Kevin McDonald


Kevin Hamilton McDonald is a Canadian actor, voice actor and comedian. He is a member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of stage, television and film productions, most notably the 1988–1995 TV series The Kids in the Hall. He has also been the voice of Agent Wendy Pleakley in the Lilo & Stitch franchise, Waffle in Catscratch, and the Almighty Tallest Purple in Invader Zim. He played Pastor Dave in That '70s Show. He also starred as a co-pilot in the 2011 web comedy series Papillon.

Early life

McDonald was born in Montréal, Québec, the son of Sheila and Hamilton "Hammy" McDonald, who was a dental equipment salesman. He moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of seven, after his father was transferred there. His family subsequently lived in Toronto, Ontario as well. McDonald has a younger sister, Sandra.
During an interview on WTF with Marc Maron, McDonald discussed his father's severe alcoholism, which inspired the Kids In The Hall sketches "Daddy Drank" and "Girl Drink Drunk". Although he calls his mother "a wonderful woman," she was nevertheless reluctant to leave his father until Kevin turned 19, when his father's drinking had escalated to two bottles of vodka daily. McDonald, his mother and sister rented an apartment, where they quietly moved their belongings "every night collapse on the stairs." Once they had completely moved, his parents divorced, his father lost his job, went bankrupt and lived in a homeless shelter for a year, during which he abstained from drinking ; coincidentally, Kevin McDonald would use the same building to rehearse with The Kids In The Hall as they were starting out on stage. His father was able to find employment at a flower shop, then an apartment and, over time, resume his career in dental equipment sales. Eventually, he did drink again, but not to the extent he had earlier in his life. He died of an aneurysm in 2004. Kevin McDonald would use his relationship with his father as the basis for a one-man show, Hammy And The Kids, in which he said he had no happy ending to the story of his father. However, during his interview with Marc Maron, he said after one performance of his one-man show, he was approached by a stranger who said that he had served his father as a bartender, and that his father mentioned how proud he was of his son, the famous comedian, which moved McDonald to tears "like the ending to a bad movie."
McDonald briefly studied acting at a community college, where he was kicked out for being "a one-legged actor" by a dean who had a leg amputated, and was therefore a literal one-legged actor. However, one of his professors, William B. Davis, saw McDonald's potential and encouraged him to pursue improv comedy by giving him the number to The Second City in Toronto.
During his youth, he had a weight problem. It wasn't until just prior to The Kids in the Hall in the late 1980s that he went from overweight to rather skinny. Several sketches and monologues allude to the issue, and a stockier McDonald can be seen in archival footage on The Kids in the Hall on DVD box sets.

Career

McDonald founded The Kids in the Hall comedy troupe with his friend Dave Foley. They met in Toronto at the Second City Training Center, and the two wrote and performed in sketches together more than any other pair in the group. In the troupe's TV show and stage shows, he portrays several popular recurring characters, such as the King of Empty Promises, Sir Simon Milligan, and Jerry Sizzler. A frequent running gag was that McDonald is the least popular member and always struggling not to get kicked out.
When the troupe ended the five-season run of its eponymous television series in 1994, the five members moved to a number of solo projects. McDonald has played roles in movies like Boy Meets Girl, Pleakley in the Lilo & Stitch franchise, and Harry Potter in Epic Movie. On television, he has appeared on The Martin Short Show, Ellen, That '70s Show, Seinfeld, Friends, NewsRadio, MADtv, Arrested Development, and Corner Gas. McDonald has also done voice work for various animated series, including Invader Zim, The Angry Beavers, Catscratch, and . He also played an imaginary friend named Ivan in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode Sight For Sore Eyes, and appeared in the music video for "Roses" by OutKast.
In 2006, McDonald hosted a CBC Television special, Sketch with Kevin McDonald, featuring several of Canada's best-known sketch comedy troupes. The special received two nominations, for the performances by The Minnesota Wrecking Crew and by The Imponderables, for Canadian Comedy Award in the category Best Taped Live Performance, with The Minnesota Wrecking Crew winning the award.
Since 2000, McDonald and the other members of The Kids in the Hall have reunited for a number of tours and televised performances. The troupe played the 2007 Just for Laughs festival, where McDonald also performed his one-and-a half-man show Hammy and the Kids with Craig Northey, based on his two dysfunctional families, his father and The Kids in the Hall.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations