Kiki and Herb Live at the Knitting Factory

NeoFlix

Thanks to the wonders of home video, viewers across the country can now enjoy the compellingly bizarre act - part cabaret and part trainwreck - of Kiki & Herb, long the darlings of New York City hipsters. The comic creations of pianist Kenny Mellman and singer Justin Bond, Kiki and Herb are a tacky lounge act that refuses to retire. That's a premise almost as hoary as the duo itself, but banish any thoughts of Nick Lava, The Sweeney Sisters or Richard Cheese from your head. Kiki & Herb take the idea to new heights of absurdity by managing to wink at the audience while playing it straight. With their blatant stage makeup, and Bond's unconvincing drag getup as Kiki, the duo seems to comment on its own performance. Yet the show itself - a riotous mess of drunken monologues and tragically misguided renditions of familiar pop songs delivered with shameless bathos - has a strange sincerity. By the final bow, you may believe the pair is insane but you believe in them; you can't help rooting for these ultimate show biz survivors even as you marvel at their grotesqueness. "The culture wars aren't over," warns Kiki at the top of the show, but this show isn't just post-war, it's post apocalyptic.