Letterkenny Encore the same schtick
In my review of the April 4 Letterkenney Live show, I described it as “R-rated, offensive, revolting, distasteful, foulmouthed, meant to offend anyone and everyone.”
Nothing has changed.
In fact, although the stars of this popular cult hit on CraveTV promised a different show several times at the beginning of Letterkenny Encore at Kelowna Community Theatre on Wednesday night, there were repeats.
That was strange since this crew of young men just produced 14 new shows — a new season starts Christmas Day. So there is lots of new material to work with.
Nathan Dales (Daryl aka Dairy) set the stage with his introduction: the same one used on April 4: three rules — no talking, no photos, no videos. Then K. Trevor Wilson (Squirrely Dan) came on stage, berated Dairy: “You came out too soft. This is Kelowna. These are mountain people. You have to treat them like a pack of wild animals.”
Squirrely Dan then laced the same instructions with a series of F-bombs, ending with the same line: “If you’re not spitting on someone in the front row, you’re not making your point.”
In April, there was often a chorus of “Ewws!” when a particularly disgusting image was suggested. There were no “Ewwws!” on Wednesday.
The format for this 90-minute “comedy experience” was the same: Jared Keeso (Wayne), Dairy and Squirrely Dan sitting on lawn chairs in front of a video screen showing a rural Ontario farm making small talk about “Letterkenny problems.” Only this time it was about anxiety and cold toilet seats causing hemorrhoids with a lot of butt puns.
The same format introduced Mark Forward (Coach) in a similar stand-up comedy set. His schtick is confrontational comedy by lambasting audience members who shout criticism of his targets which ranged from “kids are garbage” to molesting uncles to aunts “who try too hard to make you love them” to “Grandma who started bathing and perfuming two weeks ahead of time (for Christmas dinner) to get rid of the stench of death.”
He even walked down the aisle to confront a woman (security personnel standing nearby).
“If you are with a gentleman, he is a saint,” he berated another female heckler. “Dump her. Get rid of her. You’re not going to get the house you want. You’re not going to get (oral sex). This is your last show, b**ch.”
He also went after those who live in this province. “B.C. people: you think you’re saving the world; you’re not” And he pointed to all the homeless in Vancouver.
The three amigos then came back on stage to criticize TV remakes like Hawaii Five-O and Magnum PI, suggesting mashups like Roseanne of Green Gables, Modern Family Feud, Happy Days of Our Lives and Full House Hunters International.
There was new material in a Littlekenny cartoon video (a takeoff on the Young Sheldon TV series) with younger versions of the Letterkenny stars but the same jokes.
Squirrely Dan had his own stand-up comedy routine. He compared his family’s Christian Science beliefs to Scientology which is based on “aliens dropped into volcanoes and their spirits living on.” Christian Science is much stupider, he said, believing no one should use modern medicine.
“Most of my family is dead,” he joked.
Coach turned an admission of his diabetes diagnosis into a discussion of incontinence which almost produced a few “Ewws”.
To end the show as it began, the three young men repeated an April routine, comparing two sexual practises using baked goods and cheese to illustrate the difference.
It’s amazing Letterkenny Encore can get away with that for 52 shows across Canada.