Does Father John Misty’s New Video Rip Off Funny Or Die?
A week ago, Father John Misty released a video for “The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment” with a fairly audacious premise: Two different Father John Mistys meet in a bar, have a drink together, and go home with each other. But it turns out that the premise may not have been that audacious. Funny Or Die has posted a piece comparing “The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment” to “Go Fuck Yourself,” a piece that Dave Franco (the 21 Jump Street actor and younger brother of James) made in 2011. In that video, two Francos meet in a bar and end up fucking. And as Funny Or Die points out, the two videos share many similar shots. You can see where the Funny Or Die people are coming from, but it’s not as if Dave Franco invented the idea of falling in lust with yourself. (Young Thug also made out with himself last week in the “Best Friend” video.) And most of the shots pointed out are fairly standard-issue two-people-meet-in-a-bar cinematic shorthand. But, for comparison’s sake, here are the two videos:
For his part, Father John Misty does not seem to impressed with the accusation:
I guess this is real
— FATHER JOHN MISTY (@fatherjohnmisty) September 25, 2015
I guess this is the time to confess that the song itself is lifted directly from that Funny or Die video
— FATHER JOHN MISTY (@fatherjohnmisty) September 25, 2015
I seriously need to be Internet house-trained. This very tweet confirms it.
— FATHER JOHN MISTY (@fatherjohnmisty) September 25, 2015
Maybe it’s the fan in me, but I have a hard time imagining that Father John Misty is out here stealing ideas from four-year-old Funny Or Die sketches.