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The Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 1 (1989-1990)

The Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 1 (1989-1990)

List Price: $59.95
Your Price: $47.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My Head's Been Crushed! ... According to Gavin.
Review: (...)this is all masterpiece comedy. 30 Helens agree ... It's a FACT!

Witty, clever, fresh, oddball, left-field -- Seems like Lorne Michaels said, "OK, guys -- give us something hilarious like Monty Python or SCTV. Please don't use SNL as a guide -- nothing funny there."

In that vein, SCTV's first-season DVD will be released this summer (late June, I think). Satirical of the entertainment industry, this launching pad of John Candy, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Joe Flaherty, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Harod Ramis & more, deserves the same front-row honors as MP & KITH. Check it out.

Wait a sec -- both KITH & SCTV originated from Canada! Maybe we should invade after all!

And now for something completely different ... I must return to the pit of ultimate darkness. Because I'm cool, I'm hip, I'm 45.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 30 Helens Agree....
Review: .....the Kids in the Hall ROCK! A classic sketch comedy show for anyone with brains. The Kids can be compared to Monty Python although the two shows are quite different. The Kids in the Hall has a slower pace but it is just as funny (sometimes more!). One cool thing about the Kids is the recurring characters like Gavin, Darryl (that's Darille), and Kathy and Cathy. The Kids are hilarious and the quality of the sketches are extremely consistent. So buy The Kids in the Hall Season One and you won't be disapointed. You Flatheads!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Yahoooooooooo!
Review:

I have been waiting for this set since the TV on DVD trend started. This is a great package and has the beginnings of the greatness that is the Kids in the Hall. From the first appearance of Buddy Cole to their spin on SNL's Land Shark ("Skooora!") - to me, this box set is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The kids at their... mediocre-ist
Review: Although a number of very good kids' sketches did come out during the first season, the material seen within this DVD is nowhere near the level of comedic genius as their later work (once the boys broke the confines of performing all of their work on stage). That being said, I purchased the DVD for myself, not so much because I was planning on watching it, but because I wanted to do my part to encourage the DVD release of the latter years of the kids' run.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Uneven beginning to a brilliant, brilliant series.
Review: Apparently, there are some people who think that Season 1 is "the bomb", as the kids used to say. These people are obviously deranged and you should stay away from them.
The first season has some great moments, to be sure. They mostly come near the end. Dr Seuss Bible is almost worth the set, and the Vaudeville routine is great too. There are quite a few laughs, but they come at intervals. A lot of this material was worked out when the Kids were stage performers, and it retains that theatrical feel, but not in a good way. Their chemistry hasn't quite clicked yet, either, and there's a lot of stuff that's obviously been pushed through rather than collaborated on.
That said, it IS funny, and contains some classic sketches. The Kids are probably the second best collection of sketch comedy artists, behind only the Pythons. SNL has had some great years, but never the consistency and sheer audacity of the Kids when they were hitting all cylinder. By all means, do pick up Season 2. If you like it, come back and take a peek at how it all began.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tuesday is no good for the Eradicator!!!
Review: As others have noted, the first season is a bit hit-and-miss: the first few episodes are great, the next ten episodes or so are sporadically funny at best, and the final five episodes foreshadow the brilliance that would become the hallmark of the Kids in later seasons. What's fascinating about these episodes is to see their evolution from stage troupe to television sketch comedy writers. The earlier episodes suffer slightly from an unsuccessful transference of material from stage to screen (though "Citizen Kane"--which seems like a stage piece--totally works). Later in the first season, they start taking advantage of TV gimmicks to make more successful bits (like "Mechanic" from Episode #15 or the "Premise Beach" sketches from Episode #18). I will select my five favorite sketches from each disc--

Disc One (Episodes 1-6)

The Eradicator (#1)
Cause of Cancer (#1)
Womyn (#2)
Citizen Kane (#3)
Elvis (#5)

Disc Two (Episodes 7-13)

Teddy Bears' Picnic (#9)

McGuillicutty and Green (#10)
Folk Music (#12)
Skoora! (#12)
Indian Woman (#13)

Disc Three (Episodes 14-20)

Manny Coon (#16)
Power of My C--k (#16)
She's Gone (#18)
Tarantula (#19)
Buddy Holly (#20)

The bonus disc features a nice documentary about the early years of the troupe as well as highlights from their pilot episode. The commentaries on the sketches are not particularly informative, and Scott Thomson is not present for much of the commentaries, which is a drawback. A must, obviously, for fans of "Kids in the Hall" as well as fans of subversive television sketch comedy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Deja vu!
Review: For anyone who appreciates the madness of Monty Python, the Kids in The Hall are a great second-helping of sketch comedy that doesn't fall into the trap SNL did (of putting easily-accessible to a wider audience over subtle and intelligent). The five Canadians who are chronicled in this first season are fresh-faced young men who know what kind of comedy they want to achieve, even if the rest of the world's a bit unsure what to make of them.

I first came across the Kids in college, a few years back, when Comedy Central began airing reruns from their long-ended TV show. I may not be as devoted as some KITHers in terms of memorizing skits and catchphrases, but I am truly in the camp of people who think the Kids are fantastic.

This DVD set is much-analyzed in previous reviews, and i haven't fully enjoyed all the episodes, but from what I have been able to gleam in my four days of owning it I can say it's a fantastic buy. Not everything works, but the sketches that do are bar none some of the best-written and -acted material in all comedy.

The first few seasons were broadcast on HBO (before a network switch to CBS in the early Nineties, when I stumbled across them but didn't "get" them yet) and thus there's a lot of cursing that didn't make it onto the Comedy Central-aired eps. Ocasionally the proceedings get a bit more odd than funny, but anyone who appreciates the Kids knows that was part of their charm.

The bonus fourth disc features the interviews and voiceovers on certain sketches ("That's the one we bombed on Letterman"), and is a nice companion to the series.

Overall, I say this is an essential buy for anyone who loves the Kids, or is a Python nut but not familiar with them, or anyone who simply loves fantastic comedy. Lorne Michaels gave them their start, then wisely stepped back and let the Kids do their own thing. This is the ultimate sketch comedy show of the post-Python era, and a worthy successor (maybe I'm aking too much of the Python references, but it's my review. Go write your own, Python-free review and leave me alone). Go buy it now, you'll laugh your butt off guarenteed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Kids In The Hall, Complete Season 1
Review: Here's what's in this collection: (I changed a few of the titles so that fans can recognize them better)
Call Girls, The Eradicator! plays squash, Ballet, Crushing Your Head, Cause of Cancer, The Pear Dream, Kathie and the Blues Guy, Crushing Your Head 2

30 Helens, Sketch Comedy, 30 Helens 2, Cabbage head, Restaurant, Tractor, Sarcastic guy, Buddy's Better, 30 Helens, Womyn

Gunslinger2, Gorilla, Hey Man, Citizen Kane, Hey Man2, Salty Ham, Hey Man3

Deja Vu, A**hole, The Daves I Know (a musical), Menstruation, House Rules, The Dinner, Sick of the Swiss, Country Doctor

Indian Drum, Geralds, Crushing Disco, Good Grampa (Grandpa gets over constipation), Exploring Scott, Are Extraterrestrials Dull?, If Elvis were my landlord, Crushing Disco2

30 Helens, Bored Robber, Running Fagg*t (a musical), 29 Helens, Flogging, The Trucker, Can I Keep Him?

Disk2

Hotel La Rut, Plummet, Hotel La Rut2, Bobby's First Poem, Fletcher Christian, Hotel La Rut3, Joymakers

Ping Pong, The Vacation, Ping Pong2, Chain Gang, The Banker Doesn't Like Us, Dinosaurs, Ping Pong, Tony Comes to Dinner, The Banker Doesn't Like Us2

A Place to Die (Dave wants to die in the house where he was born), Secretaries, A Place to Die2, Preacher, Weston, A Place to Die3, Teddy Bears Picnic (Bruce is a dad who tells his skeptical son (Scott) the Teddy Bear's Picnic Story).

Hoopla, McGuillicutty and Green, Wake Up!, MacIntyre Name, One Step at a Time, Nobody Likes Us: (The two pathetic guys who couldn't get a loan in the last episode take a bus ride), McGuillicutty and Kurosawa, 3 For the Moon

Night of the Living Dead, Can Never go Home, 30 Helens: Coleslaw, Under Control, Gunslinger, Star Crossed Lovers, 30 Helens: Hawaii, Barbershop

Turning Over, Mood Swing, Billy Dreamer, Folk Music, Who's Gay in Hollywood?, Billy Dreamer2, Skorra! (The Gentle Shark)

Signs of Loneliness, Networking, Lopez1, Fat Hitch-Hiker, Lopez2, The Donut Shop, The Lamp, Lopez3, Indian Woman, Lopez4

Disk3

Editors Intro, Editors (Go for a walk), Bobby breaks up with his girlfriend, I Lied, Dull near-death experience guy, I'm a Cat, My Routine, Schoolroom, Editors Finale

Death Row, White Guy, Crazy Love, Buddy's Island, Captain Alan, Mechanic (Kevin plays an unconvention grease-monkey, with beautiful golden locks), Baby (A childless couple go baby hunting)

The Floater, Is He?, 30 Helens, Pens, Manny Coon (A true artist (Scott) is asked to give advice to graduating art students), 30 Helens:Great Minds, Bass Player, Compensation, 30 Helens:Disagree, Power of My C*ck

Boo!, Dracula (Mark plays a vampire who takes a guy (Scott) to a Leaf game, and then brings him home), Kevin's sketch with just a middle, Crushing Girlfriend (The Head-Crusher invites his girlfirend Misha over), Conversation with a Mass Murderer (Dave), B&K, Beautiful Women (Christian Renoir discusses his new line of clothes for ugly women on the Darcy Pennell show)

Love Me, Stinky Pink, Premise Beach, Crouton (Bruce is a guy who tells a story of the world's largest crouton to some little kids), Olympics, Premise Beach2, Sh*tty Soup, She's Gone

Hey Baby!, Island Boys, Can't Kill Rock, Tarantula, Cat's Away, Mutilated, Car Ride (Go for a ride in Bruce's 300 dollar car, just don't make fun of it!), Pyromaniac Secretary

Fat Man (a musical), How We Met, 30 Helens: Photos, Bank People (Bruce is a hip guy complaining about his job at the bank) Double Date, Buddy is Canadian, Buddy Holly, 30 Helens:Helens, Dr. Seuss Bible.

The fourth disk contains the bonus features of fan favorite sketches (from season 1) like: Romeo (Bruce is a guy who hits on his mother's elderly friends) Cabbage Head (A different one then on the first disk) and Reg, plus sketches from the rare pilot episode, audio commentary, cast bios, an oral history featuring new interviews with the Kids! and Lorne Micheals and 30 minutes of live performances at the Rivoli Theater.

Manny Coon, Bank People, My Routine, Car Ride and Dr. Seuss Bible are hilarious, don't miss them. Excellent price.. KITH is brilliant, the funniest sketch comedy I've seen and definitely the most innovative. I love the Kids! Thanks to the A&E channel, Broadway Video and persistent fans!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent, no question.
Review: I bought this DVD a few weeks ago, after discovering the show on Comedy Central. True, I bought it from the KITH site, but since the release of the second season depends on the success of the first, I felt it was neccesary to write a review where more people would see it. This is by far the funniest, most original show I have ever seen! I really don't know how else to convey how great it actually is, and I don't want to, you just need to see it for yourself. The skits are complete and uncensored, and the extras such as the audio commentary and the preformances at the Rivoli are hilarious as well. I especially like "Map Scene". There's not much else to say, except buy it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finally!!!
Review: I have been waiting forever for them to start releasing the KITH! I have always loved that show...I think it was so inventive, even better than SNL. My favorite skits are the office Cathys, the Canadian cops and anything with Darryl in it. So, all hail Kids in the Hall, best comedians to don drag since the Pythons. :)


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