AT LACMA Wed 1.15.2014

Kroll Show Fans Get a Sneak Peek at the Hilarious New Season

Live Read regular and friend of Film Independent, Nick Kroll drew an enthusiastic and packed crowd to the Bing Theater at LACMA on Friday for the screening of the first two episodes of Season 2 of Kroll Show, a sneak preview before its premiere this week on Comedy Central.

If you’ve watched the trailer for Season 2 you know it’s filled with an impressive roster of comedian cameos, much like Season 1 was, including Key and Peele’s Jordan Peele, Amy Poehler, Seth Rogen, Lizzy Caplan and Laura Dern, among so many others.

The first episode got off to a bizarre and hilarious start with “Cake Train,” a sketch in which different women, including comedian Chelsea Peretti, drop everything when they hear the sound of a train approaching. They run frantically toward the tracks, rejoicing in the opportunity to get “caked” by Zach Galifianakis from the back of the train. In a post-screening discussion, Kroll revealed to curator Elvis Mitchell that that had been the single most expensive sketch of the season (adding a “thank you” to Comedy Central). The second episode kicked off with a very committed spoof of Canadian teen drama Degrassi called “Wheels Ontario” in which all high school students are on wheelchairs and Kroll plays a character very similar to professional Canadian hair flipper, Justin Bieber.

And of course, the first two episodes also reintroduced the most beloved, outrageous characters from Season 1: Liz (played by Kroll) and the other Liz (played by Jenny Slate) from “PubLIZity”, Bobby Bottleservice and Peter Paparazzo, and the guys from “Too Much Tuna”, played by Kroll and John Mulaney. Kroll acknowledged his numerous collaborators by pointing them out in the crowd: Slate, John Daly, Jason Mantzoukas and many others were there to cheer him on. An especially warm salute went out to Andy Milonakis who, when acknowledged, let out a loud “Fuck you.” “Hey, fuck you too, man,” Kroll responded.


Mitchell and Kroll discussed a common theme in Kroll’s comedy, which is the ability to make fun of people who never listen to anybody. He attributed that to his time at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater where one of the most important things they taught him was to listen. To describe his style, he gave in to a term comedian Seth Meyers had used in a previous panel, “sketchuational comedy,” which refers to the mix of sketch and sitcom that is characteristic of his show.

The good thing, Kroll joked, is that you don’t have to be a fan of intellectual comedy – a LA Woody Allen – to get Kroll’s sketches. You just have to love tuna fish.