Interview with Kevin McDonald


By Becky Dufoe (Check out her auctions at eBay, search under seller "dufoe")

BECKY: Kevin this is Becky DuFoe calling you.

KEVIN: Hello, pleased to meet you.

BECKY: Please to meet you. It's nice talking to you.

KEVIN: O.K.

BECKY: Let me start our interview here with asking you about your comments on your contract with CBS and some of the riffs you've had with them.

KEVIN: Well, when we first signed with CBS we were all very excited because it was a major network but, we knew we were going to have some trouble because of the kind of comedy we do, but they said, "We're buying the show don't worry". They sort of stayed true to that I think. From Scott you get a different opinion, but I think we have a certain number of riffs. However it's really no more than I thought that it would be. Some of them are heartbreaking sometimes. I think like more than half of them we win. We have a good fighter, our producer John Blanchard. The loses are heart breaking but no more than I thought they would be. I guess you know about the cancer/aids thing.

BECKY: Yeah yeah, Scott told about that yesterday when we spoke to him.

KEVIN: Yeah, that was a sad one because I think Scott wrote that joke, so as I am bragging for Scott, I think it's one of the most inspiring jokes we've done. A dead guy saying cancer. So that's kind of heart breaking, but who knows when one day we'll get it on. We're not going to show the whole thing until we can show that.

BECKY: Speaking on the culture between Canada and the U.S. how would you say they differ?

KEVIN: Well, I think the U.S. is a little more aggressive. We're a little more passive-aggressive. We're a little more nervous, if you notice Canadians apologize a lot more. "I'm sorry" is a common phrase up here.I think we're more sedate and we talk more in our comedy. I think it's because we're right in the middle between England & stage T.V. wise in every show. So I think we're a mish-mash of British-American. I think American comedy uh, well Andrew Dice Clay isn't really the norm, but that's sort of the direction I see American comedy in.

BECKY: In speaking of describing yourself, could you elaborate on what you mean when you say; "T.V. idiot" as it was mentioned in your press release?

KEVIN: (Laughing) When I was 10 or 11 I got Asthma which I thought was great because I didn't have to play, which I was athletic anyway, but everyday after school I would play hockey, which I like to play.

BECKY: I understand that's something that is mandatory when you live in Canada.

KEVIN: Oh it's amazing yeah, I like it, I just wish I was better at it! You know, because they pick teams and I was the chubby kid that got picked last. It was between me and net, I'd get hit by the ball! I'm very ball shy and as a result anything you throw around me,paper or anything at all, I'll duck! I'm very ball shy. When I got asthma I didn't have to play anymore, if I didn't want to, so I'd set inside the house and I'd watch T.V. from after school until I went to bed. I'd eat supper in front of the T.V. As a result, my grandfather called me the T.V. Guide because you could ask me what show and I could tell you the time and channel it was on. Not so much anymore, but back then I was a real T.V. idiot.

BECKY: What were some of your favorite shows that you watched?

KEVIN: Oh when I was a kid?

BECKY: Yeah, when you were that "T.V. idiot" as you say.

KEVIN: Oh the T.V. idiot standard ones, "All In The Family", "Mary Tyler Moore", "Bob Newhart", but my favorite was "Fernwood" Tonight". I love "Fernwood Tonight". That was like the most amazing show and the amazing thing about that show was it was on 5 nights a week so you could see it every night of the week! That was amazing. You could sort of tell they improvised. The ideas was so clever, and I like "Saturday Night Live" very much. I love "Monty Python" a lot, but I think my favorite was "Fernwood Tonight".

BECKY: Would you say they influenced you in becoming what you are today?

KEVIN: Oh yeah definitely, you take a little bit of everything. I think everyone has influences and sometime it comes out in down right stealing wise, but hopefully in us it comes out in subtle ways we don't even know about. When I was a kid I watched Jerry Lewis.

BECKY: Are you a fan of his?

