Red Green tells us how it all got started
What: Red Green (a.k.a. Steve Smith) When: Friday, 7 p.m. Where: McPherson Playhouse Tickets: $69.50 (250-386-6121)
To truly understand Red Green, one must learn about The Red Fisher Show.
The Red Fisher Show was a Canadian TV program that ran from 1968 to 1989. It chronicled the exploits of Red Fisher, who talked about fishing with guests at the fictitious Scuttlebutt Lodge.
Steve Smith parodied The Red Fisher Show on his own The Red Green Show. The long-running (and now defunct) comedy television series starred goofy handyman Red Green, who presided over the fictitious Possum Lodge.
Smith, who’ll perform his oneman Red Green show in Victoria on Friday, recalls The Red Fisher Show as being unintentionally amusing. At the same time, the show — which began and ended with the same cheesy floatplane footage — was excruciatingly dull.
“They would talk about this fishing trip they went on where they never caught anything,” Smith said.
Like Red Fisher, Smith recited homespun poems on The Red Green Show.
“That’s where it all came from,” Smith said. “But [Fisher] was way funnier than me. Because he wasn’t trying.”
Smith’s live show is I’m Not Old, I’m Ripe. Now 70, the comedian is performing mostly smalltown dates in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. This is his third tour, featuring alloriginal material, since The Red Green Show finished in 2006.
I’m Not Old, I’m Ripe centres on Red Green’s life, relationships and “lots of handyman stuff” (the running joke was that Red was obsessed with fixing things with duct tape).
The Red Green Show, which aired 300 episodes between 1991 and 2006, was one of the most popular in Canada television history. It was also broadcast on PBS, earning Smith a cult following in America. Last spring, he completed a 26-date U.S. tour of I’m Not Old, I’m Ripe.
When he turned 60, Smith hung up his plaid shirt at CBC TV. He never intended to reprise the character of Red Green. He’d had a long run and wanted to exit while the quality was still high.
“When I finished the show I was done, done, done. I was like: ‘I’m not doing anything ever again.’ But my brain wouldn’t shut off. I keep thinking of things.”
Smith believes part of the show’s popularity is due to the universality of Red Green. Everyone has a goofy, handyman-type guy in their family — or at least, they know one. So he’s relatable.
As well, if portrayed by such a character, the enjoyment of nonpolitically correct humour somehow becomes acceptable, Smith said. In his new show, he can (as Red) joke about the joys of meateating. And he can lament such trends as scent-free zones and school bans on peanut-butter sandwiches.
“I become like the enabler,” Smith said.
He phoned from his home in Hamilton, Ont.
When not performing, Smith tinkers with a pair of vintage cars, a 1929 Oldsmobile sedan and a 1947 Lincoln Continental convertible.
His parents were not funny. His dad was a salesman who became an investment broker. However, Smith was a funny kid — literally the class clown.
In 1979, Smith wrote, produced and starred in the TV comedy show Smith & Smith with his wife, Morag. Other television shows followed: Me & Max, The Comedy Mill and Laughing Matters. However, nothing hit quite like The Red Green Show.
Smith once had the chance to meet Red Fisher.
Both men were booked to appear on a live radio show in London, Ont. But Fisher failed to show up. The radio host, desperately stalling for time, finally phoned Fisher at home.
“Red said: ‘Well, I’ve been on the road for a while. So I thought I’d stay home and do my laundry,’ ” Smith said, laughing.