Letterkenny: K. Trevor Wilson and Lisa Codrington Discuss TV’s Fastest-Talking Canadian Comedy [Video]

The rise of Canadian television programming has never been more apparent with Schitt’s Creek solidifying itself as one of TV’s greatest comedies and networks looking over the border for programming to fill airtime left vacant by production shutdowns.

But no show is quite as wonderful, weird, or Canadian as Letterkenny. It’s not the first small-town import to find itself on America’s radar thanks to streaming services like Hulu — but it’s by far the most unique project to make the journey thus far.

The cult comedy started as a youtube channel and then a Crave original as creator Jared Keeso transformed the problems of his hometown into a fast-talking satire of mass-appeal. The series has had non-stop success thanks to several live tours and a steady flow of new content, with Season 9 of Letterkenny arriving on Hulu and Crave in time for the holidays.

K. Trevor Wilson and Lisa Codrington have been with the series since it first premiered in 2016. Wilson plays Squirrelly Dan, a devoted member of the hicks; while Codrington plays Gail, the sensual owner of the town’s one and only bar.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Wilson and Codrington about their work on Letterkenny, how a pandemic storyline could be unavoidable, and the unique challenges of working on a series that relies on fast-paced dialogue and slow-motion fight scenes.

“Depends on the fight, depends on the dialogue. I’ll be honest, we do more dialogue scenes than fight scenes, and those can be tongue twisters. The hardest part about shooting the dialogue is getting over the giggles. Once we start breaking, it can take us right out of the pacing,” explained Wilson.

“Also we are not athletes on that show. So with some of those fights, once the adrenalin wears off, I’ve got an old man back and fat guy knees. Sometimes I just need to lay down after a fight scene.”

Watch the full video of this interview with K. Trevor Wilson and Lisa Codrington:

Codrington stressed the difficulty of keeping up with the quick dialogue but said there’s nothing quite like the payoff that comes when they get the lingo right.

“The dialogue for sure can be challenging. It’s making sure that you are keeping the pace and keeping things tight, especially when it’s nine or ten pages and you’ve got to go back to the beginning to get through it. I think that’s tricky, but it feels great when you do get it.”

And when it comes to getting over the giggles, Wilson confessed that it’s incredibly difficult to keep it together when Gail is present in a scene.

“Oh, I break all the time when I’m in a scene with Lisa. I think I’ve seen her break once in the history of the show. She is amazing at keeping a straight face while saying the most ridiculous things. If you go back to Season 1 of Letterkenny in “Fartbook,” you can see me hiding behind my hat to keep from laughing at Lisa’s gyrations and threats towards the skids.”

Codrington said reading the lines ahead of the time helps her prepare before she jumps into the dialogue, “I get time to desensitize, so when I come in it’s a little easier not to break.”

It seems no resident of Letterkenny has made a more lasting impression than Gail and her outlandish body movements. When asked where the expressive bar owner’s physicality originated from, Codrington admitted the character choice is somewhat of a mystery.

“Honestly, I don’t know that I remember now,” laughed Codrington. “I wish I had a better origin story, but I don’t. I felt like the things she was saying needed some kind of movement with it. That was what was going on inside of her body and in this world, I thought it was fit for it to actually be seen.”

Letterkenny has cultivated a small-town world that doesn’t need to concern itself with current events to be funny. Despite the show’s desire to stay removed, when asked if the pandemic could find its way into the script for the upcoming season Wilson didn’t rule out the possibility.

“Letterkenny tries not to date itself by focusing too much on what’s in the headlines, but I also think to not mention it would be even weirder than mentioning it,” he admitted. “I imagine something will be said. I imagine some jokes will be made. I don’t know if it’s going to be an arc that covers the full season, but I think we’ll have to touch on it because otherwise, you’re leaving a lot of comedy on the table.”

Codrington expressed her curiosity to see how they handle the topic as well, believing the show will find its own way of tackling the pandemic. “They are so creative and work with things in such fun ways, I’m sure they’ll figure out some way to dive into it.”

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Letterkenny is streaming now on Hulu and Crave.

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