Kids in the Hall: Live as We’ll Ever Be
Chicago Theatre
May 29th, 2008
***** (Five stars!)
Sure, they’re a little older, a little grayer, and a few of them have put on a couple pounds – it doesn’t matter. The Kids in the Hall, perennial Canadian heroes of the subversive sketch comedy revolution can still fill a theatre and can still deliver laughs from material new and old. Legions of KITH groupies (and I think groupies is probably the correct word – there were some interesting characters in the house – like the dude in front of me who kept telling his largely annoyed date that he had “EVERY. EPISODE. EVER” on tape..) attacked the Chicago Theatre last night to be entertained and to laugh, and the Kids didn’t disappoint.
After a hilarious video opening involving how they were going to open the show, the ubiquitious theme song started, and the guys took the stage. There was some new material (the time traveller bits were especially funny) and there were visits from some familiar characters – Scott Thompson’s practically legendary Buddy Cole discussed whether Jesus was gay (referring to the “Book of Andrew Lloyd Webber” for some quotes from Jesus Christ Superstar), Gavin took on the Bible Salesman, The Chickenlady had phone sex (with hilarious results), The Kathys did Crystal Meth. Perhaps most show-stealing was the return of The Headcrusher, which enabled Mark McKinney to tear down the house for the encore as he crushed audience members with the aid of a video camera, found love, crushed his love, and then killed off each of the Kids in the Hall after listing off their crimes (including, in Bruce’s case, writing for the ABC comedy “Carpoolers.”)
It’s been a long time since they worked together in any sort of regular fashion, but KITH can still deliver, and seemed to actually be having a great time onstage together. Watching them crack each other up was worth the entire price of admission (Something about a Louis the 14th couch?)
Each of the five got their moments to shine, and each was greeted enthusiastically by their adoring fans.
They’re still funny as hell-
They’re still masters-
And I’m supremely glad I got to see my junior high heroes live and in person.
Awesome show.
More info – http://kidsinthehall.com/
