By Christopher Stipp

Archives? Right Here…And The Way Way Back Archives Are Here

First things first: The Kids In The Hall are on tour this Spring. Head on over to their MySpace page to get a list of dates and start planning.

That said, there’s not much that grabs my attention these days.

When I first started out doing this I used to be enamored by all sorts of press releases announcing marginal projects. I was new, I didn’t know better and I had yet to learn the nuances and lengths some PR companies will go to make you believe the hype. After years of experience and after just as long a time to figure out that not everyone is who they say they are you honestly become a little jaded. You can’t find it in your heart to get excited by projects because you’re always being pitched this thing which will “be the hottest thing this year” or this movie because “it’s garnering lots of positive buzz.”

That’s when a little e-mail announcing the latest Kids In The Hall tour landed in one of my random in-boxes set me off like an ape that smells a pile of bananas nearby.

I couldn’t wait to jump on the phone to track down those in charge of this latest road show to find out how I could be of some service. It’s really not hard to see why I would react like this when you consider the cultural and professional contributions the KITH has made to sketch comedy and how there hasn’t been a troupe since that can match the level of quality for the five seasons they were on television. They balanced the base with the intelligent, the socially aware with sketches like The Power Of My Cock; the vacillations between these two within any given episode was what still remains as testament to the quality of writing. It’s like every episode was a mix tape and they had the wherewithal to know how to lead it off, what belonged in the middle and how to end things proper.

I would be lying if I said that for the five seasons these guys were on television that I was right there for every episode. It wasn’t until 1991 when I taped a KITH episode for a friend, on VHS no less (man, I feel old), and a sketch called “One Of These Five Men…” was unlike anything I had seen as a young man. I immediately connected with the troupe’s sensibilities and I “got” their sense of humor and what they thought was funny. Too many superlatives could fill this space but I was a fan. I could go on and on about stories related to what would be the basis and genesis for my writing career but I’ll leave it be at that I have seen two of the Kids In The Hall live shows and they’re every bit as good as the show. If you get a chance you could buy a copy of the very great Same Guys, New Dresses show or even their Tour Of Duty show to get a feel for how they translate their sketch comedy for the stage.

And, for those who want the latest taste in what to expect when they roll into a town near you click below to watch a sample of a Q&A when Scott Thompson and company explain their very macabre, but very amusing, connection to Kurt Cobain.

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