COMEDY SERIES
(Left to right) K. Trevor Wilson, Jared Keeso, Nathan Dales, Mark Forward / Supplied
WELCOME TO LETTERKENNY
Creator Jared Keeso chats about his inspirations behind Letterkenny’s townsfolk
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etterkenny’s creator Jared Keeso sounds almost exactly like his character Wayne— a soft-spoken farmer, but all around tough guy with a hell of a right hook. At first, I think he’s just answering my questions in character—kind of like whenever one of the cast members from Trailer Park Boys does an interview. Then I realize he actually just talks like that and ends nearly every sentence with “y’know.” The series started off as threeminute video sketches entitled Letterkenny Problems on YouTube back in 2013. The short web series consisted of Wayne and his friend Daryl (Nathan Dales) riffing on the locals with their unique rural Ontario slang in the fictional and eponymous town of Letterkenny while they hung out near their fruit stand or farm. In 2016, Letterkenny debuted on CraveTV and has since gained tremendous popularity including a 90-minute live comedy show and a total of four seasons, with a fifth on the way. So, did Keeso always know he had a golden idea on his hands? “That’s a hard no on that one,” he says. “Dales-y and I had been making comedic sketches for YouTube for a few years before that ,and we always kinda plateaued at about (the) 10K view mark. We were working the hockey market and the NHL market and we thought we would have an instant audience, but that wasn’t really the case, y’know?” Keeso grew up in a town of 7,500 people called Listowel, Ont.—the loose inspiration for the town of Letterkenny. “I guess the thing I drew from directly was the groups in high school,” he says referring to the hicks, the skids, the hockey players, and the Christians from the show. “Save for the Christians, all the
groups were scrappin’ all the time. When I was in high school, the fights were damn near every day.” That sense of danger is a recurring theme in Letterkenny and that’s where most of the hilarity ensues. The premise of the show focuses on Wayne and his sister Katy (Michelle Mylett), who run the town fruit stand with the help of his friends Daryl and Squirrely Dan (K. Trevor Wilson). In their daily life, the group runs into other locals like the pair of hockey players Jonesy (Andrew Herr) and Reilly (Dylan Playfair), who also happen to be in a polyamorous friends-with-benefits relationship with Katy, which pisses the hell out of Wayne. “I kind of approached writing Letterkenny to going to school every day and getting your ass kicked, which was a real concern in Listowel y’ know?” Keeso says. The one aspect that sets Letterkenny apart from other sketch comedy shows is its use of contagious, small-town slang. You soon learn that phrases like “Donny Brook,” means fight, “Schmelt,” means rookie, and “10-ply” means soft. “I like to give the audience something new for their vernacular,” Keeso says. “I usually mine my brain for a pair of words and try to make up or remember a catchphrase. Everything is scripted, but the actors try to add their own button or cut point and 90 percent of the time, it’s gold.” Keeso also loosely bases episodes from past experience. Like the second episode of season one “Super Soft Birthday,” where Wayne vows to maintain his tough guy status in Letterkenny while fighting anyone who challenges him. “I had my time toward the end of high school where I attempted to join the ranks of tough guys in
Listowel, but it just didn’t go over well,” Keeso laughs. He recalls getting into a scrap at the local bar one time after someone started “pushing up on his friend’s girlfriend.” “My friends had shaved me a mullet before going out that night—so we’re already well on our way. So I give this guy the
nod across the dancefloor and when he stood up, buddy’s arms went down to his knees. He was a real monster. So I guess I didn’t pick my spot that well, but anyways, we go outside the bar to the parking lot and he rag-dolled me from behind, and when I finally pushed away he kicked and I watched the sole of his shoe in
VUEWEEKLY.com | MAR 29 - APR 04, 2018
Sat., Mar. 31 (6 pm, 9 pm) Letterkenny Live Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium From $34 slow motion just come up right in front of my face.” That kick had enough force that it could have killed Keeso, making him realize it was time to give up his tough guy crusade. “I’ll leave the fights up to Wayne,” he says. Stephan Boissonneault stephan@vueweekly.com
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