# data[].attributes.body
The Record interviews Jared Keeso on Letterkenny, its impact, inspirations, and future

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Jared Keeso hits pay dirt with profane, in-your-face 'Letterkenny'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One in a series of casual conversations with movers and shakers in (and from) our cultural community

# data[].attributes.body
The Federalist discusses how the linguistics and approach to social issues and conflicts helps to boost the popularity of Letterkenny

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Letterkenny," a CraveTV comedy series set in rural Canada, has the energy and feel of early "Seinfeld" episodes in its linguistic weirdness and in its Zen-like existence in a self-contained universe where only etiquette seems to matter, strange as it may seem to compare the two.

"Seinfeld" had to grow on me over the years. But my first encounter with "Letterkenny" was akin to seeing "Southpark," "Raising Arizona," or "Reservoir Dogs" for the first time. As in, what the heck just happened to my brain? Then, this is the most original thing I've come across in many moons.

Like "Seinfeld," "Letterkenny" is mostly an extended discussion of the ps and qs of social graces (or lack thereof). Ultimate right and wrong scarcely play into the matter at hand. Instead, characters spend what must be pages and pages of the script in Whitmanesque pseudo-poetic, somewhat-scatological catalogs of the correct and incorrect ways to behave given that an initial condition of some sort is true. For example, there's a running gag about two characters who allegedly had sex with an ostrich. Or one of them did, while the other held the bird. Allegedly. The exact mechanics are unclear. And that is the joke. Not the "why" of it, but the "how." Ostrich sex is acknowledged as a wrongful act, but then hundreds of variations of the mechanics are discussed and dissected in an attempt to understand how it might happen at all.

So it goes on "Letterkenny."

What's more, the show's mostly middle-of-the-road political nature is incredibly refreshing after enduring so many other comedy series surrendering their creativity and becoming sloughs of progressive hate-wallowing (see Comedy Central's once-promising "Broad City" as a prime example).

There is one problem right now with "Letterkenny," which is that you can't actually legally stream the show in the U.S. The first season is available in DVD format, but for the moment, the whole run of four six-episode seasons is exclusively viewable at Cravetv.ca, which only takes credit cards with Canadian addresses. Season four debuted Christmas Eve 2017. You can find it elsewhere, though, if you're ambitious.

The series revolves around an agriculturally-oriented group that includes unofficial leader Wayne (Jared Keeso), his beautiful and scantily-clad sister, Katy (Michelle Mylett), as well as Wayne and Katy's friends Daryl, mostly known as "Dairie" (Nathan Dales) due to his work, and Squirrely Dan (Canadian comic K. Trevor Wilson). All are farmers and agricultural types living on the outskirts of the fictitious Canadian village of Letterkenny. The opening of the show announces that Letterkenny is a town of 5,000 people, and states, "these are their problems." The setting is loosely based on the Western Ontario hometown of Keeso, who co-created the series with director Jacob Tierney and is also the series principal writer.

Wayne and his posse are the "shirt-tuckers," the area hicks, and Wayne is the toughest guy in town. He doesn't seek out trouble, but will fight anyone to prove it. The brawling is amusingly Three-Stooges-like (although not played directly for laughs). Wayne always wins, and is usually flawlessly courteous to his fallen opponent afterward. This politeness is a hallmark of the show.

Letterkenny is host to other social cliques and claques, each with a leader or two who represent his type and interact with Wayne. There are the hockey players Riley and Jonesy, two guys so joined at the hip that they are both going out with Wayne's sister Katy at the start of the series. The two build up interactive crescendos of near-unintelligible hockey slang (at least to this Southerner) that is as wonderfully strange as Wayne and Dairie's hick-speak. Apparently, you can celebrate the biscuit all you want, but the snap bomb doesn't count unless you gobardownski. Then it's tilly-time.

Also in town are the Skids, the local hipster-goth boy gang, who dress like Canadian versions of the Lost Boys, play video games through the long winter, cook homemade meth for income, and do a great deal of break dancing in Letterkenny alleyways when weather permits. Outside of town are the Natives on the Rez, who sell cigarettes in town (presumably skirting local taxes), and have run-ins with the Skids over turf. The Natives also invariably fight the beer-league hockey players in response to some primordial Canadian principle, like elk stags compelled to clash.

You get the idea: the show is extremely Canadian. At least I think it is, since half the time I have no idea what the characters are actually referring to in their jargon-laced, super-thick accents. There's also loads of profanity, and every episode seems to have an extended scene consisting mostly of fart and poop jokes. Often these are the most inventive bits. There's an entire deranged episode revolving around local social media site "Fartbook," for instance.

