KIDS IN THE HALL Founders Dave Foley & Kevin McDonald to Receive Ernie Kovacs Award

Both Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald will be in attendance to receive the Ernie Kovacs award and will be on hand for a panel discussion, a Q&A with fans and a rare screening of the iconic Kids in the Hall film BRAIN CANDY (1996). Foley and McDonald are being recognized for careers that span more than 30 years, including acting, producing and writing on television, film and stage and especially for their breakout roles playing a multitude of characters in The Kids in the Hall television series which ran from 1988-1995.

"One of the things that impressed me deeply about Ernie Kovacs was that television was a brand new medium in the fifties and he was subverting its conventions even as those conventions were being formed," said Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall. "Ernie was way ahead of his time."

"Ernie Kovacs has been one of my idols since I was a child so to receive an award in his name from the Dallas VideoFest is a true honor," said Kevin McDonald of Kids in the Hall. "Kovacs was doing '70s anti-comedy in the '50s and his sense of absurdism would have been at home in a Monty Python's Flying Circus episode. When Dave Foley and I are in Dallas on October 14, I will pretend he is here with us - celebrating his career - because that's what this is - a celebration of Ernie Kovacs. And he deserves a lot of them."

"Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald of The Kids in the Hall are being recognized by the Dallas VideoFest for their efforts as comedy PIONEERS in the same vein as Ernie Kovacs," said Bart Weiss, director of Dallas VideoFest. "Looking back at the comedy of The Kids and their other work afterward, you can see that, they, like Kovacs, saw what video and television could be and took us to that new place."

The Ernie Kovacs Award recognizes the career and talents of some of television's greatest visionaries. Kovacs' work in the 1950s and early 1960s summed up the spirit of innovation and the development of the language of television as art. The Dallas Video Festival and the Video Association of Dallas announced the first Ernie Kovacs Award at the 1997 festival. Comedian Joel Hodgson of Mystery Science 3000 was the first recipient and subsequent honorees have included Terry Gilliam of Monty Python; Robert Smigel, writer/performer of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and Late Night with CONAN O'Brien; Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens; Martin Mull; Mike Judge; George Schlatter, creator of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In; HARRY Shearer, Spinal Tap and The Simpsons; and Michael Nesmith. Actress Edie Adams (www.edieadams.com), Kovacs' wife, came to Dallas to host the awards program annually until her death in 2008. Today, Edie's son Joshua Mills runs Ediad Productions, the video and audio archive of both Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams.

Admission to events:

$25 - the Ernie Kovacs Awards presentation at 7:30 p.m.

$10 - BRAIN CANDY (1996) with intro by Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald at 10 p.m.

$30 - Kovacs Awards presentation and BRAIN CANDY at 7:30 p.m.

$50 - includes all events: Reception hosted by Canadian Consulate, Ernie Kovacs Awards presentation and BRAIN CANDY at 6:30 p.m.

ABOUT DAVE FOLEY Dave Foley is a Canadian actor, stand-up comedian, director, producer and writer. Along with Kevin McDonald, he is the co-founder of the comedy group The Kids in the Hall, responsible for their eponymous sketch show and the feature-length film BRAIN CANDY. He played Dave Nelson in the sitcom "News Radio," voiced Flik in A BUG'S LIFE and hosted the game show, "Celebrity Poker Showdown." Some of Dave's favorite KITH sketches include: "Girl Drink Drunk," "King of Empty Promises," and "Things to Do."

ABOUT KEVIN MCDONALD Comedian, actor, writer and director Kevin McDonald founded The Kids in the Hall with friend Dave Foley, after they met in Toronto at Second City.

Kevin went on to appear in a variety of films including BOY MEETS GIRL, LILO & STITCH, and EPIC MOVIE. On television, he has appeared as memorable characters on various shows like That '70s Show, Seinfeld, Friends, NewsRadio, MADTV and Arrested Development. Kevin's distinctive voice has also been apart of various animated series. Some of Kevin's favorite KITH sketches include: 'The Fur Trapper," "King of Empty Promises," "Skoora the Gentle Killer Shark," and "Reg."