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If the rural town of Letterkenny had a supervillain organization, it would be the Skids, a gang of local ne’er-do-wells who loiter around convenience stores and crash public events. Headed by Stewart (Tyler Johnston) and his constantly hovering lackey Roald (Evan Stern), the Skids have changed considerably throughout the Hulu comedy series. In Season 10, the Skids face-off against hockey stars Reilly and Jonesy. On the other side of the tracks is the McMurray’s, a hyper-sexual couple portrayed by Melanie Scrofano and Dan Petronijevic, who test the conventional boundaries regarding public displays of affection with sensual glee.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Johnston, Stern, and Scrofano unpacked the rivalries in Letterkenny Season 10, and reflected on times when they felt their comedic stylings may have pushed the boundaries of being risqué on the hit Hulu comedy series.
I just spoke with Dylan Playfair and Andrew Herr and they were nothing but effusive of y’all and the on-screen rivalry between your characters in Letterkenny Season 10. How was it having them as scene partners?
Tyler Johnston: Sometimes in life, you have to drag others through scenes. We were like, “Guys, you just stick with us and you’re going to be just fine!” That’s pretty much what happened with that, Sam [laughs]. No, we’ve always had a great rapport with those guys since Season 1 and 2. Earlier, they were the bullies towards the Skids. Recently, it’s starting to feel like the Skids are the bullies to the hockey players. We’ve had a fun back-and-forth with them.
Evan Stern: All the brain cells that they’ve lost throughout the show, we’ve gained. It’s a really interesting dynamic that we’re developing. Them destroying the walls behind us while Tyler and I are playing video games was one of the more difficult scenes that I’ve ever had to do. I found it very challenging not to laugh because the grunting was so visceral. They really meant it. If you were in the room, there were hormones!
Melanie, the McMurrays are always going 110% and they go farther than they did the last time we saw them together. How is it maintaining that and having Dan Petronijevic as a scene partner?
Melanie Scrofano: Dan and I constantly are like, “Is that too far… ?” I think we stopped asking because it’s always a yes. I think if they’re not pushing the envelope, they’re not doing their jobs. It’s fun but you’re also trying to toe the line of what’s too far but you always want to find out where the line is. You have to poke around and see how close you are to it to know what’s too far [laughs].
Can you think of any specific moments where you had to dial it back a bit?
Johnston: I know one! The banana!
Stern: Ah, the banana. I thought you were going to say a scene that wasn’t going to make it in the show.
Scrofano: For me, oddly enough, it wasn’t the banana because I just needed to shut him up and it worked [mimes shoving a banana in someone’s mouth]. It was when he was dressed as Santa and I was dressed as something and we were like, “Are we still going to be employed after this?” [laughs] That was a good example where we literally had to stop and go, “Is that okay… ?” Sometimes when you’re doing it, you’re kind of in the zone and you just don’t know. You think that this just feels right for this character and then you get to the banana deep throat.
Stern: And then you go, “I was right because that was a good choice and it makes for great television!” [laughs]
Tyler, we’ve seen Stewart go from a Clockwork Orange analogue to a jacked love god. Do you have a favorite iteration of Stewart? He’s a man of many faces.
Johnston: That’s been the most enjoyable part of this whole journey for me. The first couple of seasons, we were metal band t-shirt wearing Skids selling cigarettes to kids. Now, we’re clowns: we dance, VidVok, lift weights, deejay. It’s been fun to just continue to evolve as Stewart. The jacked one was fun but it was really tough. I never had to work out like that in my entire life. That was five months of really intense work.
One of my favorite moments of Stewart’s storyline was when he and Gae broke up, a few seasons ago now. It was a really emotional scene and we got to actually have some human emotion, and when his heart was broken, it gave him a chance to bounce back into that evil villain world. The ups and downs have certainly been enjoyable. I loved the romantic relationship journey he had and maybe he’ll find another partner — we’ll see!
Evan, Roald is super-protective of Stewart, usually uncomfortably protective. He’s also a man of many rivalries, including with Katy.
Stern: It is really fun to fight with Michelle [Mylett] on and off-camera. She’s a delight and super-funny and I really enjoy doing scenes with her. Any moment I get to be angry with her, I feel very fortunate. Her as well as Clark [Backo], her and I have a couple of scenes coming up in the next while that are pretty funny.
Nathan Dale’s favorite scene to film in Letterkenny Season 10 was Daryl’s prostate exam. What was your favorite scene to film from Season 10?
Scrofano: I had never been a part of a cold open before so to be part of a cold open, it felt like I was part of the show! Anything where we all get to be together is also really fun because I get to watch other characters interacting and get to watch the TV show that everybody else gets to watch from the front row.
Johnston: The basement thing [with Reilly and Jonesy] was so much fun, no question about that, I was looking forward to that, for sure. The caesar-making scene was really fun because, as Mel said, it’s a lot of fun to get to work with everybody. We were all in different pairs trying to sell our caesar the most and it’s fun to watch the different groups interacting in a group setting like that so I’m going to say that was probably my favorite scene from Season 10.
Scrofano: That must have been nice for you all to be together…
Stern: Yeah, everyone in the show was together, it was very nice [laughs].
Scrofano: I was probably shooting my cold open so I couldn’t be there [laughs]!
Stern: Honestly, it was probably the basement scene [as my favorite scene]. I was curious how they were going to destroy cement walls with their fists and legs. The art department shows up and does their thing and it was pretty amazing. Also, it was the first time I was shooting in the basement as a studio. Usually, the basement is shot in this actual, sketchy basement, and in this case, we had it in the Barn — a big hockey arena — they had a studio set up in there. They set up the studio there for the Skids’ basement and I was like, “We’re on television!” It felt amazing to see studio version of the basement.
Johnston: And then we got rained out because it rained on the arena and there was too much rain audio!
Stern: True, we did get a day pushed at the Barn… [laughs]
Created by Jared Keeso, the first ten hilarious seasons of Letterkenny are available to stream now on Hulu.
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