Kid Alone


Courtesy of TheOnion.com
By Keith Phipps


His departure from the York University school of drama was less than amicable, but Scott Thompson's acting career found its direction when he joined The Kids In The Hall, Canada's premier comedy troupe. After the group's TV show went off the air in 1994, Thompson found a steady job on HBO's equally beloved, recently departed The Larry Sanders Show. Now on his own again, Thompson is touring, attending to his website/kingdom (www.scottland.com), and promoting Buddy Babylon: The Autobiography Of Buddy Cole. Co-written with Kids In The Hall writer Paul Bellini, the book follows the life of one of Thompson's most popular characters, the gay bartender Buddy Cole, from his childhood on a Canadian pig farm to indirect stardom in Hollywood, and back again. (Thompson presents an alternate version of Cole's life in his one-man show Mixology Monology.) Thompson recently spoke to The Onion about Buddy Cole, Canada, The Kids In The Hall, and his future plans.

The Onion: What made you decide to stretch the Buddy Cole character into a book?

Scott Thompson: I basically... Number one, it's because a literary agent came to me with an idea for a Buddy book, and I immediately thought of an autobiography. And I've always been interested in the novel form. That was the main influence on me growing up, books. It seemed perfect for Buddy because he was the only character I had that really... He commented on everything, so he has an opinion on everything, which makes it a lot easier to have a story told in his voice. And he's self-aware. I always felt that his life just seems to have been during a very interesting time. The last few years for gay men have been pretty interesting--maybe personally horrific, but artistically interesting.

O: It's a funny book, but you don't really shy away from AIDS.

ST: We couldn't. It would be an impossibility. There was a lot of discussion at the beginning about, "How do you do this?" How do you write a really comic book... Because I wanted the book to be completely comic. I didn't want anyone to feel anger or bitterness, or anything like that. I just wanted it to be funny. But, you know, I've been dealing with AIDS comically since the beginning. That's just my response to things. At the beginning, people probably felt like, "Jeez, this is too early, this is not right, we're in the midst of it." Maybe enough time has passed, even though it's still going on, that people could have a bit more comic distance. Especially because most literature that deals with AIDS is usually... sad. Naturally. Comedy usually takes a little distance from a period before it can be seen as funny.

O: Buddy, as you describe your character on Larry Sanders, is openly Canadian, as well.

ST: Buddy Cole is the kind of character who doesn't hide anything. He is very honest. Canadian identity is usually disguised. Even when a Canadian character crosses over to America, he's usually changed to appeal to Americans. For example, like, Wayne Campbell [Mike Myers' Wayne's World character] was a Canadian character, well-known in Canada. A Canadian stereotype, if you will. But the moment he came to America, he had to be changed to Midwestern.

O: But he was still playing hockey on the street, which didn't make that much sense.

ST: No, you know, so for me it's always been important to be... It's not like blind patriotism or anything; it's just that I've watched Canada be disguised for American stories my whole life. I find it sad. And there's no reason why a Canadian story can't be a universal story. I see Buddy Cole as universal. So one of the ideas was to mythologize Canada, in a way.

O: Are you always going to be on shows that go off the air too soon?

ST: Yeah, I think so. Right now, we're looking around for a show that might not last the next year.

O: But it will be really good, and everyone will miss it when it's gone.

ST: Yeah, another great show that's going to leave really early. And we'll be on cable and have no reach.

O: Both The Kids In The Hall and Larry Sanders seemed to have three or four good years left in them.

ST: I know. Yes, that's true. I admire Garry [Shandling] for leaving when he did. I mean, when we left, people were freaked, too, because we weren't kicked off. We left voluntarily. I personally believe that that's the difference between people who are driven artistically and people who are driven economically. And not to sound altruistic or anything... The Kids In The Hall weren't like a social group. We were a business and we wanted to make money, etc., but we just felt that we'd said enough. I understand why Garry did what he did. Maybe for us, it was the fact that we looked at ourselves and said, "Jeez, we don't look like kids anymore. It's time to go."

O: Any plans for any more Kids In The Hall movies?

ST: We don't know. We're very... Our movie [1996's Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy] bombed, in case you didn't know.

O: I'd heard that.

ST: So The Kids In The Hall ended in a bit of... It didn't end well. After the movie bombed, we didn't talk to each other for a long time. But now, everyone's very friendly again, and we're more aware of what we had. We're very aware that what we had was really precious and very hard to find in the outside world--that kind of collaboration, that kind of singleness of vision.

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