I just don't understand why so many people in Canada actually believe this is so hilarious. I grant you, some times there is a line or two that hit the funny bone and the premise is decent (though much of it is recycled episode after episode), but the vast vast majority of bit intended to be funny just are not. I mean, one time with the "shit__" (shitthis, shitthat, shitstorm, shittornado, shitwhatever) is funny because it shows something about the Leahy character, but every frikking episode?! And after the first season or two, everybody seems to concatenate "shit" to everything, not just Leahy. It's like they got a laugh out of it once so they repeat it ad nauseum. And the drink constantly in hand, OK, that works for a while and would work better if there were periods where there is no drink, but it is no longer funny and is entirely forced after a few seasons of it. And the Bubbles character...I'm sorry, I love laughing at the disabled as much as any red-blooded able-bodied person, but come on. There is not a line out of his mouth that is funny on its own, everything is un-funny/dumb and is forced through his dull imitation of an idiot savant voice. It's about like watching the character that Jerry Lewis played with Dean Martin updated with "sh*t" and "f*ck". And they devote whole shows to the one unfunny bit that they seem to think is hilarious. Case in point, "Conky".
I believe they conceived the whole program based entirely around the guy who plays Ricky being very adept at malapropisms and having the eastern Canadian redneck schtick down very well. The other characters, every one of them, were afterthoughts, straight men/women for him to play off. In fact, much of the dialogue comes off as ad lib by people who are nervous doing it and are not very clever or quick, as though they were told a situation and had to wing it from there, playing a sort of mad-lib with the other actors. Like the director said, "Ok, everyone, Conky is a ventriloquists doll that Bubbles really likes. Play with that. And....action!" Besides the occasional Ricky-based funny bits, I think the best part of the show is the entry and exit music; it is somehow to me soothing, lightly happy and nostalgic, like it deserves to have a bubble machine in the background. I honestly think that is why I have watched so many of the episodes because, honestly, if you've seen one you have seen them all, or at least seen all the jokes.
I believe they conceived the whole program based entirely around the guy who plays Ricky being very adept at malapropisms and having the eastern Canadian redneck schtick down very well. The other characters, every one of them, were afterthoughts, straight men/women for him to play off. In fact, much of the dialogue comes off as ad lib by people who are nervous doing it and are not very clever or quick, as though they were told a situation and had to wing it from there, playing a sort of mad-lib with the other actors. Like the director said, "Ok, everyone, Conky is a ventriloquists doll that Bubbles really likes. Play with that. And....action!" Besides the occasional Ricky-based funny bits, I think the best part of the show is the entry and exit music; it is somehow to me soothing, lightly happy and nostalgic, like it deserves to have a bubble machine in the background. I honestly think that is why I have watched so many of the episodes because, honestly, if you've seen one you have seen them all, or at least seen all the jokes.