I know I should be more on top of Canadian television news, but I’m a latecomer to this story.  The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour is currently shooting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has been since May 26.  Drunk and on Drugs… is Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay and Mike Smith’s follow-up to Trailer Park Boys, like I really need to state this.

Less Than Kind‘s Maury Chaykin will guest-star as an actor hired to play a wacky German scientist.  Chaykin is filling in for Alex Lifeson, the man originally tagged to play the scientist.  Jay Baruchel, Pat Roach and John Dunsworth also make appearances in the six-episode limited series.

Baruchel’s easily Drunk and on Drugs…‘ hottest guest star, appearing in films like She’s Out of My League, How to Train Your Dragon and The Trotsky.  His climb towards the Hollywood mainstream can only help Drunk and on Drugs… – well, that and Baruchel’s winning CanCon brownie points for The Trotsky.

There’s nothing I can say about The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour that hasn’t already been said.  You’re either excited for Drunk and on Drugs… or pissed off since it’s not Trailer Park Boys.  Hell, maybe you’re both.  TPB-related projects cause conflicting reactions in people.

The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour (one hell of a working title) has been commissioned by Showcase for a six-episode November 2010 run.  As reported by everyone in existence, this is the new show from Trailer Park Boys stars Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay and Mike Smith.

I’m not going to belabour the point by rewriting the press release, except that Monty Python’s Flying Circus and The League of Gentlemen are referenced.  Looks like Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town has competition.  Nice.

Hosts of The Happy Funtime Hour unknowingly take hallucinogens, acting like the characters they play.  Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson plays “a German scientist who teaches children about nutrition.”  The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour reads like a Sid and Marty Krofft pisstake.  I like it.

The show is ambitious, with Wells, Tremblay and Smith playing numerous characters.  I’m wary of Drunk and on Drugs… being a vanity project, but the TPB actors are capable of pulling a show like this off.  The show will either be awesome or a complete trainwreck.  I don’t see a middle ground.  There shouldn’t be.

Via Showcase’s YouTube account, here’s a video of the show announcement.  Warning: too many shots of a speakerphone.  Way to break the online budget, Showcase.

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