When CTV approached Brent Butt and his partners about bringing Corner Gas back to the small screen, the 麻豆传媒映画comedian was admittedly leery.
The sitcom 鈥� which ran for six seasons and followed the misadventures of gas station owner Brent (Butt), caf茅 owner Lacey (Gabrielle Miller), and zany friends and family in the fictional town of Dog River, Saskatchewan 鈥� was still universally beloved. It had even spawned that played to sold-out crowds.
Why would Butt want to mess with that kind of legacy?
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really want to go back to the well and just do the same thing over again,鈥� says Butt, who created the show. 鈥淎re we tempting fate? Are we going to screw up the legacy of this? And I didn鈥檛 want to do that. We all thought we needed to do something different or there would be no reason to do it again.鈥�
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One week to go!! Warm yourself up with a Corner Gas marathon. Catch an original episode every Monday-Saturday at 7:30am only on !
鈥� Corner Gas (@CornerGas)
It鈥檚 a beautiful day in May of last year. Butt is seated on a couch in an engineer鈥檚 booth in Kozmic Sound, a busy recording studio near Cambie and Third.
He鈥檚 taking a break from recording audio for a version of Corner Gas that is at once familiar and 鈥渟omething different鈥�: Corner Gas Animated, a 13-episode cartoon series that premieres on The Comedy Network on April 2.
The original Dog River gang is all there: Brent, Lacey, Oscar (Eric Peterson), Hank (Fred Ewanuick), Davis (Lorne Cardinal), Karen (Tara Spencer-Nairn), Wanda (Nancy Robertson), and Emma (Emma鈥檚 original portrayer Janet Wright passed away in 2016; the role is now voiced by Corrine Koslo).
Butt and his co-writers laid the foundation for the animated series in the original show, when they鈥檇 come up with jokes that were 鈥渢oo big for some reason or other, but I thought, 鈥業 don鈥檛 want to not be able to do these jokes,鈥� but I knew if we did them they would fracture the reality of the show,鈥� says Butt. 鈥淪o we created this reality whereby we could pop out of our reality into peoples鈥� imaginations.鈥�
In Corner Gas Animated, Butt and co. build on this convention. 听
There鈥檚 a battle between a unicorn and Sasquatch. There鈥檚 a scene from Mad Max where Corner Gas is a standalone station in the middle of a post-apocalyptic desert landscape surrounded by barbed wire and 40 approaching dune buggies.
鈥淚n live action, we were always limited in what we could do, with time, money, space, physics, the laws of man, but now there鈥檚 things we can do that鈥檚 just bigger that still fits into this fantasy pop-out but we can push the envelope a little bit.鈥�
The move into animation was a natural one for Butt, who worked as a graphic artist and comic book illustrator before launching his stand-up career.
Butt was heavily involved in developing the look of Corner Gas Animated and its characters, working closely with 麻豆传媒映画animators Josh Mepham and Greg Huculak to achieve a style that 鈥渃ould stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of the US primetime network animated shows, like The Simpsons and Bob鈥檚 Burgers,鈥� says Butt. 鈥淚t鈥檚 contemporary, animated, with clean lines and bright colours, and it does have its own feel because our artists aren鈥檛 their artists. We developed our own look.鈥�
The cast recorded the show together in studios in 麻豆传媒映画and Toronto. 鈥淪o much of what made this show work was the chemistry that the actors had with each other when they were doing a scene,鈥� says Butt. 鈥淚t鈥檚 why we get together to record the shows. Everybody could do it individually and separately, but we all felt we鈥檇 be missing that thing that made it work.鈥�
They were missing an essential ingredient, though: Janet Wright, whose passing in 2016 left the Corner Gas family heartbroken. 鈥淟ong before we thought of anything else, it was devastating to us,鈥� recalls Butt. 鈥淎nd then after some time goes by and you accept what鈥檚 happened, then the practical side kicks in and you say, 鈥榃ell, we鈥檙e a long ways down this development road here on this project, what do I do?鈥欌��
Ultimately, it was Wright鈥檚 husband, Bruce Davis, who encouraged Butt to include Emma in the animated series and suggested Wright鈥檚 longtime friend Koslo for the role.
鈥淚f you were a fan of Corner Gas, I really think you鈥檒l enjoy this show,鈥� says Butt. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e getting everything that you loved about the show, and it鈥檚 got a new wrinkle to it, but it鈥檚 absolutely Corner Gas. We didn鈥檛 add a Great Gazoo space man or anything like that. There鈥檚 no talking monkey.鈥�
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Corner Gas Animated airs Mondays at 8pm on The Comedy Network beginning April 2.