KEVIN: Well, I was when I was a kid and even now that I'm an adult although I don't watch it so much anymore I know it's still in my brain. I'll still do stick like drop things because it's in my brain.

BECKY: Could you elaborate or talk about feeling you were clumsy and how did that play into you being a comedian?

KEVIN: Like I said, it's a Jerry Lewis thing. I mean just naturally I drop things and I figured either people would hate me because I drop things or I could do it funny.

BECKY: Is that something you carried on through today or is that something you out grew eventually?

KEVIN: No, no, no, I just have useless hands. My wife, she's the one that puts all the paintings up on our walls, she's the one that fixes things. I just can't make anything with my hands and a natural extension about that is that I'm so bad I know how to do it funny. So if I have to do something like that in a sketch, I guess if I have to pretend to fix something, I could break something very funny because I'm so clumsy naturally. It's just a natural extension of me being clumsy really.

BECKY: How did your parents feel about your desire to be funny and become a comedian?

KEVIN: Uh, they kind of supported it, they didn't stand in the way at all. When I started I was 19 and I guess they figured I was young enough that if it was a mistake in a few years I could do something else. My mother always did wish for me to have something to fall back on. They just sort of let me go, my mother did anyway, they were split up by the time I was 19. As a kid my father wanted me to be a lawyer but I don't think I'm smart enough. (Laughs)

BECKY: Is it true that you were kicked out of theatre class? How did that come about?

KEVIN: Yeah, for four months. I just had my anniversary, they just called me and they wanted me to come to the reunion dinner, which was weird because I was kicked out for four months just because of the t.v. show. It was a hard grind because it was a 2 hour trip and I had to get up at 6:00 o'clock in the morning everyday which I think a comedian doesn't naturally like to get up early in the morning! I think it's a comedy thing. I don't understand what it is. So anyway, I would fall asleep in class and in this one class this guy didn't like you falling asleep in it. He had me in two classes and his wife had me in one and if you failed in three you got kicked out, so I failed in those three and also they put me in the costume crew where I had to make the costumes and my clumsiness comes again! I guess it directs my future in a way. They gave me a curtain to make that was suppose to be done in a week and at the end of the four months when they kicked me out, I was only half way through it! I just couldn't sew or anything. I remember taking bits of it home and my mother helping me but, it was just so big I couldn't believe it was suppose to be done in a week! I tried my best and so he failed me in curtaining class, he failed me in the theory class, and his wife failed me in dance class, because that's when I was really well, I was fat, but that has nothing to do with it. Even now I can't dance. I have no sense of rhythm. Other people couldn't dance either and she passed them but, anyway it worked out for the best.

BECKY: Did you have your goal set on becoming a professional at that time or did the dismissal discourage or encourage your ambition for your goal?

KEVIN: It encouraged me. I realized it was a mistake because I got 80% on improve and I knew "o.k. I just won't do the Shakesphere part, I won't dance and I won't make costumes, I could just center on the comedy part." I was pretty confident with that. I had a strong sense even though they kicked me out of acting class that I wasn't a stand-up. I couldn't be funny just talking by myself, I had to react against something. So I wanted to be like Gene Wilder, that was my goal back then. I wanted to be a comedy actor like Gene Wilder. I got in Second City, met Dave and we ended up starting a troop.

BECKY: Knowing that Scott had also been kicked out of a similar surroundings. Would you describe the group as outcasts trying to fit in?

KEVIN: Yeah. It sure seems that way. I think Bruce graduated but, I don't think Mark did. I don't think three of us graduated from college. I could be wrong about Mark, and I 'm pretty sure Bruce graduated. In the comedy we were misfits because there was a thing in comedy called: "Tronical Theatre Sports", and we performed there. That's where we started performing in front of audiences for the first time and the audiences liked us pretty much but, we were sort of rebels and broke the rules there! We were misfits there. They were always having meetings about us because we did things like took a audience of 300 people and we would take them outside to the pond outside of where the theatre was and we'd jump in the pond and act out "Jaws" (laughs) and stuff like that and they always hated stuff like that. Also Dave and I always thought we would get hired by Second City because we took workshops there but, we were sort of misfits for that too because we were weird for them and they had a definite format and we didn't fit in, so all along we've felt like misfits. Being kicked out of college, just encouraged us more, we were sort of cocky I guess.

BECKY: So would you say that this may have created the raw sometimes stinging humor that you guys portray?

KEVIN: Yeah, I guess so, (Laughs) I guess being a misfit created that frame of mind. I guess it could lead to raw and stinging humor because we found our own club and did our own thing. We didn't pay attention to what was happening in Toronto. I mean we definitely had our influences like I said before but, when the 5 of us got together, we each had a different brain and it just made something kind of different I think.

BECKY: Is there any topics that "The Kids In The Hall" tackle that you feel personally uncomfortable with?

KEVIN: No, I don't think so I'm more of a sort of a moron in the terms that if it's funny its o.k.. The only thing that offends me is if it isn't funny really. I think if we do something just to shock then I would think that would be wrong. We don't ever do that. It's always funny first, it's always a funny idea, then later people explain to us that it was shocking and then we go, "Oh really, that was shocking"? We didn't know that it was shocking, we just thought that it was funny.

BECKY: So then you wouldn't say there's very many disagreements between the members on segments or topics that you choose?

KEVIN: Oh well, there's always disagreement.

BECKY: How do you all handle that?

KEVIN: Well, we're like brothers, not in a hoaxy sense of the word, but like in the true sense of the word. Brothers who fight each other but, if there was a fight like a bar room brawl we'd defend each other. We fight, we love, we're brothers in the true sense of the word, and we just fight, and then we just get over it. The scars heal and then we fight again, we don't fight all the time, sometimes we just laugh. It's just everything happens.

BECKY: Is there anything to controversial for you all to handle?

KEVIN: Umm... like I said before it all depends on if it's funny or not. We just hear it from a different angle. We don't hear if it's controversial. If there's something real controversial and it's not quite funny enough it just won't get in because it isn't funny enough.

BECKY: So what you guys look for is if it's funny enough basically?

KEVIN: Yeah. Usually if it's to controversial the producer will kill it. There's a thing we did a few years ago called:"Career Ending Moments". It was a runner where we did 3 or 4 different things about how people ruin their careers. One of them Dave and I wrote. It was about two singers who got on the "Ed Sullivan Show" and they ruined their career by singing their new song;"Sex with Children". It went like: "Sex with Children, I think it's O.K. Sex with Children, I do it all day", and we couldn't put that on. (Laughs)

BECKY: How would you describe your comedy to someone who's never seen "Kids In The Hall"?

KEVIN: Wow, I don't know. Well, I guess dark would pop up, but also I think it would be covered between the worlds silly & dark. Some where between there. I think we're dark, and silly. I think I would also describe it, like we're not like Python in the sense they were revolutionary, but how they did their scenes, they just ended them. They sort of fooled around with the format. We are sort of typical, it's beginning, middle, and end and very common sketches. If we're revolutionary, I don't know, but if we are I think it comes from what happens in the scenes. I think we deal more with social things, we write about our families, and what happens in our houses, relationships between people.

BECKY: Have you ever thought that you were ahead of your time?

KEVIN: No, I don't think so, maybe, I don't know. I don't want to be modest. I don't want to be bragging. It's something I honestly judge 10 or 20 years from now. If we are, it's a small little thing, not a big thing because it is just comedy. If we are ahead of our time it's probably something not dealing with our comedy. It's probably our own sexual kind of comedy. The playing women and doing it without cheap laughs. We didn't start it or anything, but we were sort of near the beginning craze, like where every rock band does a video wearing dresses and stuff like that I can't say it came from us, but we were definitely there at the beginning of it.

BECKY: Do you think that your comedy would translate to film well?

