The Kids in the Hall (TV series)
The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy TV series that aired for five seasons from 1988 to 1995, starring the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall. The troupe, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson, appeared as almost all the characters throughout the series, both male and female, and also wrote most of the sketches.
The series debuted as a one-hour pilot special which aired on HBO and CBC Television in 1988, and began airing as a regular weekly series on both services in 1989. The regular series premiered July 21, 1989 on HBO, and September 14 on CBC. In the United States, the first three seasons were on HBO before it moved to CBS in 1993, where it stayed for two more seasons airing late Friday nights. CBC aired the show for the whole duration of its run.
The theme song for the show is the instrumental "Having an Average Weekend" by the Canadian band Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.
On March of 2020 it was announced that the TV series would make a comeback with new episodes for Amazon Prime. The series will feature the return of all of the original “Kids" in an 8-episode run, which will be a continuation of the original show, and is heralded as "the first Canadian Amazon Original series".
Synopsis
Despite their SNL connection, the show's sketches were more reminiscent of Monty Python's Flying Circus: often quirky or surreal, frequently utilizing drag, with very few celebrity impressions or pop culture parodies; the only recurring celebrity impression was of Queen Elizabeth II, played by Thompson. A recurring character was Mr. Tyzik, played by McKinney, who pretended to crush people's heads from a distance with his fingers. McKinney also played Chicken Lady, a shrill-voiced sexually excitable human-chicken hybrid. Another prominent recurring character was Cabbage Head, played by McCulloch, who was a gruff-voiced cigar-smoking misogynist who frequently used the fact that he had cabbage in place of hair as a means to generate pity in the hopes of getting women into bed. Many of the sketches featured gay characters and themes; most of these sketches were written by and starred Scott Thompson, who is gay.The Kids frequently appeared as themselves rather than as characters, and some sketches dealt directly with the fact that they were a comedy troupe producing a TV show. For example, Kevin McDonald announces that if the next sketch is not successful, the others are considering kicking him out of the group. In another episode, Thompson declares that he isn't gay anymore, which throws the other Kids into a panic, as they fear that the news will alienate the troupe's considerable gay fanbase. In yet another sketch McDonald complains the setup is cliché and his character one-dimensional.
Monologues were a staple of the show. Scott Thompson's Buddy Cole monologues are the best known, but the other Kids performed solo pieces as well. McCulloch in particular performed monologues that consisted of him, acting as himself, telling hyperbolic stories of the struggles and day to day experiences in his life and/or the lives of others. Prominent examples from the other Kids include Foley describing his positive attitude toward menstruation, McKinney in character as a high-pitched recluse who's describing with intense fascination his hideously infected and bruised toe, and in a gag reminiscent of Bob Newhart, a distraught McDonald calling a best friend's young son to tell him his father died, only to have the child end up consoling him, even going so far as quoting famous philosophers on the ultimate emptiness of life.
The show originated in Canada, and the content was at times edited slightly for U.S. broadcast tastes. Sketches mocking religion were sometimes cut down or removed, necessitating the addition of material from other episodes to round out the half-hour. Some US channels censored the occasional nudity as well, such as when Foley revealed to Thompson he had inexplicably grown breasts. Among the more controversial sketches was the final sketch of Season 1, "Dr. Seuss Bible", in which the troupe tells the story of Jesus Christ's crucifixion in the style of children's author Dr. Seuss.
Though the show occasionally featured guest actors, the Kids played nearly all parts, both male and female, themselves. In contrast to Monty Python, where the members often donned drag to portray older women but usually utilized women such as Carol Cleveland and Connie Booth to play young and attractive female characters, all the Kids regularly played both old and young women; the frequent cross-dressing became one of the show's trademarks. Female impersonation had begun during their stage show, because they found themselves writing female characters but had no female member to play them. As Scott Thompson explained, "The way we played women... we weren't winking at the audience... We were never, like, going, 'Oh, look at me! I'm a guy in a dress!' Never. We would always try to be real, and that, I think, freaked people out..."
The CBC aired the show through its entire run. Seasons 1–3 aired on HBO. In the fall of 1992, CBS picked up the show and aired it on late-night Fridays showing repeats, while HBO aired new episodes of season three. In 1993, CBS aired new episodes starting with season four. The final season aired on Fridays after Late Show with David Letterman. The series finale aired in November 1994. In January 1995, it was replaced with The Late Late Show.
