The Vacant Lot

Two sketches worth recounting (they still bring up a chuckle (for me, anyway (and maybe for you too (especially if you saw the show))))...

1) Jesus in High School -- was Our Lord and Saviour once a gangly loser trying to make it through another pimply, teenage day? Well, it would seem so, yes. Except for that glorious afternoon at the swim meet where Jesus is the star athlete in the 50m freestyle. The gun fires and, as all else dive in, Jesus sprints across the water as fast as a gazelle. Back in the locker room, these heroics don't save him the humiliation of a bare-ass towel snapping.

2) The Acupressure Amateur -- on a bus, two businessmen sit side-by- side. One complains of a stiff neck. His colleague volunteers to help by using newly acquired acupressure techniques that should alleviate the discomfort. Soon, the amateur is pressing tentatively on his friends' neck. The friend lets out a groan and sighs with relief, but the acupressionist is startled to see he has released the man's bladder and it is soiling his suit pants. Desperately, he fingers his friend's neck like a saxophone, seeking the 'off' switch.

I regret this show never quite got its footing and wasn't allowed to mature as Kids in the Hall was. Kids in the Hall also had a rough start, but got a rare chance (for Canadian TV) to gain an audience and mature in quality. Much more amusing than Royal Canadian Air Farce at its best, the Vacant Lot remains a sad little footnote to what could have been.

This was a very unique and fun sketch comedy show that only lasted one short season on CBC. The sketch group was somehow related to Kids in the Hall, I think a couple of them were brothers or something, and they had some funny music videos and good sketches. It was similar to Kids in the Hall but not quite as funny and didn't make the same impact so this show just did not last. Too bad because it was a good show!

I loved this show.

Like Kids in the Hall, it was a little bit hit and miss, but when it was funny, it was hilarious.

I haven't seen it for years and years, but I still laugh at that "Blinded by the Light" sketch.

There was a great song they did, too, about a guy who wanted to kill himself, but he'd slept on his arms & he had no feeling in them.

While I believe the comparison between the Kids in the Hall and the Vacant Lot is valid, the Vacant Lot had a very different feel to it: the comedy was much more surreal and dreamlike, especially some of their musical sketches. I remember watching it with my sister, and we were always blown away by the many layers of content in many sketches. Superficially, they're funny, but then they also play with gender, self-destruction and some other heavy themes in a disturbing way. I think Rob Gfroerer's physical strangeness was a large part of why this worked (see the "He slept on his arms last night" sketch). I would love to get this series on DVD!

Following in the footsteps of the famous "Kids In The Hall", "The Vacant Lot" brought tasteless and often raunchy humor straight to our television sets. I enjoyed the series while it ran, namely a musical sketch about a man who slept on his arms while sleeping, and how he couldn't use them to do anything anymore. In the end...he wasn't even able to commit suicide! If you enjoyed "Kids In the Hall", than you would love "The Vacant Lot". With all the reruns on Comedy Central, I hope they play this series once again.