Funny man and actor Patrick McKenna taking it easy these days
Though The Red Green Show" has been off the air since 2006, Patrick McKenna still gets recognized as Harold, the goofy nephew of the operator of Possum Lodge. He laughs, however, about how today he is recognized.
There's a lot of parents who say to their kids, Do you know who this guy is," he says.
Still, he is pleased, and not surprised, noting when the show was on CHCH and the CBC, not to mention PBS in the U.S., for its 15-year run, he met fans who came dressed to the show as Harold and talked to him with passion" about the character.
It spills over into Mount Forest, where he and his wife Janis moved to from Waterdown 18 years ago.
I don't dare buy duct tape in the local hardware store," he jokes. That can lead to a meeting that can go on for 25 minutes."
The Hamilton-native, who turns 63 on May 8, says he is now semi-retired, living amid dogs and my neighbour's horses." He still accepts acting jobs - he recently appeared in the Hamilton-filmed prison sitcom Pink Is In" as a bizarre colonel - and is set to head to Sault Ste. Marie for a film.
He has a recurring role on Murdoch Mysteries" as Inspector Hamish Slovak, but only finds out if he is needed when his friend, Murdoch producer Peter Mitchell, calls and tells him, We're bringing your guy back."
Of late, he is working behind the microphone for cartoons.
I do a lot of voice work now," says McKenna. COVID introduced that world to me,"
He has lent his voice to such cartoons as Go Dog Go!," Hotel Transylvania" and Scaredy Squirrel."
If it's on YTV, I'm probably doing a voice for it," McKenna says.
The former class clown - who some teachers worried over - has a career that some actors would envy. He is also well-known for playing Marty Stephens, the colourful floor trader on Global TV's Traders" (1996-2000). He is the only actor to win a Gemini for best performance in a drama and a comedy in the same year (1998).
He's done commercials, stand up, improv, movies, plays, musicals, other TV shows, and also hosted the Gemini Awards. He did leave Canada once to go work on a U.S. TV show, but his family did not like the schools in California, so they came home. He's been across Canada, and to Russia, England, Ireland, and South Africa for work.
McKenna has worked with such actors as Matthew Broderick, Colm Feore, and Gordon Pinsent.
McKenna says his career has been great," and that he was very lucky," but notes he put the work into it.
I still auditioned," he said. It was not given to me."
He got the role of Harold when Steve Smith and his writing partner, Rick Green, saw McKenna in a Second City sketch doing a Grade 3 student presenting a project to his teacher.
McKenna still finds it amazing he was able to do two TV shows at once,
It was nutty," he says. It probably couldn't happen again."
McKenna grew up on Daytona Drive on the west Mountain. He was one of four boys born to Ivan and Patricia McKenna. His father was a carpenter.
He attended St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Elementary School, Westmount Secondary School, Southmount Secondary and worked a summer as a forklift driver at a Westinghouse plant.
He liked theatre arts in school, but took business at Sheridan College in Brampton. He worked as a night manager at Second City in Toronto in the early 1980s. In 1983, a director told him he was funny, and that he should try out for a spot on the troupe's touring company. The rest is history. In 1989, he became director of the touring company.
McKenna says he'd like to be remembered as a character actor and that I made people laugh."
That would just be great, especially considering all the teachers who told me to stop," he said.
Daniel Nolan is a freelance writer who writes about film for The Hamilton Spectator. He can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com