“Sketch comedy, what is it? What is required? The first thing that is needed is a premise.”
How about this for a premise? Lorne Michaels, who was a brainchild behind Saturday Night Live, puts together a show based on a Canadian comedy troop named The Kids In The Hall? The group gets their name from an old running Jack Benny routine where he would tell the audience that he got this next joke from the kids in the hall. Michaels struck comedy gold before; it would make sense that he would do it again. Doesn’t it?
“The premise has been established. The comedic possibilities are inherent. All that is needed for this scene to progress is a conflict.”
Let’s face it; Saturday Night Live hasn’t been comedy gold for decades. Those of us who remember the original “Not Ready For Prime-Time Players” find the show has become the complete unfunny opposite of what the show once was. And that’s the Lorne Michaels we’re dealing with here.
“The conflict has been set in motion. The scene is doing extremely well. All that is required now for this to be a fully-formed and well-rounded sketch is a resolution.”
The show uses the same kind of material you can find on the uninspired years of Saturday Night Live. Except here there are no guests or musical acts to keep you entertained. Fortunately, each episode is only a half hour, so you won’t suffer long, except there are 5 seasons here on over 20 discs.
“Notice the mug to the audience. This indicates the punch line has been delivered. This is generally followed by a blackout.”
One thing these guys are very good at is mugging for the camera. There’s only one thing worse than a comedy sketch that isn’t funny. It’s a comedy sketch that isn’t funny, but the performers think it’s a riot. That pretty much sums up Kids In The Hall.
Video
Each episode is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio. The picture is rough. It looks like dubbed video tape, at times. Colors run, and the sharpness is as dull as the comedy.
Audio
The Dolby Digital 2.0 track delivers the jokes even when the kids can’t.
Special Features
Kids In The Hall – Death Comes To Town: This collection of reunion episodes appears on a two-disc collection along with the series. It includes commentaries and extra footage.
Final Thoughts:
The Kids are: Dave Foley, the only true funnyman in the group, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson. They did manage to run for five years and not have one cast change. There are fans out there, and I guess they’re in on the joke. I wasn’t. I wanted this collection to be a laugh-riot marathon. Instead I couldn’t even crack a smile for hours at a time. The real joke is on anyone who shells out real money for this set. If you do find yourself grabbing this one up, I have just one question for you: “Did you laugh even once?”
3 Responses
All I’ll say for now is: ‘I’m IN on the joke.’
It must be a Canada thing, aye? 🙂
The only thing I remember from Kids in the Hall is the “I crush your head” (with the fingers) part which I still do to my wife. But outside of that, I honestly don’t find much of it funny. It’s certainly a Canadaian thing.