From Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter:
Link: ‘Letterkenny’ is the Canadian comedy you didn’t know you needed
The first time I ran into the Canadian comedy Letterkenny, which will make its U.S. debut Friday on Hulu (the first two seasons, of five so far), it was hearing both of my teenagers laughing about something on YouTube. Like, for a long time. It was the cold open from Letterkenny‘s first season. Continue reading.Â
Anne with an E showrunner Moira Walley-Beckett, Letterkenny and Bad Blood production company New Metric Media, and veteran producer Sheila Hockin were among the Canadians feted during the Rockie Awards gala on Tuesday night at the Banff World Media Festival.
Hosted by Tony Award-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth—who began the show by munching ketchup potato chips and Timbits and closed with a stirring rendition of “The Prayer”—the evening also saluted Canadians who’ve made good in Hollywood. Jeremy Podeswa captured the Award of Excellence for his body of work as a director of such programs as Game of Thrones, Queer as Folk, The Tudors and The Pacific. David Shore was on hand to accept The Hollywood Reporter Impact Award for his hit medical drama The Good Doctor.
“Support is at the heart of innovation,” Mark Montefiore, New Metric Media’s president and executive producer of Letterkenny, Bad Blood and What Would Sal Do?, said upon receiving the Innovative Producer Award. “One can dream big all day long, but without the support of countless people, those ideas would simply remain as big dreams and not realities.”
Hockin was given the Canadian Award of Distinction for producing such shows as Vikings, The Handmaid’s Tale, Penny Dreadful, The Borgias, The Tudors, Canada’s Next Top Model and Queer as Folk.
Walley-Beckett accepted the Showrunner of the Year Award for her work on Anne with an E, set to return for Season 2 on Netflix next month and CBC in September.
“[Showrunning] is like conducting a full orchestra to play a symphony that you composed,” she said on-stage. “At the end of every season, I celebrate that I’ve lived to tell the tale. I love my work. Sleep is overrated. So is sanity.”
Here is the complete list of winners:
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Jeremy Podeswa
INNOVATIVE PRODUCER AWARD
New Metric Media
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER IMPACT AWARD
The Good Doctor
A&E INCLUSION AWARD
Elizabeth Vargas
CANADIAN AWARD OF DISTINCTION
Sheila Hockin
SHOWRUNNER OF THE YEAR
Moira Walley-Beckett
PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
This Is Us
SIR PETER USTINOV COMEDY AWARD
Sean Hayes
COMPANY OF DISTINCTION
NBCUniversal
From a media release:
CraveTV and New Metric Media confirmed today that U.S. streaming platform Hulu has acquired the exclusive U.S. streaming rights to the first two seasons of the award-winning Canadian comedy series, LETTERKENNY, in a deal executed by series distributor DHX Media. Created by and starring Jared Keeso, the half-hour, small-town comedy is produced by New Metric Media in partnership with DHX Media and Playfun Games. Seasons 1 and 2 of the small-town comedy series will make their debut in the U.S. on Friday, July 13, only on Hulu.
As announced in October, CraveTV entered into a 40-plus episode production commitment and comprehensive multi-year deal with LETTERKENNY producers New Metric Media, the recipient of the 2018 Innovative Producer Award for entrepreneurial achievement at the upcoming Banff World Media Festival’s Rockie Awards.
As announced last week, all-new LETTERKENNY returns to Canadian screens Canada Day weekend, with a fresh six-pack launching Friday, June 29 exclusively on CraveTV. Jay Baruchel guest stars as Hard Right Jay, a Tiki Torch-carrying out-of-towner, who stirs things up in Letterkenny.
Based on the internet sensation Letterkenny Problems, the half-hour comedy is a top performer and marquee program for CraveTV since its memorable launch on Super Bowl Sunday in 2016.  LETTERKENNY took home two 2018 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Writing in a Comedy Program or Series, and Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series. The series has also spawned brand extensions including sought after LETTERKENNY merchandise and the highly successful Puppers Premium Lager, in partnership with Stack Brewery in Sudbury, available now at LCBO stores in Ontario. LETTERKENNY LIVE!, a packed 26-city tour featuring a 90-minute comedy experience starring Keeso, and LETTERKENNY cast Nathan Dales, K. Trevor Wilson, and Mark Forward kicked off in Halifax on February 28 and wrapped in Surrey on April 6.
