The Whitest Kids U' Know is an American sketch comedy troupe and television program of the same name. The group consists of Trevor Moore, Sam Brown, Zach Cregger, Timmy Williams and Darren Trumeter, though other actors occasionally appear in their sketches. They were accepted into the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2006 and won the award for Best Sketch Group.
The Whitest Kids began in 2000 when Trevor Moore, a young comedian from Charlottesville, Virginia, transferred to New York's School of Visual Arts film program. Moore previously produced a local TV sketch-comedy show back in Virginia titled The Trevor Moore Show, but it was later canceled due to offensive content. Moore decided to start a comedy troupe with the eventual goal of replicating his earlier success on a national level.
After making the rounds at local New York City comedy clubs, he eventually met fellow SVA film student Sam Brown from Massachusetts and SVA Graphic Design student/actor Zach Cregger, also from Virginia. By chance, all three lived in the same dormitory. According to an IFC interview, Trevor Moore says that the group's name originated during a freestyle rapping session on a subway, when one of their friends said, "You guys are the whitest kids I know."
The troupe started off as an officially sanctioned club at School of Visual Arts. During the early years WKUK included Jon Kovel, Oliver Lyons, Anthony Mair, and Tina Tiongson. Timmy Williams also joined in late 2001 and was the only member at the time who did not attend SVA. Unofficially, however, the core trio of Moore, Brown, and Cregger tried to keep the group as lean as possible.
At its peak, the group had ten members, but a large percentage of the sketches were written by one of these three.[citation needed] In the audio commentary for the first season of the show, though, Trevor Moore mentions the existence of 12 members in the troupe at one point prior to initial negotiations with various cable channels (Sundance being the first) to air the program.
The Whitest Kids U' Know held near-monthly free shows at SVA's amphitheater, which would frequently fill to capacity. Finally, in 2003, as Moore approached graduation, the group separated officially from the school, and all but Moore, Brown, Cregger and Williams left the troupe. Darren Trumeter, an actor and filmmaker who had worked previously with Cregger, was then added that same year.
Starting in 2003, the reinvented troupe started touring the various comedy venues in New York City, concluding in early 2005 with a well-attended show at Caroline's, a famous stand-up comedy club in Times Square. In 2005, the Whitest Kids began working with noted comedy producer Jim Biederman.
In early 2006, Biederman and the Whitest Kids sold the show to the Fuse network, after the Whitest Kids won the Best Sketch Group award at the Aspen Comedy Festival. Production of the first season took place in New York City, during the summer of 2006. The first season of the Whitest Kids U Know premiered in March 2007. It was an instant hit for Fuse, and the show was picked up for a second season immediately. However, due to what some at Fuse felt was the sometimes extreme nature of the group's comedy, the second season order came with limitations on content.
The group considered walking away from the pick up order, due to the new content restrictions. Then former head of Fuse programming, Jennifer Caserta, had recently left to become the General Manager of the IFC network, and brought the Whitest Kids along with her to IFC. At the time, Fuse and IFC were both part of Rainbow Media and Rainbow Media executives felt that the Whitest Kids program was more appropriate for IFC, than Fuse, and approved the switch.
On July 12, 2007, Trevor Moore posted a message on the Whitest Kids U' Know's official website stating that the second season of the Whitest Kids TV show would move to the Independent Film Channel (IFC). According to Moore, they were excited about the channel switch because it allowed for no commercial breaks, with vulgarities and obscene content uncensored. However, when IFC began airing commercials during their programming on December 8, 2010, the show was censored at certain times of day, (including removing stronger sexual language such as "fuck" and censoring any nudity), despite promises that it would remain unedited.
Shooting for season two of the show started on August 13, 2007, and debuted on IFC on February 10, 2008.
The season one DVD was released on February 5, 2008. It was stated several times on the show that the season will be first released uncensored on DVD. However, IFC started to air uncensored episodes of season one just two months before the DVD release.
The tenth episode of season two was broadcast live on IFC. The sketches performed on stage were based on their stage shows.
The third season, which premiered on IFC on January 27, 2009 in the 10 PM time slot, comprised ten 30 minute episodes as well as twenty and fifteen minute episodes. Both formats played on IFC.
The fourth season premiered on June 11, 2010 on IFC, continuing with the 10/30 minute and 20/15 minute episode formats.
The fifth season premiered on April 15, 2011, and was the final season of the show. The format of 10 half-hour episodes remains, with each episode ending with a segment of The Civil War on Drugs, a full-length film starring Whitest Kids troupe members reimagining the American Civil War as a war on drugs.
Confirmed by Trevor Moore and Timmy Williams, the Whitest Kids troupe are currently writing a new movie which will be an actual WKUK movie.
