Actors Tyler Johnston, Andrew Herr, K. Trevor Wilson, Michelle Mylett & Dylan Playfair talk to The Inside Reel about evolution of character, heart and the bittersweet goodbye in regards to the 12th and final season of their series “Letterkenny” on Hulu.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 [dramatic music]
00:03 ♪ ♪
00:10 - Hey, yo.
00:14 [upbeat music]
00:15 - [laughs]
00:18 - Anything can happen.
00:20 - Maybe it's time for a change.
00:21 I just, like, don't really know if I want to go back.
00:24 - It's about to get stank in here.
00:26 ♪ ♪
00:28 - We would like to cordially invite you
00:31 in the spirit of family.
00:33 - Take about 20% off of there, bud.
00:35 - Spirit of friendship. - More.
00:37 - Fellowship. - More.
00:38 - Camaraderie.
00:39 all: No, thank you.
00:40 - Letterkenny is such a--
00:41 well, especially this season, so bittersweet,
00:43 but it's very existential,
00:45 because it's all about who these people want to be,
00:47 who they're comfortable being.
00:49 - Yeah. - Could you talk about that?
00:51 Because it's--you know, this is something
00:52 you guys have learned, and probably it's instinctual
00:54 with these characters at this point.
00:56 But can you talk about that, looking at it as--
00:59 I know you shot this about a year ago,
01:01 but can you talk a little bit about that?
01:03 - Yeah, it was really cool to see our characters
01:06 struggle with their individuality and purpose.
01:09 I think that's a very human experience
01:11 that we all go through, especially as we grow up,
01:13 so it was cool to see them go through that,
01:15 but at the same time, know who they are fundamentally
01:19 and come back to that through the growth.
01:21 I think that's an important message,
01:24 and it was cool to play out,
01:26 and it was also really cool to watch the season
01:28 and see how it came together so beautifully.
01:30 - Our show that I think is known for one-liners
01:33 and really brief interactions,
01:35 for it to have a final season that fans and us as actors
01:40 can sink into and identify, like, oh, this is--
01:44 this is a deeper thing, this is a deeper arc
01:47 that they've all been--you know, it's been growing,
01:49 the seed's been planted as far as, like,
01:51 where they start and where they want to end up.
01:53 It was definitely, like, emotional,
01:57 and one of the, I think, deeper seasons.
02:01 For a show that can make an entire episode
02:04 about putting farts on Facebook,
02:06 I think we've really got many, many dimensions
02:10 and layers as far as how the Letterkenny stories are told,
02:15 and I think for the final season to be so thought-provoking
02:19 was really cool, and I think the fans deserve that,
02:22 you know, the fans deserve something
02:24 that keeps them guessing,
02:26 and it leaves a lot of doors open
02:28 while also checking a lot of boxes
02:31 as far as, like, what motivates these people,
02:33 why they're in Letterkenny,
02:35 what keeps them there,
02:37 and, you know, what their thought processes look like, so...
02:42 - Letterkenny. - Legendary.
02:44 - Infamously intelligent. - McMurray.
02:46 - McMurray. - Oh, no!
02:49 - Oh, no! - You've got to watch!
02:50 - You've ruined everything! - Oh, stop it!
02:53 - What do we do now?
02:55 - Welcome to Laughterkenny.
02:56 - Wait, no one here gets offended too easily, do they?
02:58 - No. No one here gets offended too easily.
03:02 - That's different. Why?
03:03 - Because there are real problems in the world.
03:06 - Thank you for, obviously, all the great years of Squirrely Dan.
03:10 You know, we've really enjoyed it.
03:12 - Oh, it was my pleasure.
03:13 - Yeah, but isn't it sort of bittersweet
03:16 because you've seen this journey,
03:17 and you've seen these people.
03:19 Is it sort of seeing the beginning and the end
03:22 of knowing who they are,
03:24 what they will be, and what they will continue to be?
03:27 - Yeah, I mean, it was definitely...
03:29 It was not easy to say goodbye to Letterkenny.
