Left to right: Sarah Dunsworth, Barrie Dunn, Robb Wells, Mike Smith, John Paul Tremblay, John Dunsworth, Patrick Roach and Lucy DeCoutere star in Trailer Park Boys, a Showcase Original Series

Before you tune in to get your first taste of Trailer Park Boys, you ought to wrap your head around one simple concept: people from Atlantic Canada are zany. At least by Ontario’s standards.

That could have more to do with our collective nose being planted firmly up the ol’ bronze eye — something we Torontonians are hailed for in other parts of Canada. Which is part of the reason why the East Coast sitcom — airing on the Showcase channel (39 in T.O.) each Sunday, 9 p.m. EST — is such a crucial Canadian program that it must be experienced to be appreciated.

Now entering its second season and filmed in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Trailer Park Boys takes every stereotype you’ve ever heard (or slandered) about people living in trailer parks and, uh … well, they fuck with it. Unbelievably hilarious at every turn, and shot with a real TV perspective (think low-budget approach), Trailer Park Boys is the imaginative result of one Mike Clattenburg — writer, director, and producer.

“I think everyone (who enjoys the program) recognizes a version of a character living in their own community,” Clattenburg said. “When we do get together (cast and crew), we throw out ideas based on the characters and how they’d react to a certain situation.”

As the story goes, Clattenburg, actors John Paul Tremblay (Julian) and Robb Wells (Ricky) met in high school in the late 1980s. All hailing from Nova Scotia, the three pals always had a strange and bizarre sense of humour, playing practical jokes on people and getting into trouble. Clattenburg started out working for a local community cable channel via his own broadcast called That Damn Cable Show.

In 1998, Clattenburg entered the Atlantic Film Festival with a self-financed feature, One Last Shot. The payoff for Clattenburg was being presented with the Best Cinematography Award for his efforts, while John Dunsworth received the Best Male Actor Award for his initial portrayal of Mr. Lahey.

“We purely improvised (the entire film), we didn’t know where we were going with it,” he admitted. “We shot about 90 hours of footage … that was where Mr. Lahey was born. He was a disgruntled pet storeowner with a drinking problem in that film. That experience helped develop all of us as artists and actors.”

Tremblay and Wells showed early traits of Julian and Ricky in the flick, but it wasn¹t until after seeing the audiences' reaction to One Last Shot, that Clattenburg, Wells and Tremblay immediately started talking about a new project ‹ a mockumentary set in a trailer park.

With little money and a small crew, a 63-minute pilot for Trailer Park Boys was shot. Clattenburg entered it into the 1999 Atlantic Film Festival and it was subsequently picked up by Showcase.

Left to right: Julian (J.P. Tremblay), Bubbles (Mike Smith) and Ricky (Robb Wells)

“Myself, my wife, Robb (Wells) and J.P. (Tremblay) all drove out to various trailer parks and improvised scenes before a camera just for the sheer joy of it,” Clattenburg said. “We’re experts in a lifetime of exploring foolishness …it’s amazing that we’re able to get together each summer and play together.”

It was during his work on the film’s soundtrack that musician Mike Smith entered the mix and the loveable character Bubbles was born.

“The film set is pretty laid back and we improvise a lot of the dialogue,” Smith told S&H. “Mike wanted the show to have a real feel to it (hence, the camera crew interacts with the cast) … it’s a totally fun atmosphere.”

Which is one of the more endearing qualities of the show. The viewer feels personally involved in the world of Ricky and Julian, whose oft-mundane schemes to make money and grow great pot (not necessarily in that order) brings them into contention with the Sunnyvale Park supervisor Jim Lahey.

Smith’s first passion however, remains being in front of an amplifier more than a camera. He’s been hired as the musical director for a New York City-based TV program called Espia (‘Spy’ in Spanish), and he’s in the midst of releasing some previously shelved Sandbox material. Moreover, he’s been popping up in clubs from time to time with former Inbreds virtuoso Mike O’Neill. That said, Smith added that he’d love to see Trailer Park Boys carry on well into the future.

“We’d love to see it go on as long as we can do it for,” he said. “Just so long as it’s funny. The majority of the people in the park where we filmed loved it. A few were offended by it too. I think they thought we were making fun of people living in trailer parks, but that’s not it at all.

“This show is about humanity and reality … generally, the reaction to the show has been very good and we always try to involve people living in the park in the episodes.”

For Clattenburg, beyond Trailer Park Boys, he’s just completed the filming of a documentary with Barrie Dunn (the Boys’ producer) that examines the lives of Canadian hockey players who make their living fighting in American minor hockey leagues. The film, Tough Guys, is supposed to air on CTV sometime in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the forthcoming May 5 episode — aptly titled What the fuck happened to my trailer park? — picks up where last season ended (with Ricky and Julian being arrested at Ricky’s wedding and being carted off to prison for nearly two years). Freed from jail, Bubbles picks the boys up in Ricky’s jalopy. En route to the park, Julian reveals his master plan to Bubbles, Freedom 35.

	Canucks Ricky and Julian hoist some choice trailer bud

After befriending a couple of the prison guards, Julian arranged to sell dope to the inmates via the guards for a killer profit. Ricky, regarded in the park as somewhat of a guru at growing marijuana, will provide the dope and the two will make enough money to retire by the age of 35. For Ricky, it’s a fantastic opportunity to score enough cash to win back Lucy (played by Lucy DeCoutere), the love of his life, whom he left standing on the altar when he was busted 18-months earlier. Unfortunately for the boys, things get off to a rocky start when they arrive back at the park to discover all hell has broken loose.

Lahey, distraught at the loss of his bare-breasted sidekick (and secret lover) Randy, has shirked his duties at the park and has hit the bottle. As a result, he’s under threat of losing his job via a park election to hire a new supervisor. Without giving away too much, what ensues is akin to the world’s most dysfunctional family joining together to thwart a common enemy. As much as Julian, Ricky, Bubbles, J-Roc (Jonathan Torrens) and others despise Lahey and Randy, they know the only way to save the park (and themselves) is to ensure Lahey (the drunk bastard) gets re-elected. Thus, Julian plots a way to swing public opinion of Lahey in his favour, in exchange for a cheap lease of an abandoned trailer Lahey owns. This, Ricky tells Julian, would be the perfect spot to grow their killer weed.

Trailer Park Boys is definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you’re looking to explode with a belly full of laugher, it’s a gem of a show. Viewers sensitive to profane language and the odd violent scene might want to exercise caution. Put another way, if you haven’t got a good sense of humour, don’t bother tuning in. You won’t get it. Or as Ricky would say of the program, “we’re filmin' a little documentary here for the life network. It’s uh, kinda like cops, but from the criminal’s point of view.”

- All photographs courtesy Showcase Television

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