A casual glance at Ed the Sock's infamous Citytv show in the early 2000s never really told the full story.

Oh sure, there were girls in a hot tub (the 'Wank Tank'). There was sexy co-host Liana K. There were hilarious/awkward interviews with the likes of Nickelback and Ashlee Simpson.

But as creator and the man behind the sock Steven Kerzner sees it, Ed was also a forward-thinking sock puppet.

"Ed was pro-gay rights, pro-gay marriage, pro-gay adoption in the year 2000," he says. "Ed was always very much ahead of the curve. He was saying, 'What matters is how people behave — are you an idiot or not an idiot?

"Ed was always very progressive that way. Now, Ed's saying the same things he's always said, but because of the polarization, I'll get people on the right saying 'You sold out! You're a cuck!' Calling someone a cuck is like wearing a shirt that says 'I'm With Stupid' with the arrow pointing up."

"Ed's Night Party" — renamed "Ed & Red's Night Party" with the addition of Kerzner's wife Liana — is now part of Canadian TV history, but the cantankerous, cigar-chomping sock with green hair is far from retired. In fact, the current political climate has brought him back in a big way with a successful live show that hit Canada's West Coast last year and makes its way to Ontario in March, including Willie John's in Niagara Falls Thursday, March 14, for a Livestock Niagara presentation.

Dubbed the War on Stupid tour, Ed and Liana pride themselves on saying the things others only think. They stick it to both the right and left, Libs and Cons, anyone and anything they feel has contributed to the current cesspool of intolerance and hyperbole. As Kerzner says, "bringing the 'War on Stupid' to Doug Ford's Ontario is like Ripley at the end of 'Aliens' facing the hive queen."

"Every show is different," he says. "This isn't a stand-up comic doing a rehearsed 15 minutes … these shows are organic. This is like when we did 'Ed & Red's Night Party.' We have topics, we know what we want to say about them, but there's an awful lot of free form that goes on."

"There's a lot more audience involvement now," adds Liana. "Just because I can see and hear them much better and can interact in a much more meaningful way."

There are plenty of laughs, but make no mistake — Ed and Red are angry. At voter apathy, at cancerous politics, at the demise of productive discourse. The extreme example is in the U.S., but there's plenty to tee off on in Canada.

"People have become slowly acclimated to this level of stupid, to the point you don't even recognize the stupidity around us," says Kerzner. "That's one of the purposes of the show, to point out some of these things we're living with."

"That's the power of comedy — you don't have to get people angry, you can make people laugh," says Liana. "It's almost like apathy mixed with terror nowadays. When you laugh, you're not apathetic anymore, you're engaging with it."

A fixture on Citytv and MuchMusic in the '90s, Ed the Sock is often cited as the inspiration for Robert Smigel's Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, who debuted on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in 1997. He briefly left the airwaves in 2008, re-emerging with Liana on Hamilton's CHCH two years later.

Nowadays, the Ed & Red team can be found on their online FU (Fed Up) Network, full of the rancour and commentary that crowds will see at the live show. And it's not all one-sided — Liana is a video game journalist, LGBTQ advocate and cosplayer who frequently offers counterpoints to Ed's more 'out there' rants.

Liana: "Ed can sort of break the seal and ask the questions — there are a lot of fart metaphors, it turns out …"

Ed: "There was just one fart metaphor."

Liana: "It was an extended metaphor."

Ed: "But it suited."

Liana: "It went on for 15 minutes."

In addition to Niagara Falls, the War on Stupid tour hits eight other Ontario cities, including Belleville March 8, Waterloo March 9 and Windsor March 15.

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While there will be classic clips and some 'remember when' stories, Kerzner stresses it's not a night of nostalgia. This sock is angry about what's happening in 2019, not 1999.

"Comedy has been so stifled, and because of that, dialogue has turned into this pitched battle of Lord of the Flies instead of Jack vs. Ralph," he says.

"When you lose your sense of humour, it's an indication you've also lost perspective," adds Liana. "The only way to convince certain people of these absolutely way-out-of-any-common sense propaganda that passes for more modern politics nowadays … you have to get people to stop thinking. Just react. Just regurgitate whatever you give them.

"What are the first two things any authoritarian cracks down on? Comedy and boobs. Women have to cover up, and people have to stop laughing."

Ed the Sock & Liana K

Where: Willie John's Big Easy, 4683 Crysler Ave. Niagara Falls

When: March 14, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $20 www.livestockniagara.com

John.Law@niagaradailies.com

905-225-1644 | @JohnLawMedia