Episodes
There were 102 episodes produced plus 9 compilation episodes. Some episodes had two versions, an American version and a Canadian version, often with alternate sketches.Show contents
Recurring sketches and characters
;30 Helens Agree;The Axe Murderer
;Bauer
;Bellini
;Bobby Terrance
;Buddy Cole
;Cabbage Head
;Cathy and Kathie
;The Chicken Lady
;Danny Husk
;Darcy Pennell
;Darill
;The Flying Pig
;Francesca Fiore and Bruno Puntz Jones
;Gavin
;Gordon and Fran
;Headcrusher
;He's Hip, He's Cool, He's 45
;It's a Fact!
;The King of Empty Promises
;Mississippi Gary
;Mr. Heavyfoot
;Nobody Likes Us
;The Pit of Ultimate Darkness
;Police Department
;Prostitutes
;Rod Torfulson's Armada featuring Herman Menderchuk
;Sizzler Sisters
;Steps
;Tammy
;The Two Geralds
Selected other sketches
;Anal-Probing Aliens;The Cause of Cancer
;Comfortable
;The Communist Threat
;The Eradicator
;Girl Drink Drunk
;Love and Sausages
;My Pen!
;The Night the Drag Queens Took Over the World
;Reg
;Running Faggot
;The Daves I Know
;Trappers
Running gags
- As the show was produced in Toronto, there are numerous references to the city's professional sports teams, the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs.
- The phrase "took me to a Leafs game" was used as a euphemism for an attempted male-on-male sexual encounter. The gag originated in a sketch in which Scott Thompson played a homophobic man who took offense at another man's attempt to seduce him by taking him to a Maple Leafs game: "Every time I come to this city, some guy picks me up at the bus station, takes me to a Leaf game, gets me pissed, then tries to blow me. Why can't people like me for me?"
- In the Cheers argument, two characters argue which leading actress was better in the show, Shelley Long or Kirstie Alley. The argument stems from an inside joke between Foley and McDonald, who debated this issue in real life. Cheers and its leading ladies are mentioned in multiple episodes by multiple characters, such as Francesca Fiore, the Police Department officers, and even the Kids portraying themselves.
DVD releases
On February 13, 2018, Mill Creek Entertainment released The Kids in the Hall- The Complete Collection. The 12-disc set features all 102 episodes of the series, the reunion miniseries Death Comes to Town as well as bonus features.
| DVD Name | of episodes | Release Date |
| Kids in the Hall: Same Guys, New Dresses | 2000 | |
| 2002 | ||
| Kids in the Hall: Tour of Duty | 2002 | |
| Pilot episode | 1 | August 14, 2007 |
| Season 1 | 20 + 2 best-of episodes | April 27, 2004 |
| Season 2 | 20 + 2 best-of episodes | November 16, 2004 |
| Season 3 | 20 + 2 best-of episodes | October 25, 2005 |
| Season 4 | 20 + 2 best-of episodes | May 30, 2006 |
| Season 5 | 21 + 1 best-of episode | October 31, 2006 |
| The Complete Series | 101 + 9 best-of episodes | October 31, 2006 |
| SF Sketchfest Tribute: The Kids in the Hall | 2008 | |
| Season 1 | 2011 | |
| Season 2 | 2011 | |
| Season 3 | 2011 | |
| Season 4 | 2011 | |
| Season 5 | 2011 | |
| The Complete Series Megaset | May 24, 2011 | |
| The Kids in the Hall: The Complete Collection | All episodes uncensored plus the original pilot, season compilations & Death Comes to Town | February 13, 2018 |
End of the show and beyond
The final episode featured resolutions for several recurring characters, including Armada, Buddy Cole, and the secretaries of AT & Love. As the closing credits play, the cast is shown being buried alive, below a headstone reading The Kids in the Hall TV Show 1989–1995. At the episode's conclusion, guest character Paul Bellini, one of the show's writers, dances on their grave and speaks for the first time: "Thank God that's finally over!"Awards and honours
The series won the 1993 Rose d'Or, awarded in Montreux, Switzerland. It was nominated for the Gemini Award for Best Comedy Series every year from 1991 to 1995, winning in 1992 and 1993. The series was nominated in 1993, 1994 and 1995 for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.Legacy
A number of comedy writers and performers have listed The Kids in the Hall among their influences, including Dan Guterman and the creators of the TV series South Park and Portlandia.The Chicago-based sketch comedy trio Hey You Millionaires was named after the first sketch aired on the show, in which a man looks out the window to see three millionaires rummaging through his garbage cans out his window, and shouts "Hey, you millionaires! Get out of that garbage!", causing the three to run away.
In a 2000 interview, Thompson stated that the series, and the troupe, had influenced many comedians, but lamented that this had not translated into material success for the troupe, saying "We thought we were going to be Nirvana, but really, we were Sonic Youth."