KEVIN: I think so. When we do the show we do 65% in the studio and the rest we go film without audience. We go on location and just film, and I think all of us would tell you it's the best part of the show. So we like the process of it. I think we could do it for about a hour and a half. We just got to find the right plot. Hopefully, we'll do that someday.

BECKY: That's what Scott had mentioned to us, is that he to hopes to do a film someday.

KEVIN: Yeah, it seems to make sense. There aren't many comedy troops in the world so the only one you can pan yourself with, at least me, is Python. What they did was, they had a T.V. series, and they did a movie every 3 or 4 years so you could do solo projects, you never really split up you just take a few years off.

BECKY: Why do you think that your talk show appearances have been limited to just Joan Rivers and why do you think that she chose you guys?

KEVIN: I don't know why she chose us, but it was nice she did. (laughs)I think it helps, we're limited. When we do a show in Toronto, we're just in Toronto, we're not in New York or L.A. parting all the time. I think we have a pretty strong cult. It's late night, sometimes it's 12:30 on CBS and sometimes it's on at 2 or 3 in the morning,so I don't think too many people are aware of us, but it's nice to have a cult following. I'm not complaining.

BECKY: Do you think that your show following David Letterman is a good time slot that compliments each other?

KEVIN: Yeah, I think so, I think we come from the same kind of comedy. I think even if he was funny in a totally different way, I think being next to a guy who is just really funny all the time will always help a comedy show.

BECKY: Do you think that "Kids In The Hall" would make a good guest on "The David Letterman Show"?

KEVIN: If we were on yeah, but they keep saying they want all five of us, so we have to think of some kind of skit to get on.

BECKY: Has he asked you?

KEVIN: Tentatively, we just have to figure out a skit. First David's going to do Conan, we're going to do one at a time. David's going first,he's just the best talker and he did the "Pat" movie so he has something more to talk about. So he's going to be on in early January.

BECKY: Well, that's good. If it ever came about where you could all meet together and be on the show would you accept?

KEVIN: I think so. It's all according to what we could come up with because they're always saying we have to come up with an idea. I don't think we want to act out a sketch or something, but if we thought of some idea, yeah.

BECKY: I understand Whoopi Goldberg is a big fan of "Kids In The Hall" especially of your head crushing spots.

KEVIN: Oh, is she?

BECKY: Yeah, can you comment on this and also tell us if she's ever contacted you, and if so what she said?

KEVIN: No, not that I know of. We did "Comedy Relief" with her, but that was after the first season. I don't think she had seen the show then because she was hosting it with Billy Crystal and Robin Williams; she didn't seem to know who we were, but Billy Crystal and Robin Williams were like we were just kids from Toronto and they came to us and started crushing our heads and we almost fainted! It was amazing! Then Robin Williams came and actually started talking to us. It was great!

BECKY: Is that where the idea came from?

KEVIN: No, no, no, we had already done it for a year. They were just doing what they had seen us do on T.V.

BECKY: So tell us, how did the head crushing idea come about?

KEVIN: Once Mark and I (This was before we had the T.V. show) were on stage troop. We were on a double date before "Theatre Sports" and we were being funny, or we were being stupid I don't know, but the two women weren't liking us very much. So we sort of ignored them and Mark started saying, "I'm crushing your head" and then I said, "No, I'm crushing your head", and of course we never saw those women again! A few months later when we were writing for the T.V. show, I said to Mark, "Remember that time you did the head crushing thing, I think that could make for a funny scene". The first time they disagreed with me, and I told them that if we did this skit, every college kid in America will be doing it, which is sort of what happened.

BECKY: How different or alike do you feel each member of your troop is and how does it affect the performance of how you play off of each other?

KEVIN: We all definitely bring in something different. We are all erratically different, but over the years it's interesting because if you hear us over the phone, we sort of have the same voice.

BECKY: Oh yeah.

KEVIN: We're getting the same pattern, so we definitely came into it differently and we're going to stay different, and we're very different people and I think that's why it's so interesting, but also now we sort of share the same part of brain. There's a part of my brain that connects with the part of Dave's brain, that connects with part of Scott's brain and Bruce and Mark. It's sort of a different sameness. I think they both apply.

