List Price: $39.95 Our Price: $35.96YOU SAVE $3.99!
Buy it
DVD The Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 1 (1989-1990)
Thirty Helens agree: The Kids in the Hall is a funny show. (Mr. Tyzik, the bitter Head Crusher, however, may not agree.) The no-holds-barred sketch comedy is also strange, silly, profane--occasionally even profound. The five Canadian writer-comedians behind it, Dave Foley (NewsRadio), Bruce McCulloch (Superstar), Kevin McDonald (That ''70s Show), Mark McKinney (Saturday Night Live), and Scott Thompson (The Larry Sanders Show), formed the troupe in the early 1980s. Naturally, they weren't really kids, but boyish-looking men in their twenties and thirties. SNL's Lorne Michaels produced the series, which lasted for five seasons, and aired on HBO, Comedy Central, and Canada's CBC. It garnered three Emmy nominations and was followed by the theatrical cult classic The Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996) and several tours.
The Toronto-based team took more inspiration from the absurdity of Monty Python--and the craziness inherent in everyday life--than the topical humor of SNL (on which celebrities, politicians, and pop culture are frequent targets). Each 30-minute installment features short, punchy skits (some filmed in advance, some before a live audience), men in drag, and no special guest hosts or stars (musical or otherwise). During their small-screen rein, the Kids took aim at everything from mainstream comedy and corporate culture to sexism, bigotry, and pretension. Many of their best-loved characters first appeared during the 20 episodes produced between 1989-1990. They include the 30 Helens (30 Helens standing in a field agreeing about something or other), Tyzik (McKinney), rockin' Bobby (McCulloch), bickering Fran and Gordon (Thompson and McCulloch), chatty Cathy and Kathie (McCulloch and Thompson), the "Nobody Likes Us" guys (Foley and MacDonald), and the acerbic Buddy Cole (Thompson).
Canadian underground heroes Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet provided the icing on their spicy little cake with their wistful surf-rock theme "Having an Average Weekend." --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Review(s): DVD The Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 1 (1989-1990)
Groundbreaking sketch comedy...
Nominated for 3 Emmys and 18 Gemini Awards, including five straight for Best Comedy Series, The Kids In The Hall is a legendary sketch comedy troupe whose hilarious skits have achieved cult icon status among comedy aficionados. Named after famed comedian Jack Benny's penchant for beginning a joke by saying, "I got this from the kids in the hall" (a line referring to amateur comedians outside his office), The Kids In The Hall formed in Canada in 1984. However, the group parted for a short time when members Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney were hired as writers for the NBC show Saturday Night Live. When the group reunited, SNL producer Lorne Michaels attended a Kids In The Hall performance and loved what he saw. He had an instant vision of the group in its own sketch comedy series, and in 1988, The Kids In The Hall premiered on HBO...
The Kids In The Hall took full bloom in the late-1980s/early-1990s when the success of Saturday Night Live made sketch comedy a hot commodity. In this atmosphere, new series like In Living Color, MADtv, and The Kids In The Hall, were ripe for breakout success. Sporting a small regular cast of five (with extensive experience working together), The Kids In The Hall quickly gained a loyal and devoted audience. Cast members Dave Foley (later of Newsradio), Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson, for the most part, wrote their own material and performed their own sketches, providing the show with edge in creativity in regard to its contemporaries. This synergy between cast members and writers earned three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program (whew! that's a long award title) and garnered The Kids In The Hall the credit and respect it deserves as one of the premiere sketch comedy shows in television history...
The Kids In The Hall (Season 1) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the series premiere in which the cast perform a number of skits such as Call Girls, The Eradicator, Ballet, The Head Crusher, and even one sketch which reveals the true cause of cancer... Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "#108" with such skits as Ping Pong, The Vacation, Chain Gang, and Dinosaurs, and "#115" with such skits as Death Row, Man Guy, Crazy Love, Buddy's Island, and Mechanics...
The DVD Report
Funny!!!
This is an awsome debut of the KTH series. The sketches are very thought out, and really show a unique talent for these "kids". My favorites are the "secretaries" skits, as well as "Darcey Parnel", "Stinky Pink" and "Buddy Cole". This is worth a buy.
30 Helens Agree ....
The Kids in the Hall was that comedy troupe for those wanting something a bit more realistic and adult than "Saturday Night Live", while also catering to that audience that felt that "the State" was a bit too overwhelming. So, The Kids in the Hall found the niche, and they exploited it in the most original and entertaining way possible. The created skits that not just reflected the absurdities of everyday life, but also released some of the most vivid characters ever to cross the small screen. Scott Thompson, Kevin McDonald, Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, and Bruce McCulloch created some of the funniest bits of comedy and on just their first season out.
