I crush your head!

Tonight I took a total trip down memory lane as I tuned into CBC to watch the new Kids in the Hall series (the post title is a dated reference to one of my favourite skits of theirs). I was a huge fan of the original KITH show, back when it aired in my highschool years. I used to watch it on a little black and white TV in my bedroom, and before you ask, no, I did not go to highschool in the 1950s. We were just a low technology household.

But back to the Kids.....I alternately loved, and was shocked, by their risque and cutting edge humour, especially when it aimed to draw an audience from a fuddy duddy network like the Ceeb. I can almost quote direct lines from characters like the Chicken Lady, Cabbage Head, Cathy and Kathie, lazy cops, the Head Crusher and of course, Buddy Cole. And who can forget about Monsieur Piedlourde -- arty and hilarious at the same time! I regularly sing "These Are the Daves I Know" and "Terriers", even when unprompted, and could probably hum the entire theme songs from beginning to end. Are you starting to get a picture of how much I crushed on this show?

So as I was watching tonight, I had a flashback of when I actually met one of the Kids here in Ottawa. I came to Ottawa in Grade 12, to be a part of a nerd conference called the Forum for Young Canadians. Picture a gathering of awkward teenagers from across Canada -- real student government types -- who got their kicks from participating in mock elections and getting a backstage tour of the Library of Parliament, and you get a sense of the kind of rowdy crowd we were. (And to any of my Forum Facebook pals who might be reading this, I don't mean you!)

Oh yeah, we also met lots of politicians, including Brian Mulroney, whom I remember to be very, very orange. And also, as it turned out, very corrupt. Perhaps being orange is a side effect of poisonous morals and a highly inflated ego? Hmmm.

Anyway, I came to Ottawa for Forum, and for some reason I can't recall now, I travelled by train to get here. This meant I also had to travel home by train when our wild week, spent debating Trudeau's National Energy Plan, finally wrapped up. It was during this train ride that I spied Mark McKinney, one of the Kids (aka Chicken Lady) ON. MY. TRAIN!!!!!!!

I think I actually first spotted him loitering around the station as we were boarding, and then I was thrilled to see him get on the same train, which was bound for Toronto. I made sure to nab a seat nearby, in spite of the fact that my Forum travelling buddy (who, weird coincidence, would later be a classmate of mine at Queen's in a first-year History course) wanted to sit elsewhere. But I digress.

I probably spent the first hour of the journey in nervous, star-struck silence, sweaty palms and all, debating whether or not to actually say something to Mr. McKinney (I couldn't call him by his first name -- it just seemed wrong). Eventually I worked up the courage to approach him and awkwardly interrupt his book reading. I can't remember our exchange word for word, but I do remember tellling him I was a big fan of the show, that I especially liked Chicken Lady, and that I was surprised to see a big CBC celebrity travelling by train. He actually laughed at me (swoon!) and told me I would likely be surprised at how little CBC celebrities made. He was incredibly polite and gracious, and thanked me profusely for being a fan and for watching the show. I think he even asked me why I was in Ottawa, and I'm not sure if I owned up to the nerd conference or not, but he mentioned that he visited the Capital frequently to see family. Eventually, my nerves got the better of me, so I let him get back to his book. He was nice enough to say goodbye to me when I got off the train in Cobourg, though.

He really made an impression, and our brief encounter was truly the highlight of that week in Ottawa. Suck it Mulroney!

Oh, and what did I think of the reincarnated Kids' show tonight? It was weird, somewhat forced, and slightly uneven. The Kids have aged, and are probably doing the show as much for personal reasons as any kind of creative outlet. If I'm honest, the Brits did the whole "creepy small town" show much better a few years ago, when it was called A League of Gentleman. I have to admit that I would have rather tuned in to see an older, wiser Mr. Cabbage Head, but those days are probably gone for good.

Still, I'm sure some things are the same as they were back in my highschool days. Keep your eyes open on a VIA train for a Kid in the Hall next to you very soon.