Frantic Interviews
An Interview with Duncan McKenzie
(aka "Leonard") of "History Bites"
Duncan McKenzie is one of the several writers -- including ex-Frantic Rick Green -- who work on the "History Bites" television series.
No, he is not a Frantic, but as a writer for "History Bites" he is definitely worth recognizing as one of the more significant people working on what can be thought of as a post-Frantics project. (Okay, okay, I'll also admit to simply liking the show on its own merits apart from its vague Frantics-connection ;-)
While his main job is collaborating with the other writers on the show, he also occasionally guest stars as "Leonard" in the re-occuring "Jeopardy" take-offs that appear on most episodes in the series.
He was kind enough recently to grant me an interview about working on "History Bites":
KS-R: How long does it typically take to shoot a show?
DM: That's surprisingly difficult to answer. We have a small budget, and each
show has a wide range of locations, so in order to get the most use out of
each location, each shoot day includes sections from many different
episodes. If we're shooting one day at an location with old stone buildings,
we might shoot a Roman press interview, then a 15th century Pepsi ad,
etc. all in a row.
That means that some episodes may take a couple of months before it's
completed.
In total, though, we have about 40 shoot days, for the season, which has to
produce the material for 24 episodes. We also add a few unused sketches
from previous seasons (just to get more variety). So on average, each
episode takes around two shoot days. Which isn't much.
KS-R: Where are they shot?
DM: Almost everything is shot in and around the Hamilton area. That's because
the crew all come from OnTV in Hamilton, and their energy levels drop if
they travel too far from the group consciousness within the electrohive.
Most of the studio stuff is done at a space provided by Mohawk College in
Hamilton, situated conveniently across the road from the psychiatric
hospital.
If you see a scene in an outdoor area with buildings, it was probably done
at Westfield Village in scenic Rockton. Whenever we shoot there, I find
myself thinking, wow, Westfield village provides fun for the whole family. It's
a day trip that provides a glimpse into Ontario's past. Why not take a trip
there today.
A few other outdoor shots (and most of the ones with a lake in the
background) were done at Liuna Gardens in Stoney Creek. They give us
coffee and orange juice in the mornings. And those little tiny croissants -
they're MMMM-mmm good. History Bites cast and crew agree that, since
1984, Liuna Gardens has endeavored to deliver catering and food services
of unsurpassed quality to meet and exceed clients' expectations at
affordable rates. And one thing History Bites producer Rick Green
appreciates is that Liuna Gardens is conveniently located minutes away
from Hamilton, Stoney Creek and St. Catherines and is the midway point
between Fort Erie and Toronto. Laughs Rick, "Liuna Gardens is situated
along 1000-feet of Lake Ontario's shoreline amidst twelve acres of
spectacular landscaping."
KS-R: This show has a lot of writers. How long does it typically
take to write a show (and how much stuff doesn’t get used)?
DM: There are six writers in addition to Rick. Each of us does the research and
writes a first draft for three or four episodes. It's the research that takes the
time. Everything gets slowed down by the historical background. For
example, if you're writing a sketch set in a modern day store, the character
can say, "That armchair is five dollars." But if it's set in Ancient Greece,
you suddenly have to know what the currency was, and what it was worth.
Would a chair cost a drachma, a talent, a tetradrachm, an obol, or a
stater? And did they even have armchairs in those days? So suddenly to
get this one line of dialogue done, you have to spend half an hour hunting
on the internet or through books to see how much things cost in the reign
of Alexander the Great. And the same issues arise every time you need to
come up with a character name, or mention a sport, or comment on almost
any daily life detail. We spend a lot of time trying to get the facts right. And
when we've given up trying, we just make it up.
We start working on the shows in February, researching different possible
topics and seeing what approach would be funniest, or which ones seem to
have the most resonance with issues today. For example, we're doing one
this season about Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula. What Rick liked
about that idea wasn't so much the fact that he was a bloodthirsty killer,
but the fact that after he'd been deposed, the population actually wanted
him back. The "makes the trains run on time" mentality.
