Kenny and Spenny bringing decades-long crude rivalry to Fort McMurray

The Kenny vs. Spenny live show at The Den will be a rare instance of a crude product being imported into the oilsands region.

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Kenny Hotz believes he and his best friend, Spencer Rice, deserve to be in the Order of Canada.

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Sure, Rice briefly thought he had AIDS because of a practical joke played on him by Hotz. And a video of Hotz blowing air out of his rectum during a farting competition had millions of views on YouTube before the episode was removed.

But it has been more than 20 years since their show, Kenny vs. Spenny, premiered in 2003. Hotz and Rice say people still tell them the show is the funniest thing they’ve ever seen, made them laugh during bleak periods, and was a bonding experience with friends and family.

“The amount of Canadians that we made laugh – and we really, truly helped out of a spiritual darkness and mental anguish – I’m not even joking, we deserve an Order of Canada,” said Hotz in an interview ahead of a live show in Fort McMurray with Rice.

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“Say I’m a scumbag for saying this or whatever, but we were diplomats of Canadian content internationally. We had the largest selling format of any other series in the history of Canada, and our show aired in 200 countries.”

Rice, who has remained best friends with Hotz for decades, agrees. There’s plenty of comedians that have been named to the order, but Rice doubts they will ever get that recognition.

“We are underground. We don’t get credit,” said Rice. “But when a soldier comes up to me and says, ‘Hey, I was in Afghanistan, and when we were watching your DVDs, we were laughing and imagining we were back home,’ that means more than almost anything. Except money.”

A promotional image for Kenny vs. Spenny when it aired on Showcase.

The Kenny vs. Spenny 20th Anniversary Tour comes to Fort McMurray on Saturday when the duo takes the stage at The Den at the Quality Inn Hotel. It will be a rare instance of the oilsands region importing a crude product.

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The show premiered in 2003 on the CBC where it aired for a season before moving to Showcase for five seasons. Each week, two best friends who have known each other for decades went against each other in a competition. The loser suffered a humiliation.

It’s a format that was unsuccessfully replicated with spinoffs in other countries, and similar antics litter TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. But Rice and Hotz still stick out. Unlike most influencers today, they were both in their 30s when the show premiered. The two have a comedic timing that comes with knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses since they were children.

Rice mostly tried competing honestly and rarely found Hotz entertaining. Hotz often humiliated Rice, mostly after cheating or finding loopholes. Hotz also frequently described Rice as a violent man who is emotionally, sexually and mentally disturbed. The production crew were recruited as henchmen in many episodes. No one matched their chemistry or rivalry.

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Hotz and Rice both say the CBC was the wrong fit for them, but Showcase allowed their most outrageous competitions. Their first competition on Showcase was who could drink more beer. Hotz drank a non-alcoholic beer, while a hammered Rice threatened Hotz with a hockey stick then fell out of a tree. Episodes got progressively more cruel, ridiculous and gross.

“We figured this is our only chance in our entire lives to do whatever we want to do without supervision, and if we don’t take that opportunity, we’ll probably regret it,” said Hotz.

“It was a show that exposed the poison of the male psyche. That’s why women love the show so much. We exposed our dirty laundry, and we were guys who weren’t scared to just really show the world how horrible we are.”

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The last time the frenemies visited Fort McMurray in 2018, a packed audience saw clips and deleted scenes from the show’s six seasons. Hotz hit Rice with a barrage of insults that can’t be published here. Rice ended the show by giving an audience member a prostate exam on stage to raise cancer awareness.

“Why was that such a big deal? I’m wearing a rubber glove. I think it’s more incredible that the fans are so nuts that they let me do it. That’s the story here, not that I do it,” said Rice.

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A promotional image for Kenny vs. Spenny when it aired on Showcase. This competition was “Who can be tied to a goat the longest?”

These days, it’s the fans that get under Rice’s skin. A few weeks ago Rice got so angry at one show’s heckling that he left the stage. Rice returned when he remembered he wouldn’t get paid if he quit the show. This is also why Rice tolerated dozens of humiliations on national television.

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“Being booed and ‘Spenny, you suck’ 20 years later does grind you down to a certain extent but it’s never going to beat me. I’m OK with it because I make money with it, but I’m a human being,” said Rice.

“Spencer being depressed and sad and angry is what makes him funny. So the angrier Spenny is, the funnier he is,” said Hotz. “I’m basically a hero. I’m making sure we sell tickets so he can provide for his family.”

Aside from the money, Rice says he enjoys meeting people in parts of Canada he otherwise would never visit. Hotz calls the rowdiness of the crowds part of “the ultimate dream.” Do they see a 25th anniversary tour? Hotz says the fact they are in their late 50s and early 60s makes their schtick even funnier.

“I see a 50th anniversary tour. I’ll bring Spencer’s bones in a pickle jar,” said Hotz. “It’s the greatest gig you could ever have. You and your pal go to Charlottetown or Lethbridge or St. John or Vancouver, stand on stage for 90 minutes, make a pile of cash, and people are screaming how much they love you and lining up to meet you.”

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