Mike Hanford (photo by Dan Moffat)

by Dan Moffat

The Sloppy Boys are a “party rock” band from L.A. consisting of comedians Mike Hanford, Jeff Dutton, Tim Kalpaki. Prior to forming The Sloppy Boys, all three members were acting together on the sketch comedy show “The Birthday Boys,” which aired on IFC and was produced by Bob Odenkirk and Ben Stiller. Together, the Boys have released three comedy albums, Lifelong Vacation, Dancing on the Wind, and Paradiso. Since 2020, much of The Sloppy Boys focus has been on their cocktail-making podcast by the same name.

Allston Pudding caught The Sloppy Boys at Faces Brewing Co., at the first of their two shows in Malden last Saturday night. The fans, or “Slop Heads,” enjoyed the rare east coast show as they sang along to The Boys’ brand of garage rock, which has some Weezer influence thrown in for good measure. If you haven’t gotten the gist of the style of humor yet, here are some lyrics to their song, “Here for the Beer” : “Now the three of us don’t hold our liquor well/ A few cups of beer and we’re drunk as hell/ As the night went on, we sort of fell apart/A supermodel asked me, “Hey, did you just fart?”

Tim Kalpaki and Jeff Dutton (photo by Dan Moffat)

The concert was held in the backroom of the brewery as the crowd sipped on delicious beer at the (thankfully) air-conditioned venue. The lighting was stripped-down and the audio mix was focused on the vocals. The improv actors/musicians/podcast stars were in character as they bloviated their way through bits of banter in-between numbers. They feuded with the elusive “head professor at Tufts,” who allegedly talked trash about The Boys over by the bathroom stall before the gig and then ran away. The true “Slop Heads” stuck around for a hilarious and unpredictable concert, as well as hangs with the band at the merch table after the show.

Check out The Sloppy Boys podcast and tunes below: