Iam Bruce McCulloch AMA

Bruce, Do you still feel bad about all of that cancer?

well MOSTLY. it was so wild once i wrote that sketch to realize i was setting myself up karmically to get cancer (i have also made several bowel cancer jokes and played cancer boy) but of course when Scott got cancer 6 years ago people kind of blamed me....

How do you and boys of KITH resolve creative differences?

Also you're awesome. I quote something from KITH at least once a day.

well it is where the rubber meets the road. as young men we all (mostly me, perhaps) pushed for our way on instinct. If our two fav sketches got in the show we would then push for our third fav ect. But now we try to just follow the 'group energy' (which i also think about in my own life) if there is a great idea we all know it. one that isn't so great we all look into middle distance. It took me a long time to give up ego and follow the general feeling. but having said that, fighting for our weird shit is important too....

"Death Comes to Town" was a success, I thought. But I did miss the bite-size Kids vibe. Any chance you guys might think about doing a limited-run Netflix sketch show or something? I'd love to see the kinds of short films you could come up with, today. ("Love and Sausages" is a fave.)

that is one of the things i think we have talked about the most - a limited ep series of sketchs...

I know it was the style at the time but out of all the KITH you seemed to enjoy high-waisted jeans the most, any particular reason?

yes i was stupid. not a day goes by when mark doesn't 'gently' remind be of my weird fashions - two tartan neck ties a really long belt and nurses shoes....

Bruce, you should be a less reluctant performer. I know not a question...Do you like sandwiches? Which is the best?

i love sandwiches. they are trustworthy. you tell a sandwich a secret - it will stay a secret. Some people think they taste good. I don't know about that - i just keep them around as my 'secret keepers'

Bruce, what color should I dye my hair today? (I happen to be female)

well there isn't a woman alive who doesn't look great in the (RIGHT FOR HER) shade of red.. keep me posted

Bruce! You are amazing and I appreciate everything you do. My question is, if you had to go up against Tom Cruise, who would fit in a smaller box?

i don't know if this answers your question but the only way i am sure i could defeat him in a fight if it were in a phone booth.

If you had to name your favorite Kids sketch that never made it to air, what would it be and what was it about?

well there aren't many because, at times, it just seemed so hard for us to have enough stuff to fill up the show. but i will answer a DIFFERENT question that u didn't even know you wanted the answer to. My fav sketch that i always intended to write and never did was called "I'm not crazy I just lost my glasses" i still want to write it. Or not.

Apart from having Scott as part of the crew, what inspired you guys to do so many gay-themed sketches in the show at a time when most shows at the time either didn't talk about it at all or only used gay guys as a punchline or to talk about the AIDS epidemic? As an Alaskan kid those skits showed me I wasn't alone in this world and that there were other ppl like me out there. I really appreciate your work and any response you feel like giving.

you know i am hetro but always felt more aligned with the gay people as i grew up we were all outsiders their's had a label and mine didn't. when we first broke i always bucked the description that we were a 'gay comedy group' I didn't mind be thought of as gay but thought there was more power in me wearing dresses and kissing other men on the lips as a hetro from calgary...

I grew up as a kid watching you guys. I think you're somewhat responsible for my sense of humor. When was the tipping point when you realized that you had gone from someone like me to the mother flipping Kids in the Hall?

well thank you that is always a great thing to hear. it's sort of like when someone says "you got me thru"

there was a moment that springs to mind. the show had been on for about 3 months and we did a show in Detroit. we had worked in our own little box without any feedback from the outer world - and all these people knew our stuff - they rushed the stage - and we all looked at each other like "okay, now what?"

Hey Bruce, how are you? Was your childhood anything like Bobby Terrance's? The ham of truth is one of my favorite skits of all time, thanks for being hilarious!

yes. i was a young asshole who gargled rock music and sipped stolen rye whiskey and should have been killed. but i wasn't and it's too late now! ha!

What are your thoughts on fans that wait by the stage door for autographs and photos? Please don't yell at me in NYC.

when i was young i was afraid of ours fans - but mostly because i was afraid. Now i realize we are these weird outsiders that are connected in our point of view on this strange world so i like to meet you. shake your trembling hand (or not) or sign your clavicle....

Hi Bruce,

First, congratulations on having Young Drunk Punk turn out so great. If anyone but you were involved, I'd be incensed at how much the show was ripping off your aesthetic. Your weird poetry infuses it, but the cast really works well with each other, too - this is a fantastic group effort.

