If it could be said that actor/comedian Mark McKinney has but one goal in life, it would be to make people laugh. Born Mark Douglas Brown McKinney in Ottawa, Canada, the 47-year-old son of a diplomat portrayed an amazing array of zany characters on the long-running sketch-comedy show The Kids in the Hall, bringing to life some of the series' most memorable personalities, including Chicken Lady, the creepy Mr. Tysik, the Headcrusher, Gerald the Businessman, Nina from Joymakers, Attila the German Gay Lover, and Leslie the Vampire Fag.
Following a failed attempt at a degree from the University of Newfoundland, McKinney immersed himself in the Canadian comedy club scene and performed with The Loose Moose Theatre Company, where he eventually met up with future fellow "Kid" Bruce McCulloch. Together, the two formed a comedy team known as "The Audience." Mark and Bruce moved to Toronto, and eventually the two became four when fledging comedian Dave Foley and his friend Kevin McDonald (who were starting up a comedy troupe) joined forces with McKinney and McCulloch. The openly gay Scott Thompson was also enlisted by McKinney for the emerging troupe. With the eventual support of Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels, The Kids in the Hall became a TV phenomenon that ran for five years, from 1989-94, capturing Emmy nominations and a devoted fan following.
After Kids ended, McKinney joined the cast of SNL, where he remained until 1997. From 2003-06, McKinney co-created, wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed Sundance Channel series Slings & Arrows, which detailed the trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional Canadian theatre troupe. McKinney also was in the cast of NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, where he served as writer and story editor. His movie credits include Brain Candy, Superstar, The Ladies' Man, A Night at the Roxbury, and The Saddest Music in the World.
David Guarino: The Kids in the Hall was really a gender-bending comedy. Did the fact that Scott Thompson is a gay man help the writing and the direction that the skits took?
Mark McKinney: I think that the sum is greater than the parts or whatever, and it was a happy accident that he was gay. I mean, we were attracted to him as a performer; he was a really great actor; he was scandalizing everyone in theater sports with his wild improvisations. It was a match of energy first, and then he found a voice to deal with a lot of the issues he was facing as a gay man — in comedy, with us. I don't know that it was ever the hook of the troupe, but it was a good contribution, another human window to see through.
Was it coincidence that all of the members of Kids in the Hall were male? It kind of reminds me of Shakespeare and the Globe Theater, where the men took all of the women's parts as well.
I guess after a fashion. When we were coming up in Toronto, we had women coming in and out of the troupe, it's just that then women were a rare commodity in comedy, so the big vacuum in the comedy scene was The Second City. They had a main stage, an auxiliary stage and a touring company. If you were a woman and you were any good, you kinda got paid earlier than the guys did.
Slings & Arrows is a wonderful little show which you co-created and starred in. It�"s very evocative. There are times I laugh out loud; other scenes can almost move me to tears. The show examines the inner workings of a theatre troupe.
After it aired in Canada, we heard from our friends in the theater that they thought we got it right. I think it was a timely project for all three writers. We'd kind of gotten to the point in our careers where we were ready to sit down and tell a few stories about it.
You were a regular on Saturday Night Live for several years. What was a typical week like on that set?
The week before the airdate is unbelievably grueling; it's best for those who can devote their entire life to it. It starts on Monday afternoon, when you meet the host, followed by two frantic days of writing and an incredibly long read-through, where 40 or 50 sketches are read, then are picked. And you're going through that churning thing if your stuff doesn't get picked. Then you rehearse Thursday/Friday, often all day, and then Saturday it's another "all-day," with a couple of dress rehearsals with costumes and sets all being folded in. Then there's a dress rehearsal that you do as if it were a live show because sometimes they'll pull a piece for the official version out of the dress. But at 11:30 when the show goes live, it's always an unbelievable thrill. You know, you're live, you're on!
What has been the most difficult time in your career?
Probably the end of SNL because the show really didn't work for me; I was a new Dad. I'd come from Kids, where basically if I wrote a piece I really believed in, it would get done. I didn't really have that luxury at SNL, so it wasn't a good fit. I wasn't really sure what I was about when that ended. Interestingly, the way I found my way back was doing off-Broadway theater in New York. And it reminded me: oh yeah, this is the sort of thing I do. But there was a year or two there where I felt like I'd screwed up.
Can you tell us something about your role in the Canadian dramedy Robson Arms?
It's a great little series, really phenomenal. The basic premise is loosely linked characters all living in the same apartment building. It was just magical, how well it came off. A true, original, quirky series. Some of the stories are about lonely-hearts meeting. I played a lonely-heart guy who had lost his wife and was trying to pick up the pieces of his life. He winds up getting involved with this woman in the building. It's a beautifully portrayed little short-story.
If this were all to go away tomorrow, what would you be doing?
I might teach, but I'd be teaching drama. Am I allowed to be a lively drama teacher and semi-perform?