Once we're settled what we're doing, and what the angle is going to be, it
probably takes around three weeks to produce the first draft of a script, but
after that, there are numerous rewrites and edits which go on until a week
or so before the material is shot. And even afterwards. I'll often send out
new revised scripts to the actors and say, "Now, here's what you SHOULD
have said the other day."
KS-R: In terms of stuff that didn’t get used -- there must be material that didn't
make it to air for space limitations.
DM: As writers, we try to time out the episodes, but they usually end up going
longer than planned. Actors will often take time to milk a joke - then
homogenize the milk and process it into cheese - so our 22 minute episode
sometimes ends up coming in at half an hour. I say, cut the ads and show
it anyway, but nobody listens to me.
KS-R: Have any favourite skits you can tell us about that got left on the cutting-room floor?
DM: Here is one of my favourite cut sketches. It was going to go into the
Socrates episode in Season 1, but there wasn't room. It's a parody of the
TVO book show Imprint, but I liked the way that it actually reflects fairly
accurately the view that the Greeks had of the Jews.
Chilonis, the host, is interviewing Moishe, a rabbi.
CHILONIS I must say, I loved your new book, The Torah?
MOISHE Thank you. Of course, I was just one of many writers and editors
on the project.
CHILONIS The stories here are just incredible. Personally, I loved that part
where the hero Moses drowns all the Egyptians. Fantastic.
MOISHE We tried hard to keep it relevant to today.
CHILONIS I couldn't help notice, though, that most of your story is about
the god Zeus. Why did you decide to ignore all the other gods?
MOISHE It's not really about Zeus. It's about our god, the god of the
Hebrews.
CHILONIS The all-powerful deity who is king of heaven.
MOISHE Yes.
CHILONIS Well, that's Zeus.
MOISHE It may sound like your Zeus, but our God has told us that he is
the only one we may worship.
CHILONIS (Laughing) Oh boy! That is so like Zeus.
MOISHE His name is not Zeus.
CHILONIS What is his name?
MOISHE (Nervous) It's a secret.
CHILONIS Zeus loves his secret identities, doesn't he.
MOISHE It's not Zeus.
CHILONIS It was also nice to see that, in addition to your Jewish tales, you
also put some of our Greek myths in your book, like this one about Noah.
MOISHE Noah? Noah wasn't Greek!
CHILONIS Right, but he's obviously meant to be Deucalion, who built the
ark when the god Zeus flooded the world.
MOISHE No, he's meant to be Noah. And it's wasn't the god Zeus. It was
the god God.
CHILONIS Deucalion / Noah. Zeus / God. The main thing is he ends up
safely on Mount Parnassus.
MOISHE Ararat. It was Mount Ararat!
CHILONIS Now, after this wonderful first novel, I have to ask what
everyone's asking: are there any plans for a sequel?
MOISHE Yes, we're making tentative plans for the Apocrypha. It'll be a
series of updates to the current book.
CHILONIS Wonderful. More Zeus stories.
MOISHE It's not Zeus.
CHILONIS And anything beyond that?
MOISHE It's vague. Some people have said that, since this book was about
the father god, the next one should be about the son.
CHILONIS The sun god! Apollo!
MOISHE No, the son of God.
CHILONIS That's Apollo all right. The son of Zeus. Oh, we love Apollo here
in Athens.
MOISHE Oh God!
END
Another one I liked was the original version of the Fire of London interview
with the woman who tried to pee out the fire. We had to tone down the
language on that one. The original was disgusting. But funny.
KS-R: How is it decided what contemporary TV shows will be parodied? (And will we see
take-offs of "Survivor" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" or any
other new shows in the next season?)
DM: Picking the shows is tricky. You need shows that have that instant
recognition - like the metal clang in Law and Order, or the onscreen
graphics and general look of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, or the Martha
Stewart way of talking. The most successful parodies are the ones where
the viewer knows right away what this is meant to be.
We've done fewer news shows this year. The previous seasons relied
mostly on the news to form the spine of each show (with the exception of
the Sparta episode, where we turned it into a WWF event -
Thermopylooza). This season we were all a bit bored of news, so we've
used a variety of formats to tell the "story" - some shows use a 20/20
format, some use Letterman, one even uses COPS. That one is about the
first big expedition by the Mounties.
