GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

APRIL 19, 1996

Evenings Out

Kids in the movie

by Tamara Murphy

Kids in the Hall's Brain Candy, the first feature film from the Canadian quintet responsible for the television series on Comedy Central, is irreverent, silly, scary, and downright hysterical. It is everything Saturday Night Live used to be, and hopefully will be again.

Produced by Lome Michaels of SNL fame, the film traces the development of an antidepressive wonder drug, described by one of the film's characters as sort of a "super Prozac," from its idealistic inception, through a much-too-carly release at the hands of a greedy corporate magnate, to the typical American media circus which saturates the market with the drug.

The drug causes a person to “lock on" to their happiest moment, enabling them to live in an eternally blissful state. The happiest moments of Scott Thompson's character will have gay folks rolling in the aisles, particularly all the ex-military boys who understand the exquisite pleasure that can come from being a "grunt.” (Don't ask---I won't tell!)

When some unexpected and unpleasant side effects occur, the ensuing cover-up is at once hilarious and frightening. The entire film benefits from a humor that is built upon recognition. Exaggerated, of course, but none the less true. Nothing escapes the satirical wit of the Kids, and the very scenes that leave you screaming with laughter will have you shaking your head and wondering if this stuff really does happen.

As well as having written the screenplay, the Kids-David Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald. Mark McKinney, and openly gay comedian Scott Thompson--play an ensemble of 24 characters, many of them women. McCulloch articulates that the difference between their television skits and the film is that "it's more developed narrative. That allowed us to create some new characters; it's fresher for us to work that way.” "Our comedy is light and dark." says McKinney. "We take morbid subjects and add some sugar to them.”

The Chronicle asked McKinney for his thoughts on why the Kids are so popular with the gay and lesbian community. “It must partly have to do with Scott being an out gay comedian, which I think in 1989 was still pretty rare. For the rest of us, it was also like a healthy exploration of sexuality from ... an ultra-realistic point of view."

As for the helpful or harmful effects of expressing an openly gay aesthetic in their work, McKinney recognizes that they've probably experienced some of both. "It feels pretty natural in our work, I think it's strengthened it. We never really questioned it. Maybe in the States it has hurt [us], particularly [because] we play women pretty close to the bone. I think in certain parts of the States there is an automatic assumption that we're all gay, and that therefore it's a "gay TV show." Whereas for us, being Canadians raised on [comedy] where drag is like a standard, though I think we took it a step further by getting away from the idea that you get a laugh just because you're in a dress, rather that playing the character."

McKinney says the group "totally lucked out" in that there was never any pressure to tone down the gay content of their comedy. "The thought never came to me that I was

BRAIN

CANDY

(left to right) Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson and David Foley.

The once-repressed Wally, (top) joyously proclaims that he is gay to a chorus of celebrants.

doing something bizarre," he said. "We were writing sketches and we were starting to mine a tunnel about relationships and sexuality and stuff like that, that just sort of intrigued us as writers and as comedians, so we just followed it."

Aside from the film which opened April 12, cach of the Kids has gone on to achieve other success since the taping of the last television episode in 1994. Foley stars on NBC's News Radio, Kevin McDonald starred in the feature film National Lampoon's Senior Trip, McKinney has joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, McCulloch made short films for Saturday Night Live 's 94-95 season and released his album Shame-Based Man, on Atlantic records, and Scott Thompson landed a recurring role on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show.

McKinney explained that for him, working with The Kids in the Hall “started as a passionate hobby and stayed that way. I judge it by a different standard.” Whatever the standard, The Kids in the Hall Brain Candy is just what the doctor ordered. ♡

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