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Kenny vs. Spenny show stars Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice, who face each other in various competitions. The loser of each episode must perform an act of humiliation, usually selected by the winner. Hotz created the series, and it is typically shot in their hometown of Toronto, Ontario, based mainly out of the house they share. As of November 2008, the show airs on CBC, Global and Showcase in Canada, on Comedy Central in Germany and the Netherlands, on The Comedy Channel in Australia, on Sony Max in South Africa, on FX in Portugal, on JIM in Finland, and on Comedy Central in Sweden. The series concluded with an hour-long Christmas special that aired on December 23, 2010, at 9 pm ET/PT on Showcase.[1]
| Kenny vs. Spenny | |
|---|---|
 Kenny vs. Spenny Logo | |
| Created by | Kenny Hotz |
| Directed by | |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin |
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| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 86 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Cinematography | Sebastian Cluer |
| Editors | Duncan Christie, Marco Porsia |
| Running time | 22 minutes excluding commercials |
| Original release | |
| Network |
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| Release | August 26, 2003 – December 23, 2010 |
The series was nominated for the Canadian Comedy Awards in 2010 and 2011 and for Gemini Awards in 2005, 2006, and 2008 as the best Canadian comedy series, and received a Rose d'Or nomination in Switzerland for "best international comedy series". The show has spawned several replicas of its format, including a family-friendly French Canadian version called Frank vs Girard that airs on VRAK.TV. Also following the format are Ed vs. Spencer in the United Kingdom, Juan vs. Roman in Latin America, Elton vs. Simon in Germany, Katja vs. Bridget and Dennis vs. Valerio in the Netherlands, "Sid vs. Varun" in India. The show was named #8 among the top 10 Canadian television shows of the 21st century.[2]
Overview
Kenny and Spenny have contrasting personalities, which have an impact on the way each approaches the competitions. Spenny usually follows the rules and his ethics very strictly. He also tries to compete in what he perceives as the intention and spirit of the competition statement. Kenny's approach is typically more unorthodox; he is often willing to use any means necessary, including cheating, to win. Though he does not always break the rules, he is usually willing to bend them. Kenny sometimes admits that he would not win certain competitions without cheating. Spenny will often bear the brunt of Kenny's plans and pranks. Spenny is often paranoid and sometimes this causes him to sabotage his own efforts. Kenny occasionally uses this paranoia to his advantage. Kenny has occasionally used his position as executive producer to threaten crew members and force them to help him and/or not help Spenny.
Beyond their competitive styles, the contrasting personalities of the two stars is the source of much of the humour of the show. Kenny is generally portrayed as an uncouth and charismatic joker with a bizarre scatological sense of humor. Spenny is a classic straight man. As he stated in one episode, "I haven't had a belly laugh since 1987." He rarely laughs or makes jokes on camera. Spenny usually reacts with exasperation to Kenny's antics, which are often directed at him. Spenny's most common emotional reaction on the show is anger at some act which Kenny has committed. Occasionally, Kenny's pranks move beyond simple character assassination. In one instance he secretly gave Spenny several hits of LSD. In another he forged a letter to Spenny from the Ontario Ministry of Health, informing Spenny that he had been in contact with someone who was HIV positive.
Winning
The winner of the competition gets to assign a "humiliation", an embarrassing task that the loser must perform. Although it is implied that the loser has agreed to the choice of humiliation, in some episodes the winner attempts to extend the humiliation beyond what was agreed upon. Kenny has defined winning as not having to perform a humiliation, or perform a lesser humiliation, while Spencer has defined winning as being declared the competition winner. This difference in opinion results in difficulty judging who won was the true 'winner' in some cases.
The show is usually less focused on who will actually win the competition and more on how each competitor will go about trying to win. This is evidenced by the fact that the person who performs the humiliation is not always technically the loser based on the rules—they just do not know about the rules broken by the winner. On several occasions, Kenny has cheated and still been declared the winner. As always, the show rarely shows the aftermath of the competition, leaving it unknown how a competitor reacted upon finding out that his opponent cheated. Some episodes the voices of Kenny and Spenny are heard during the closing credits, commenting on an unfair loss.
Production
Starting with the fourth season, Kenny and Spenny were both executive producers and received credit separate from five other executive producers. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the TV show South Park, joined the show for the fourth season and were given their own separate credit as executive producers for the ten episodes in which they were involved.[3] Instrumental and electronic music is frequently used throughout episodes. Ride of the Valkyries, Ravel's Boléro, Sergei Prokofiev's Montagues and Capulets and Peter and the Wolf, Gioachino Rossini's La gazza ladra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor - 4th Movement, Henry Purcell's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra, Black Sabbath's Electric Funeral, King Crimson's The Court of the Crimson King and music by Toronto electronica band Holy Fuck are very frequently used.
Kenny and Spenny each have their own production assistant, camera operator, and sound engineer, who film their independent exploits for each episode.
Broadcasting
The show originally aired on CBC Television. It was produced by Breakthrough Films and Television since its inception. The CBC cancelled the show after the first season, and Showcase picked up the series in late 2005. Re-runs of the first two seasons air on CBC late at night, and on CBC's Bold station weekday afternoons. The show has aired on GSN in the United States, but now airs on Comedy Central. It is shown internationally on TV 2 Zulu in Denmark, JIM in Finland, the now defunct ZTV Norway, Comedy Central in Sweden, FX (repeats on Challenge) in the United Kingdom (no longer airing), The Comedy Channel in Australia, FX in Portugal, Comedy Central in Germany, Comedy Central in the Netherlands and The XtraHOT channel in Israel. Fox Entertainment Group in Latin America has distributed the episodes, which can be seen on the Latin American versions of FOX channel and FX.
Episodes
Christmas special
The series finale Kenny vs. Spenny Christmas Special aired 23 December 2010 at 9 pm eastern time on Showcase.[4]
DVD releases
Video Service Corp has released all six seasons of Kenny vs. Spenny on DVD in Region 1 (Canada only). Beyond Home Entertainment has released the first three seasons on DVD in Region 4.
| DVD Name | Number of episodes | Released for Region 1 | Released for Region 4 | Bonus features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenny vs Spenny: Season One | 24 | November 22, 2005 | August 5, 2009 | Kenny & Spenny commentary over two episodes, biographies, clips from international versions, Pitch |
| Kenny vs Spenny: Season Two | 13 | November 21, 2006 | December 9, 2009 | Season two promo, two commentaries with Kenny and Spenny, deleted scenes, season three preview |
| Kenny vs Spenny: Season Three | 13 | November 13, 2007 | April 7, 2010 | Kenny's never-before-seen version of "Who Can Make a Better Porno?", two commentaries with Kenny & Spenny, crew commentary, deleted scenes |
| Comedy Central's Kenny vs. Spenny – Volume One: Uncensored (Season Four) | 10 | August 12, 2008 | TBA | Deleted scenes, additional scenes, commentary tracks, Kenny answers fan mail, Kenny and Spenny reflect on past competitions, Kenny and Spenny's hot mix, Who can pick the biggest booger?, Kenny and Spenny: Men on the Street |
| Kenny vs Spenny: Season Four | 10 | August 26, 2008 | TBA | Pilot episode: Who Can Gain The Most Weight?, Alternate versions of First Guy to Stop Singing Loses and Who Can Make the Best Viral Video?, bonus footage, deleted scenes |
| Kenny vs Spenny: Season Five | 10 | November 24, 2009 | TBA | Deleted scenes, commentary with the crew, commentary with Kenny and Spenny, commentary with Kenny and Spenny and the crew |
| Kenny vs Spenny: Season Six | 13 | September 7, 2010[5] | TBA | Outtakes, photo gallery |
| Kenny vs. Spenny Christmas Special | 1 | TBA | TBA |
YouTube release
Starting November 7, 2012,[6] Kenny began uploading the series to his personal YouTube account. The final episode of the series was uploaded on December 22, 2012.[7]
Statistics
References
- ^ "The Showcase Blog – Kenny vs Spenny". Showcase.ca. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
- ^ Template:Cite article
- ^ Zap2It.com (2007-09-28). "'South Park' Guys Aid 'Kenny vs. Spenny' – Matt Stone and Trey Parker will executive produce 10 new episodes for Comedy Central – Zap2it". Zap2it.com. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
{{cite web}}: Text "September 28, 2007" ignored (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Szklarski, Cassandra (December 22, 2010). "'Kenny vs. Spenny' quarrel through the holidays with Christmas finale". thespec.com. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- ^ "Kenny vs. Spenny DVD news: Press Release for Kenny vs. Spenny - Season 6". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQdlFfSq1kw
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcc0zx-CxjA
External links
