I first met the 'Trailer Park Boys' when they did my web television show, and since then, I've hung out with them a few times.
[sam] Kinison, when he started out, he'd come to Canada when I was first starting, and he'd always [bomb].
I think we carry around the idea of being a Kid in the Hall as part of our identity. It's a big part of how we see ourselves now.
Canada has been a breeding ground for great comedic actors, sketch artists and stand-up comedians. We grew up with a different perspective on the world.
I mean, 'Kids In The Hall' is the reason I have any career at all.
Royal Canadian Air Farce, and I was in three sketches there. And they wrote some really great stuff for me.
I was obsessed with 'Kids in the Hall', 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', 'SNL'... like, I was a Conehead for one Halloween and the Wild and Crazy Guys for another.
I never really saw 'The Kids in the Hall' until after we started 'The State.'
I think there's a certain objectivity that comes from being Canadian. You're partly British and partly American; you have a good bird's-eye view of both countries. So much of the comedy that comes out of Canada is impersonation - it's less 'look at me' than it is 'look at me playing other people.'
Canada has given us John Candy and Martin Short and Bill Shatner and Lord knows how many other wonderful performers.
I've had the fortune of meeting most of the 'Kids in the Hall.' One meeting was special in particular because this was before I had gotten anything, before anything was clicking, and I just found myself hanging out with Scott Thompson.
In Canadian comedy, you'll almost never see guns. If you bring a gun into a scene, it's like, 'Whoa! Wow, how are we going to deal with that!' Guns in an American comedy are a given. Violence in America is used in a much more cavalier way.
While it is entirely untrue that Canadians lack a sense of humour, the funniest ones tend to head south: Dan Aykroyd, Jim Carrey, Michael J. Fox.
Anything that was perverse and silly would be Kids in the Hall.
I wanted to be like 'Kids in the Hall.'
'Nice' is not a common label for comedians, but it is for Canadians. I like it.
We both [me and Eugene Levy] come from the same place. Eugene did most of his work in SCTV and ensemble situations. I'd done all this theater work before I got into movies and ensemble situations. We both learned how to develop characters and interact with other people in a unique and economic sort of way.
Well I think comedy everywhere has lost a bit of its bite. In Canada, I can't argue with the quality, but it feels like it's gotten a little safe.
Well, being a Canadian, I love SCTV, and I think it's the basis for all good North American comedy, so I compare everything to that.
When all my girlfriends were watching 'ER,' I was watching episodes of 'Kids in the Hall.'
The British are actually a lot more appreciative of the comic. In Canada, if you're perceived as a comic writer, there's a real snobbery, and you can't be serious. You're not a big hitter.
There's no show business in Canada, so everybody just did stand-up and we all thought, "Oh, we'll just keep doing stand-up." And then I'm like, "There's more work in the States."