BECKY: Could you tell us of any funny or interesting bloopers or surprises that you didn't expect that occurred while taping or in a live stage appearance?

KEVIN: Well,there was this one thing that was funny to me. I don't know if I should say this, it wasn't that bad. It was a United States show & we were doing a mini tour. We did out last show at the Bottom Line in New York, Dave did this doctor sketch where he's a very bad doctor. He doesn't understand anything about being a doctor, but he is a doctor. He goes out and gets this sample of urine and he says, "You know what this is? Urine." He says, "I don't even know what you do with it"?,(which is the joke) Well, we always get apple juice, but at the last show our back stage manager Bill Simons, and I were a little drunk, so we peed in it and Dave didn't know, I think he drank it. When he came back, we told him it was pee & he said, "Well,you didn't put it very well in the glass because it dripped on my hands"! Then he had to go wash his hands before the next scene!

BECKY: Oh no, gees! I bet he had to gargle also.

KEVIN: It was funny to me.

BECKY: Yeah, I would say so. How do you feel the show or the "Kids" themselves have changed or matured over the years?

KEVIN: Well, I think we've gotten better in terms of playing for the camera. In the beginning we were kind of screwed up because there was the cameras and behind there was a live audience, we'd play for the live audience, and if we got the claps then we thought the scene would be great and then we saw it later when they edited it and it wasn't great, because there's a definite difference. I think we learned.

BECKY: How important is it to you and the group to maintain creative control over the show and your career?

KEVIN: Oh, it's everything. That's the reason why we're in the show. I mean it comes from us though we have six writers, there's eleven of us now, 5 kids and six other guys, everyone contributes ideas. I'm not saying we do everything. It's just essentially good or bad we have control, it's our show that way. I can't take credit for every idea.

BECKY: Do you feel it's important to be known in the big country like the United States as well as your home country of Canada?

KEVIN: Yeah, I mean if your proud of your work you want to get it across everywhere. Canada is number one, that's where we're from. The states are great because they have so many people. It would be great in England where "Python" came from. Anyway, if your proud of your work you want everyone to see it.

BECKY: How would you feel if the U.S. Networks pushed for even greater control of censorship of your material?

KEVIN: We'd probably say no, I think, unless they make us an amazing deal money wise or that we were on prime time or something, but then it would be near the end of the trip anyway and so I don't think that's going to happen, but we'd probably say no.

BECKY: During out interview with Scott he pondered the question if his joining, knowing that he is gay could have encouraged the group to touch issues such as gayness that you may not have considered had he not joined the group. What are your thoughts on this?

KEVIN: Yeah definitely, I don't think so, it may have come into play because we get tired of things and went to write about different things, but certainly if Scott was not in the group we would not touch there, there would be no reason to.

BECKY: So he brought another idea with him when he was asked to join?

KEVIN: Yeah definitely, that's something that no one else does.

BECKY: If you could pick out one sketch that you could put in a time capsule to show future generations what "Kids In The Hall" was all about, what one would that be?

KEVIN: Maybe, a scene called: "Comfortable" it has everything. Bruce isn't in it. It was written by a bunch of people. Norm, one of our writers and Dave and Scott. It's about sex and relationships. It's a scene where Dave and I are a couple and Scott and Mark are a couple. Mark is the wife and they come over to our house for dinner and Scott undoes his belt and then he lets his pants go and before you know it him and I are having sex on the table and it goes, and goes. I think that would be my time capsule. I think that best represents and describes the group.

BECKY: Could you give us a short comment of your fellow members of "Kids In The Hall", one by one. Let us start with Dave.

KEVIN: Dave Foley: He is very witty, very funny, naturally funny.

BECKY: Scott Thompson?

KEVIN: Scott Thompson: He is very wild, always wild, full of energy, a great performer.

BECKY: Mark McKinney?

KEVIN: The best character actor, he does the best characters.

