When many people hear about thrifting, the first thing that comes to mind is clothing. However, clothing is only one of the many things that can be bought at a thrift store. Joe and Nick’s VCR Party showcases what other kinds of gems you can find in a thrift store.

On Friday, Feb. 17, the Office of Student Life (OSL) put on a VCR party live hosted by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher. The VCR party is a compilation of unintentionally funny VHS videos that Joe and Nick have found over the years. Joe and Nick are both comedians with Joe having worked for “The Onion” and Nick working for “The Late Show.” The videos these two have found range from at-home workout videos to animal videos to art videos and everything in between. Just about every video that they have found has been thrifted.

John Kovarik, junior, and Sophia Weiss, junior, are the two comedy co-chairs for the Office of Student Life. They find and bring comedians to Augustana for the student population.

“It seems so funny and nothing that you’ll see anywhere else. So I think the uniqueness is what makes me most excited about [the VCR Party],” Kovarik said.

The VCR party had a pretty good turnout with handfuls of people sitting in the audience around the stage in the Gävel rooms. Throughout the show, the audience laughed at the videos along with Nick and Joe’s commentary throughout. Nick and Joe made the VCR party come alive, especially with their interactive portions of the show where they had the audience guess about the videos they were about to play. All of this came together to create a unique comedy experience that kept the audience engaged. 

Nick and Joe’s VCR party is not only a fun time but also shows us that thrifting can be much more than just looking for cool clothing. Shoppers may also find items like VCRs or VHS tapes.

In the last couple of years, thrifting has become very popular with teens and people in their twenties. Thrifting haul videos on Youtube and TikTok have become very popular. There are many reasons why young people choose to thrift.

“I think a lot of the younger generation is more environmentally conscious, and really the best way to get stuff like clothing or other items without contributing as much to overproduction or consumption of goods is to buy something secondhand,” senior Jack Beemsterboer said.

Thrifting is a fun and inexpensive way to find new treasures. When thrifting, shoppers may not always find amazing things on the first visit.

“Be patient. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone thrifting with a friend or something for the first time and they’re so discouraged they didn’t find anything the first time,” Beemsterboer said. “It’s really about persistence if you want to find the really good stuff.”

Nick and Joe have used thrifting to collect funny VHS tapes, but other things people collect include vinyl, magazines, cameras and much more.

“I just really hope that everyone gets a good laugh out of it and maybe do more research about VCRs and everything else,” Weiss said.

Augustana students have access to multiple thrift stores a block away from Erickson hall. Interested students can see what they and other thrift stores have to offer. To learn more about VCR Party, visit Nick and Joe’s website here.