Important question: there's a bonus feature ("Bruce Fan") you did on the "Same Guys, New Dresses" DVD where you play a fan meeting yourself backstage and just awkwardly praising yourself up and down before awkwardly leaving. Was this...based on any specific incident? Because I had the honour of awkwardly meeting you after you did a show in Calgary (back in 2000) where, after telling you how awesome you were and getting you to sign some stuff for me and my cousin, I may have done the "stare silently at you for an uncomfortably long moment after we've said goodbye" thing (I was star-struck and slightly drunk). I'd love to think my epic awkwardness could have inspired you in some way...but maybe all your fan encounters go like that!

At any rate: thank you for being so kind to your fans, especially the really awkward ones. And congratulations again on how great Young Drunk Punk is (as well as "Let's Start a Riot" - we have the same 'hardest thing I've had to do' and it's cool to see someone acknowledge how hard that is).

Be well,

-Christian

you are too kind. the memory of that meeting is vague but ALL of them are rolled into one. For me (and by the way i have never thought about or had mentioned the snippet you mentioned) i do this to say i am the awkward one. when someone takes a pic with me and the other asshole can't work the camera I am the one who feels the pain... we are all the same. I met carly rae jepson in an airport my young daughter wanted a pic with her - i couldn't figure out the camera. I became you. Because i am you....

All I want to know is how much does the human head really weigh?

well the true answer is sad because as any scientist will tell you - you have to detach it from the body to get an accurate weight. maybe ask Scott, he works on Hanibal...

Hello Bruce! When you write, do you doubt some of your ideas for being too weird? Do you censor yourself? or do you just trust your gut always? I'm just wondering how something as weird and awesome as Cabbage Head can survive the page and come to life.

or the guy with a shitty car or the pen guy or the guy who works at the b-b-b-bank

Thanks so much for all this weirdness!

i always think the act of writing is to never stop the flow of what you are working on. that is what the next day is for. the other writing trick i have is that I tell myself i am a really good writer - so that i don't judge the work as it is coming - that is key...

Can you taste fear?

it is like parched cinnamon. i speak of my own fear of course. yours may have hints of oaky and pear...

Hi Bruce,

I love all your work. I just finished Let's Start a Riot, and am several episodes into YDP. Assuming Acid in Grade 8 was not a fictional tale, I was surprised by the lack of acid stories in Riot and YDP. Any acid trip stories you'd like to share?

well I DID do all my acid in grade eight. and thanks for getting my book (out in the US end of April) and in it is a story about my one and only ecstasy experience. hard drugs are a young man's game...

Bruce,

Huge fan since middle school. I love your two records, and I've always thought there was a lot of beauty in them amongst the silliness. Can I expect a third record anytime soon? Any interesting tales from your time on Atlantic? Or just tales from the studio in general?

not a whole record but i am going to record a couple things like "angie the hiv unicorn' and put out thru my website..

Hey Bruce, thanks for sharing some of your time with us! Is there a comedy team or sketch group that you feel is doing especially good work? I think of Whitest Kids U Know and Key and Peele as being descendants of Kids in the Hall, in that they are definitely standing on your shoulders. Is there any group you particularly enjoy these days?

well i remember paul westerburg complaining that the young bands owed him and i thought - "no they don't" know one owes us anything. we DID sort of start the 'weird nerds from the suburbs" thing but there are a lot of weird smart kinds from the suburbs who are doing it now - and maybe we made it seem more possible and for THAT i am happy. my favorite group is called "Get Some" from TO and i am going to try and help them do a show...

Have you got advice for performers putting together new sketch troupes?

find your friends. people who make you laugh and can make you better. and that you can disagree with OCCASIONALLY

Without a doubt, the most underrated comedy film ever made is Brain Candy. I know that many of the characters in the film were based on KITH sketches, but there were many new ones that only made an appearance in Brain Candy. Have there been any talks about reviving any of those for another project?

More specifically, is there any chance for a Grivo project? Album, tour, documentary, anything? In my humble opinion, he is your greatest creation, and I'd live to see him live on past his "Some Days It's Dark" performance.

Thanks for the AMA! Can't wait to see KITH live again!

well going on tour we all hope another death comes to town (or whatever ) will follow but nothing specific. parenthetically, we have always thought that it would be really funny to go around and pitch a 'frame by frame' remake of Brian Candy just to watch the (bad) reactions. fyi grivo came to life when we were writing BC and staying in a really twee bed and breakfast. I had gotten a little drunk the night before and signed the quest book with "some days it's dark.."