PREVIEW
Red Green's This Could Be It Tour
Saturday, Sept. 21
Arden Theatre
5 St. Anne Street
Tickets: $75 plus fees. Visit ticketmaster.ca
“I think we’ve done enough damage,” chuckles Gemini award-winning comedian Steve Smith discussing his alter ego Red Green.
As television handyman Red Green, Smith, 73, is planning a gruelling 29-city comedy tour across Canada. His This Could Be It Tour hits the Arden Theatre on Sept. 21 with a 90-minute one-man show.
“There’ll be no more tours after this one. This my fourth since 2010 and I’m getting on in years,” Smith said.
Having said that, Smith is pumped about playing to a live crowd instead of a studio camera.
“It’s so special. It’s so immediate. These days you can see performers anywhere in the world on social media. This is live. This is people interacting.”
Smith earned fame through the Red Green Show, a Canadian television comedy that aired on various channels in Canada. It broadcast its last show on CBC in 2006 after a 15-season run.
Written as a cross between a sitcom and a sketch comedy, it parodied home improvement, do-it-yourselfers, fishing and the outdoors, as well as male stereotypes.
Smith was the star, Red Green, leader of the Possum Lodge gang. Red was a do-it-yourself handyman who took shortcuts on his projects. If any screw-ups popped up, and they always did, Red pulled out his secret weapon – duct-tape.
Some of the hapless handyman’s most memorable inventions involved a jet pack made from two propane tanks, a hybrid car from recycled golf carts and satellite dishes; and a kiddie ride made from a bar stool hooked up to a washing machine agitator.
“He also turned a clothes dryer into a popcorn maker and put mood rings on the door to his house so he’d know his wife’s mood before he walked in. And then there was the cellphone he set to vibrate and used as a backscratcher.”
Not a shy guy, Red hosted campfire sessions, told moose poop jokes and dispensed contradictory marital advice. The rustic humour was silly, absurd, over-the-top and comic gold.
“I grew up in a rural area and I know how inventive these guys are. I was the lead writer, but I was also lucky to have four or five writers writing sketches with me.”
Although the TV series completed its run nearly 13 years ago, fans of all ages continue flocking to sold-out stand-up shows across North America.
As a master of misadventures, Red’s final one-man road show will feature a few new handyman projects, advice to married guys and teenage boys, tips on handling advancing years and an apology to the world on behalf of all baby boomers.
After the tour, what’s next?
“Maybe I’ll write a blog or do a podcast or go back to writing a newspaper column, if there are any left. I like to express my opinion. The show represented my point of view and I’d like to keep doing it.”
