What Happened To The Cast Of The Kids In The Hall?

It was 1984, somewhere in Calgary, Canada, that young upstarts Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney — performing in a local comedy troupe — would first meet fellow comedians Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald, performing in another comedy troupe. The quartet vibed well, and decided to tour the comedy circuit as the Kids in the Hall. In 1985, Scott Thompson joined the group as well, and it's been those five kids ever since. 

Producer Lorne Michaels assembled the Kids for their own sketch comedy series, simply called "The Kids in the Hall," in 1988, and the troupe's semi-surreal, certainly offbeat, often confrontational, and weirdly dark comedy reached a mass audience. "The Kids in the Hall" ran 101 episodes over its five seasons, ending its run in 1995. 

In 1996, the troupe made their first and only feature film, "Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy," a strange piece of work about an ultra-powerful antidepressant that forces the population into comas. The film wasn't a hit, however, and the troupe limped away, licked their wounds, and reunited in 2000 for a series of successful live shows. They repeated the gag in 2008, made a TV miniseries ("Death Comes to Town") in 2010, before finally rebooting their original series in 2022 on Prime Video. The premise of the reboot was that, thanks to a $1 coin spent on a VHS at a garage sale in 2022, "Brain Candy" had finally broken even. That was enough to (literally) resurrect the dead troupe. 

Of course, each member of the Kids had a successful solo career. All five of them have notable shows, movies, or other projects that their fans might know about, but which might be obscure to casual readers. Here's a brief rundown at what each of the Kids has gotten up to in the last few decades. 

One might notice that Foley, "the cute one," was not a credited writer on the 1996 movie "Brain Candy." It seems that there was a lot of bickering among the Kids at that point in their careers, and Foley stepped away from writing the movie to work on other projects. He did appear in "Brain Candy," and was wholly devoted to the comedy, however. His performance as sniveling corporate sidekick Marv is first rate. 

Instead of writing "Brain Candy," Foley went on to a lucrative role on the hit sitcom "NewsRadio," which lasted 97 episodes over five seasons. His TV career remained prolific, and Foley turned up in dozens of hit sitcoms. He had a recurring role in "Will & Grace," a lead role on the animated series "Committed," and voice roles in Batman projects. Heck, he once turned up on "Stargate: Atlantis." Foley has never stopped working, and his TV credits are too plentiful to list here. Most recently, he played Danish Graves, one of the main characters on "Fargo."

Foley had some film credits by then (see if you can spot him as the grocery store clerk in "Three Men and a Baby"), but he started appearing in higher-profile movies thereafter. His voice acting roles are plentiful; he played the lead ant Flik in "A Bug's Life," the monster Terry in "Monsters University," and various supporting characters in "Onward." In 2005, he had a notable role as All-American Boy, a superhero-sidekick teacher at "Sky High." Foley's film career has also been steady, and features a lot of indie films and notorious comedies. 

When "Kids in the Hall" was not yet on the air, Bruce McCulloch took on a gig writing for "Saturday Night Live," another Lorne Michaels joint. This would not be the last time he (or other members of the Kids) would cross-pollinate with "SNL."

When "Kids in the Hall" wrapped, McCulloch put out a notable comedy album called "Shame-Based Man," a strange and marvelous record. He followed that in 2002 with "Drunk Baby Project." McCulloch also began directing features and music videos, and he helmed several high-profile comedy films in the late '90s and early 2000s. In 1998, he directed the romantic comedy "Dog Park" with Luke Wilson and Janeane Garofalo. In 1999, he directed the "SNL" spinoff film "Superstar," starring Molly Shannon as her nervous schoolgirl character Mary Katherine Gallagher. In 2002, he oversaw the whimsical heist movie "Stealing Harvard" with Jason Lee and fellow Canadian Tom Green, who was incredibly hot at the time. In 2006, McCulloch wrote and directed "Comeback Season," an infidelity comedy with Ray Liotta. 

He would also go on to direct a lot of TV, helming episodes of "Trailer Park Boys," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," and "Schitt's Creek." In 2015, he created and starred in a Canadian sitcom called "Young Drunk Punk." McCulloch, it seems, stayed close to home, happy to circulate in the Canadian comedy world. Most recently, he directed all 24 episodes of the Canadian sketch comedy series "TallBoyz" starring the eponymous comedy troupe. 

