Chicks dig him : Odessa Marie Roslin, the author's daughter, with Bubbles (Mike Smith)

I hook up with Julian (John Paul Tremblay), Bubbles (Mike Smith) and Assistant Park Supervisor Randy (Patrick Roach), Sunnyvale's equivalent to Dukes of Hazzard heavy Rosco P. Coltrane, at a downtown hotel. They're on a cross-country tour to promote season five, which kicked off on Showcase last Sunday.

XPress What have you guys been up to during the media tour?

Julian A lot of drinking. It's what-day seven?

Randy I've been trying to keep these guys out of trouble, but trouble always finds them.

Bubbles Then don't follow us around, Randy, and you won't have to worry about it.

Randy It's my job, Bubbles.

Bubbles You do your thing-eating cheeseburgers and looking at men-and we'll do our thing.

Julian There's been lots of people coming up to us. A guy gave me a quart of rum, and people have been giving us some "party supplies," which has been great.

XPress What's the most interesting thing that happened to you on the tour?

Bubbles We were in Toronto to throw out the first pitch at the Blue Jays game against the Red Sox. That was pretty amazing. Ricky got caught trying to smoke part of the Astroturf. He thought it was real grass. He wanted to test it out and got sick. He's still there, waiting to get bailed out.

XPress Why are you doing this documentary?

Randy [Looking at Julian] It's his friggin' fault. Since you got those guys to follow you around with the cameras, they're showing everything we do, embarrassing situations...

Bubbles We never intended for that to happen. We just hired them for a one-off thing, and then somehow legal papers got signed. Now they're allowed to follow us around. We can't stop them.

Julian At one point a psychic told me there was a good chance I could die. I wanted to get a piece of my life on tape and show it at different high schools so people could learn about our lives-what not to do and what to do.

Bubbles Kind of backfired though, didn't it?

Randy Wasn't the smartest thing, Julian.

Julian Yeah, it kind of sucks when you're in court and they've got footage of this stuff.

XPress How are you three getting along during the tour?

Julian It's been a goddamn nightmare having Randy with us.

Randy I've been making sure people don't smoke dope and drink in theatres. Everything's running well because of me, and these guys just come and abuse me.

Bubbles You're useless as fuck, Randy. He told the cleaning lady I stole some soap out of the room.

Randy You did. You went to her little cart and filled up your suitcase.

Bubbles Big deal-free soap and shampoo. You didn't have to tell her.

XPress Randy, do you miss Mr. Lahey?

Randy Yeah, like hell. He's awesome. You guys probably miss him too, eh?

Julian No. He's a dick. You're a dick.

XPress If you had to choose between Mr. Lahey and a cheeseburger, which would you pick?

Randy Don't ever ask that type of a question. That's a loaded question. There's no right answer.

Julian Probably depends on if you could bang the cheeseburger.

XPress Do you see yourselves as role models, and if so, what's your message?

Julian Definitely. They see people like Ricky, who makes a lot of mistakes and doesn't really think that clearly. This is what you shouldn't do. You don't want to end up like Ricky. Stay in school. Try not to smoke too much dope or drink too much. Get a pace going.

XPress Do you see yourself as a role model Bubbles?

Bubbles Not really. Hopefully people will see me taking care of my kitties and start taking care of more stray kitties because they're all over the fucking place here, eating out of garbage cans, licking at old fish bones.

XPress What would you say is your philosophy of life?

Julian Work hard, play hard.

Randy You guys don't friggin' work.

Julian Do you know how much work is involved in growing dope? Can you do it? No.

XPress What about Ricky? What would you say is his philosophy of life?

Bubbles Ricky's philosophy of life changes depending on how many joints he's smoked. If he hasn't smoked that day, probably not too intricate. But after he's been smoking dope all day, he starts to make a little bit of sense. [Laughter]

Julian He does, actually. What would his philosophy of life be?

Randy Being a dick.

Julian Smoke dope, have a good time, look after your family, and everything's cool.

Randy Actually, that sounds about right.

XPress That's a cool message the show has-family and community.

Julian Oh, totally. The show is all about love and peace. You strip the guns and the dope away, and it's just about family.

TRAILER PARK BOYS
SEASON FIVE RUNS SUNDAYS ON SHOWCASE

 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

Trailer Park Love     God bless Trailer Park Boys and another season of dope growing, dope smoking, rum & coke drinking, topless beer-bellies, men lovin men, shopping cart cash-ins, elvis hair, useless friends, pissing off the law, running from the law, getting caught by the law, dealing with a no-smoking prison and a constantly ****ed up Sunnydale life!! Life must be incredibly rough for guys that only need to do 8 episodes in a season. We all just wish it was a little rougher so that they would have to do twice that and keep us all in trailer park heaven a little bit longer!
Sloan Long	{19 votes}	April 21st, 2005
In character!     I'm glad to see a resurgence of in-character interviews! Anyone remember the 1980s when pro wrestlers refused to admit wrestling was fake? (Versus now where they talk about their "character arks" in interviews....yech). I admit I've only seen a handful of episodes, but I think Trailer Park Boys is becoming an only in Canada cult hit similar to Kids in the Hall or SCTV (though both those shows eventually crossed over into the states). I can't see TPB really catching on in the States, but unlike many Canadians I don't see that as a yardstick for success in the enetertainment industry. The US may have their own trailer trash but TPB seems to capture a certain group of low-income types that is distinctly Canadian. We've all met people like this and wouldn't meet them anywhere but here. One ad promoting the new season shows fans cheering the show in full hockey fan uniforms, as if the show were a replacement for that other thing we used to watch that would unite us as a country. What's crazy is that the ad plays more like reality than satire.
Tristan Maack	{29 votes}	April 21st, 2005
Season Five already?     I would be appalled and disgusted with the Trailer Park Boys and all the offensive drivel that they propogate on screen. I would... if only they didn't remind me so much of the real, unscripted lives of so many of the people, particularly men, that I grew up amongst in the Ottawa Valley. Trailer Park Boys claims to be fiction. I beg to differ. I know these guys. They are my brothers, cousins, uncles, neighbours, schoolmates, co-workers etc. They are Ottawa Valley boys in all their... uh... unabashed glory? I don't know about that, but they are Ottawa Valley uncouth, unclassy, unkempt just as Tom Green is an Ottawa Valley road kill connoisseur. The minute I saw Tom Green on the Mike Bullard Show carting a dead raccoon that he found on the road, I knew he had been influenced by the Ottawa Valley. Sure enough, he used to hang out in Pembroke. Pembroke! That's enough to warp any mind. Trailer Park Boys, do they say they have been to the friendly, yet brain-dead wasteland known as the Ottawa Valley? I am from the Ottawa Valley, the very armpit of it, Braeside, Ontario, where men are men and women are men and city folk run scared. I know who we are, and these pseudo Ottawa Valley Trailer Park fellas are ripping off all of our fine oat cow tour (haute couture). This is just... day to day life for us... well... not for me anymore. I have escaped to the Metropolis of Britannia.
Jennifer McCullen	{8 votes}	April 21st, 2005
TPB in the UK     Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou Mike Clattenburg and the nation of Canada. As and Englishman it is so good to see non animated high quality comedy coming from your side of the Atlantic. TPB wipes the floor with all the so called "classic" comedies from the Americas like 'friends', 'Ellen' and 'will and grace'. It is still a cult show over here at the mo with a small following, but its just a question of time till it blows as up the British know good comedy. This will go down with real classics such as 'The Office', 'Alan Partridge' and 'Monty Python'. Cant wait for the film and a sith series. Brilliant.
Oliver Thurgood		November 23rd, 2005
Film Review 101/Showcase's resident white trash headcases, Trailer Park Boys     I know that the Trailer Park Boys is a bonafide hit up here but somehow this is one TV cultural experience that I'll never get. And I do mean 'never' in the strongest sense of the word ~ Honestly, the only difference between this show and the equally unfunny "Red Green Show" is that "Trailer Park Boys" has a better budget and mildly better writers. To me, that's like comparing which drunken skank at a bar you find more interesting while dead sober, by the way. Sorry but I'd rather take whatever the BBC has to offer ("Fawlty Towers", "Doctor Who", "Yes, Minister", "Chef!", "Red Dwarf", "The Benny Hill Show" and "The Office" come to mind...) than accept something that's just not so much funny as quirky in a dumbass way.
Pedro Eggers	{1 vote}	November 12th, 2005
"Ricky got caught trying to smoke part of the Astroturf"......     Trailer Park Boys is a part of our national heritage. Period. It's good to hear that the "Halifax-based mockumentary about life in the Sunnyvale Trailer Park is now airing in the U.S., Britain and Australia." Bravo. Part of the charm of the series is that it is willing to take risks with our Canadian based humour, pokes fun at life in the trailer park which we can all relate to and makes an absolute ass out of the characters but in a fun way because Bubbles could be anyone's cousin or brother, even yours.
Steve Landry	{3 votes}	June 6th, 2005
TPB rocks     It amazes me that Trailer Park Boys has only become popular after being on Showcase for four years. Now all of the papers are jumping on the bandwagon with articles about the show: The Ottawa Citizen, TV Guide, etc. Contrary to what is written in this article, I have heard that in USA, BBC America dropped TPB! I like how the guys stay in character for interviews. The show is hilarious. The fifth season started last weekend, and the first episode was terrific, with plenty of gun fire, nudity, swearing, and jokes.
Sue Michal	{5 votes}	April 21st, 2005

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