The Kids in the Hall

I love the Kids in the Hall. I think they are absolutely amazing and are pretty much my favorite comedy group of all time (there improv is fantastic too!). There are how I instantaneously try and bond with any Canadian I meet... and then how I lose interest in any Canadian I meet if they do anything but sing the kids' praises (blasphemy!).

I remember watching the old repeats on Comedy Central and the great thing about the show has been it is something I am actually able to go back and enjoy more than when I was watching for the first time in elementary and middle school. The first thing is that they are just plain funny, and the second is that they are amazingly good technically. There is much stuff you learn when studying the Harold about good comedy structure (keeping the most absurd situation real in the way you play it, heightening, pattern of threes) that they just do and are text book examples of even though that wasn't any of there backgrounds. Also, their women are just plain amazing, even my mom says so. Yes, I know, I am jealous but in a mentory sort of way.

It kills me though that when things got tough in the 90s when things got tough Lorne Michaels, who produced both Saturday Night Live and the Kids in the Hall, and Lorne Michaels had to choose between them and chose Saturday Night Live. I know SNL is an American institution, but is hasn't been funny in sooo long. It is like watching the plow horse with the broken leg limp about, you know farmer Bill is coming back, it is just a question of when. Anywho, I would have killed for the Kids in the Hall to keep going, but it wasn't to be. What was great about it was that it was a real ensemble show, it was really just the six of them and they would all write (for themselves and for others), star, and support. It was just some amazing work they did and I am sorry it ended with so much frustration for them.

So the last season came out on dvd and I got it for Christmas and have been dutifully watching it here in Vienna. One of my favorite sketches was also in that season and thanks to youtube it can be watched on the internet too. Youtube won't let me embed it though so click on the link. So without further ado here is Stair Climber.