We're definitely doing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. The tedious pace of
the show is fun to parody, as is all that "final answer" stuff. "No, it's not my
final answer. That's just my provisional answer. My final answer will be with
you in a few minutes." We try to find a different core "joke" for each parody.
For example, in one version, it's Who Wants to Be a Millipede, and
contestants try to work their way up the reincarnation scale.
Other formats - yes, we will probably do a Survivor. Another one I'm looking
forward to (if there's time) is Iron Chef. Quite a versatile format. And this
week's ingredient - rat!
KS-R: History Bites is beginning to
take off in other countries. How do audiences react to the distinctly
Canadian spin to the show (I’m thinking of the "sports" sections with
the Don Cherry imitator, and the number of Canadian-themed shows).
DM: I don't think it's a major problem. After all, Saturday Night Live may parody
shows that are only shown on New York public access TV. It's probably a
better joke for people who know the show, but most of the time it still works
for other people too.
And SCTV's Tex and Edna Boil characters - I think I remember reading that
they were based on some horrible ad that the SCTV guys saw on TV in
Florida or South Carolina or somewhere. Most people here in Canada have
never seen the ad, but it still works as a sketch.
So, I don't worry too much if the show we're parodying isn't seen elsewhere,
as long as the sketch can also stand on its own. Anyway, what would be
the point of doing a Canadian show if all we did was parody US shows. It's
not like Canadians only watch American television, right? ... Right? ... I
said, it's not like... Canadians ... only watch ...
KS-R: Have any of your shows been contentious prior to airing? (Am
thinking in particular of the "1776" episode, which, while accurate,
doesn’t exactly paint a rosy picture as to how things came about).
DM: Haven't heard of any negative feedback. Of course, there are four reasons
why that might be:
- The series isn't shown that widely in the US yet;
- Most of the information came from American books.
- Most of the stations that carry it are PBS affiliates, who tend to have
educated viewers; and
- Whenever we get any mail with an American postmark, we wrap it in the
US flag and burn it.
KS-R: So why does Leonard never get the answer right on the "Jeopardy"
take-offs?
DM: Actually, he sometimes does. But he shouldn't. It took us a while to get the
hang of that format.
There was a reader competition that used this "Answer... Question" format
years ago in New York Magazine. I can only remember two of them.
Answer: Peter, Paul and Mary. Question: Name two saints and a typhoid
carrier.
Or, Answer: Blood, sweat and tears. Question: What are the three least
popular flavours at Baskin Robbins?
Anyway, we started to copy that format.
ALEX: "Eating too much fruit can cause you to get these" ... (Ding) ...
Timmy?
TIMMY: What are lice?
("WRONG" buzzer)
ALEX: No... (Ding) Leonard?
LEONARD: What are fruit achievement awards?
("WRONG" buzzer)
ALEX: ... (Ding) Jane?
JANE: What are fevers?
So the first two are just silly, and the third one gets the facts across,
because they really did think eating too much fruit gave you fevers.
Although I'm sure many viewers would think that was a joke too. Which is
fine.
July 13th 2000
An Interview with Rick Green
The following is the text of an email-based interview I did with Rick Green. He talks mainly about his
work on the latest TV show he is charge of called "History Bites" and on his work with the Frantics.
KS-R:
How did "History Bites" begin and what led to its creation?
RG:
I had been toying with the idea of doing a show that combined History and
Television parodies for some time. It seemed to me to be the perfect vehicle
for addressing all the modern social and political issues, and since Canada
has a glut of comedy shows that make fun of current events, I thought this
would be a fresh angle, and provide a bigger context. It's one thing to say,
"That politician is an idiot." I prefer to look at the stupidity of the
whole system. By using television formats I knew I would get immediate
laughs, and provide a short hand context for historical events.