Normally, when you pick up the first season of any television program it sometimes carries that feeling of old or out-dated. That is completely not the case with this first season of Kids in the Hall. These five comedians have created skits that have lasted the test of time and still remain relevantly funny today. Their views on business, the family dynamics, the gay community, and everything else in between is strangely parallel to our culture today (and this was made in 1989-1990). To demonstrate the craftiness of their humor, I found myself rewinding some of the episodes to laugh again and again. While there were some amazing ones scattered throughout the first season that I just fell in love with, the final episode on the third disc is by far my favorite ever. It felt as if they had broken their hypothetic shell, and really took charge of their craft. Another great element to this season is that you get all of these guys uncensored, so the comedy comes to you firsthand. I guess from watching them on Comedy Central, you don't really see their darker side (as often), but in this uncensored season it comes full force and in style.
Overall, I was extremely impressed with this debut season. These guys are hysterical, imaginative, bold, creative, and has a ear to the pulse of society. While it seems that in the long run their humor was not appreciated as much and it is hard to find these guys doing powerful work today, they will always have a place in my home in my DVD player. For anyone who loves to laugh, especially at yourself, this is the perfect season for you! I was very impressed!
Grade: ***** out of *****
Related DVD's The Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 1 (1989-1990)
All your favorite characters are back for the second season of The Kids in the Hall--but the stakes have been raised. Bobby (Bruce McCulloch) is still rockin', but now he's battling more than just his parents in "Bobby vs. Satan." (Shades of the Charlie Daniels Band!) Meanwhile, the increasingly outrageous Buddy (Scott Thompson) steps off his bar stool to manage the Sappho Sluggers in "Buddy Plays Softball," does time in "Buddy Cole in Jail," and is freed by a batty judge (Dave Foley) in "Justice."
Then there are the other familiar faces. Cathy (Thompson) and Kathie (McCulloch) are still dieting, Fran (Thompson) and Gordon (McKinney) are still bickering, Cabbage Head (McCulloch) is still trying--in vain--to score and, after a potentially debilitating injury, Mr. Tyzik... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Dave Foley DVD Release Date: Released the 16 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $59.95 Your Price: $53.96YOU SAVE $5.99!
Buy it
Moviegoers never caught on to its brilliance, but Brain Candy is a smart, outrageously inventive vehicle for Canada's most irreverent comedy troupe. The subtly subversive plot is about society's ongoing search for the perfect "happy drug," and the Kids inhabit a multitude of costumes and characters as they celebrate--and lament--the invention of "Gleemonex," the ultimate antidepressant, which locks users into their happiest memories... and subsequently renders them comatose. No worries for the Roritor Chemical Company; they don't care much about side effects! With rampant riffs on heavy-metal doomsayers, closeted gay husbands (resulting in Scott Thompson's hilarious coming-out musical), blissed-out grandmothers, and all varieties of corporate greed-mongers, Brain Candy is... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Dave Foley - Bruce McCulloch Director(s): Kelly Makin DVD Release Date: Released the 16 July 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.99 Your Price: $13.49YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
KITH are one of the best comedy troups in the history of comedy....saturday night live has nothing on the Kids..... It seems as though they learned much from SCTV and in turn have heavilly influenced the Upright Citizens Brigade...... This is a classic season for Bruce.......just buy it u freaks More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Dave Foley DVD Release Date: Released the 25 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $59.95 Your Price: $44.96YOU SAVE $14.99!
Buy it
Thanks to demand from Kids fans like you and me, the first season of The Kids In The Hall will be released on DVD, possibly by the end of 2003.
www.kidsinthehall.com
Is the Kids' Tour Of Duty DVD still worth it? Yes. However, your priority should be on the DVD of the series! More Info about this DVD Director(s): Dave Diomedi DVD Release Date: Released the 18 March 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $17.98YOU SAVE $2!
Buy it
Season 4 of HBO's Mr. Show is particularly strong, with a number of original ideas and exceptionally funny sketches scattered over all 10 episodes. Stars Bob Odenkirk and David Cross are in good form from the season premiere's opening bit about medical marijuana--specifically, Cross's prescription to help him with the anxiety of working with Odenkirk. The duo also work a comic rivalry theme in a dueling bloopers sketch that includes "embarrassing" footage of Odenkirk as a male prostitute and Cross as a wannabe rock star.
But the best material is positively surreal, such as a Jerry Springer-like talk show taking place on a life raft, and a variation on The Paper Chase in which a curmudgeonly law professor (Michael McKean), suddenly called away from class after a... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): David Cross (II) - Bob Odenkirk Director(s): Stacy Peralta - Keith Truesdell - John Moffitt - Jonathan Dayton - Peyton Reed DVD Release Date: Released the 21 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $34.98 Your Price: $27.98YOU SAVE $7!
Buy it
