Kenny Vs. Spenny is a Canadian television show that ran for 8 years and 6 seasons, from 2002 to 2010. While it may be offensive to some viewers, most of the show is predicated on being offensive to almost everyone. It features Kenneth Hotz and Spencer Rice, two lifelong friends who challenge each other to absurd competitions.
Whoever loses the competition is subjected to a strange and mean-spirited punishment by the other. The format is simple enough, and it already seems like it could get into dicey territory quickly. But were there ever times where Kenny Vs. Spenny went too far? Absolutely! Let’s take a look at a few examples of times it’s aged pretty badly.
The Time Spenny Plastered His Wall With WWII Posters
During an episode in season 3, the first one actually, the challenge is to see who can go the longest without laughing. Pretty straightforward, not too much room to make a complete mockery out of serious issues right? Well no. While usually, Kenny is the one to make really distasteful jokes, but it’s unclear if Spenny’s method for preventing laughter is intended as a joke or not. Spenny decides to tape holocaust photos up on his wall, in the hope that constantly looking at them will keep him in a state of depression. He is Jewish, and so is Kenny, so maybe he meant to do this as a legitimate strategy, but Spenny’s moral grandstanding seems like it’s intended to be humorous.
The Time Kenny Hired A Male Stripper
This episode’s challenge is that the first one to become ahem… erect… loses. Kenny seems to have a knack for cheating, but the way he cheats in this episode definitely has him sinking pretty low. He begins razzing Spenny for being gay, (as dude-bros do) and when the last challenge happens, Spenny hires a female stripper and Kenny hires a male one for Spenny. Spenny loses. It seems like a cruel attempt at humiliation, and the use of homophobia as a prop for the show really doesn’t age well.
Blackface
In the episode “Who Do Black People Like More?” we see Kenny picking on Spenny for having had a black maid as a kid. Spenny claims that this doesn’t make him racist and that people need jobs no matter what color they are. Kenny then proceeds to paint himself, speak in an offensive accent, and impersonate Spenny’s childhood maid. Not only is this part of the episode way too far, but Spenny when spending the day with 3 black men, decides to make himself the victim of people’s perception of his whiteness. He isn’t actually trying to treat them as people so much as he begs them for forgiveness, which is also problematic.
Who Can Get Further With The Other’s Mom?
The whole premise of this episode already sets it up to get really cringe-worthy, really fast. Both of their moms know Kenny and Spenny, as they’re apparently two best friends who know each other. The issue happens when Kenny brings in a pig dressed in a wig and calls it by Spenny’s mom’s name, says all sorts of disgusting stuff about her, etc. Spenny decides that he’s going to lie about the premise of the episode and seduce Kenny’s mom. He ends up touching her in an unwanted manner, begging her to touch him in a way she’s not comfortable with, the whole thing ends up being a complete mess.
Who Do Disabled People Like More?
This is another one that can’t go anywhere but downhill immediately. Spenny decides to take a group of people with disabilities out for a day of activities, gets preachy in a way that doesn’t work and feels mostly disingenuine. Kenny’s whole plan is to treat them terribly and then get them confused about who’s who in hopes that they assume he’s Spenny. Not only that, but Spenny doesn’t do very well at making sure that his group is able to perform the activities that he takes them out to do.
Who Can Be Obese The Longest?
This episode is obviously destined to be full of body-shaming and jokes predicated on the misinformed view that obesity is a choice and not largely due to genetic factors rather than environmental ones in many cases.
The title itself also rudely assumes that being obese is in some way undesirable, looked down upon, and somehow “bad”. Kenny proceeds to get makeup applied and creates a supposedly comedic character out of obesity. Spenny uses the episode to again present himself as morally superior and preaches to us about the dangers of obesity.
Who Can Stay Homeless The Longest?
Kenny starts the episode by roasting Spenny as he usually does, and then Spenny claims that he wants to experience the real life of a homeless person. Not only does he say this, but then says that Kenny will probably enjoy it since he won’t have any responsibilities as if being homeless is a walk in the park. Spenny is obviously oblivious to the fact that he has the safety net of only being homeless for 3 days.
Who Do Gay Guys Like More?
The Episode starts with Kenny pretending to be gay, donning stereotypical and cartoonish gay attire, speaking in a lisp, and trying to convince the audience yet again that Spenny is in fact gay.
Kenny later annoys the judge so much that he leaves terribly offended in a taxi, and both Kenny and Spenny are subjected to the end-of-episode humiliation.
Who Is The Better Woman?
Drag is kind of a well-established part of gay culture and is distinct from being transgender, but tons of jokes are made in this episode that seem to completely disregard this fact. This is aside from the general misogyny that happens. It shouldn’t be surprising that an episode based on the old ‘joke’ of men in drag doesn’t exactly go down well.
Who Can Imitate The Other Guy Better?
This episode ends up being about 23 minutes of Kenny and Spenny completely exaggerating their caricatures of each other in pretty much the worst ways possible. Spenny, mocking Kenny starts talking about racial stereotypes and Kenny performs a song as Spenny about an alleged relationship between Spenny and his grandfather.
