Background and career
Kenneth Joel Hotz (born May 3, 1967) is a Canadian comedy writer, filmmaker, entertainer and television personality. He is best known as co-star of the former reality comedy show Kenny vs. Spenny (2003–2010) alongside Spencer Rice. Hotz is the creator of the FX series Testees, and Kenny Hotz's Triumph of the Will. Between 2004 and 2006, he served as a staff writer (and later occasional writer) for South Park. Hotz has directed a number of films, including Pitch, It Don't Cost Nothin' to Say Good Morning, The Papal Chase and Subscribe. He also co-directed the music video for the song "Monophobia" by Deadmau5. Hotz is a regular contributor for Vice Media and began his career as a war correspondent and photojournalist during the Gulf War.
Hotz was born to a Jewish family and as a child attended the United Synagogue Day School, later graduating from Forest Hill Collegiate Institute. In 1992, Hotz graduated from the Media Arts program at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. Hotz met Spencer Rice in high school, and the pair later went on to direct films together and create Kenny vs Spenny. As a teenager and young adult, Hotz dealt cannabis.
Hotz began as a documentary filmmaker and news photographer, creating photo essays on subjects including Auschwitz, Dachau, and the Gulf War. Hotz was the only registered Canadian photo-journalist to cover the Gulf War. His additional photo essays also include Needle Park in Zürich, Switzerland, David Koresh, Mount Carmel, Romanian orphanages after Nicolae Ceauşescu and New Year's Eve 2000 in Times Square. Both national and provincial archives have purchased his work for their collections.
Hotz and Spencer Rice created the 18-minute short film It Don't Cost Nothin' to Say Good Morning. In 1996, Hotz created and starred (with Rice) in the documentary Pitch which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1997. The film had numerous cameos including Al Pacino, Samuel Z. Arkoff and Neil Simon. In 1997, he co-wrote an episode of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation with Rice, titled Truce or Consequences. In 1999, Hotz moved with his long-time writing partner Rice to Los Angeles, where they worked on the development of the show Kenny vs. Spenny.
Hotz starred in his second feature film titled The Papal Chase, a documentary about Hotz trying to meet the Pope John Paul II, released in 2004. The film received the Phillip Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2004 Whistler Film Festival, and in 2005 won the People's Choice Award for Best Canadian Feature at the Canadian Filmmakers Festival and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Brooklyn International Film Festival.
Kenny vs. Spenny was first aired on CBC Television in 2003 and went on to be nominated for eight Gemini awards. The original pilot had been commissioned by USA Network, but never aired before the show was picked up by the CBC for 26 episodes. The series centred on Hotz and friend Spencer Rice as they competed against each other in competitions, the loser of which would perform a "humiliation". The show was embroiled in a deliberate controversy with the British Columbia Human Rights Commission for Hotz's actions in the episode Who Can Piss Off More People, where he paid to have a plane fly over Toronto dragging a banner that reads "Jesus Sucks". Though he claimed his friend Jesus was getting married and it was not directed towards a religion. The show moved from CBC to Showcase television in Canada after the nationally run CBC censored two episodes of Kenny vs. Spenny, refusing to air them on their network.
