29.97 a night of shorts by ADAM & DAVE at the Royal Cinema (608 College), Friday (August 29), 9:30 pm. $8. adamanddave.com.
You’ll have to wait until next week’s TIFF to see the latest selection of great (and not so great) Canadian shorts. But in the meantime, Adam & Dave, aka Adam Brodie and Dave Derewlany, present a selection of comedy shorts at the Royal Cinema.
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They’re no strangers to TIFF, having premiered five of their films there.
These guys are phone-up-your-friends-and-describe-the-joke funny. They know how to set up a scene, create character and deliver a payoff, but they keep pushing for more laughs – and getting them. They have the chemistry and instincts of all the classic comedy duos.
In Savior And Payne, the two play low-rent lawyers who specialize in cases where people have been injured by skateboarders and other annoying extreme sports enthusiasts. The bit is presented as a late-night infomercial, and the two nail the conventions of the genre, including the cheesy graphics and catchphrases. Brodie’s fake Tonawandan accent helps seal the deal. This is first-rate social satire.
Their Unreel Sports series of faux sports docs makes a great comic antidote to all the Olympics seriousness. One video concerns Co-Ed Naked Ping Pong, and the two (plus a fearless Chris Locke) play aging naturists (private parts electronically obscured) who go at each other with, er, paddles and balls.
Funnier still is their bit on Pool Pool, the sport of playing billiards in a swimming pool. An homage to the classic Martin Short/Harry Shearer synchronized swimmers sketch on SNL, this piece is just as funny, especially during the interview portion where Derewlany grudgingly reveals his birthmark.
As members of the brilliant sketch troupe Knock Knock. (Who’s There?) Comedy!, Brodie and Derewlany work with some of the city’s freshest comics, many of whom show up in the videos, including Pat Thornton (Racist Brick), Rebecca Addelman (Strip Show) and Nathan Fielder (Check Up).
The screening also includes live comedy by the two and Locke.