03:32 You know, that decision was made for me, not by me,
03:36 so I still thought we had some more stories to tell.
03:40 You know, I had two years left on my options, so...
03:44 [laughs]
03:45 So, you know, I definitely thought we were going to do
03:48 a few more of these, so...
03:49 You know, when word came down from Kiso
03:51 that he wanted to close it up, close up town
03:55 and focus on Shoresie, you know,
03:57 it was not happy news, but I understand.
04:01 I understand, you know, when people wanting to leave things
04:06 while they're on top, I totally get that.
04:08 You know, there's definitely a fear in our industry
04:11 of overstaying our welcome, and, you know,
04:14 when you're...
04:15 Our lives have changed a lot, you know,
04:17 in the eight years that we've been doing this.
04:20 You know, when we all started, we were all single
04:23 and eight years younger and in complete...
04:26 I was living on a couch when I auditioned for Letterkenny.
04:29 I didn't even have a bedroom, and now I'm sitting
04:32 in the basement that I own, of the house I own, you know,
04:36 so life has definitely changed for all of us,
04:40 and with change, you know, you got to do new things sometimes,
04:43 so I was very sad to see it go, and, I mean,
04:47 it was over a year ago that we kind of said goodbye ourselves.
04:51 We filmed this last September, so we kept it mum,
04:55 you know, out of respect for Tiso's wishes,
04:59 but now that everyone's talking about it,
05:02 it's definitely bringing back the, you know,
05:07 the bittersweet feelings, and I've missed my friends,
05:10 you know, we didn't get to do summer camp this year,
05:12 and eight years of consistently doing something together,
05:17 and in a lot of different formats, too.
05:20 It's been strange not having it a part of my life anymore,
05:24 that's for sure.
05:25 Through the use of AI found on the dark land,
05:28 Rold and I were able to determine
05:29 the two essential elements necessary
05:31 in constructing a hit country music song.
05:34 [fart]
05:36 The two essential elements necessary
05:38 in constructing a hit country music song
05:40 are as follows.
05:42 Number one, a unique hook,
05:44 which must also be used as the title of the song.
05:47 Thank God's names are countries, boys.
05:48 Dig deeper.
05:49 Five o'clock show 'em where's?
05:50 Deeper.
05:51 Save a horse, ride a cowboy.
05:53 [horse neighs]
05:54 Giddy up!
05:55 And that particular title teaches us
05:57 a valuable lesson in the process.
05:59 Just because it's unique does not mean it can't be dumb.
06:03 Dumb is almost preferable in a unique hook
06:05 for a hit country song.
06:07 Country and western.
06:08 We're looking for contagious dialogue here, people.
06:10 Quotables!
06:11 She thinks my tractor's sexy?
06:13 Dumber.
06:14 No shirt, no shoes, no problem?
06:15 Dumber.
06:16 I've got it.
06:17 Beer for my horses.
06:19 Bingo!
06:20 This season is more existential than most
06:23 because Tyler, you know, you're both dealing
06:27 with what, you know, these characters are
06:30 or will become or are a comfortable being.
06:32 Can you guys talk about each of those
06:34 sort of approaches at this point?
06:36 Yeah, I think it was nice for Stuart
06:38 to have a second chance, you know,
06:40 a little bit of a redemption arc this season.
06:43 And I think that was important to Jared
06:45 for Stuart's character to just have one more go
06:49 at the rave, you know, throw the party
06:52 that Letter Kenny has never seen before
06:54 and really, you know, put the skids
06:57 on that Letter Kenny map.
06:58 And it was something that I didn't take lightly.
07:01 I've always enjoyed bringing heart to Stuart
07:04 even if he is a super twisted, dark clown
07:08 who's been dwelling character.
07:11 So to get a second chance to kind of live out
07:14 his dreams on stage there with the whole town
07:17 was really quite special.
07:19 Yeah, I think in a lot of ways it was fitting.
