Kids in the Hall

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. Their eponymous television show ran from 1988 to 1994 on CBC in Canada, and 1989 to 1995 on CBS and HBO in the United States. The theme song for the show was the instrumental "Having an Average Weekend" by the Canadian band Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. The troupe made one movie, Brain Candy, which was released in 1996.

The name of the group came from Sid Caesar, who, if a joke didn't go over, or played worse than expected, would attribute it to "the kids in the hall," referring to a group of young writers hanging around the studio.

Before the troupe formed, Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney were working together doing Theatresports in Calgary, performing in a group named "The Audience." Norm Hiscock, Gary Campbell, and Frank Van Keeken were co-members and later became writers on the show. At the same time, Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald were performing around Toronto (along with Luciano Casimiri) as The Kids in the Hall (KITH). In 1984, the two pairs met in Toronto, and began performing regularly as KITH, with a rotating band of members, including Paul Bellini for a short time. When Scott Thompson was invited to join in January 1985, the group had its final form. The same year, McCulloch and Foley appeared in the Anne of Green Gables series, as Diana Barry's husband and a former classmate of Anne's from Queen's College, respectively.

Not long afterwards, the Kids broke up for a short time when scouts for Saturday Night Live invited McKinney and McCulloch to New York to become writers for that show, Foley made a poorly received movie debut with High Stakes and Thompson and McDonald worked with the Second City touring group. They were reunited in 1986. After SNL's Lorne Michaels saw them perform as a troupe, plans began for a TV show. In 1987 Michaels sent them to New York to what was essentially a "Comedy Boot Camp", and in 1988 their show premiered on CBC Television. It was subsequently picked up on HBO in the United States in 1989.

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. Many of the sketches featured gay characters and themes; most of these sketches were written by and starred Scott Thompson, who is openly gay. 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.

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 (which he has written) 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.

Monologues were a staple of the show. Though Scott Thompson's Buddy Cole monologues are the best known, the other Kids performed many memorable solo pieces as well. Prominent examples include Foley describing his positive attitude toward menstruation, 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 from Canada, and the content was at times edited slightly for U.S. tastes in one respect: sketches mocking religion were sometimes cut down or removed, necessitating the adding of material from other episodes to round out the half-hour. Some US channels censored the occasional nudity as well. 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 (notably Neve Campbell and Nicole de Boer) well before they became famous, 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 female characters who were young and attractive), all the Kids regularly played both old and young women; the frequent cross-dressing would become one of the show's trademarks. This began 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 but, in the fall of 1992, CBS picked up the rights to the show and aired it on late-night Fridays showing repeats, while HBO was airing the last of the season 3 episodes.

In early 1993, all-new episodes of The Kids in the Hall aired on CBS late-night, making the start of season 4. In the fall of 1993 it aired right after The Late Show with David Letterman late Friday nights. The fifth and final season of The Kids In The Hall began airing in the spring of 1994 until November. In January 1995 it was off the air and replaced with a new show The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder.

A&E Home Video released the entire series as a Region 1 20-disc DVD box set titled The Kids in the Hall: Complete Series Megaset 1989–1994, on October 31, 2006. The HBO special pilot was released on DVD on August 14, 2007 through Medialink Entertainment, a VDI Entertainment Company, in a special "Headcrushing" edition. It had never been released on home video before. Medium Rare Entertainment released a Region 2 "best of" DVD on September 24, 2007. Rights to The Kids in the Hall are owned by Broadway Video. A tour-exclusive DVD, produced in cooperation with Crackle and released as a part of the "Live As We'll Ever Be!" tour (2008), features the 50-minute retrospective and Q&A held on January 26, 2008.

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, their tombstone inscription reading, The Kids in the Hall TV Show 1989–1995 (though the pilot aired in 1988). At the episode's conclusion, guest character Paul Bellini, one of the show's writers, dances on their grave while uttering the last line of the series, "Thank God that's finally over!"

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.

On April 4, 2008, The Kids in the Hall embarked on their first major national tour in six years. The tour ran through early June 2008 and included more than 30 markets in the US and Canada. The tour features some material from the 2007 "Just for Laughs" performance along with new material.

The 2008 tour closely mirrored the "Just for Laughs" performance, excluding the rat catchers, subway fan and Nicole Ritchie sketches. In their stead, Mark McKinney performed the monologue titled "The Modern Hero" from Season 1 of the show, and the entire cast performed the sketch "This Is How I Danced In Tenth Grade."

Kevin McDonald guest starred alongside Dave Foley in a 1997 episode of Foley's sitcom NewsRadio.

Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald performed with The Barenaked Ladies on their "Ships and Dip V" cruise, along with other bands and comics, on February 1–6, 2009.

The group appeared on the front cover of Naked Eye's summer 2008 edition.

The Kids performed at the 2008 Comedy Festival in Las Vegas on November 22.

On August 6, 2010 all five Kids made an appearance on The Soup on E!, to promote their miniseries Death Comes to Town. Four of the members appeared on-screen in drag as girls who had grown up as beauty pageant contestants (parodying Toddlers & Tiaras); Mark McKinney's voice was heard off-screen as their mother.

In July 2008 Telefilm Canada announced that there would be a new Kids in the Hall television series titled Death Comes to Town. The Kids' Kevin McDonald stated that it would be an eight-part miniseries airing first on CBC in Canada and then on US television. Principal photography took place from August 2009, in Ontario. Several characters from the original Kids in the Hall series made an appearance, including the OPP Officers and Chicken Lady. The first episode of the new series aired in Canada on CBC on January 13, 2010, while in the United States the first episode aired on IFC on August 20, 2010.

Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald play a once-successful pop-synth duo, Y-Y-KNOT, who are persuaded by the daughter of their deceased manager to reunite, move in together and begrudgingly return to work, seeking to regain their former glory.

The TV series received international recognition with the 1993 Rose d'Or, awarded in Montreux, Switzerland.

On June 3, 2008, it was announced that the entire group would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.