The series began as "Letterkenny Problems," a group of short videos put out by Keeso in 2013 that became a web sensation. Now that the show is sitcom length and more traditionally funded, the creators do make a good faith effort to create through-plots with standard character obstacles, rising action, and climaxes and such. But, as with the original web series, this isn't really the point. Character comes through not via dialog - it's all basically the same voice coming out of everyone - but in the poses the different characters strike. This is most extreme is Keeso's Wayne, whose deadpan, sing-song delivery contrasts with his character's two-dimensional surreal movement. Wayne moves from pose to pose, like some mad cross between John Wayne, a macho mime, and a jack-in-the-box set to pop.

The best way I've found to watch a "Letterkenny" episode is to sit back and just let the Canadianese and the authors' verbal inventiveness roll over you. "Pitter-patter, let's get at 'er." "Tick-tock." "Ten-ply." "That's a hard-no." "Can confirm."

Keeso was a semi-pro hockey player in his youth, and there are a great many hockey references likely to fly over the heads of those of us not from the Great White North. The word "ferda," for instance, which is a mainstay of the hockey players in the series, I had never heard before. It apparently is Canadian for "for the boys." That is, something like "I'm doing this for the guys" in a fraternal sense, and in some cases, for the two boys in the ferda-sack between a man's lower extremities.

In addition to fart and sex jokes, there is a lot of small-town and rural humor that, as a born-and-raised small-town Southerner, I do find familiar. When Stuart, the leader of the Skids (a wonderfully over-the-top Tyler Johnston), wants to impress Katy, he rents the Letterkenny Ag Hall to d.j. a rave. Wayne and Dairie are incensed - not because they dislike Stuart or his music (there's a lot of mutual toleration in "Letterkenny"), but because, as Wayne declares, "agricultural halls should be for agricultural music."

Also southern is the sarcasm and cutting humor bound up in the invariable countrified politeness. Anyone raised in the American South understands that southern charm, while normally pleasant and mostly meaningless, can be weaponized and deployed to devastating effect at a moment's notice. There's a lot of that going on in the Canada of "Letterkenny."

While one gets the sense that most of the actors and probably the writers are lefties, all seem committed to keeping the show true to the setting, and thus very middle-of-the-road politically. A foundation of the show's ethos is that the hicks, at least, have jobs. They earn enough to get by, and any offer to lend or give one another money is promptly rebuffed. While we seldom see Wayne and company laboring, we understand that it is only between the chores, and after the work is done, that they sit down in the kitchen, or in front of Wayne's produce stand, to drink a six pack of "puppers," the show's fictional beer, and start the gabfest.

Ferda.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Canada's 'Letterkenny' May Be The Best Comedy On TV Right Now

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Letterkenny," a CraveTV comedy series set in rural Canada, has the energy and feel of early "Seinfeld" episodes in its linguistic weirdness and in its Zen-like existence in a self-contained universe where only etiquette seems to matter, strange as it may seem to compare the two.

# data[].attributes.body
Much.com discusses how the popularity of Letterkenny helped create a live tour of the series

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you're a fan of the CraveTV smash hit Letterkenny, then you've probably wasted valuable birthday wishes on being magically whisked away to the fictional Ontario town to live among the Hicks, Skids and Hockey Players you know and love.

We're happy to announce that you can now save those wishes for more realistic outcomes such a new dad or a decent plate of fries because the stars of Letterkenny are coming to YOU in 2018.

Starting February 28 in beautiful Halifax, Jared Keeso (Wayne), Nathan Dales (Daryl), K Trevor Wilson (Dan) and Mark Forward (Coach) will embark on LETTERKENNY LIVE!, a cross-country tour featuring original sketches, stand-up from seasoned pros Wilson and Forward, and plenty of ice cold Puppers Premium Lager. Each show will be 90 minutes of pure Canadian comedy filtered through the filthy mouths of the show's breakout stars.

Wanna check it out? Here are the dates:

