Main Characters
Below are the main people who make the Red Green Show what it is. Yes we're talking about the show's main characters! From Red to Dalton, to even nerdy Harold, they are the men every RGS fan knows and can quote.
Red Green (Steve Smith)
Seasons Appeared on the show: All (1-15)
Red is the leader of Possum Lodge, Chapter 11 and is greatly respected by all of the lodge members. In addition he is married to Bernice and they have no children. He is known for his dry sarcastic humour and his confidence in taking on any project or issue and finding something that works, usually with the assistance of the handy mans secret weapon, duct tape.
Fast Facts
- He always makes fun of Harold in every show, but has shown a soft spot now and then where he eases up on him. In the 15th season finale for example, he admits that he has always been tough on him in order to make a man out of him and its because he cares. This message was echoed near the end of Duct Tape Forever during the car chase scene.
- Mentioned that he got the leadership of the Lodge because he was the guy everyone hated the least.
- His two main hobbies are fishing and building stuff.
- Reveals that Harold was exactly like him at his age in Duct Tape Forever (including appearance)
- Owns the possum van
- Favorite ice cream flavour is butter pecan
- Little known fact about Steve Smith is that he once was the headliner for a band which was called "Jason". It was a cover band and Steve played both the keyboards and guitar.
- Steve was also a teacher previous to his work in show business. “I used to be a teacher. I taught grade 5 and 6, math and science. Teaching is just like acting. I wanted taller audiences.”
- According to a Mike Crisolago interview in 2019 (Sept 18, 2019) for Zoomer magazine (Link here) "Smith, 73, who created the beloved Red Green character in 1978, says that he “grew into him” over the years..." What is notable is that Steve Smith goes on the record to state that Red Green was created in 1978!
- A great podcast on Steve Smith and his work including Red Green: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-frpjs-108397e?utm_campaign=w_share_ep&utm_medium=dlink&utm_source=w_share
Seasons Appeared on the show: All (1-15)
Red is the leader of Possum Lodge, Chapter 11 and is greatly respected by all of the lodge members. In addition he is married to Bernice and they have no children. He is known for his dry sarcastic humour and his confidence in taking on any project or issue and finding something that works, usually with the assistance of the handy mans secret weapon, duct tape.
Fast Facts
- He always makes fun of Harold in every show, but has shown a soft spot now and then where he eases up on him. In the 15th season finale for example, he admits that he has always been tough on him in order to make a man out of him and its because he cares. This message was echoed near the end of Duct Tape Forever during the car chase scene.
- Mentioned that he got the leadership of the Lodge because he was the guy everyone hated the least.
- His two main hobbies are fishing and building stuff.
- Reveals that Harold was exactly like him at his age in Duct Tape Forever (including appearance)
- Owns the possum van
- Favorite ice cream flavour is butter pecan
- Little known fact about Steve Smith is that he once was the headliner for a band which was called "Jason". It was a cover band and Steve played both the keyboards and guitar.
- Steve was also a teacher previous to his work in show business. “I used to be a teacher. I taught grade 5 and 6, math and science. Teaching is just like acting. I wanted taller audiences.”
- According to a Mike Crisolago interview in 2019 (Sept 18, 2019) for Zoomer magazine (Link here) "Smith, 73, who created the beloved Red Green character in 1978, says that he “grew into him” over the years..." What is notable is that Steve Smith goes on the record to state that Red Green was created in 1978!
- A great podcast on Steve Smith and his work including Red Green: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-frpjs-108397e?utm_campaign=w_share_ep&utm_medium=dlink&utm_source=w_share
Harold Green (Patrick McKenna)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 1-9, 11-15
Harold is the local whiz kid geek up at the lodge. He is the exact opposite of Red in virtually every way. He ended up getting the job as the producer/director of RGS and held this until he went to college in the 7th season. In season 9 he left the show to work in the city for a company called Multicorp (coincided with Patrick’s real time away to work on Traders) where he was often visited by Red, for hilarious segments throughout the season. For season 11, Harold returned as the new Director of Public Relations for the Town of Possum Lake where he was reunited with the gang at the lodge. Ended up marrying his girlfriend Bonnie at the conclusion of season 15.
