The adage about one man's trash being another's treasure was proven last Friday at the Neon cinema, where the Found Footage Festival made its Dayton debut.

The Found Footage Festival, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, is a live comedy show that combines clips from found VHS tapes with original material.

The result is an evening acclaimed by no less than The Village Voice, The Chicago Tribune and the people of Dayton, too.

"We had a good crowd," co-host and comedy writer ("Late Show with David Letterman") Nick Prueher said in a phone interview. "It seemed like people enjoyed themselves and had a few laughs."

Prueher estimated that just under 100 people attended the event, which filled about three-fourths of the theater.

"For the first time in a city, that's not bad," he said.

Prueher and his co-host Joe Pickett ("The Onion") serve as tour guides through their collection of found videos, Prueher said.

The seeds for the festival were planted in 1991, when Prueher and Pickett discovered a training video entitled "Inside and Outside Custodial Duties" at a Wisconsin McDonald's.

"An impressive collection of strange, outrageous and profoundly stupid videos" soon grew, and with it came a goldmine of material for Prueher and Pickett, Prueher said.

"Me and Joe introduce each video, explain how and where we found it, then make smartass remarks over the videos," Prueher said. "After we've watched a clip, we come back out and give our comedic take on what we just saw. Sometimes that's a joke; sometimes it's a photo slideshow; sometimes it's a pre-taped comedy bit with some of our comedian friends."

Among the friends was David Cross, who contributed highlights from a 1987 video dating reel.

Another clip from the '80s, from Donna Mills' beauty video "The Eyes Have It," went over quite well at the Neon, Prueher said.

"We had a sing-along, singing the theme to the video 'The Eyes Have It,' and crowds can sometimes be too reserved at this part, but we had a thunderous response," Prueher said. "It's the catchiest, most repetitive song. The theater served beer, so that helped."

According to Prueher, they have shown clips in the past that don't go over as well as they hoped.

"One thing we've found is that it's very easy for people to laugh at bad drama and bad horror, but it's very hard for people to laugh at bad comedy," he said. "Something about it is just too cringe-inducing and painful. In our current show, we had to cut a video called 'Rich Little's Charades,' in which the 1980s impressionist tells jokes and gives charade clues. It was too excruciating."

Prueher also said that he is surprised with how well other videos do go over with the crowd.

"The standout this show is this montage we put together from a weapons demonstration video called 'More Proof,'" he said. "The host of the video is this round, goateed man who's just way too excited about swords and blowguns. We loved it, but we had no idea how much audiences would love it."

Audiences also responded by telling Prueher and Pickett about footage they could use, something both of them encourage.

"It's always a good show when people come up afterward and tell us about footage, and last night we got a few good leads on some stuff, so we'd love to come back maybe next year with some locally found footage," Prueher said.

To find out more about the Found Footage Festival, go to www.foundfootagefest.com.

"We always encourage anyone who's found anything at a local thrift store or garage sale to please bring it to the show or e-mail us about it through our Web site," Prueher said. "That's how we keep the show going, and we love hearing the stories of how people found things."