BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Comedy great Kevin McDonald earned that apt description decades ago, for his work with The Kids in the Hall—the 5-man, 80s/90s Canadian sketch troupe literally unearthed by Amazon Prime last year for an all-new, 8-episode run. A well-deserved second season continues to elude, but McDonald gathers no moss waiting for it. The writer, performer, and instructor (whose workshops use improv to develop sketches) is on a national tour of City Winery venues. Opening in Boston on July 17, other scheduled stops include Pittsburgh, Chicago, and the closer in Nashville (on, respectively, July 21, 25, & August 11).

NYC gets its one-shot spot this Friday, July 19—and with it, McDonald will no doubt continue the grand tradition (aka recent trend) of Kids cast members knocking the socks off Gothamites with their forays into the realm of solo theatre. Bruce McCulloch’s Tales of Bravery and Stupidity (2022) and Scott Thompson’s Aprés le Dèluge: The Buddy Cole Monologues (2019) were both idiosyncratic, laugh-packed mini-masterpieces. (Click here and here for our Q&As, conducted just prior to their well-received runs at SoHo Playhouse.)

Joining their ranks with the benefit of having thrived in a multitude of actorly pursuits, we’re endorsing McDonald’s show sight unseen (a confident bit of overstretching done prior to the McCulloch and Thompson shows that, thank you, paid dividends). But wait. You say you’re not intimately familiar with McDonald from his 1989-1995 televised work with The Kids in the Hall? You may know him as recurring character Pastor Dave on That ’70s Show, a faculty member in the school-for-superheroes film Sky High, or as the voice of a variety of animated characters (including Pleakley in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch franchise).

And what a voice. McDonald at his loopy best delivers his lines in an utterly unique, lilting upper register that—like the Ouija board—works for reasons we don’t fully understand. And sorry, Ouija, but McDonald’s got you handily beat when it comes to versatility, his high-pitched voice providing a surprisingly sturdy foundation for manic, mundane, put-upon, or set-in-their-ways characters both male and female. Their situations may be absurd and their behavior bizarre, but something in McDonald more powerful than any given persona is always present, consistently grounding his unhinged creations in, if not reality, then at least believability.

Lanky and loose-limbed McDonald is especially effective in his duo work with fellow Kid Dave Foley. For best evidence, see his slow burn from helpful to murderous in the sketch that has Foley recalling plot points from the film he saw last night, dismissing McDonald’s repeated assurances that, “It was Citizen Kane!” Equally funny are Sizzler & Sizzler, “not two clearly insane people” in bathrobes and stolen wigs who claim to be sisters (staging their account deposit as if it were a high-stakes bank robbery is a typical activity in the series of sketches). What’s more, the Foley/McDonald pairings often toy with classic comedy tropes. As a vaudevillian duo, their recitation of Abbott & Costello’s Who’s on First routine derails when Foley cheerfully details the plot point that should have launched them on a series of hilarious misunderstandings—leaving our man McDonald alternately embarrassed, enraged, and exasperated (all in under a minute). There are plenty of layers to excavate, for those who care to look—but they’re never so front and center as to distract from McDonald’s just plain funny physical and vocal choices.

As for what’s set to unfold at City Winery, the show’s title (An Evening with Kevin McDonald – Featuring Stories From The Kids in the Hall with Dave Hill and Matt Vita) provides some clues. Expect anecdotes and insights from McDonald’s many years with The Kids in the Hall alongside some stand-up comedy and comedic contributions from his guests. As the titular star upon whose shoulders the whole shebang rests, An Evening with Kevin McDonald seems well-poised to draw upon his time spent in the worlds of sitcoms, sketch, improv, monologue, animation voice-over acting, workshop leadership, and, yes, rock opera authorship.

And not for nothing, but it’s worth saying that it goes without saying to say that once McDonald works his charms on our fair town, NYC will still have ample appetite for evenings from Dave Foley and Mark McKinney—at which point our Kids solo show collection will be complete. Burger King will issue a series of five novelty items, with the likeness of one special Kid etched into a tall, fragile frosted drinking glass. Then they can go back to appearing as a sketch troupe in hat one hopes would be an extended run back at the Beacon Theater. OR, Amazon Prime can get off its duff, throw an outrageous amount of Canadian coinage in their direction, and give us a second season of their streaming series. For all of their individual pursuits, enseble televised sketch comedy remains the proper natural habitat for The Kids in the Hall, and our best bet at finding out what’s become of Sizzler & Sizzler…

Back on Topic:

An Evening with Kevin McDonald – Featuring Stories From The Kids in the Hall with Dave Hill and Matt Vita

Comes to City Winery (25 11th Ave. at Pier 57) on Friday, July 19, 7pm.

For Info & Tickets ($32-$45), click here.

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