Private Project

Everything I Learned When My House Burned Down

Comedian Jacy Catlin was living the simple life in his remote log cabin in rural Wisconsin, eking out a living as a comedy writer and self-producing numerous comedy shorts. One fateful February, on the coldest day of the year, a fire in his wood stove spread out of control, and the house and all of his family’s belongings were destroyed. After the smoke had cleared, he returned to his former home to shoot one last comedy film.

From Joe Pickett (Chop and Steele, The Found Footage Festival) and Jacy Catlin (Clickhole, The Onion) comes a short film about the absurdity of great loss and finding laughter in life’s darkest moments. Shot entirely against a backdrop of the remains of Catlin’s actual burned-down home, Everything I Learning When My House Burned Down is filled with absurd dark humor and disturbingly fascinating imagery from start to finish.

  • Joe Pickett
    Director
    Dirty Country, Dundee Project, Gas N Fuel, Chop & Steele, Found Footage Fest
  • Jacy Catlin
    Writer
    The Onion, Clickhole, Dad's Funeral, The Negotiating
  • Joe Pickett
    Producer
    Dirty Country, Dundee Project, Gas N Fuel, Chop & Steele, Found Footage Fest
  • Jacy Catlin
    Producer
    The Onion, Clickhole, Dad's Funeral, The Negotiating
  • Jacy Catlin
    Key Cast
    "self"
    The Onion, Clickhole, Dad's Funeral, The Negotiating
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    September 5, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    1,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • n/a
Distribution Information
  • n/a
Director Biography - Joe Pickett

Joe Pickett is a writer/director/comedian. He's a 12-year contributor to The Onion and directed the award-winning documentary, “Dirty Country." In 2010, he engineered the Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser yo-yo pranks that hit morning TV news shows across the Midwest where he racked up millions of views, was sued in federal court and became the subject of the Tribeca hit documentary "Chop & Steele." For the last 15 years, he and his childhood friend have toured 100+ shows a year with their live comedy show, The Found Footage Festival, a guided tour of their collection of strange and outrageous VHS tapes. He and the Found Footage Fest have been featured on Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Vulture, NPR, Tosh.0, and named a critic’s pick in dozens of publications.

Jacy Catlin is a comedian and writer based in Ashland, Wisconsin. He is a staff writer for Clickhole, and has numerous additional writing credits including The Onion, Comedy Central, NBC, and Playboy. He is known by underground comedy fans worldwide for his singular and absurd comedic voice which has taken many forms including comic books, Tweets, digital shorts, and live performances everywhere from dive bars to large festivals. His previous short films include Dad’s Funeral and The Negotiating.

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Director Statement

This is Jacy's harrowing story of his house burning down and I was lucky that he asked me to direct it. Or maybe I wasn't because we inhaled a lot of things that lungs shouldn't inhale.