• News

• All

Aug 21, 2009 By Kyle Lemmon The Kids in the Hall

The Edmonton Sun, NY Times’ Arts Beat and Variety are all reporting about the return of the cross-dressing comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall. The Canucks are shooting a comedic murder-mystery miniseries in North Bay, Ontario. The reunited crew dusted off their knack for side-splitting jokes on a U.S. tour last year but it’s been over fifteen years since The Kids in the Hall aired on CBC Television. The Kids in the Hall ran on CBC from 1988 to 1994, and on two U.S. networks until 1995.

Yesterday, the five original members of the sketch comedy team reunited to shoot an eight-part TV series, entitled Death Comes to Town. The title was originally rumored as a movie in the spring of last year but The Kids’ publicist dismissed it at the time. The series will premiere on CBC in January. Plans for an American broadcast were not immediately disclosed. Principal photography is scheduled to continue in North Bay until early October. (If you recall, The Kids really, really love their mass murder jokes.) “It’s Corner Gas meets Twin Peaks,” explained Bruce McCulloch to The Globe and Mail.

Death revolves around a killing spree in the small town of Shuckton and trial that ensues shortly thereafter. The series supposedly opens with the character of Death, played by Mark McKinney, arriving by Greyhound bus. (Hey, even Death needs to pinch pennies in this economy.) The troupe’s five members - Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, McCulloch, McKinney and Scott Thompson are all attached to the project as co-writers and McColloch is executive producing.

McCulloch came up with the idea for the series and Thompson coined the name Shuckton. Apparently the show will still have the group’s distinct Canadian touch, especially when it comes to McCulloch’s character, a 600-pound former hockey star, that requires him to wear a fat suit.

The actors will once again play multiple roles, and producers say that roster may include some old favorites from the original Kids in the Hall. Characters created for the Death miniseries include Shuckton’s mayor and his alcoholic wife, a “germ-gel” sniffing town criminal and a pizza delivery woman with Alzheimer’s. In addition to all this great news, ol’ Brucio told the Canadian press that this new venture will hopefully set off a domino effect for future movie and/or TV projects. (www.myspace.com/kithtour08)