Robb Wells Slides into the Centre of a Canadian Comedic Cavalcade in THE TRADES

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Upon first seeing Robb Wells’ character in Crave’s new original comedy series THE TRADES, viewers surely will zero in on his most glaring physical characteristic. So Robb, what do you call that thing hanging down the back of your character’s neck? “I guess it’s a rat tail?” Wells replied. “It’s pretty gnarly, whatever it is. That was all the creator/writer, Ryan Lindsay. I was not happy about it. He was pretty adamant and had to convince me. Once we got through the hair department, I saw what he was thinking, and it was kind of funny. It sort of added to the character a little bit.” Premiering Friday, March 22 with the first two episodes, THE TRADES is from the producers of TRAILER PARK BOYS, in which Wells unforgettably starred as Ricky. The setting for THE TRADES is a blue-collar community in small town Canada where most of the locals work in a refinery, owned and operated by a company called Conch Industries. The story focuses on the hopes, dreams, struggles, disappointments, and embarrassments of Todd (Wells) and his sister Audrey (Anastasia Phillips). But there’s a vast ensemble cast of Canadian comedy veterans and legends surrounding that pair, in roles big and small, including Jennifer Spence, Enrico Colantoni, Patrick McKenna, Tom Green, Susan Kent, Raoul Bhaneja, Jesse Camacho, Daniel Petronijevic, Brandon Oakes, and Jason Daley. “I’m still in complete shock that we were able to wrangle all these people and get them to work on this project,” said Wells, who also is a producer. “I had some ideas, picturing certain people who I had worked with before, and Ryan would say, ‘oh, this part is perfect for such-and-such,’ and then the network would say, ‘what about this person for that part?’ But never in a million years did we think we would get everybody. It just started coming together one by one, and the next thing you know, you’re walking on set going, ‘how in the hell did we pull this together?’ ” While all those actors were suitably intrigued and impressed when they read the scripts for THE TRADES, Wells acknowledged that timing probably had an impact on availability, too. The show – which was filmed in Nova Scotia and Ontario – was savvy enough to seize the unique opportunity. “The other part of it was, the strikes (among writers and actors in the U.S.) were still going on, right?” Wells recalled. “So, there were a lot of factors, but yeah, we just got very, very lucky.” With such a deep and versatile cast, THE TRADES really could have gone in any direction in terms of comedic tone. “Just working with the creator and writer, Ryan, we wanted to push as much comedy as we could, but sometimes I find, especially with dark comedies, that it’s nice to have those heartfelt moments, too,” Wells said. “That was important to both of us. So, I think Ryan did a great job of incorporating those moments with some of the dark comedy. First seasons are always tough, obviously, but we’re hoping for a second season so we can try and push things even further.” For Wells personally, THE TRADES presents a chance to display his wider range of acting skills. “Todd is a really interesting character, for sure, because of the conflict he faces between corporate and, you know, all of his worker friends and buddies,” Wells said. “I guess he’s just being torn between those two things. And he really isn’t one of the funnier characters in this show, either. That took a bit of getting used to for me. It’s a bit different for myself.” Certainly, anyone who remembers Ricky in TRAILER PARK BOYS knows that Wells is an expert at extreme comedy. But in THE TRADES, Wells’ Todd is more of a stabilizing character – questionable hair choices notwithstanding – in the eye of a comedic storm, sort of like the Mary Richards character back on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s. “I never really thought about it like that, but yeah, definitely,” Wells said. “It’s a good analogy.” So, you’re the new Mary Tyler Moore, Robb? “I’ll take that,” he said enthusiastically. The first season of THE TRADES consists of eight episodes, dropping two episodes on four consecutive Fridays, only on Crave. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv