Kenny vs. Spenny, Ivan Decker polar opposite hilarious at Grindstone Comedy Fest
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'Anyone out there have a knife?' 58-year-old Kenny Hotz beckoned the way improv artists usually ask for audience prompts — 'TOILET!' — his long-time comedy partner Spencer Rice begging him to just kill him already when one showed up.
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The now-grey, former reality TV stars doing a two-night headliner stand at Grindstone's sixth annual mixed-maniacal-arts fest did not exactly disappoint their 23-year reputation of being sloppy, vicious and preposterously cruel to each other in a peak Gen X version of Abbott and Costello, walking out already spilling drinks with one working mic between them, bitching about being put up at — content warning from here on — a word that rhymes with Bum 'Fart Inn.'
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Like any resilient bully victim, Rice deflected the jabs away from him, towards the audience and our city, calling the Oilers losers — he lost $300 betting on them — and dismissing Edmonton as the r-word version of Calgary.
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'The truth is we're only here because we were cancelled,' Rice moaned, noting they used to take meetings in Hollywood. 'This was not the dream we had growing up.'
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In the spirit of things, the crowd cheerfully yelled 'F— you!' back at them.
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This sounds insane, but it was all somehow therapeutic, tension still kept in since the second year of playoff disappointment, maybe?
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They did not do any gross-out challenges, though they threatened to have Spenny perform oral sex on his former Toronto babysitter.
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One heckler in a Kenny vs. Spenny T-shirt kept yelling back and forth at the duo, Kenny calling her to the stage, which she obliged, then yelled, 'Sit down, you f—ing slag!' which she seemed to appreciate.
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Yeah, so not exactly Folk Fest 'what a glorious city!' banter, but essentially an escalation between performers and audience where the two basically checked off every sort of offensive thing you can't say any more, except they can and they did.
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This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Howard Stern at a basketball game between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 27, 2011. Photo by Chris Trotman / Getty The Howard Stern Show, which has been on the air now for more than 40 years, first on terrestrial radio and since 2005 on SiriusXM satellite radio, is said to be on the verge of ending. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Reports in Britain's tabloid The Sun and elsewhere say that the host's latest five-year contract expires in the fall, but that it won't be renewed. 'Stern's contract is up in the fall and while Sirius is planning to make him an offer, they don't intend for him to take it,' an unnamed insider told the paper. 'Sirius and Stern are never going to meet on the money he is going to want. It's no longer worth the investment.' The insider added that Sirius may strike a deal for Stern's library of content. 'But as far as him coming back to doing the show, there's no way they can keep paying his salary.' Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again A separate source said Stern's political leanings may be a factor in the cancellation. 'If Sirius isn't going to give Stern a good offer, I don't think it would have anything to do with his ratings,' the source said. 'It's more likely everything to do with the political climate.' The source added: 'After you saw what happened with Stephen Colbert, it's like they just can't afford to keep him going.' The comparison is an apt one. Colbert, host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, was told last month that the show would end in May 2026. It was a move that many — not least Donald Trump himself — suggested was influenced by Colbert's criticism of the now U.S. president over the years. Similarly, Stern has in recent years become openly critical of Trump. In 2020 he called on Trump to resign from his first term as president for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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Guests on his show have included U.S. President Joe Biden, who gave his first on-air interview while in office to Stern in April 2024, and U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, who spoke to him last October, just weeks before the nation went to the polls. Stern, 71, got his start on radio in the late 1970s, with The Howard Stern Show beginning in 1981 on WWDC, a radio station near Washington, D.C. It moved to WNBC in New York the following year, and in 1985 landed at WXRK, where it stayed until its move to SiriusXM in 2005. Stern signed a US$500-million contract with Sirius the following year, and his contracts with the platform over the last two decades are estimated to be between US$80 million and US$100 million a year. Amid all the rumours, Stern made a surprise appearance (the show was on summer hiatus) on Wednesday to talk to Lars Ulrich of Metallica about the death of Ozzy Osbourne, and a new Metallica channel on SiriusXM. The topic of cancellation did not arise. 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