THE SKETCH SHOW with IDIOTS OF ANTS, THE UNDERSTUDIES, BULL HOOEY and DEADPAN POWERPOINT at the Second City (55 Mercer), Thursday to Saturday (July 16 to 18) at 11:30 pm. $22. hahaha.com/toronto. See listing.
Even if you’ve never seen them, you’ve likely heard comics Mike Kiss and Ted Sutton’s voices on TV selling everything from Micky D’s to Chevrolet to Molson.[rssbreak]
“Oh, and Gravol,” says Kiss. “After the food, the car and the beer, it makes sense to plug the stomach-calming medicine, too.”
Ironically, that voice work prepared them well for their newest gig, Deadpan Powerpoint. The two play Mike and Ted, stone-faced guys who rely on psych-you-out stares and authoritative pipes to convince people they know what they’re talking about.
I first saw the duo at last fall’s Sketch Festival, when they went by the cumbersome but fitting title The Keys To Invincibility In Verbal Argumentation. They killed, just as they did a few months later in Just For Laughs.
“When we were coming up with the act, we wondered if anyone would ever listen to these guys,” says Kiss, the more talkative of the two, a week before the pair’s JFL sets in the Sketch Show, at Second City.
“But they’re in suits, they have microphones and their voices are deep, so you pay attention.”
Parody comes naturally to the two, who, with the now defunct sketch group the Somethingorothers, created the testosterone-charged duo of Mitch Overdrive and Blake Thunder, who approach banal activities like sleeping and eating breakfast as if they were extreme sports.
For their JFL shows, the two tackle more deeply pressing issues.
“We’re looking at the indispensable principles of modern bouncing – for event security,” says Kiss. “We’re discussing the wardrobe and artifice of the modern-day poseur.”
“And,” adds Sutton, “We’re looking at the ultimate sandwich – how to build it and how to consume it.”
For a show like this, concentration is key. One smirk, one crack in their stony facades and the act crumbles. How do they pull it off?
“We avoid looking at each other,” says Sutton. “Sometimes we’ll stare at each other’s forehead so as not to laugh.”
If their approach to comedy is refreshing, it’s because they look to the past for inspiration. Role models include Bob and Ray, Steve Allen and Bob Newhart.
“Bob and Ray were from that low-key world of radio, where words were funny, not faces. Nobody does that sort of thing any more. Everybody’s trying to be like Will Ferrell.”
glenns@nowtoronto.com
