Comedic Daredevil Conversations (INTERVIEW)

This Kenny Hotz interview is both blunt and hilarious. While you may know him as one half of the goofballs behind the super popular and raunchy comedy series Kenny vs. Spenny, Hotz has a lot of thoughts about the state of the world and the defining moments of life. Hotz was gracious enough to share those thoughts with Trend Hunter with an exclusive interview at his home.

Kenny Hotz: F***ing Pizza Pocket commercials make me f***ing throw something into the TV. Hi, I'm Kenny Hotz, and you're watching Trend F***** TV. Oh wait, it's Trend Hunter. Trend Hunter TV.

Trend Hunter: What are the big trends you see now?

Hotz: I think that a big trend is pouring kerosene on bums, lighting them on fire and dancing around them. What do I see as the biggest trends? Sticking to media, I think internationally it's all going to digital. People are going to have to embrace the reality that everything gets stolen. I think the trends are reflective of the trends of the 13th century. You know, 'Oh my god, what's this thing called soap? Lets use it on our bums!' Now it's 'Oh my god, what's this? It's Keele's shaving cream, let's use it on our face!' I think we just want to eat, f*** and sleep. Everything is reflective of that. Trends are reflective of what allows us to f*** more, eat more and sleep better. We're just human beings and that's basically it.

TH: What are some defining moments in your life?

Hotz: I've had a lot of defining moments in my life. I've got these weird Forrest Gump moments. Everything from chopping off my finger when I was four years old, which taught me to not stick your f***ing finger in s***. I went to the Gulf War when I was 20, 24. Did stuff like that. I watched kids jump out of buildings and die. S****y, weird crazy s***. My first girlfriend turned out to be Joni Mitchell's long lost daughter. So I went to live with auntie Joni for a little while. Just weird, being some little s*** in Toronto, next thing you know, you're living between Liz Taylor and Lionel Ritchie for a week. So, weird things have happened.

TH: How do you stay cutting edge?

Hotz: Anything is cutting edge if its unique, it's good and has an audience. Maybe it doesn't even need an audience. My stuff comes from wanting to do something that's never been done before. The last show I did, 'The Triumph of the Will,' is really just 60 minutes on acid. No one has ever really done a funny 60 minutes with that sort of crazy s***. Be careful what you wish for. I created a show where I had to torture myself every single week. I loved it more than anything, but it was hell on earth. Looking back, I can't believe I was actually stupid enough to do something that amazing.

TH: How do you define cool?

Hotz: How do I define cool? I think being cool is doing whatever you want and living your dream while just being happy and enjoying your life. I think the older I get, the more Oprah-fried I become. Watching Oprah's life classic, that's how f***ed up I am. Now, it's like everyone is making so much sense. Live in the now, be happy, ditch all the f***ing idiots in your life. I swear, I'm becoming so mellow and cool, I have no idea what happened. Must be too much mercury in the drinking water.

TH: What's a current Canadian trend you see?

Hotz: I know there's a trend for all these sketch comedy people, and I know Canada embraces sketch comedy. To me sketch comedy means improv, which means we didn't write anything. They get on stage with nothing prepared, people scream out stuff like Mississippi and a butcher. Then they make something. Why don't you guys write something? Write something and do something great. We know what's good and what's s***. People doing stuff because they're artists and they want it to be great is usually good. People doing stuff just to make money is usually s***.

TH: How do you use social media?

Hotz: How have I built up my social network? Before there were blogs and that sort of thing, I was on IMDB, talking about Kenny vs. Spenny episodes, finding out what people liked and didn't like. I would change my content according to what my fans were watching at the time. We didn't have many fans back then.

TH: What do you think makes a trend go viral?

Hotz: No one can really characterize that one thing that allows something to radiate and become a meme or whatever. I think that's good, because if you had the equation of what made things viral, then everything would be viral. Maybe that would be good.

TH: Do you have any advice for other artists?

Hotz: I really do think work equals quality. It's like cooking. The smaller you cut the vegetables, the better your salad is. The more effort you put into cooking, the better the food tastes. If you're going to walk 50 miles, go to a farm, for a Mennonite chicken, it's going to be delicious. If you walk to the corner store for some s****y frozen chicken, it's going to suck. It's the same concept that embraces all of society.

TH: Is there anything you'd like to add?

Hotz: I think just to wrap it up, we should all die together. Check out Trend Hunter for the hottest trends.