February 28 - Halifax, NS - Rebecca Cohn Auditorium (Dalhousie Arts Centre)
March 2 - Moncton, NB - Casino New Brunswick
March 4 - Sherbrooke, QC - Theatre Granada
March 5 - Cornwall, ON - Aultsville Theatre
March 7 - Ottawa, ON - Algonquin Commons Theatre
March 8 - Belleville, ON - Empire Theatre
March 9 - Kingston, ON - Grand Theatre
March 10 - Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
March 12 - Peterborough, ON - Showplace Performance Centre
March 13 - Hamilton, ON - FirstOntario Concert Hall
March 15 - Oshawa, ON - Tribute Communities Centre
March 16 - Windsor, ON - The Colosseum (Caesars Windsor)
March 17 - London, ON - Budweiser Gardens
March 19 - Kitchener, ON - Center In The Square
March 21 - North Bay, ON - Capitol Centre
March 23 - Orillia, ON - Casino Rama
March 25 - Sudbury, ON - Fraser Auditorium
March 26 - Sault St. Marie, ON - Kiwanis Community Theatre Centre
March 28 - Winnipeg, MB - Burton Cummings Theatre
March 29 - Regina, SK - Casino Regina
March 30 - Calgary, AB - Grey Eagle Event Centre
March 31 - Edmonton, AB - Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
April 1 - Grande Prairie, AB - Revolution Place
April 3 - Victoria, BC - Royal Theatre
April 4 - Kelowna, BC - Kelowna Community Theatre
April 5 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum

For more information on LETTERKENNY LIVE! or to purchase tickets visit the Letterkenny website, Facebook or Twitter.

As if that wasn't enough, CraveTV announced today a massive commitment to the show that ensures at least 40 more episodes and tonnes of new merch that you can use to show off your Letterkenny pride without having to scream it out the car window.

Check out Letterkenny now on CraveTV including a brand new Halloween special where Wayne and The Hicks help their old pal Gail get to the bottom of a strange brew happening at the local bar.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Stars Of Letterkenny Are Loadin' Up The Truck And Coming To A Town Near You

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you're a fan of the CraveTV smash hit Letterkenny, then you've probably wasted valuable birthday wishes on being magically whisked away to the fictional Ontario town to live among the Hicks, Skids and Hockey Players you know and love. We're happy to announce that you can now save those wishes for more realistic outcomes [...]

# data[].attributes.body
The Hollywood Reporter describes how strange yet appealing Letterkenny truly is

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The first time I ran into the Canadian comedy , which will make its U.S. debut Friday on Hulu (the first two seasons, of five so far), it was hearing both of my teenagers laughing about something on YouTube. Like, for a long time. It was the cold open from Letterkenny's first season.

I investigated. We replayed it about eight times.

Soon they were reciting lines from different episodes that they had "found" - ahem. Since Letterkenny wasn't available in this country, we had a talk. Cut to Banff, Canada, at the World Media Festival, where I was representing The Hollywood Reporter, doing some moderating and interviewing. I professed my love of Letterkenny to some Canadians (boy, they are nice people, you might have heard) and pretty soon the kind folks at Bell Media, which aired the series on Crave TV up there, had hooked me up with all three seasons.

It was a little like running into some crack. Which, come to think of it, sounds like something they might say on Letterkenny. Back at home - never mind the Game of Thrones swag and such - someone just became a hero. Letterkenny episodes were finally available. Legally.

Now, knowing a few things about Letterkenny, I'm pretty sure the last thing anyone connected with the series would be comfortable with is an American trying to explain it. Figure it out, they would say, dismissively, like in this rapid-fire exchange (the dialogue is almost always and impressively rapid-fire) from Season 2:

"Malt vinegar is not a traditional way to dress your French fries in the United States."

"What the fuck is wrong with them?"

"Malt vinegar is not a staple condiment on table tops in restaurants in the United States."

"Fuck, figure it out."

"That's what I say. Figure it out."

"Yep, no vinegar on the tables. No Kraft peanut butter..."

"Figure it out."

"Fucking figure it out."

"Better not forget those all dressed chips."

"No ketchup chips neither."

"Figure it out."

"Somebody really ought to write a letter...They have running water down there?"

The series is very, very Canadian. That is, there are elements about it that are odd, even to Canadians, whose capacity for calmly accepting unconventional things on the intake is pretty well established.

So I'll start with the obvious - I love this show. Secondly, it's a highly stylized bit of brilliance that, on first watch, might bring you to a few conclusions that will then be completely erased upon further viewings. The seasons will then stack up. Or they won't - Letterkenny is hilariously odd, foul-mouthed, juvenile, eccentric, smart, deceptively heartwarming, absurd, niche and, yes, relentlessly creative and likely not for everyone. I'm loath to compare it to comedy series in the States because there's no direct correlation, but it's probably safe to say It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is a not-too-distant cousin, and that's damned high praise.

Created as a web series by Jared Keeso and then developed for television by Keeso and Jacob Tierney (who co-writes with Keeso; both act as well as executive produce, with Tierney directing all the episodes), the series is set in the remote fictional town of Letterkenny in Ontario, and opens with a simple onscreen declaration: "There are 5,000 people in Letterkenny. These are their problems."

