick Harassment’ and ‘Tanya and the Hardings.’

In the video, people struggle to come up with compliments for made-up bands they have never heard of, and the reporter gives them just enough information to go on. For example, when asked about all the women artists performing at SXSW, in particular one DJ called ‘Heavy Flow,’ a young woman says she thinks it’s “awesome…I mean, women!” (Added mythology of ‘Heavy Flow’ is that she has an album called ‘The Toxic Shock Experience.’)

Kimmel has made fun of music festival fans before. In 2013, he sent a camera crew to Coachella to film people gushing over fake bands. That inaugural music festival segment went viral and currently has over 14 million views on YouTube.

Kimmel has been performing his show in Austin since Monday. His guests have ranged from Seth Rogen, who was in town premiering his new film Neighbors, to Texas Governor Rick Perry. Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell even stopped by on Thursday, March 13, to proclaim March 14, 2014 “Jimmy Kimmel Day” in Austin.