Live pod of "Dumb People Town" comedy show review:
TL;DR: Seeing DPT live with the Sklar Brothers and Daniel Van Kirk was a wild and totally fun ride.
The Sunday night my friend Cynthia and I saw a live performance of the podcast Dumb People Town (DPT) at Cobb’s Comedy Club in SF. It’s my favorite comedy pod I listen to.
It’s hosted by Jason & Randy Sklar (the Sklar Brothers, who are twins) and Daniel Van Kirk (DVK, who if he has a twin he/she may be properly estranged from his life, ha!).
The Sklar Brothers are a hilarious comedy duo that I first learned about on Jim Rome’s radio show of all places. They are consummate workers in the industry and have been in a ton of different things.
My #1 is a show called Cheap Seats on ESPN which is a lesser known (but no way should be) show where they watch old Wide World of Sports, Battle of the Network Stars and other weird sports. Kinda like Mystery Science Theater, they make hilarious comments on what’s shown.
I'm actually not sure which show came first.
I’ve seen comedy specials and they have an unmistakable rhythm. I’m guessing some of it is practiced but some of it has to be in the moment.
Cynthia said, after the show, she loves hearing their stories about starting comedy because they are both are so at ease up there. Jason (I think I can call him Jason…) said “that’s the result of 35 years of comedy).
Interestingly I really noticed how different from one another they are it was really clear on stage. They have similar roots in their humor and have different branches and leaves at times when they perform.
I was introduced to DVK on the DPT pod.
Daniel Van Kirk is sort of the straight man on the show, often reading the stories. He’s also an exceptional improv comic. He used to be a bouncer at a bar in the Midwest and easily calls on that during the riffs.
I’d definitely go see a show of his if it came to SF. His dry humor of @sklarbrothers when they tell a groaner joke always makes me happy.
The premise of the pod is simple, they read recent news articles about people being…dumb. Then the three of them riff (along with a guest on the show) about these stories. The three of them work perfectly together.
Personally, I think the lesser-known comics for some reason tend to be more hilarious than some of the really big names in comedy.
My all time favorite is an episode with Michael Ian Black about someone who purchased a machete sex fantasy and the “providers” went to the wrong house.
I’ve listened 20 times and sent to more people than I count.
The pod is improv comedy at its very best.
Last night Kyle Kinane (who I’ve heard of but never seen) and Robby Hoffman (who I’ve never heard of or ever seen) were guests.
Kyle Kinane had a sort of weird (maybe creepy) buddha/uncle vibe throughout that show that worked great, he was really funny.
There was a point where they wondered who a glam rock band is and he kept spitting out names as the content moved forward that really worked.
It was actually quite cool that at one point he was riffing and it was going nowhere and he admitted it was awful.
There was a point where we got to orifice entry and stuck stories of all orifices he was humorously flabbergasted that we passed on a stack of staples as it was “ok that’s normal”.
Robby Hoffman was good. She definitely had the New York Jewish vibe down and had a couple of good lines. She wasn’t quite as impactful and at times, I thought, broke the flow of the improv a few times.
The joy for me was seeing the Sklar Brothers and DVK interact. The years doing the podcast was obvious. They know how to vibe off of each other.
One fascinating fact to see live was they knew how to pause for each other. It was super cool to see the Sklar Brothers on either side of the group signaling they were about to say something by holding their mics towards their mouths.
The best way for me to describe the Sklar Brothers approach along with DVK is presence. When they are aware and present their lines were fantastic.
As a local stand up comic myself, it’s so instructive and inspiring to see how legit pros practice the craft.
The two main stories were both great material:
One about a couple that was arrested for doing a sex “act” in a line at Cedar Point (give it up for my midwestern crew!).
It included Kinane’s best contribution of the night when he pointed to the oddness of the word “act”.
They showed the pics of the two “criminals” and they went into the crowd for guesses after they did. I guessed 23 and DVK did a hilarious take about Michael Jordan. I was way off, they were much older.
The second one was about a woman who was scammed into sending money to a person who was “posing” as a glam rock lead singer. The scammer pretended to be Bret Michaels ( think).
And, of course, the police report included a “in the know” quote from the police saying “…every rose has its thorns…”. The riffs on the glam rock band as they tried to figure out examples, was excellent.
The final part was a series of things people got stuck into various orifices. It was pretty good.
They also did a bit finding stories on the days of each of their birthdays with “Florida man” stories. The funniest about a man who was arrested because specks of glaze from a doughnut on his car floor looked like crystal meth.
Randy Sklar did a hilarious karaoke cover of Gregory Abbot’s (yes THAT Gregory Abbot) “Shake you Down” because it was the first karaoke song he sang when DJ Eva (the special guest) played it for them.
I’ve listened to pods when they have cool musicians on it which isn’t my cup of tea. I want to hear the actual song I love so much.
A weird very fun twist is DJ Eva brought a bell to ring when people said really good or weird jokes. 90% of the time it was right on but it was hard to keep up given the pace of the show.
There was something really special about seeing the Sklar Brothers in particular in person. They were huskier than I thought (weird I know).
Randy looked like he was either Judd Hirsch in the sequel to Ordinary People or a not quite lead singer but definitely a member of a John Denver cover band (see pic with that sweater… and I also noticed we took like 10 pics in a row and Randy never smiled, maybe the weight of the mustache?)
DPT was a staple for me getting through the pandemic. And while I didn’t tell them it’s true for me when I got each week’s new pod I would cry when the theme song came on.
It was sort of out of joy as much as it was about the loss of something during that time.
It also was about the certainty of a really fun experience for the entirety of the podcast where I could completely turn off that tenuous time and just lean back and enjoy.
When we met all three of them, they couldn’t have been more gracious and grateful. They were so happy to take a picture with us and gave both of us quality, attentive time to chat as a big line went by.
I’ve seen a lot of comics and the three of them seem to legitimately care about their fans. In fact when anyone from the audience chipped in they asked for our name and said “Welcome to Town” which I thought was cool.
I learned in a show like that it’s really hard to keep up with the jokes. They are rapid fire. They are professionals and know how to not step on laughter in their performances but it was hard not to in this context.
The jokes would sort of roll through the room and the laughs were often loud so it was hard to tell where exactly they start.
I saw Whose Line is it Anyway live and that was improv for sure which was funny. That improv was like listening to a pod on ½ speed while DPT was like listening on 2x.
The crowd experience was unlike any I've experienced. The closest I can come to describing it is it was a comedic version of Song 2 by Blur when I saw them in concert.
It was like we were in a comedic mosh pit as the lines kept coming at us keeping us spinning in laughter.
Although somehow all of us followed along. I’ve never been legitimately tired out physically and wrung out from laughter.
Cynthia and I bought tix like 2-3 months ago, I’ve known her for almost 20 years. She’s a perfect partner to go to these events. We both laugh uproariously and are genuinely in the moment. It makes it really special to share those moments.
I knew the show would be fabulous and I got more than I ever expected. I’m so glad we said YES!
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