''Kenny vs. Spenny'' is a Canadian
reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, re ...
comedy television series starring
Kenny Hotz
Kenneth Joel Hotz (born May 3, 1967) is a Canadian comedy writer, producer, entertainer and television personality. He is best known as the star of the reality comedy show '' Kenny vs. Spenny'' alongside Spencer Rice. Hotz is the creator of the ...
and
Spencer Rice, where they face against each other in competitions. The loser of each episode performs an act of humiliation, usually selected by the winner. Hotz and Rice created the series in addition to serving as executive producers, and it was typically shot in their hometown of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
(the pilot was filmed in Los Angeles), based mostly out of the house they shared. As of November 2008, the show airs on
CBC,
Global
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
and
Showcase in Canada,
Comedy Central in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands,
The Comedy Channel
The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020.
History
A joint venture between Artist Serv ...
in Australia,
Animax and later, Sony MAX, in South Africa,
Italia 2
Mediaset Italia Due, commonly known as Italia 2 (pronounced ''Italia Due'' ), is an Italian television channel, operated by Mediaset and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was founded, and started to broadcast, in 2011.
Italia 2 currently broadcas ...
in Italy,
FX in Portugal, on
Jim in Finland. The series concluded with an hour-long Christmas special that aired on December 23, 2010, at 9 pm ET/PT on
Showcase. It aired in Latin America on
Sony Spin for a short time.
The series was nominated for the
Canadian Comedy Awards in 2010 and 2011 and for
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...
s 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
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fre ...
version called ''Frank vs Girard'' that airs on
VRAK.TV
Vrak (stylized as VRΔK) is a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel primarily broadcasts live-action programming aimed at youth audiences.
History Background
The youth channel TVJQ () went on the air in 19 ...
. Also following the format are ''
Ed vs. Spencer'' in the United Kingdom, ''Juan vs. Roman'' in Colombia, ''
Elton vs. Simon
''Elton vs. Simon'' is a German remake of the Canadian reality comedy show Kenny vs. Spenny.
Plot
Like Kenny
Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names.
In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation ...
'' in Germany, ''Katja vs. Bridget'', ''Dennis vs. Valerio'' in the Netherlands, and ''Sid vs. Varun'' in India. In 2009 the show was named #8 among the top 10 Canadian television shows of the decade.
Premise
Kenneth "Kenny" Joel Hotz and Spencer "Spenny" Nolan Rice are lifelong friends who compete against each other in a series of competitions. The loser of each competition must suffer a humiliation chosen by the winner.
The show's comedy depended on the polarizing personalities of Hotz and Rice, who are respectively extroverted and neurotic. Hotz embraced devious tactics during the show and often cheated, found loopholes in the rules for a competition, and intimidated Rice with insults, elaborate schemes and manipulation.
In contrast, Rice rarely cheated and tried to compete honestly. He felt he could retain some dignity if he promoted awareness of social or political causes, such as promoting awareness of
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
during "Who Can 69 The Longest?" or
Irritable bowel syndrome
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a "disorder of gut-brain interaction" characterized by a group of symptoms that commonly include abdominal pain and or abdominal bloating and changes in the consistency of bowel movements. These symptoms may ...
during "Who Can Keep a Dump in their Pants the Longest?"
However, Hotz's strategies and jokes made Rice increasingly paranoid and short-tempered towards Hotz and the production crew as the show progressed.
Common strategies used by Hotz and Rice
Cheating
Hotz cheated during 27 out of 56 of his victories, while Rice cheated during five of his 27 victories. In some cases, both Rice and Hotz were helped by their production crew, families and friends in their attempts to cheat. While Rice would cheat out of desperation, Hotz justified his cheating by arguing the loser is ultimately whoever does a humiliation.
Insults
Hotz regularly tried to make Rice annoyed during competitions so he would lose focus. Hotz regularly joked that Rice was a violent and emotionally disturbed man with a
micropenis
Micropenis is an unusually small penis. A common criterion is a dorsal (measured on top) penile length of at least 2.5 standard deviations smaller than the mean human penis size (stretched penile length less than 9.3 cm (3.67 in) in adults ...
; that he engaged in
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
,
pedophilia
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty ...
,
necrophilia
Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction towards or a sexual act involving corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its ...
,
zoophilia
Zoophilia is a paraphilia involving a sexual fixation on non-human animals. Bestiality is cross-species sexual activity between humans and non-human animals. The terms are often used interchangeably, but some researchers make a distinction b ...
, and
incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity ( marriage or stepfamily), ado ...
; and that he was
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
, an
anti-Semite
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and related to
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
.
Rice's family were also often the victims of Hotz's insults and jokes. Hotz regularly joked about having sex with Rice's mother and accused her of being
sexually promiscuous
Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by ma ...
and
morbidly obese. In "Who Can Imitate the Other Guy Better?" Hotz—while pretending to be Rice—performed a song about being sexually abused as a child by Rice's grandfather.
Deception and intimidation
Hotz's main tactic was to deceive Rice and make him become angry or upset. In "Who Is Funnier?" Hotz drafted a letter from Ontario's
health ministry
A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...
that Rice had recently had sexual intercourse with someone who had tested positive for
HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
. Rice was too upset to complete his stand-up comedy routine at a Toronto
Yuk Yuk's. Hotz used the prank as his entry. Rice was poisoned with
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) during “Who Can Wear A Dead Octopus On Their Head The Longest?”
Hotz sometimes invented comedic characters and dressed in costumes to entertain the viewers and crew while antagonizing Rice. As an example, Hotz harassed Rice as "Silencio," and wore a white jumpsuit and
Lucha libre
Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...
-style mask in "Who Can Stay Blindfolded The Longest?"
Rice often lost competitions because his paranoia made him sabotage his own efforts. In "Who Can Kiss More Women?" Rice believed Hotz was spying on him after a woman who recognized Rice from the show started helping him. Hotz said he did not know who the woman was. During "Who Can Blow the Biggest
Fart?" Hotz made a
chili filled with an
antiflatulent. Hotz filled his
anus
The anus (Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, the residual semi-solid waste that remains after food digestion, which, ...
with air using a bicycle tire pump and made it appear like he had bigger farts. Rice ate some of the chilli and was unable to fart for the rest of the competition.
Use of family and friends
Hotz often recruited his family to help with his campaigns against Rice. His mother, Tzafi, was in 18 episodes and frequently helped her son. In "Who Can Win a Ten Mile Race?" Tzafi agreed to pretend to have died during filming of the episode after pretending to be sick. Hotz gave Rice a fake funeral time in the hopes Rice would not have enough time to win.
In "Who Can Dance the Longest?" Tzafi let Hotz hide in her home as Rice searched the house for him. In the same episode, his sister demanded payment from Rice in exchange for any information on Hotz's whereabouts and Hotz's brother refused to help.
Rice's family also appeared in the show. In "First One to Talk Loses," Hotz invited Rice's cousin to the house where they filmed for a date. Hotz hoped Rice would speak out in anger, but instead heard Hotz asking her "please?" when he tried kissing her. She returned to help Rice in "First Guy to Get a
Boner Loses" and performed a
striptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exo ...
for Hotz. This failed because Hotz had asked his brother—who is a physician in Toronto—for a nerve block to temporarily stop erections.
In "Who Can Get Further With The Other Guy's Mom?" Rice took his robe off in front of Tzafi after he attempted to kiss her. Hotz got Rice's mother drunk and said he "could not legally say what happened," but smelled his finger and made a disgusted face to suggest he touched her genitals.
Friends and mutual friends were often used by both Rice and Hotz to help with plans or unnerve their opponent. Hotz regularly met with Hwang Goldfield, a practitioner of
alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and al ...
in Toronto’s
Koreatown
A Koreatown ( Korean: 코리아타운), also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula.
History
Koreatowns as an East Asian ethnic enclave have ...
neighbourhood, for supplements and advice. The two had a falling out after Hotz tampered with products in the store and joked that Goldfield planned the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
.
Involvement of the production crew
Both Hotz and Rice had their production crews get props and equipment, and get involved with strategies. Rice has admitted in interviews following the show’s end he agreed to let Hotz and the crew conspire against him in exchange for deciding each competitions rules.
Soundman Brendan Michie and unit co-ordinator Jamie Tiernay were frequent production crew members who helped Hotz. Michie used his skills as a pianist, guitarist and saxophone player to compose songs for Hotz. Tiernay was often an active participant in Hotz’s plans. In "Who Can Wear a Gorilla Suit the Longest?" Tiernay and Tzafi wore gorilla costumes to confuse Rice.
Rice regularly relied on his unit co-ordinator, Donny Rose, to help brainstorm strategies, stop Hotz from cheating, or foil Hotz's attempts to make Rice lose. Hotz fired Rose after two seasons because he felt he was giving too much help to Rice. During "First One to Talk Loses," Hotz reprimanded Rose for helping Rice become unglued from a dresser.
Rice also had production assistant Brian Peco and unit co-ordinator Kevin Morgan help with his plans and offer feedback. In "Who Can Make the Best
Viral Video
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander H ...
?" Rice's crew encouraged him to drink his own urine and post it online.
The crew were often used to disrupt competitions, act as judges and settle disputes over rules. During "Who Can 69 The Longest?" the crew got bored because Hotz and Rice had spent much of the start of the competition on a couch. The production crew and other people physically abused Hotz and Rice. The abuse ended when Rice quit after the two were sprayed with a fire hose from the
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...
fire department.
In cases where both Rice and Hotz failed to win a competition, the crew chose a double humiliation for them. Both Hotz and Rice had to take a nude bath together following "Who Can Smoke More Weed?" and make out with each other after "Who Can Survive in the Woods the Longest?" They also joined humiliations. After "Who Can Win a Cockfight?" Hotz made Rice smoke a joint made from the crew's body hair. The crew vomited on Rice after "Who's the Best Soldier?"
Production
![Kennyhotz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Kennyhotz.jpg)
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
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...
'', 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. Instrumental and electronic music is frequently used throughout episodes scored by Composer Richard Pell. ''
Ride of the Valkyries
The "Ride of the Valkyries" (german: Walkürenritt Ritt der Walküren, links=no) refers to the beginning of act 3 of '' Die Walküre'', the second of the four operas constituting Richard Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen''.
As a separate pie ...
'',
Ravel's ''
Boléro
''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. At least one observer has called it Ravel's most famous composition. It was also one of his last completed works before illness forced him into retirement.
Co ...
'',
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...
's ''
Montagues and Capulets'' and ''
Peter and the Wolf
''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и Bолк, r="Pétya i volk", p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk, links=no) Op. 67, a "symphonic fairy tale for children", is a musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a children's s ...
'',
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...
's ''
La gazza ladra
''La gazza ladra'' (, ''The Thieving Magpie'') is a ''melodramma'' or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Giovanni Gherardini based on ''La pie voleuse'' by Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caig ...
'',
Mozart's ''Symphony No. 40 in G minor – 4th Movement'', and music by Toronto electronica band
Holy Fuck
Holy Fuck is a Canadian electronica band from Toronto. They were a part of Dependent Music, a music label and artist collective that began in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 2004 until its closing. They were then a part of the Young Turks label and in ...
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. In the earlier seasons, the crew was shared between Kenny and Spenny. Crew members eventually split up into two teams, some joining Kenny's "side", and others joining Spenny's.
During the Industry Standard
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
, Kenny stated the series had a budget of 100,000 CAD per episode for the first season and 350,000 CAD per episode thereafter.
Broadcasting
During an interview with
Strombo, Kenny states that ''Kenny vs. Spenny'' was originally made for
MTV, where the duo was given $8,000 to develop a 3 minute pilot. However, MTV ultimately passed on the show for unknown reasons. He then states
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
gave them $40,000 to shoot a full 22 minute pilot, but pulled the plug while the pilot was still in production. Kenny and Spenny both decided to finish the pilot anyway and eventually brought it to
CBC Television where the show would first air.
Despite the claims made by Kenny, the DVD release of
''Pitch'' states that the pilot for ''Kenny vs. Spenny'' was actually picked up by Canada's
Life Network
Slice is a Canadian English language discretionary service channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts reality shows targeting young adult women, typically dealing in subjects such as fashion and lifestyles.
This cha ...
where the show was to go into production in 2001. This ultimately never happened. CBC cancelled the show after the first season, and
Showcase Television picked up the series in late 2005. The show has switched broadcasters and been cancelled many times, including by Showcase, and again by CBC, when one of its commercials aired by accident during the network's "toddler block".
Spenny has stated in multiple interviews that the main reason for CBC's cancelling of the show was because it aired right before
CBC News
CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca ...
, and news viewers tuning in early were offended by the show's humiliation segment.
It was produced by Breakthrough Films and Television since its inception. Re-runs of the first two seasons air on CBC late at night, and on CBC's
Bold station weekday afternoons. Re-runs also aired on Showcase, and episodes of the show have aired on
Shaw Media's
Action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
. The show has aired on
GSN in the United States. It is shown internationally on
TV 2 Zulu
TV 2 Zulu is a Danish television station and a sister channel to TV 2 Denmark. It is primarily aimed at viewers between 15 and 30 years of age.
TV2 Zulu has been noted for Danish comedy shows and programmes such as '' Langt fra Las Vegas'', '' ...
in Denmark,
Jim in Finland, the now defunct
ZTV Norway
ZTV Norway was a Norwegian entertainment television channel. Its programming consisted of music videos, movies and sitcoms.
The channel was launched in Norway for the first time in 1995. It was unsuccessful, however, and it closed down in 1996.
I ...
,
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
in Sweden,
FX (repeats on
Challenge) in the United Kingdom (no longer airing),
The Comedy Channel
The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020.
History
A joint venture between Artist Serv ...
in Australia,
FX in Portugal,
Comedy Central in Germany,
Italia 2
Mediaset Italia Due, commonly known as Italia 2 (pronounced ''Italia Due'' ), is an Italian television channel, operated by Mediaset and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was founded, and started to broadcast, in 2011.
Italia 2 currently broadcas ...
in Italy, Comedy Central in the Netherlands and The XtraHOT channel in Israel.
Fox Entertainment Group
Fox Entertainment Group was an American entertainment company specialised in filmed entertainment owned by 21st Century Fox. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the group's assets were folded into various Disney units. The ...
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 December 23, 2010, at 9 pm eastern time on Showcase.
DVD releases
Video Service Corp has released all six seasons of ''Kenny vs. Spenny'' on DVD in Region 1 (Canada only).
Beyond Home Entertainment
Beyond International Limited is an international television and film production company with operations in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (), the company is involved ...
has released the first three seasons on DVD in Region 4.
Streaming availability
Between November 7, 2012 and December 22, 2012, Hotz uploaded the series to his personal YouTube account. On January 22, 2016, Hotz took down the YouTube series (by setting the clips to private), as Rice objected to the episodes being available for free. Hotz stated in a tweet a few days later he was not happy with the removal.
In March 2018, all the videos were made available again on his channel. Following the
2020 protests over the murder of George Floyd, the two-part episode "Who Do Black Guys Like Better?" was privatized briefly by Hotz.
Hotz began re-uploading the series upscaled to 4K resolution in January 2022. These episodes were removed from the channel towards late March 2022, but re-uploaded later that summer. The episodes are also available on Breakthrough Entertainment's YouTube account.
Season 1 of the show is available on
CBC Gem
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
.
Statistics
The records and winning percentages vary depending on the definition of a win used by each competitor. The interpretation of what constitutes cheating also varies depending on the competition and may lead to some discrepancies in the statistics.
* If competitions where Kenny cheated (16) or arguably cheated (3) and won are not counted, the record would be -21-5 for Kenny; If they are counted as wins for Spenny (as Spenny suggests they should),
then Kenny and Spenny would be tied, each with a record of --5. Note though that Spenny cheated 8 times.
If the competition ends in a draw, there is either no humiliation, or a double humiliation. Although there have been exceptions to this rule.
Other media
Kenny vs. Spenny: Versusville
After the show first aired on
CBC, a game was released based on the first season called ''Kenny vs. Spenny: Versusville''. ''Versusville'' is a first-person shooter with 3D environments and 4 main game modes. It was released sometime between June and July 2004 on
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
and had online leaderboards and
online multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
functionality.
The game was considered
lost media Lost media are pieces of media that are nonexistent, missing, or unavailable to the general public. The term ''lost media'' primarily encompasses visual, audio, or audiovisual media such as films, television and radio broadcasts, music, and video ga ...
ever since 2006 when the television show ''Kenny vs. Spenny'' moved from the
CBC to
Showcase. However, on November 4, 2021, ''Versusville'' was found by Reddit archivists Ben, Carson, John, and Metalock and has since been made available on https://versusville.com/ with permission from
Kenny Hotz
Kenneth Joel Hotz (born May 3, 1967) is a Canadian comedy writer, producer, entertainer and television personality. He is best known as the star of the reality comedy show '' Kenny vs. Spenny'' alongside Spencer Rice. Hotz is the creator of the ...
, Ira Levy and Mark Greenshields.
Gameplay
''Kenny vs. Spenny: Versusville'' contains 4 main
game modes
In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-shap ...
, with each having a unique gameplay style and 3 of which having once supported
online multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
. Each game can be played from a
first-person or
third-person perspective.
*Residence Evil: A singleplayer-exclusive stealth game mode that originally acted as a tutorial, requiring the player to complete it in order to unlock the other 3 game modes. The map is a rough recreation of the house from Season One, where the player must open the vault without getting caught by Kenny or Spenny. Eventually a v2 was released, which no longer required the player to beat Residence Evil in order to unlock the other game modes.
*Wasteball: A multiplayer shooter where players would compete in slime-filled matches. The map is described as a disused building that has been transformed into a chemical waste paintball arena.
*Grave Rave: A multiplayer shooter where players must throw zombie parts in order to dispatch each other. The map is described as a late night cemetery filled with a gruesome array of weapons.
*Kart Dart: A multiplayer
racing game
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic ra ...
where players must complete a certain number of laps and end with the most points. The vehicles are a selection of different shopping carts, with 3 unique maps all based on food markets.
Awards
, -
! scope="row" , 2005
, ''Kenny vs. Spenny: Versusville''
, Canadian New Media Award's Excellence in Gaming
,
Other Appearances
A flash game was released in early 2004 called ''Kenny vs Spenny: Quest for the Family Jewels'' on
GSN's website.
Another flash game was released in 2008 called ''Kenny vs Spenny: Best Friends/Worst Enemies''. However, this game was only a demo for a larger mobile game of the same name. The full game is currently considered
lost media Lost media are pieces of media that are nonexistent, missing, or unavailable to the general public. The term ''lost media'' primarily encompasses visual, audio, or audiovisual media such as films, television and radio broadcasts, music, and video ga ...
.
Kenny Hotz
Kenneth Joel Hotz (born May 3, 1967) is a Canadian comedy writer, producer, entertainer and television personality. He is best known as the star of the reality comedy show '' Kenny vs. Spenny'' alongside Spencer Rice. Hotz is the creator of the ...
appears as a non-playable character in the 2014 video game
Goat Simulator
''Goat Simulator'' is a third-person perspective action video game developed and published by Coffee Stain Studios. It was released for Microsoft Windows in April 2014, and ports for Linux and OS X were released in June 2014. Mobile versions for ...
for Windows PC and the protagonist of the game is a playable goat named Pilgor who is modeled after Kenny's goat from the season 4 episode "Who Can Be Tied to a Goat the Longest?" Kenny also makes an appearance in
Journey to the Savage Planet through in-game commercials.
On January 2, 2023 Kenny Hotz posted a teaser of a new game to his Youtube channel, titled ''Super KvS''. The game is designed by developer Dark Pixel Studios, with no specified release date.
Revival attempts
Both Hotz and Rice have expressed interest in a film adaptation of ''Kenny vs. Spenny''. In a 2013 interview, Rice elaborated, "if it happens I don't think I will live through it but it will be good entertainment." Later on March 7, 2014, Hotz began the Facebook and Twitter campaign #BringBackKvS in an effort to encourage Netflix to commission a seventh season of the show. Netflix had recently resurrected the ''
Trailer Park Boys
''Trailer Park Boys'' is a Canadian mockumentary sitcom television series created by Mike Clattenburg that began airing in 2001 as a continuation of his 1999 film bearing the same name. The show follows the misadventures of a group of trailer p ...
'' series from its 2008 finale, and it was Hotz's intention to replicate this success. Between March and May 2014, Hotz and Rice embarked on a 13-city
Kenny vs. Spenny vs. Canada comedy tour, showing and discussing rare and unseen ''Kenny vs. Spenny'' footage that had been rejected by broadcasters. The tour was filmed for a
Kickstarter-funded film titled ''Kenny vs Spenny: On The Road'', however the campaign failed to meet its goal and the film was not released.
Hotz and Rice revisited their onscreen antics in the 2020
CBC Gem
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
special ''
Paldemic'', which directly referenced ''Kenny vs. Spenny'' and its effect on their friendship and careers in the years since. They jointly received a
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...
nomination for Best Host in a Web Program or Series at the
9th Canadian Screen Awards
The 9th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held in the week of May 17 to 20, 2021, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020.Barry Hertz, "How one Canadian arts institution is rebuilding amid the p ...
in 2021.
[Brent Furdyk]
"Television Nominees Announced For 2021 Canadian Screen Awards, 'Schitt's Creek' Leads The Pack With 21 Nominations"
''ET Canada
''ET Canada'' (previously referred to as ''Entertainment Tonight Canada'') is a Canadian entertainment news television series, using the same format as the American entertainment newsmagazine '' Entertainment Tonight''. ''ET Canada'' is a broadca ...
'', March 30, 2021.
References
External links
*
Dedicated section of show creator's website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenny Vs. Spenny
2002 Canadian television series debuts
2010 Canadian television series endings
CBC Television original programming
Showcase (Canadian TV channel) original programming
Television shows filmed in Toronto
Television series by Breakthrough Entertainment
Television series by Corus Entertainment
Television series by Entertainment One
2010s Canadian comedy television series
2000s Canadian comedy television series