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The Kids in the Hall
1989 · TV series · 5 seasons
Created by Mark McKinney, Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Scott Thompson
The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy group formed in 1984, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson.
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8 comments on Hacker News
A bunch of movies off hand that weren't mentioned elsewhere. This doesn't include tv shows, the two I remember off hand are M*A*S*H and The Kids in the Hall.
1999: Hilary Swank won best actress for Boys Don't Cry.
1982: Julie Andrews nominated for Victor/Victoria
1983: Barbara Streisand in Yentl -- before she became the effect.
1996: Robin Williams and Gene Hackman in The Birdcage.
1995: Patrick Swayze in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
1994: Mignight in the Garden of Good and Evil directed by Clint Eastwood
1992: The Crying Game
I agree with this entirely, and I think if you've watched some of his other shows you'll understand why. Some of the most consistently funny, well cast comedy on TV has had him behind it. Kids In The Hall, 30 Rock, A.P. Bio, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, Documentary Now!, Portlandia and so on and so on.
I'm sure he's quite a handful to deal with, but whatever that entails the end result of his presence on a project is that the project is often a good idea and well run. Don't get me wrong, he's had his money grabs and failed concepts, but the sheer number of hits he's involved with boggles the mind. He's willing to put money behind concepts few others even consider.
Kids in the Hall nailed it in 1994
"The Kids in the Hall" Episode #4.19"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1tFbZ5kaY8&t=94s
But do watch the whole sketch.
I grew up in rural Canada. I dumpster dove for a broken black and white television and spent over a month back and forth to the Radio Shack until I finally managed to fix it. The antenna was now a coat hangar, but I could tune it just fine.
My reward was... 1 channel of CBC (Canadian Broadcasting). With that 9 year old me could stay up late and watch The Munsters and Kids In The Hall.
I know every episode by heart. I can't do impressions of anyone, but I can do impressions of each character in the show. It's deeply ingrained in my brain. A lot of very young Canadians watched that show sans supervision and it opened out minds to a lot of ideas that otherwise were not accessible.
I was a fan of Kids in the Hall even during their whole pilot, which many might have missed. Look up "Brian's Bombshell" as an example.
My theory is that each member has some strengths they play to. Dave passes best as a young woman and is also fantastic as a glittery-eyed psychopath (Manservant Hecubus, Sarcastic Guy, etc). Mark is amazing at accents and really inhabiting a character (Dar-ryll). Scott, once he breaks out of his Buddy Cole, is wonderful as a beleaguered middle-aged woman, but he also makes for a fantastic Dumb Lunk (the Compensation skit) who can sell with physicality rather than lines, and a very good (no pun intended) straight man to seem ... average. Bruce can hit the depths of bizarre humor (the Sausages episode), can do an Everyman -- even if Canadian, and has the highest intensity ("Doors Fan"). Kevin has no sense of shame and can be relied upon to do anything that makes him seem foolish for a laugh ("Bass Player").
So far I have enjoyed the new episodes, including the ones that off-handedly referenced old skits like the "Dipping Areas." It is a bit meta so far, and somewhat melancholy as well, because it is rough seeing these guys get old. I am withholding judgment until I finish.
If you liked the original, you might find on YouTube all of the episodes of the short-lived Vacant Lot, with some similar humor and people you have seen in the periphery of shooting Kids in the Hall. At least one of their skits is a riff off of a Kids in the Hall skit ("Drunk Dad"), and I believe there were six or seven episodes.
Not a perfect rule... Kids In The Hall demonstrated for me, that in some cases, audience laughter adds an acutely essential ingredient to comedic performances.
The Kids In The Hall is a seminal example of sketch comedy, but as a broadcast show, the audio from the live audience had to be engineered into the sound channel of the program, since live performances have to mic the audience, to capture their laughs as part of the recording, and mix it properly, so that its volume pairs well with the broadcast performance, just like a sporting event.
The show really does hold up, years after the original recordings, still proving funny and awesome. But it turns out that the sounds of the audience change the whole dynamic of the humor. This is demonstrable if you stand it next to their movie, Brain Candy, which is also funny and watchable, but a different experience, without the noise of an audience.
You could argue that the performers have had their performances altered by the demands of improvisation and the give-and-take interaction that occurs with a live audience, but in retrospect, as a viewer watching the same show twenty years later, I don't really care about whether the audience effects are manufactured or not.
The truth is, the quality of the show has the sounds of the audience built into it as an integral quality, that boosts the entertainment value of the show.
The Kids In The Hall seem to have realized that the live improvisation really was a strong aspect of what made their show good, which is why they opted to engage in touring as a live show, instead of continuing as a broadcast series. I think if anyone were so inclined, though, the right kind of genius could be applied purely as post-production. It's just that the authenticity is preferred for obvious reasons, and ultimately, it's probably actually cheaper to just be talented.
My childhood exposure of Canada was through the movie strange brew. Still a favorite of mine.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086373/
I figured all Canadians were hosers who scarfed donuts and drank beer.
Then I watched Kids In the Hall and I figured they were mostly funny gay fellows.
Then I watched South Park . . .
> I can go back now and watch every episode of every HBO show.
Really?! Can you watch ``Tales from the Crypt'' or ``The Kids in the Hall''?
Can you really watch _every_ episode of _every_ HBO show in the following list?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programs_broadcast_by_HBO#Past_programming