CBC comedy series films show on Grand Manan

Grand Manan will be in the spotlight on a future episode of the CBC comedy series "Still Standing," whose team wrapped up a week of filming on the island with a live show recorded on Tuesday evening, July 29, at the arena. A big crowd that required extra rows of chairs to be set up turned out to see host Jonny Harris and some colleagues talk about their experiences of island culture.

The show, filming its 11th season, is a half‑hour focusing on small communities across Canada, depicting their strength and resilience in the face of difficulty or setbacks. Producer Adrian Callender notes that it isn't a history program but focuses on contemporary stories. These are told with a large dose of humour by Harris, a Newfoundlander whose background includes Halifax, Winnipeg, Just for Laughs comedy festivals, CBC Radio's "The Debaters," writing for "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" and a role in "Murdoch Mysteries."

A research team canvasses the country selecting locations and then makes more in‑depth inquiries to find interesting stories. Story producer Diana Frances visited the island in mid‑July.

Each episode has four segments depicting the community, and the show comes together around the live performance where Harris' stage content is based on interviews with locals he's met. Of the show's 27 crew, 18‑20 were on the island and included camera operators, writers, directors and producers.

Callender praises the island hospitality and says the team went "anywhere the roads could take us." They found Grand Manan "spectacular." He in particular was fascinated with the herring weirs and the sardine industry because of how important it was for Grand Manan in global trade, and because sardines were a staple during his childhood in Barbados and he hadn't known the story of how they got there. The team got "to see that history out there in the ocean."

Harris met and chatted with many people. For the show, he learned about sardines through archivist Ava Sturgeon. He explored dulsing, including a harvesting trip, with Wayne and Jordan Green of Green Sea Harvest. He experienced Indian cuisine and learned about the Holi festival from Rajreddy Gojuri at Vicky's Convenience and participated in a reboot of the Canada Day greasy pole competition at Seal Cove crick.

At the live show, emcee Fraser Young introduced Nour Hadidi and Graham Chittenden with funny stories about traveling on Air Canada and home renovation. Harris then shared his impressions of Grand Manan as a "gorgeous" place with its beaches, woods and cliffs. He acknowledged some of the challenges of an isolated location, including a dig at Scotiabank's "zero percent interest" in maintaining a branch on the island. His introduction to sardine processing gave rise to a number of jokes about "smoking in the shed." He was impressed that a small rural place had such interest in the recent Holi festival activities.

No one knows how far back the greasy pole contest goes, Harris related, other than that the tradition had fallen out of practice and the barrel was stored in a seawall shed. The shed collapsed in a storm and the barrel was found washed up on a beach. The finder revived the competition, and two generations later his grandson Chris Ingalls continues the tradition.

A competition was staged on July 26 for the episode. All ages participated. Harris had a go but did not capture the flag. At the show, he stated -- drawing chuckles -- that he had "taken a dive" so as not to upstage the youngest participants, and called the greasy pole "the wackiest, weirdest, funnest thing ever."

Callender says the turnout for the live show exceeded their expectations, and he says this element of the series is "a wonderful event" after which people approach them to convey appreciation of how the community's spirit has been captured or to say they learned something new. "It's a feel‑good half hour of TV," he says. "We all need that. Jonny's a rock star, wherever he goes." He adds that with current trade challenges and the focus of the country on promoting Canadian products, now is a good time for the show "to reflect the country back to itself. Every episode is packed with more meaning of what it is to feel Canadian."

He calls 11 seasons "a wonderful achievement" for the show. The episode may air in late fall or early winter, pending scheduling by CBC. Updates will be posted by "Still Standing" on social media.