Browsing Tag

Mark McKinney

Film, Pop Culture

An Open Letter to the Kids in the Hall

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Hey, feel free to pass this on to any of the Kids in the Hall if you know them. 

Dear Kevin, Dave, Scott, Mark, and Bruce,

I’m a grown woman. I’m 27 years old now. I’m at the age where I would have finally figured out how to balance my checkbook properly if we still used checkbooks.

However, something happened to me when I watched your new show Death Comes to Town yesterday. I resorted back into pubescent 15 year-old nerd girl who used to make Headcrusher home movies in her basement instead of hanging out with kids her own age. The dweeb who used to fantasize about Bruce McCulloch’s little man dance jerks instead of Justin Timberlake’s not little-man dance jerks. The kid who anxiously fidgeted on the school bus ride home every day, contemplating what back-to-back episodes of Kids in the Hall were recording on the VCR and what flavor of Hot Pocket she was going to gorge herself with..

While enjoying your latest production, I could distinctly recall (more…)

Film, Pop Culture

Hammy and The Kids


Kevin was always my favorite Kid in the Hall.
I’m not sure why.
All the other Kids were equally talented and adorable.

Was it because of Kevin’s curly coiffure?
Maybe.
I’ve always been a sucker for white boys with bouffants that make them look like hairy lollipops.

Was it his spastic and awkward hand gestures and movements?
Maybe.
I’ve always had a thing for men who look like they suffer from mild retardation.

Was it his spontaneous, high-pitched outbursts and subsequent tongue rolls?
Probably not.

But maybe it was all of these attributes rolled into one that made me love Kevin McDonald.

And after seeing him spill his guts in his one-man show about his alcoholic father and The Kids in the Hall, titled, “Hammy and the Kids” for the Out of Bounds Comedy Tour, I fell in love with Kevin all over again.


Kevin McDonald had a pretty shitty upbringing.
Remember The Kids in the Hall skit, “Daddy Drank”? (see below)
Well, that was his childhood.
Full of memories of (more…)

Film, Pop Culture

The Kids in the Hall vs. The State

The 90’s was not my favorite decade for personal reasons (nose seemingly disproportionate to the rest of my face, catepillar eyebrows, discovering my sexuality through Elton John circa 1972), HOWEVER, it was my favorite decade for sketch comedy.
Only two troupes stand out in my mind as rulers of 90’s sketch- CBC’s The Kids in the Hall and MTV’s The State.
If you don’t know who either are, you’re a fucking loser.
There, I said it.
Somebody had to.

My roommate brought home the newly released The State DVD boxset tonight and I got myself reaquinted with the show. I watched The State when it was still on MTV, way before I ever discovered what The Kids in the Hall was.

I must have thought I was a pretty fucking awesome twelve year-old.
When I saw The Kids in the Hall “Brain Candy a few years later, I was at first appalled, then turned on. Wild intrigue manifested into manical obsession and I lost a great deal of friends during this time due to my forcing them to reenact “Buddy (more…)
Film, Pop Culture

Top Eleven Kids in the Hall Skits

I used to pretend I was Buddy Cole. It seems fitting that I would pretend to be an extremely effeminate bar fly who loved wearing a velvet jackets and loafers with no socks at fifteen years of age.
When I wasn’t Buddy, I was Kathy with “K”. Or the Chicken Lady.
Sometimes I’d pretend to be Jocelyn the French-Canadian prostitute (I wanted to be as pretty as Dave Foley). Once I was Sir Simon Milligan AND Hecubus. Needless to say, as a teenager, I was obsessed with the Kids in the Hall. I forced all my friends to watch the show with me and reenact every episode.
I’m sorry.
I’ve been lucky enough to see the guys live four times, including an intimate, four-night only gig in Hollywood last year. I’ve also met them a few times, but the only thing I can remember is when in 1998, my bumbling high school boyfriend said to Dave Foley, “That really sucks about Phil Hartman.”. Dave stared at him, open-mouthed, then said, “Uh yeah, sure sucks that he was killed, huh?”
While I work on my (more…)