By Jason Pomietlasz

Kevin McDonald, a founding member of “The Kids in the Hall,” is bringing his rock opera “Kevin McDonald Superstar” to Buffalo Improv House this Saturday. at 7 p.m.

The impetus for it came about during the pandemic. Like most North Americans, McDonald started a podcast to pass the time.

“I was telling a story about an on-again, off-again girlfriend of 10 years, whom I referred to as ‘the cheater,’ and my guest suggested I do something with that story,” he said. “It basically centers around one night with a surprise twist.” 

McDonald decided to make it a rock opera.

“I’m a big fan of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and thought you don’t see too many rock operas anymore.”

He admits being a horrible singer but has a gift for melody. 

McDonald briefly studied acting at a community college and one day was called into the department head’s office. He thought he was going to get told what a good job he was doing, but instead was kicked out for being “a one-legged actor,” meaning he could only perform comedy and not drama, in the dean’s words.

“I found this pretty funny because he was missing a leg and therefore a literal one-legged actor,” McDonald said. 

However, one of his professors, William B. Davis, who went on to portray the “Cigarette Smoking Man,” on “The X-Files, encouraged him to pursue improv and gave him the number to Second City in Toronto.

About a year into studying at Second City, he met future fellow Kid in the Hall Dave Foley, whom he wrote and performed the most sketches with in the troupe. The duo’s chemistry was evident from their first meeting.

“We were doing a mirroring exercise in class, where you mimic everything your partner does, and we didn’t even know each other’s name at this point but we found ourselves rolling on the floor, eventually tumbling out the door and into the street. Eventually the instructor had to say ‘What are you doing, get the f*** back in here.” 

“The  ‘Seinfeld’ episode ‘The Strike’ that introduced Festivus to the world guest-starred McDonald.

“I had to audition for the role of ‘Denium Vest,’ and Jerry was very nice during the audition. Shooting started and for a week he called me Dave and I never corrected him. Then in my finale scene with Elaine, they stop the scene and bring out the two writers of the episode to pitch a new line with Jerry.

“They pitch like three or four. So I think of one and pitch it to Jerry. The set turns deadly silent, the two writers put their head down, the sky may have blackened and Jerry just looks at me and says noooooo!”

In addition to McDonald, the cast will also include Todd Benzin, Melinda Capeles, John Kreuzer, Dan Reitz and Sandra Roberts, with Evan Kaderbeck on guitar.  

McDonald will also conduct several improv seminars at BIH over the weekend.  To get tickets for “Kevin McDonald Superstar, click HERE.  

Jason Pomietlasz is The Buffalo Hive’s comedy writer, providing a weekly calendar of comedy events in the Buffalo area. He is also a standup comic and does improv at Buffalo-area venues.