Kids in the Hall June 5, Treasure Island.
If it was a rock ’n’ roll show, one might complain that too many greatest hits were played. If it was a stand-up comedy show, some might say they’ve heard a lot of the jokes. But this was sketch comedy, performed Friday night at Treasure Island by one of the finest and most famous sketch groups in the world, the Kids in the Hall. And while the Canadian five-man troupe relied on a lot of A material, it also sprinkled in new skits and fresh premises for famous characters.
Early on, Kevin McDonald thrust his body around and sang about the history of the group. Most of the lines rhymed, but the funniest rips were the non-rhyming lyrics, “Bruce and Mark were hired to write for SNL live at Saturday Night/The Anthony Michael Hall year ... speaks for itself.”
The first old favorite to appear was Buddy Cole, played by Scott Thompson. This time, the sassy gay thinker’s monologue dissected transgender people and bullying. He implored those who are being picked on to stand up for themselves but, “If all else fails, eroticize the abuse.”
The Kids are still playing the edges. Before Bruce McCulloch’s Gavin appeared, Mark McKinney was onstage crying. Dave Foley wondered what he was so upset about: “You just tested positive for hives. Oh, HIV.” When Gavin appeared, he wanted to take an HIV test solely to receive the free doughnut given out afterward. For those who don’t know Gavin, he’s best at describing himself: “I’m on something called the spectrum. And I know I’m on the spectrum because I can play Minecraft in my sleep.”
It was clear the gang was loose, often looking to make themselves laugh and calling one another out for mugging and eating scenery. The encore featured McKinney’s Mr. Tyzik, perhaps the most famous Kids character, holding a video camera and “crushing” audience members’ heads between his two fingers on a big screen. From there, he turned his wrath on his castmates, which featured some of the meanest and funniest jokes of the night before their heads were successively crushed.
On McCulloch’s book Let’s Start a Riot: “It’s so sh*tty it didn’t sell a single copy in Baltimore.” On Dave Foley: “You look like something Ellen would date.” And finally, Tyzik took out his creator, McKinney: “You know what my favorite character of yours was on Saturday Night Live? It was the never-in-any-sketches guy.”
As for the future of the Kids in the Hall, fear not, fans. The closing lines to McDonald’s song said it all: “We’re not quitting/We’re not quitting/We’re not quitting till one of us dies/Probably Dave.”
