From Culture Clashes to Generation Gaps, the Comedy Never stops with AUNTIE JILLIAN

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede It didn’t take long to get Jillian Danford laughing at her own kids. In a good way, of course! But laughing hard, just the same. Danford and her family star in AUNTIE JILLIAN, which is joining the CTV schedule on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.  The Danfords – Canada’s self-proclaimed first Black reality TV family – have become an online sensation, led by Jillian, a persuasive social-media personality who somehow convinced her husband Warren, son Myles, and daughter Milan to welcome cameras into their Ajax, Ont., home. In a phone interview to promote the show, it was brought up to Jillian that while it’s hardly uncommon these days, she still has two adult kids living at home. That’s when Jillian burst into laughter – the kind of laughter that gives you no other choice but to laugh along, too. “They’re not going anywhere!” Jillian said of Myles and Milan. “Some kids these days tend to leave and come back. But mine aren’t even doing that!” Jillian is originally from Trinidad and Warren from Jamaica, and they were married and had started their own lives by their mid-20s. But Jillian admitted that her own two kids are not even remotely ready for anything like that. Dating is one thing, but actually getting married, leaving the family home, and starting their own independent lives? Forget it. “Not that I’m pushing them out or anything, but I think we’re just going to have to keep making space for them,” said Jillian, laughing hard again. “But that’s a relatable thing. So many families have multi-generations living together these days.” So understandably, a lot of the humour in AUNTIE JILLIAN derives from generation gaps. But don’t think the kids are always on the same page. As Jillian puts it, Myles and Milan work together when it benefits them, but they’re not above rolling their eyes at each other. “They play us – they know how to do that,” Jillian said. “But there are big differences between them, too. Myles is from the generation that he just thinks he can travel anywhere in the world and as long as he has his computer with him, he can work from any place – and I know he’s right, but he has that sort of attitude. And with Milan, when something doesn’t go her way, she’s just like, ‘I need a new family.’ These kids in Gen Z! We were just figuring out the millennials!” The other big theme in AUNTIE JILLIAN – which will air six episodes over three weeks on CTV – is culture-clash comedy. “I’m from Trinidad, Warren is from Jamaica, but we have these Canadian kids!” Jillian said. “I’ll think that things should be done a certain way, and Warren thinks another way, and the kids will just look at both of us and say, ‘That’s not the way we do things here in Canada.’ ” Here’s another window into the close-knit world of AUNTIE JILLIAN: When Jillian was asked which one of her family members was the hardest to convince to take part in the show, she said it was her husband Warren, then added, “He’s right here beside me, he’ll tell you – Warren, take the phone!” Then Warren is suddenly on the line. “I was reluctant at first because of the social-media aspect of it, and my family being exposed through all of that,” Warren admitted. “But then I realized, all of them already were on social media, posting things all the time anyway. So what’s the difference?” Throw it all together, and it sounds as if there’s a party at AUNTIE JILLIAN’s on Saturday. Everyone is invited. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv