[URBAN NOTE] "Kid in the Hall calls for more kidding around"
Urban studies isn't something that Scott Thompson, one of the five members of the fantastic and decidedly Torontonian sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall is known for. In an interview with the Globe and Mail's Adrian Lee, though, he comes up with some ideas about the culture of Toronto and the city's issues that deserve some consideration.
What was it like growing up in the GTA?
When I grew up in Brampton, it was farmland in between. It’s not like today, where it’s become all one big blob. It was very boring, very middle-class, very white. Nothing ever seemed to happen, and I was always waiting for something to happen.
You said that the Kids in the Hall were very insistent about representing Toronto. What made you so passionate about the city?
When I was a child, honestly, I would dream about the day when everybody wasn’t white. I’d go, ‘I can’t wait for that day when I’m a minority.’ I prayed for it. And now I’m on the cusp of it, and I’m so thrilled. It’s more fun being a minority. It’s better. It’s more interesting when you have to rub up against people of different races and religions and backgrounds. It creates tension, and tension creates art.
My favourite thing about Toronto is that - the fact that all these people from all over the place are getting along, fairly well. I know that sounds kind of sappy, but it’s true. I’ve travelled all over, I’ve been all over the world, and I’ve never seen a place like this.
So what can the city do better?
Here’s what I think is missing: We don’t have enough fun. People are too concerned with doing the right thing, and people are too concerned with fairness. I think we’re too fair. I think that fairness is the enemy of fun, and that life isn’t fair. It’s like when we lost the Olympics. There’s that whole crowd in Toronto, that says ‘bread not circuses.’ I say: bread and circuses. And I think a city needs both ... What I don’t like about Toronto is that super-leftist socialist anti-party atmosphere. We need a big party. We don’t need any more food kitchens or shelters: we need a party. I think we need to invent some sort of a day. A non-denominational sort of day. What I would do is invent a drag day, where everybody goes as the opposite sex.
[. . .]
So have you found that Toronto’s gotten less fun?
Maybe it’s the Scottish history of the city, that kind of no-fun attitude. It’s disappearing, but I think the city could loosen up a little, and stop trying to be world-class. You just are. Do you know what I mean? People that are world-class or are stars, they don’t have to tell anybody, they just are. And I think Toronto, it just is. And it should just accept it, and just let its freak flag fly.
Is being a world-class city something that requires a given community not strive so much?
What was it like growing up in the GTA?
When I grew up in Brampton, it was farmland in between. It’s not like today, where it’s become all one big blob. It was very boring, very middle-class, very white. Nothing ever seemed to happen, and I was always waiting for something to happen.
You said that the Kids in the Hall were very insistent about representing Toronto. What made you so passionate about the city?
When I was a child, honestly, I would dream about the day when everybody wasn’t white. I’d go, ‘I can’t wait for that day when I’m a minority.’ I prayed for it. And now I’m on the cusp of it, and I’m so thrilled. It’s more fun being a minority. It’s better. It’s more interesting when you have to rub up against people of different races and religions and backgrounds. It creates tension, and tension creates art.
My favourite thing about Toronto is that - the fact that all these people from all over the place are getting along, fairly well. I know that sounds kind of sappy, but it’s true. I’ve travelled all over, I’ve been all over the world, and I’ve never seen a place like this.
So what can the city do better?
Here’s what I think is missing: We don’t have enough fun. People are too concerned with doing the right thing, and people are too concerned with fairness. I think we’re too fair. I think that fairness is the enemy of fun, and that life isn’t fair. It’s like when we lost the Olympics. There’s that whole crowd in Toronto, that says ‘bread not circuses.’ I say: bread and circuses. And I think a city needs both ... What I don’t like about Toronto is that super-leftist socialist anti-party atmosphere. We need a big party. We don’t need any more food kitchens or shelters: we need a party. I think we need to invent some sort of a day. A non-denominational sort of day. What I would do is invent a drag day, where everybody goes as the opposite sex.
[. . .]
So have you found that Toronto’s gotten less fun?
Maybe it’s the Scottish history of the city, that kind of no-fun attitude. It’s disappearing, but I think the city could loosen up a little, and stop trying to be world-class. You just are. Do you know what I mean? People that are world-class or are stars, they don’t have to tell anybody, they just are. And I think Toronto, it just is. And it should just accept it, and just let its freak flag fly.
Is being a world-class city something that requires a given community not strive so much?