Men With Brooms sweep onto CBC
Paul Gross's new half-hour comedy, Men With Brooms - and CBC's response to CTV's Corner Gas - premieres in September, and will show Mondays at 8:30 p.m. ET. The show, just as quintessentially Canadiana as the rest of CBC's lineup this year, is based on Gross's 2002 hit film of the same name.
The ensemble cast includes Brendan Gall as Gary, the charismatic and hapless skip of the team, William Vaughan as Matt, his dim best friend, Joel Keller as Bill, the curling club manager, Anand Rajaram as Pramesh, a novice curler and local doughnut store owner, and Aliyah O'Brien as Tannis, the bartender at the curling club.
Gross reprises his film role of curling legend Chris Cutter through guest appearances, and will also narrate the show. The cast, who start shooting June 21, were tight-lipped about any upcoming storylines or jokes, revealing only that the show focuses on four misfit members of the curling team, and their extracurricular beer drinking in the small town of Long Bay, Ont.
Q: What's with curling? Why is curling funny?
Paul Gross: It's just funny. It's just a funny sport. You ask people in South Africa what curling is and they go, is it that funny sport with brooms?
Q: In the drinking scenes, do you guys actually get to drink beer?
Aliyah O'Brien: Non-alcoholic.
Brendan Gall: They actually take out the beer and they replace it with vodka!
Q: Do you have any favourite post-curling drinking songs?
Gall: "We are the Champions," by Queen.
Anand Rajaram: Is that even a drinking song?
Gall: Every time they say "champions," you take a drink. I don't know.
O'Brien: What about the classic (breaks into song), "You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best!"
Q: Is there anything you guys are nervous about, going into filming?
Gall: Curling. They've trained us a little bit. We could use some more training.
Q: Isn't that part of the idea, that you're not supposed to be too good at curling?
Rajaram: Yes, hopefully. It is now.
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