Tag Archives: Jared Keeso

Photo gallery: Letterkenny Season 1 photos unveiled

With less than a month to go before Letterkenny drops on CraveTV, the fine folks in charge of the show have released some pretty kickin’ key art to introduce fans to the characters headed our way.

All six half-hour episodes debut on Sunday, Feb. 7, at 9 a.m. ET, at which time Jared Keeso’s online creation, Letterkenny Problems, launches as a television series. Here’s a sneak peek at The Hicks, Skids and the Hockey Players battling it out in that quirky small town.

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First look: Letterkenny’s first scene revealed

CraveTV has given Letterkenny fans a super-sweet (and expletive-filled) sneak peek at the first scene of the show’s first episode.

The two-minute clip stars creator, writer and executive producer Jared Keeso as Wayne, a small-town hick just looking to get by alongside his best buddy Daryl (Nathan Dales). The opener also introduces thick-headed hockey players Jonesy (Dylan Playfair) and Reilly (Andrew Herr) and Wayne’s sister Katy (Michelle Mylett).

Letterkenny‘s first season debuts Sunday, Feb. 7, on CraveTV.

Related: Get up to speed on what’s to come on Letterkenny.

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CraveTV’s first-ever original Letterkenny to launch Super Bowl Sunday

From a media release:

− All six episodes to debut at once, exclusively on CraveTV –
− World premiere of LETTERKENNY to screen at Canadian International Television Festival (CITF) November 20 −
− LETTERKENNY to premiere Spring 2016 on The Comedy Network −

It really is a great day for hay. CraveTVTM announced today that its original comedy series everyone’s been yapping’ about, LETTERKENNY, will begin streaming on Sunday, Feb. 7, otherwise known as Super Bowl Sunday (pretty huge day for TV bud, so watch ‘em all before kickoff). Commissioned by CraveTV, in partnership with The Comedy Network, the entire six-part, half-hour series launches exclusively on CraveTV  a coupl’a weeks after the premium TV streaming service goes direct to consumers in January 2016, and will be followed by its specialty debut on Comedy in Spring 2016.

Created by hotshot Jared Keeso of Bravo’s hit original drama 19-2, LETTERKENNYis based on the Internet sensation Letterkenny Problems, Keeso’s series of shorts which have raked in more than 10 million views and landed a Canadian Screen Award nomination in 2014 for Best Web Series. LETTERKENNY is executive produced, directed, and co-written by Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky).

To get everyone cranked up about the new series CraveTV has acquired Letterkenny Problems and will begin streaming the shorts on Friday, Nov. 20, the same day LETTERKENNY receives its world premiere at the Canadian International Television Festival (CITF) at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox. As a tribute to the fans that have made Letterkenny a cult hit, CITF will screen LETTERKENNY’s debut episode “Ain’t No Reason to Get Excited” as well as provide a panel discussion with creator, co-writer, star, and executive producer, Jared Keeso. Executive producers Mark Montefiore and Patrick O’Sullivan of New Metric Media will be on hand for panel discussion, but no chirpin’ please and thanks.

CraveTV also confirmed today that building on the success of Letterkenny Problems, six brand-new shorts will accompany each episode streamed on the service. Beauty.

LETTERKENNY revolves around the dustups Wayne (Keeso) and his buds get into with their small-town Ontario rivals. There’s 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. Wayne, his best bud Daryl (Nathan Dales, KING & MAXWELL), and Wayne’s free-spirited younger sister Katy (Michelle Mylett, ASCENSION) are all Hicks. 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. 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.

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Interview: 19-2’s Jared Keeso teases his new effing comedy project

For Jared Keeso, AC/DC will forever be burned into his brain as the soundtrack to the next step in his television career. A tune by the Aussie rockers was blaring from his cellphone the day he found out his Internet series, Letterkenny Problems had been ordered to TV.

Keeso’s creation, about a foul-mouthed pair of dudes living in the fictional small town of Letterkenny, is the first original Canadian series to air on Bell Media’s CraveTV followed by broadcast on Comedy Network. Last Thursday’s announcement caps off one heck of a week for Keeso that started the previous Sunday when he captured a Canadian Screen Award for his lead role on Bravo’s 19-2.

Congratulations on the Canadian Screen Award. Did you know what you were going to say in your acceptance speech?
Jared Keeso: I had an idea of what I was going to say. I had some points, but I can’t believe I got through it without too many ums and uhs. I managed to seem pretty organized up there. As soon as they called my name the nerves shut off and I was pretty comfortable up on the stage.

How long ago did you find out that Letterkenny was a go? And did Bell Media contact you via phone call, email, text?
They called the producers, Mark Montefiore and Patrick O’Sullivan of New Metric Media. I was in Montreal doing press for 19-2 at the time. We were expecting the green light or red light call. I was in between interviews for 19-2 and my phone rang and it was Montefiore and I knew it. This is the call. I pick up and say ‘Hello?’ and there is AC/DC music playing. [Laughs.] They let that go for 10 for 15 seconds while they were probably dancing around their offices and then Montefiore yells out, ‘Six episodes greenlit, baby!’ I was speechless. I could tell that it was a big a deal to them as it was to me. Everybody at Bell has been so supportive and seem so enthusiastic. Working with them has been a pleasure.


I’m almost positive on CraveTV we can say the f-word as much as we want.


Letterkenny is the first Canadian original to be commissioned for first window on CraveTV. How does that feel to be breaking new ground?

I couldn’t be happier about the decision to make us the first original Canadian show to be on CraveTV and then shift us over to Comedy after that. I really like it because I’m almost positive on CraveTV we can say the f-word as much as we want. And that’s good because the way things are scripted right now I think I have one page with a baker’s dozen f-words on it. It’s in every line and sometimes twice per line. Hopefully we get away with it.

