Calgary comedy festival marks five years of laughter
Red Green bringing laugh fest to town
We’re going to do a little Canadian icon quiz.
When I say Steve Smith you’ll probably shrug your shoulders.
If I say Red Green you’ll grin and rightfully call him the duct tape handyman.
Well, the two are one and the same and they’re coming to Alberta with their latest laugh fest, I’m Not Old I’m Ripe.
Red Green will play the Jubilee in Calgary Wednesday and the Yates Memorial Theatre in Lethbridge on Thursday.
It’s difficult to believe that Red and his regulars at the Possum Lodge Men’s Club closed shop 10 years ago after 300 episodes over 15 years, possibly because reruns keep popping up regularly, especially on PBS and Comedy Central stations.
The Possum Lodge may be shuttered, but not Steve Smith who’ll turn 71 this December.
“Retirement isn’t in my vocabulary. My nature has always been to look forward. I’m at my fittest and happiest when I’m in front of an audience. Right now I’m in good shape and have a lot of energy,” says Smith, whose show last year, How to Do Everything ... From the Man Who Should Know How visited 77 cities in North America.
Yes, Red Green is just as popular in the States as he is in Canada.
“The Americans go crazy at my shows. By comparison, Canadian are rather subdued.”
He’s proud to point out that he’s featured on 120 PBS stations and that he remains the highest pledgeraising series on PBS. “People are determined to keep us on their TVs even though it’s all reruns.”
One of Smith’s most satisfying moments happened after The Red Green Show was about to be cancelled after its second year.
“I started getting 1,000 letters a day pleading with me to do everything possible to keep the show on the air.
“I put all those letters in a huge bag and took it to TV conventions. It worked. We were renewed.”
Red Green is the handyman at the Possum Lodge and his weekly Handyman Corner segments remain Smith’s favourites.
Red would find creative ways to uses pieces from derelict cars.
He made his own jet pack, paddle wheeler and fairground rides and the most important ingredient was always duct tape which he used to hold everything together.
“People everywhere started sending me their duct taped concoctions.
“There was one guy who duct taped the front end of a motorcycle to the back end of a Ford Escort and it actually ran.
“We were a godsend to the duct tape industry.”
If you dare ask why all this focus on duct tape, Smith remarks “it’s the personification of the male attitude towards life.
“It’s the quickest and easiest way to get things done.
“The moment a man agrees to go to a concert or to visit a relative, he asks in the same breath how long it’s going to take and that’s the duct tape approach to life.”
In your visit with Steve and Red in I’m Not Old, I’m Ripe, you’ll learn a great deal about Red because Smith calls it “a kind of autobiography of Red. It’s essentially his life story.”
Smith says he can walk anywhere and not get recognized as long as he doesn’t wear Red’s signature Canadian military field manoeuvres hat and then he’s mobbed.
He says his two grandchildren, ages 9 and 4, love Red Green and are only too proud to tell their teachers and classmates he’s their grandpa.
The Sept. 28 show at the Calgary Jubilee Auditorium starts at 7 p.m. and tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
You can check out redgreen.com for information on all the stops in this current tour which began in Phoenix on Sept. 8.
I started getting 1,000 letters a day pleading with me to do everything possible to keep the show on the air.