Laugh Lines: Conversations With Comedians Read Online Free Page B
Author: Corey Andrew, Kathleen Madigan, Jimmy Valentine, Kevin Duncan, Joe Anders, Dave Kirk
show than the classic Blues Brothers show. He is Brother Zee, the blood; I am Elwood, the legacy—as you probably know.
We do the classic Blues Brothers show, but it’s very formal presentation wise. There’s a whole tribute to John in there. There’s material that we don’t do in the Have Love Will Travel revue, which is in that classic show. There’s two concepts here going.
Corey: There’s some retired stuff that you won’t do again?
Dan: Yes, I think some of the songs that were really associated with John, Jimmy doesn’t really want to do because they were his.
Corey: Why do you think the Blues Brothers legacy has lived on for so long?
Dan: I think it’s accessible to some people. Everyone can look or feel like a Blues Brother. The music is fun. It’s happy. It’s uplifting. It’s all about a good time. People like an icon that represents a good time.
Kids in the Hall—Dave Foley
Back in 1984, three MCs and a Dave—Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald Mark McKinney and Dave Foley—met and combined forces in Toronto, eventually adding a token gay, Scott Thompson, to become Kids in the Hall.
A love of Monty Python spawned irreverent characters like Cabbage Head, an obnoxious lout who tries to gain the sympathies of women because of the fact that a bunch of the leafy vegetable forms the top of his noggin’; and the Chicken Lady, a freak show half-woman, half-chicken beast in need of a shrink—or at least Col. Sanders.
“ Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels saw the Kids and helped them produce a TV show in the States, which aired on HBO and CBS through 1995. The pay cable channel was an opportunity to get away with stuff that “SNL” could not, including a bit called “Dr. Seuss Bible,” which chronicles the crucifixion of Jesus via silly rhymes and colorful characters.
Like Python, the all-male troupe often transformed into female characters, some making better-looking women than others. I was lucky enough to chat with three of the Kids before they took their comedy on the road, and met them sweaty and smiling backstage at The Pageant in St. Louis.
Corey Stulce: Who do you think makes the best-looking lady then and now?
Dave Foley: Then, definitely me. It’s one of the few things the troupe agrees on is that I was the best in drag; that I was actually pretty. Now I don’t think any of us look that good in drag. We’re all a little older.
Corey: I just read an article about a new book coming out about religious parallels to the writing of Dr. Seuss and that’s something you guys played with a long time ago.
Dave: Wow, yeah, that was over 20 years ago.
Corey: Combining religion and comedy can be sort of dangerous. Did you guys get any backlash for the stuff you did?
Dave: Oh, sure. ‘Dr. Seuss Bible’ offended a lot of people. In fact, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) wouldn’t air it when we did it. It never aired in Canada. Even HBO was worried about putting it on the air. I’ve had a few things that didn’t run in Canada because they were religious. I had a monologue about how Christ was a bad carpenter. It was mostly me saying I had unearthed some artifacts that were apparently built by Christ and they were all lousy. They wouldn’t air that in Canada.
Corey: What did you think about the comparisons to you guys and Monty Python back then, and has your opinion changed at all?
Dave: My opinion has always been that it’s flattering to be compared to them. I think they are the Beatles of comedy. I like to think we’re a distant second-best to Python, and structurally we’re very different from them. Because we loved Python, we decided very early on that we would never do anything that felt like Python. All of our sketches have endings. We don’t do segues. Out of respect for them we went with a more traditional style.
Corey: Have you ever gotten any comments about your show from
We do the classic Blues Brothers show, but it’s very formal presentation wise. There’s a whole tribute to John in there. There’s material that we don’t do in the Have Love Will Travel revue, which is in that classic show. There’s two concepts here going.
Corey: There’s some retired stuff that you won’t do again?
Dan: Yes, I think some of the songs that were really associated with John, Jimmy doesn’t really want to do because they were his.
Corey: Why do you think the Blues Brothers legacy has lived on for so long?
Dan: I think it’s accessible to some people. Everyone can look or feel like a Blues Brother. The music is fun. It’s happy. It’s uplifting. It’s all about a good time. People like an icon that represents a good time.
Kids in the Hall—Dave Foley
Back in 1984, three MCs and a Dave—Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald Mark McKinney and Dave Foley—met and combined forces in Toronto, eventually adding a token gay, Scott Thompson, to become Kids in the Hall.
A love of Monty Python spawned irreverent characters like Cabbage Head, an obnoxious lout who tries to gain the sympathies of women because of the fact that a bunch of the leafy vegetable forms the top of his noggin’; and the Chicken Lady, a freak show half-woman, half-chicken beast in need of a shrink—or at least Col. Sanders.
“ Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels saw the Kids and helped them produce a TV show in the States, which aired on HBO and CBS through 1995. The pay cable channel was an opportunity to get away with stuff that “SNL” could not, including a bit called “Dr. Seuss Bible,” which chronicles the crucifixion of Jesus via silly rhymes and colorful characters.
Like Python, the all-male troupe often transformed into female characters, some making better-looking women than others. I was lucky enough to chat with three of the Kids before they took their comedy on the road, and met them sweaty and smiling backstage at The Pageant in St. Louis.
Corey Stulce: Who do you think makes the best-looking lady then and now?
Dave Foley: Then, definitely me. It’s one of the few things the troupe agrees on is that I was the best in drag; that I was actually pretty. Now I don’t think any of us look that good in drag. We’re all a little older.
Corey: I just read an article about a new book coming out about religious parallels to the writing of Dr. Seuss and that’s something you guys played with a long time ago.
Dave: Wow, yeah, that was over 20 years ago.
Corey: Combining religion and comedy can be sort of dangerous. Did you guys get any backlash for the stuff you did?
Dave: Oh, sure. ‘Dr. Seuss Bible’ offended a lot of people. In fact, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) wouldn’t air it when we did it. It never aired in Canada. Even HBO was worried about putting it on the air. I’ve had a few things that didn’t run in Canada because they were religious. I had a monologue about how Christ was a bad carpenter. It was mostly me saying I had unearthed some artifacts that were apparently built by Christ and they were all lousy. They wouldn’t air that in Canada.
Corey: What did you think about the comparisons to you guys and Monty Python back then, and has your opinion changed at all?
Dave: My opinion has always been that it’s flattering to be compared to them. I think they are the Beatles of comedy. I like to think we’re a distant second-best to Python, and structurally we’re very different from them. Because we loved Python, we decided very early on that we would never do anything that felt like Python. All of our sketches have endings. We don’t do segues. Out of respect for them we went with a more traditional style.
Corey: Have you ever gotten any comments about your show from
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