Had you guys been aiming for a six-episode order?
A six-episode order is exactly what we wanted. It’s my first time being paid as a writer—it’s my first rodeo—and having six episodes to cut my teeth on gives us a great opportunity to launch without having to water down anything with a larger order. I don’t think I’m able to really pack a punch in 10 or 12 episodes.

Who is writing it? You mentioned yourself already. Is your Letterkenny Problems’ co-star Nathan Dales writing too?
Nate’s not involved in the writing. Jacob Tierney and I are writing every episode and we have Mike Dowse from FUBAR and Goon as our script consultant. And I’ll tell you, that guy is just so valuable to the process. Not only does he bring a ton of expertise to it but he speaks English very, very well. His notes are very concrete and it’s easy for us to understand what he means. We’ve done a lot of moving and shaking based on his advice. It’s pretty crazy to be working with the guy who made one of my favourite movies of all time in FUBAR.

What are you learning about yourself as a writer? Are you a lazy writer? Are you able to whip stuff off?
I’m certainly learning what my strengths and weaknesses are. I’m glad that we’re going the sitcom route with this. My strength is the dialogue, as many laughs as possible. Big story and character arc is not my strength. Working on a show like 19-2 makes me appreciate guys like Bruce Smith and Jesse McKeown that much more because what they do I simply could not do.


Growing up on Listowel, Ont., I’m so proud to have come from that town. But growing up there, getting your ass kicked was a legitimate concern on a day-to-day basis.


Give me a lowdown on the setup of the show. The release says ‘The residents of Letterkenny belong to one of three groups: Hicks, Skids, and Hockey Players. The three groups are constantly feuding with each other over seemingly trivial matters.’

Growing up in Listowel, Ont. … I’m so proud to have come from that town. But growing up there, getting your ass kicked was a legitimate concern on a day-to-day basis. And I think that was because we were all in this small town with nothing better to do so we drink and we fight. We drink we fight and we dance, actually. It is true to life in that you were in one of those three groups. In high school I was friends with everybody so I can draw from actual experiences there. Letterkenny doesn’t drift too far into the absurd. The dialogue is nutty but we do keep it true to real life for the most part.

But I wanted to make sure that the show was tough. We think that’s what sold so much of our audience with Letterkenny Problems. It’s funny but it’s still tough. I don’t think you’d want to eff with either of those two guys.

Where will you be filming?
We’re going to Sudbury, Ont. I’ve only been there once, but I know from growing up and playing hockey that those guys used to come down and just beat the shit out of us physically on and off the scoreboard. There are a lot of tough dudes in that town.

The elephant in the room, of course, is 19-2. When do you expect to hear about a third season of that and how will it impact on Letterkenny‘s production schedule?
We found out about Season 2 of 19-2 a couple of days before the first season finale aired and I think we’d all love to find out around that same time again. That was great, watching the last episode and knowing we were all going back to do it again. I think everybody is pretty optimistic about it and it would be a shame if we didn’t get to go back and do it. Six episodes of Letterkenny is tailored to not get in the way if 19-2 goes back.

Meanwhile, Keeso’s 19-2 airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo.

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19-2’s shocking, stunning Season 2 return

The second season return 19-2 on Monday night features a continuous tracking shot that sets the tone for a series that already set a high bar for drama in Season 1. “School,” directed by Podz, who helmed the episode for the original Radio Canada series, captured over 10 minutes of stunning, shocking television in a continual shot, following officers Ben Chartier (Jared Keeso), Nick Barron (Adrian Holmes) and the members of their squad as they track down a shooter loose in a Montreal high school.

Ben and Nick go from the front office area through the cafeteria as bullets fly and students flee around them. The camera continues to a wall of windows to show a squadron of police cars arriving while frightened students weep against walls and pillars, praying they survive. It’s the most dramatic episode of 19-2 so far, a big deal considering cop Audrey Pouliot (Laurence Leboeuf) was beaten to the brink of death by a group of thugs in Season 1.

Monday’s return also marks a new direction for the Canadian Screen Award-nominated Bravo series. There is the overarching theme of Ben being asked to spy on his partner, Nick, who is suspected of being a mole by the Sécurité du Québec (SQ)—a theme explored in the French series too—but it won’t follow the same trail to get there.

“We get to the same place, but we get there in a very different way,” says executive producer, showrunner and writer Bruce M. Smith (Cracked, Durham County) during an on-location press junket in Montreal last August. “We did that not because we didn’t like what the French did, but because of who our cast was and how they had developed over Season 1. They had become quite different people from their French counterparts.”

Smith is a huge fan of the original 19-2, and likens Bravo’s take to NBC’s version of the British smash comedy The Office; they were given a lot of liberty to make it different organic being based on the same DNA. Benz Antoine (Blue Murder), Smith explains, plays Officer Tyler Joseph in both versions of 19-2, but they’re very different characters. Speaking of writing, the room has expanded for Season 2 as well. First season scribes Smith and Jesse McKeown (Republic of Doyle) have been joined by Damon Vignale (Blackstone) and Nikolijne Troubetzkoy (Call Me Fitz), a four-person luxury Smith says is alien in Quebec where writers pen their scripts at home alone and then bring them to set for filming. Lynne Kamm has kept things realistic on 19-2, serving as a liaison between real police and the show, which has entailed dozens of ride-alongs.

Smith says he expects there to be a lot of talk among viewers following Monday’s return broadcast—there are many, many casualties in “School” and the overall story mirrors recent events around the world—but Bravo has stuck by the producers since Day 1.

“We see this as a cable show, and they have encouraged us to go there with the content,” Smith says. “We are, at times, much more realistic and darker, and we show these characters warts and all.”

19-2 airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo. The season premiere will air commercial-free on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.

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