Kids in a Bigger Hall

A corporate tycoon who insists that the carpet his underlings unroll before him each morning matches his socks. A solidly suburban family man who stages his own neighborhood coming-out parade when he finally fesses up to being homosexual. And a precocious young cancer victim who achieves pop stardom as a wheelchair-bound whistler.

These aren’t exactly typical inhabitants of the Hollywood screen--but they are perfectly at home among the dozens of colorfully odd characters brought to life in “Kids in the Hall Brain Candy,” the feature film debut from the decidedly irreverent, Canadian-bred comedy quintet the Kids in the Hall.

The Kids began life in 1984 as a Toronto stage troupe, and from 1989 to 1994 perfected their bracing mix of spiky satire and theater of the absurd on their sketch-driven TV series. The show originally aired on Canada’s CBC and has been seen in this country on HBO, CBS and Comedy Central. “Brain Candy” begins its national release Friday.

The Kids’ wholly original, fearlessly demented comic sensibility has won them legions of devoted fans. And those fans will no doubt be happy to discover that with the group’s jump to the big screen, and potentially to a wider audience, the strong flavor of their comedy has not been sweetened for mass consumption.

“I know the marketplace is very square,” says Scott Thompson, described by his cohorts as the “volcanic, joyous, obsessive” member of the group. “And comedy in general has gotten so mealy-mouthed and stupid. We made a small picture that didn’t cost much, and I hope it kicks a hole in the comedy that’s out there. The megalomaniac in me wants to bring it all down, and have our work shine.”

With a budget from Paramount at less than $7 million, “Brain Candy” was indeed a small enough production that the Kids were basically left alone to work their peculiar magic, which, as on their TV shows, includes gleeful attacks on social conventions and a number of performances in drag. The film’s twisting narrative follows the effects of a scientist’s breakthrough, mass-marketed prescription mood-lifter on a glum city full of depressed people.

“I suppose we’re the worst careerists and businessmen in the world,” offers Bruce McCulloch, the “socially retarded but lovable” member of the group. “The easy thing would have been to do a big sketch film. There was some gentle pressure for us to do that, and we responded by taking the least successful characters from our show, telling a long story with them and making the comedy even more satirical. We’re not smart, but we’re proud.”

The satiric targets in “Brain Candy” range from dim cops and hideously perky talk-show hostesses to the evils of the corporate boardroom and the inanity of pop fashion. With sex, drugs, religion and family dysfunction also poked sharply for laughs, the group is well aware that its work may not fit everyone’s idea of funny.

“I’m proud of the fact that people love us or hate us,” says the “sweet but evil” Kevin McDonald. “Very few people just think we’re ‘OK.’ We’ve always tended to draw some strong emotions from audiences.”

Adds McCulloch: “When the show first aired in Canada, it got so many complaints that the next week the station had to hire two more complaint operators. We’ve always understood that not everybody likes our stuff, but they don’t have to. And I’d hate to have us thought of as ‘sad clowns,’ but there’s always been a serious side to our work. We think about people in weird situations, and divorce, and AIDS and adultery and strange families, and that’s where the laughs come from. We don’t wallow in ugliness and the cruelty of fate, but we really enjoy splashing around in it.”

“At our best we’re like a five-headed Jonathan Swift,” muses Thompson.

“Except that some of the heads don’t know who Jonathan Swift is,” McCulloch says, shrugging. In addition to Thompson, McCulloch and McDonald, the group includes Mark McKinney--the “slow but brilliant” Kid who is presently a cast member of “Saturday Night Live”--and David Foley, the “well-groomed, Oscar Wilde epigram come to life” who now stars in NBC’s “News Radio.”

The Kids’ career has to some extent been shepherded along by producer Lorne Michaels, creator of “Saturday Night Live,” who, after witnessing the group’s raucously inventive stage shows, pushed for them to do television work. Michaels’ Broadway Video production company produced “The Kids in the Hall” series, and Michaels served as producer on “Brain Candy.” He’s optimistic that, with shocks, barbs and drag intact, the Kids will connect with movie audiences.

“The thing that struck me when I first saw the Kids in the mid-’80s was how fresh they were,” he says. “They weren’t just doing a variation of what ‘SNL’ had done--they were entirely their own thing. Their writing is brilliant, and sometimes cold. We’ve become much more used to comedy that wants to be loved, but this is comedy that’s not really trying so hard to please. What’s certain about the film is that there’s no chance that people will confuse it with any other picture. It’s a strong taste, and the audience will have to do a little work, but, as with Spinal Tap or the Monty Python pictures, I think the right audience will find it.”

McKinney believes that the movie will be around long enough in one form or another so that an audience has a chance to find it. “I’m wildly pleased with what we got, and I think it will hold up--which is something we always wanted for the show too. I’d like to think that people will be happily renting this movie in 10 years, because it won’t ever be knocked off the shelf by a lot of stuff just like it--except maybe other Kids movies. And, Great American Public willing, we all would love to make more movies together.”

But in a comedic climate where big-budget, insistently dumb entertainment routinely enjoys huge success, is the Great American Public ready for something small, smart and severely twisted?

“A certain part of America is ready,” Michaels says. “This isn’t ‘Wayne’s World’ and it doesn’t want to be. It’s got some nasty bits, and that’s not for everyone. But it’s an original voice that should be heard.”

McCulloch concurs. “We’re not ‘Wayne’s World’ and we’re not ‘Waterworld.’ We just want to be successful enough to do it again, like we were with the show. People keep asking, ‘If the movie’s so weird, how can it succeed?’ I really don’t know, because basically we just create things that are funny to us. All I can say for sure is that I really like this movie. And all my friends like it too.”

“That’s seven people right there,” Thompson chimes in helpfully.

McDonald does the math. “Seven times $7.50--that’s pretty serious money. That’s a very, very good start for us.”