Mill Creek Entertainment stays true to its word in describing the February 13, 2108 DVD and Digital release of "The Kids in the Hall" as "the complete collection." This set includes every UNCENSORED episode from this 1989-95 five-season CBC/HBO Canadian sketch-comedy show, the 1988 HBO pilot, AND the entire 2010 reunion series "Death Comes to Town." The uncensored aspect is very clear from the foul language in many pilot skits and the nudity in a "Naked for Jesus" skit.
The accolades for the "Kids" include numerous Emmy nominations and several Gemini Awards (a.k.a. Canadian Emmys) wins.
The following YouTube clip of the Mill Creek promo. for "Collection" strikes a perfect balance between offering a look at the uniqueness of the series without unduly spoiling the fun within.
Mill Creek releasing this edgy series on the same day as a (reviewed) Blu-ray release of the 1974 family film "Benji" and a (reviewed) collection of film and television appearances of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis during their era as a comedy team and the period following their break-up provides some sense of the depth of the Creek catalog.
"Kids" consists of real troupers (and future mainstream stars) Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson. These boys regularly dressing as a wide variety of women, portraying the most bizarre characters to come out of any sketch-comedy series, and baring all on stage in front of an audience results in their shamelessness being our bonanza.
The good news is that the Creek set allows getting all the goodness in one package and fills a gap left by previous "Kids" DVD sets being discontinued. It also provides current cool kids in their teens, 20s, and 30s a chance to discover this awesome alternative show. The bad news is that a traditional review ruins much of the impact of this discovery.
Much of the fun of watching edgy late-night television comedy, which can be considered forbidden fruit to a pre-adolescent, is coming across it on your own. Readers who are old enough to at least vaguely recall the Carter presidency likely remember the excitement of being up way past their bed times on the Saturday night that they discover classic SNL with jokes about sex and the television commercials that dare mock beloved household items; simply reminding this generation of the eternal line "Jane, you ignorant slut" should bring it all back.
This leads to discovering SCTV, which largely is a kinder and gentler version of the early SNL days. One exception is the "Happy Days" era Ron Howard monologue in which he chugs a brew and jokes about rumors of his being killed in Viet Nam.
Just as too much advance knowledge of these shows impairs the impact of seeing them for the first time, too many specifics about "Kids" ruins it for the "virgins" who have yet to see this program.
"Kids" is the glorious bastard child of SNL and SCTV. This CBC and HBO series outshines SNL in terms of frequent use of the seven dirty words that you could not say on broadcast television for many years and in terms of the unrepressed Canadian-style silliness of SCTV. As an aside, SNL once aired a hilarious skit to celebrate the word "penis" becoming acceptable for late-night television.
A perfect example of "Kids" humor occurs in the series finale at the end of the fifth season. In jokingly introducing scenes from skits that fail even loose broadcast standards, Foley and McDonald mention one titled "Hitler F**ks A Donkey." This cuts to a skit in which McCulloch is dressed as the German leader and mimics the titular act of beastiality.
The big picture is that the "Kids" have highly infectious fun. It is as if they are the mot inventive 13 year-olds ever and have a warehouse of costumes, make-up, and wigs available to act out the products of their fertile imaginations. In this regard, the "darnedst things" that those "Kids" say are the best part of the show.
Other good humor comes in the form of the "Kids" portraying stereotypical characters of all ages and genders to mine humor from the various flaws of people. These include secretaries crabbing about the grind of office work, flamboyant gay men, obnoxious teen boys, abusive husbands and their meek wives, etc.
The strong desire to minimize spoilers is behind offering what is believed to be a hypothetical example of a "Kids" skit but is so perverse that it might be one. Such a skit may be one of the many set at a table in the kitchen of a middle-class home. One cast member is playing the part of a young boy, and another "Kid" is fully in drag as his mother and is feeding him dinner.
This hypothetical skit begins with the boy asking why his classmates live in nicer houses than his and his mother responding that that is because his father is a worthless bum who cares more about paying whores for sex than buying the boy a bicycle.
The mother then goes on to tell her son that her husband has never provided for her material or sexual needs. The climax comes when the mother states that she has found a way for her husband to put food on the table, and the boy asks how. This leads to the mother picking a half-eaten piece of meat off the plate of the son and stating that it looks like that is off the leg of his father.
The "closing monologue" regarding all this is the "Kids" are more than alright and prove that good non-topical humor never goes out of date. It is almost certain that the herds of Helens who form a regular focus group throughout the series agree.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Kids" is strongly encouraged either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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