Letterkenny is a Canadian televisionsitcom created by Jared Keeso, developed and written primarily by Keeso and Jacob Tierney, directed by Tierney, and starring Keeso alongside Nathan Dales, Michelle Mylett, and K. Trevor Wilson. The series began as a YouTubeweb series titled Letterkenny Problems, and it was commissioned as a television series by Crave in March 2015. It debuted in February 2016, and later also aired on The Comedy Network. The show follows the residents of Letterkenny, a small rural community in Ontario loosely based on Keeso's hometown of Listowel, Ontario. At the 5th Canadian Screen Awards in 2017, the series won the award for Best Comedy Series. In October 2017, the series received a production commitment of more than 40 new episodes. The eighth season premiered on Crave on December 25, 2019, and on Hulu on December 27. In June 2020, the series was renewed for a ninth season. In the United States, Letterkenny is distributed by Hulu and the first two seasons debuted on July 13, 2018. Subsequent seasons were added on December 27, 2018. In May 2019, it was announced that Hulu had acquired exclusive rights to the series and future seasons in the United States, and that season 7 would premiere on the platform as a Hulu Original on October 14, 2019.
Overview
Letterkenny revolves around a small rural Canadian community of the same name, and most episodes open with the text: "There are 5000 people in Letterkenny. These are their problems." The series focuses on siblings Wayne and Katy, who run a small farm and produce stand with help from Wayne's friends Daryl and Squirrely Dan. It also focuses on ice hockey players Reilly and Jonesy, two best friends who are involved in an on-and-offpolyamorous relationship with Katy. Episodes deal with small-town life amongst different types of people: the farmers, the out-of-towners who make up the local ice hockey team, the town's closeted minister, the drug addicts, members of the nearby First Nation reserve, the local Mennonites and Québécois. Plots often revolve around Wayne defending his reputation as "the toughest guy in Letterkenny", the exploits of the town's hockey team who rarely win, Wayne's attempts to break up Katy's relationships with various men he dislikes, the skids' schemes to rip off the residents of both Letterkenny and the natives, and Wayne's dating life after dumping his high school sweetheart who cheated on him. In an effort to subvert the usual trope of small-town residents having lower intelligence levels, one of the show's running jokes is that almost every character possesses the ability to think quickly and come up with a near-constant barrage of wordplay and puns, as well as have sophisticated views on worldly topics.
Production
Letterkenny is the first original series commissioned by Crave, and premiered on that platform on February 7, 2016. The show has its roots in Letterkenny Problems, a short-format web series created by Keeso and released on YouTube in 2013. Letterkenny Problems garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Fiction Program or Series Created for Digital Media at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards in 2014. The town of Letterkenny portrayed in the series is fictional, and not based on the actual ghost town in Renfrew County. Tierney and Michael Dowse are also involved in the production of the series. Tierney also has a supporting role as Pastor Glen in the series, whose cast also includes Michelle Mylett, Dylan Playfair, Andrew Herr, Tyler Johnston, Lisa Codrington, Alexander De Jordy, Kaniehtiio Horn and K. Trevor Wilson. The series is filmed in Sudbury, Ontario. On March 10, 2016, Letterkenny was renewed for a second season of six episodes. On August 8, 2016, just weeks after production wrapped on Season 2, CraveTV announced that they had ordered a third season. On March 17, 2017, a St. Patrick's Day special episode, "St. Perfect's Day" was released. The third season, shot during the winter season, was released on Canada Day, July 1, 2017. A Halloween episode was announced on October 2, 2017, which was released on October 20, 2017. The fourth season of six episodes was released on December 25, 2017. On October 23, 2017, it was announced that the series had a new media partner which agreed to a production commitment for 40 new episodes, a 26 city Letterkenny Live! tour beginning in February 2018 and the expansion of Letterkenny merchandise. The six-episode fifth season was released on June 29, 2018.
Cast and characters
Episodes
Season 1 (2016)
Season 2 (2016)
St. Patrick's Day special (2017)
Season 3 (2017)
Halloween special (2017)
Season 4 (2017)
Easter special (2018)
Season 5 (2018)
Christmas special (2018)
Season 6 (2018)
Valentine's Day special (2019)
Season 7 (2019)
Season 8 (2019)
''Littlekenny''
In 2019, Bell Media announced the launch of Littlekenny, a six-episode animated spinoff. The series, an origin story focusing on the main characters as children, premiered on June 28. Episodes are between two and four minutes in length.
Reception
Critical reception
of The Globe and Mail called the series "refreshing and intoxicating", and "funny, mad, droll, childish, and spiky." Focusing on the show's characteristic use of often thick Ontario dialect, he wrote that "Not since Trailer Park Boys launched have we heard the flavourful, salty Canadian vernacular used with such aplomb and abandon"; but also that "Almost all the conversations are raw comedy and utterly plausible as small-town guy talk, not just in Canada but in villages and parishes wherever the grass grows." Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone called the show "marvelously goofy" and "strange, simple, delightful".
Ratings
CraveTV has stated that Letterkenny's debut was the biggest debut of any series on their platform since it launched in 2014, and that as of March 10, 2016, nearly one in three subscribers have watched the series.
