Канадская комедийная группа "The Kids in the Hall"

Canadian comedy group

The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy troupe formed in 1984, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson. Their eponymous television show ran from 1989 to 1995, on CBC, in Canada. It also appeared on CBS, HBO, and Comedy Central in the United States. The Kids made one film, Brain Candy, which was released in 1996. They reformed for various tours and comedy festivals in 2000. They later reunited for an eight part miniseries, Death Comes to Town, in January 2010. An eight episode revival season was released on May 13, 2022 on Amazon Prime Video. Their name came from 1950s TV comedian Sid Caesar, who would attribute a joke that did not go over well (or played worse than expected) to "the kids in the hall", referring to a group of young writers hanging around the studio. while 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". In 1988, their pilot special aired on CBC Television and in the United States on HBO, before debuting as a series in 1989.

The series The Kids in the Hall 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. In March 2020, it was announced that the series would return with an eight episode season, on Amazon Prime Video. The series features all five members, bringing back some of the show's classic characters and skits, and is executive produced by Lorne Michaels. The revived series is billed as "the first Canadian Amazon Original series". The revival was released on May 13, 2022. Gavin encounters Jehovah's Witnesses (one of two sketches recreated from the television show). Foley and McDonald get drunk; Foley tells McDonald he has created a time machine with which he can "defeat last call". Foley travels back in time to receive oral sex from his wife (McCulloch), who would only perform the act on his birthday. Foley travels back in time to kill Hitler (Thompson) but instead accidentally inspires his antisemitism. Two exceptionally literate rat catchers (McCulloch and McKinney) look for a used futon. Buddy Cole speculates that Jesus was homosexual. Kathy (McCulloch) and Cathy (Thompson) reunite for lunch in a restaurant, where Kathy extols the virtues of "tweeking" with methamphetamine. Foley is approached by a "fan" (Thompson) while waiting for the subway. A McCulloch monologue about how skinny Nicole Richie is. Foley and McCulloch fight over an imaginary girlfriend. The Chicken Lady has phone sex (one of two sketches recreated from the television show). The relationship woes of a gay couple (Foley and Thompson) are placated with the help of another married gay couple known as Peter and the Professor (McDonald and McKinney). Superdrunk: a superhero who stops crimes by drinking (McCulloch), assisted by his trusty sidekick, the bartender (Foley). The show finished with Mr. Tyzik (McKinney) mocking the mannerisms and careers of each member of the troupe, after which he promptly crushed their heads. The group also performed on January 26–27, 2008, at the SF Sketchfest. On January 26, there was a retrospective and Q&A with the group.

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 cities in the US and Canada. The tour featured 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."

The cast members have reunited, in whole or in part, in numerous film and television works. 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. Each member of the Kids in the Hall provided voices in "Fibber", the 14th episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, in which Kevin McDonald plays the regular role of Pleakley. Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald later appeared as Mr. Jonathan Boy / All American Boy and Professor Medula in the superhero film Sky High. In 2006, three of the members (McDonald, McCulloch and McKinney) appeared in the Christmas comedy Unaccompanied Minors, as The Guards in the Hall. The group appeared on the front cover of Naked Eyes 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). McKinney's voice was heard off screen as their mother. Foley was a voice actor on the 2011–2013 animated series Dan Vs., which aired on The Hub. McDonald was a guest voice actor in one episode, "Dan Vs. Technology", in which he played technology guru Barry Ditmer (a parody of Steve Jobs). In 2014, the cast reunited on Foley's sitcom Spun Out, appearing as Dave's high school goth friends who had made a suicide pact. That year, Thompson also did a week long stint as Buddy Cole (a producer Colbert doesn't know is gay) on The Colbert Report, acting as the program's correspondent to the 2014 Winter Olympics who covered LGBT rights protests surrounding the 2014 Winter Olympics. In the same year, the troupe performed a live reading of the screenplay for Brain Candy at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. In December 2014, McDonald, McKinney and Thompson appeared in an episode of the TVO's children's television series Odd Squad. The episode was entitled "Crime at Shapely Manor". McDonald appeared as Lord Rectangle, McKinney as General Pentagon, and Thompson as Professor Square. McDonald, Foley and Thompson appeared on Chris Hardwick's game show @midnight, which aired August 2, 2017 (season 4: episode 139). The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks, a documentary film by Reginald Harkema, premiered at the 2022 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. The group appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on May 10, 2022. They discussed the revival of their show on Amazon Prime Video.

In July 2008, Telefilm Canada announced that there would be a new The Kids in the Hall television series, titled Death Comes to Town. 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 The 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 Television on January 13, 2010. In the United States, the first episode aired on IFC on August 20, 2010.

The group's 1988–1995 TV series won a number of awards, including the 1993 Rose d'Or and the Gemini Award for Best Comedy Series in 1992 and 1993. It was nominated for various other awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1993, 1994 and 1995. In 2008, the group received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. The group won the Canadian Screen Awards Icon Award in 2019.