| The Red Green Show |
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THE SHOW The Red Green Show is essentially a cross between a Sitcom and a Sketch Comedy series, and it is a parody of many Home-improvement , Do-it-yourself , Fishing and other outdoors shows (particularly the Red Fisher Show ). Each episode unfolds through a series of mostly-unconnected comedic sketches, but unlike a true sketch comedy, all sketches draw from the same single set of characters. Every actor always play one character throughout the show. The title character, Red Green ( Steve Smith ), is a lazy handyman who generally tries to find shortcuts to most of his projects, trusting the vast majority of his work to Duct Tape (which he calls the handyman's secret weapon.) He is the president of the Possum Lodge , a Fictional men's club in the small town of Possum Lake , Canada , near the also-fictional town of Port Asbestos. He and his fellow lodge members have their own TV show (which is more or less the show itself), in which they give Humorous lessons and demonstrations in repairwork and Fishing , and advice for Men on relating to Women , among other things. The characters Bob & Doug McKenzie , from SCTV 's ''Great White North'' sketch, are an obvious comparison and a likely inspiration. The show's basic concept is that it is a Cable TV show, taped in part on a hand-held camera by Red's nephew Harold , arguably Canada's most famous nerd. The show's structure has evolved over time and now includes several regular segments that appear in almost every show. These segments are interspersed with each episode's three main plot segments, and they include such staples as the "Possum Lodge Word Game", "Handyman Corner", and "Adventures With Bill" (a slapstick Home Movie -style sketch with a voiceover by Red). In "Handyman Corner", Red attempts to demonstrate creative and often hilarious ways to tackle relatively common tasks, such as taking out the trash or making use of derelict cars. Memorable examples include a Paddlewheeler made out of pallets and a Revolving Door , a Jetpack made from two propane tanks, and a kiddie ride made from a bar stool attached to the agitator of a Washing Machine . The segment customarily concludes with the aphorism "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." He also gives sage advice to older men from behind his workbench, usually talking about married life or coping with changing society ("Let's face it," he quips in one episode, "these days, if you're not young, you're old.") This segment always concludes with "Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." "The Possum Lodge Word Game" usually appears as the second or third segment of the show, immediately following the first plot segment. It is structured much like '' Password '' and '' Pyramid '', in which the objective is to get a contestant to say a certain word in thirty seconds by giving them various clues. On this program, however, the contestant almost always guesses way off target, and finally accidentally says the correct word while delivering a punch line. Other regular segments include "The Experts", where Red and another character answer alleged letters from viewers and always give ridiculous advice; Ranger Gord's "educational" safety Cartoons ; and occasional advice segments by Dalton Humphrey and Mike Hamar. Hap Shaughnessy appears in many segments and always tells outlandish stories about his life — he claims to have been an Astronaut , to have invented Television , and to have once advised Walt Disney on how many fingers to put on Mickey Mouse , among other things. The show usually concludes with Red giving a message to his wife, Bernice (usually a for "if all else fails, play dead"). From Season 6 onward, this is followed by the Man's Prayer: "I'm a man / but I can change / if I have to / I guess." HISTORY OF THE SHOW Smith originally created the character of Red Green for his 1979 - 1985 sketch comedy series '' Smith & Smith ''. The series was a parody of the long-running Canadian outdoors show ''The Red Fisher Show'' ( 1968 - 1989 ), starring B.H. "Red" Fisher , in which Red and his friends would show silent films of their fishing trips with commentary at "Scuttlebutt Lodge". The character also appeared in '' Me & Max '' and '' The Comedy Mill '' before becoming the focus of his own series. ''The Red Green Show'' was produced first by CHCH in Hamilton, Ontario , then by CFPL in London , then by the Global Television Network , before finally finding its permanent home at the CBC for the 1997 season (its seventh) onward. The show ended April 7, 2006 after its 15th season with exactly 300 episodes. (This longevity inspired a joke in one episode, where Red says "The question is, can you do anything with crap? The answer is obviously yes, we’re in our fourteenth season.") The last episode was filmed on November 5 , 2005 , at the Showline Studios Harbourside location. At the time the season began taping, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was locked out, rendering the show's studios at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre unusable. {Link without Title} . The movie '' Duct Tape Forever '' ( 2002 ), was based on the Red Green Show. It was screened in select American theaters and became a Box Office Bomb , and has since appeared occasionally on PBS stations during pledge drives. In previous years, the show would stage live mini-telethons (sometimes called "''Red Green''-a-thons") for public television stations in the United States . Since 2000 , Red Green has been the "Ambassador of Scotch® Duct Tape" for 3M . {Link without Title} Smith says he has no intentions of ever reprising his character. However, there is a Red Green cartoon in development, said to be a Prequel in which Harold is a teenager. In May 2006, the seventh season of the show will be the first complete season to be released on DVD (there are also six "Stuffed & Mounted" compilations, which draw from many different seasons). CHARACTERS NOTE: The technical descriptions of the characters below come from the Red Green DVDs. Red Green
Harold Green
Bill Smith
Bill stars in his own segment of the show, 'Adventures with Bill', in which he indulges in outrageous stunts and possibly (read as often exceedingly) dangerous activities. Since this segment is silent (although with a voiceover by Red), Bill is never heard speaking onscreen. The only time Bill has ever appeared in the Lodge itself was in the second season of the show, and in the final episode, where he also recapped favourite 'Adventures with Bill' segments from seasons gone by. Ed Frid
Ed Frid is the local animal control officer. He is featured in The Red Green Show in a segment called "Talking To Animals." In this segment, Red tried his best to get the truth about an animal brought in by Ed. Everything always goes wrong and there is normally a panic about how "we're all going to die". Buzz Sherwood
Buzz is a Bush Pilot in the Possum Lake area. He is very affectionate towards his plane, 'Beauty'. Buzz is a burned-out 1960's Hippie who is very laid back. Ranger Gord
Gord is the local Forest Ranger . He has lived in the local fire watch tower for almost 20 years. He is often the host of Ranger Gord cartoons, in which he is disproportionately muscled and the other characters are animals. These cartoons invaribly end well for Gord (although not neccesarily for the other characters) and purport to teach a message of safety. Bob Stuyvesant
Ostensibly working for the government, Bob spends all of his time playing Golf . Dalton Humphrey
Glen Brackston
The local Marina owner. Glen is extremely lazy, preferring to avoid actual work whenever possible. His true passion is his Recreational Vehicle , which he is usually working on whenever Red visits him. Glen and his wife have seven daughters. Dougie Franklin
Dougie is very proud of his Monster Truck . Ben Franklin
Dougie's brother. Dougie is very jealous of Ben whom he thinks was their mother's favorite of the two. Hap Shaughnessy
Hap is the local water-taxi captain. But he is more Lodge-renowned for his wild exaggerations. For example, Hap once claimed to have gone whaling in a canoe, riding the whale's tail for "Ten, twenty months", wearing him down. He also claims to have ridden out "Moby Richard", refusing to call him Moby Dick because he "didn't know him that well." He once claimed to have worked on a Tiger ranch in Kenya , and that wrote a letter to Gwyneth Paltrow and that he got a response (though Red discovered they had exactly the same Handwriting ). Mike Hamar
Edgar K. B. Montrose
Winston Rothschild, III
Winston runs the local Sewage operation, Rothschild's Sewage and Septic Sucking Services. He frequently advertises the service on the show. Winston is also a fan of Self Help speakers, such as Anthony Anthony (whom he likes to quote) and Walter Mollusk. Kevin Black
A Yuppie Land Developer who is always trying to buy the Lodge property. He bought Bluff Point, a local land area nicknamed 'Blood Point' due to its Mosquito infestation. Arnie Dogan
A Roofer and Country Singer , Arnie is almost always in a cast of some kind due to the danger of his job. He claims to have written over 10,000 songs. Dwight Cardiff
Succeeded Glen as the local marina owner. Dwight is even lazier than Glen. Adventurer Walter
Bonnie
Unseen characters There have also been several Unseen Character s who are mentioned frequently in Red Green's anecdotes about life around Possum Lodge, including Stinky Peterson, Junior Singleton, Moose Thompson, Buster Hadfield, Old Man Sedgwick, Flinty McLintock, Wally "Kickback" Kibbler (Red's rival in high school and the mayor of Possum Lake), and Red's wife Bernice. Guest stars In addition to the regular cast, there have been a number of guest stars who have appeared on the show, the most notable of which include Don Harron , reprising his '' Hee Haw '' character Charlie Farquharson , and Colin Mochrie from the television comedy Improv '' Whose Line Is It Anyway? '' (playing Frank Kepke, a hobbyist/store owner who makes things entirely out of hotdogs). Various people have also been taken directly from the live studio audience to appear on the show. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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