I was clicking through the web the other day and came across something that triggered a distant memory—The Red Green Show. It was a Canadian sketch comedy TV program that ran between 1991 and 2006.
I used to watch it and now I can’t see how I ever found the time to do that. I was in medical school between 1988-1992, and was in residency between 1992-1996. After that, I was on staff in the psychiatry department at University of Iowa Health Care.
The Red Green Show was on in the evening and it caught my attention like a couple others: Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Red Dwarf (a really quirky outer space show), which came on just before the Red Green Show. I’ve always been big on comedy, but I just don’t know how I ever found time for it. I was usually pretty tired or up all night on call.
Anyway, there’s this Red Green web site where you can watch all the episodes over the 15 years it was on—for free. The big star was Steve Smith, who played Red Green. The web site marketing all the old shows and T-shirts and whatnot is based in Overland Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Figure that one out, a Canadian TV show now selling souvenirs and Possum Lodge membership cards in Kansas City.
The show won a Canadian Gemini Award (similar to the Academy Emmy Award in America) for comedy in 1998.
If you watch one of the episodes, it’ll make you scratch your head about the notion of making Canada the 51st state, but I won’t get into it.
I had a book written by Steve Smith a long time ago but I can’t remember which one it was. I think it had a red cover. Maybe it was “How to Do Everything.” It’s a guide for do-it-yourself and self-help. That’s a hoot because I can barely tie my shoes, much less fix anything. On the other hand, neither could Red Green.
I watched the first YouTube episode from 1991 and it made me chuckle. I admit that one of the Red Green quotes, the Man’s Prayer, fits me like a fishing vest (I don’t fish!):
“I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to…I guess.” Red Green.
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