BECKY: Bruce McColluch?

KEVIN: Bruce, I'd have to say has the best ideas.

BECKY: Could you tell us about your childhood in California and your father's connection with "Cactus Flower" and what it was like living by "Lets Make A Deal"?

KEVIN: (Laughing)... O.K. Well that's the whole thing. We lived in Burbank for a year and a half, my father was a dental salesman, he was also a technical assistant to the technical advisor to "Cactus Flower". He would tell someone, who would tell someone, who would tell someone, who would tell Walter Mathau how to hold a pick. I lived across the street from "Let's Make A Deal" and everyday I went to school I would pass people dressed like giant pickles and cigarettes.

BECKY: Did you ever try and get in and see what the show was like?

KEVIN: No, No I didn't want to dress up silly! It was neat just watching them. That was good enough. Actually across the street was a Taco Bell, I went there more.

BECKY: What would you most like to achieve as a member of "Kids In The Hall" and when do you think you'll achieve this?

KEVIN: Well, I would really like to see us do a really good movie. Hopefully within the next year or two. Then after that, I don't think it would happen, but if we ever split up after a movie at least I could say we had a five year T.V. series and a movie.

BECKY: Do you think the group "Kids In The Hall" are critical of themselves?

KEVIN: Yes. It's also the Canadian thing, we're always critical of ourselves. I mean we're happy if our fans are happy and we are kind of hard on ourselves.

BECKY: Do any of you watch your shows when they air?

KEVIN: Yeah. Most of us do. I don't think Bruce does, but I think the rest of us do.

BECKY: Do you foresee the group as one of great friendships that will never result in members leaving the troop?

KEVIN: Well, I think if anyone left it would be over. It's either all five of us or nothing. If one left, the three or four of us wouldn't continue because we're like The Beatles.

BECKY: What do you think everyone would do if the current series just faded away?

KEVIN: We'd probably continue to do comedy, t.v. shows and movies.

BECKY: Would you do it as a group, or maybe start up somewhere else or would each of you go your own separate way?

KEVIN: I don't know. That's just a scary question of the future. I think the plan would be to always be the group, but maybe take a few years off away from each other for solo work and then come back to do a movie.

BECKY: Can you tell us what you would tell a young performer hopeful hoping to express themselves in show business in a similar manner?

KEVIN: Well, I would tell them the same old thing. It takes a lot of hard work and then they'll need a lot of luck. So it's up to you to do the hard work and then the luck will happen or not.

BECKY: Would you want your own children to do what you have done if they desired?

KEVIN: If they desired yeah, if they wanted to and they were good at it.

BECKY: Could you tell us about a interesting or touching letter you received from a fan?

KEVIN: I think we got a letter from someone in the first year that said, they were going to commit suicide, and they saw our show and laughed and they never did commit suicide.

BECKY: Oh, that's great.

KEVIN: Of course they haven't written since, so maybe they did!

BECKY: Let's hope not. What is your opinion on Comedy Central's marathon & why do you think "Kids In The Hall" are the best representatives for the Father's Day Marathon?

KEVIN: Well, first of all it's great for us, because we're on live and we are on so late on CBS. The thing with Comedy Central is people get to see us all the time so I think if we have a cult following in the states is larger due to Comedy Central. We're perfect for Father's Day because we do so many scenes where we beat up our dads, and where we do a lot of complaining about our dads.

BECKY: Can I ask this, if I'm not getting too persional. Would any of your sketches relate to any personal happenings in your life?

KEVIN: Yes. The one scene I did was called "Daddy Drank." It was about my dad's drinking and almost 2/3 of that was actual things my dad had said.

BECKY: Scott also said that each one of you have had a real rough childhood with your dads?

KEVIN: Yeah. In different ways. We had three alcholic dads, one dad who beat us up, and one dad that wasn't there. So it was bad.

BECKY: Well, I'd like to thank you Kevin for taking the time to talk to me it's been a real joy.

KEVIN: Oh, your welcome.

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