Let me start off by saying that it's been many years since I've seen a live performance of this nature. I watch bands in local Victoria venues, but avoid large stadium shows like the plague, having had more than my fill of them in my youth. So I wasn't sure what to expect when I was invited to see the Trailer Park Boys doing their stand-up comedy routine at the Royal Theatre, a space usually reserved for the Opera and I don't even know what else. Let me also say that I am a big fan of the Trailer Park Boys. I think the show is brilliant and has to be considered one of the best in Canadian history. The characters and the way each of them has been developed over the years is fantastic. The way the shows writers seamlessly introduced the faux 'documentary style' of shooting into the series was and is revolutionary and the writing is superb.
So let's set the stage as it were: in the TPB's series finale, Jim Lahey manages to put everyone in the park behind bars and each of the convicts vows revenge against Sunnyvale's Trailer Park Supervisor; can anyone say a very appropriate premise for a second big budget movie?
As part of their sentence, Ricky, Julian and Bubbles are ordered by the court to hit the road and entertain Canada with a "Comedy Review" as part of their community service hours.
The show opens up with the Boy's already late to hit the stage and behind a curtain taking large draughts off a bong. Huge billows of smoke spill out from behind the drape and a 'piss jug' is unceremoniously tossed over the top and a hilarious puppet show ensues. Suddenly Ricky, Julian and Bubbles are doing their 'thing' to the delight of a very interactive and boisterous congregation.
They display a little uncertainty about how they should proceed and begin to argue back and forth in the dysfunctional way that only they can, over what they should do to entertain the crowd. Finally Bubbles is left on his own to tell a few jokes and sing a song, prefacing it by telling everyone that he's been ordered by "the guards" that he cannot, under any circumstances, sing his tale about alcohol and a certain type of woman. Perhaps because he's unable to belt out his favorite tune and the obvious anxiousness he's feeling about being on stage alone, he eventually ends up pissing his pants for everyone to see.
One of the things that really surprised me was that Bubbles can actually sing; he's got a great voice in fact. Another observation that struck me as being very impressive was the way each of them was able to deftly ad-lib moments or situations from the interaction with the crowd which happened a number of times throughout the performance.
We were then treated to a side-splitting slide show (try saying that five times fast, or even once!). Ricky was unaware of the chaos he caused on his way out to the West Coast and Bubbles and Julian captured some of his 'better moments' which were mostly of him passed out barfing and thrashing all over the country, including some Victoria hot spots and the airplane.
To end the first half of the show, Ricky got about 20 people on stage and proceeded to "hippo-tize" them and the rest of the audience in a somewhat convoluted "Reveen-like" seance. So with the crowd and the "guards" scattered throughout the theater all good and "hippo-tized", the TPB's decided it was an appropriate time for a "smoke break" and left the stage for twenty minutes.
About 80% of the theatre also took the opportunity to enjoy some of BC's finest and before you knew it Ricky, Julian and Bubbles were back from their break and feeling a lot "better".
Julian still had some doubts about whether or not the audience was in fact "hippo-tized" so Bubbles had half the theatre yell "Cock" and the other half "Pincher" over and over and they concluded that we'd have to be "hippo-tized" to do something crazy like that!
Two audience members, hand picked by Julian, were ordered to the stage and given Cory and Trevor costumes to help with the Boys' next skit in the show. I am still a little unsure if the "Trevor" audience participant was an actor or not, because if he wasn't, this guy would have easily given the real Trevor a run for his money in the stupidity department.
The next act had Julian once again picking audience members to join the three on stage, but this time it was the ladies turn. A contest to see who was Victoria's greatest and most skilled "Party Girl" took place which saw the participants roll joints, transfer the contents from a full to an empty mickey bottle and ended with a good ol' fashioned "chug off". For any of you interested out there, "Box-O" is the runaway Victoria "Party Girl" for 2009!
Bubbles next requested three audience members to come up on stage and to have a 30 second "rock out" contest and handed the first contestant a guitar. Number one was "ok", number two a bit better. Number three started off with "Cat Scratch Fever", which Bubbles loved, and closed out the contest with an inspired solo.
In the end Bubbles defied the guards orders and with the winning guitarist by his side, ended the show with a rousing rendition of 'Liquor and Whores' which was followed by a very brief appearance of "Zombie Conky".
The TPB's left the stage to a standing ovation.
In return for my ticket I agreed to write this article. I didn't see for myself, but was told that seats were $50 a shot. 1000 seats x $50 = $50,000! Holy cow! I worked this figure out during the break and wondered how much the TPB's actually pocket off each venue?
While that may sound expensive, I can guarantee you that the TPB's could easily have sold out five more shows in Victoria. How many of you would buy a ticket right now given the opportunity? My guess is well over 5,000 when considering the large following the Boys have on the Island.
The verdict: the Trailer Park Boys are guilty as charged! While certainly not as good as one of the television shows, I thought their stand-up was more than adequate and found myself laughing out loud a number of times.
When you take into account the obscurity this show came from, the budget constraints it overcame, the evolution of the story line and the characters, and the World renown it now enjoys, I was humbled and thrilled to have seen and been a part of what is already considered a legendary Canadian comedy trio.
Erin Dix is the author and owner of http://www.jewelryjoan.com/home.html featuring fine sterling silver jewelry and unique gift ideas.
