The Kids In The Hall – Tour Of Duty

The Kids In The Hall
Tour Of Duty
Win Media
2002
Distributed by EMI Music Canada

The Kids in the Hall, one of Canada’s most successful comedy troupes along with the original lineup of Royal Canadian Air Farce and the gone but not forgotten The Frantics, had a very successful run on CBC television from 1989 to 1984 and are still a draw on Comedy Central. Their movie, Brain Candy, is for fans only really and the same can be said for this live performance sketch comedy DVD Tour of Duty filmed in Vancouver B.C.

Many of the characters that show up on stage are obviously fan favorites and there is no doubt that helps to appreciate the funny sketch but if you are not really familiar with The Kids in the Hall (Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson, and Kevin McDonald) a lot of these skits tend to run too long. Examples of skits that run too long are Blues Guy, Romeo (where a young man tries to seduce a much older woman who is a friend of his mother’s), and Dessert Island, a long bit that involves giving a blowjob to Uday Hussein.

Some of the comic setups do kind of work, such as Dr. Seuss Bible yet you get the feeling they could have been so much more. There is something sick about a vice-principal giving a speech about his experience with a school shooting while he constantly refers to his divorce. There is nothing wrong with pushing the envelope of good taste and what is proper but if you do that you better be sure to deliver and this bit does not.

Perhaps the one really interesting and funny (to a point) moment on this sketch comedy DVD is Headcrusher where the action moves from a giant screen to live onstage interaction with the audience and then a member of the troupe. The audience member gets the biggest laugh.

Overall, this DVD is below par. You even get the impression a couple of times that the sound is just slightly out of synch with the picture so you get the impression the actors are lip-synching. There is also something objectionable to the company that released this comedy DVD, Win Media, calling “special features” standard DVD stuff like Dolby 5.1 Surround, DTS Surround Sound, Dolby Stereo, Interactive Menus, Instant Chapter Access to Scenes, Widescreen Format . I am surprised they did not list the special full colour insert, perfectly centered hole, and genuine plastic DVD case as special features.

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