Tiny Meat Gang captivates crowd at Smiling Moose

When YouTuber Cody Ko was younger, he thought going on tour would be glamorous. At 28, he has learned that touring is quite the opposite.

“I always thought it would be cool to have a tour bus, like how sick would that be — getting f—ed up on the road? How cool would that be if you were 23?” Ko said to a crowd at the Smiling Moose on Thursday night. “You know what’s cool about having a tour bus when you’re almost 30? Nothing. Our bus is just six dudes holding in their poop for 10 hours.”

In the dimly lit room at South Side music venue Smiling Moose, YouTube comedy duo Cody Ko and Noel Miller, known as the “Tiny Meat Gang,” spent Thursday evening cracking jokes to an eager audience.

The Smiling Moose hosted the duo as part of its ongoing nationwide comedy tour. The 5:30 p.m. Pittsburgh show was open to fans of all ages, with a 21+ show scheduled for the same day at 10 p.m.

Both shows sold out quickly once tickets were released. However, the 21+ show was cancelled and rescheduled due to Ko getting the flu the day of the show. They kept the all-ages show as scheduled, with Ko sitting out of the VIP meet-and-greet portion.

The show started promptly at 5:30 p.m., with Ko and Miller pushing their way to the stage through the crowd. Shortly after, they played a satirical song ridiculing the people in the front row, causing the audience to erupt with laughter.

Jeordyn Cassidy, a junior digital media arts major at Duquesne University, came to the show with her sister, who had introduced her to Ko and Miller’s YouTube channels.

“My favorite bit was the song in the beginning about the people in the front row. I thought that was really funny because getting to the front row was such a big deal, so them making fun of it was great,” Cassidy said.

Ko and Miller have amassed a large following on YouTube, with a combined following of more than 3 million subscribers. Ko has been making YouTube videos for the past four years, while Miller follows closely at the three-year mark. Their joint comedy videos are what really made them take off, with the first published in 2016. Ko and Miller are not only comedians on YouTube — they also have two EPs out that are considered comedy rap — “Bangers & A–” and “Locals Only.” They can be found on most streaming services and have actually gotten some attention from the rap community on Twitter.

One of the highlights of the evening was when the duo held a live “That’s Cringe” session, where they comedically critiqued a video. “That’s Cringe” is a popular series on Ko’s channel, where Ko and Miller roast viral or cringe-inducing clips and videos. This series harnesses millions of views, and many clips from their videos have gone viral.

Most recently, a clip from their cringe video titled “THAT’S CRINGE: Vape Hotbox” about internet sensation YouTuber MattySmokes went viral. You may have seen it circulating on Twitter, Instagram or even Facebook. In the clip, Miller screams, “His nic level’s over 9,000!” — a reference to the newer trend of vaping and juuling. This quickly became a meme, with celebrities like Halsey joining in on the joke.

A live version of “That’s Cringe” had the audience bursting with laughter. The duo chose to critique a frat-life video that gave an inside look into the house of Florida State University Pi Kappa Alpha — commonly referred to as Pike.

The video started with two members of the frat introducing the house, Mike McCoy and Tripp. Right off the bat, Ko joked about the way the boys were standing.

“Look at this dude’s posture, man. This is a f—ing chiropractor’s wet dream,” Ko said.

Ko and Miller went on to joke about some of the names of the FSU Pike members, like Tripp and Zapp.

“His name is Zapp. What the f—? Were you named after a taser, dude? What kind of name is that?” Ko said.

After the duo performed some stand-up comedy, it held a Q&A session. The two got an array of questions, ranging from how they use toilet paper — crinkled or folded neatly — to what sort of different liquids they would want to come out of each of their fingers.

Fans came from all over for this show, with some from close-by areas and others from all the way near central Pennsylvania.

Dyllin Parker-Hughes, a junior cybersecurity major at Penn State, came all the way from State College to see this show.

“I thought the show was pretty funny. They had some great new stuff, but some of their old stuff was good too. I really liked the ‘That’s Cringe’ part of the show and the Q&A was very funny,” Parker-Hughes said.

During the Q&A session, Ko and Miller poked fun at many audience members, a token part of their act. They are known for roasting their subscribers and they didn’t hold back at this show.

One of the first questions from the crowd was a high schooler asking if they could find her a prom date. The duo didn’t really answer her question as they moved on, but the conversation circled back to it when the girl jokingly screamed, “I’m getting a refund!”

Miller poked fun at her and said, “You’re gonna get a refund? That’s alright. Maybe you’ll get a prom date there too.”

The crowd went crazy at this burn — even Miller himself doubled over with laughter after saying it.

The interactive portion of the show lasted for about 20 minutes, with the duo leaving the stage a little after 6:30 pm. The show, advertised as “an hour and a half of literal balls-out comedy,” ran a little short, likely due to the condition of Ko’s health.

The 21+ show has been rescheduled to be at the Rex Theater on March 27. At the current time, there are no new tickets available to purchase for this new date. Although the all-ages show ran short, there is no doubt the crowd loved every second of it and would gladly see the Tiny Meat Gang again.

“I loved the show. I thought it was so funny and I liked how they were very interactive,” Cassidy said. “It was hilarious. The only thing I’d like to see changed in the future is for it to be longer.”