07:22 I think Riley and Josie pride themselves on,
07:25 you know, the amount of notches in the old belt,
07:28 so to speak.
07:30 But at the end of the day, their heart
07:33 always kind of lied with Katie.
07:35 And I think it was fitting that they got
07:37 to end up back with her.
07:39 I mean, I think Riley and Josie,
07:42 especially over the years, have always kind of shown
07:44 that they have heart, but it was nice for them
07:46 to kind of come to the realization, you know,
07:48 maybe there is, you know, we're all three of us dating.
07:51 There's, you know, only one girl
07:53 that really mattered all along.
07:55 So I thought it was rather sweet touching, you know.
07:59 - You guys have to find the heart.
08:01 You find your heart, Heartless.
08:02 - We found our hearts.
08:04 - I mean, but it's...
08:05 - Darts? I was going to say that too.
08:07 - That's mostly just smoking darts.
08:09 - But it needs to be more catchy, more crafty, more clever.
08:12 Needs to be more poetic.
08:15 How about smoking darts in the rain?
08:18 - No, you can't do that.
08:19 - Well, then your dart would go out.
08:22 - Okay, so you're smoking darts when it's dry.
08:24 - Well, it'll have to be dry to smoke them.
08:25 - Dry darts, blue sky darts.
08:28 - Best darts are ones that's warm.
08:29 - Hot darts.
08:30 - Well, we're not trying to f*** darts, McMurray.
08:32 - Well, I try anything once.
08:33 - Smoking in the summer.
08:34 - Smoking summer darts.
08:35 - Smoking in the sun.
08:36 - Darts when it's sunny, it's...
08:39 - [sighs]
08:41 - Sun darts.
08:44 - But the thing is, no matter what, you know,
08:46 there's so much heart, and there's some dark moments.
08:48 I think there's a scene with you, Katie, in the truck
08:52 when you're looking back over at Derry
08:53 that's so just sort of-- you can see that there's
08:56 this late hate-love relationship going on.
08:58 So there's that great sort of underlying thing,
09:01 but what I was gonna say is that you guys as actors
09:05 probably like to take the piss out of each other as well
09:08 and try to get each other going to get the cadence going.
09:11 Could you talk about that?
09:12 'Cause that's probably evolved over all the seasons
09:14 because of all the different interactions
09:16 the characters have had.
09:18 - Yeah, I mean, I think what's kind of special
09:21 about "Letter, Kenny" is we had incredible chemistry
09:25 as actors on the set,
09:27 and we had that same, if not stronger chemistry
09:31 just personally with each other.
09:33 So a lot of our inside jokes, a lot of our dynamics
09:38 ended up making their way into the storyline,
09:41 and I think fans could pick up on that too,
09:44 which was a part of the reason why it resonated so much.
09:47 But as Dylan has said before,
09:49 Jared had a great way of kind of watching all of us
09:52 and taking the jokes that we had naturally
09:55 with each other and putting them into the show
09:58 in a way that made sense with the world,
10:00 which just kind of made the material so much stronger
10:02 and more fun for us to play with as well.
10:04 - I was gonna say, for such a silly show,
10:07 the amount of real-life inspiration
10:10 is actually kind of shocking.
10:11 If you were to go back and watch seasons one through 12,
10:14 many, many, many jokes are inspired by casts' real life,
10:21 and then Jared translating that
10:23 into the world of "Letter Kenny."
10:25 So, yeah, very, very interesting.
10:28 - Why'd you say "mmm"? - Just saying.
10:30 - You can't say "mmm"? - Just feeling a bit stuck.
10:33 - Don't get stuck. - You're stuck.
10:34 - Like, it's the whole town with that phrase.
10:36 Would you all read it on the back of a box of sugar cereal?
10:39 Maybe I am stuck.
10:40 - But the toughest guy in "Letter Kenny"
10:42 rolls off the tongue nicely, doesn't it?
10:44 - You are exactly where you belong.
10:46 [dramatic music]
10:48 [screaming]
10:50 ♪ ♪
10:58 (logo whooshes)