Netflix’s Most Offensive Comedy Series Is A Canadian Treasure
When Trailer Park Boys fans hear the names Julian, Ricky, and Bubbles, they immediately think of shirtless cheeseburger addicts, liquor, and kitties. The show is a strange mixture of crass, profane humor, improvisation, and documentary, all wrapped up in a Canadian flag. If that sounds like your idea of a good time you’d be well advised to hop on Netflix and start bingeing ASAP.
Trying To Unpack The Premise
Trying to explain Trailer Park Boys is like trying to explain the game Magic the Gathering. The people who get it get it and love it to death. Everyone else is baffled by the concept and doesn’t see the appeal.
I can explain that it’s a mockumentary about three friends who live in a trailer park, but that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface.
You’d Think Career Criminals Would Be Good At Their Jobs …
Trailer Park Boys is what would happen if Christopher Guest made a movie in the Great White North starring career criminals. Julian and Ricky are in and out of jail so many times throughout the series that it’s almost impossible to count. They spend so much time incarcerated that they’re on a first-name basis with all of the guards.
Meanwhile, their best friend Bubbles lives in a tool shed with a dozen or so stray cats that he feeds by collecting abandoned shopping carts and selling them for scrap metal. And somehow, he’s the most level-headed, down-to-earth member of the trio!
Total Nonsense If You’re Not In On The Joke
Since 2001, the Trailer Park Boys have been devising get-rich-quick schemes while being harassed by the trailer park head of security, Mr. Lahey, and his shirtless partner, Randy. Over the course of 11 seasons, three movies, a cartoon, and countless specials and live shows, this low-budget Canadian sitcom slowly became a cultural phenomenon that is still going in one form or another today. It became such a big deal that celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Kimmel started making cameos in the later seasons.
This is all despite the fact that Trailer Park Boys has a very niche sense of humor. To hardcore fans, the thought of Mr. Lahey calling himself “The Liquor,” and everyone calling Julian “Patrick Swayze” is hilarious. To non-fans, it just sounds like a bunch of nonsense.
You Either Get It Or You Don’t
That’s the problem with explaining Trailer Park Boys to new people. There are no broad comic strokes, no I Love Lucy conveyor belt episode to lead with. Do you find the f-word thrown around a few hundred times with a Canadian accent funny? If so, you might enjoy Trailer Park Boys. If you’re easily offended, you might want to sit this one out.
Origin, Cult Following, And Legacy
The show was created by Mike Clattenburg and based on a couple of short films he made with John Paul Tremblay (Julian), Robb Wells (Ricky), and Mike Smith (Bubbles). In 2013, Tremblay, Wells, and Smith bought the rights to their characters outright and have been the main creative forces behind Trailer Park Boys ever since. At this point, the three actors have done so much as their foul-mouthed petty crook counterparts that it’s impossible to separate the two identities.
The boys have essentially reached Pee-wee Herman status where an autograph from Julian is more in demand than whoever this John Paul Tremblay guy is. Trailer Park Boys feels too big to still be called a cult TV show but too weird to be mainstream. Regardless of how it’s classified, though, I highly recommend checking Trailer Park Boys out.
Stream Trailer Park Boys On Netflix
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It doesn’t make the show better, of course, but packing a slight buzz would certainly help put you in the same mindset as the boys. If you’re looking for something different—and Trailer Park Boys is most certainly that—you can stream the series right now on Netflix.
If you like it, great. If not, well, that’s the way she goes boys. The way she goes.
