Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas’ McKenzie Brothers to Reunite for Benefit Show
Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas will revive their beloved SCTV characters the McKenzie Brothers for the first time in a decade at a July benefit concert in Toronto.
Bob and Doug McKenzie, who hosted a fictional TV show in their native Canada in the popular sketch, will reunite at Second City, with the duo delivering a live version of their Great White North talk show onstage.
The July 18th benefit will also feature Martin Short, as Jiminy Glick, interviewing a surprise guest, plus appearances by SCTV and SNL vets like Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy. Three members of the Kids in the Hall will also perform.
The concert will raise funds for Thomas’ nephew, who was paralyzed from the waist down following a January 2017 snowmobile accident.
Thomas told the Toronto Star, “Of course, I’m excited to be working with Rick Moranis again, and doing something with Dan Aykroyd and Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, and The Kids in the Hall … but under the circumstances it would be so much better if it (the accident) hadn’t happened and we didn’t have to do this.”
Moranis and Thomas’ McKenzie brothers appeared both on SCTV and Saturday Night Live, as well as the 1983 film Strange Brew. They last appeared together in the 2007 CBC documentary Bob & Dave McKenzie’s Two-Four Anniversary, which came midway through Moranis’ long hiatus from acting roles.
Following the death of Moranis’ wife to breast cancer in 1997, the actor left Hollywood to raise his children out of the spotlight. While the actor continued to do voice work in animated features, he hasn’t appeared on screen in a film since 1996’s Big Bully.
“I took a break, which turned into a longer break,” Moranis said in a 2015 interview where the actor talked about turning down a role in the Ghostbusters reboot.
“But I’m interested in anything that I would find interesting. I still get the occasional query about a film or television role and as soon as one comes along that piques my interest, I’ll probably do it.”