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Brent Butt to stay behind scenes in new comedy Hiccups

03.12.2008 17:23 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

Brent Butt didn't write the role of Millie Upton, the dysfunctional children's writer in his new comedy Hiccups, with his wife in mind, he said Wednesday.

Actress Nancy Robertson, shown on the set of Corner Gas in 2003, will star in the new series Hiccups. (Canadian Press) Nancy Robertson, his wife of three years, plays Upton in a pilot of the show, already shot and set to be shown in 2009. Butt is now waiting for CTV's go-ahead to turn Hiccups into a series.

"I didn't write it with her in mind," Butt said. "I created the character and said to her 'What do you think of this character? I think you'd be good playing this, do you have any interest in playing it?' and she looked at it and said 'Yeah, it seems like it would be really fun to play.'"

Robertson, who plays Wanda on Butt's hit show Corner Gas, has a "natural comedic sense" that seems to play into the character of the emotionally volatile Millie, he told CBC Radio's cultural affairs show Q.

"One of the things I was most impressed with was seeing her create this character of Millie — there was no Nancy and no Wanda on the first day of shooting. This new character that I'd never seen before showed up," he said.

"Hiccups is about a children's author who has anger issues, and it's a lot of fun. It's not just anger issues. Millie Upton, … emotionally, is basically a child. You know how a four-year-old can be incredibly happy, then burst into tears, then smash something, then burst back to happy.

"Children respond to her books because on that level there's some connection, and it's made her a very successful children's author, but it makes living in the real world with real people difficult."

The other main role, played by Vancouver actor Toby Burner, is that of the "life coach" Upton hires to help control her reactions.

"She hires this guy, but unfortunately he's got no credentials," said Butt, who wrote the show based on an idea he'd had for years. "His heart's in the right place, but it's the blind leading the blind."

He admits he was tempted to try to take the life coach role himself but in the end decided it wasn't for him.

Brent Butt as Brent LeRoy in Corner Gas. (Canadian Press)"I never fancied myself an actor," Butt said. "The character of Brent LeRoy [his long-running role in Corner Gas ] is essentially me. Brent LeRoy wore a round watch; I, in real life, wore more of a square watch. That's the only difference.

"In looking at it and being objective about it, it was a tough call to make. I said this [new character] isn't me; this should be somebody else."

Still, Hiccups is made in the same spirit as Corner Gas, which became the highest-rated sitcom on Canadian primetime, grabbed several Genie Awards and was voted "Funniest Show on TV" by TV Guide readers.

'When we created Corner Gas, I said 'Let's do this with the assumption nobody's going to watch.' That way, we'll make the show that we want to see … If you're genuinely having a good time on stage, the odds of people enjoying themselves with you are much greater," Butt said.

Butt, who hails from Tisdale, Sask., has a background in improv, as do Robertson and Burner.

He was creator, executive producer and writer of Corner Gas and says the decision to let the show go was very difficult.

"It was my decision, but I kind of feel that it wasn't in a way," Butt said. "I feel like the show tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'You should wrap it up.' I wanted to respect that. I also didn't want the show to get to a place where it was less than it could be, where it was old and tired and feeling weak and maybe repeating itself."

He thought he might take a break after the shooting of the last episode, but CTV had pressed for a pilot on the new comedy.

"I didn’t take much of a break. I’m going to take a break now that the pilot is filmed because in between filming it and the decision coming down the pike, whether it's going to be a series or not, there’s a bit of downtime."

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Internal Links

Brent Butt to create pilot for new series Hiccups Corner Gas to end in spring 2009

Audio

Q's Jian Ghomeshi interviews Canadian comedian Brent Butt (Runs: 17:42) Play: Real Media »

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