Canadian comedy duo Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice brought their On the Road tour to a sold out Commons Theatre the evening of March 26.
Hotz and Rice are famous for their unscripted comedy television series Kenny vs. Spenny, which was wildly popular in the mid-to-late ‘00s and today maintains its cult following. In each episode of the series, the long-time best friends would go head-to-head in an outrageous challenge – “Who can drink the most beer?”; “Who can wear a dead octopus on their head the longest?” etc. – the loser would then have to perform an act of humiliation of the winner’s choosing.
While the content of the show at the Commons Theatre did not feature the two men in any sort of competition, it did conclude in a humiliation – Rice would have to swallow Hotz’s “tongue scrapings” – he instead spat them onto the crowd.
He also spat beer at Hotz as they traded barbs, stole his microphone and slapped a pint out of his hand (Hotz had offered the glass to appease the belligerent Rice, who spilled it on the front row of the audience).
The loose premise of the unscripted event was as follows: the men were to comment on a series of behind-the-scenes and “too hot for TV” clips, which had been curated by Hotz – most of which cast Rice in a negative light. Then to have a Q & A with the audience – who mostly spewed vulgarities at Rice.
“Do you have any dignity left?” one attendee asked.
Rice was in and out of his seat the entire performance, screaming into the mic as he defended himself against heckles from the audience. At one point he walked off stage and violently re-emerged behind the projection screen in an attempt to censor the footage Hotz had on display – a soft-core porn clip of Rice’s cousin.
“I hate my life,” muttered Rice toward the end of the performance. “This show has been an assassination on my character…what I had left of it.”
Some of the clips on display provided background of how their program came to be, others highlighted the moments for which CBC and Showcase, (their former networks), respectively gave them the axe for pushing the boundaries too far.
As the night wore on, Rice grew more and more vulgar and hostile toward the audience – to his partner’s delight.
“Kingston should still be the capital of Canada,” he said, “fuck all of you.”
The dynamic of the duo has traditionally seen the charming Hotz win challenges by any means while the emotional Rice loses miserably despite his noble attempts. Prone to mood-swings, Rice would often lose his temper.
“Netflix doesn’t want us, we can’t go back to TV,” said Hotz, referring to how he and Rice have pushed the envelope as far as they legally can. “Without you guys, there’d be no Kenny vs. Spenny.”
Years after their television heyday, their dynamic remains the same. In the live format – without the censorship, editing and safe distance provided by televised broadcast – the raucous contentiousness of Kenny vs. Spenny was fully amplified.