I've realized for a while now that a lot of people I know have no idea who Red Green is. I make references once in a while to him and some people don't get it. I set my facebook status to things he says once in a while and I even dressed up as him for Halloween one year (see the "humor" photo album on my Facebook page). So I have decided to fill everyone who reads this in on Red Green and his TV show.
The Red Green Show is a Canadian comedy show. It's now syndicated in reruns in the US on a lot of PBS stations. It was on WNIN 9 on Saturday nights at 9pm, but now it's only on KET 31.1 at 6:30pm on Saturday nights. Several years ago they made a movie called "Duct Tape Forever", thought I didn't find it as funny as the TV show.
Red Green - Played by Steve Smith is of course the main character and everyone's hero. I've heard him compared to Tim the Toolman Taylor, but I don't like this comparison. Red does do segments with tools, focusing on duct tape mainly, but a lot of his jokes center around marriage and getting older. His jokes tend to be more insightful and clever than Tim Taylor. Red has a van painted up to look like a giant possum and is therefore refered to as "the possum van". Red said that it was a gift from his father so that he didn't have to drive his father's car in junior high. As I indicated before they don't make any new episodes of the show. Red Green has written a book recently and is currently on a book signing tour stopping at hardware stores throughout Canada. It's sponsored by 3M (no joke).
Harold Green - Red's nerdy nephew played by Patrick McKenna. He makes odd noises and tries to be the voice of reason when Red is considering doing something dangerous. He also plays the producer of the show. He does this by using a very large remote control thing that looks like it has a keyboard and a tv antenna attached to it.
Dalton Humphrey - Red's best friend. Dalton owns a store called "Humphrey's Everything Store" where he sells junk by telling people they are valuable antiques. He is frequently in trouble with his wife, Ann Marie. An interesting note: the term "daltonism" is a form of color blindness where the person has trouble distiguishing the colors red and green.
Bill (Adventures with Bill) - Played by Rick Green. Rick is the real producer of the show and therefore has his own segment called Adventures with Bill. This is Rick and Steve's tribute to old time physical and slapstick comedy like the Three Stooges. Bill usually is the one to get hurt in the segments. He keeps everything he needs inside of his bib overalls. And in almost every episode, Bill ends up knocking off the rear-view mirror of the possum van.
Ranger Gord - A Canadian forest ranger that lives in a fire watch tower. It's always implied that he's deprived of women and has too much time on his hands so he makes animated PSA's.
Hap Shaughnessy - A compulsive liar. In every segment he's in, he tells some wild tale about how he invented something and never took credit for it or gave some famous person advice.
Ed Frid - The animal control officer. Early on in the series he did a segment called "talking animals". Ed always finds a reason to be affraid of any animal he's brought.
Winston Rothschild, III - Owner of "Rothschild's Sewage and Septic Sucking Services". Winston does several commercials for his business throughout the series. He's always wearing a hardhat and hip waders. He's always looking for new business and even wrote a book about his "success".
Mike Hamar - An ex-con. Mike is frequently making jokes about being in jail and is caught stealing things from Red and the lodge.
Edgar K.B. Montrose - An explosives "expert" that is hard of hearing. This guy has actually been in a lot of films. One of which is The Green Mile with Tom Hanks. I've also spotted him on the TV show "Northern Exposure".
There are several people on the show that we hear about but never see such as Old Man Sedgwick, Buster Hadfield, Moose Thompson, and Stinky Peterson.
Possum Lodge - Where Red and the gang hang out. Most of the characters are members of the lodge. At the end of the show they always have a meeting in the basement. They start out reciting "Quando omni flunkus moritati", which is supposed to be latin for "When all else fails, play dead". Then they recite "the man's prayer" which is "I'm a man, and I can change, if I have to, I guess".
Red's Monolog - Red does a monolog where he's usually tying a fly lure. It always starts with "I wanna talk to you older guys/middle aged guys/younger guys/married guys about" some subject.
The Possum Lodge word game - Probably the most popular segment on the show. It's kind of like the $25,000 Pyramid where they try to get someone to say the secret word. Naturally they give funny answers to the clues. The person always says the word just in time except for one time. Red was trying to get Dalton to say the word "love" and finally Dalton said "Red, if I won't say that word for my wife, I'm sure not going to say it for you."
Handyman's Corner - A segment of the show where Red tries to use his inventiveness to solve a problem. A lot of his "solutions" involve appliances and automobiles. They ALWAYS involve duct tape. He ends the segment by saying "and remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy".
The Experts Portion - A segment where "we examine those three little words that men have so much trouble saying... I DON'T KNOW" They answer viewer's (supposedly) questions. Red and "his best friend in the whole wide room" give bad advice and Harold always trys to be the voice of reason, though he usually sets himself up to be the butt of a joke.
That's What Friends Are For - A segment on some of the earlier shows where Red and Dalton (sometimes Winston) come up to the camera and give rapid fire advice to a guy who is in trouble with his wife. An example might be what to do if a husband forgot his anniversary.
Youtube had a few great clips that I have linked to:
Red Green Shorts - this one has three great examples of segments of the show.
1. Monolog to middle aged guys getting older
2. Red and Winston gives advice to a guy who's made his wife mad with the TV remote
3. "The Experts" portion of the show with Edgar K.B. Montrose
Possum Lodge Word Game (Parent)
Possum Lodge Word Game (Celibate)
Handyman's Corner - Hardtop convertable
Handyman's Corner - All Wheel Drive (K car)
Advertures with Bill "The Chainsaw"
