With near-capacity houses for his four standup performances, and a memorable turn hosting the weekly sketch show in 2009, Kindler had every reason to approach the gig with confidence. But well-meaning conversation-makers at Comedy Bar only put pressure on him to live up to another recent L.A. visitor.

One by one, performers and fans innocently brought up the subject of Greg Proops’s now-legendary turn as host just two months earlier.

“Did you hear about Proops? He didn’t rehearse at all.”

“Proops totally nailed his SNL, and he barely even looked at the script.”

“When Proops hosted, he healed a leper using only his mind. Like, not in a sketch, an actual leper.”

Alright, I made that last one up. But you get the idea: constant reminders of where the bar had been raised to, as if this was an elaborate plot to mess with Kindler’s head (it wasn’t, though that would have been brilliant).

Fortunately, Kindler prevailed, successfully memorizing most of his script and improvising through the rest.

He played himself, taking a voiceover gig alongside two inept producers who keep butchering his name (a favorite: “Ample Clitoris”). He played the shady Dr. Rellik (that’s “Killer” backwards) hawking his side-effect riddled flu medication. He played the soon-to-be-fired host of a terrible fashion program called I Like Your Style. He played straight man during the News segment, as Pat Thornton hijacked his political commentary to deliver his own screaming rant.

The penultimate scene featured a group of scientists turned into superheroes after a lab accident. Kindler became the outcast Hand Shoe Guy, with shoes permanently fused to his hands as his strength, and the catchphrase “by the power vested in shoes….”

The goofy sketch was made even goofier when Kindler accidentally forgot to keep the shoes on his hands. His delayed realization of his mistake, and awkward scrambling to recover from it, made for the best moment of the night. You don’t get that with Proops.

Photos by Sharilyn Johnson.

Saturday’s late show, the final of his four-show standup engagement at Toronto’s Comedy Bar, brought out a packed house of troublemakers. Oh, things got wild.

If you know Kindler’s style, you know that it may seem to lack a specific direction at times. Now, most people watch that and enjoy the entertainment value in the vocalization of Kindler’s inner monologue.

Others? Others may interpret a non-sequitor as a cry for help. One man called out, seemingly proud of his helpfulness, “politics! American politics are pretty hot right now”.

Kindler was amused enough by the guy’s nerve to name-drop satirist Will Durst and offer a few Ron Paul observations. Though as you’d expect, he spent most of the next few minutes gently but relentlessly ripping on the guy enough to ensure that he wouldn’t offer up any more premises.

About halfway through the show, there was what could best be described as a “ruckus” near the middle of the room, and a few patrons exited out to the bar. Kindler stopped to address it, unsucessfully pumping the eyewitnesses for the juicy details.

Comedy Bar tends to attract a very well-behaved, comedy-savvy audience. A simple well-meaning shout-out is unusual enough, so it’s actually pretty exciting when something more passionate goes down. There was enough post-show play-by-play around the bar that we think we pieced together what happened: Comedy Bar’s seating is rows of folding chairs, which have a gap in the seatback just big enough for the person behind you to accidentally kick you in your upper crack region. Usually not a problem, but more of a problem when a woman repeatedly does it to the guy in front of her. And then refuses to stop when he asks her to, and does it on purpose. The apparent solution, in this case, was for the guy to lift up his chair and slam it back into her shins. The duo had the good sense to take it outside on their own accord. We hear they made up.

Scandalous, right? What can you say: we’re Canadian.

Coming up tomorrow: Recapping Kindler’s return as host of the weekly sketch show Sunday Night Live.

