If you thought you were forever safe from the embarrassment of your fifth grade piano recital by tossing the old VHS in the trash, think again. Some found-video enthusiast might rescue it from the bin and glean hours of hilarity from your misery.

At least that’s what Found Footage Festival creators Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher have

An unnamed man belts out a terrible New Wave song in what is billed as “the world’s first nude pop video.”

spent the past 18 years doing. The fruits of their most recent labors can be seen when the festival makes a stop at the Nickelodeon on Sunday at 8 p.m.

It all began at a McDonald’s in a small Wisconsin town, where Prueher found an abandoned training video for custodians in the break room.

“It was so ridiculous and insulting that I thought it couldn’t stay in the break room,” Prueher says. “We [Prueher and Pickett] were wowed by it. We’d just watch it all the time. If there was nothing going on in our small town, we’d just watch that and make fun of it. We thought there must be more stupid videos out there collecting dust.”

So, the two began collecting these hidden gems from thrift stores, trashcans and yard sales. As they found new weird tapes, they’d invite friends over to watch while they offered commentary. Five years ago, the duo decided to put together a show that was part film screening and part comedy routine to showcase some of the best clips from their burgeoning collection. In Prueher’s estimation, they have about 3,000 tapes overflowing two storage lockers in Queens, stuffed in their apartments and taking up space in Pickett’s trunk.

Although they’ll watch anything, there are certain criteria a video must meet in order to make it to the festival.

“The main thing for us is that it has to be legitimately found,” Prueher says. “We don’t take anything off the Internet. It also has to be unintentionally funny — that’s really what makes it stand out. It has to really fail at whatever it is trying to do, but in an entertaining way. They involve people who have a lot of ambition but very little talent. There is something about that combination. Lucky for us there are a lot of people like that out there and they have access to video equipment.”

Once in awhile, they are surprised by an especially unusual find. Pickett bought a $5 camcorder at an estate sale only to find a tape that was accidentally left inside. On it were clips of a little girl dancing to the soundtrack of The Phantom of the Opera followed by an older man dressed as woman dancing to the same soundtrack. It ends with the same man filming the demolition of his neighbor’s house.

“It was like a weird window into this guy’s life,” Prueher says.

Whenever possible, Prueher and Pickett try to track down people from the videos to get some backstory. And sometimes the “stars” find them. Last month after a show, a man who was featured in instructional videos illustrating danger in the workplace approached Pickett and Prueher.

“He said, ‘I heard about your show. Do you recognize me?’” Prueher says. “We were just star struck. To us, [meeting] this guy was like meeting a movie star!”

Prueher suspects that he will never quit collecting found footage — even as VHS tapes become more rare.

“I feel like there’s no end in sight to the Found Footage Festival,” he says. “The formats may change and the production values may get slicker, but the bad ideas never change. We’re in no danger of running out of material.” 

The Found Footage Festival comes to the Nickelodeon Theatre on Sunday at 8 p.m. Call 254-3433 for more information. Admission is $9.