A funny thing happened Saturday evening at Penticton's Highway 97 Brewery. Just about halfway through the night, a big fat shirtless guy jumped up on stage and the whole place went crazy.
Crazy in a good way. The big fat shirtless guy, you see, was "Randy" from the hyper popular, long-running Canadian-made TV show "Trailer Park Boys," which chronicled the humourous/poignant misadventures of three petty criminals living in a Nova Scotia trailer park.
Randy, who had no known last name, was one of Trailer Park Boys' two key antagonists. He was played by Canadian actor Patrick Roach, and he was always shirtless and always rather obviously fat.
And that's precisely the way he appeared Saturday night at Highway 97. The show was the latest installment in "Randy's Cheeseburger Picnic," an offshoot comedy tour that formed several years ago and has been visiting various spots in the US and Canada ever since.
And here's the thing. Randy's Cheeseburger Picnic is a pretty big deal. Many of its dates sell right out. And so it was Saturday night in Penticton. If you didn’t have a ticket ahead of time, you didn't get in.
A half hour before Roach/Randy took the stage, we spoke with a couple who drove in from Kelowna for the show only to discover there were no tickets anywhere. Now they sat on a concrete wall just outside the front door, wondering why the tour had skipped their hometown and asking every passer-by if they had tickets to sell.
We're not sure if they ever did get in, but we're thinking they didn’t. The folks gathering for the show, at the tail end of Penticton Beer Week, were a shockingly passionate bunch. This was no mere evening out. It was Randy's Cheeseburger Picnic, fer crying out loud.
And inside the brewery, well, let's just say it was jammed. Standing room only jammed. Simply walking across the room was a difficult proposition. And folks weren't merely chatting. They were chatting Trailer Park Boys. They were chatting Randy.
It was an incredibly psyched up bunch.
Who knew a stand-up comedy show based on a second-tier character -- albeit a funny second-tier character -- from Trailer Park Boys would be this big?
"They could have gone anywhere in the valley, but they chose here," said a happy Highway 97 president John Kapusty, who clarified the night was a 136-person sell-out. "They heard about our room and that we hold a lot of comedy shows here, and they liked the linear layout and the fact we have a stage, and they wanted to come and do the show.
"And we're thrilled."
Kapusty explained he'd never seen such fanaticism for a Highway 97 act.
"I'm not sure why," he said, "but I can tell you I've never seen an audience so faithful for an entertainer that we're had here. They just love him.
"But you know, you mention this to anyone of my three boys – 35 years old, 29 years old, 25 years old – and they're all saying, 'Get me some tickets, dad. I've got a whole group coming.'
"This is one of those days when I wish we had a bigger venue."
On stage, Randy kept the illusion at full bore. He'd initially hit the stage wearing one COVID mask on his face and another giant COVID mask over his rather prodigious belly. He then sensually stripped them off to the sound of much laughter.
And now, in front of a seemingly rednick-ish tape-on-tarp "Randy's Picnic" sign, he fired off the jokes and played party games with the crowd, who ate up everything he threw at them.
"There are a lot of people who came in from out of town for the show," said Kapusty. "And of course they came for Penticton Beer Week too. And they're probably staying in hotels, going out to dinner at restaurants, trying beers from all the different craft breweries. That's what Penticton Beer Week is all about."
There's more comedy directly ahead for Highway 97 Brewery. Indeed, the only two Penticton dates in the 2023 Okanagan Comedy Festival unfold at Highway 97 this Thursday, Oct. 26 and Saturday, Oct. 28.
For more info on Highway 97 Brewing, which moved cross-town to its current location at 200 Ellis St. just prior to Christmas 2021, go here.
