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kids in the hall's kevin mcdonald comes vancouver's the improv centre
watch and learn how to get laughs from the canadian comedy stalwart and kids in the hall alum
aug 16 2024
5 minute read
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when the kids in the hall co-founder kevin mcdonald comes to vancouver next month, he’ll be “ready for anything.”
here for a show and a series of sketch comedy workshops on aug. 24 and 25 at the improv centre (tic) on granville island, mcdonald will be performing — and passing on what he has learned in his decades-long career as a comedy writer and performer.
“i will come in front of the audience and ask for a word. they will give me a word and that, hopefully, will make me think of a story,” said mcdonald when asked about the upcoming unhinged with kevin mcdonald show. “i’ll tell a story then everyone can improvise three or five scenes. then i’ll do another story, and that will go on.”
for the second half of the show, premises and ideas from the audience will take centre stage as mcdonald joins the company to do improv.
“kevin is known for being a master of sketch comedy. that is obviously his forte. so that is something we are really excited about. but also, we are just excited to have him come and play with us and do what we do as well,” said jalen saip, artistic director of the tic, who is also a performer. “we’re really excited that he is going to come and get really creative and a little bit silly with us onstage.”
jalen saip, artistic director of the improv centre (tic), says she and other tic performers are excited to have the kids in the hall member kevin mcdonald join them on the tic stage on aug. 24.
ashley ross
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ashley ross
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mcdonald will be running two workshops, which are open to the public, while at the tic. the sketch from improv workshop on aug. 24 (10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) will guide participants in the art of turning improvisational scenes into polished comedy sketches. the second workshop on aug. 25 (10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) is called the one-line premise workshop and will focus on crafting sketches from, you guessed it, one-line premises.
“i teach sketch writing through improv,” said mcdonald during a phone call while he was on the road doing standup. “that’s how kids in the hall started when we were young people in the early ’80s. we were too lazy to sit down and write, so we came up with ideas and improvised them over and over until we had the sketch. then we moved on to the next one. the workshops i am going to do are kind of versions of that.”
with decades of experience in tv/film and live performances, mcdonald is a great resource for young performers who are bursting with questions and looking for nuggets of useful advice.
“i always tell them don’t be nervous to volunteer onstage. when i was a teenager, it took me a long time to want to volunteer onstage,” said mcdonald, who has called winnipeg home for the last 12 years. “don’t think, ‘what if i do bad work?’ there’s no such thing as bad work, especially in a workshop. and i would even argue the same during a show, because you learn as much from bad as good. it’s all about learning and getting better and better.”
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as for his own career, mcdonald confirms the kids have been meeting over zoom to iron out a new tour. but, in the meantime, he’s happy to have these types of shows and workshops to keep comedically limber.
“there is a thing when you perform, the hour before, when you’re backstage — i get there early — you’re nervous and you say to yourself, ‘god, i hate being nervous.’ then, you are being funny and you’re in a happy mood. and then i started realizing this a few shows ago, i hate and i love being nervous,” said mcdonald. “it’s like how you never feel more alive than when you jump out of a plane with a parachute. i would never do that, but i assume you never feel more alive.”
mcdonald, along with dave foley, bruce mcculloch and mark mckinney, founded the kids in the hall in toronto in 1984. the troupe is best known for its eponymous cbc-tv show, which ran from 1989 to 1995. the kids made one film, brain candy, released in 1996.
over the years, they have come back together for various live tours and comedy festivals. in 2010, they reunited for an eight-part miniseries, death comes to town. most recently, they produced an eight-episode revival season of the tv show, which was released in 2022 on amazon prime video.
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while members of the kids have all had thriving solo careers, it always comes back to their work within the kids, which fans remind them of often.
“even though i didn’t play this character, i was in the scenes, but everyone comes up and crushes our heads,” said mcdonald about the classic sketch. “i hear ‘evil’ a lot. and, last night after the show, i heard, ‘the beard stays, you go.’ that was a good one.”
when asked about the key to becoming the type of comedy ensemble that has produced material that fans love to quote, mcdonald only took a second to answer.
“keep working with different people until you find chemistry,” said mcdonald. “when i was a teenager and i started second city workshops, there was another teenager in my class and we became friends, mike myers, if i could namedrop. we tried to start a troupe because we both thought we were great, but we were probably too young to articulate this, there was no chemistry. but mike was so great, he got hired by second city.”
then, mcdonald said, only a week later, another teenager named dave foley came into the workshop and the rest, they say, is history.
“by the end of the class, we knew we had chemistry. we had never met before, but we were starting a comedy troupe by the end of the class,” said mcdonald. “comedy chemistry is important. it’s like a different version of falling in love. you discover, ‘oh my god, dave, mark, bruce, scott — i know what area they are going to, and i know how to help them.’ so i am there before they even say it. and they are the same with me.”
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