Michael Ian Black vs. Bruce McCulloch
Battle of the Odd But Not Unhandsome Absurdist Comedians

You might say, "Why these two?" You might say, "Who cares?" Or, simply, "Who?"

But it's there. You can't deny it. It's more than a faint resemblance.

Of the two, Michael Ian Black is the cuter, assuming you have any clue who Michael Ian Black is. He's famous, in so far as he's famous, for being a member of the sketch group The State (with a short-lived MTV show); almost becoming the new host of Whatever The Show With Craig Kilborn Was Called; and writing some funny dispatches for McSweeneys.net about almost becoming the new host of Whatever The Show With Craig Kilborn Was Called.

McCulloch, though, has the edge in cred. Kids in the Hall were famous, in so far as they were famous, for being the best and most important sketch comedy group since the Second City alumni who starred on SCTV -- and, arguably, the last ones to really move the sticks at all. ("Move the sticks" is a football term, and means, roughly, make progress. We understand that once you start mixing references to The State and SCTV with obscure football jargon, you are speaking to a very small niche audience, i.e. The Man from F.U.N.K.L.E.)

The Kids in the Hall were, arguably, the last sketch comedy troupe, and certainly the last great one. There hasn't been one of any import since. TV comedy's gone the way of Jackass and South Park -- fine ventures, to be sure, but not the kind of venues dreamed of by all those gangly nerds who grew up chortling at the knee of Joe Flaherty. (Joe Flaherty = underappreciated SCTV star; gangly nerd = The Man from F.U.N.K.L.E.)

Stella, which may the name of a three-man group, or may be the name of an unnamed three-man group's new show on Comedy Central, claims not to be sketch comedy, to which we say, close enough. If these three younglings didn't grow up on the teat of Kids in the Hall DVDs, we'll eat our diapers. One of them, the aforementioned Mr. Ian Black, apparently like The Kids so much he had himself altered, either through cosmetic surgery or persistent genetic manipulation, to look quite eerily like one of the Kids, Bruce McCulloch. But cuter. Smart move, that.

Black and McCulloch have similar comic energy as well -- a kind of beady-eyed comic insistence. McCulloch was famous, inasmuch as he was famous, for his vaguely whiny, vaguely autistic comic monologues, and his character, Gavin, who was a vaguely whiny, vaguely autistic boy. He's also reputed to be the Kid in the Hall that the other Kids couldn't stand, once the group went kaplooey over infighting and internal tension.

Since then, he's been directing movies that are, to be generous, unmemorable, such as Dog Park, Superstar, and Stealing Harvard. Hey, we're not trying to be mean, but dude, we rented Superstar and sat through all of it because we have a lot of Kid love. And it blew. Forcefully.

Michael Ian Black is also famous for Ed.

Advantage: Damn. Who's funnier? That's really what matters, right? We’ve got to go with McCulloch, despite Dog Park. He always played a particularly excellent woman. And besides – he was Cancer Boy.