Gleeful Chaos Fuelled the Kids in the Hall's 40th Reunion in Toronto

Though there were some familiar characters — Thompson's Buddy Cole, McKinney's Darill —  these were not the Kids in the Hall's best sketches. In some cases, the material has aged poorly; McCulloch's brief turn as an Asian rickshaw driver was by his own admission, a poor choice. But pushing buttons was always a core piece of the Kids' comedy, and they performed songs and sketches about AIDS, cancer and glory holes (Thompson's first contribution to the group) with a palpable glee that carried the night. For their part, the audience of about 100 friends, diehards and collaborators who packed the Rivoli's back room were game — ready to follow the Kids down whatever absurd rabbit hole they had dug.

After a brief intermission, Northey performed a solo rendition of Odds classic "Someone Who's Cool" followed by an audience Q&A moderated by Cilevitz. After a question about Brain Candy, McKinney revealed after years of being held up by music rights, a 4K version of the group's lone film would be coming to Paramount+. Cilevitz noted that Thompson was David Bowie's favourite comedian, while McKinney claimed that Tupac Shakur, who performed on Saturday Night Live while he was a cast member, was a big Chicken Lady fan.

Summing up their legacy to the crowd, McCulloch explained, "We're not hated, because we never got really big," which has allowed the group to continue for four decades. If anything, the group's 40th-anniversary performance was less of a celebration of their significant achievements and more of a showcase of the hunger that still drives the comedy legends. As McCulloch put it at night's end, "We're still obsessed."