BUY IT AT AMAZON: Click HERE
STUDIO: Comedy Central
MSRP: $26.98
RATED: Unrated
RUNNING TIME: 220 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Never Before Seen Competition
Deleted Scenes
Audio Commentary
Kenny & Spenny: Men on the Street
The Pitch
“Two competitive dudes live together and do a lot of stupid shit!”
The Humans
Kenny Hotz, Spencer “Spenny” Rice
The Nutshell
Basically, Kenny and Spenny are lifelong friends, roommates and ultra competitive. Every episode they get into some sort of off-the-wall competition in an attempt to win bragging rights and the ability to make the loser go through a “humiliation” of the winner’s choosing. Sometimes hilarity, though usually depravity, ensues.
The Lowdown
So, like I stated before, the basic conceit of this show is insanely simple. And the setup is even simpler – at the beginning of every episode we’re given the contest and the rules are laid out. This takes roughly two to five minutes and then we’re thrust right into the middle of it. As far as the contests themselves, well they range from kind of boring (“Who can go the longest without getting a stain?”), to immature (“Who can go the longest without getting a boner”), to disgusting (“Who can eat the most meat?”) to fairly clever (“Who can commit the most crime?”).
In most cases, the setup and the rules themselves just serve as a framework. Once everything is laid out, the “entertainment” comes from the lengths to which the guys go to win. In the “Who can blow the biggest fart” episode, Kenny inserts the tube of an air pump into his rectum and proceeds to pump air…into his ASS…so that the resulting “fart” will psyche Spenny out. In the “Who can go the longest without getting a boner” episode, Spenny essentially prostitutes his attractive cousin – enlisting her to wear a string bikini and subject herself to Kenny’s sexual advances – in an effort to arouse him (which doesn‘t work because Kenny actually got an injection to completely numb his junk, rendering him essentially impotent). And the “who can eat the most meat” episode – well God damn. It’s everything you would imagine it to be…and more. It’s disgusting – especially once Kenny eats one bite too many. Now, even though the contests are always different and the extremes are vast and, well, extreme, there are two constants: Kenny will ALWAYS find a loophole to a rule (or just outright cheat) and Spenny will ALWAYS complain about it in that god awful voice of his. Seriously, when he’s at normal volume he’s fine, but once he gets loud – it’s like nails on a chalkboard. That said, it’s no surprise that Kenny typically wins and Spenny is on the receiving end of the majority of the “humiliations.”
And if the contests themselves were bad, the humiliations are worse. Well, they can be, anyway. Spenny has had to be Kenny’s human bidet. How do you be a human bidet? Someone DANGLES THEIR BALLS OVER YOUR FACE and you spit water up onto them. Spenny has had to be Kenny’s human fart meter. And, well, you can just imagine that. Spenny has also been subjected to: goat molestation; licking the door handle of a porn store and having to roll down a big hill in a giant, inflatable “human hamster ball” filled with dog shit. And not only is Kenny better at the competitions than Spenny, he’s also better at humiliations. The only one of Spenny’s humiliations that is worth a damn is his having Kenny make out with an old lady. I don’t know why but it made me LOL.
And there you have it. That’s Kenny vs. Spenny. It’s vile, immature, simultaneously homo-erotic and homophobic, disgusting and, well, sometimes hilarious. It’s a simple formula and one they’ve perfected and this season* is more of the same. If you love the show, you’ll love this. If you hate the show, this will only solidify that sentiment. And if you’re like me and really don’t know what to think – you’ll just continue to stare at it with mouth agape, wondering what in the hell it is that you’re watching.
And one final note – maybe it’s just my over saturation with the election season lately, but I do definitely pick up on a (perhaps unintentional) underlying political statement. Kenny resorts to underhanded, smarmy rule-bending in an “anything to win” mentality, while Spenny is quick to cry “foul” while maintaining a self-righteous “spirit of competition” mentality, apparently finding solace in playing the victim as opposed to playing the game. Familiar? Hell, even in the title screen, “KENNY” is bright red while “SPENNY” is bright blue. Again, that may be just me reading too much into it based on the current climate, but there it is regardless.
The Package
Art-wise there are two slimlines in a slipcover. The sleeve is maroon with the big KvS logo and our two heroes front and center. It’s nice-looking, actually. Really clean with a good sense of layout and color. The inner cases are a different story however. One has Spenny in S&M getup and the other has Kenny in his solid white unitard. Both have snaps from their respective episodes with synopses inside. It’s a good use of real estate, just not a good design. Ah well, the outer sleeve makes up for it.
In the features section, there’s some deleted scenes that are just more of the same, but most of them were pulled for censorship reasons, so they were interesting to see. The “Men on the Street” thing is mainly just a meet and greet with the two guys – kinda get to know their personalities. It was obviously made for launch promo material and is kinda fluff. There’s some audio commentary, but honestly – well I didn’t listen to it. Just really wasn’t interested and I doubt that it’ll be a make or break for you and your purchase. But hey, let no one say I’m not a fair and flexible guy – if you really wanna know how the commentary is, drop me a line and I’ll watch it, just for you.
Finally, there’s the never-before-seen competition – “Who can commit the most crime.” This one was pulled for obvious reasons, but that’s actually a shame because it’s one of the very very very few episodes that doesn’t really follow the KvS formula to the letter. The rules are very simple – break the law. Nothing TOO extreme, obviously, and if you get busted you lose. Kenny sets out and starts breaking law after law after law after law after law. It’s an absurd display of brilliance, honestly. Of course Spenny meanders around all clueless as to what would constitute a broken law. Spenny’s actually more annoying than usual and would have been better left out of this episode as he tends to kill the momentum with every scene that he’s in. But Kenny really gets into the challenge and makes himself at home. It’s amazing to watch and you sort of feel bad for him when he ends up actually losing (!).
* – This set is billed as “Volume One” but it contains the Season 4 Episode List. Not sure how that works but there it is.