The Kids in the Hall

1,000 words is not nearly enough to express my complete, total, and utter love and devotion for TKITH.

I started watching this show on HBO in 1988, when I was 8 years old. I would tune in an hour before my bedtime, and literally laugh my ass off. I really don't think my parents had a clue what I was watching, and thank God. This show was a huge part of my childhood, and shaped my entire view of comedy, and what is truly funny. I was never a Monty Python person. Prime time TV sucked, and made me sick to my stomach most of the time. Later on, The State and Mr. Show came close, but never achieved the absolute comedic excellence of these 5 guys.

Besides giving me hours of enjoyment, I really feel this show shaped me to be a better person in so many ways. Growing up in the burbs I had very little exposure to the true stuff of life: alternative lifestyles, class warfare, and the complete ridiculousness of pop culture. If not for this show, I may have become yet another brick in the wall of socially accepted behavior. The Kids taught me it was OK to be weird - that I didn't need to like what everyone else liked. When I first met a gay person, I didn't blink. When I got my first office job, all I could see were the businessman sketches. This show gave me a very unique perspective with which to frame reality, and I'll be forever grateful.

I guess this is a pretty serious review about a comedy show, but what the hell. I frigging love these guys.

Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson formed the funny group in the 80s Toronto. Everybody wanted to get into Second City and then graduate to SNL. These guys decided to start a sketch show on their own.

Their combined skills generated some of the most original characters in comedy. My favorite characters include host Simon and his sidekick Hecubus, chicken lady, red hair girl, crushing your head, and when all 5 cross dress as office temps. Also Scott Thompson's "Fag!". The guys are a great group, but they didn't break down any major walls. They re-engineered, they reworked, they pushed the envelope, they just didn't invent the envelope.

I've probably seen every episode of this show's six year run,could probably recite most of the sketches and I keep track of what each of the five from Canada is up to. And I still wish this show were back with new programs. Alas,that would be folly,as they all have moved on and gotten much older,thus making them not really "Kids" at all.

I've often wondered which of the five was my favorite. Long story very short:I can't really decide. They're ALL very funny and talented! (I suppose if pressed,I'd say I tilt slightly more toward Dave or Mark) Their ability to mimic people's foibles and quirks,male OR female,and the writing's ability to capture the raw humor in absurdity and behavior made this show quite the stand-out of sketch comedy programs. This show had the rare distinction of claiming three(count'em,three!)networks as its home before each member decided to mutually end the show in late 1994/early,early 1995. It's kind of a shame that their careers didn't really take off(Dave and Scott had reasonable amounts of success since.Kevin works very steadily.Bruce directs and Mark...well,other than touring with the boys on their reunions,I'm not sure exactly how much this guy's working!),but they will always be remembered as the natural successor/Canadian cousin to "Monty Python"IMHO. I look forward to getting some of the eps(perhaps someday all)on DVD someday soon.

Too bad people have to constantly compare KITH to Monty Python's Flying Circus. Aside from the fact that they were both unlike anything else before or since, the all-male core cast filling most of both gender roles, the ability to come up with totally fresh & insanely novel sketch ideas, and the ability to show self-absorbed American audiences that humor transcends culture... these 2 comic troupes have absolutely nothing in common! It's not for everyone, but if you're tired of the same old McComedy that clogs your cable like kudzu, find KITH & fire up the VCR! If only the entire KITH series was available on video (better yet DVD), that's one subscription I'd call Time/Life for!

I have watched "Saturday Night Live" for as long as I can remember and I remember seeing ads for a new Lorne Michaels show called "The Kids in the Hall". Sadly, we didn't have HBO at the time, not to mention, I was only about 4 or 5 years old when it first aired. Since then, I have seen numerous re-runs on Comedy Central, and I have to say this show is so much better than "Saturday Night Live". I'm sorry that I never got the chance to see the full episodes on HBO. Even so, I am very glad that I have gotten to see what I have, but unfortunately Comedy Central has cut it down to only one episode of "KITH" per day. Hopefully this is just for the summer, as "Kids in the Hall" is a wonderful, smart, and of course just about the funniest show that I've ever seen. It gets a 10 out of 10 from me! I'll keep watching for as long as it's on television.