Like Foley, Kevin McDonald grew his career into expansive TV credits, cartoon voices, and comedy films. One could see him popping up in supporting roles in films like "Galaxy Quest" and "National Lampoon's Senior Trip," or in single episodes of hit sitcoms like "Friends" and "Seinfeld." McDonald played pastor Dave on "That '70s Show," and turned up in the Dave Foley film "The Wrong Guy" and on "NewsRadio." Also like Foley, McDonald secured a long-running gig with a hot animation studio, playing the voice of Pleakley in 2002's "Lilo & Stitch." He would reprise Pleakley multiple times thereafter. 

McDonald's voice acting resume is extensive, and one will definitely recognize him as one of The Tallest on "Invader Zim," or from roles in "Johnny Bravo," "Scooby-Doo," "Casper," "VeggieTales," "Phineas & Ferb," and "The Penguins of Madagascar." He starred in the online animated series "Deep Space 69" (yes, it's real), played Bagel in "The Bagel & Becky Show," and appeared in five episodes of "Super Team Canada" as the Canadian prime minister. McDonald has gone to where the work is, but it seems that he's never had to go very far. His friendly demeanor allows the darkness of his humor to really stand out. 

In 2007, as part of the Kids in the Hall reunion at the Just for Laughs festival, McDonald appeared in what he called a one-and-a-half-man show called "Hammy and the Kids," wherein he and fellow comedian Craig Northey reenacted moments from McDonald's life, including moments from his childhood and his time with Kids in the Hall. 

Like McCulloch, McKinney did some writing for "Saturday Night Live" shortly before "The Kids in the Hall" was on the air. Amidst the making of "Brain Candy" McKinney joined the cast of "SNL" as well, appearing from 1995 to 1997. With fellow Canadians Susan Coyne and Bob Martin, McKinney co-created a loving and gently hilarious Shakespearean comedy called "Slings & Arrows." That show lasted three seasons, each season following a local theater troupe's attempts to stage one of Shakespeare's plays. 

McKinney joined other "Kids" alums for film projects. He had a cameo in "The Wrong Guy," and turned up in "Dog Park" and "Superstar." The Kids may not have been writing together, but they still gave one another support. McKinney also landed supporting roles in comedy films like "The Out-of-Towners," and the "SNL" films "A Night at the Roxbury" and "The Ladies Man." On TV, he took supporting roles in many, many sitcoms before landing another plum gig playing Glenn Sturgis in 113 episodes of the comedy series "Superstore." In 2011, McKinney produced and tried to boost the young Canadian sketch comedy troupe Picnicface, the upstarts responsible for the viral YouTube video "Powerthirst." The "Picnicface" TV series only lasted 13 episodes, but it's awesome to see McKinney (and McCulloch) supporting new Canadian comedians.

McKinney hosted a fun documentary series called "Mark McKinney Needs a Hobby," wherein he interviewed people with odd hobbies. In 2022, McKinney also played the prime minister of Canada, for a sketch comedy series called "This Hour Has 22 Minutes."

Scott Thompson's Buddy Cole character on "The Kids in the Hall" was revolutionary at the time. He was a gay character who loved to tell raunchy stories and spread gossip. Thompson, openly gay, expressed his sexuality very frankly, which was uncommon on mid-'80s television shows. Thompson also reprised his Buddy Cole role for Bruce La Bruce's "Super 8½." While he starred in "Kids," he was performing in a queercore band called Mouth Congress. After "Kids," he was one of the first celebrities to attempt to move his career online, running an interactive website. The real ones know about "ScottLand." 

Thompson's film career included and Hollywood productions but mostly tiny indies. He was in the studio comedy "Mickey Blue Eyes" (from the director of "Brain Candy," and he appeared in films like "Tart" and the two "Another Gay Movie" movies. He most recently appeared in the horror movie "My Animal." 

On TV, Thompson is a gadfly. Immediately after "Kids," he landed a regular role on "The Larry Sanders Show," playing the character of Brian. He was in an episode of "Star Trek: Voyager," an episode of "Dharma & Greg," and nine episodes of "Providence." He lent his voice to "RoboRoach," played various characters on "The Simpsons," and voiced the wife of Kevin McDonald's character for the "Lilo & Stitch" TV series. Like all the other Kids, he has never struggled to find acting work. 

More recently, Thompson has a regular role on the hit drama "Hannibal" as crime scene investigator Jimmy Price, played a teacher on "Degrassi: The Next Generation," and had a small part in the Arnold Schwarzenegger series "FUBAR." Thompson has always been a delight on talk shows, and it's worth looking up his various appearances to hear his anecdotes. He's quite the raconteur. He survived lymphoma in 2009, and is now mercifully cancer-free.