Nirvanna the Band the Show is a Canadian mockumentary-sitcom television series, created by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol, who co-star as fictionalised versions of themselves.
[2] The show utilises elements of metatextual and metafictional humor, with Matt and Jay often talking to their two unseen friends Jared and Andrew, who serve as the series's cinematographers and camera operators.
Frequent references are made to popular culture that Matt and Jay are fans of, such as movies, television shows, musical artists, and video games.
[3] Johnson has stated that the characters of Matt and Jay are largely influenced by he and McCarrol's real personalities and experiences growing up as best friends in Toronto.
[13] In September 2024, both Matt and Jay appeared again in another special short for 64X creating new announcements for the convention thus expanding on the premise featured the previous year.
Jay gives Matt a cigarette to calm his nerves, but, unable to see properly in his disguise, accidentally lights the paint roller on fire and burns the banner.
Matt and Jay have their first taste of coffee while trying to find materials for a Nirvanna the Band Christmas parade float, leading them to stay up all night during its creation.
Matt sends Jay to get a Baby Jesus figurine for the float, accidentally frightening him with the legend of the "Queen Street Strangler" and chasing him with a neighbor's truck while trying to get his attention.
Matt goes temporarily blind after he marathons Star Wars and sits directly in front of the television, ruining Jay's plan to take him to see the Force Awakens premiere.
After Matt is thrown out of a school for trying to film his movie, Operation Avalanche, without permission, Jay criticizes his constant use of deception in his plans, angering him.
They travel to Park City, where Matt sneaks the film into the festival lineup and gains huge success because of it, and he publicly denounces Jay during interviews.
Matt and Jay leave him at the hospital's entrance and run, only to realize he was diabetic and had a reaction to the sugary food they were buying for him, and decide to never talk to him again now that he cannot help them.
Jay writes Matt a letter informing him that he has become disillusioned with his schemes and plans to quit the band, ready to read it to him over their Canada Day dinner at a Chinese buffet.
As they watch fireworks together, a series of flashbacks reveals that Matt secretly read the letter and orchestrated all the events in order to get Jay to stay in the band.
Matt 3D prints a gun in hopes of intimidating the Rivoli into letting Nirvanna the Band play a show, but is waylaid by Jay's overdue VHS tapes he borrowed from the library and stops at a bank to get money.
While out buying cold medicine for Jay, Matt notices a GoldenEye 007 speedrun tournament poster that promises a spot on the "Rival1" podcast, which he misreads as "Rivoli".
On Halloween night, Matt goes out to trick-or-treat while Jay stays home to clean, where he finds a foreboding music book hidden in a vent.
In the present, Matt and Jay steal a map of Toronto's subway system from the Royal Ontario Museum, narrowly escaping security into the train tunnels.
They find a basement entrance and end up in their back room, where Jay accidentally alerts staff members while trying to steal a list of performing bands, forcing them to flee to the roof.
Jake Howell of The Globe and Mail praised the show, commenting "Bickering like a married couple, Matt and Jay's constant back-and-forth enabling, backstabbing and belittling of each other has thus far made for great television.