Those problems are mostly contained within the "hicks" (farmers), "skids" (drug addicts), hockey players, church people and the neighboring reservation. Confrontation of all kinds is a key comedic element of Letterkenny, and not just because Canadians like a good donnybrook and have the capacity, male and female, to beat your ass solid while looking like the friendliest folks around.

Keeso, the driving force of the series, plays Wayne, the toughest (but also, weirdly, the nicest) guy in Letterkenny, who is a hick and runs a produce stand outside of the family farm, which is basically just a setup for sitting around and talking. He does that with best friend Daryl (Nathan Dales), often shortened to "Dary" in that hockey (well, most sports) way of adding a "y" or "ie" sound to everybody's name. (It should be noted that some elements of Letterkenny will take you longer to figure out, and not just because it's full of colloquialisms and weird slang, but also because the series loves to take three words and smash them into one. As you untangle this concept, it gets ever funnier.) Wayne and Daryl often riff with Squirrely Dan (K. Trevor Wilson), who adds an "s" to just about every word that comes out of his mouth. In addition to the Canadian and Ontario accent, this will complicate things. It will also become exponentially more funny as you listen.

Wayne's sister, Katy (Michelle Mylett), is not to be messed with. She's also, much to the chagrin of Wayne, in a relationship with Reilly (Dylan Playfair) and Jonesy (Andrew Herr), two members of the Letterkenny Irish hockey team who are, generously, dull butter knives, who live to work out and flirt with hot girls (aka "snipers"). There's also a clutch of addicts and drug dealers who are part goth, boy band, spastic dancers and mostly frightened and displaced nice guys; a clearly gay pastor who might or might not be confused about it; the world's filthiest female bartender; and, well, the most eclectic and mostly angry and sometimes perverted batch of locals you'll ever see.

Each season grows this group while making the core group more relatable, likable and funny in their distinctness.

There is an unvarnished rural Canadian-ness to all of it, from the "nutsack" references to far, far worse; but as coarse as Wayne and friends can get, there's both a code of a honor among everyone and a sweetness underneath that often catches you by surprise. Letterkenny can be philosophical while being juvenile, intelligent while ridiculous, and though some grasp of Canada or hockey or a hard life in the snow might help the initial viewing, it's not essential to understanding the comedy.

What Letterkenny is, most impressively, is verbally adroit. Few series riff this fast, and the verbal gymnastics are not shortcut with pauses that clutter. The series keeps the storyline to a minimum and is dominated by conversations between characters. That means Keeso and Tierney's writing all but demands allegiance to rhythm, which moves at an insane pace (in turn, you learn to really appreciate the disparate actors here).

Canadian series, particularly the comedies, have rarely got their due south of their border, but Americans have a chance to discover one of the better exports now that Hulu has signed on (though, if I'm being honest, I want to see the next three seasons follow pretty quickly, so get on that deal, Hulu).

Letterkenny is different but, listen, figure it out.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Critic's Notebook: 'Letterkenny' Is the Canadian Comedy You Didn't Know You Needed

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The first time I ran into the Canadian comedy , which will make its U.S. debut Friday on Hulu (the first two seasons, of five so far), it was hearing both of my teenagers laughing about something on YouTube. Like, for a long time. It was the cold open from Letterkenny's first season.

# data[].attributes.body
Play Back Online discusses the job of translating Letterkenny Problems from an online webseries to its television version Letterkenny

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Why CraveTV didn't have a problem with Letterkenny

As production starts on Bell Media's adaptation of Jared Keeso's Letterkenny Problems, Mike Cosentino and New Metric Media discuss translating the web series for TV(ish).

With its first original series on CraveTV, Bell Media is looking to translate a successful sketch-based web series into an episodic on-demand comedy hit.

Letterkenny, a six-part comedy series based on Letterkenny Problems, was created by 19-2 star Jared Keeso and co-commissioned between CraveTV and The Comedy Network.

The 6 x 30-minute series, produced by Toronto's New Metric Media, went into production earlier this week in Sudbury.

As well as co-writing the show, Keeso also executive produces and stars alongside Michelle Mylett, Dylan Playfair, Andrew Herr, Nathan Dales, Tyler Johnston, Lisa Codrington, Jacob Tierney, Alexander De Jordy and K Trevor Wilson.

The show follows Wayne (played by Keeso) as he tries to protect the wholesome rural values of his Northern Ontario hometown while butting up against the stereotypical bros of a small town: namely, "The Hicks," "The Skids," and "The Hockey Players."

The long-form version of Letterkenny picks up where the web series leaves off, but adds a number of new characters, fleshes out existing ones, and shifts the focus from sketch-based comedy to a more traditional story arc, Mark Montefiore, co-president at New Metric told Playback Daily.

