A Sweet Story Behind the Kids in Hall’s Bleatest Sketch
The Kids in the Hall have performed some sad sketches over the years, ever since they created the unlikely comedic potential of an alcoholic father’s verbal abuse in “Daddy Drunk Dad.” ,” to Brain Candy’s controversial “Cancer Boy,” a season four episode that opened with bad news of a fatal car accident (RIP Ted Riley).
But perhaps the darkest of all the Kids in the Hall sketches is from the recent Amazon revival series “Doomsday DJ,” which finds Dave Foley playing a post-apocalyptic FM radio host who stubbornly continues his morning show despite being “mostly. deadly.” “The weather that keeps him locked in a bunker. Not to mention his frequent existential despair when he’s not on the mic.
‘Doomsday DJ’ quickly became the ‘breakout’ sketch of the season, capitalizing on the world fatigue of COVID, perfectly capturing the feeling that during a crisis one must project normalcy outward while having a complete private meltdown. Part of what made the sketch so effective was the choice of music: singer-songwriter Melanie’s 1971 incongruous pop hit “Brand New Key.”
A DJ plays the same song over and over again, perhaps because none of his other records survived the DNA bombs that destroyed the world (Foley later revealed that this was actually because DJ’s entire record collection was stolen by gang robbers from, the only remaining record was 45 tracks of “Brand New Key” that slipped behind the sofa cushions, “although those details were later cut from the show).
Foley made his debut in the live variety show in 2017, but the script was very different; “Doomsday DJ” was originally inspired by the 2016 election and contained several references to the Trump administration. But even in its early form, the song was still the same. According to Foley, “I never considered any other music for it. . It just felt perfect.” When it came time to edit the draft of The Kids in the Hall, she refused to even offer the producers alternative song choices because she was so determined to use “Brand New Key”.
Unfortunately, Melanie passed. away the last week at the age of 76, prompting Foley to share his thoughts on his departure on social media. In his message, Foley describes how the song choice was not meant to be ironic or mocking, but was born solely out of a true love for the song. For Foley, the song was a childhood favorite; he actually “consumed” 45 copies of the record (not unlike the character in the sketch), and he chose the song specifically because he “wanted the most upbeat piece of music possible to match the sadness of the DJ.”
Which makes a famously bleak sketch somehow more heartbreaking..
