If you’re going to dive into the world of sketch comedy, there are two shows that should form the backbone of the experience: Monty Python’s Flying Circus and The Kids in the Hall. By the time The Kids in the Hall came on the scene, the framework of a sketch show was well understood but they delivered a show that was unfailingly brilliant comedy with each and every episode, giving us memorable characters and skits that hold up 16 years later. As you digest each and every episode in this megaset of over 42 hours of the classic show and then the additional 3 hours of the mini-series Death Comes to Town, you’ll begin to realize how consistently excellent the show was and how they only managed to recapture a portion of that in their 2010 return.
From the very first season of The Kids in the Hall, Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch, and Scott Thompson created characters that would recur until the very last episodes while still having the guts to try out new and bold endeavors in absurd comedy with each season. Compare it against Saturday Night Live, the longest running sketch comedy show of all time, and The Kids in the Hall looks like a magnum opus of comedy. There aren’t some episodes that work and some that don’t, there are just different flavors. Though most everyone inevitably finds that they enjoy one actor’s style more than the others, it’s virtually guaranteed that you’ll find a terrific skit you enjoy starring each of the actors. This is due, in large part, to that fact that each of the actors made a brand for themselves within the show, taking on signature roles and personalities that live on to this day as being truly top-notch examples of comedy.
Some will gravitate to Kevin McDonald’s pathetic human punching bag characters (Sir Simon Milligan or the lead singer and lyricist of Rod Torfulson’s Armada); some will be stricken by McCulloch’s balance between characters of bravado (Cabbagehead) and his simpler, unconfident simpletons (Gavin); some will find unending pleasure in Mark McKinney’s ricocheting between the apathetic (the cop), the overly enthusiastic and simple (the street performer), the clueless (Darrill), the utterly weird (the Chicken Lady), and the awesome (the Head Crusher); Dave Foley supplies laughs as the know-it-all (“Rock is Dead”), the deplorable tycoon (“Don’t blame the clown, Husk!”), the silent film gag (Mr. Heavyfoot), the unapologetically negligent (the Bad Doctor), and as pure evil (Manservant Hecubus); and finally when Steven Thompson isn’t playing his signature monologue-delivering gay icon Buddy Cole, in what I’m convinced was a joke of brilliant unspoken irony, plays the group’s straight man – the one less from whom the jokes come, but upon whom their success hinges – as earnest businessman (Danny Husk), the basic housewife, and then, for kicks, the Queen of England.
For me, the love of The Kids in the Hall came when an episode started with an overly hammy show about electricians going into an evil scientists lab to fix the lights ends in a monologue from Kevin McDonald about the plight of gorillas and the rate at which they’re killed, it then suddenly turns on its head as he begins using the deaths of gorillas as a unit of measuring time and thus the success of that particular episode. It’s skits like this that represent the totally unpredictable nature of The Kids in the Hall, and it’s why the show holds such high esteem. It’s smart, it’s progressive, and it goes to places that other shows can’t even imagine going.
The Kids in the Hall is five seasons of comedy that anyone with a funnybone should seriously consider owning. The replay value is fantastic thanks to both the brilliance of the writing and the high volume of episodes.
The Megaset is an exact clone of the previous Megaset but in slimmer packaging (about 2/3 as big as the last KITH megaset release) with new artwork (though the same in-disc menus) putting episode summaries on an insert inside each season’s case, and the addition of the Death Comes to Town mini-series. For fans who already own the Megaset, there’s no point in double-dipping just for the slimmer packaging and Death Comes to Town addition, since the latter is available as its own purchase. Unless you really need to free up shelf space, in which case go for it.
The Death Comes to Town mini-series will leave fans with mixed emotions. For a more complete review go here. In short, it manages to recapture the brilliance of the troupe’s absurdity in a few places, and they let themselves shine in a few episodes, but ultimately the mini-series suffered from the same hiccup that Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy did: their style was never meant to fit a long-form narrative. The Kids in the Hall is at its best when it can essentially run by stream of consciousness and throw out whatever crazy idea the five guys came up with. When they have to constrain it to a narrative piece, they lose a lot of the freedom that allowed the original series to shine. Some of the genius is here, but ultimately it’s a pale reflection of what once was.
DVD Bonus Features
The extras for the five seasons are exactly what was previously offered in the other megaset, as they are the same discs just with new casing and artwork, but don’t get me wrong, when A&E first put these out they did a fantastic job of compiling extras that KITH fans would want to watch. Consequently, this set has some extraordinarily good featurettes that are worth watching for diehard fans and newcomers (once they’ve gotten hooked) alike.
Here’s a full listing, and keep in mind, that save for the biographies, the occasional slide show or poster gallery, each and every one of these should be watched at least once, and will likely draw you back (especially the audio commentaries):
“An Oral History” – Conversations with the cast, Lorne Michaels, and Paul Bellini for the first two seasons
9 “Best-of” sketch compilations (two for each seasons 1-4, one for season 5), including footage from the hard-to-find pilot episode (in the first season)
Over 1.5 hours of non-televised scenes from the Rivoli Theater
Death Comes to Town extras:
The extras are nothing special once you’re done with the Dave Foley and Bruce McCulloch audio commentaries, which are pretty funny. The remainders include a tepid blooper reel and some deleted/extended scenes. It’s surprising how disappointing the blooper reel was considering the guys involved.
"The Kids in the Hall: Complete Series DVD Megaset" is on sale May 24, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy. Directed by Kelly Makin, John Blanchard. Written by Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, Kevin McDonald, Scott Thompson, Paul Bellini. Starring Bruce Mcculloch, Dave Foley, Kevin Mcdonald, Mark Mckinney, Scott Thompson.
