CFIWest / Steve Allen Theater, Hollywood
May 7

(l-r) Scott Thompson, Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch

A line of comedy fans dozens deep snaked around the corner of Berendo and Hollywood Wednesday night - and not all of them made it in - for a secret late-show warmup from the Kids in the Hall, about to embark on their North American summer tour. The Steve Allen Theater has been a cozy little home away from Tronno for the revered Canadian sketch comedy troupe in the past couple of years; all of them have performed and screened various projects at the Center for Inquiry West’s H’wood home, most recently Scott Thompson and Kevin McDonald's one-man shows. Last night's packed house was treated to "The Final Kiss," a hilarious gory short (makeup by KNB FX - gnarly!) co-starring Thompson and Dave Foley (and directed by Allen artistic director Amit Itelman), as well as a live set which while devoid of material from the upcoming tour nevertheless struck a chord (or several) with the die-hards in the audience.

Anyone who missed out is SOL for this Friday’s Orpheum Theater KITH show, which is sold out like a mutha. However, as Foley and Thompson noted at the top of the evening, The Grove of Anaheim gig is apparently still half empty for tonight. (“There are scalpers out on the street crying,” Foley noted. “Please come.”)

McCulloch and Kevin McDonald

Mark McKinney and Foley

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They're so sweet and innocent. Photos by Rena Kosnett.

Writing about the experience of seeing Tim & Eric’s Awesome Show Great Job! live on tour would be akin to dancing about architecture—some weird, fucked up architecture. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.

One certainty is that the live show is a thousand times better than seeing Tim & Eric on TV, or watching videos on Youtube, because in addition to watching and hearing them, you can smell and taste Tim & Eric as well. Some highlights: an instructional video about properly poisoning your child clown slave, Papa John’s email upgrades, a prayer for Robin Williams, enlarged testicle bodysuits, a video with John C. Reilly eating paninis prepared with horse grease and then saying "Ooh, it smells like horse."

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Flight of the Conchords
Amoeba Records in-store, April 24

Clement (left) and McKenzie

There’s a lot of l’amour in this room tonight. The racks of CDs and LPs are sandwiched left and right with the faithful, who know every lyric and are toting signage of such desirous dedication as “Brit Bret, Will You Take Me To the Prom?” and the immortal “You’re So Hot, You’re Making Me Sexist.” Amoeba’s in-store performance for Flight of the Conchords’ debut LP is veritable fandemonium; it’s a long cry from the usual scenario on their HBO series, where they’re usually stuck in the corner of a dark basement New York club strumming to the delight of Mel (Kristen Schaal), their one and only fan.

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Comedy Meltdown 2: Electric Boogaloo
Meltdown Comics, January 25th

Who needs too-tightly packed tables and a two drink minimum, especially if there’s an option to pick up a Buffy The Vampire Slayer omnibus and a maquette of Sub-Mariner before the show? Arguably LA’s best recurring comedy show in town is tucked away in the back of Meltdown Comics on Sunset once a month, a free Friday night lineup in the store’s gallery featuring top-notch talent riffing large under the harsh glare of a bank of fluorescents instead of the usual spotlight. (Which might not help when it gets a little chilly in that back room, particularly on stormy January nights, but the open bar warms things up a bit. Yeah, I know… free and an open bar. Dude!) (Above right: Blaine Capatch)

Booker Linda Pine secures ace talent, which for the event’s sophomore outing on Friday night was emceed by lightning-quick Blaine Capatch; after his own set, including a terrific bit on deep and abiding loathing of personalized license plates (So "U2POOH" is definitely expressing one’s love of the Disney bear, right? And not a scatological request), Capatch managed to work some terrific improv into the night’s ongoing trivia contest with properly geektastic questions including which Batman villain was a zoologist (Man-Bat) and which band originally owned the rights to A Clockwork Orange (that’d be the Rolling Stones – and I got that one right, dammit, only I didn’t speak up loud enough to be heard over the peanut gallery in the first row… more on them later.

(Above: Jonah Ray)

Next up, Jonah Ray, Tecate in hand, singing the praises of internet downloads and laying into Lars Ulrich something good; and a grousing Mark Voyce scoffing sarcastically at how far he’s come to get to the back room of a comics store.

(Above: Mark Voyce)

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