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Letterkenny co-stars reprise standout roles for TV series

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They may play a couple of dopey hockey players, but Andrew Herr and Dylan Playfair take their comedy seriously. The pair co-star in CraveTV and The Comedy Network’s upcoming Letterkenny as Jonesy and Reilly, two dunderheaded, expletive-spouting friends who share a distaste for hicks Wayne (Jared Keeso, 19-2) and Daryl (Nathan Dales, King & Maxwell), a love for hockey … and the same girlfriend.

First introduced in one episode of Keeso’s web series Letterkenny Problems—which was then picked up to series by Bell Media—the characters of Jonesy and Reilly had to be bulked up for the TV show’s six episodes.

“On the web series, there was just a few seconds of chirping,” Herr (Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story) says from an on-location shoot in Sudbury, Ont. “Now we see why these two are the way they are.” Both guys knew (or know) fellows who are a lot like their TV personas on hockey teams they’ve played on, so they relate to  the verbiage and actions. The scene Canadian TV critics saw being filmed that day included a riotous face-off between Jonesy, Reilly, Wayne and Daryl, with the former pair showcasing macho puffery and an urgency to “tarp off” (take off their shirts) and engage in a “donnybrook” (a fight) with the latter pair. Instead, Wayne and Daryl undressed the hockey players with a rapid-fire delivery of chirping that left Jonesy and Reilly befuddled. Herr says everyone sticks to the scripts written by series creator and executive producer Keeso and executive producer and director Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky), though Playfair’s scene-ending ad libs left Tierney and the crew crowding the monitors cackling several times.

Letterkenny spotlights three social groups—the Hicks, the Skids (Less Than Kind‘s Tyler Johnston is lead Skid, Stewart) and the Hockey Players—who are constantly at odds with each other. But when outside forces attack one faction, the other two come to their defence. Despite their differences, Letterkenny’s three social circles have a sense of community and family, something Playfair says was reflected in real-life by a promise Keeso made to he and Herr.

“Jared told us right away when he was pitching this, ‘You guys are going to be the guys,'” Playfair (Some Assembly Required) recalls. “Herrsie and I realized that we needed to take as many acting classes and get as much experience as we could so that [the network] would have to hire us. Fast forward a year and a half and here we are in Ontario filming Letterkenny with guys we were friends with before we became part of this project.”

Letterkenny will debut on CraveTV.

Check out Reilly and Jonesy in their Letterkenny Problems debut. Warning: expletives abound.

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Letterkenny

Link: Letterkenny helping Sudbury become Hollywood Further North

From Bill Brioux of TV Feeds My Family:

Letterkenny helping Sudbury become Hollywood Further North
They still pull nickels out of the mines in this Northern Ontario town. The latest precious resource, however: TV shows. There are a bunch of them shooting this year in Sudbury. I flew up this week to wander the set of Letterkenny, a hilarious take on small town dudes spun off the viral web hit “Letterkenny Problems.” One webisode has drawn over 3.4 million hits so far. All together, the series has pulled over 10 million views. Continue reading.

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Letterkenny

Production begins on The Comedy Network and CraveTV Co-Production, Letterkenny

From a media release:

The Comedy Network, CraveTVTM, New Metric Media, and a bunch of other city folks confirmed today that cameras are rollin’ on LETTERKENNY, an original Canadian series commissioned by CraveTV, in partnership with The Comedy Network. Created by Jared Keeso of Bravo original drama 19-2, and based on the internet sensation Letterkenny Problems, the six-part, half-hour series is currently shooting on location in and around Sudbury, ON, which everyone’s really stoked about – if it weren’t for the fact that it’s black fly season. The LETTERKENNY gang will be up der for ‘bout five weeks, ‘til the end of June.

We already told ya that LETTERKENNY stars Keeso as Wayne, a good-ol’ country boy in Letterkenny, Ontario trying to protect his homegrown way of life on the farm. He also executive produces and co-writes on the darn thing. Nathan Dales (KING & MAXWELL) stars as Wayne’s quick-tongued sidekick, Daryl. There’s more casting news to come, so keep your shirt on.

Residents of Letterkenny belong to one of three groups: The Hicks, the Skids, and the Hockey Players, who get at each other about the darnedest things, often ending with someone getting their arse kicked. Daryl and Wayne are Hicks. Michelle Mylett (ASCENSION) plays Wayne’s heart-breaker sister, Katy, who is also a Hick. On the ready to take the piss outta Wayne and Daryl, Dylan Playfair (MR HOCKEY: THE GORDIE HOWE STORY) and Andrew Herr (also, MR HOCKEY: THE GORDIE HOWE STORY) reprise their roles as The Hockey Players, “Jonesy” and “Reilly,” from Letterkenny Problems web series. Tyler Johnston (MOTIVE) stars as lead Skid, Stewart; Stewart’s “sideskid” Devon is played by Alexander De Jordy (19-2); Lisa Codrington (COPPER) stars as Modeen’s bartender, Gail; Jacob Tierney as the Christian Leader Glenn; and K Trevor Wilson stars as Wayne’s buddy, Dan.

Produced by New Metric Media (Cas & Dylan) in partnership with DHX Media and in association with Four Peaks Media Group, Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky) is executive producer, director, and co-writer. Patrick O’Sullivan and Mark Montefiore are executive producers for New Metric Media.

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