Friends with the benedicts

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/07/2025 (413 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Visitors to the Great Outdoor Comedy Festival can expect to have a good ol’ time and a few drinky-poos with some well-known East Coast personalities this weekend.

Randy (a.k.a Patrick Roach) and his antagonistic neighbours — Ricky (Robb Wells), Bubbles (Mike Smith) and Julian (John Paul Tremblay) — will bring a taste of Sunnyvale Trailer Park to Assiniboine Park for a live Trailer Park Boys performance on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking in character over the phone from Halifax, Randy was looking forward to a trip out west. The last time he was in Winnipeg it was winter.

“I almost got frostbite on my nipples, so I’m very glad that I’m coming there in the summer,” says the perpetually topless assistant trailer-park supervisor.

“And I also want to try some good cheeseburgers.”

The Great Outdoors appearance comes in the midst of filming for a rumoured 13th season of The Trailer Park Boys, a Canadian mockumentary franchise that over the last 25 years has spawned a television show, several movies, animated spinoffs and an internet streaming service called Swearnet.

“Those camera guys never seem to stop following us around; they’re always trying to catch us doing something,” Randy says.

While the drunken, stoned get-rich-quick schemes of Ricky, Bubbles and Julian haven’t changed much over the last two decades, Sunnyvale has continued to shift with the times.

“The lot fees have gone up, it seems like it costs more for cheeseburgers,” says Randy, who previously patrolled the park with Jim Lahey (the late John Dunsworth).

“One thing Mr. Lahey, who I miss, always tried to do was make Sunnyvale a nice place to live. And sometimes there’s shenanigans that go on, but we always tried to solve it as a community, not by always calling the boys in blue.”

The legalization of cannabis in Canada has also made its way into the narrative.

“There was a time when most of the marijuana (in the park) was from Ricky… now they sell it right there at our liquor stores,” adds Randy. “But I’ve noticed people are keeping their lawns a lot better because they partake and then they mow the grass and wash their cars or even spray down their siding.”

Sunday’s matinee show will feature a musical performance by Bubbles and the Shitrockers — the title band from the 2024 movie Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties: The Bubbles and the Shitrockers Story, in which Randy learned to be a roadie.

“I’ve learned a little bit about all the guitars and the basses and the cords and the amps, so I’m going to be running sound and I’m pretty good at it,” he says.

There’s likely to be an onstage spat between Randy and Ricky — who, “if he gets on too much liquor and dope, he turns into an arsehole” — along with some on-brand hijinx.

It’s unlikely Smokey, Randy’s male prostitute persona, will be in attendance, although, he’s packing his cowboy hat just in case.

“I made a lot of money as Smokey in Winnipeg; people are frisky there for sure,” he says.

The Trailer Park Boys share the Sunday afternoon bill with Entourage actor Jeremy Piven. The show runs from noon to 4:15 p.m., followed by an evening show headlined by comedian and podcaster Theo Von, supported by Dusty Slay and Laura Peek.

The festival also features headlining acts Bert Kreischer and Whitney Cummings (Friday) and John Mulaney and Martin Short (Saturday).

Winnipeg performers Jordan Welwood, Reverend Rambler and DJ Mama Cutsworth are providing pre-show entertainment for the three-day comedy festival, which held its first local show at Assiniboine Park in 2024.

The Great Outdoors Comedy Festival launched in Edmonton in 2021 and has since expanded across North America.

Visit greatoutdoorscomedyfestival.com for tickets and more information.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

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