'Hiccups' debuts

It’s not fair, but everyone will compare Brent Butt’s new sitcom, Hiccups, to his old one. You know, that little show called Corner Gas? It ran for six seasons, its characters became beloved friends to millions of viewers and it scored a pantload of Geminis, Canadian Comedy awards and Writers Guild of Canada awards? Yeah, that one.

Like I said, it’s totally unfair to compare Gas and Hiccups, especially since the latter show – like the former one – airs on CTV, stars Butt and Gas co-star Nancy Robertson and surrounds the duo with quirky characters derived from the Butt’s comic mind.

And yet you can’t help it. And real-life husband and wife Butt and Robertson know it. But they’re OK with it. They understand.

“I am aware that everyone will use Corner Gas as a yardstick, and I know that would naturally happen,” Butt says on the line from Vancouver, where he’s putting the finishing post-production touches on the last of 13 episodes.

“The characters are different, the setting is different … it’s fast-paced and conversation-driven. I think that if you like Corner Gas, you’ll likely like Hiccups. I’m not sure why you wouldn’t. If you like one James Bond, you’re likely to like another.”

Unlike Corner Gas, which was based in the middle of Nowhere, Sask., Hiccups is in Vancouver, where Robertson plays Millie Upton. Millie is a super-successful children’s book author with anger issues. The first scene in Episode 1 has her giving a dressing-down to a guy who can’t decide what kind of coffee he’d like, as patrons gather behind him.

Because of public outbursts like that – and a shoving match between her and a young fan at a bookstore reading – Millie’s publisher, Joyce Haddison (Laura Soltis, The Guard), demands she find someone who can help her with her emotions. Enter life coach Stan Dirko (Butt), who becomes Millie’s confidante, sounding board and friend.

But if Butt had his way, he never would have played Stan. When CTV announced that Hiccups had been picked up for a pilot, following Gas's end last April, it stated that Butt was staying behind the scenes, writing and executive-producing. The network then came forward, requesting that he reconsider a place in the spotlight.

“It was a directive from the network, but I wouldn’t say that it was pressure,” he explains, though it would make sense since Gas averaged a million viewers a week with Butt front and centre – impressive for a Canadian show. “It was them saying, ‘We would really like you to consider playing the part of Stan,’ and they gave me a whole bunch of arguments that I didn’t have an answer to. So I started to think of scenes that Nancy and I could do together, and I knew that they would be funny and I started to get excited about it. No regrets.

“My thinking with staying behind the cameras was that I wouldn’t have to shave every day and I could work 12-hour days instead of 18.”

Sharing the long days with Butt and Robertson are a mixed-bag of supporting characters (Butt details them below) who move in and out of Millie and Stan’s lives, often with hilarious results.

There isn’t an Oscar, Lacey or Hank among them, though they do have their own quirks. You can’t help but think about Corner Gas while watching the first episode, “Millie, Meet Stan,” but by the second, “Office Clothes,” you start to forget and warm to these new people.

Robertson, who in addition to acting gets a producer’s credit (thanks to behind-the-scenes work in casting, organizing wardrobe, make-up and hair, and creative input), hopes Corner Gas fans embrace the new people like they did the old.

“It will be hard to separate the two at first, but stick with us and hopefully you’ll get used to us in this new environment,” Robertson says from the West Coast.

“If it did get amazing (ratings) like Corner Gas, we would be so thrilled, but that’s not a motivation. We’re like the step-parent. We’re really nice. Come in, give us a chance.”

Hiccups bats lead-off for CTV on Monday nights in the 8 p.m. timeslot, heading into two hours of back-to-back sitcoms that include CBS hits Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, and Dan for Mayor, a new sitcom from Corner Gas co-star Fred Ewanuik.

“We’re rooting for each other,” Robertson says. “It’s like a big family. We had dinner a few weeks ago and we were all sitting there thinking it was a little weird because we’re so used to it just being the Corner Gas group.”

Just like old times.

Hiccups debuts Monday, March 1, at 8 p.m. ET on CTV.

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THE QUIRKY CHARACTERS OF 'HICCUPS'
Want to know more about Stan and Millie’s cohorts? Butt gives us a primer.

	Joyce Haddison “Laura Soltis plays Joyce Haddison. Haddison House publishes Millie’s children’s books, and Joyce is benefiting greatly from Millie’s success, but has to deal with her problems too. It’s a case of ‘she’s making me a lot of money, but she’s causing me a lot of headaches.’ I think people with empathize with Joyce because she is surrounded by incompetence and craziness.”
	Taylor Rymes “David Ingram plays Taylor Rymes, and he is Millie’s literary agent. He’s funny because Millie’s so successful that she doesn’t need an agent, and he’s completely ineffectual. He’s a superficial dude who’s all about nice suits and hitting on the ladies, so he is a very funny character.”
	Crystal Braywood “Emily Perkins plays Crystal Braywood, and she is the receptionist at Haddison House, and she’s a spoiled little rich girl who has no idea of what work is. Joyce hired her because if she did, she would be able to get favourable mortgage rates from Crystal’s banker dad.”
	Anna Dirko “Paula Rivera plays my wife, Anna, who has been the sole breadwinner in the Dirko family for the past six months because Stan has never had a client as life coach. She’s a wonderfully upbeat, positive person. She supports Stan wholeheartedly. It’s a love conquers-all-type of thing because you think ‘Why the hell is she with him?’ She runs her own gardening business and gets hired in the second episode to take care of the plants in Joyce’s building.”