Kids in the Hall - TV Show

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The Kids in the Hall was a cult sketch comedy show from 1988-1994. They definitely gave Canadians a good name.

The show starred Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson. Bruce and Mark met through a theatre troupe they were in in Calgary. I guess they hit it off, and started writing together. Dave and Kevin took an improvisation class together in Toronto, and also worked as ushers in a movie theatre. In 1984, the two pairs met up in Toronto and formed the Kids in the Hall, along with a few other comedians. Eventually, these other comedians left the troupe, and Scott joined up (in 1985). In 1986, Lorne Michaels (producer of Saturday Night Live) caught one of the Kids' shows and offered to put them on television. So, in 1988, their pilot aired on HBO. The actual series started in 1989, and enjoyed a successful run on the CBC, CBS, and HBO till 1994. They were known for their cross-dressing, gay characters (Scott's gay), and similarity to Monty Python.

Some of their more well-known characters were:

  • The Headcrusher Guy
  • Kathy and Cathy
  • Simon and Hecubus
  • Dan and everyone else from AT&LOVE
  • Fran and Gordon
  • The Cops
  • Buddy Cole

The list goes on.

After the show ended, the Kids went about their seperate ways. Dave starred in the critically-acclaimed, but low-rated, sit-com NewsRadio and wrote and starred in the movie The Wrong Guy. He also appeared in the movies Blast from the Past and Dick. Bruce released an album called Shame-Based Man, wrote and directed the movie Dog Park, directed the SNL spinoff SuperStar, and appeared in Dick with Dave Foley. Kevin wrote for and occasionally appeared on the Martin Short Show. He also played Fred in the hilarious movie Dinner at Fred's. He was also in National Lampoon's Senior Trip. Mark became a cast member on Saturday Night Live for a few seasons soon after KITH ended. He was in the movies SuperStar and Dog Park (see Bruce), as well as A Night at the Roxbury. Finally, Scott became a regular on the Larry Sanders Show, and has his own (unbelievable) website called ScottLand.com .

In 1995, the Kids came together to write a movie called The Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy. It's a pretty strange movie that you probably wouldn't understand if you haven't seen the show, so it didn't do very well at the box office. Ah, well. Brain Candy's about a scientist named Chris Cooper (Kevin McDonald) who invents a pill that makes people happy (aka an anti-depressant). There's a slight flaw in the pill, which is that it puts its users into incredibly happy comas. There are lots of little subplots happening, like a guy (Scott) who doesn't know he's gay, and Chris and another scientist named Alice (Bruce) falling in love.

The Kids are currently doing a reunion tour of North America which includes only two Canadian cities1 and mostly covers the Eastern United States. There is talk that they want to do another tour, possibly just Canada this time, and they might also do another film.

1Humph!

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