Bruce: Toronto Star (April 15, 1995)
"The Kid is brilliant, behind the laughs"

Shame-Based Man (Atlantic)

The debut solo album by the most musical member of the Kids in the Hall comedy troupe comes loaded with preconceptions, all of them on the listener's part. It's just a comedy record, right? Straight lunatic humour? Yes, as songs like "Al Miller", "Daves I Know" and "Answering Machine" make plain in singalong style, with the help of producer/keyboardist Bob Wiseman and Shadowy Men guitarist Brian Connelly. But McCulloch offers genuine social commentary, too, although he's careful to cloak it in comedy. The disturbing-yet-amusing "Stalking" and "Daddy's on the Drink" put him at the front of the same sharp-tongued observer class as Meryn Cadell and Maggie Estep, while "Vigil", his reportage of Kurt Cobain's Seattle Wake, could be an Esquire essay set to music. Shame-Based Man is nothing short of brilliant, although you may be laughing too much to notice at first.

[Howell, Peter. "The Kid is brilliant, behind the laughs." THE TORONTO STAR. Saturday April 15, 1995. p. H16.]

Contributor

•  Dana L Kearns