Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Kids in the Hall

The best comedy troupe ever.

You can argue which comedy troupe you think is the best. Monty Python, to me, were always overrated. And, that British humour is so hit-and-miss.

The original Saturday Night Live cast was amazing. It's hard to top John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Akroyd, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtain, and Chevy Chase (Lorraine Newman, who cares). But, as one of the cast members of a lame season of Saturday Night Live once said, "They did bad skits, too. You just don't see those in the reruns. And, a lot of people just think about the stuff they did after that...like Animal House, or the Blues Brothers movie."

It's a great point.

For me, nothing beats those 5 guys from Canada -- The Kids in the Hall.

No, they're not a gay troupe. Only one guy in the cast is homosexual. The reason they wear dresses, is no women were in the group. So, if they played gossipy secretaries (Kathy and Cathy), or wives, or moms (oh...Happy Mothers Day), it just worked better. And, I think that goes a long way back in the history of comedy (Didn't Milton Berle wear a dress on one of the very first TV variety shows?)

I drove up to Anaheim to see these guys live the other night.

I've seen them live both times they came to San Diego. At Copley Symphony Hall downtown, where I met Bruce (the short guy, aka "the poo guy") and Kevin McDonald (the one my mom calls the ugliest guy on the planet). He's the founder of the troupe.

The seemed a bit depressed, and didn't talk much.

When I saw them in Escondido, they were great, but all the skits were ones I had seen on their TV show.

It was a pleasant surprise to see them do almost all new material.

A skit about a "hateful baby" that nobody wanted to tell the couple they disliked.

A skit about a time machine (which one guy just used to go back 10 minutes and beat "last call").

There was a chicken lady skit, which is classic. She had ping pong balls flying out into the audience, which everyone jumped for.

I swear, I had 2nd row seats. And, at baseball games, I couldn't care less about a foul ball. But, I wanted a ping pong ball shot out of Mark. It just seemed like such a cool item to have.

Actor Kevin Pollak was in the crowd.

I noticed that when the head crushed came onstage with a camera, showing the audience (and there he was).

One of my favorite characters, the nerdy boy Gavin, harrassed a couple of Mormons that came to his door.

And, the best part was when we walked to our car, anticipating a long drive to the hotel, a nice security guard said, "Those guys are going to be at the merchandise booth talking to the fans."

We went back in, and had the best conversation with them.

(I'll share that tomorrow....just got back from a concert in L.A. and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard)

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

WAV College Church reminds kids that time is short

College is a formational time for decisions about belief

You can argue which comedy troupe you think is the best. Monty Python, to me, were always overrated. And, that British humour is so hit-and-miss.

The original Saturday Night Live cast was amazing. It's hard to top John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Akroyd, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtain, and Chevy Chase (Lorraine Newman, who cares). But, as one of the cast members of a lame season of Saturday Night Live once said, "They did bad skits, too. You just don't see those in the reruns. And, a lot of people just think about the stuff they did after that...like Animal House, or the Blues Brothers movie."

It's a great point.

For me, nothing beats those 5 guys from Canada -- The Kids in the Hall.

No, they're not a gay troupe. Only one guy in the cast is homosexual. The reason they wear dresses, is no women were in the group. So, if they played gossipy secretaries (Kathy and Cathy), or wives, or moms (oh...Happy Mothers Day), it just worked better. And, I think that goes a long way back in the history of comedy (Didn't Milton Berle wear a dress on one of the very first TV variety shows?)

I drove up to Anaheim to see these guys live the other night.

I've seen them live both times they came to San Diego. At Copley Symphony Hall downtown, where I met Bruce (the short guy, aka "the poo guy") and Kevin McDonald (the one my mom calls the ugliest guy on the planet). He's the founder of the troupe.

The seemed a bit depressed, and didn't talk much.

When I saw them in Escondido, they were great, but all the skits were ones I had seen on their TV show.

It was a pleasant surprise to see them do almost all new material.

A skit about a "hateful baby" that nobody wanted to tell the couple they disliked.

A skit about a time machine (which one guy just used to go back 10 minutes and beat "last call").

There was a chicken lady skit, which is classic. She had ping pong balls flying out into the audience, which everyone jumped for.

I swear, I had 2nd row seats. And, at baseball games, I couldn't care less about a foul ball. But, I wanted a ping pong ball shot out of Mark. It just seemed like such a cool item to have.

Actor Kevin Pollak was in the crowd.

I noticed that when the head crushed came onstage with a camera, showing the audience (and there he was).

One of my favorite characters, the nerdy boy Gavin, harrassed a couple of Mormons that came to his door.

And, the best part was when we walked to our car, anticipating a long drive to the hotel, a nice security guard said, "Those guys are going to be at the merchandise booth talking to the fans."

We went back in, and had the best conversation with them.

(I'll share that tomorrow....just got back from a concert in L.A. and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard)

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

6six6

Next Article

Basketball Jones

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader