Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, you have to admit that there's never been anything like the KIDS IN THE HALL. Sure, sketch comedy shows are a dime a dozen, but these guys set themselves apart from all the rest with their unmatchable brand of bizarre, surreal, and often gender-defiant skits. The show is usually downright hilarious, although some of the jokes do miss their mark on occasion. But even the most unfunny sketches are entertaining, simply because of how insane they are.
The humor in KIDS IN THE HALL is, for the most part, purely unexplainable, and sometimes it's actually subtly disturbing--an experimental sort of comedy that best fits in the "either you get it or you don't" category. When watching KITH with a group, the viewer response will invariably be split: one half will be teary-eyed from laughter while the rest of the gang will be hopelessly confused or frustrated, making condescending statements like "I don't see how you think this is funny!"
It's clear that these lovable Canucks decided from the get-go that they were going to do exactly what they wanted, without too much concern for genre standards, formulas, or even success. And that, I think, is the secret to their success. Whether they intended to or not, these five KIDS succeeded in carving themselves a very distinct niche in the world of sketch comedy, towering above even SNL because of their fresh style and consistent hilarity.