The essence of the web series will remain, but with more emphasis on a continuous narrative, notes Patrick O'Sullivan, co-president, New Metric Media.

CraveTV's strategy was not specifically to have a comedy kick off its original programming strategy, explains Mike Cosentino, SVP, programming, CTV Networks and CraveTV, but a combination of factors such as comedy over-indexing with viewers on CraveTV, a great pitch, and proof of concept ( Letterkenny Problems) led to it's greenlight.

Bell Media also saw an opportunity to cross-promote the series via linear television, given its suitability for The Comedy Network.

"We think there's a lot of transferable appetite between viewers who watch The Big Bang Theory. And we will look to tap into that audience and other comedy audiences on CTV and also leverage The Comedy Network's audiences to promote Letterkenny as available on Crave," said Cosentino.

Montefiore says he also hopes the addition of more female characters will expand Letterkenny 's audience, which until this point has been predominantly male.

The show is tentatively scheduled for broadcast and streaming in early 2016.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why CraveTV didn't have a problem with Letterkenny

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As production starts on Bell Media's adaptation of Jared Keeso's Letterkenny Problems, Mike Cosentino and New Metric Media discuss translating the web series for TV(ish). With its first original series on CraveTV, Bell Media is looking to translate a successful sketch-based web series into an episodic on-demand comedy hit.

# data[].attributes.body
A Rolling Stone article describing an exposure to Letterkenny from outside Canadian culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Letterkenny' Review: Wonderfully Weird Canadian Comedy Comes to Hulu

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Alan Sepinwall gives three-and-a-half stars to this oddball series from America's neighbors to the north.

# data[].attributes.body
BellMedia details the efforts of CraveTV to grow the Letterkenny brand

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
- Comprehensive partnership includes unprecedented production commitment of more than 40 all-new episodes -
- Initiative includes extensive brand support on merchandise and the just-announced LETTERKENNY LIVE! tour -
- Series and format now being rolled out at International markets for global distribution -
- Next six-pack of the series, created by star Jared Keeso, to launch later this year -

TORONTO (October 23, 2017) - CraveTV and LETTERKENNY producers New Metric Media announced today they are joining forces to build the small-town, smash hit comedy beyond the series itself into a worldwide entertainment brand. The initiative is a comprehensive multi-year partnership that includes an unprecedented production commitment, investment in the support of any existing and new ancillary brand extensions, and a partnership on the international sales and distribution of the series, alongside DHX Media. The deal was negotiated by Bell Media's Justin Stockman and Carlyn Klebuc, as well as Mark Montefiore of New Metric Media, and Jayme Alter, Denton's Canada LLP.

In the comprehensive agreement, CraveTV and New Metric Media will partner on the production of more than 40 new episodes. With seasons 1-3 currently streaming, the agreement commits to a total of at least 73 episodes of the award-winning original comedy.

CraveTV's commitment to brand support includes the continued cross-platform marketing campaigns for the series, as well its brand extensions including sought-after LETTERKENNY merchandise and the highly successful Puppers Premium Lager, in partnership with Stack Brewery in Sudbury.

As well, the partnership includes cross-promotional support for the just-announced, 26-city LETTERKENNY LIVE! tour, a 90-minute comedy experience starring Jared Keeso (Wayne), Nathan Dales (Daryl), K Trevor Wilson (Dan) and Mark Forward (Coach), kicking off in Halifax on February 28 th, with plans to extend into the U.S.

Finally, CraveTV and New Metric Media's multi-year commitment includes partnering on the sale and distribution of the series and its format, alongside DHX Media, to the international market. The series and format was officially rolled out to International buyers this week at MIPCOM in Cannes, France.

"With its devoted audience on CraveTV and buzzworthy appeal, LETTERKENNY is carving out a permanent place in Canadian pop culture," said Justin Stockman, Vice-President, Pay and OTT Services, Bell Media. "Alongside our partners at New Metric Media, we're committed to sharing LETTERKENNY with the world by bolstering all facets of the LETTERKENNY brand, both in Canada and internationally."

"Working with the CraveTV team has been solid from the get-go so, we're excited to crack open even more six-packs of LETTERKENNY with them," said Mark Montefiore, New Metric Media. "It's truly a pleasure to present this comedy to the international industry with a dedicated partner who really 'gets it'."

Based on the internet sensation Letterkenny Problems, the half-hour comedy - and now bona fide cultural phenomenon - is currently a top performer and marquee program for the streaming service since it made it memorable launch on Super Bowl Sunday 2015.

