I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 27, 2025] Kevin McDonald: Superstar

I saw Kevin McDonald do a bit of storytelling last year.  In this very venue.

This year he was back again, this time bringing his musical Kevin McDonald: Superstar to the MOCA.

I didn’t really know what to expect.  I had read that it was a musical, but what does that mean?  Well, when the show started, Kevin and guitarist John Wlaysewski came up on stage and play 2 songs that Kevin wrote.  One was all about grass (not that kind of grass, backyard grass).  Then he told a long story about Johnny Rotten and an AIDS test (which he told in a slightly different style last year but which was still very funny).  And then another song “Just Keep Dancing.”

Then Dave Hill came out on stage.  I hadn’t heard of Dave, but he is apparently quite well known (well known enough to play a ripping guitar solo version of the Canadian and American national anthems before a hockey game (easily found om YouTube).  Dave is also a comedian.  He came up on stage and played a hilariously self-deprecating character (who was secretly loving all of the fame).

He told a few stories and then played some songs.  Even though he is a massively talented guitarist, his songs were hilarious.  He played Danzig’s Mother by getting the sound just right on his guitar, singing the word Mother and the first line and then mumbling his way through to the next time he screamed Mother (just like everyone else who has no idea what the words are).  When he took requests, someone (of course) shouted Freebird (gag), and he said, ok you asked for it I’m playing the whole thing.  He played 30 seconds of the intro and said, there you get the picture.  After a very long song/story about being a part of the biggest meat heist ever, he stayed up on staged and introduced the players for the evening.

It was John and Dave on guitars, Joe Moore as the narrator and Robin Rothman as a few characters (she has an amazing voice).

Kevin told us that he always wanted to write a rock opera because he loves Jesus Christ Superstar.  But he only knows three chords and he can’t sing.

The singing part is true, he really can’t.  Luckily the rest of the troupe can sing very well.  John played Dave Foley and Robin played the women….

Okay so the story is about a time in the 1990s when The Kids in the Hall had just learned that their movie flopped.  Kevin was dating a woman named Cheater (probably not her real name).  She cheated on him a lot but they stayed together nonetheless (she liked guy who looked like Bowie, which Kevin does not).  Around this time Dave Foley and Kevin were invited to New York City to be on the Joan Rivers show.  It seems likely that Scott Thompson went with them but was excised from the story to keep the number of characters down.  Scott’s “cameo” (Played by Dave Hill) is hilarious.

They went to an AIDS benefit and Kevin behaved inappropriately.  Then they went on the Joan Rivers show (Robin played Joan and was perfect) and they were completely hungover.  I am very sad that I can’t find any footage of this–maybe it never aired?–because it was a disaster of epic proportions.  As was his relationship with Cheater.

The songs were fun.  Could it have been done as a story instead of a musical?  Sure.  But it was a lot of fun being done in this style, complete with snarky narrator.

The show was about an hour and the whole night was about 2.  A perfect amount of time for a fun night out (and home early as well!)

So I have now seen 3 of The Kids in the Hall solo (Kevin twice, Bruce and Scott) and my wife has seen two of them (Kevin and Bruce).  I doubt the other two guys will ever do a tour since they are both quite successful on TV.  But maybe?