Well, they tried. Kiki and Herb were all ready to just wait around for their respective dirt naps, coasting through the end of their lives on their meagre entitlements from the US government, so very thankful to be taken care of and to never have to return to the business called show again. Kiki had returned to her birthplace of Nutley, New Jersey, content to play bingo at the local library while dating the neighbourhood postman. Herb found himself in Tennessee living with a Venezuelan gentleman in the US on a student visa. All seemed fine and the duo made sure to talk on the phone every Sunday during cocktail hour (noon) drinking their Canadian Club and sodas and catching up.
Then it all came crashing down. The government cheques stopped arriving, the Nutley library was shut down, the postman was fired, Herb’s apartment flooded, and his gentleman friend was deported to an undisclosed location. The final indignity? Tariffs made Canadian Club too expensive for them to drink. So, having no other option, they have decided to return to show business and since no one in the ‘US of A’ can now afford to see an act of Kiki and Herb’s calibre, the US’s loss is London’s gain.
Are Kiki and Herb trying to heal the centuries old conflict between the US and the UK? Maybe. Are Kiki and Herb trying to just make it through a whole show at this point? Definitely. You can say a lot of things about them, and a lot of things have been said, but the one truth out there is – Kiki and Herb Are Trying. It will be a “tarrific” time. Lean in.
Photo: Eric McNatt
Reviews
Soho Theatre Walthamstow
186 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London, E17 4QH
We are a 5 minute walk from Walthamstow Central tube station, which is only 20 minutes from central London on the Victoria Line, and 15 minutes from Liverpool Street station on the Overground.
There are numerous buses that stop nearby and outside the venue.