LETTERKENNY revolves around the dustups Wayne (Jared Keeso) and his buds get into with their small-town rivals. The Hicks, The Skids, and The Hockey Players get at each other about the most mundane things, often ending with someone getting their ass kicked. Key residents of LETTERKENNY are Daryl (Nathan Dales), Wayne’s free-spirited younger sister Katy (Michelle Mylett), and Wayne’s buddy, Dan (K Trevor Wilson) – all Hicks. CSA-nominated Daniel Petronijevic stars as Hick McMurray while Dylan Playfair and Andrew Herr are hotshot Hockey Players “Jonesy†and “Reillyâ€.Tyler Johnston and Evan Stern are Skids Stewart and Roald, Mark Forward is the temperamental Coach of the Letterkenny Irish, and Tiio Horn is the badass leader of The Natives, Tanis.
The first four six-packs of LETTERKENNY, along with special episodes “Ferda Editionâ€, “The Haunting of MoDean’s IIâ€, “St. Perfect’s Day,†“Super Hard Easter,†and the original web series Letterkenny Problems are currently streaming on CraveTV.LETTERKENNY is also available on iTunes and Google Play. Seasons 1 and 2 ofLETTERKENNY are currently available on DVD wherever DVDs are sold.
LETTERKENNY is produced by New Metric Media, in partnership with DHX Media and Playfun Games in association with Bell Media, with the participation of Canadian Media Fund, OMDC Tax Credits and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and distributed by DHX Media. Jared Keeso is executive producer, co-writer, star, and creator, Jacob Tierney is executive producer, director, and co-writer and Mark Montefiore is executive producer for New Metric Media.
The writers on Baroness Von Sketch Show, Letterkenny, Orphan Black, Odd Squad, and Kim’s Convenience co-star Andrew Phung and Schitt’s Creek‘s Emily Hampshire were among the winners in the Creative Fiction Storytelling categories during Night 2 of the Canadian Screen Awards.
Hosted by Kim’s Convenience‘s Andrew Phung, the non-televised celebration honoured 42 categories in the guest performance, writing, directing, photography, editing, production design, visual effects, sound, limited, variety and sketch comedy.
“On the count of three, I want you to shout out what you had for breakfast!” Phung yelled at the crowd before calling out Schitt’s Creek‘s Daniel Levy for not answering. “Now I want you to shout out your favourite Canadian production, but it cannot be your own project!” He then called his mother on his cell phone for advice on how to host the show.
“Oh my god,” she said. “You should just do your best.”
Special awards were given to the late Denis McGrath (Margaret Collier Award) and Jay Switzer (Academy Board of Directors’ Tribute Award), and Bell Let’s Talk (Humanitarian Award).
Here are the winners in several of the key categories:
Best Supporting Actor, Drama
R.H. Thomson, Anne
Best Supporting Actress, Drama
Allie MacDonald, Cardinal
Best Guest Performance, Drama Series
Steven McCarthy, Mary Kills People
Best Pre-School Program or Series
Paw Patrol, TVO Kids
Best Animated Program or Series
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, YTV
Best Children’s or Youth Fiction Program or Series
Odd Squad, TVO Kids
Best Performance, Children’s or Youth
Ella Ballentine, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables: Fire & Dew
Best Performance, Animation
Martin Short, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Halloween
Best Writing, Variety or Sketch Comedy
Aurora Browne, Meredith MacNeill, Carolyn Taylor, Jennifer Whalen, Jennifer Goodhue, Monica Heisey, Mae Martin, Zoe Whittall — Baroness Von Sketch Show, CBC
Best Writing, Comedy
Jacob Tierney, Jared Keeso — Letterkenny, CraveTV
Best Writing, Drama Program or Limited Series
Sarah Polley — Alias Grace, CBC
Best Writing, Drama Series
Graeme Manson, Renee St. Cyr — Orphan Black, Space
Best Writing, Children’s or Youth
Adam Peltzman, Tim McKeon — Odd Squad, TVO Kids
Best Writing, Animated
Sean Jara — Mysticons, YTV
Best Supporting or Guest Actor, Comedy
Andrew Phung, Kim’s Convenience
Best Supporting or Guest Actress, Comedy
Emily Hampshire, Schitt’s Creek
Best Sketch Comedy Program or Series
Baroness Von Sketch Show, CBC
Here is the complete list of winners from Wednesday night.
From Tony Daniel of The Federalist:
Link: Canadian linguistic delight ‘Letterkenny’ may be the best comedy on TV right now
“Letterkenny,†a CraveTV comedy series set in rural Canada, has the energy and feel of early “Seinfeld†episodes in its linguistic weirdness and in its Zen-like existence in a self-contained universe where only etiquette seems to matter, strange as it may seem to compare the two.
“Seinfeld†had to grow on me over the years. But my first encounter with “Letterkenny†was akin to seeing “Southpark,†“Raising Arizona,†or “Reservoir Dogs†for the first time. As in, what the heck just happened to my brain? Then, this is the most original thing I’ve come across in many moons. Continue reading.
