Canada’s favourite ‘handyman’ will be stocking up on flannel shirts and duct tape and hitting the road this fall on his latest tour.
The ‘I’m Not Old, I’m Ripe Tour’ featuring Red Green (Steve Smith) arrives in Red Deer on Sept. 24th at the Memorial Centre.
Showtime is at 7 p.m.
Smith will be focusing on Red’s life – the twists, the turns, his insights and wisdom and of course the people he’s met along the way. How did all this happen?
For Smith, new material for shows just pops up in his thoughts virtually all of the time, he said. “For a long, long time I’ve had the kind of brain that just spits stuff out all the time – I’ve done 10 shows in the last 11 days, and every couple of days I write something down on a list.
“Nothing that has anything to do with what I’m doing – but it’s like, maybe down the road it might turn into something.
“It can be an absolute nuisance, but if you harness it, it can work out,” he laughs. “If I don’t use it for good, then I end up annoying my friends with it!”
‘I’m Not Old, I’m Ripe’ is a continuation of the highly successful tour that began this spring, landing in 25 cities in the U.S. It also follows his live performances across North America in his ‘How To Do Everything…from The Man who Should Know’ tour that crossed the country back in 2014.
Smith originally created the character of Red Green for his 1979–1985 sketch comedy series Smith & Smith. The sketch was a parody of the long-running Canadian outdoors show The Red Fisher Show (1968–1989), starring BH ‘Red’ Fisher in which Red and his friends would show silent films of their fishing trips with commentary at ‘Scuttlebutt Lodge’.
Red Green also appeared in Me & Max and The Comedy Mill before becoming the focus of his own series, which ended in 2006 after a lengthy and successful run. For those unfamiliar with show’s premise, Red Green was the president of the Possum Lodge, a men’s club in the Ontario town of Possum Lake near the also-fictional town of Port Asbestos.
He and fellow lodge members had their own TV show in which they gave lessons and demonstrations in repair work and outdoor activities and advice for men. As for Red Green’s enduring popularity, Smith credits the appeal of the character to audiences.
There’s something comfortable, simple and even rather innocent about Red Green and his surroundings, and folks want to check into that place. “I would say the consistent thing from what the audience tells me is that they have someone in their family that I remind them of,” he said. “Number two – they really like that relative. So I’m the beneficiary – they project their feelings about that relative who may no longer be with us – onto me. They like the Red Green character, but subliminally they’re connecting me with someone they cared for in their own family or within their friends.
“It’s fantastic.” There is a sense of nostalgia there, too. One woman told him Red Green was a show she used to watch with her dad. “These days, everyone is watching a different show up in their bedrooms on their phones.”
For tickets, call 403-755-6626 or check out www.blackknightinn.ca.
editor@reddeerexpress.com
