Letterkenny Picks Up Speed

If you haven't been paying attention, the work being done by Jared Keeso, Nathan Dales, K. Trevor Wilson, and rest of the cast of Letterkenny is really picking up steam! First, they were a YouTube sensation before finding a deal to develop the web shorts into a TV show on CraveTV. From there, they've now secured a deal to get into the American market by inking a deal with Hulu! The guys and gals from the fictional town of Letterkenny are certainly doing their part to take over the world!

If you've missed some of the press they've attracted over the last few weeks, don't fret because I'm going to drop some links on you that talk about the television show. In short, the show has been earning some good reviews from some big names in entertainment!

On July 6, Bill Brioux of The Canadian Press had his story picked up by eTalk, and there were some great quotations in the article as Letterkenny and its cast prepared for the July 13 debut on Hulu! According to the article, "American rapper T-Pain is a fan, as is filmmaker Kevin Smith"!

Where one should be focusing, though, is the amount of business coming out of Letterkenny. Brioux writes,

An animated spin-off series, Littlekenny, is heading to Snackable, Bell Media's free mobile video app. Toronto-based animation studio Little Blackstone Inc. is tasked with taking Letterkenny back to its roots, with Wayne and the others re-imagined as their schoolyard selves.

Montefiore says a feature film version of the series is also on the drawing board, but the challenge is fitting it into an already packed production schedule.

And...

Besides beer, introducing a Letterkenny branded whisky is on Montefiore's to-do list. Since this is Canada, his marketing team has also explored the possibility of a marijuana tie-in.

In other words, the little town of Letterkenny is becoming a booming industry town! From being a funny web series on YouTube to moving into US television, feature films, and branded adult beverages, the growth of this show has been exponential thanks to a funny premise that came out of the heads of Jared Keeso and Nathan Dales.

Now you might be asking how the show is doing on US TV. After all, there have been Canadian shows that have failed to capture the imagination of the US market simply due to its unique Canadian aspects, but it seems that Letterkenny will find fans similar to how Trailer Park Boys had its following.

Reviewed by Alan Sepinwall in Rolling Stone(!), here are some of his findings.

Once you get past the head-scratching slang of our neighbors to the north – or get into it – this oddball show offers big laughs

And...

But long before I figured out that Wayne's pet insult "10-ply" refers to someone who's soft, or could follow more than a fraction of what the hockey players or the skids (breakdancing meth-heads, led by Tyler Johnston's melodramatic Stewart) were saying, I recognized that Letterkenny spoke in the only dialect I needed to hear: funny.

And...

This is a strange, simple, delightful show that kept surprising me throughout the two seasons available on Hulu.

And...

The series has a lot of fun showing the intersection of this sleepy, isolated town and the allegedly more sophisticated world outside it.

Alan rates it three-and-a-half stars out of a possible five, but it's clear that the boys and Katy have found a fan in Alan with their quirks and goofiness. If Alan's review in Rolling Stone doesn't - excuse the pun - get the stone rolling for Letterkenny in the largest TV market on the planet, I'm not sure what will.

I can't say enough good things about Jared Keeso and Nathan Dales as people. They deserve the success they're finding with Letterkenny, and my hope is that they'll find enough time to get other projects off the ground. These two guys, along with the rest of the cast, have worked their butts off and deserve all the success they're finding.

Let's just hope that Americans "figgeritout".

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!