[citation needed] The Rivoli sign, seen outside the club on Queen Street West, features the handwriting of musician Mary Margaret O'Hara.
[5] The group would soon be joined by Frank van Keeken, Norm Hiscock, Garry Campbell, Toronto actor Scott Thompson, as well as Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney who had moved from Alberta.
[5][6] By 1984, the troupe found its core five on-stage players—Foley, McDonald, Thompson, McCulloch, and McKinney—who began performing a lot more frequently at the Rivoli as part of comedian Briane Nasimok's comedy night showcase on Mondays, eventually taking it over for themselves.
[5] On McCulloch's insistence, the group decided to do a fresh stage show every week at the venue—getting together on Fridays after finishing their full-time day jobs and coming up with an hour worth of material by Monday night.
[5] To that end, during spring 1985, the Kids decided to temporarily break with their new-material-every-week practice by doing a 'best of' week, which they were accommodated for by the Rivoli owners that in addition to Monday, also allowed them to perform on the more coveted Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
[10] Within a few months, the Kids would be noticed by the Saturday Night Live scouts and its co-creator and returning producer Lorne Michaels, an established Toronto-raised show business insider who, following an audition that also took place at the Rivoli, proceeded to hire McCulloch and McKinney as writers for SNL's 1985-86 season.
[9][10] Three years later, in fall 1988, he put the entire troupe on television as a 25-minute sketch show pilot on CBC in Canada and HBO in the United States, leading to it being picked up as a series in 1989 by both networks.
[13][14] In May 2022, on the occasion of The Kids in the Hall television show returning after 27 years, the Rivoli unveiled a plaque honouring the troupe and recognizing its association with the venue.