Answer: Spenny, because this is the weirdest picture I could find.
Kenny vs. Spenny is a weird show. The fact that it exists is kind of infuriating, because anyone could do it. It makes me mad that a friend and I didn’t and make some money of this thing. In case you missed its run, the show pitted Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice, two roommates living in a house together in Toronto, in competitions. These challenges ranged from ridiculous to insane, and they were normally endurance based. Some examples are who can smoke more weed, who can get further with the other’s mom, or who can stay naked the longest. Ridiculous. Anyways they would compete until they succeeded or the other conceded, and the winner was allowed to humiliate the loser however they saw fit.
Now, before I talk about this, I have to say I think this show is full of crap most of the time. Kenny has answered the many criticisms and insists that the show is completely real and not scripted. I for one must say I don’t believe him. Despite mine and many others belief that this is about as real as The Real World, the show did very well. It started out on CBC in Canada, and eventually was seen in the Netherlands, the United States, Australia, South Africa, Portugal and Switzerland. It has also received nominations in the Gemini Awards for best Canadian comedy series and has received a Rose d’Or nomination in Switzerland for “best international comedy series.” Kenny battled Spenny for the last time on December 23, 2010 in an hour long Christmas special where Spenny got one his few wins.
I also have to say, this show spawned what seem like some great TV. Maybe it’s not too late for me to cash in. The U.K. now has Ed vs. Spencer, Turkey has Cenk vs. Erdem, Elton vs. Simon is on in Germany, and Katja vs. Bridget and Dennis vs. Valerio in the Netherlands. I don’t know about all of you, but that Cenk sounds like a real bastard to me.
The real crux of the show, other than of course the competitions, is how different the two friends are. It’s your classic comedy team. The charismatic and scheming one and the straight man. Essentially the audience is treated to Kenny cheating and being a total prick to his best friend in order to win a bet. Spenny, despite being pushed and pushed, only cheated once throughout the 7 year run of the show, which is why I always rooted for Spenny to straight up murder Kenny. It was inhumane sometimes what he would do, and I wanted him to lose. Other than Joey on Full House, Kenny is television’s ultimate villain.
No one that hairy can be trusted.
That is of course, unless the show is a load. You didn’t think I was going to leave that alone did you? Yes? Well you’re wrong! I have watched a lot of this show mainly because the only two people I know who have ever talked about this show are obsessed with it. I was introduced to it when the guys that made South Park used some stroke, became producers and brought it to Comedy Central. I was excited having heard so much, and I was disappointed. I didn’t like the show mainly because it was just boring a lot of the time, Kenny is a douche and I thought it was fake. I hate to be so blunt, but that was my knee jerk reaction. It grew on me, but the fake part still clouds my judgment.
The reality of it all in question, I went back and watched some of the earlier stuff, which I think was more likely real. The first season had some fun competitions, and the methods used to accomplish victory made the show fun. From the out start, Kenny sucked. The pilot episode had each man see who could gain the most weight. Kenny switched Spenny’s protein shake powder with weight loss stuff. On top of that, he filled it with laxatives. Kenny won by being a jerk and cheating. The first season had some awesome competitions, and the simplicity is what made them fun for me. They saw who could stay up the longest, Kenny won. They saw who could stand up the longest, Kenny won. Who can stay blindfolded the longest, Kenny won. They wanted to see who could stay in the forest the longer, who cannot use their arms the longest, and who can live in a van the longest. It was just something new and fun to watch.
See? New and clean fun.
I have to sidebar to vent about Kenny more. Did you notice a pattern of him winning? He won 58 of the challenges, lost 23 and they tied 5 times. Let’s see how Kenny won the ones listed above. Staying up the longest Kenny won by drinking a ton of coffee, so that’s legit. For standing up, Kenny put itching powder on Spenny and made him move, the forest episode ended in a fight because Kenny sucks. Kenny made Spenny find a blindfold so he’d take his off thinking he won.
The show where they could not use their arms though takes the cake for him being a cheater and is one of the main reasons I think the show is fake. In this episode Kenny strapped a small man to his chest, and this man acted as his hands. He then had the man threaten to throw Spenny’s prized guitar off a building to make him catch it. Spenny should have beaten Kenny to death with the midget if that was real.
He shouldn't take it.
After season one is when I start to check out on being interested. It all just gets more ridiculous and fake seeming. You can only have so many of these ideas before it gets to be too much. They try to sell more bibles than the other; they see who can wear a dead octopus the longest, who can lift more weight with their testicles or the real kicker, who can 69 the longest, where they were tied to each other.
What did I say about good and clean fun?
The humiliations were a big part of this show, as it was normally Spenny having to be tortured or something. I was normally disappointed by most of them, so forget talking about them, sans one. The competition was to see who could have the most sex. Spenny stuck with one girl and screwed around with her the most. Kenny seemingly lost. Turns out, before his humiliation began, Kenny revealed that he hired a post op tranny to lay Spenny, meaning it was a guy and none of the points counted. Yeah, I believe that’s real Ken. This episode and show are a lot alike, started off with potential, got interesting, then spiraled into a mess of convoluted plans and outlandish “real” situations. Sorry for beating that dead horse, but I’m trying to get an hour long special against Kenny and Spenny to see how long we can talk about something lame. I think I just won.
Looks like me too.
Pictures and Info thanks to: sharetv.org, tvguide.com, rottentomatoes.com, wikipedia.org, showcase.ca, tvtanline.blogspot, and facebook.com.