The actual event that motivated me to finally collect my thoughts and pursue
the project took place during the fall of 1997 when I was watching nightly
news story about a tornado that devastated a trailer park in the central
states. (Boy, talk about history repeating itself!) A fat woman with a Rod
Stewart rooster cut was standing amid the wreckage of her home explaining how
this disaster that had befallen her was yet another one of the seven signs of
the apocalypse, and that the world was going to hell. "There's more and more
wars, and famine, and disease, and natural disasters..." And I screamed at
my television, "No there isn't! There's less and less! You stupid cow!"
The fact is we live longer, healthier, happier, richer lives than anyone in
history. As little as 100 years ago up to 30 percent of people didn't live
to their first birthday. Many women died in childbirth. North American and
European cities were full of starving people, wracked by incredible murder
and crime rates, choked by crowding and air pollution, and run by corrupt
regimes. People worked in appalling conditions. A small percent of the
population graduated from high school, let alone went on to college. People
died from tooth infections. A fire could destroy a city.... And so on. Go
back 500 years and it's worse. Go back two thousand and life was horrible!
Today's modest bachelor apartment has more luxuries than a King's palace had
in medieval times. Hot running water, flush toilet, stove that's instantly
on, year round heating, refrigeration for food...
We have never had it so good. Life gets better every year. And yet we are
awash in fear, gloom, worry over our health...
That's what motivated me to do the show.
KS-R:
How do you end up choosing the historical topics used on the show?
RG:
We look for events that are relevant to today. There's a million stories to
choose from, we have to ask, "What matters to me and you and other people?"
KS-R:
What is the comic appeal of doing historically-based sketches?
RG:
You can address all the topics that any other comedy show goes after (Sexism,
racism, nationalism, greed, the media, government, religion) but do it in a
bigger context. It just has more resonance. It also puts today's events in
perspective. "You think Sarah Ferguson having her toe sucked is a royal
scandal? A royal scandal is having your two nephews assassinated in the
Tower or London."
KS-R:
Are there any historical episodes that are too touchy (or too recent)
to likely receive a "History Bites" treatment?
RG:
We are trying to avoid recent events because those are being well covered by
other history shows. As for topics that are too touchy... not really. But
we certainly are careful about the angle we take on a topic. For example, we
are doing an episode on Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) a Wallachian count in the
1400's. He had tens of thousands up people impaled up the bum with thick
wooden poles and then sat eating his dinner while they screamed and died with
their guts hanging out. Nothing funny about that. But Vlad kept coming back
to power and finding support amongst various factions who were prepared to
put up with his atrocities because he was "on our side" and a "friend of the
little guy" and he brought "law and order." So that kind of hypocrisy
resonates today with Hitler, with governments supporting corrupt third world
regimes and terrorist death squads, or even, "China is an important trading
partner and we can't judge the way she treats her dissidents."
KS-R:
How much is the idea of "History Bites" derived from ideas used behind
"The Frantics Look at History" a decade ago?
RG:
Totally. I'd been writing a lot of historically themed skits when I was with
the Frantics and came up with the idea of doing a whole show about it. Dan
and Paul were cool to the idea, but Peter Wildman immediately saw the
possibilities and jumped on board. Once we'd done a bit of writing Paul and
Dan got excited and we were off to the races.
KS-R:
Can you give us a hint as some of the topics we can look forward to in a
third season?
KS-R:
The Mutiny of Henry Hudson's Crew. Vlad the Impaler. Sargon of Mesopotamia.
Nero. The crucifixion from the Roman perspective. Calvin. Hep Shet Sut
the female Pharaoh, Saladin, Henry the 8th & Catherine Howard, Cromwell, The
Shootout At The Okay Corral, and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
March 31st 2000
An Interview with Paul Chato
The following is the transcript of a recent interview I did with Paul Chato, talking about the early "pre-history"
of The Frantics, their early stage shows, the origins of "Boot to the Head" and more.
KS-R:
I understand from Dan Redican that he joined the troupe when it
originally consisted of yourself, Rick Green, Peter Wildman, Janet
Shacter and Diane Fabian. How did this pre-Frantics troupe
come into being?
