Hipsters aren’t known for their humor.

Supercilious attitudes, yes. Skinny jeans, yes. A dislike for anything popular, yes.

But humor, not so much.

The vaudeville comedy troupe Disney Herpes descended on Flicker last night to the delight of Athenian hipsters, but no one else.

Led by musician Dave Barnes, brother of the of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes, and actor Josh Skinner, the comedy show mixed with performance art consisted of almost 20 sketches, some so esoteric that ordinary people were left scratching their heads.

The show began an hour later than advertised when Barnes and Skinner mounted the dais and joked languidly about The Doors opening at 8:30. After repeating this joke for about five minutes – long enough for it to get old, but not long enough for it to get funny again – they introduced themselves and their act, as well as their own special drink called the “Herpes Slurpee.”

Instead of a highball filled with vodka and the herpes simplex virus, the “Slurpee” is just a beer with a green tea bag dropped into it. Barnes and Skinner demonstrated the technique of letting the tea steep in the beer by warming the bottle with their palms, even taking sips of the concoction to the disgust of many in the audience.

Noting that they had little time to prepare, Barnes and Skinner began their first sketch of the night by singing about friends. The duo declared everyone in the room a friend of theirs, using a charming innocence to coax chuckles from the audience. The song quickly got weird (and not in a good way) when others joined them onstage, including a man in a pig suit.

The next act marked a great improvement and was one of the highlights of the evening. Skinner assumed the role of Noah while Barnes belted out the voice of God offstage. Little can make an audience more uncomfortable than chatting about God, but Skinner’s easy likability overcame some of the automatic awkwardness of the subject matter.

Skinner questioned His instructions, probing the logic of bringing birds and fish onto the ark, when neither would necessarily be harmed by a flood.

“This isn’t complicated,” Skinner said God said, exasperated. “You’re making it more complicated.”

Other highlights of the evening included a parody of a Poetry Slam, with Skinner reverentially reading a cookbook as if it were the height of poetic genius, and Barnes’ recitation of the poem “LOL Cat.”

Ending with a quiet solemnity, Barnes repeated, “Laugh out loud. C-A-T. Laugh out loud. C-A-T.”

However, the majority of their sketches weren’t as successful. A low point in the evening was Kevin Barnes’ falsetto performance of Psalm 139:14.

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” he sang.

Most of the audience appeared delighted with the rendition, chuckling throughout the performance, and applauding enthusiastically at the end. Maybe it was just a hipster thing.

“I didn’t get that one,” Dave said afterward.

He wasn’t alone.

The troupe wasn’t entirely fixated on comedy, however. About midway through the performance, it began playing a video of an Asian woman getting her clothes cut off by a man. Onstage, a girl in a bra was getting slowly covered by strips of black fabric with the help of audience members. Eventually, she was completely covered, and appeared to be wearing a burka.

If I’m being kind, the piece criticized the pressures to conform by a society uncomfortable with female sexuality.

But I’m not being kind.

Instead of revelatory, it was much more like stepping into the shoes of Zack Siler as he watched Laney Boggs’ eccentric performance art in “She’s All That.” Ultimately, it was out of place and unnecessary.

For much of Flicker’s hipster clientele, the evening was a success. But for others, it was just baffling.

… There’s a reason why hipsters aren’t known for their humor.

Quotables:

“I have all this used toilet paper and Goodwill is being a douche about it and won’t take it.”

“You don’t like Hitler, right?”

“Have you ever read the diarrhea of Anne Frank?”

“Well, if you ever get tired, you can just slather up my armpit and f#ck that instead.”

“Before there was Trader Joe’s, I talked to people.”

“Would I pay money to see you mauled by cats?”