July 24 1994
Frantics Reunited Just for Laughs
Henry Mietkiewicz, Toronto Star
Forget for a moment they're the Frantics.
Or that, as one of Canada's top comedy groups of the '80s, they're reuniting tonight in Montreal for their first major show in six years.
Instead, think of them as four giggly boys in a treehouse.
"Why didn't we get together sooner? Well, y'see," says Paul Chato with a barely suppressed laugh, "one of us had to get out of drug rehab, and another had to get out of prison . . . ."
"And, of course, I was hushing up that statutory thing," Rick Green whispers playfully to a smirking Peter Wildman. "And Dan (Redican), yeah, he was out of the country on some mountain somewhere getting his s--t together."
Now imagine a whole evening of that, and you've got a fair sense of the mood at the Frantics' rehearsal in Toronto earlier this week.
Savage putdowns, snappy comebacks, sarcastic jabs - all delivered with remarkable fluidity and ease. So smoothly do the comedic gears mesh that it's hard to believe the Frantics disbanded in 1988.
Do they feel any of the tension that's prevented troupes like Monty Python from regrouping? "Yes, there's great pressure," Redican replies, nodding sagely. "That's why we'll never get together with the Monty Pythons ever again."
"Right!" agrees Chato. "As for the Frantics, I think I can safely say we were never based in arguing."
"Yup, it's been a mutual admiration society in a lot of ways," adds Green with a straight face. "Which only goes to show how low our standards are."
And a new round of laughter breaks out.
What does emerge, in between wisecracks, is a group portrait of four men who are a little grayer (they range in age from 38 to 40), a little savvier about show business and just as happy to be in the Frantics as out of it.
After all, Redican has been busy at CBC as a writer, performer and story editor for The Kids In The Hall. Chato, a former head of CBC-TV comedy, is running a multimedia company he co-founded 2 1/2 years ago. Wildman writes TV scripts ( Top Cops), does CBC radio work ( Blue Skies), and is a voice actor in animation ( X-Men). And Green has appeared in a total of about 250 episodes of the Prisoners Of Gravity and The Red Green Show TV shows in the past five years.
Part of the reason a reunion hasn't happened until now, they say, is the logistical nightmare of finding time when all four are free.
Technically, the Frantics did step back into the spotlight briefly once before, in a benefit for Casey House at the Bluma Appel Theatre last December.
Having experienced the thrill of performing on stage again, they couldn't resist an invitation to appear at Montreal's Just For Laughs comedy festival.
They'll do a full, 70-minute set tonight at the intimate, 500- seat Club Soda, followed by a 10-minute cameo Wednesday in a gala variety show at the 2,000-seat St. Denis Theatre.
"We're basically doing a best-of show at Club Soda," Chato says. "It's mostly stuff that's not too difficult to memorize again - the Star Trek sketch, tunnelling to the centre of the Earth, the piece- of-pie routine. But no Mr. Canoehead. He was only a radio and TV character."
Even without Mr. Canoehead, the Frantics have a wealth of material to choose from, having stayed together from 1979 to 1988. ("Longer than the Beatles, but less successful," Green quips. "A tradeoff, sure, but well worth it, because none of us had to meet Yoko.")
After a few years on the Holiday Inn circuit, the Frantics landed their own CBC Radio show, Frantic Times, that lasted from 1981 to 1984. Next came touring and stage shows, 13 episodes of the 4 On The Floor TV show in 1985, more radio, more stage and, finally, the breakup in 1988.
Chato believes that instead of outgrowing their material, the Frantics are in a better position to bring a more seasoned and thoughtful sensibility to their work.
"When we appeared at the Casey House benefit, I felt a lot of the material actually fit better than it used to. I didn't feel like a young kid running around acting stupid."
But even if tonight's show is a smash, no one's sure what the future holds for the Frantics.
"One scenario," says Wildman, "is for one or two of us to put together something locally and coerce the rest into it. But it's really going to be a moment-to-moment thing."
"What matters," Chato continues, "is that we're doing our own stuff and enjoying getting together. It's a luxury that very few people have. And if, at some point, someone wants to see us on stage one more time ("and gives us a big whack o' dough to do it," Wildman interjects) then who knows?"