Pitter patter, Letterkenny gets at’er in Kelowna
By David Wylie
So Letterkenny was in Kelowna the other day…
The buds from CraveTV’s hit show, Letterkenny, managed to pack the Kelowna Community Theatre with a noisy crowd of passionate fans during their April 4 visit to the Okanagan.
The popular television show is set in the fictional Ontario farming town of Letterkenny, which is loosely based on the hometown of the show’s creator and main character, Jared Keeso (Wayne).
Right from the start, Keeso had the crowd involved, bellowing in his folksy accent, “How are ya now?” The crowd replied on cue as one, “Good and you?”
Those who are familiar with the show will give a Texas-sized 10-4 to that greeting.
Letterkenny Live featured original sketches with the show’s three main stars — Keeso and his sidekicks, Nathan Dales (the dimwitted Daryl) and K Trevor Wilson (the large and lovable Dan). They sip beers on stage, Puppers brand of course, and shoot the breeze in classic Letterkenny style, which is always “inappropriates.”
No line was left uncrossed and no subject was too taboo during the 90-minute show.
The actors garnered favour with the audience by dropping local references throughout, including a sheepish admission by Wilson that he once “hoovered schneef” off the Ogopogo.
There was also stand-up comedy by Mark Forward, who plays the loudmouthed coach of the Letterkenny Irish hockey team. During his routine, he picked on audience members and broke the sad news to the crowd that their beloved dogs didn’t love them back and weren’t going to heaven.
After a few more skits and videos from the show, Wilson stepped out of character to deliver his own hilarious stand-up set, poking fun at Vancouver.
“I’ve never met a city with a bigger boner for its weather than Vancouver.”
Fittingly, the 26-city live tour wraps up at the Orpheum in Vancouver on April 5.
Letterkenny’s four seasons can be streamed on CraveTV.
It revolves around the dustups Wayne and his buds get into with their small-town Ontario rivals; the Hicks, the Skids, and the Hockey Players.
The show was awarded ‘Best Comedy Series’, ‘Best Writing in a Comedy Program or Series’ and ‘Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series’ at the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards. Keeso and co-writer/director Jacob Tierney also took home a Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award for TV Comedy.
