Same Guys, New Dresses

”This is my favorite ‘Kids in the Hall’ sketch: the I-don’t-wanna-take-a-bus sketch…. It’s like five Canadian guys on tour. They’re playing five Canadian guys who can’t decide if they wanna take a bus or not. It’s one of the classics…. And you’ll see, one of ’em’s gay!” Even though they were clearly mocking from a place of love on their guest commentary, ”South Park”’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone pretty much nail the particular lack of excitement to be found on Same Guys, New Dresses, a documentary that follows the sketch comedy troupe — Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, Kevin McDonald, and Scott Thompson — on its 2000 live tour.

The film (directed by Foley) plays like a crossbreeding of ”Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl” and ”This Is Spi¨al Tap,” but only if funny skips a generation. The only laughs to be found are on the guest commentaries, recorded by Kids’ playmates Parker and Stone, Mike Myers, Andy Richter, and Jason Priestley — who is presented as a fellow Canadian documentarian(!). To quote Homer Simpson: It’s funny because it’s true.