Boys in the hood

The Trailer Park Boys’ John Dunsworth discussess flamboyant fecal fetishes and his upcoming appearance at Time To Laugh Comedy Club

The misadventurous Trailer Park Boys are venturing west to Kingston to entertain and awe.
Image supplied by: Supplied
The misadventurous Trailer Park Boys are venturing west to Kingston to entertain and awe.

and the movie already released to theatres, the Trailer Park Boys still have shockwaves that will extend to Kingston tonight.

John Dunsworth earned notoriety for playing inebriated and inept Sunnyvale Park Supervisor Jim Lahey, and Patrick Roach plays his shirtless assistant and occasional lover Randy. They’ll be in character tonight performing at the Time to Laugh Comedy Club on Princess St.

Dunsworth said although the show’s over, he’ll continue to be his character.

“I can change my look, my personality, but I’ll be Lahey for the rest of my life.”

Mr. Lahey garnered a cult following for several of his reoccurring outbursts that has been dubbed flamboyant fecal fetish.

Dunsworth said it’s a philosophical outlook that he personally believes outside of his character’s seemingly incoherent tangents.

“Some people have no idea what the true nature of life and the search for truth is, they just swirl around in the shit storm,” he said. “The object is to be able to manipulate the shit-abyss.”

The distinction between Dunsworth and Lahey was blurred throughout our interview as he periodically switched characters. Dunsworth appeared in a documentary following his 1988 run as a candidate for the New Democratic Party in the Nove Scotia election. He said his beliefs bleed into his performance on stage.

“John Dunsworth’s policies lead into Lahey,” he said. “I tend to ask questions like ‘Why haven’t we made Brian Mulroney pay back the money he owes us?’That’s why I have [Patrick Roach] around, to keep me on the straight and narrow and keep it funny.”

The pair have been performing on stage as they appear on screen for more than seven years. Dunsworth said there’s no way to tell what tonight’s performance will entail.

“Since we’ve been doing it for several years, it changes depending on the audience,” he said. “Sometimes we do Shakespeare. Sometimes I talk about Adolf Hitler and how his real name was Alois Schicklgruber. That’s his real fucking name.”

Expect Dunsworth’s character to be drunk, but not Dunsworth himself. He said it’s more entertaining for him and the audience if he doesn’t actually drink.

“The thing is when you’re drunk it’s hard to pretend to be drunk; it’s hard to pretend to be anything,” he said. “When you’re an actor you embrace the idea that variety is the spice of life and entertainment. If you change from lucidity one minute, and the next minute to foolishness, and the next minute to anger, just the variety itself is thrilling.”

The series’ humour revolves around incompetence and delinquency, but Dunsworth said there’s more, remarking that he snuck some iambic pentameter into a monologue during the newest movie. Despite thes subtle attempts, the show has still come under criticism for being offensive and vulgar.

Dunsworth said playing a character on the Trailer Park Boys is like being involved in politics.

“Some people believe that Trailer Park Boys is blasphemy, some people don’t get it, and because they don’t get it they think no one else should get it,” he said. “When you get into politics, it’s almost the same as when you get into television, or even religion. Some people stand up like the armies of Christ.”

Dunsworth said the criticism doesn’t matter.

“Trailer Park Boys fans don’t want to impose anything on anyone, they just know what they like,” he said. “If everybody were a Trailer Park Boys fan, I think we’d have a lot less conflict in the world, mainly because they’re dope smokers.”

He said the fans like the show because it’s honest.

“People see community in the Trailer Park Boys and they see humanity and they see humour,” he said. “It’s the difference between watching an NHL game and a scrub game of football. There’s more interesting stories in a community football game.”

Stage performances featuring Dunsworth and Roach occasionally include a question period where fans can have their questions answered, but only if the vibe is right.

“We’re very selective of who we show our gonads to,” Dunsworth said.

There’s one question Dunsworth won’t answer. He said his character is without a back-story.

“Lahey is not a profoundly developed character,” he said. “His history should be a concoction of things that would turn a person into an alcoholic, but the fact is there’s no answers.”

Dunsworth said when he played Lahey on the show he just went by the script and the guidance of director Mike Clattenburg.

“People think I’m errant, and I’m a loose cannon, but I’ve just been following the script,” he said. “[Clattenburg] used to tune me up. He’s say ‘give me 60 per cent anger, 30 per cent drunk, and 10 per cent sexy.”

Dunsworth and Roach have a world tour planned to kick off mid-November. Dunsworth said regardless of what his project is, he maintains the philosophical attitude of Mr.Lahey.

“Why do we do it? For riches, or wealth, or glory or ever-lasting happiness?,” he said. “Why do we wear a tie and knot it at the end and point it at our cock? Wear odd socks, you don’t need to pair them, your feet don’t even know.”

Mr. Lahey and Randy will be at Time To Laugh Comedy Club tonight at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tickets are $20 and available at the door. To reserve call 613-542-5233.

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