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FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: badgrammer on May 04, 2010, 03:15:57 PM

Title: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: badgrammer on May 04, 2010, 03:15:57 PM
Thought I'd post the link to this interview with Bruce McColloch of KITH from Bravo! Canada -I figured there might be some FOTs who'd find this of interest. There is a lot of talk about American v. Canadian style comedy, KITH origins, and "Death Comes to Town" (of course!)

http://watch.bravo.ca/the-oregan-files/season-2/the-oregan-files-ep-204-bruce-mcculloch/
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Pidgeon on May 04, 2010, 03:28:10 PM
I still haven't decided who's the prettiest one.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Sarah on May 04, 2010, 03:29:52 PM
I can't stand that CTV guy.  He drove me nuts during the Olympics.  But I'm happy to see this interview.  KITH are the bee's knees, and Death Come to Town was a treat.  I love those boys.

Pidgeon, that would be Dave Foley.  His mayoress is so much like a real woman, it's eerie.  (Later:  I wrote this before I got to that part of the interview.  It's just a fact.  Always has been.  His French Canadian prostitute probably confused a whole lot of fellers.)
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Pidgeon on May 04, 2010, 03:31:29 PM
I think that Dave is the prettiest as a woman and Bruce looks the best out of drag.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: badgrammer on May 04, 2010, 03:36:29 PM
I can't stand that CTV guy.  He drove me nuts during the Olympics.  But I'm happy to see this interview.  KITH are the bee's knees, and Death Come to Town was a treat.  I love those boys.

Pidgeon, that would be Dave Foley.  His mayoress is so much like a real woman, it's eerie.  (Later:  I wrote this before I got to that part of the interview.  It's just a fact.  Always has been.  His French Canadian prostitute probably confused a whole lot of fellers.)

Thank you for saying that, Sarah! I thought the same thing --I really don't like his interview "style". Ugh.

They're all pretty in their own way, but I've always had a thing for Dave Foley. I think it's just his gap-toothed smile though...
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Sarah on May 04, 2010, 03:37:02 PM
I think Scott Thompson looks the best as a man.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: badgrammer on May 04, 2010, 03:39:58 PM
Yes, AS A MAN, is what I meant! Haha. Although, he used to be the most natural looking girl in drag IMO.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: TacoSmith on May 04, 2010, 03:40:29 PM
Anyone who doesn't think Dave was the prettiest woman is only fooling themselves.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Sarah on May 04, 2010, 03:43:00 PM
I just have to groan about Regan's obsession with the cross-dressing.  Does he really not know that there's a grand tradition of transvestism in British humor, of which Canadia is the heir/beneficiary?  Lordy.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: badgrammer on May 04, 2010, 03:43:55 PM
On the DVD commentary for one of their live shows --I think it's the Same Guys, New Dresses DVD, Mike Myers definitely admits to being attracted to Dave Foley as a woman.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Sarah on May 04, 2010, 03:47:01 PM
*O'Regan
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Sarah on May 04, 2010, 03:49:40 PM
Ha, he returns to the cross-dressing at the end, when he finally makes the connection to Brit com.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: TacoSmith on May 04, 2010, 03:53:54 PM
It's always odd to me when people think of KITH as the show with the dudes dressing up like women. It was always just a non-factor to me. As a kid, I just saw it as they had an all male cast so they had to dress up like women to have women in their sketches. Not that big of a deal.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: badgrammer on May 04, 2010, 04:18:00 PM
It's always odd to me when people think of KITH as the show with the dudes dressing up like women. It was always just a non-factor to me. As a kid, I just saw it as they had an all male cast so they had to dress up like women to have women in their sketches. Not that big of a deal.

Exactly! However, I'm guessing that maybe men dressing as women for comedy was a radical idea for network TV in the 80's? Although it was on HBO to begin with, so I don't know. If anything, I'd think that the odd/dark/quirky sense of humor would be more off-putting to viewers than anything.

I remember seeing Mark McKinney's "Head Crusher" character as a kid and thinking "WHAT IS THIS?!" That sketch is one of my favorites of all time now.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Sarah on May 04, 2010, 04:30:41 PM
Yes, I think when Kids in the Hall showed up on network television most people were more squeamish about such matters.  (And a lot fewer people had HBO back then.)

The nice thing about the Kids in the Hall guys' impersonations is that they mostly don't intend them to mock women (unlike, for example, The Whitest Kids You Know, who are awful that way).  They're often quite true to life.  Scott Thompson's long-suffering mother to surly Dave Foley's teenage boy, with Bruce McCulloch as the quasi-abusive husband, was a triumph.  Still, to me, ST's impersonations are in general the most draggish; Dave Foley and Mark McKinney more frequently just did women-as-women.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Omar on May 04, 2010, 05:04:09 PM
Scott Thompson's long-suffering mother to surly Dave Foley's teenage boy, with Bruce McCulloch as the quasi-abusive husband, was a triumph.

You speak of Fran, Gordon, and their drug-addled son, Brian.  Those sketches are amazing, especially the classic "Salty Ham." 

"Let's be fair to the ham, dear. Ham is a salty food. It's not like porridge, or toast, or a pear." -- Fran.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: TacoSmith on May 04, 2010, 05:06:12 PM
I think of that Salty Ham sketch every single time I eat something that's really salty. Now that I've typed that it doesn't seem all that impressive. Still, though.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: wood and iron on May 04, 2010, 05:17:47 PM
I have to think that Kids in the Hall was the first absurdist comedy I was exposed to as a kid. I distinctly remember skipping a bunch of school days in order to watch the repeats that Comedy Central used to air around 2 in the afternoon.

