Everything old will always be new again in this exciting digital streaming age we’re thoroughly living through. Case in point: the Kids in the Hall are BACK, baby! Or will be soon, exclusively on Amazon Prime, where it will be the first Amazon Original out of Canada. Deadline is one of many sites to report the news earlier today, and if you want to read some quotes from longtime series producer Lorne Michaels and an Amazon TV exec, get yourself to that page already.
The new show will have eight brand new episodes, featuring all five of the original Kids in the Hall members: Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, and that guy who directed Drop Dead Gorgeous. Okay, yes, that’s a joke, a comical mishap in which I “accidentally” listed members of a different ‘90s sketch comedy troupe instead of the actual Kids in the Hall. Everybody knows the actual Kids in the Hall was a ‘90s sketch show on Comedy Central and the early breeding grounds for Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, and Amy Sedaris, before they went on to create—okay sorry that joke wasn’t funny the first time and I have no idea why I did it a second time. I am sorry, and I promise I won’t keep this nonsense going with a Vacant Lot reference.
The real Kids in the Hall, of course, are Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, and Dave Foley, and their original show was broadcast on CBC, HBO and CBS between 1988 and 1995. It developed a strong cult following throughout the English-speaking world, and, for my money, is one of the two or three best sketch comedy shows of all time. It’s up there with Monty Python and Mr. Show in terms of genius, laughs and influence, and it might be the most purely likable show of those three, no doubt due to the inherently pleasant and genial nature of the humble Canadian. All five of them have continued to be entertaining in the opportunities that life has since afforded them; McKinney is probably the most prominent today, due to his starring role on NBC’s Superstore, but the others all pop up in projects fairly regularly, and are always a welcome sight. The group has reunited for various live tours in the past, and created and starred in the 2010 miniseries Death Comes to Town, but this will be the first official revival of their eponymous sketch show since it ended in 1995. No release window was provided, so hopefully they’ll wrap it up and get it online before society ends in, oh, a few months or so. And although producing this show won’t absolve Jeff Bezos from hoarding a solid percentage of global wealth like some kind of technocrat Croesus, it will be a solid reason for Kids in the Hall fans to look into an Amazon Prime membership. Keep tuned to Paste for future updates, as they become available.