Los Angeles Times

Parody crashes party hearing

Comedians posing as surfer bros urge L.A. officials to abandon proposed crackdown.

- By Dakota Smith dakota.smith@latimes.com Twitter: @dakotacdsm­ith

Los Angeles City Council meetings are often criticized as political theater, but Wednesday’s hearing really was a show. Two comedians posed as surfer bros at the hearing, testifying against a city proposal to crack down on house parties.

Calling himself a “house party enthusiast,” Chad Kroeger urged council members to abandon a plan to regulate the parties, which have brought widespread complaints about traffic and noise.

Kroeger, who spoke with a Jeff Spicoli-inspired accent, recounted one high school party where he downed a “tall can of Bud Light,” an experience that later gave him the confidence to ask a girl to prom, he said.

“House parties were the bedrock of my developmen­t as a young man in San Clemente,” a sincere-sounding Kroeger said.

His pal, JT Parr, testified that the country’s deep divisions could be solved with “a fricking rager.”

Kroeger and Parr are played by Tom Allen and John Parr, two West Hollywood comedians who run a web series called “Chad Goes Deep.” They have also testified at a San Clemente City Council meeting to urge leaders to commemorat­e the late actor Paul Walker by chiseling his image into a coastal bluff. Their appearance Wednesday was their first visit to the L.A. City Council.

“Whenever we see an issue that speaks to us, we know we have to go,” Allen said in an interview Friday, adding that they plan to return for future hearings on the house party issue.

City Council President Herb Wesson, who is known for running a brisk meeting, acknowledg­ed the pair and their act with a smile before moving on to the next speaker.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said. “And I want to welcome you to L.A. Council’s ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.’ ”

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