Canada is fertile breeding ground for a distinctive and oftentimes quirky brand of comedy. Among the notable, humor-brewing Canucks are Saturday Night Live alumni Mike Meyers, Dan Aykroyd, Martin Short, Norm McDonald and even SNL co-creator Lorne Michaels. It's no surprise that Michaels discovered The Kids in the Hall and introduced their shtick to American audiences via HBO in 1989. The Canadian sketch comedy troupe was more akin to Monty Python's Flying Circus than SNL, however, with less celebrity impressions and pop culture send-offs, and more men dressed in drag and hilarious characterizations of common folk — gossiping secretaries ("Cathy and Kathy"), an intelligent and well-spoken stoner ("Bauer") and the infamously vengeful-from-afar loner, Mr. Tyzik, aka "Headcrusher," among many others. KITH also produced some memorable film-style shorts, from a skit about a man who goes on vacation and decides to grow a beard that drives him crazy à la the Twilight Zone to a dystopian, David Lynch-esque minimal dialogue piece about a sausage factory employee's unrequited love for a lady co-worker, and the drooling, sausage-obsessed father who stands in his way. The show ended in 1995, but it continued to attract posthumous fans due to several years' worth of syndicated reruns aired on Comedy Central. This Friday, the group brings its 2008 "Live As We'll Ever Be" tour to Clearwater. Fri., May 23, 8 p.m., Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater, $42.75 and $55.75, 727-791-7400, rutheckerdhall.com.
This article appears in May 21-27, 2008.