The Kids in the Hall
Categories: The Kids in the Hall | Sketch comedy shows in Canada | 1980s TV shows in the United States | 1990s TV shows in the United States
The Kids in the Hall was a Canadian sketch comedy group, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson. It was also the name of the group's television show that ran from 1989 – 1994 on the CBC, CBS, and HBO.
The name is taken from the Jack Benny program. Benny would describe some jokes as coming from "the kids in the hall," referring to a group of young writers hanging around the studio.
Though it was produced by Lorne Michaels, who also produced Saturday Night Live, the show's sketches were more reminiscent of the British sketch show, Monty Python's Flying Circus for they were often of a quirky or surreal nature. One sketch featured a flying pig who amused bored people in bank machine lines, another featured a man who pretended to crush people's heads from a distance with his fingers. Another sketch dealt with the musings of two aliens conducting anal probes on humans, wondering "What's the point of it all? Why does the great leader have us do this?" and reflecting that perhaps the great leader was a fetishist and that this dominated their existence. Many of the sketches featured gay characters and themes; Thompson was openly gay.
A noted comedy writer for the show was Paul Bellini, who often appeared in sketches with a white towel around his large gut.
The show's unique flavor was in the way it traded on the 5 actors' likeability quotients and acting abilities during sketches in a manner very related to stage performances, and unlike most satirical sketch comedy. Rather than aspire to the skilled impressionism of SCTV or the cultured absurdity of Monty Python, the sketches come across as actors workshop pieces at times - though occasionally written as sharply as either of those shows. The show was also notable for reflecting and dealing with the youth subculture of its times, and for incisive sketches about big business and family units.
Also involved in the show were various guest stars (including Neve Campbell and Nicole DeBoer) and a great deal of cross-dressing. In their final episode, after the cast was purportedly buried alive, their tombstone inscription read, The Kids in the Hall TV Show 1989-1995.
After the show ended its run, the troupe came together to produce a movie, Brain Candy, featuring a few characters from the show and many new ones. Although not a commercial success, the movie developed a cult following with their devoted fans.
In 2000, the troupe came together for a successful North American tour, reprising many sketches from the show. The tour was chronicled in a documentary, "Kids in the Hall: Same Guys, New Dresses," which followed the next year. This was then followed by the "Tour of Duty" and a DVD based on those performances, released in 2002.
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Sketches and characters
He's Hip, He's Cool, He's 45
"He's Hip, He's Cool, He's 45" contained Bruce McCulloch playing a 45 year old man who would do odd things to "keep his cool" despite his somewhat old age.
It's a Fact!
"It's a Fact!" featured a young red haired girl who would pop up in the forest and explain something, then people who she mentioned would appear behind her doing something relevant to her fact. She would end by saying, "It's a fact!" and then run off.
She appeared in only one sketch besides her "It's a fact!" series. It was in the end credits where the Queen of England, portrayed by Scott Thompson, tried to make her jump into the river by telling her that there was candy at the bottom. It should be noted that the "It's a Fact!" girl used "The Queen is so old she doesn't know her ABC's" as a fact earlier in the show.
In one sketch, Mark McKinney dressed up as her and with great effort tried to do her job as she complained she deserved more money.
The Pit of Ultimate Darkness (Simon and Hecubus)
"The Pit of Ultimate Darkness" was based on a horror show which tried to be scary but failed greatly at it. It featured Simon, played by Kevin McDonald and Simon's manservant Hecubus (Dave Foley).
The other members of the cast would often rib Kevin McDonald and ask why he hadn't named the character in the Hecubus scene - knowing full well that the character was named Simon - as a reference to the fact that fans would generally only remember Dave Foley's part of the sketch.
Rod Torfleson's Armada featuring Herman Menderchuck
"Rod Torfleson's Armada featuring Herman Menderchuck" was a recurring sketch about a very bad garage band that had no hope of ever becoming real rock stars, but nevertheless took themselves very seriously.
30 Helens Agree
30 Helens Agree was a sketch featuring 30 women supposedly named Helen who would all agree on something ridiculous or arbitrary. For example, "Thirty Helens agree... If you have a good idea, you should write it down." One time they disagreed, but later decided to agree to disagree.