the kids in the hall

they’re back. mike and i and a bunch of others are going to see them in minneapolis later this month. it will be my third time seeing them live. the previous shows were brilliant adaptations of sketches from the show for the stage. this tour is apparently mostly new material from which they hope to spin off a new show and a movie. here’s an av club interview replete with video.

i have this emotional connection to the kids which i can’t quite explain–and it doesn’t translate to them individually (though i did watch newsradio religiously). it may be that it takes me back to those halcyon days of grad school, when we had no money and theory seemed like something worth fighting drunkenly over in bars. oh, wait, those were nightmarish days. anyway, as intellectually satisfying as the kids’ comedy can be (like a man getting hit in the groin by a football, it works on so many levels) my primary relationship to it, and them collectively, is one of love. i almost burst into tears when “having an average weekend” played at the beginning of the show the first time i saw them live (i think it was at the wiltern–john, pete, did we all go together?). mike, make sure to bring some hankies, and be ready to hold me close on the 26th.

9 thoughts on “the kids in the hall”

  1. Coincidentally, I just finished watching a movie we got for Max with a surprise appearance by three of the Kids. Unaccompanied Minors was amusing enough for the four-year-old, and director Paul Feig got cameos from it seemed half of “The Office,” a third of “Arrested Development,” big chunks of “The Daily Show,” and then–boom–Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch, and Kevin McDonald (as security guards). They get a couple of nice bits, playing musical chairs.

    I saw them in LA, but it was kind of a greatest-hits tour. I can’t wait to see the new show, and new stuff….

  2. The only time Arnab ever looked at me without his usual bemused indifference was when I gave him a Brain Candy t-shirt I found at a thrift store.

    Yes I was there at the Wiltern. I remember, especially, “Jesus 2000.” It’s a brilliantly written piece, but the performances given by Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch floored me.

Leave a Reply