television: What the hell is wrong with a trailer park?
Colleen Burke, Ryersonian(Ryseron U.)

TORONTO (CUP) - "When you strip away all the guns and the swearin' and dope and everything away from the show, basically all that's left is love and family," says Robb Wells, who plays Ricky on Trailer Park Boys.

Sure, the show is about dysfunctional families, but it's definitely created with a lot of love. The end result, however, is pure comic genius.

Trailer Park Boys takes place in Sunnyvale trailer park and is a mockumentary chronicling the lives of endearing trailer park boys, Ricky and Julian (John Paul Tremblay). The pair spend their days drinking, smoking weed and trying to outsmart their arch-nemesis, Mr. Lahey (John Dunsworth) and his shirtless assistant Randy (Patrick Roach). Julian is the level-headed, rum and coke guzzling brains of the operation while Ricky is the dope-growing family man with self-confidence issues.

However, Tremblay doesn't really have rum and coke in his glass. "I'd be in detox if that was the case because I probably drink 25 cans of pop a day shooting," he says.

Trailer Park Boys was born out of One Last Shot, a self-financed short film that was written by Tremblay, Wells and another high school friend, Mike Clattenburg, who directed and shot the film.

One Last Shot was shown at the Atlantic Film Festival where Clattenburg won for best cinematography. The film was received so warmly that the three friends decided to expand the film into a mockumentary.

According to Clattenburg, "the look of the show is cheap by design, the production value is very low, trying to make the scene appear like it really happened."

The effect is a show that emulates real TV programs, like Cops. He says that "more people than should" think that Trailer Park Boys is real.

"It's kind of scary. They equate the video look with real TV. So, you see how some friends and a handi-cam would use that to our advantage."

The residents of the trailer park are generally, almost overwhelmingly, supportive of the show. Clattenburg says they routinely fill in as extras and volunteer their assistance anyway they can. They have even "loaned us turkeys to throw through police windshields."

Wells explains that people seem to understand, "we're not making fun of them. It's just a mockumentary that happens to take place in the trailer park."

Wells, Clattenburg and Tremblay feel the show's success has a lot to do with the fact that everyone can relate to the characters.

"It's very character-driven," says Wells. "Lots of people know people like Ricky or Julian or Bubbles and the other characters on the show."

The upcoming season of Trailer Park Boys will be the show's third and Clattenburg, Wells and Tremblay are already working on writing season four. However, the group hope to make a feature film sometime soon and say that there is now American interest in the show.

Wells is not sure that the show is uniquely Canadian, other than the fact that the creators and their sense of humour are all Canadian.

"We like to parody guns a lot. That's uniquely Canadian - we're like 'Guns are fucked, lets make fun of them,'" says Clattenburg.

The three believe that the reason the show has been such a success is that the fun they have making the show comes through in the final product. "I'm working with a couple of guys I grew up with and guys that I hang around with everyday. We spend the entire summer laughing, which to me is the perfect job," says Tremblay.

There are, however, a few downsides to the show. Wells says, "People think I'm a major dope head and not the brightest cat in the real world, but I guess it all goes with the territory."

What can you expect from next season's first episode, airing on Showcase, April 20?

"A lawyer comes into the trailer park and Ricky says to Sara, 'Who in the fuck is that?' And Sara says, 'He's a lawyer.' And Ricky says, 'I'm a fuck-offer.' I'm a fuck-offer," laughs Clattenburg. "We're getting that on fucking TV. It's great."

[ Back to issue 10 ] [ Send The Peak a comment on this story ]

The contents of The Peak are protected by copyright. For information on rights regarding specific articles (including reprinting, where applicable), please contact epeak@mail.peak.sfu.ca with the full URL of the content in question.