TORONTO – A recent promotional stop by TV’s trailer park hooligans Ricky, Julian and Bubbles descends quickly into bickering.
They’re at the end of a day of interviews, and the East Coast stars seem spent from talking about their latest film, Trailer Park Boys 3: Don’t Legalize It.
Nevertheless, actors Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay and Mike Smith remain committed to maintaining their penchant for trailer trash talk — appearing in character as their dope-loving (and dopey) alter-egos to discuss a pot-fuelled comeback they claim was not entirely unanimous.
“Julian’s pretty happy about it. We’re not as happy,” says Wells, his voluminous hair coifed in Ricky’s trademark pompadour, his voice saturated in Ricky’s exasperated whine.
It’s soon clear that fielding questions about how their third feature came about are seen more as an opportunity to trade cheap potshots — familiar to fans of the trio’s long-running low-brow shtick — than delve into any serious talk about reviving their deliriously delinquent brand.
“I think it was just Julian saying, ‘I’ve got so many black T-shirts and I worked out really good, I think the cameras should come back,'” says Wells, taking a dig at Tremblay’s persona as the buff petty criminal.
“We’re going to make some money off this one,” Tremblay shoots back, holding a glass of brown liquid as his booze-loving character is wont to do.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Wells responds while Smith — clad in the coke-bottle specs of his kitty-loving alter-ego Bubbles — sits between them.
Oh, yes, the tried-and-true antics of the dim-witted crew are on full display by this trio of comics, whose own identities have become inextricably linked with their outlandish creations.
When we catch up with the gang in Trailer Park Boys 3: Don’t Legalize It, each is grappling with his own set of money woes in their Nova Scotian enclave of Sunnyvale: Julian embarks on a dicey scheme to sell drug-free urine to potheads undergoing drug testing, Ricky fears his grow-op is threatened by possible federal legislation to legalize marijuana, and Bubbles can barely scrape by as a cigarette-and-chicken delivery boy while living under the porch of J-Roc’s (Jonathan Torrens) house.
The trio end up embarking on a road trip west in a bid to solve their troubles, with the shirtless, potbellied Randy (Patrick Roach) and the trailer park’s drunk supervisor Mr. Lahey (John Dunsworth) not far behind with an illicit scheme of their own.
And if that’s not enough, there are plenty more trailer park hijinks on the way, thanks to a Netflix deal that has revived their beloved TV series, Trailer Park Boys.
Ten new episodes of the mockumentary-style show, which ended after seven seasons in 2008, begin streaming on the digital service this fall. A ninth season has also been ordered, but there’s no word yet on when that would become available.
Season 8 picks up several years after we last saw the trio at the Sunnyvale Trailer Park.
This time around, Ricky has harvested a massive weed crop which he has stashed in the walls of his trailer and Bubbles has his own enterprise underway — a “shed-and-breakfast” business.
Julian, meanwhile, has opened a combination sports bar and gym in his trailer.
“It’s going pretty good,” Julian says. “Kind of like the bar (from the TV show) Cheers except you can go and do a workout if you wanted.”
“It’s a good combination. It’s a lot funner to work out when you’re drinking,” Ricky allows.
Trailer Park Boys 3: Don’t Legalize It opens in theatres Friday.
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