Host James Hartnett:

Opener Tim Gilbert:

Opener Nick Flanagan:

Tuesday, January 24
David Letterman: Tina Fey (repeat)
Jay Leno: Larry the Cable Guy (repeat)
Craig Ferguson: Eddie Izzard (repeat)
Jimmy Fallon: Judah Friedlander (repeat)
The View: Joan Rivers

Wednesday, January 25
Jay Leno: Robin Williams (repeat)
Conan O’Brien: John Mulaney

Thursday, January 26
Jimmy Kimmel: J.B. Smoove
Jimmy Fallon: John Mulaney (repeat)
Ellen DeGeneres: Jimmy Kimmel
Wendy Williams: Tom Green
Rosie: Joe Rogan

Friday, January 27
David Letterman: Alan Zweibel (repeat)
Live with Kelly: Chelsea Handler
Wendy Williams: Sherri Shepherd, Andy Dick

Alright, those aren’t my words, but Andy Kindler’s tongue-in-cheek self-review of his two sets at Comedy Bar in Toronto, his first shows there since 2009.

Friday’s early show was bought out by the Humber School of Comedy, filled with the young students of the college program. Knowing this added a whole new layer to Kindler’s style of self-commentary, taking on an instructional tone that only he could capitalize on so perfectly.

The show was followed by a q&a hosted by the school’s director Andrew Clark. We learned about Kindler’s early days as a musician, and how he came to so openly voice his thoughts on stage.

An observation from the back of the room: watching the few nicely-coifed suburbanites, who presumably managed to get tickets before Humber did, lean in to ask each other for clarification on some of the references. The name-drop of simply “Zach” elicited whispers and shrugged shoulders. (The frightening part? The realization that this is actually normal, and that the rest of us are the isolated, nerdy freaks.)

The late show was for the fans. Although he often proclaims “I’m no sellout – literally,” it had to have been close. Kindler’s Toronto fanbase is healthy, despite his infrequent visits to the city. One of the most dedicated, Nancy, earned a brief moment of stage time to show off the latest of her custom Kindler-inspired t-shirts (this year’s features a takeoff of the Conan logo on the front, with the word “Jewgasm” on the back).

Hitting a much smoother groove than during the early show, Kindler actually did have the laughs coming fast and furious.

A highlight near the end of his set: Wondering if a light above the stage was the sign for him to wrap it up, and then realizing the light had been on the whole time. It became a riff about how he interprets every light he sees (light in the hotel room, headlights on cars) as a sign that he should get off stage.

After Kindler had finished his meet and greets, a few Comedy Bar regulars and comics headed into the bar’s smaller cabaret space to hang out. What started as just screwing around on stage by a few standups in an empty room accidentally became something more.

“Uh, is this a show now?,” a few wondered.

Yes. “The Impromptu Show” came to fruition before our very eyes, complete with lights and sound, and an audience of the lucky few to wander into the room. Joel Buxton, Bob Banks, and Georgea Brooks-Hancock all jumped up to do some time. While it’s possible that exhaustion and alcohol were factors, Pat Thornton lipsynching to Adele’s “Someone Like You” probably would’ve driven everyone to tears of laughter under any circumstances. The only person who could possibly follow that was Kindler himself, who gave a bonus performance to close it out.

Kindler is back at Comedy Bar tonight for two shows, and hosts Sunday Night Live tomorrow night.

Photos by Sharilyn Johnson.

Host Sarah Hennessey:

Opener Pat Thornton:

Opener Alex Nussbaum:

Comedy Above the Pub is in its third season (previously known as The TVA podcast), and has become a go-to interview stop for not just comics, but high-profile guests of all kinds. Recent favorites include Canadian radio icon Alan Cross, and former Toronto Mayor David Miller. Other past episodes you may enjoy: Henry Rollins, Chef Massimo Capra, Colin Mochrie, and perhaps one Sharilyn Johnson (ahem).

Today’s episode - fresh off a recording this morning – features Andy Kindler, in town to perform at Comedy Bar this weekend. (Third Beat will, of course, have full coverage of that come Monday).

As for the live taping? No spoilers here, but it was a hilarious hour full of stories about cats, Twitter fights, and posing the timeless question “did we make out?” The episode will drop in the coming days.

In the meantime, here’s a visual representation to tide you over. Photos copyright Sharilyn Johnson.