PC:
My recollection is fuzzy on some things, but here
goes. Rick and I, as Green and Chato, ended up at the Pink Flamingo. They
had an in house troupe called the Pink Flamingos made up of Janet, Diane, a
skinny kid whose name I've forgotten, Roy who was one of
the owners of the club and Peter Wildman. They worked hard but their stuff
was pallid, except for Peter's work. Eventually, Rick and I came to run the
show. We replaced the owner and the other kid and kept Peter. We kept the
best of the Flamingo's material (Peter's "K-Tel Toilet" bit) and Green and
Chato stuff ("Balloon Animals", "Every Movie James Bond Ever Made in 5
Minutes", the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the precursor to the "Star Trek"
bit.)
Dan showed up on occasion as a guest act. He did his dark puppet shows and
sang songs about murdering family members. We killed ourselves laughing even
when the audience didn't quite get it.
Eventually, the club moved to its Sherbourne and Carlton location at the
German Harmony Club. We did a midnight packing up of the Flamingo at Dundas
and McCaul and scurried off like cockroaches into the night. (We still
weren't being paid at this point).
There was one problem with the Harmony Club, none of my Jewish relations
would go near the place. Jewish stand-ups (the vast majority) viewed it with
some suspicion. Although, I remember Brian Nasimock having a great time
spritzing on the significance of a Jew working the German Club when a fire
broke out in the floor below. Fire trucks pulled up to the entrance sirens
wailing and Brian tossed off some line about them 'starting the ovens' which
was in monsterous bad taste but relieved the tension in the room as patrons
wondered if they should bolt for the exits. This way we didn't have to
refund any money. It turned out to be a burning couch.
Peter had to leave for a week because of his impending marriage. We asked
Dan to replace Peter for the week (or two?) I remember Peter wasn't too
comfortable about it, being a kind of jealous sort. Dan memorized all of
Peter's material. We worked him into the show. We had a great time and
decided that when Peter came back, Dan would join us (me, Rick, Janet and
Peter, not Diane). In the meantime we had hooked up with a fellow named
David Channing. He was in the media biz and wanted to be our manager. He
loved our stuff.
One day we decided to go to Steve and Roy and demand to be paid. Roy was
shocked that we would stab him in the back in such a way. We told him we are
all leaving. The last two weeks were filled with tension as Roy was really
mad at us and his dad who had recently come back from Florida and was now
hanging out in the bar with other aging Arian thugs. I'm not joking, these were
real criminals. I had a meeting with his dad and two of his goons and was
threatened with physical harm if we left.
I remember my last show was a disaster. We left, joined up with David and
the Frantics were almost born.
KS-R: How were The Frantics' stage shows different from your later radio
shows?
PC: More vaudville and less cerebral. Rick loved taking old jokes and staging
them. They were popular but got embarrassing to play after a while. Our live
stuff was broader. The "Animator Sketch" had me screaming the whole way
through. The "Post Office Sketch" was all out. "Mr. Friendly" was a lot of
screaming and running around. We weren't very subtle. But then again, we
were the FRANTICS!!
KS-R: How were The Frantics "discovered" by the CBC?
PC: We discovered them. While we were toiling on the Holiday Inn circuit I just
hammered them over and over and over until they took notice and gave us a
shot. The producer of the Air Farce then discovered us and gave us our
break.
KS-R: What was the impetus for recording the two comedy albums? Why did you
switch record labels?
PC: The first album was a "Best of" of the radio show. The CBC put it together. It shipped
as a 'collector's item'. No promo, no publicity. Couldn't get the CBC to pay for a
tour so we could promote it. Making money and CBC were two diametrically
opposed concepts at the time. The second album was a flier by Al Mair at
Attic records. Bless his heart. He was pretty pissed when we broke up soon
after its release. The reason we switched labels was because we wanted to get some
promotion for our album. We wanted to be exploited and CBC wouldn't do it.
KS-R: What was the story behind the song "Boot to the Head"?
PC: The two boot to the head sketches ("Last Will and Temperament" and "Ti Kwan
Leap") were big hits. Q-107 [a local Toronto radio station] was using "Boot the Head" as a way
of awarding an idiot for the day type thing and would use the SFX from the first album. So
we called the album, "Boot to the Head" and we needed a song, so Peter wrote
one.