Patrick is known outside of Harold as Marty Stephens off of the TV show Traders. He also got his start in the business on Smith & Smith as a regular in the 1980's. During this time he would perform stand up comedy at places like Yuk-Yuks. While doing an interview on the Drew Marshall Show (December 5, 2015) Patrick McKenna mentioned that he started out doing comedy at Second City. He was hired at the comedy club with Canadian comedian Mike Myers and they were the only two hired in a cattle call. Outside of being a fun fact (as Myers went on to international fame), this hiring provided Patrick with the chance opportunity to catch the eye of Steve Smith who happened to take in one of Patrick’s sets on one occasion. Pat was doing his stand up as a very nerdy kid named Harold which impressed Steve instantly and became the per-cursor to Harold Green all in one night.. Steve was so impressed with Patrick that he met with him privately after the show as he felt that Patrick would be the perfect partner for his next project which would be the RGS. Patrick mentioned in the interview that he was off work at Second City for the following two weeks and thought it would be fun to try the show and do a bit of acting. The ended up shooting 13 episodes in 1 week after that meeting at Second City.
During Patrick’s interview on the Drew Marshall Show, he mentioned that he ended up with back problems due to the stunts performed on the show. After the show ended in 2005, Patrick had to have day surgery to fix bulging disks in his back. This operation resulted in a staph infection which caused him to be wheelchair bound and not able to walk for almost a year. Despite the setback, he was able to turn it into a positive after meeting many wheelchair athletes during his recovery process. These meetings starting an interest in charity work for Patrick which is an interest he holds closely to this day.
Fast Facts
- Said to have got his job on the show as a favour by Red to his dad. This was conflicted with different seasons on the show. In Season 1, Harold mentions that his dad bailed Red out of a financial shortfall (Presumed to be poor decisions in the stock market). Later in the series it is mentioned that his dad put up most of the money to put the show on.
- Had a crush on Dalton Humphrey’s daughter during Duct Tape Forever.
- In Duct Tape Forever, finds out that Red once was exactly like him which helps show the bond between them.
- Disapproves of the members daily antics as being morally wrong and stupid which is shown by his opposition to things like having strippers at Noels stag (Season 2) and Not reporting (Season 5), yet goes typically goes a long with the antics.
- Became a full-fledged member of Possum Lodge after helping to save the Lodge in Duct Tape Forever
- Red buys Harold his first car when he gets his drivers licence - a Pinto (Season 4). Which Harold immediately hates.
- According to an Andrew Ryan article from 1996, Patrick McKenna mentioned "I get a lot of mail from teenage girls (enclosing) Polaroids, and they write 'Harold: If you 're ever in Arkansas, call me.' And I think, 'My God. These girls are 16 and they think Harold is around 19.' If they knew I was really 35, they'd probably throw up."
Bill Smith (Rick Green)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 1-9, 13-15
Bill is the goofy, accident prone outdoors man of the Lodge. He has a passion and love for being outdoors and participating in sports, despite no hand-eye coordination, luck or talent whatsoever. Despite this he always is eager to try new things and tends to dive into them, literally and figuratively. Bill has no children but is said to be married. Quite possibly this is a result of years of many accidents he has endured.
Rick used to write for Smith & Smith in the mid 1980's, while he was performing in a comedy troupe called the Fantics, under the credit name of Enrico Gruen. This was due to the low budget nature of Smith & Smith as they could not afford to hire a professional writer from the writer’s guild. Ironically this name came up several years later on the science fiction show Rick hosted called Prisoners of Gravity as a character made for the show. From all of this work, he became a director of RGS since its inception and also has contributed as a writer.
Fast Facts
- Only seen in colour and in the lodge during season 2
- Rarely speaks outside of ooooo’s, yelps and screams of pain. Season 2 is the only exception as occasionally he mumbles words (In the lodge, he replies to Douglas while eating a banana, severely muffling his voice in Lodge Security).
- Has a habit of doing something to Red’s van in almost every Adventure’s with Bill segment. Typically he knocks off a mirror (Red points this out to the audience during a season 3 Adventures with Bill segment).
- He is found at the lodge meetings in the first few seasons as the person on the left side, at the end of the floor who played the "squeal of the possum" to announce the meeting, as well as record the minutes of the meeting.
- Finishes each segment with his trademark thumbs up sign.
- Rick has been a longtime avid model train collector for over 60 years. In 2022 he was a principal exhibitor of the 2022 Kitchener Model Train show! He was noted as saying to CTV news "The hobby is so interesting because it can be so many different things, I love building structures, some people are into the rolling stocks, the track work, there's a whole generation coming along that are into the electrical and wiring so they can control the their trains from one little device. It's fine art. It's painting. It's architecture. It's history. I had to learn all this stuff."
Buzz Sherwood ( Peter Wildman)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 3-7
Buzz is the happy-go-lucky hippie and the only bush pilot in the Possum Lake area. He is a product of the 60's and believes in peace, love and drugs. He is rough around the edges and greets Red and Harold with a punch in the arm or a head butt. Buzz is not afraid to jump into any situation or come up with things to do for fun (flies his plane with a remote control like a model). He loves his plane (Beauty) and cranking rock music while flying, which is great since you will hear him and be able to get well out of the area before he comes in your direction.
Peter was also in the same comedy group as Rick Green and this experience helped to get him a part on RGS.
Fast Facts
- Loves to protest (season 4) and come up with catchy sound bites.
- Doesn't currently have a pilots license, which doesn't seem to stop him.
- Never seen on camera at the lodge meetings and is not ever mentioned to be a member of the lodge.
Ranger Gord (Peter Keleghan)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 1, 3-5, 7-15
Ranger Gord is the local Ranger who has manned fire watchtower 13 since the early 1980's. Ranger Gord manned Tower 13 until the tower burns down midway through the series. He is then seen occasionally in the lodge, as he apparently was welcomed there since he had nowhere to go. He then moved to Tower 3. As we find out, this has all been without pay, as he hasn’t received a cheque or even any mail from head office in years. He rarely gets any visitors (just Red/Harold) and this greatly has affected his sanity since he is prone to random crying spurts and freak-outs.
Between seasons 9 and 13, Ranger Gord came up with a series of short educational cartoons, which he felt would help educate people about the forest. Harold and Red make regular appearances as a possum and beaver.
Peter is an alumnus of The Comedy Mill where he starred and co-wrote the show. He has also done roles on Cheers, Murphy Brown and Seinfeld.
Fast Facts
- His full name is “Gordon Ranger” but prefers to be called Ranger Gord as he finds “Ranger Ranger” odd.
- Told Red in season 3 that he became a Forest Ranger because as a kid watching cartoons one morning, he thought that Smokey the Bear told him directly “Only you can prevent forest fires”.
- Frequently mentions when invited out, that since not having any inspections in so many years he is over due and could have a surprise one at any time.
- In Duct Tape Forever, tower 13 had burned down and Ranger Gord was in charge of a train station for a short period of time.
- Only seen in the lodge during the later seasons.
- Sometimes has trouble coming to terms with his job (He cries often due to the loneliness).
- His lack of sleep seems to affect him, as he’s mistaken a log for a naked woman before, and has missed a couple of the fires started by the men at the lodge in their activities.
- He often likes to celebrate Red’s visits by opening numerous cans of creamed corn, or organizing a sleepover.
Winston Rothschild III (Jeff Lumby)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 4-15
Winston is the owner and operator of Rothschild’s Sewage and Septic Sucking Services in Possum Lake. Winston always sports his brown hip wades, white hard hat and white dress shirt with a bowtie with the only exception of season 9's “Bachelor Auction” where he dresses in black hip wades, hard hat and shirt as it is a more formal affair. He often quotes self-help guru “Anthony Anthony” on the show, as this is a prime source of his inspiration and motivation. He is always upbeat and energetic and willing to take on challenges and new ideas. Often on the show he will run advertisements for his business, which feature cutting edge effects and ideas and runs parallel with other innovative Canadian commercials of the time.
Jeff comes from an family of actors and started as a child on a show produced and starred in by his parents. Throughout the 1980's he had numerous small roles, which included doing commercials as seen here. He formerly was a DJ on a rock station in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) called DAVE-FM and has had Red on his show as a guest several times.
Fast Facts
- Mentioned to Red on Season 4 that his reason for getting into the septic business was that he loved meeting new people, working outdoors and pumps.
- Also quotes Walter Mollusk who is another self-help speaker.
Of interest to fans will be Jeff Lumby's interview with Toronto Mike on his blog.
Here is a signature used by Winston to address mail from fans (this is real, - they had it posted on the website)
Winston Rothschild, CEO
Rothschild Sewage & Septic Sucking Service
"Service with a smile, even on hot days"
As he says further: "My name is Winston Rothschild the Third, and I operate the largest sewage cleaning business in Ontario's so-called "Brown Triangle" of Possum Lake, Bluff Point and Port Asbestos. We are located about 100 clicks of the ol' speedometer north of Toronto.
Mike Hamar (Wayne Robson)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 4-15
Mike is a local recidivist ex-con who constantly gets in trouble with the law. He ends up getting a start with Red in season 4 on a home renovation project. This leads into a few more similar segments where Mike is vocally hard on himself (calling himself a “piece of human garbage” for example). This is due to his poor self confidence and image which is only brought up by those around him cheering him up as Red often does. Red ends up giving him a membership in the lodge as a sign of support and thanks with his progress at rehabilitation (Mike pulls Red’s wallet from the back of his own pants to check out his nice new membership card). Since then Mike has had higher confidence and less run-ins with the law.
