I grew up on The Kids in the Hall. Their anarchic Canadian weirdness beamed into my house constantly when I was in elementary school, shaping my sense of humor and my disdain for “normal” comedy for the rest of my life. Their character-focused, gender-bending work was a constant source of delight and discovery for me. I watched my VHS copy of BRAIN CANDY countless times, memorizing scenes and using quotes and references to find like-minded people at school. Director Reg Harkema’s new documentary THE KIDS IN THE HALL: COMEDY PUNKS is made for people like me. It’s also made for newcomers to the legendary comedy troupe. With its formal playfulness and punk-rock edge, the film provides new insights and old memories for long-time fans while simultaneously providing a solid foundation for those unfamiliar with the group. COMEDY PUNKS is both the perfect introduction and the perfect welcome back to The Kids in the Hall.
The film takes a clear, chronological approach to its story, beginning with how Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Scott Thompson, Mark McKinney, and Kevin McDonald met in a small Canadian theatre group. It moves through their years of hard work building up a name, each season of their groundbreaking television show, the falling-out circa their feature film BRAIN CANDY, and the reconnection that ultimately led to the show’s upcoming reboot. While it follows a straightforward format, with interviews and plenty of footage fleshing out the members’ recollections and insights, the film feels just as loose and playful as the Kids themselves. Each person is interviewed separately, but they often address each other through the camera, setting up a joke and landing an unexpected punchline with each response. It’s of a piece with the Kids’ work: they often address the audience directly, so it only seems appropriate for COMEDY PUNKS to draw the viewer in by frequently breaking the fourth wall.
This is a comedy documentary, so it is very, very funny, but — just like its subjects — it mixes in serious topics along the way, treating them with care while still finding humor in them. The Kids discuss being in the alcoholic-fathers club, and Thompson talks about his constant fear of contracting AIDS. The members of the troupe and the other people interviewed — including comedians Mae Martin and Eddie Izzard — discuss how revolutionarily queer The Kids in the Hall were at a time when comedians didn’t talk about being gay, or if they did, they certainly didn’t do it in a respectful or empowering way. For many people, Scott Thompson was the first openly gay person they knew. Seeing him be hilariously queer on television without making himself the butt of the joke was life-changing, and it’s so affirming to hear that sentiment from people for whom that was a personal and professional revelation.
COMEDY PUNKS ends, as all stories inevitably must, with a discussion of death: who of the Kids think will die first, what they want their funerals to be like, what the legacy of The Kids in the Hall means to them. It’s an incredibly moving moment, punctuated as it is by jokes about the Marx Brothers and T. Rex, that drives home just how important this group is, not only to its iconic members, but to its fans as well. The Kids in the Hall changed the face of sketch comedy, and they changed a lot of people’s lives in the process. THE KIDS IN THE HALL: COMEDY PUNKS pays fitting tribute to their experimental, punk-rock work and proves that the magic they found when they met in a small theatre group 40 years ago has just as much power now as it ever has.
Tags: Bruce McCulloch, comedy, Dave Foley, documentary, Kevin McDonald, Kids in the Hall, Kids in the Hall Comedy Puns, Mark McKinney, Reg Harkema, Scott Thompson, SXSW, SXSW 2022
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