Letterkenny (TV series)

''Letterkenny'' is a Canadian sitcom created by Jared Keeso, developed and written primarily by Keeso and Jacob Tierney, directed by Tierney, and starring Keeso, Nathan Dales, Michelle Mylett, and K. Trevor Wilson. Originally a YouTube web series called ''Letterkenny Problems'', the show was commissioned for television by Crave in March 2015 and premiered in February 2016. The show follows the adventures of people residing in the fictional town of Letterkenny, a rural community in Ontario, Canada.

''Letterkenny'' is distributed by Hulu in the United States, with the first two seasons debuting in July 2018. Subsequent seasons were added on December 27, 2018. Hulu acquired exclusive streaming rights to the show in the U.S. in May 2019. The 11th season was released via Crave on December 25, 2022, and on Hulu the following day. A spin-off series created by Keeso, ''Shoresy'', based on the ''Letterkenny'' character of the same name debuted in 2022.

The show has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series.

Overview

''Letterkenny'' revolves around the titular small rural Ontario community, which took its name from Letterkenny in Ireland and is populated mostly by the descendants of Irish immigrants who escaped the 1840s Great Famine. Most episodes open with the text: "There are 5000 people in Letterkenny. These are their problems." The series focuses on siblings Wayne and Katy, who run a small farm and produce stand with help from Wayne's friends Daryl (often called “Dary”) and “Squirrely” Dan.

Episodes deal with small-town life amongst different types of people: the farmers (called "the hicks"), the out-of-towners who are members of the local ice hockey team, the town's obviously closeted Christian minister, the drug addicts (called "the skids"), the nearby First Nation reservation members (called "the natives"), the gym goers, the local Mennonites, and the Québécois. Early plots often revolved around Wayne defending his reputation as "the toughest guy in Letterkenny", the town's unsuccessful ice hockey team, the skids' schemes to rip off the residents of both Letterkenny and the natives, and Wayne's dating life after dumping his high school sweetheart who cheated on him.

The show is noted for subverting the common media trope of small-town residents being portrayed as narrow-minded and unintelligent: one running joke is that almost every character holds sophisticated views on social issues and can think quickly, with the latter usually exemplified by their ability to produce a near-constant flow of one-liners, puns, and wordplay during conversation.

Cast and characters

Production

The series is filmed in Sudbury, Canada. ''Letterkenny'' is the first original series commissioned by Crave, and premiered on that platform on February 7, 2016. The town of Letterkenny portrayed in the series is fictional and is not based on Brudenell, a town in Ontario sometimes called Letterkenny, though it is loosely based on Keeso's Ontario hometown of Listowel.

The show has its roots in ''Letterkenny Problems'', a short-form web series created by Keeso and released on YouTube in 2013. The original ''Letterkenny Problems'' consisted almost entirely of Keeso and Dales trading off comedic one-liners while simply standing in various locations, a theme that would later resurface as the intro to some ''Letterkenny'' episodes. ''Letterkenny Problems'' garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Fiction Program or Series Created for Digital Media at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases