He is an effeminate, gay socialite,[1] made famous on The Kids in the Hall, a popular Canadian sketch comedy series starring the troupe of the same name.
From there on, his adventures became more outrageous and surreal, from accidentally murdering a drag queen (while on a bad acid trip) to purchasing his very own male slave in the 1950s.
In the series' final episode, he is one in a handful of characters to get something of a resolution: Having lost his bar in a game of strip poker (he refused to remove his shirt having just put on ten pounds), he burns it down in order to win back his old boyfriend - "a firefighter from Buffalo".
He did appear in a sketch in the 2022 Amazon Prime revival of The Kids in the Hall, reminiscing about the changes in the gay village over the years as he walks down the street with a friend, before they unexpectedly come across the last remaining glory hole.
In February 2014, Thompson appeared in character as Buddy Cole on several episodes of The Colbert Report, serving as the program's correspondent to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
His coverage focused on Russia's anti-gay laws, including interviewing openly gay Ambassador Daniel Baer of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
[9] In 2022, he appeared Netflix's LGBTQ+ comedy special hosted by Billy Eichner Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration along with Bob the Drag Queen, Mae Martin, Margaret Cho, Trixie Mattel, Joel Kim Booster, Sam Jay, Tig Notaro, Gina Yashere, Matteo Lane, Eddie Izzard, Marsha Warfield, Patti Harrison, Guy Branum, Solomon Georgio, Judy Gold, Wanda Sykes, Lily Tomlin, and Sandra Bernhard.