Kevin Hamilton McDonald was born in Montreal, Canada and lived there until age 7 when his father Hamilton, a dental supplies salesman, was transferred to Los Angeles, CA and moved Kevin, his mother (a homemaker), and his older sister out there. The family later moved to Toronto, Canada. Kevin has described himself as an overweight, asthmatic child who spent most of his time in front of the TV, studying up on comedy. Kevin began his acting career early, taking theater classes in high school. Kevin later attended Humber College as a theater major, but was kicked out because he could only do comedy. However, one of his teachers enrolled him in the famed Second City improv workshops. His first day, he met Dave Foley and they quickly became good friends. They worked together as ushers in an art house theater and together they joined up with Luciano Casimiri and formed the first incarnation of The Kids In the Hall.
Trivia
Kevin's mother
appeared on The Kids in the Hall, playing Kevin's mother in the sketch
with just a middle.
Kevin is 5'9" tall.
Kevin's favorite
foods include chocolate peanut butter ice cream and Chinese take-out
... and he drinks a lot of tea too. ;)
Kevin's a musical
sort ... he plays guitar and used to be in a band called Accidentally
Cool. He also has a pretty decent singing voice.
Kevin's family pops
up quite often on KITH, if you know where to look. A snapshot of his
parents and sister is flashed in the "McDonald family/Airport
series" sketch. His mom plays herself at the end of the
"middle of a sketch" sketch. And finally, Kevin's ex-wife,
Tiffany, plays his girlfriend in the "party around the
world" sketch.
Although he says he
was too young to remember, Kevin's family once lived across the street
from the studio where the game show "Let's Make A Deal" was
filmed. Every day, crowds of people dressed in crazy costumes would
pass by his house, on the way to a taping.
Kevin's a big dog
person ... his first paying job was as a dog walker and he currently
has a Staffordshire terrier (at Bruce's suggestion perhaps? *g*) named
Popular.
Kevin didn't learn to
drive until he moved to LA and he still considers himself a bad
driver.
Kevin claims that he
went into comedy because "that's all I could really do". He
says he was too clumsy to work with his hands and didn't study enough
to be a lawyer, doctor, etc. He was the class clown, which led him to
"stop working on my homework and work on my jokes for the next
day instead".
Kevin has mentioned
in several interviews that his favorite KITH character he has played
is Dean, the "will do" king of empty promises. He says that
he based Dean largely on himself, and his behavior on the set. He
would often promise the other Kids or writers certain material and
then forget to bring it the next day saying it "slipped his mind,
but he felt terrible about it".
When he first wrote
the "Pit of Ultimate Darkness" sketch, he was supposed to
play Hecubus and Mark played Sir Simon Milligan. However, after some
consideration, and in what he called an "act of strength",
he took the part of Milligan from Mark and gave Hecubus to Dave.
The Kids have often
called Kevin the easiest of the troupe to collaborate with because he
rarely says no to any idea.
Kevin has named
Buster Keaton, Gene Wilder, and Phil Silvers among his comic
inspirations. He calls his brand of comedy as "sort of mindless,
a mixture of attitude and funny faces ... I don't really say funny
things, I say things funny".
Kevin Quotes
On playing women: "I feel that I'm sort of playing me, but more feminine, and to me more feminine means smarter."
On his brand of comedy: "It's sort of mindless, a mixture of attitude and funny faces. I don't say funny things, I say things funny."
"All comedians secretly wanna be rock stars, and all rock stars secretly wanna be comedians."
"Hi, I'm Kevin McDonald, or as many of you know me, the Kid in the Hall we don't like."
On the show ending: "Well, it was on for five years, and I think after awhile we'd only start disappointing people. We sorta quit when it was still good, I think. And we had the movie to do, so it fit perfectly to stop the TV show."
On using KITH sets in the movie: "We're nervous creatures. The more you make us feel at home, the more you coddle us, put slippers on us and give us a paper to read, the funnier we'll be."
"Comedy is like lemonade; some people like it watery, like SNL, and some people like it with more tart, like us."
"I had to learn how to drive because I didn't drive in Toronto. So I hear this a lot when I'm driving--"SPEED UP GRANDMA!"
On the biggest benefit of his celebrity: "Of my minor celebrity? Uh, sometimes at Baskin-Robins they let me have the chocolate peanut butter ice cream for free."
On why he isn't rehearsing his dance moves with the other Kids: "I have a bad knee."
"Sketch Pad"
(2001) TV series .... Kids in the Hall (unknown episodes)
"Clerks"
.... Batman Fan - Freak #1 (1 episode, 2001)
... aka "Clerks: The Cartoon" (Australia)
... aka "Clerks: Uncensored" (USA: DVD title)
- The
Last Episode Ever (2001) TV episode (voice) .... Batman
Fan - Freak #1
The Ladies
Man (2000) .... Mail Man
... aka The Ladies' Man (UK)
Galaxy Quest (1999) (as Kevin Hamilton McDonald) ....
Announcer
Kids in the
Hall: Brain Candy (1996) .... Dr. Chris Cooper/Doreen/Chris'
dad/Lacey
... aka Brain Candy (USA: short title)
... aka Kids in the hall: La pilule du bonheur (Canada:
French title)
... aka La pilule du bonheur (Canada: French title: short
title)
Senior Trip
(1995) .... Travis Lindsey
... aka La folle excursion de National Lampoon (Canada:
French title)
... aka National Lampoon's Senior Trip (USA: complete title)
... aka Senior School (UK)
"The Kids in
the Hall" .... Various Characters / ... (103 episodes,
1988-1995)
- Episode
#5.21 (1995) TV episode .... Various Characters
- Episode
#5.1 (1994) TV episode .... Various Characters
- Episode
#5.10 (1994) TV episode .... Various Characters
- Episode
#5.11 (1994) TV episode .... Various Characters
- Episode
#5.12 (1994) TV episode .... Various Characters
(98
more)
