This legendary comedy troupe was formed by comedians Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson. Before joining, McCulloch and McKinney were working together in Calgary, performing in a group called The Audience. At the same time, Foley and McDonald were performing in Toronto as Kids in the Hall. The four met in Toronto and began performing regularly as The Kids in the Hall, finally adding Scott Thompson in January of 1985.
The group broke off briefly in 1985 when Foley and McCulloch appeared in the Anne of Green Gables series. McCulloch and McKinney were invited by scouts for Saturday Night Live to join the show’s writing team, while Thompson and McDonald worked with Second City. They reunited in 1986, and after Lorne Michaels (SNL) saw them perform as a group, they began plans for a television show. Michaels sent them to New York to work on their comedy chops, and in 1988 the show premiered on CBC, making its U.S. debut on HBO a year later. They took their comedic inspiration from another Canadian comedy show, SCTV.
The Kids in the Hall frequently appeared as themselves, and many of the sketches dealt with them as a comedy troupe producing a television show. The distinctly edgy humour broke new ground with their characterizations of secretaries, prostitutes, drug users and oddball creations.
The show ran on CBC and HBO from 1989 until 1995. After the series ended, the troupe produced a feature film, Brain Candy, with a few characters from the show and many new ones. They reunited for Kids in the Hall: Same Guys, New Dresses (2000), Kids in the Hall: Tour of Duty (2002), and an SF Sketchfest Tribute (2008).
All of The Kids have been successful individually, but it is universally acknowledged among the members that they do their best work as comedians in the group.
