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Mark McKinney
Mark Douglas Brown McKinney (born June 26, 1959) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known as a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, which includes starring in the 1989 to 1995 TV series The Kids in the Hall and 1996 feature film Brain Candy. He was a writer on Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1986, and returned as a cast member from 1995 to 1997; and from 2003 to 2006, he co-created, wrote and starred in the series Slings & Arrows. He also appeared as Tom in FXX's Man Seeking Woman. From 2015 to 2021, he appeared as store manager Glenn Sturgis on NBC's Superstore.
McKinney was born on June 26, 1959, in Ottawa, Ontario, to Chloe, an architectural writer, and Russell McKinney, a diplomat.
He started performing comedy with the Loose Moose Theatre Company in Calgary, Alberta. There, McKinney met Bruce McCulloch. Together they formed a comedy team called "The Audience." Eventually, McKinney and McCulloch moved to Toronto, and met Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald, who were in the process of forming a comedy troupe. Along with Scott Thompson, who joined after coming to a stage show, The Kids in the Hall was formed in 1985.
After the Kids in the Hall caught the attention of Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, Michaels offered McKinney and McCulloch places on the writing staff. They accepted the offer, joining the SNL writing staff for a single season, the infamous season 11, from 1985-1986, after which SNL was nearly cancelled. Sketches written by McKinney in season 11 include El Spectaculare De Marika (episode 1), Fishermen (episode 5), and One Shoe Emma (episode 14), as well as commercial parodies Drums, Drums, Drums (episode 2), Ad Council (episode 4), and Brim Decaffeinated (episode 16). McKinney also provided a number of uncredited voice-over lines.
The troupe appeared in their own TV series, The Kids in the Hall, which was co-produced by Lorne Michaels and ran from 1988 to 1995. Notable characters on the show played by McKinney include the Chicken Lady, Darill (pronounced da-RILL), bluesman Mississippi Gary, and Mr. Tyzik the Headcrusher, an embittered Eastern European who pretended to crush the heads of passers-by between his thumb and forefinger.
After The Kids in the Hall, McKinney returned to Saturday Night Live, in the cast this time, in the middle of the 1994–1995 season (season 20) as a repertory player. McKinney survived the cast overhaul that occurred at the end of season 20 and his firing was considered at the end of season 21, but he ultimately stayed on SNL until the end of the 1996–1997 (season 22). During his time on SNL, McKinney had six recurring characters (some of note include Ian Daglers from "Scottish Soccer Hooligan Weekly", Melanie, a Catholic schoolgirl, and Lucien Callow, a fop often paired with David Koechner's fop character Fagan) and twenty-seven celebrity impersonations (some of note include Mel Gibson, Barney Frank, Al Gore, Paul Shaffer, Mark Russell, Jim Carrey, Lance Ito, Tim Robbins, Steve Forbes, Wolf Blitzer, Bill Gates, and Ellen DeGeneres).
He has appeared in several films, including the SNL spinoffs Superstar, The Ladies Man and A Night at the Roxbury. McKinney also starred opposite Isabella Rossellini in Guy Maddin's tragicomedy The Saddest Music in the World. He also appeared in the Spice Girls' movie Spice World. In 1999 he appeared in the Canadian television film adaptation Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang.
McKinney cowrote and starred in the Kids in the Hall movie Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, in which, among other roles, he spoofed SNL and KITH executive producer Lorne Michaels.
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Mark McKinney
Mark Douglas Brown McKinney (born June 26, 1959) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known as a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, which includes starring in the 1989 to 1995 TV series The Kids in the Hall and 1996 feature film Brain Candy. He was a writer on Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1986, and returned as a cast member from 1995 to 1997; and from 2003 to 2006, he co-created, wrote and starred in the series Slings & Arrows. He also appeared as Tom in FXX's Man Seeking Woman. From 2015 to 2021, he appeared as store manager Glenn Sturgis on NBC's Superstore.
McKinney was born on June 26, 1959, in Ottawa, Ontario, to Chloe, an architectural writer, and Russell McKinney, a diplomat.
He started performing comedy with the Loose Moose Theatre Company in Calgary, Alberta. There, McKinney met Bruce McCulloch. Together they formed a comedy team called "The Audience." Eventually, McKinney and McCulloch moved to Toronto, and met Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald, who were in the process of forming a comedy troupe. Along with Scott Thompson, who joined after coming to a stage show, The Kids in the Hall was formed in 1985.
After the Kids in the Hall caught the attention of Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, Michaels offered McKinney and McCulloch places on the writing staff. They accepted the offer, joining the SNL writing staff for a single season, the infamous season 11, from 1985-1986, after which SNL was nearly cancelled. Sketches written by McKinney in season 11 include El Spectaculare De Marika (episode 1), Fishermen (episode 5), and One Shoe Emma (episode 14), as well as commercial parodies Drums, Drums, Drums (episode 2), Ad Council (episode 4), and Brim Decaffeinated (episode 16). McKinney also provided a number of uncredited voice-over lines.
The troupe appeared in their own TV series, The Kids in the Hall, which was co-produced by Lorne Michaels and ran from 1988 to 1995. Notable characters on the show played by McKinney include the Chicken Lady, Darill (pronounced da-RILL), bluesman Mississippi Gary, and Mr. Tyzik the Headcrusher, an embittered Eastern European who pretended to crush the heads of passers-by between his thumb and forefinger.
After The Kids in the Hall, McKinney returned to Saturday Night Live, in the cast this time, in the middle of the 1994–1995 season (season 20) as a repertory player. McKinney survived the cast overhaul that occurred at the end of season 20 and his firing was considered at the end of season 21, but he ultimately stayed on SNL until the end of the 1996–1997 (season 22). During his time on SNL, McKinney had six recurring characters (some of note include Ian Daglers from "Scottish Soccer Hooligan Weekly", Melanie, a Catholic schoolgirl, and Lucien Callow, a fop often paired with David Koechner's fop character Fagan) and twenty-seven celebrity impersonations (some of note include Mel Gibson, Barney Frank, Al Gore, Paul Shaffer, Mark Russell, Jim Carrey, Lance Ito, Tim Robbins, Steve Forbes, Wolf Blitzer, Bill Gates, and Ellen DeGeneres).
He has appeared in several films, including the SNL spinoffs Superstar, The Ladies Man and A Night at the Roxbury. McKinney also starred opposite Isabella Rossellini in Guy Maddin's tragicomedy The Saddest Music in the World. He also appeared in the Spice Girls' movie Spice World. In 1999 he appeared in the Canadian television film adaptation Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang.
McKinney cowrote and starred in the Kids in the Hall movie Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, in which, among other roles, he spoofed SNL and KITH executive producer Lorne Michaels.