Wit and Wisdom

Friday evening, DS and DDIL and I journeyed to the Peoria Civic Center to see Red Green's Wit and Wisdom show.  I'm finding many of you don't know of this Red Green person.  His real name is Steve Smith, and together with his wife, conceived of this funny show way back when.  The show was on our local PBS station and during DS's growing up years, was a family favorite.  It is just silliness, and duct tape and it's many uses has a prominent role.  It's a very redneck approach to home/auto repairs, etc.  There weren't many women on the show through the years, mostly men and they held meetings at the "Possum Lodge."  Their motto was "Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati", which is  Latin, loosely translated to mean, "If all else fails, play dead.".  The men's pledge was "I'm a man, but I can change, I think, if I have to.".   It was a wonderful show for the formative years of a young son, when the rest of the world was mostly offering ugliness and profanity.  Nary a swear word to be had on the Red Green Show.  Red Green always wears a plaid shirt, khaki pants, and suspenders, one red strap and one green strap.  The  show was very basic. No other characters appear, but for a little over two hours, with the exception of a 15 minute intermission, Steve Smith was on stage, in character, and delighting us all with his homespun wit and wisdom.  He was very gracious afterwards, as well, and came out to the lobby to autograph the requisite books and teeshirts that were being sold.  I outsmarted them, though, because I wore DS's outgrown blaze orange sweatshirt on which we'd sewn the Possum Lodge patch. This patch came with an authentic Possum Lodge membership card, which was a prized possession for a while there. I don't know where that is anymore, and not sure DS knows, either, but the sweatshirt is now decorated with Red Green's autograph.

While the rest of the audience was still on their feet giving him a long standing ovation, we made a beeline to the lobby and were probably only about 5th or 6th from the front.  As far as I know, the others are still there, inching their way up.  DS and DDIL had their book and tee shirt autographed as well, then a nice lady took a picture of all of us, using DDIL's camera phone.  It's a bit blurry, but fun anyway.

It was a fun night out for all of us. I'm glad I bought the tickets back in the winter when they were first available, and I'm glad Steve Smith and his lovely wife had this zany, wacky idea to bring such unique fun to Canada and North America.  The show was based in Canada, where it's very cold and they play lots of ice hockey.  I'll close with Red Green's parting words....keep your stick on the ice.
Blessings,
Brenda
p.s.   This is for the person that designed the seating arrangements for the Peoria Civic Center. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING????  There is no center aisle. Just lonnnnnng rows, from one side to the other, and of course people don't arrive according to where they sit.  Those with the seats closest to the center always arrive late, and those sitting in the seats they have to pass in front of, have to stand up to let them by.  Up, down, up, down, From this row to that row, up,down. Finally, everyone got there and got sat down. Good grief.