The sitcom is one of the most popular genres of TV show out there. Everyone knows “Friends” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” in this day and age. Shows like these have garnered critical acclaim, but for each of them, they all kind of feel identical.
A popular subgenre of sitcom is the mockumentary, which spawned hits like “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” They’re more unhinged, don’t stick to a general set for the scenes, and censor any serious profanity. I’ve seen all three, but there’s something still missing. It’s only when I watched “Trailer Park Boys” when I realized how a truly funny TV show is made: by unfiltering it.
“Trailer Park Boys” is set in Sunnyvale Trailer Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Shortly after being released from prison and agreeing to be in a documentary about getting back on his feet, protagonist Julian tries to settle for a regular life. Unfortunately, his ex-partner-in-crime Ricky, whose intelligence and common sense are both lacking, comes by and ropes him back into crime in the name of money. These two getting back together and their wholesome, cat-loving, big-eyed friend Bubbles also joins in on the fun.
What kind of fun? Primarily: growing, selling, and finding ridiculous ways to distribute marijuana. Other times: get-rich-quick stunts that are equally as illegal (selling stolen meat, cigarettes, and even model trains).
This helps craft something that sets “Trailer Park Boys” away from the competition: the whole show is built on crime, because illegal activity never stops. There are no good guys in terms of their record, and everybody in the show does at least one stupid thing. This ranges from mistaking a friend for Bigfoot and whacking them with bats, to framing corrupt cops by intoxicating and injuring an old man on video. No wonder it has a TV-MA rating. The other reasons for it are truckloads of uncensored profanity, violence, and mature subjects. Even then, “Trailer Park Boys” doesn’t turn sour, get too gruesome, or get offensive. It’s crude in the name of laugh-out-loud comedy.
Another thing that helps “Trailer Park Boys” is how obviously low-budget and cut-and-dry it is. “Trailer Park Boys” is very realistic and the only real visible editing you see with your eyes is when it cuts between shots.
The fact that this is a mockumentary also plays into this factor, as characters repeatedly reference the camera crew. For example, while Ricky’s struggling to steal a lawnmower, the boom operator is visibly in the shot doing his job. Ricky gets annoyed, steals the mic, and screams, “Hey… Can you hear me? I need a hand in here!” into it. Other times, it’s things like when characters are asking why they’re on the television, or when the cameraman jumps out of the way of an erratic driver’s path.
“Trailer Park Boys” also packs a good bit of action into it- specifically, gunfights. Nobody necessarily dies in these fights, despite the extreme level of aggression, but sometimes characters do get slightly injured. For the crime-theme, it really fits, and it also makes you snicker every time Ricky gets hit and screams, “Argh, I’m shot!” You don’t see much of any fighting or action in any other sitcom, but “Trailer Park Boys” scratches that itch.
When it comes down to being an actual sitcom, somehow all of this makes the show shine brighter, even though it’s like adding grease to a fire. This mature tone and content doesn’t get in the way of anything. It’s a sitcom at heart, that’s the most important thing.
Running gags are where it shines the brightest- it’s no sitcom if there aren’t any. All characters have some attribute that gives other characters ideas for insults. Randy, the assistant trailer park supervisor, has a beer gut and never wears a shirt, and people constantly joke about how he scarfed down a bunch of cheeseburgers once. On the other hand, you have people like Corey and Trevor, who are goons of Julian’s group, but also get blamed for practically everything- even if they weren’t on the scene. If it’s any character though, it’s Ricky that will make you laugh the most. Due to his low intelligence, Ricky mispronounces a lot of words, falls over constantly, demands cigarettes from everybody he meets, and acts impulsively more than using common sense. If a dog is disrupting everybody’s sleep in the neighborhood, what would your first move be? Ricky’s answer is blasting a handgun into the air with no regard for anybody else.
In the end though, there is no show as unhinged or unfiltered as this. Each season of “Trailer Park Boys” serves as its own plotline, usually ending with someone going to jail. This is contrary to most sitcoms that have a plot per episode. It’s also worth noting that “Trailer Park Boys” isn’t very long. Across its twelve seasons, there are only 105 episodes in total, each lasting around twenty minutes each, presenting some binge-watchability.
“Trailer Park Boys” is quick, dirty and funny, and we need more shows like it. Of course, there needs to be some attention paid to things like how to utilize realism, a low-budget, and how to refrain from being offensive while letting on everything possible. If all of this is done, perhaps a spiritual successor or something way better could be made.
Every other sitcom I’ve watched was scripted to the point where I didn’t laugh as hard as I did with such natural, slapstick humor I saw in a show about an alcoholic, an idiot, and a tinkerer running a drug racket. The real hard laughs come from things that aren’t restrained.