Nerd alert! We grew up crushing each others' heads with our thumb and pointer finger. It's all thanks to the genius of Kids in the Hall. Nerds we were, certainly, but ones with good taste and a sense of humor. Scott Thompson, one of those hilarious kids in said hall, developed a character from the show into the odd hero of graphic novel Danny Husk: The Hollow Planet.
He's coming to Wizard World Miami Comic Con this weekend and just may be in character at the event. We resisted the desire to ask him what it was like to be the cutest kid in the hall, and instead talked a bunch about Canada versus America and what kind of undies Danny Daze wears. We laughed almost the whole time. You will too.
New Times: Who are your bigger fans, Canadians or Americans? Who loves you more?
Scott Thompson: I think more Canadians love me, but maybe Americans love me better. They love me louder. More aggressively. Canadians like to withhold their love, they let the nanny tell me.
What or who was your inspiration for the Danny Husk character?
Geez. I guess really, my big inspirations for the Danny Husk character were really Bruce and Mark, they had two characters called the Geralds that we used to do at the very beginning of our careers. And they were two businessmen and everybody in the troupe had a business persona. I just basically started imitating them. I guess a little my older brother. He's a lot smarter than Danny, but a lot of the way he speaks is kind of like that. And it's just basically like me. There's a lot of me in Danny as well.
How often do you go to conventions like Comic Con?
This is my second one. I went to San Diego in the summer, and I'm off to Miami, then I'm doing Toronto in March. So I've only been to one so far.
Did you run around in your underwear in San Diego?
Yes, yes, I did. Did you see or did you hear that I did?
I read that you did. I'd love to see pictures.
Actually, it's online. I'll be making little films. There's little films on my YouTube channel, Scott Thompson Video. And then we shot this whole sequence with Danny waking up naked by the water and then wandering toward the convention, finding articles of his clothing. Then it ends up Danny enters the convention in his underwear and finds his clothing and it ends with him having all of his clothing. And the second part, which we're going to release soon is Danny interviewing people. It's sort of like a rebirth. I thought it would be funny to have Danny reborn in this genre.
What kind of underwear were you wearing?
I think I was wearing boxers. Danny wears boxers, red, plaid boxers.
Very Canadian.
Yes.
Are most of your fans total Kids in the Hall fanatics/obsessives?
Yeah. Mostly, yes. I think most people are coming to this Danny Husk and the graphic novel are Kids in the Hall fans that are migrating over.
You hosted a reality show in Canada called My Fabulous Gay Wedding, and there's another show up there called 1 Girl 5 Gays...
I know that show yes.
Do you think Canadians are, well they're obviously more progressive, but like what do you think about the difference between the two cultures and Canadians being more open?
Well, I think Canada's a more liberal nation generally, and I think it's more of a feminine nation. My take on America, on the states and Canada is America is the man and Canada is the woman. That is, the States are more patriarchal, militaristic culture and Canada is more of a feminine, consensus-building culture. The states are like, I don't know, a man with four wives, and Canada's like a militant lesbian.
What's up next for Danny Husk, you're going to do a trilogy?
Yes, eventually. I've already started work on the second one. And the second book takes place, right after how the first book ends. It also will bring the Carol story together, we'll find out what happened to her when Danny left that night. And then it will explore the war, and bring the family together all there. There will be at least three. It's all in my head where it all goes to, but now it's about actually doing the second book, 'cause the first book took ten years, this one's going to have to be done in a year.
Any new projects coming up?
Yeah, actually, a lot of things, I have a lot of stuff online now. I have a website, NewScottland.com, that's where I'm starting to post a lot of pictures, I do a lot of drawing that I hope to get out eventually. I have a podcast called Scott Free, which I'm working on developing a new one man show, like a stand up tour and you know, I'm going to be going back to Canada to do a thing, it's not quite certain yet, but I'm going to be doing something for the wedding as the queen.
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