“Pittsburgh Dad” actor celebrates his first real-life Father’s Day.
Of the major life events of Curt Wootton has experienced over the past decade, at least two of them came with a heavy dose of cosmic irony.
He pulled up stakes from Greensburg 15 years ago this month and hit the road: destination California, with designs on being the next Harrison Ford, as he put it. Instead he found internet fame seven years later back in Western Pennsylvania, playing a fictionalized character based on his own father on the viral-smash-turned-local-institution, Pittsburgh Dad.
However, akin to the soap opera doctor in the 1980s’ cough medicine commercial, through all those years of success playing a father, he wasn’t one himself. That was to change this year, with he and his wife, Kaitlin, expecting a baby girl.
But, while his wife’s due date drew near, in a cruel twist, Wootton’s father, Keith, died Feb. 11. Seven weeks and one day later on April 2 his daughter Penny entered the world.
Needless to say, Sunday is a bittersweet day for Wootton, who will celebrate his first Father’s Day as a dad, and his first without one.
“You can plan over and over again how you want things to go, how you see your life but sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. That’s what my journey has been about,” he mused at his family’s Pleasant Hills home on a drizzly late May afternoon.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Wootton said of the emotional waves his
family has ridden this year.
He created the character — a world-weary blue collar Pittsburgh everyman — along with his collaborator, filmmaker Chris Preksta. Their first “Pittsburgh Dad” video dropped in October 2011 and was an immediate viral sensation.
The pair have filmed more than 300 videos that have accrued tens of millions views and have more than 171,000 subscribers on their dedicated YouTube channel. They have spun off short films, holiday specials, merchandise and limited edition Eat ‘n Park Smiley Cookies. They now do spots for iconic Iron City Beer.
Part of the lasting appeal of Pittsburgh Dad — besides the locally colloquial humor — are the relatable domestic scenarios that harken to a seemingly more innocent age.
“Every generation is in a sense more complicated than the previous one, but the fundamentals are always there. Raising a family is going to change a little bit, but not altogether,” he said, although he conceded with a laugh, “Then again, I’m a little green at this. I’m only two months in. You can talk to me in a few years and see how my perception changes.”
Wootton said that in the early episodes, he essentially channeled his father. Now that he’s gone, it will help keep the memory of him burning.
“At no point in my mind did I think about stopping the show because of my dad’s passing. Being able to do the show and continue his legacy has been therapeutic for me. To stop it would’ve been the wrong decision. Keeping it alive is like keeping part of him alive, for as long as we do it.”
The sitcom-junkie, who lists Jack Arnold, Dan Conner, Al Bundy and Danny Tanner among his favorite TV dads, said not to expect Penny to be written into the show, although he laughed at the notion that historically when a television program is on its last legs, “All of a sudden — It’s a baby!”
In the meantime, he’ll have plenty of lessons from his father to pass along.
“Family is important. They’re always going to be there [and] the friends you make along the way. No one in this world owes you anything. You’re gonna have to work hard. Schooling, education, your faith, those are some of the ideals that get passed down,” he said before adding one more.
“And of course, you have to root for the Steelers.”
“No one in this world owes you anything. You’re gonna have to work hard. Schooling, education, your faith, those are some of the ideals that get passed down.” Curt Wootton