A full house gathered in the McNeil Room Saturday night, as the last Mother’s concert of the semester was sure to be a real treat. None other than the Arrogant Worms, Canada’s most longstanding folk comedy group, arrived on campus as part of their big tour in the United States—Boston, a day off, and then Troy. Throughout the show, the Worms demonstrated why they have remained as funny as they are, not losing an ounce of style over the past 15 years.
They began with their own version of the Canadian national anthem, “We are the Beaver,” and then proceeded to heckle latecomers. In fact, making fun of, or even directly insulting the audience—which the Worms themselves call “getting to know the audience”—seems to be what they do best. Very few bands could get away with this, but the Worms manage to have the audience laughing at themselves all throughout the show.
The band continued with “New Car Smell,” a song about love degrading, comparing it to aspects of modern life, such as a new car smell that fades with a spilled soda or vomit, or a Meat Loaf song that has its good points but goes on too long. With “Rocks and Trees,” the audience learned what exactly is in Canada—rocks, trees, and water—and it was here that the Worms fully engaged the audience, splitting the crowd into one half that shouted “rocks,” one that shouted “trees,” and one poor guy in the front who had “water” all to himself.
Some of the songs were from the Worms’ new 11th album, Beige, such as “Twins,” a country song about a pair of conjoined twins who really rather dislike each other. With lines like “Siamese twins are the Thais that bind,” the band demonstrated its knack for magnificent punnery, and their unsurpassably tongue-in-cheek presentation; they interrupted the song to insult the audience for not getting the joke, and then resumed right where they left off.
The Worms’ unique presentation even seemed to pervade the audience. During one song about a taxidermy nature trail, the band would ask for animal sounds. Of course, dead animals don’t make any noise, but the audience wasn’t getting this, and as usual, the Worms took to insulting the audience and yelling at them to be quiet. Finally, on one request of what a dead pig sounds like, a four or five year old girl—who may or may not have been goaded into this—shouted back, “Shuddup!” causing the entire audience and the band to collapse in laughter.
The Arrogant Worms began as a sketch comedy group, which helps account for their supremely irreverent style. In the humor department, they are enough to give Weird Al a run for his money; they possess a consistency that Weird Al seems to lack as of late. The Worms will be doing performances in England next month, but fear not, they will be back in Canada before long, and their albums are always available on Amazon. Don’t miss a chance to see the Worms perform. The audience was left so much in stitches it couldn’t find its way out.
