New Canadian TV comedy from ‘Letterkenny’ co-creator centres on family that wrangles bears - Toronto Star

Jonathan Torrens and Sarah-Maude Beauchesne, who play siblings on 'I Kill the Bear,' talk about the show's pleasures.

Sarah-Maude Beauchesne plays Andrée Thibault in “I Kill the Bear, her first time acting in an English-language production. 

With the television shows “Letterkenny” and “Shoresy,” Jared Keeso cemented his position as one of Canada’s most reliable comedy creators. With his newest series, “I Kill the Bear,” Keeso has gone a step further, according to actor, writer and director Jonathan Torrens.

“I feel like this show really announces his arrival as an auteur,” Torrens, a frequent Keeso collaborator, told the Star in a Zoom interview. “‘Letterkenny’ was a love letter to his town and ‘Shoresy’ was a love letter to hockey. This is like, ‘Here I am to stay.’”

“I Kill the Bear,” a six-episode comedy that debuts on Crave Friday, is a hard show to describe. At its most basic, it’s about a family of Franco-Ontarian bear wranglers who are bowing out after 100 years in the movie business because of conflict with “New Hollywood.” Trouble ensues on their final job, a film described as “Free Willy” with a bear.

The series is also a satire of social media and celebrity obsession that pokes fun at performative wokeness and cancel culture with humour that’s smart, sharp and occasionally scatological.

It’s also an argument for the benefits of common sense, kindness, friendship and family bonds that’s punctuated by performances by Keeso’s former punk band, Sistine Shrapnel.

And it has a cast that includes such veteran actors as Scott Thompson (“The Kids in the Hall”), Kristin Kreuk (“Smallville”) and Adrian Holmes (“Bel-Air”) alongside newbie Chad Kroeger, the Nickelback frontman, who plays a character called “the Son of Grizzly Adams.”

“When you think you know where this thing is heading, you have no idea,” Torrens said. “It’s impossible to predict. Each new script was like, ‘What? That’s not what I saw coming.’”

Torrens plays Cedric, one of the three bear-wrangling Thibault brothers, alongside Keeso as Gabby and Georges St-Pierre, an MMA fighter turned actor, as Olivier.

Quebec writer and actor Sarah-Maude Beauchesne plays their sister, Andrée, the “big beating heart to the show,” according to Torrens.

“These four siblings live in the bush. They’re not on the internet. They’re pretty pure and simple and loving,” he said.

The love was the big draw for Beauchesne, known for creating the autofiction series “Fourchette.” She worked with Keeso as a translator on “Shoresy” but hadn’t acted in an English-language production before and was considering giving up acting altogether.

“Jared made me do it because I trust him so much, and I think everything he does is so genuine and so funny and so different,” Beauchesne said.

“The main thing for me about this character was the love and the pride that she has in her brothers and in her family.”

And the kindness that motivates the Thibaults extended to the set in Sudbury.

Beauchesne was stressed about working in English in Ontario, where she’s unknown, but says, “I made friends in the first seconds I got there. Jonathan and I, we laughed so much, and everybody was so kind. It was such a lovely experience.”

Actor, writer and director Jonathan Torrens plays one of the bear-wrangling Thibault brothers.

While “I Kill the Bear” is very different from “Letterkenny” and “Shoresy,” it shares with those series a mix of humour and heart — of human goodness peeking out from behind the absurdity and rapid-fire dialogue.

That mix is “Jared’s way to write,” Beauchesne said. “I think they’re the core of what he is as a human and a writer.”

“It’s almost annoying,” said Torrens. “He’s so nice, and he’s an incredible writer and he’s a very gifted comedic actor, and he’s a drummer and he played hockey at a high level. He’s kind and generous. So we’re trying to find his fatal flaw. I don’t think it exists.”

Debra Yeo is a freelance contributor to the Star’s Culture section. She is based in Toronto. Follow her on X: @realityeo.