Michael & Michael Have Issues

Thu., Oct. 29, 8 p.m., $24, with Kumail Nanjiani, Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-6888, thetroc.com. Postponed until Feb. 2010

by Scott Yorko

[ comedy ]

Former Daily Show correspondent Michael Showalter and VH1 zeitgeist expert Michael Ian Black have been working together on comedy projects since the '80s. They've co-written, co-produced and/or co-starred in Wet Hot American Summer, The State and Stella, yet Showalter insists that he and Black "have a passing acquaintance, like we barely know each other." (Right. All that really means is Showalter is full of shit.) Their live performance is based on the Comedy Central's new show Michael & Michael Have Issues, which lampoons the same pathetic, social faux pas-prone characters they've always been drawn to. The audience is key to the performance's outcome, too. "It's largely improvised," says Showalter. "It sort of goes where it goes, and the audience tends to play a role in that — depending on how drunk they are." But the Michaels say the real difference between this tour and past ones is that they've become better at making fun of life as it is. "I think we're trying to do something that's a little more grounded comedically, unlike Stella, for example, which was sort of a very absurd reality," says Showalter. "The reality in Michael & Michael Have Issues is, in theory, the reality we all live in." Which isn't to say, it's not bullshit.