K.I.T.H.

Meant to blog about this earlier - Sunday I went to the first Canadian tour date of the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall. Besides being one of the best spells of non-stop laughing I've had in a long time, going to the show was completing a circle of sorts.

When I lived in Toronto, I went to small clubs to watch bands and a few local improv groups. I started noticing this group of very odd, bizarre really, guys doing a style of comedy that no one else was doing. The Rivoli on Queen was a great place to catch these shows, small crowded, smoky and beer crowded tables. One night I was there to watch a sort of comedy showdown between these two groups - one was a group called Fred's Bicycle shop, and the other, as you probably guessed, was those odd guys, the Kids in the Hall.
The odd guys won the showdown, knocking the crowd over, the other troupe not so much. The kicker was Lorne Michaels (of SNL fame) was in the crowd that night and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history.

About a year ago, I told my son, who is very into improv (and is quite good), about K.I.T.H. Through youtube he got hooked. So of course when I saw the ad that they were coming through town, I knew he'd be asking for tickets.

They're still a bunch of odd guys. Extremely talented odd guys. And still funny as hell, as good as sketch comedy gets.

Comments

[Fran Friel]

I'm an old KITH fan, Craig. Seeing them live must have been wonderful. A very talented bunch for sure.

Great to hear your son has that improve talent. I think it's a good life skill as well as fun as heck for entertainment.

Green With Envy,
Fran

[criag]

Improv skills as good life skills is an interesting thought - I think you are right, Fran. There are so many times in life that we just make it up as we go along.

Thnx!

[ian]

i missed the boat on this one, i would've loved that show no doubt.
now i'm so jealous that i'm going to "crush your head" (he says while looking through his thumb and pointer finger clamping down on your skull)