Wednesday, April 10, 1996
Men wearing dresses? Rock n’ roll musicians? Mad scientists? A
nation addicted to drugs? Naked people in handcuffs?
It’s not the end of the world, it’s just those …
By Dina Gachman
Daily Bruin Contributor
The idea of a Prozac nation doesn’t sit well with the Kids in
the Hall member Bruce McCulloch.
"I think it is something about the North American notion of
‘everybody wants to be happy’ Â it’s such an elusive notion,"
he says. "We started writing (the film, "Brain Candy") at a time
when people where being picked off by Prozac. It kind of evened
people out and it scared me."
This fear manifests itself in the Kids in the Hall’s film debut,
"Brain Candy" Â a comedy about the disastrous effects of a
prescription drug that cures depression, and turns America into
crazed circus of happiness. "Brain Candy," which opens April 12,
brings the Kids in the Hall’s wacky form of sketch comedy from the
television screen to the theaters.
In the film, produced by "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne
Michaels, wallflower scientist Chris Cooper (played by Kevin
McDonald) is seduced by money and fame, and allows his barely
tested happiness pill to be put on the market. The drug turns a
dark, moody heavy metal musician named Grivo into a peace loving,
flower throwing balladeer; a repressed family man marches through
the streets of his suburban neighborhood singing, "I’m gay!" as his
wife (Kevin McDonald in drag) smiles supportively; and the
wallflower scientist becomes a womanizer and a star. All of this
joy ends, though, as the side effects of the drug begin to kick
in.
The move from television to film seemed logical to the five-man
Canadian comedy troupe, made up of McCulloch, McDonald, Dave Foley,
Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson.
McCulloch stresses the fact that they wanted to avoid merely
reproducing their HBO show in a two-hour format.
"We don’t sit and talk about what we think we should be doing
next or analyze the show," he says. "We just sort of respond
instinctively, but we all thought that we shouldn’t drag the series
into the film. We wanted to hopefully start a new part of our lives
with this film."
McCulloch was one of the founding members of Kids in the Hall,
which was initially a live act called The Audience.
Before his career as a comedian, though, McCulloch found himself
stuck on the path to getting a secure, stable job  a path
that made him miserable.
"I took business in college when I realized I was supposed to
get a good job and then I could be happy," he recollects. "But I
just hated it."
It only took a few test scores to help McCulloch realize that
business was not his calling. One such experience happened in an
accounting class that he and his girlfriend at the time were taking
together. McCulloch asked about his score on a test, and his
girlfriend told him that together, their grades added up to 100.
She got an 85. McCulloch calls the whole experience "a weird trick
I played on myself," but fortunately he found comedy, and partners
that shared his hilariously twisted sense of humor. McCulloch
eventually teamed up with the other four members of the group, and
their small club act became the widely successful cable show, on
which McCulloch served as writer, director and performer.
Often compared to "Monty Python," the Kids in the Hall are known
for their penchant for dressing in drag to portray the female
characters in their skits  something that heightens the
effects of their comedy, and adds to their originality. The
decision not to have women in the group was not a professional one.
McCulloch believes that it had more to do with the humiliation of
the Kids’ meager beginnings.
"There really was a point in Kids in the Hall history," he says
"where we really were such losers. I don’t think females would want
to participate in such a loser existence with us. We were splitting
no money, we were always fighting. It was like a really bad band
with no amplifiers."
When asked about recent reports of conflict between Dave Foley,
who is now on the TV show, "News Radio," and the rest of the Kids
in the Hall, McCulloch returns to the band analogy.
"I think it’s just a natural progression that say anyone in a
band would go through," he says. "I think the truth is that the
four of us might be tighter than Dave is. Maybe it’s been over the
years, but certainly in the last year he’s been (in L.A.) doing his
stuff. I think we all have love/hate relationships."
Despite the inevitable conflicts, the Kids in the Hall are still
going strong, and the release of "Brain Candy" could mark a new
direction in their careers. All five comedians are branching out
into outside projects  McCulloch has written for "Saturday
Night Live," McDonald and Thompson have each been in movies, and
McKinney joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 1995 Â
but they are all determined to hold the nucleus of their group
together.
Keeping Kids in the Hall going, McCulloch believes, is the
originality of their humor and the size of their fame.
"I find human situations and weird little crazy struggles better
than a comedian’s best jokes," he says. "I think that part of the
key to our success is that we’re a pretty small economy, and we’re
not so big and famous. We’re not the ‘Friends’ people, where
everybody wants to offer us stuff and take us away from each other.
We’re just big enough to keep doing it."
FILM: Kids in the Hall’s "Brain Candy" opens Friday.
Kids in the Hall’s first film, "Brain Candy," opens April
12.
Left to right: Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulloch
feel out of place at a swank cocktail party in the movie "Brain
Candy," which takes a comedic look at the concept of a Prozac
nation and the elusive notion of happiness.
"… We really were such losers. I don’t think females would
want to participate in such a loser existence with us …"
Bruce McCulloch
Member of Kids in the Hall