Wayne has had a huge career which has included spots on movies like Welcome to Mooseport. It has been said that he got into acting after turning down a job as an outhouse cleaner in the 1960's.
Fast Facts
- Fans often remember him as the excited presenter on many Possum Lodge Wordgame segments.
- Mentions several times on Possum Lodge Word Game segments that his mother was an exotic dancer and that he had numerous fathers.
- Only character to refer to Red as "Mr. Green" on a regular basis (or at all).
Dalton Humphrey (Bob Bainborough)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 4-15
Dalton is the owner of “Dalton’s Everything Store” which is in the Possum Lake area. He sells a couple antiques, but mostly junk, depending on how you look at it. He always loves making a dollar where he can, especially at the expense of tourists from the city and takes pride in fooling gullible people into paying absorbingly higher prices as “collectible antiques”. In the same breath, he is a big advocate of saving said dollar as he tends to be a bit of a miser. He is married to his wife Anne Marie) and has a very unique marriage as they constantly battle . He also has an active daughter, Tabitha (although goes by the name Mandy in Duct Tape Forever) who annoys Dalton on a regular basis with her eccentric spending habits (He mentions with frustration that she spent $100 on a blouse in season 6) and moron boyfriends. She was also who Harold attempted to become romantically linked to in the movie Duct Tape Forever. His wife Ann Marie has a rocky relationship with him and they often are at odds about various issues. This may be because Dalton has no issues with telling the people around him what he thinks, regardless of the outcome.
Bob became a contributing writer on RGS in 1995 after joining the show and continued until the shows end. He has been nominated for several Gemini awards for his work on the show between 1999 and 2001. He has been acting in Canada since the 1980's and done many roles on commercials like this late 1980's Zeller’s commercial from 1988.
Fast Facts
- Dalton’s wife Ann Mario has only appeared on screen once during the final episode. Frequently she could be heard during segments where Dalton sneaks home after a long night.
- One of Red's closest friends.
Dougie Fanklin (Ian Thomas)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 1, 3-7
Dougie is the local American in the area. He is from Texas and has a brother (Ben). He is known for his love of his monster truck. In addition he is also known for bragging about the United States and regularly mentions about how it is the best in every way. Even goes as far as saying Canadians are weird in a season 5 Ask the Experts segment. Dougie is the lone American on the show, who moved up to Canada from the south because he thought the speed limits were 100 miles an hour. He drives the only monster truck in the Possum Lake area. This is a good think, because he has been in many accidents. If it weren’t for his monster truck, he’d probably have been killed long ago. He is the areas expert on automobiles and women, and always has advice on both. He’s willing to go top dollar on his automobiles, and gets only the best, even if this means he has to give up things like cable TV, a home, clothes, or even food.
Fast Facts
- Mentioned that his mother never had a licence in season 5.
- Whole family has had every accident imaginable - even a roll over in a convertible!
- In season one, lost his licence for losing control of his monster truck, jumping the curb and squashing 5 cars at a “yuppie” BMW dealership.
- Believes America is superior to anything else.
- According to Red from Nov 03/2009: Dougie's truck is said to have "a 800 c.i. super-charged engine. He runs it on jet fuel but he gets fuel savings when it doesn't start. Remember, monster trucks are for people who don't understand wrestling."
Hap Shaughnessy (Gordon Pinsent)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 1, 3, 5-9, 12-15
Hap is the local water taxi captain on Possum Lake. He is known best for his tall tales, which he makes in every appearance on the show. He has claimed in the past that he was a member of the secret service, invented basketball and that his mother is the last living decedent of the Russian royal family, or how he let James Bond use his Aston Martin for the movies (and was the inspiration behind them), just to name a few. In season 1, he is usually seen in segments where he is out fishing with Red. Between seasons 3 and 5 he typically is shown on his water taxi in segments where Red needs a ride into town. In the later seasons of the show he is shown throughout the lodge on Ask the Experts and the Possum Lodge word game. In one episode he has eluded that the reasoning for making up all the extravagant stories was due to having poor self image.
Gordon Pinsent is a legendary Canadian actor who has numerous film and TV credits to his name. He has mentioned in the past that his character was in part taken from his brother Hap Pinsent (an infamous member of the Canadian Armed Forces). The blue hat worn by Hap on the show, is a homage to the division of the Canadian Army Gordon served with as a young man in the 1950's.
