Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks
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.
My favorite thing about Kids in the Hall was how it was somehow impossible to describe one of their skits to a friend and have it seem funny. And, to be clear, I mean this as a compliment.
By the way, a couple of my favorite sketches:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7ApuaJrtck (The Monkeys)
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOQBXA5CPEM (Mouse Killer)
Loved KITH. So happy it was broadcast in the UK back in the day. I still occasionally go back to watch The Chase[0], or Bad Doctor, or I Speak No English to this day. Haven’t seen the revival show yet, need to dig out some time to do so.
My favorite sketch
The article and Wikipedia seem to agree in saying Brain Candy was a disappointment (even to the troupe).
But I differ: I love that movie. It's hilarious. Sketches and phrases from it are forever stuck in my head.
In case anyone is curious, the theme song is "Having an Average Weekend" by Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuifllwrFe0
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowy_Men_on_a_Shadowy_Plane...
Live performance at Sled Island 2012 reunion show (at a Legion hall of course):
The ERADICATOR!
Girl Drink Drunk is my fav skit. I still taunt my friends with the chocolate choochoo.
Kids in the Hall fans aren’t made… they’re born.
I immediately started humming the theme song as soon as I saw this item's title. Anyone else?
I am CRUSHING your head.
Here's a Kids in the Hall sketch I love:
Everyday I feel myself trying to avoid the pull of being
Hip
Cool
And 45.
This group in particular has depended on the kudos and good-will of their audience, all united by their common identification with "alternative culture". For my part, I have not seen a sketch of theirs that touches greatness.
Apart from their reboot series, I have not seen a lot of sketch comedy lately, I wonder if this genre is dead now?
Wow, a Kids in the Hall reunion. It really gives me hope for the future. If this can happen, then anything is possible!
Full frontal nudity in the first 10 minutes.
In case anyone else didn't know (like me) there are 8 new episodes available on amazon prime in the US.
Anytime I even hear their name mentioned, I immediately hear in my head “please… apologize to the car…”
Canadian humor always seamed very similar to British hunour, yet somehow different.
Kids in the Hall and the Canadian Air Farce are two great examples if it.
I particularly liked CAF's 'Literary stick up', if I recall the name correctly, though I have not been able to find it online anywhere.
Creative Possibilities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0al0xeCVCMk
In more than one startup office I have been in I have repeated, "Office? Submarine."
Kids in the Hall used to run at like 02 in the morning here and I loved staying up to watch it.
Possibly a little off for HN, but does deal with Office/Home/Colleague balance a bit.
Girl Drink Drunk (Politically correct... ?)
Francesca Fiore!
http://web.archive.org/web/20220524200931/https://www.nytime...
https://archive.ph/kDKvV