My favorite sketch to this day is Bruce's mini-movie, Love and Sausages.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: TacoSmith on May 04, 2010, 05:24:30 PM
While we're talking about it...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR5iScQjjVk[/youtube]
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Omar on May 04, 2010, 06:28:12 PM

My favorite sketch to this day is Bruce's mini-movie, Love and Sausages.

Another classic.  Scott as an old man pounding on the table chanting "I ... want .. SAUSAGES!" is hilarious and disturbing.

Towards the end of the KITH run, Bruce was doing some amazing filmed pieces.  In addition to L&S, there was the "Dipping Areas" restaurant sketch (I assume that is a Bruce production, but maybe not) and also "Big Bucks," where Bruce's character rides around on a scooter and scoops up roadkill.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Chris L on May 04, 2010, 06:38:08 PM

My favorite sketch to this day is Bruce's mini-movie, Love and Sausages.

Another classic.  Scott as an old man pounding on the table chanting "I ... want .. SAUSAGES!" is hilarious and disturbing.

Towards the end of the KITH run, Bruce was doing some amazing filmed pieces.  In addition to L&S, there was the "Dipping Areas" restaurant sketch (I assume that is a Bruce production, but maybe not) and also "Big Bucks," where Bruce's character rides around on a scooter and scoops up roadkill.

How about the one where the old man's wife dies, and then he spends every cent he owns paying increasingly homely women to dance listlessly in their underwear?
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: TacoSmith on May 04, 2010, 06:48:03 PM

My favorite sketch to this day is Bruce's mini-movie, Love and Sausages.

Another classic.  Scott as an old man pounding on the table chanting "I ... want .. SAUSAGES!" is hilarious and disturbing.

Towards the end of the KITH run, Bruce was doing some amazing filmed pieces.  In addition to L&S, there was the "Dipping Areas" restaurant sketch (I assume that is a Bruce production, but maybe not) and also "Big Bucks," where Bruce's character rides around on a scooter and scoops up roadkill.

How about the one where the old man's wife dies, and then he spends every cent he owns paying increasingly homely women to dance listlessly in their underwear?

...again!

Bruce's monologue about him and his dog is one of my all time favorite things in the world.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: courtney on May 04, 2010, 06:49:43 PM
Actually, in that series of sketches at the Hotel La Rut, I always thought Mark McKinney was kinda disturbingly beautiful as the French whore who's always wondering about Tony - where he is, who he is with, what he is thinking, is he thinking of her? & whether he'll ever return some day ...

Yet so, uh, un-beautiful as Tanya the temp. Weird.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: badgrammer on May 04, 2010, 07:22:00 PM
Anyone seen this yet? Interesting case for KITH creating the Glenn Beck "character" before Glenn Beck existed...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtBQqLRZXqA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Sarah on May 04, 2010, 07:48:58 PM
Actually, in that series of sketches at the Hotel La Rut, I always thought Mark McKinney was kinda disturbingly beautiful as the French whore who's always wondering about Tony - where he is, who he is with, what he is thinking, is he thinking of her? & whether he'll ever return some day ...

Yes, I was going to mention that as the one instance when Mark McKinney was a lovelier woman than Dave Foley.

I always really liked "Arms in a Tank" as well.  And the pear dream.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Pidgeon on May 04, 2010, 08:23:37 PM
While we're talking about it...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR5iScQjjVk[/youtube]

I love how Dave is the picture in the frame.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Bernard on May 05, 2010, 12:18:05 AM

there was the "Dipping Areas" restaurant sketch (I assume that is a Bruce production, but maybe not)

yeah, i think it's gotta be.

great quotes in that one, like "my protege and i want to go," "it's a toughie," the "i'm new here" exchanges, and "don't you think they should be...bigger?!?"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbvbF0L9tJg[/youtube]
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: orator on May 05, 2010, 12:35:20 AM
Anyone seen this yet? Interesting case for KITH creating the Glenn Beck "character" before Glenn Beck existed...

[youtube][/youtube]

Haha, yeah. That's pretty similar.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: JonFromMaplewood on May 05, 2010, 09:03:35 AM
Yes, I think when Kids in the Hall showed up on network television most people were more squeamish about such matters.  (And a lot fewer people had HBO back then.)

I don't think anyone was squeamish about cross-dressing in the 80's.  Milton Berle was dressing up like a woman on television back at the dawn of television.  What made people squeamish about KITH - as you pointed out - is they didn't caricature women like Milton Berle and Monty Python. Instead, they dressed up like women and acted like actual women...and sometimes looked quite good doing it.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Pidgeon on May 05, 2010, 09:48:48 AM
Was there ever a time when people were squeamish about crossdressing in a comedic way?
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Wes on May 05, 2010, 09:50:20 AM
I wish I could go back and insert a post with nothing but "Lopez?" in it after every second or third post in this thread.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: courtney on May 05, 2010, 01:04:21 PM
I wish I could go back and insert a post with nothing but "Lopez?" in it after every second or third post in this thread.

just do it in other threads.

I'll still laugh.

A lot.
Title: Re: Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall Interview
Post by: Chris L on May 09, 2010, 01:18:06 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wimPmoT7XoU