Comedy duo living every Canadian boy's dreamThey're living every Canadian boy's dream: they have local celebrity status, a much-praised website and national TV exposure. But Kevin and James aren't resting on their laurels, nosirree. There recently arrived on my desk a fax from James Whittingham, well-known (kinda) to Reginans as 50 per cent of Access Communications's off-the-wall The James and Kevin Show. The fax was talking about the official James and Kevin website, which got pretty good reviews in some high-powered computing magazines -- and left a Toronto phone number for follow-up questions. It belongs to James, who has indeed headed for Toronto, seeking more gigs for the pair. "We couldn't afford to keep flying back and forth," cracked his partner, Kevin Allardyce, who remains in Regina. This is the last season of their looney, but impressively well-produced series on Access Communications, for which they also do commercials. Later this month, they'll both be in town warming up the crowd for the U of R Alumni Association's annual fund-raising dinner, headlined by a duo called Bowser and Blue. Kevin and James have been doing the segues (transitions) between segments of CBC-TV's Just For Laughs showcase of Canadian comics -- the kind of exposure that other comics would, frankly, kill for. If you haven't seen The James and Kevin Show, imagine mixing Wayne Rostad's On The Road Again with SCTV, and administering laughing gas. Or you could think of it as an upscale Wayne's World -- with Wayne able to converse knowledgeably about the Canadian Wheat Board and militant Islam -- for Kevin, 29, holds a degree with a dual major in political science and comparative religion. James, 31, talks thoughtfully about the craft of comedy and making it in The Big City. Not your average cut-ups. Kevin met James in 1985, when mutual friend Brett Bell, doing some volunteer producing for Rough Cuts on Access Communications and needing bodies for a comedy skit, drafted his pals. The lads became friends and were observed doing a spontaneous comedy routine. "We didn't realize we were doing a routine together," James says. "To this day, we don't want to admit it because it annoys a lot of people." But people laughed and when Access Communications producer Jack Hilkewich needed somebody to host an episode of What's Up? on Regina's summer exhibition, he drafted his friends. They worked so well that they landed regular segments on Access Communications's community channel, and then a permanent show. Next thing anybody knew, they were mimicking action movies (q.v. a terrific satire called Bad Cops) or tearjerkers (The Last Limo or Fantasy Island or maybe spending the day at Canadian Tire -- and building up a remarkably dedicated following. "We have a multimillion-dollar budget, y'know" deadpans Kevin, 29. Yeah, right. "We know, for sure, that Ken Beattie and James and Kevin and probably the Rotary Carol Festival are our most popular shows," says Access Communications spokesman Roy Brown, adding that K&J episodes inspire fully half the calls on the cable co-op's feedback line. "Probably the most popular ones are when they visited the sex shop, and then Burger King." Over coffee in The Leader-Post cafeteria, Kevin talks about the people who nod to him in malls, the teenager who yelled "YOU SUCK!" (their only hostile critic) and the time he was going through a Blockbuster Video store and noticed two young boys silently following him. "Y-y-you're the guy on TV, aren't ya?" one urchin asked him. "We love you!" "Gee, it's not like like I'm Jack Nicholson, or even Jack Nicklaus," chuckles Kevin. "That's what amazes me the most: when they recognize me, but they're afraid to come up to me. It's got such a cult following that it's really pleasing and amazing. Never, when we started 41Ž2 years ago, did we think that we'd end up doing national television." Thus it came to pass that Kevin helped move James to Toronto, where he's trying to get the duo a national TV series or stage work to supplement the Just For Laughs work. The big move saw them haunting Hogtown's comedy clubs, which Kevin says they'd love to play. "That's how you do it: study other comedians. It is something you can learn; you can learn to be funny. You don't necessarily study the comedians who go on; you study style and where it flows to and how much you can pander to the audience. I think being a good comedian also means keeping your eyes open. It means keeping well-informed. It means being well-read." A distinguishing characteristic of the Kevin and James, ah, genre is the relative slickness of their cable productions. That's because James is a product of the U of R's film-video program; many of their buddies are also grads, eager to show off their skills. The result is a package that, at its best, rivals stuff you'll see on CBC or The Comedy Network. "There's nothing I've enjoyed more than writing comedy and performing it," says James. "It is as hard as it looks; it's the hardest thing I've ever done. "Hard -- but fun!" Will Chabun writes three times a week. If you have an interesting item for his column, write, phone (565-8267), fax (565-2588) or e-mail him at: From page A4 of The Leader-Post, Monday, January 26, 1998 |