KS-R: How much did the work on the early computer animation in The
Frantics' "Four on the Floor" television show lead you into the
multimedia productions you now do?
PC: Probably a lot. It was great creating interesting computer comedy for TV. I
don't think anyone had ever done computer game parodies yet. So that was a
first. It's funny, our Internet variety show LaffPath really is an offshoot
of those early game parodies. Now, getting those things off the Commodore 64
and onto tape, that was a nightmare.
KS-R: What was your favourite sketch and character?
PC: I can't remember the name of it, but I loved doing the guy who could
disguise himself as anything, pop machines, air conditioners. Dan wrote that
bit. It was wonderful. I liked mime bits where I didn't have to talk.
My best piece of writing was probably the "Fishing with Live Bait" radio
sketch. It was a watershed bit for us because it was one of the first pieces
that really used the radio medium and one where I wasn't shouting.
But there are so many highlights for me. Most of my favourite memories are
of watching the other guys in their signature bits. I never really enjoyed
performing. I couldn't stand the inconstancy of it and how the audience
dictated the timing.
August 12th 1999
An Interview with Dan Redican
Here's the transcript of an interview I did via email recently with Dan Redican, talking about the birth
of the Frantics, about the writing process and about the possibilities of a Frantics reunion sometime in
the future.
KS-R: How did the Frantics comedy troupe form?
DR: Prior to the start of the Frantics I was a singer and puppeteer playing mainly at
Smales Pace, a now-defunct coffeehouse in London Ontario. When I moved to
Toronto to work on a television Puppet show (the truly execrable Snelgrove Snail), I
tried my hand at performing at Yuk Yuk's, Harbourfront, and a little coffeehouse
called "The Nervous Breakdown." Chato and Green were a comedy duo who
played at the club and we became fans of each other.
After that, I continued to play when I felt like it, doing an unsteady mix of improv
puppetry that was oddly repetitive without ever being consistent and in-your-face
screaming folksinging that normally had the undesired effect of leaving an
audience non-plussed.
Chato and Green meanwhile had joined up with The Flamingo Cabaret to start
their own comedy troupe that also featured Janet Shactor, Diane
Oh-my-God-how-embarrassing-I've-forgotten-her-name-for-the-moment and Peter
Wildman. At the Flamingo I solidified my puppet act into something that was solid
and dependable--the Sammy The Elephant Show. It was a misanthropic bucket of
hate that I rather liked. Unfortunately I became completely attached to that act
and was very afraid to change it.
The Flamingo Cabaret moved to a new location and I continued to play there.
Then, one election night, Rick had the idea of doing live election coverage, so we
did. I went on stage as a co-newscaster with Rick. I liked being a performer. It
was fun.
Later, when Wildman got married, I covered for him and played all his parts in the
show while he went on his Honeymoon. When he got back, he was bubbling with
jealousy and suspicion that I was trying to take over his part in the show. He didn't
have any reason to worry. All of his parts at that time were built around him and his
abilities. My talents were no threat and I never came anywhere close to matching
him in those shows.
I didn't actually join up with the others until they'd decided to leave the Flamingo. At
first Janet was part of the group but since she had no abilities as a writer and no
real feeling of connection to the rest of us, we had to get rid of her. It wasn't very
nice but there you go. She went back and played at the Flamingo for a while. It
went under a few years later (probably 81 or so)
By the way, we talked quite a bit about names. As I recall, Rick favored The
Watertight Torpedo Gang, and Paul was pushing for The Fabulous Twits (When
Janet was involved we even considered Four Twits and a Twat)
I remember I went off to Hamilton to perform as a folksinger-puppeteer at The
Festival of Friends. When I was there I was telling everyone that I was in a group
called The Fabulous Twits. People were unimpressed.
When I returned I discovered that we'd been booked into our first gig, at the El
Mocambo, under the name Skits-0-frantics. I hated the name. It was so collegiate
and blechhhh. Somehow or other though, the El Mo decided to shorten it down to
the Frantics. I think that's how it went. That the El Mocambo was responsible for
our name. Though I could be wrong. I'm wrong about most things.
