Buddy Cole (fiction)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Butturick Cole, popularly known as Buddy Cole, is a fictional character created and portrayed by actor-comedian Scott Thompson. He is an effeminate, homosexual socialite, made famous on The Kids in the Hall, a popular Canadian sketch comedy series and troupe of the same name.
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[edit] Personality
Buddy has a penchant for going on long, comedic rants about his personal life and the gay community. He also frequently drops celebrity names, insinuating that he has many close friendships with the rich and famous. A series of Kids in the Hall sketches portrayed his deeply personal relationship with Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family.
During the second season of The Kids in the Hall, Buddy began to star in more action-packed sketches. In the first such appearance, he becomes the substitute coach of an angry lesbian softball team. 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. Still, for the most part, Buddy delivers monologues from his very own gay bar, Buddy's, which he purchased with money saved during a brief stint of not smoking cigarettes.
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 an old firefighter boyfriend. Also in the last sketch is a childhood photo of Kurt Cobain, sitting on the bar.
Thompson has described Buddy as a "butch queen" and an "alpha fag", pointing out that while extremely effeminate, Buddy is also very forceful and strong willed. Still, some have perceived him as a harmful homosexual stereotype. Thompson, who is openly gay, has always directly confronted such charges. "The whole idea of Buddy Cole being considered a terrible stereotype and a terrible throwback is, I think, just tragic." he told Orlando Weekly in 2000, "I mean, most gay men are more Buddy than Sly."
[edit] Memorable Quotes
- "Now I may have been born yesterday, but I still went shopping!"
- "Andrew Dice Clay is NOT the new Lenny Bruce. I am!"
- "[Andrew Dice Clay] and Eddie Murphy are just pissed off because they give off such a faggy vibe. I'm not saying they're gay. I'm just saying they sure smell like rough trade to me. And the saddest thing of all is, I'd still like to have sex with both of them."
- "I just don't think marriage works for anybody, except maybe lesbians. We're faggots, the world hates us, why ruin a good thing?"
- "Americans know as much about Canadians as straights do about gays. Americans show up at the border with skiis in July, and straight people think that being gay is 'just a phase'. A very long phase."
- "I'll bet Richard Chamberlain had a couple of sleepless nights. Oh I'm not saying he's gay, I'm just saying I hope he has a good lover 'cause he's gonna need a lot of sex with a man to help him through this crisis. Good luck, Dick!"
- "Ma Cheri...oh, she'll hate that. She hates when I write in french. I usually correspond in fag, but it's incredible how often they're the same thing, n'est-ce pas."
- "I could always go back to the 'La Cage A Folles' revue, where I was known for my Beatrice Arthur. They called me a male impersonator."
- "People make fun of me because I lisp. Really. Such a lot of fuss over a few extra S's!"
- "I, however spoke French with a refined, Parisian accent which made people think I was a snob. Luckily I was; so I didn't mind."
- "And while you're at it do something about your hair it's threatening to become more interesting than you."
- "What are the odds? I can't believe it! Here I am stranded on a desert island and my only supplies are my favorite book- All About Rhoda by Peggy Hertz from Scholastic Press and my favorite album- Johnny Mathis and Denise Williams, "That's What Friends Are For". I always like to have an ex-lover's music around. Denise is good, too. And for companionship the one and only Oscar Wilde. Oscar, say something funny."
- "It reminds me of a line Oscar Wilde once stole from me: 'I may be lying in the gutter but I'm staring up at the stars honey!' The honey was mine."'
[edit] Continued Life
Following the conclusion of the television series in 1995, Buddy Cole made regular appearances in Scott Thompson's one-man stage show. Since 2000, Buddy has been one of many characters revived for The Kids in the Hall reunion tours.
In 1998, Thompson co-authored the book Buddy Babylon: The Autobiography of Buddy Cole, with Paul Bellini.
[edit] Buddy's
In early 2006, Breakthrough Entertainment, the producers of the series Atomic Betty and Paradise Falls, announced that an animated comedy series based on the character was in development. Buddy's is expected to air on CBC Television and the American LGBT channel here!.
