Kids Go From Hall to the Silver Screen
Courtesy of The Columbia Chronicle
By Ryan Healy
Twelve years ago, five Canadian actor/comedians met and formed a comedy troupe, calling themselves the Kids in the Hall. The members were Scott Thompson, Kevin McDonald, David Foley, Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney. After a long and successful stint performing at the Rivoli, a small club on Queen Street in Toronto, the Kids landed their own television show on the Canadian Broadcasting Channel in Canada, and on HBO in the U.S. This eventually led to a show on CBS.
Influenced by SCTV, Monty Python, the Marx Brothers, the Sex Pistols, the Beatles and crazy housewives, the Kids' intelligent sketch comedy pushed borders, lampooning such topics as sexuality, race, drugs and feminism. They won a cult following and enjoyed moderate success. After 110 episodes, the troupe found themselves recipients of a multitude of Ace, Gemini and Emmy awards and nominations.
With the success came opportunities, and the Kids decided to take a break and pursue individual interests: Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch left for "Saturday Night Live" (McKinney as a cast member, McCulloch as a writer), David Foley joined NBC's "Ta lk Radio," Scott Thompson went to "The Larry Sanders Show" on HBO, and Kevin McDonald wrote his own screenplay.
Now the Kids are back, with a Kids in the Hall movie, called "Brain Candy." The premise of the film is that a scientist discovers a drug to cure depression. However, people become too happy and mayhem ensues. Perhaps the film is a comment on a depression-riddled society, or maybe it is about the struggles of Wally Terzinsky (played by Scott Thompson), a gay husband and father living in denial of his sexuality. But more likely, it is simply to make us laugh.
And here it succeeds. Despite getting bogged down in the plot at times, there are classic comedic moments in this film, such as when Terzinsky finally comes out of the closet, and a musical number called Happiness Pie. These moments make the film worth seeing.
In an interview conducted over the phone, I asked Kids in the Hall member Kevin McDonald, known for his quirky facial expressions, a few questions concerning the Kids.
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Healy: What's with the Kids' fixation with cross-dressing?
McDonald: It's not so much a fixation. The troupe just happens to be five guys, and we were writing scenes about our mothers and girlfriends and people we knew who were women, so we were forced to do it. Not that it was unpleasant. We enjoyed it.
Healy: How did the idea come about for making a film?
McDonald: (Saturday Night Live producer) Lorne Michaels wanted us to do a movie and we always wanted to do one. To do a movie was just the next natural thing, because we'd done TV for five years and we were sick of four minute sketches.
Healy: Is there tension among the Kids members since you've pursued other things?
McDonald: Not really. Just the normal tension that you get from writing together all the time. But no, we're still good friends, as good of friends as you can be after working together every hour of every day for 12 years.
Healy: What are the differences between doing the television show and the film?
McDonald: I compare the show to the Beatles "White Album"--John has a song, Paul has a song, George has a song and Ringo has a song. I am the Ringo of the troupe. The movie is like Sgt. Pepper's-- it's a unified piece. We agree on everything.
Healy: Are the Kids in the Hall still together as a comedy troupe?
McDonald: We're sort of still together as a troupe, but we're going to take time out to do individual things. So we're just going to have the best of both worlds.
The Kids in the Hall's "Brain Candy" is currently playing in theaters around the Chicagoland area.
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