Television series

The Kids in the Hall

Name: The Kids in the Hall
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1988
Cast: Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson

Five Canadians in dresses, doing sketch comedy that's stranger, sadder and more specific than anything else on TV in 1989. It's cheap-looking, structurally loose, and full of characters who feel like real, damaged people rather than premises with punchlines. Good for anyone who likes their comedy to linger uncomfortably rather than land cleanly. Not for viewers wanting polish, speed, or a laugh every fifteen seconds.

TVMaze rating

7.1

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Monty Python's Flying Circus1969

The obvious ancestor — men in dresses, sketches that refuse to end properly, a total commitment to nonsense as a worldview.

But More interested in wordplay and philosophical silliness than in the emotional specificity KITH goes for; some bits have aged badly.

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Same structural DNA as KITH's blackest sketches — a tiny cast, a closed world, a turn from comedy into something darker — pushed all the way into horror and heartbreak instead of stopping at the punchline.

A small rotating cast plays wildly different roles in self-contained short stories each week, exactly like a KITH sketch, except every one commits fully to dread instead of laughs.

But Genuinely unsettling and often bleak — if you love KITH for its silliness, this is the version where the joke never quite lands.

Portlandia2011

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But More topical and hipster-specific than surreal; lacks KITH's darker, weirder undertow.

I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson2019

Shares KITH's love of characters who refuse to back down from an obviously terrible bit, escalating discomfort until it becomes its own kind of tragedy.

But Bite-sized sketches with no recurring characters or narrative through-line — a very different rhythm from KITH's longer pieces.

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Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!2007

Trashier, cheaper-looking, and gleefully committed to sitting in discomfort — the lo-fi surrealist cousin of KITH's weirdest sketches.

But Much more grotesque and abrasive, with far less narrative coherence or emotional warmth.

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Big Train1998no page yet

British sketch comedy with the same deadpan surrealism and a similarly dark undertow running beneath the jokes.

But Less widely known, uneven across episodes, and steeped in specifically British references.

The Fast Show1994

Character-driven British sketch built on catchphrases with real melancholy hiding underneath them, much like KITH's quieter moments.

But Leans heavily on repetition rather than escalation, and lacks KITH's appetite for genuine strangeness.

The Eric Andre Show2012

Both shows treat audience discomfort as the actual joke rather than a side effect of it — Eric Andre just detonates that idea into real-world pranks instead of scripted characters.

Total anarchic commitment to making everyone in the room, including unsuspecting celebrities, deeply uncomfortable — KITH's willingness to let a sketch curdle, dialed up to chaos.

But Loud, ugly, deliberately abrasive, and completely without KITH's tenderness or melancholy — pure confrontation, no warmth.