‘Kyler and Tyler’: Meandering Minstrels

The two yuppie minstrels in “Kyler and Tyler Hit Zero Tolerance,” now at Le Petit Theatre in West Hollywood, should have kept their day jobs.

This satiric musical, written by and starring Russell Slattery and Phil Ward, follows a pair of insurance brokers who quit work and become folk singers on a seedy street corner in Hollywood. But they quickly find themselves plagued by the tough neighborhood and its colorful hustlers and derelicts, who are evoked by a talented supporting cast. The point seems to be, as Kyler (or is it Tyler?) concludes in a David Mamet-like tirade, “There’s no sanctuary. Sharks, vampires, jackals--that’s the world.”

Unfortunately, whatever comic possibilities existed here have been lost through Stewart Skelton’s meandering direction, some ham-fisted dialogue and the punishingly insipid songs (“Yucca Sucka,” perhaps the worst, is every bit as puerile as the title suggests).

If this is what street performance is like, selling insurance looks pretty good.

* “Kyler and Tyler Hit Zero Tolerance,” Le Petit Theatre at the Hotel Sofitel Ma Maison, 8555 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Saturday. $10. (310) 652-6997. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.