Fast Facts
- All of Gordon's segments for each season were shot in a single day
Glen Brakston (Mark Wilson)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 1-4, 14, 15
Glen is one of the laziest people alive and currently is the marina owner of the only marina on Possum Lake. He is seldom open and avoids answering the phone at all costs. His greater passion is for RVing and his RV Delores. He is often seen around the marina working on his RV with anything from spoilers to changing the oil. In the early seasons Red would often exchange services where red would do something for the RV while Glen “fixed” a boat or motor purchased at his marina for Red. Glen is married and has 6 daughters who are all plus sized and stress him out. He got on RGS when Red asked him to do a regular segment where he would give boating tips to viewers, however this typically ended in Red doing most of the work.
Fast Facts
- Glen has had 4 heart attacks and has a bad back - all of which are used as excuses to do anything on a regular basis.
- In season 2's "Insurance" episode, Glen's license was taken away due to high cholesterol levels, as the new insurance company would not insure him, which was devastating. Later turned out that the results were switched with Noel Christmas and he had perfectly healthy levels thanks to his laid back, relaxing nature and general laziness.
Bob Stuyvesant (Bruce Hunter)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 1-3, 5, 6
Bob gives all government workers a bad name from his laziness to being caught “working” on the 9th hole of the local golf course by Red. He works for the Ministry of Natural Resources, which encompasses most of his time on the golf course doing what he loves to do the best, golf. Despite this, he is a horrible golfer and an even worse looser as he is known to snap over bad shots. Usually this means he throws his golf bag into the water hazard, smashes his clubs all over the golf course, or ripping out/ smashing trees with his clubs. He is mentioned to come from a wealthy family. He has also been married/ divorced 5 times.
Fast Facts
- In season 2's “Bob’s Surprise” Bob admits to never having had a surprise party, despite going through the whole show reiterating that he hated surprises. Also admitted to never having a grandmother.
- In the same episode mentioned that his father said birthdays were only for the middle class (possibly eluding that his family was very wealthy which was supported elsewhere in the show) and that his mother drank “a little”.
- In season 2, Bob ends up having the best game of his life while using stolen golf equipment bought off of Murray. They contained a set of left handed clubs with a goalie stick acting as the putter.
Edgar K.B. Montrose (Graham Greene)
Seasons Appeared on the show: 4,5, 7-10, 12-15
Edgar is the local demolitions expect in the Possum Lake area. In later seasons he mentions that he is an enthusiast as he has had his professional license revoked (possibly for being too much of an enthusiast). With that, he has also lost a finger and his hearing. He is very enthusiastic and loves having a chat, albeit a random and unexpected one as his lack of hearing abilities can cause confusion with his answers. In his past he served with the army for a few weeks before getting a dishonorable discharge for blowing up the headquarters building. This was because he heard they were going to be building a new one, when they really were only thinking about it.
Graham is most famous for portraying indians in movies and tv shows. In particular is Dances with Wolves from the early 1990's. This is brought up in a season 5 segment of Ask the Experts where Edgar mentions that “Dances with Wolves was ok...that Indian guy carried the whole film. Should have got the Oscar!”
He also has celebrated a 2021 induction onto Canada's Walk of fame.
Fast Facts
- Born in Assiniboia Saskatchewan
- Middle initials "K.B." are rumored to stand for "Ka-Boom!" which is his favorite saying.
Here is one of Edgars actual ID cards
Seasons Appeared on the show: 4,5, 7-10, 12-15
Edgar is the local demolitions expect in the Possum Lake area. In later seasons he mentions that he is an enthusiast as he has had his professional license revoked (possibly for being too much of an enthusiast). With that, he has also lost a finger and his hearing. He is very enthusiastic and loves having a chat, albeit a random and unexpected one as his lack of hearing abilities can cause confusion with his answers. In his past he served with the army for a few weeks before getting a dishonorable discharge for blowing up the headquarters building. This was because he heard they were going to be building a new one, when they really were only thinking about it.
Graham is most famous for portraying indians in movies and tv shows. In particular is Dances with Wolves from the early 1990's. This is brought up in a season 5 segment of Ask the Experts where Edgar mentions that “Dances with Wolves was ok...that Indian guy carried the whole film. Should have got the Oscar!”
He also has celebrated a 2021 induction onto Canada's Walk of fame.
Fast Facts
- Born in Assiniboia Saskatchewan
- Middle initials "K.B." are rumored to stand for "Ka-Boom!" which is his favorite saying.
Here is one of Edgars actual ID cards