KS-R: How did the radio show change the style of comedy from your original stage shows
(or did it?)
DR:
At first the radio show didn't change us that much. Especially Chato in the
beginning was guilty of walking out on stage and making faces at the audience or
doing really huge performances way off mike.
But ultimately the radio show taught us how to write. Before that we would come
up with a sketch and if it worked we'd play it for a few months. Now, if it worked
we'd still have to go write another one.
We learned to be less talky on radio. That's surprising but it's true. We learned to
use sound effects, which was essentially the same thing as writing for TV and
putting in visuals. When you've got sounds you don't need to talk about every detail
of what's happening.
Also, radio allows you to open up, to go to any location you want, to make a scene
carry on over two or three or four or five locations. It was a great freedom after
stage. And radio allowed us to learn to bring our performances down a notch or
two, to be more intimate with the microphone. That wasn't easy. It took a while to
learn.
I know I learned a lot watching The Air Farce, the level of their performances, their
mike work, their confidence. A debt of gratitude is certainly owed up the line to
them as well as to Cathy Perry, our sound effects woman who learned along with
us, and to our Producer David Milligan who put up with a lot of shit from us. To his
credit he would tell us not to do something if it was lame or hackneyed. But if it
was weird and incomprehensible he'd always let us go ahead with it. His thinking
was: "What the hell. At least it's something different." I try to keep the same frame
of mind when I'm writing or criticizing others.
KS-R: Was the writing process largely a collaborative one or did you each largely work on
your own ideas and then present them to the other members?
DR: We used a technique that is great for breaking down ego. One person would write,
hand it over to the group, and no one would criticize it in a negative way. We would
all talk about the idea and give our thoughts about a new direction it might take, or
jokes it might need. Now here's the part that's unusual. Someone else would
usually take it off for it's next draft. It might go through five to fifteen rewrites in this
way. This is not a great way to get strong personal expressions, but it is a good
way to open up to outside input.
Another thing we would do that seems to be unique is the Expansion Draft. This is
where we take a script that should be a page and write it as long as we can
including every joke we can think of. Then it has to be condensed back to size, but
hopefully with some new jokes that you wouldn't have thought of otherwise. I
always liked that.
KS-R: What's the story behind Mr. Canoehead?
DR: Mr Canoehead was originally Ward Cleaver in a distorted surreal version of Leave
it To Beaver which I wrote. Everyone laughed at the idea, but the sketch was too
long and big chunks of it didn't work. I went back, simplified the story, and made it
into Mr. Canoehead. It seems to me that Canoehead is still an idea in search of a
character in search of a format. We hit a few decent jokes, but it never really
worked beyond the intro.
KS-R: What was your favourite sketch and character?
DR: Gee, maybe the character who wanted to eat his "regular". Or maybe it was
Quennel, the sarcastic bastard whose life who threw away love because he
couldn't stop joking. I thought Todd Booster was the most successful recurring
formats and characters I came up with. I'm really proud of that one.
KS-R: Any comments on the TV series? Why only one season (did the sizable radio audience
not translate into TV ratings)?
DR:
Our TV ratings were good in Canada. Very good. The CBC would have kept
on going here but I think our Producers blew it with them -- I've heard this since from
the CBC. Our show was a co-production with Showtime and it was less successful
there with the audience they were courting at the time, an older crowd.
KS-R: Any chance of a Frantics reunion someday?
DR: Seems unlikely. Our last little reunion went well enough and Paul and I wanted to
do more but Rick was underwhelmed and was uninterested in it. Wildman seemed
blasé on the subject as well. I suspect that our personalities have gotten more
obstinate over the years we've been apart and it's harder for us to come together
and compromise. I know that Paul and I favored writing new material and doing a
new show and Rick favoured a best-of show which struck me as a tedious step
back. I'm a huge admirer of Rick. He's a prolific writer and an exuberant performer
who can rise to the challenge of doing new stuff. I know we all can. But if there's
no reunion I'm content. We had a good run for a while there. Now it's been over a
decade since we've been together. Maybe it's best to let it rest.
July 10th 1999
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