Last week I saw The Kids in the Hall [1] live at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City. I've been a fan of The Kids in the Hall since I first saw them on Comedy Central. Not being Canadian or otherwise having access to Canadian television stations of HBO, that was the first I'd ever seen of the troupe. Needless to say, I'd never seen The Kids in the Hall live before, and I never thought I would have the chance to. So I was delighted to learn that the 'Live as We'll Ever Be' tour was coming to town.
It was definitely exciting to see them live, I was hoping they'd live up to the greatness of the TV show. Before the live show I read that the tour was mostly new material, which I wasn't too sure would be a good thing. I would've been content with watching the old show on dvd in a theater really. The venue seemed a little strange, this was held at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri. It certainly looks like a classy place but for myself and most everyone I know, we'd only seen concerts. It seemed like an odd choice. In actuality, the venue was awesome. We sat in the front row of the balcony, it was the best free live comedy show I'd ever seen. Ok, so it was the only live comedy show I'd seen...
The show started off with a video intro, it went something like this: The show starts right where the video left off, everyone runs on stage and there is a brief intro and the sketches pick up from there. My least favorite sketch of the evening was the opener. The sketch is about a couple's newborn baby and how their friends hate it, call it hateful. It was pretty lame. After that we were treated to a Buddy Cole [2] monologue, the rest of the show was a hilarious blur. My favorite sketch featured Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney reprising their smooth talking salesmen characters, trying to push the idea of a siphon that uses fat to power your car. Good times.
It would be cliché to compliment the chemistry these guys had, after all they've been doing this for about twenty five years. But after watching them live, it must be said that they rolled well with each other's follies and mistakes. There were a few times when sketches were derailed or props were misplaces. Unprofessional? Maybe. It was all in good fun though, everyone had a good laugh. And that's the idea.
Here are some of my favorite sketches from the TV show:
those arent my favorite.
what about growing a beard? or the spaghetti slicer?
"Did you stuff the ham with salt???"
I always liked the Doors-fan sketch, mostly because the record store owner reminds me of myself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xillqqt0Y0 [6]
"what!? best of albums are for house wives!"
haha, yea that was a great sketch. my favorite part was:
"this is what i want you to do. steal a car..."
"i have a car..."
"STEAL A CAR!"
"But first . . . the whores!!!"
what?! no Pit of Ultimate Darkness starring Simon and Hecubus?
my favourite person from the show was Bruce McCulloch. the terrier song and daves i know are classics. or the open letter to the guy who stole his front tire off his bike: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m68-oWBh9Ow [11]
Thank god he didn't pick the head crusher. That was such a stupid sketch.
Also, if anyone can find me a video of Bruce's "Eraserhead" video, I'd be eternally in your debt.
I saw them live in the summer of 2002. They did some classic stuff, some new stuff, and some new stuff with classic characters.It was great, tho the intro video they had that time was more along the lines of lego men and women in sexual positions.
Wow! What a lineup. But don't worry about it, look at me, the flying pig. Hey Hey Hey.
Dr Seuss Bible,#1,no contest.
Those are very good, but he left out The French Trappers.