![]() ![]() This core of supporters - making up about 1 to 2 per cent of our daily readership - enables us to pay our writers, keep our articles free and open to all, and not bombard our readers with annoying ads while you try to read. Tyee Builders are readers who contribute a bit of money - at a level and frequency of their choice - to support our editorial budget. ![]() We're able to focus our attention on publishing impactful journalism in the public interest, and publish it for free for all to read, because we have the support of Tyee Builders. Our team of independent journalists takes pride in doing in-depth reporting and taking time to get it right. It will be audience funded - without ads - with various levels of subscriptions ranging from $1 for one show to $15 per month for a premium pass that gives unlimited access to the blog and a bunch of other Possum Lodge stuff.Thanks for reading The Tyee today - we hope this article added to your day in some way. Steve Smith and his son, Dave, are set to launch the Possum Lodge Podcast on June 28. I’m done with writing books,” says Smith.īut he’s not completely ready to put away his duct tape. Last year’s “This is Definitely It” tour was the last road trip. Some 300 TV shows were produced over the 15 years, a half dozen specials, a feature film, eight books, a syndicated newspaper column and four North American theatre tours. He believes the character was successful because “people tend to have a Red Green in their family an uncle, a grandfather, a brother, whatever. It ended up on the CBC and we were syndicated on about 120 stations in the U.S.” It was a ridiculous program with narrow audience appeal,” he says. How about the Red Green Show? And the station went for it. When 1990 came around, there was an opening to start a new show at CHCH. ![]() So Smith came up with another character named Red at a place called Possum Lodge to make fun of it. He was spoofing Red Fisher, who used to host a kooky sportsman’s show on television at a fictional place called the Scuttlebutt Lodge. Smith says when he first came up with the ‘Red Green’ moniker in 1978 - for a one-off skit on the CHCH sketch comedy show “Smith and Smith” - he was not aware of the hockey player. Smith will turn 75 in December and it’s been 30 years since the “Red Green Show” launched on CHCH for the first of 15 seasons.Īnd next week, Smith launches a new Possum Lodge show as a podcast. So, I gave Smith a call to get the scoop and reminisce about the hapless handyman he made famous. I wondered if the hockey player was in any way an inspiration for the name of Smith’s plaid-shirted character? I thought it was interesting that Wilfred ‘Shorty’ Green (1896-1960) had a brother on the team named Red Green, and they were both major participants in a players’ strike that led to the team moving to New York. This week, I’m going to look at another icon named Green from Hamilton Red Green, the famous alter ego of comedic actor, Steve Smith. It’s a nickname for little green public drinking fountains that used to be found on local sidewalks and was also the name of the captain of the Hamilton Tigers NHL team in 1925. Last week, I wrote about the legend of ‘Shorty Green’ in the city’s history. ![]()
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