While Scott Thompson wearing a brassiere may be nothing new, his venue for wearing one certainly is. Well known for playing Queen Elizabeth II and the outspoken, flamboyantly gay socialite Buddy Cole, Thompson pushed the boundaries of queer comedy with his characters from the Kids in the Hall. The iconic Canadian comedy troupe merged the cynicism of the ‘90s and the silliness of Monty Python, articulating the art of dark humour.
Thompson recently reunited with his fellow Kids for their mini-series Death Comes to Town, but shortly before starting the Brampton shoot, the comedian was diagnosed with cancer. A year later and cancer free, Thompson is back in heels and back with the Kids, but this time they’re the real kind. He takes the role of Plinky, the buxom dame in Ross Petty’s family musical, Beauty and the Beast.
The Varsity: How did you come to play one of the lead female roles in this production?
Scott Thompson: Well, these roles are always played by a man, it’s traditional. I was just asked and I had nothing else to do. I thought my book was going to come out two months ago and I thought I could do it. I am doing it, and loving it.
TV: You’re coming out with a book?
ST: I have a book coming out tomorrow. It’s called The Hollow Planet. It’s a graphic novel, the first of three.
TV: Is it at all autobiographical?
ST: No, it’s a complete fantasy; a comedy fantasy adventure at the centre of the earth, pure pleasure. I took the two things that I love in the world, fantasy and comedy, and tried to put them together.
TV: What prompted that?
ST: Well I started writing it ten years ago as a screenplay. I took it around to a number of studios and they all said, “We love it, it’s highly original, but we’ll never make it,” because it had giant women, mammoths, elves and trolls in a fantastical world and, you know, it was starring me, an obscure gay comedian from Canada — it was ridiculous. But I knew that it was a story that I had to get out, so I decided to turn it into a graphic novel, and that’s what I’ve been doing the last two years.
It’s the story of Danny Huskin. He’s a very straight, middleclass, conservative businessman. I wanted to find a way out of the box I’ve been in, the stereotyping box. Because I’ve been openly gay my whole career, all people have wanted to give me were gay roles and the truth is most gay roles are really awful. They’re roles that an activist would write, not what an artist would write. They’re all about being a positive role model and all that crap. That’s boring in drama. I created a vehicle with Danny so I could play something like a super straight guy. That was my thought behind it. Of course, it’s ten years later and now I just want the story out. If it became a movie, that would be wonderful, but I’m very happy with it just being a graphic novel. It’s a beautiful thing, the art is gorgeous, I’m extremely proud of it.
TV: Speaking of the typecast box, when Buddy Cole was becoming a regular character on the show, did you have any apprehensions of being typecast?
ST: Honestly, no. I had no idea. I didn’t realize how narrow-minded people would be; it took me a long time to realize that if I was to get out of that box I had to do it myself. I’m no longer angry about it — I was for many, many years. I’m more philosophical about it now. But at the time it did bug me a lot, because I kept going, “Look at The Kids in the Hall. I play everyone, why can’t I play those people?” But they wouldn’t let me, so that’s the way it was.
TV: What do you think it is about a man dressed in women’s clothing that generates that immediate humour?
ST: Interesting, because it doesn’t work the other way does it?
TV: No.
ST: No. Here’s my theory: the reason males dressed as females works immediately as comedy is because a male dressed as a female is a fall from power, and comedy is like a science. Comedy is chemistry. Comedy happens when someone loses status. For example, if the Queen of England trips and stumbles, that’s hilarious. Now, if a homeless leper trips and stumbles it’s not funny, because the distance between her status and what happens is greater, and that creates comedy. Let’s say we lived in a matriarchy where women were in control, and I think Canada actually is drifting towards matriarchy in some ways, so in 20 years, when women are completely in control of everything I think that it will be the reverse.
TV: So have you found that the way this humour is received has changed since the late ‘80s?
ST: I think you might be right. Yes, I think the further women advance, the less funny drag will be. There will come a time when it won’t be funny at all. Now for the Kids in the Hall, we always wanted our women to be just characters, so we had to work very hard against people laughing at us just because we were women. You look at the way we did drag and the way Monty Python did drag and it’s very different. We never wink at the audience. Even the kind of drag I’m doing in this show is different; it’s an old-fashioned style of drag. So in a way this is the first time I’ve really done drag — true drag.
TV: Did it become frustrating when audiences took the cross-dressing on The Kids to be comical?
ST: Yes, and that’s why we always worked very hard at making our women not comical-looking. When we first started out they would make our hair bigger and our clothes sillier but we were like, “No, this woman wouldn’t wear that, we have to look like how this woman would look.” That was a big deal for the hair, makeup, and wardrobe. That was a big evolutionary leap, in a way, in comedy.
TV: Looking at your most recent project with the Kids, Death Comes to Town, how has the dynamic in the troupe changed since your start at the Rivoli?
ST: We don’t fight as much. And I’ll be honest, making that series was so different than making Brain Candy [the troupe’s 1996 feature film]. It’s hard for me to even judge because I was quite ill when making it so it was very different for me. All I know is they carried me. They took great care of me and were amazing. Even though it was difficult, in some ways it was maybe the easiest shoot I’ve ever had to do, because all I had to do was concentrate on being alive between action and cut. Everything else, it didn’t matter. I injured myself during the shoot and I was in a wheelchair for a lot of it, but it didn’t matter for me because when I was shooting I was so concentrated and so happy to be doing what I was doing and not in a hospital, not getting chemotherapy.
TV: Did you find acting at the time served as an escape?
ST: Yes, absolutely. Also it was the Kids in the Hall coming back together again, so I had something to live for. I told my doctors, “I’ve got to be better. August 10 I’ve got to be in front of the cameras in heels, you’ve got to get me there. I don’t care if I arrive thin and hairless — at least I’ll be thin.”
TV: Do you have a preference between theatre and camera?
ST: Right now I’m loving live theatre. I love both of them but I get a real thrill out of being on stage now. I don’t really worry now about bombing, that’s the least of my worries.
TV: In the 2004 documentary I, Curmudgeon, you describe yourself as not having a censor button —
ST: Boy I wish I’d never done that movie, I’ll be honest.
TV: Why is that?
ST: I don’t feel like a curmudgeon anymore.
TV: No? When did that change?
ST: The last couple of years. I’m no longer a curmudgeon, no. I don’t even have the balls to see myself in that movie, because I don’t think I was in a happy place. I still get angry at a lot of things in the world but a curmudgeon seems like a person who’s bitter and I’m not bitter. I pulled back and went the other way.
TV: Would you still describe yourself as not having a censor button?
ST: Oh, that’s still true.
TV: And how does that factor into working on a family theatre production?
ST: Well that’s a testament to them for hiring me. It’s difficult though. What helps me is that I like kids a lot. If I didn’t like kids it might be a problem, but I really do love them. I also think it’s important to talk to them like adults, but I know there are certain things I can’t say to them, which is fine with me because I don’t want to scar them. I like to tease them and I think they really enjoy it when I say things that are a little strange to them. It’s an interesting dance I have to do, especially with my problem…my “Tourette’s” problem.
TV: Favourite man dressed in women’s clothing: Jack Lemmon, Divine, or Lady Gaga?
ST: [Pause] I would say Jack Lemmon. Jack Lemmon is hilarious, Some Like it Hot is my favourite comedy. And because Divine is not really dressed as a woman, he’s a drag queen, and Lady Gaga… I don’t even want to get into that one.
Beauty and the Beast runs to January 2 at the Elgin Theatre.
