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| Pearson gets Weird with Hartnett, Spencer and Lorette |
Wanna hear something weird? You don’t have to be a ‘tween to enjoy That’s So Weird. The YTV sketch series returns for a second season tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Spoke with writer/showrunner Gary Pearson last week about the second season. Pearson is a seasoned comedy hand who has worked both sides of the border, on such long-running Canadian shows as 22 Minutes and Corner Gas as well as Mad-TV. Recently he was a scribe on The Ron James Show, where he penned some of the “Little Ronnie” animated sketches, among others.
Pearson learned the first season on Weird that plenty of adults were sneaking peeks at his ‘tween comedy. The show repeats four times a week and the Friday at 9 window draws a good mix of kids and their parents.
I attended a taping last season when the show was shot in Toronto with my son and some of his friends. (The second season was shot in Halifax, in the same studio where 22 Minutes is produced). There was plenty for both father and son to enjoy. The seven performers are terrific and provide all the energy of a Second City show.
Both kids and adults can enjoy on of the series’ staple sketches, “Logan & Wilf.” It’s about two 10-year-old boys who are always getting into trouble (played by female cast members Johnston and Lorette). They nail the kid perspective with lines like, “Mom says police are my friend—so how comes she gets so mad when my friend drives me home?”
Pearson also wisely steers the show away from any cliche ‘tweenisms that would only turn off viewers young and old. There’s no OMG! giddiness to the presentation. Sketches speak to all ages and feel very inclusive.
Anybody who is or ever was a 10-year-old will laugh. For more on That’s So Weird, check out my CP piece, picked up in today’s Toronto Star.
