Kel Knight

Kel Knight is a fictional character in the Australian television show Kath & Kim. He is the husband of Kath Day-Knight and is a passionate butcher. He is portrayed by the comic actor Glenn Robbins.

John Michael Higgins portrayed his equivalent (Philip "Phil" Lesley Knight) in the U.S. version of Kath & Kim,^[1] and his portrayal was highly criticized.

Personality

Kel comes across as an honest, respectable, reliable man who finds out he has many talents throughout the episodes.

Physical appearance and personal outlook

Kel takes pride in maintaining himself, however to not Kath's extent. He has greased down hair and wears pants which are too high for his body, often showing his socks. He exercises often, enjoying power walks and using the home gym.

Hobbies

Kel's main hobby is probably his job. He takes great pride in his butcher shop at Fountain Gate Shopping Centre, and also loves to cook. Together with Kath, Kel loves to exercise and do aerobics. He is a Sydney Swans supporter, much to the annoyance of Kath who supports Richmond Tigers. He is somewhat sexually ambiguous and is seen as a metrosexual.

Background

Kel is four months younger than Kath. He was very reluctant on the day of their (first invalid) marriage. Kel had previously had four of his past girlfriends/fiancées taken away from him, feeling he was unlucky in love and became drunk on the wedding day. He has always been a gourmet butcher.

Relationships

Kath

Kel's relationship with Kath is very good. They have odd traditions including their work-out time, which includes awkward stretching and power walking. The relationship has had limited difficulties on various occasions where Kath's ex-husband Gary Poole showed up and revealed that the marriage (Kath & Kel) was invalid as he and Kath were, in fact, still married since the 1970s. Also, Kath being older than Kel has created worry for herself. Kel likes to take over Kath's duties sometimes (as seen in Inside Out) which annoys her; as she likes to be in charge.

Kim

Kim Craig, Kel's step-daughter and Kath's daughter, is played by Gina Riley. From the beginning of the series, Kim had an instant dislike of Kel, due to the fact that Kath and Kim had each other all of their lives without a father/husband figure in place. Kim and Kel rarely interact, and when they do, the mood goes "off" and the scene is completely awkward, with one muttering a single word to the other and the other either walking away or trying to give out a grin. Kel is now the focus of Kath' attention which annoys Kim who likes to always be the centre of attention wherever she goes. Kel often tries to express his opinion of Kim to Kath, who does not always agree with what is said.

Romantic life

Before Kel met Kath, he had a bad history with women. Every person he came close to marrying was always snatched away from him by somebody else, which raised doubt to his mind before his marriage to Kath.

Information

Short story lines

Throughout the series, Kel's storylines include taking over as the lady of the house which annoys Kath, the lead up to his marriage to Kath, entering a midlife crisis and having 'mock angina' leading to a 99% fat free obsession. In "Da Kath and Kim Code", Kel develops a strong dislike of Michael Bublé, as Kath has a crush on him and Kel does not approve. Kel is a Sydney Swans supporter in the Australian Football League, something Kath was not aware of until they were married.

Quirks, personality traits and features

Kel wears a combover hairstyle kept in place with Brylcreem and is never without one of his manbags. Kel is often seen wearing a pair of shorts, way above the kneeline, when he is powerwalking. One of Kel's many interests is books and he seems to have a soft spot for the South African author Bryce Courtenay. This is evident in many episodes. For example, in episode 3, failing to make communication with the other butchers at a butchers' convention, he pulls out the book The Power of One. In episode 4, he mentions the author twice: Kath is reading the Anti Candida diet book, and Kel mentions Bryce Courtenay, although Courtenay did not actually write the book (far from his genre). Later on, Kel complains of Kath participating in the musical The Hours. Kath recommends he joins the play, which he does, due to them having busy schedules, looking for some time to spend together. Kath explains to Kel that it was a book/movie adaptation to which Kel responds, "That was that Bryce Courtenay book, wasn't it?". However, Bryce did not write this book either. In series 4, when Kath, Kim, Kel and Brett were playing Trivial Pursuit, Kath asked Kel who wrote Captain Underpants and he replied Bryce Courtenay.

See also

Other characters

• Kim Craig
• Kath Day-Knight
• Sharon Strzelecki
• Brett Craig

References