As previously announced, a special Halloween episode of LETTERKENNY, "The Haunting of MoDean's II", began streaming last week exclusively on CraveTV. Another six-pack of new episodes is set to launch later this year.

Shot on location in and around Sudbury, ON, LETTERKENNY revolves around the dustups Wayne (Jared Keeso) and his buds get into with their small-town rivals. The Hicks, The Skids, and The Hockey Players get at each other about the most mundane things, often ending with someone getting their ass kicked. Season 1 of LETTERKENNY took home three 2017 Canadian Screen Awards: Best Comedy Series, Best Writing in a Comedy Program or Series, and Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series. As well, series creator Jared Keeso and co-writer and director Jacob Tierney took home a Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award for TV Comedy. Seasons 1 - 3 are currently streaming on CraveTV and Season 1 is also available on iTunes and Google Play.

LETTERKENNY is produced by New Metric Media, in partnership with DHX Media and Playfun Games in association with Bell Media, with the participation of Canadian Media Fund, OMDC Tax Credits and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and distributed by DHX Media. Jared Keeso is executive producer, co-writer, star, and creator, Jacob Tierney is executive producer, director, and co-writer. Mark Montefiore and Patrick O'Sullivan are executive producers for New Metric Media. Steven DeNure is Co-Founder, President and COO of DHX Media. Sarah Fowlie is Director, Original Programming, Comedy, Bell Media. Production Executive for Bell Media is Bill Lundy. Corrie Coe is Senior Vice-President, Original Programming, Bell Media Mike Cosentino is President, Content and Programming, Bell Media. Randy Lennox is President, Bell Media.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CraveTV Enters into Comprehensive Multi-Year Partnership with New Metric Media to Build LETTERKENNY Brand Worldwide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
TORONTO (October 23, 2017) - CraveTV and LETTERKENNY producers New Metric Media announced today they are joining forces to build the small-town, smash hit comedy beyond the series itself into a worldwide entertainment brand. The initiative is a comprehensive multi-year partnership that includes an unprecedented production commitment, investment in the…

# data[].attributes.body
From left to right, Pastor Glenn and Wayne played by show leads Jacob Tierney and Jared Keeso

# data[].attributes.body
Wayne, Darryl, Katy, and Squirrely Dan in their full "hick" regalia

# data[].attributes.body
From left to right, Squirrely Dan, Darryl, and Wayne in the middle of one of their many adventures

# data[].attributes.body
A discussion on the culutural impact Letterkenny has within Canada itself

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
So, three buddies are sitting in an ice-fishing shack drinking beer and discussing ... whether they can use whitefish and walleye for "sushis and sashimis." After much banter, the wisest of the three concludes that the fish is not sushi-grade, and there's no need to pluralize those words.

Yes, that is Letterkenny, and hasn't Canadian comedy come a long way since Bob and Doug McKenzie instructed viewers how to open a beer without taking your snowmobile mitts off? Or has it?

For all its aggressively foul-mouthed negativity and vicious parody of small-town masculinity, Letterkenny nestles deep in the bosom of a Canadian comic tradition dating back to Stephen Leacock and Charlie Farquharson, continuing right through the McKenzie brothers and more recently seen suckling the Trailer Park Boys. It's a tradition that's irreverent, ironic and mercilessly self-deprecating, mocking Canada as a nation of snowbound hosers.

Which is why I was intrigued to hear this week that New Metric Media, which produces Letterkenny for CraveTV, has just signed a deal with the Canadian streaming service to get cracking on another 40 episodes of the cult hit and sell them to the world. Is the world ready for Wayne, Daryl and Squirrely Dan?

That question reaches all the way from Listowel, Ont., (real hometown of Letterkenny creator and star Jared Keeso) to Parliament Hill. The Liberals' new cultural policy, unveiled last month under the title Creative Canada, has placed a particular stress on exports, largely defining success as the creation of content that can be sold internationally. But comedy is notoriously local, and can be a tough sell outside its original market.

Letterkenny is shot in Sudbury, Ont., but Listowel itself is located in the rich farmland west of Toronto and the show rejoices in gloriously baroque verbiage spoken in the mumbled accents of rural Southern Ontario. Meanwhile, its thin plots are mainly an excuse for the macho posturing and insult contests waged by the Hicks, Skids and Hockey Players. The profanity-spewing, beer-swilling culture that it parodies will be instantly recognizable to many Canadians, and you couldn't exactly dub the show into foreign languages.

Still, every society has its Listowels and its good old boys. "We like to call it broad in its niche-ness," Mark Montefiore of New Metric said this week from Los Angeles, where he is busy talking to platforms and networks to figure out where he might place his "six-packs" of Letterkenny episodes. Before it moved to CraveTV as the service's first original series, the show began online as a series of shorter pieces entitled Letterkenny Problems, and Montefiore points out that half of the 30-million YouTube views the franchise has earned come from outside Canada. The YouTube bits are popular in the rest of the English-speaking world, with Americans and Australians as well as the British and Irish.

The deal with CraveTV, however, not only includes support for a live Canadian tour by the comedians next March and for merchandising Letterkenny apparel and its beer (Puppers lager from Stack Brewing in Sudbury), it also anticipates somehow adapting the show for foreign-language markets.

"Comedy traditionally has a tough time travelling; the vernacular doesn't translate," Montefiore says. "We have talked about what does this show look like in Germany, in Lithuania, but we do have an international audience for the show we [already] have."

Of course, Letterkenny draws on universal comic tropes and styles: With their rapid-fire, deadpan duologues, Wayne and Daryl revive the old crosstalk tradition that was a staple of the vaudeville stage. The Hicks and the Hockey Players, meanwhile, provide versions of the reliable figure of the "lovable rogue," the working-class trickster whose outlandish behaviour destabilizes society even as it captures an audience's sympathy.

That figure has a particularly strong history in Canada (recent examples might include Fred Ewanuick's Hank Yarbo and Eric Peterson's Oscar Leroy on Corner Gas, as well as several of the Trailer Park Boys) and, in all these shows, the bush-league society that the rogue is destabilizing is distinctively Canadian. There's a way in which Letterkenny does feel an awful lot like an inside joke among those people Stephen Harper once called "old stock Canadians."

Also distinctively Canadian is the twisting irony on which Keeso and his co-writer Jacob Tierney rely. Part of the show's secret is the way it takes aim at contemporary urban sensibilities. Sometimes, it simply mocks them as Wayne (Keeso) and Daryl (Nathan Dales) flip insults at tourists, but sometimes it sneakily apes them. In one recent scene, the boys discuss how they might lure racist or homophobic "degens" to a party so they can beat them up - perhaps by using "ethnicities" or gays as bait. Once again Dan (K. Trevor Wilson) saves the day, this time with lessons learned in his women's studies class. "There are a lot of viewpoints, social commentary that reflects Canadian values," Montefiore says. "They are called the Hicks, but these are smart, quick-witted characters."

YouTube comments on that scene include some from irony-challenged viewers on both sides of the border who complain that guys like this don't actually talk about things like that. Letterkenny has to hope that its another commentator who truly represents international reaction to the Hicks when he cries with an expletive: "I wish we got this show in the States."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
So, three buddies are sitting in an ice-fishing shack drinking beer and discussing ... whether they can use whitefish and walleye for "sushis and sashimis." After much banter, the wisest of the three concludes that the fish is not sushi-grade, and there's no need to pluralize those words.

# data[].attributes.body
This project looks at how Letterkenny use its representation, cultural roots, self-referentail nature, and borrowed ideas to create a unique and original experience.

# data[].attributes.body
This excerpt of one Letterkenny episode that shows a perfect example of the kind of camera work and comedy the show emphasizes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
DISCLAIMER:  THIS VIDEO CONTAINS COURSE LANGUAGE, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!!  

Great discussion on how to cook steak!!!  Have to agree other then the no S&P

# data[].attributes.body
Ten different defining moments of Letterkenny and how it builds its postmodern identity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Crave original series may focus on the residents of a town of 5,000 people in mid-western Ontario, but the life lessons shared on the quintessentially Canadian series can be applied to just about anyone. Before you tell us to pump the breaks on this theory and start chirpin' that we don't know what we're talking about, face the facts. If there was a tournament for doling out helpful life lessons, Letterkenny would take home the ship.

Here are 10 life lessons according to Letterkenny.

IT'S IMPOLITE TO KISS AND TELL

But if you're going to kiss and tell, make sure you introduce every sexual activity with the phrase, "I don't mean to be impolite" before going into detail. This is especially true when there's attentions paid to the butt hole.

KNOW YOUR CANCON

You can't call yourself a true Canadian unless you can carry on a conversation based entirely on song titles and lyrics by some of the country's greatest musical icons. In the words of Grammy and JUNO-winning, best-selling country female icon Shania Twain, "Don't be stupid."

RESPECT CANADA'S NATIONAL BIRD

Gooses or geeses, it's important to pay the proper respect to Canada's national bird, even if the aggressive animal poops all over this beautiful country. Like, all over. How many Canadian geese are there in the world at this time? One billion? Two?

FIGHT WITH WORDS, NOT FISTS

Whether you're trying to protect your sisters from dating no-good hockey players or simply standing your ground in a pair of cut offs, fights should be handled with words, not fists. But if things escalate to fists, use the bathroom first.

EAT HEALTHY

Eating healthy is important and eating organic is ideal. But smoking darts really negates all those efforts.

HAVE A CHEAT DAY

If you do eat healthy, it's important to still have a cheat day even when you trying to add gains to impress your coach and win a hockey ship.

EMBRACE THE COLD

We live in Canada, which means half of the year is spent in boots, blankets and balaclavas, because a bloody bitter breeze will blow blistery and bleak. White outs and windchills, walk it off, whiners. Get outside and enjoy the snow, just don't you dare doddle dilly dally your dick around after dark in December. Or anytime, really.

DEAL WITH YOUR FEELINGS

If you don't deal with your feelings, you'll likely end up taking your anger out on someone else. Maybe your loved one, maybe a stranger, maybe a hockey player named Riley who makes you wish you were watching a paper cut in slow-mo rather than staring at his face. So, you know, feel your feelings.

THERE'S NO WRONG WAY TO FIND LOVE

When you're looking for love, there's no wrong way to find your soul mate. Maybe you meet at the produce stand, maybe you meet in the ice arena, maybe you meet on a reality show while competing with 20 other people. Just don't say no to love.

DO NOT TAKE CELINE DION'S NAME IN VAIN

If you're going to speak about the great Celine Dion, you better be doing it with a non-hostile tone.

Want more? Fans of the hilarious Canadian series will get a special treat this holiday season with the new special A Letterkenny Christmas: The Three Wise Men, which is available for streaming on Crave starting November 23. The holiday spirit of giving continues, with a fresh six-pack of new episodes of Letterkenny dropping on Crave on Christmas Day. The first five seasons of Letterkenny, along with special episodes "Ferda Edition", "The Haunting of MoDean's II", "St. Perfect's Day," "Super Hard Easter," and the original web series Letterkenny Problems, are currently streaming on Crave.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 life lessons according to Letterkenny

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Crave original series may focus on the residents of a town of 5,000 people in mid-western Ontario, but the life lessons shared on the quintessentially Canadian series can be applied to just about anyone. Before you tell us to pump the breaks on this theory and start chirpin' that we don't know what we're talking about, face the facts.

# data[].attributes.body
The Star talks about the new season of Letterkenny and its future production

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Santa Crave has a present for comedy-loving viewers: six new episodes of Canadian hit Letterkenny are landing on the streaming service on Christmas Day. And there's an early gift too, with a seasonal special to be delivered Friday, Nov. 23.

A Letterkenny Christmas: The Three Wise Men has Hicks Wayne, Daryl, Katy and Dan (played by series creator Jared Keeso, Nathan Dales, Michelle Mylett and K. Trevor Wilson) throwing a holiday bash that just might be the best Christmas party ever.

Wayne (Jared Keeso) and Glen (Jacob Tierney) will be back in the special A Letterkenny Christmas: The Three Wise Men on CraveTV on Nov. 23. (BELL MEDIA)

When the regular episodes begin, the Letterkenny locals are looking for love "in all sorts of places, from bush parties all the way to the big city," CraveTV says in a news release.

New faces in town include Sarah Wayne Callies ( The Walking Dead) and Jonathan Torrens ( Trailer Park Boys, Mr. D) playing Mennonite parents.

The usual suspects are back too, including Jacob Tierney, who directs as well as acts, as Christian leader Glen; Tiio Horn ( The Man in the High Castle) as Natives leader Tanis; Dan Petronijevic ( 19-2) as McMurray; Magalie Lépine Blondeau ( Boomerang) as Wayne's new girlfriend, Marie Fred; Sarah Gadon ( Alias Grace) as Skid Gae, and Kelly McCormack ( Killjoys) and Jess Salgueiro ( Saving Hope) as Shamrockette stars Mary-Anne and Betty-Anne.

Production is already underway on the next set of episodes, due in 2019, which see the Hicks launch their own public access call-in show.

Meanwhile there are even more goodies for fans of the irreverent comedy series. More dates have been added to the live tour, Letterkenny Live, the Encore, which kicks off Dec. 1 in Orillia and includes shows in St. Catharines, Brantford and Mississauga, Ont., as well as Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. See www.letterkenny.tv for information.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Christmas is beginning to look a lot like Letterkenny with six new episodes and a special | The Star

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Santa Crave has a present for comedy-loving viewers: six new episodes of Canadian hit Letterkenny are landing on the streaming service on Christmas Day. And there's an early gift too, with a seasonal special to be delivered Friday, Nov. 23.