I have forever argued to anyone who will listen that I grew up in the absolutely best era – the 1990s. C’mon, admit it Millennials, we totally have it over you in terms of music, to say nothing of TV that was truly “must-see”.
No, I’m not talking about Friends, although I guess it was OK for the odd chuckle. True connoisseurs of comedy knew that the hidden gems of the small, pre-YouTube screen were an entirely Canadian sketch troupe called The Kids in the Hall.
After branching out into other projects of varying successes, the five-man funny group realized a little over a year ago that there’s no shame cashing in on old laughs, reuniting for what we thought were one-off shows. But as Kevin McDonald awkwardly recapped singsong-style back in December 2013, a bit the Kids have seemingly recycled for this brand new tour, “We’re not quitting ’til one of us dies…probably Dave (Foley)”.
For the next hour and a half, Messrs. McDonald, Foley, Bruce McCullough, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson had everyone at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall in stitches over jokes both old and fresh. For what it’s worth, the one about the two friends accusing each other of sleeping with an imaginary girlfriend was my personal favourite. If you’re not of a certain vintage or familiar with their classical cult CBC show…I don’t want to have anything to do with you, go away.
Just kidding (well, not really). It’s just that it’s tough to accurately convey the KITH brand of humour to people who think the nerdy gang from The Big Bang Theory are the most hilarious ensemble going right now. The Kids were masters of creating absurd situations out of nothing, walking a razor-thin tightrope between intelligent, thought-provoking guffaws and out-of-bounds crass that had our country’s hyper-sensitive censors continually reaching for the proverbial panic button.
While I didn’t see one individual who wasn’t enjoying themselves tremendously, or under the age of 35, it would be interesting to see what the Kids’ response would be somewhere away from their safe Toronto haven, where they are beloved to say the least. The audience definitely created a fan-friendly environment, where unbridled excitement and happiness greeted lines before they were even delivered. The performers responded in kind with a skits that were chock full of the quirky characters we all know and love, from lounge bar regular Buddy Cole to annoying kid Gavin to elderly couple Fran & Gordon to the guy with the good attitude towards menstruation. The head-crushing Mr. Tyzik even came out for an “improv”tu encore to quip and publicly execute the other members on video, himself included. Guess you just had to be there.
About the only thing that WASN’T comical the whole night was the weather. Sub-zero temps and snow flurries in late-April? WTF, Tarrana?
