In July of 1999, production on the long-awaited sequel to “Strange Brew,” the Canadian hoser classic featuring beloved SCTV characters Bob & Doug Mckenzie, suddenly shut down a week before shooting was scheduled due to financial issues.
Lead actors Dave Thomas (Bob) and Rick Moranis (Doug) considered suing the company that botched the insurance, but the financial collapse was such a huge blow to the project, that any hope of seeing Bob & Doug again, was abandoned, seemingly for good.
Well, Bob & Dave are coming back, or at least, they will be in an animated form. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Fox network is helping develop, “The Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie,” for Global Television in Canada.
Global already has ordered 13 episodes of animated cartoon to be voiced by the two principal actors for its 2009 schedule. Legendary actor Max von Sydow – the only living human being with the distinction of having acted in both Ingmar Bergman’s”The Seventh Seal” and “Strange Brew,” and is perhaps the greatest actor on earth for having appeared in both cinema classics.
In the spring of last year Bob and Doug reunited for a “two-four,”24-year-anniversary celebration which was a one hour special on the CBC in Canada and the duo have become cultural icons in the Great White North. The bufoonish, beer-swilling, lay-about characters got their start in the 1970s on SCTV, the heralded Canadian sketch comedy analogue to “Saturday Night Live.” One of the greatest moments in the history of rock and movies (or comedy television) is when Rush’s Geddy Lee joined Moranis and Thompson to sing the classic Canuck classic, “Take Off” [ed. it’s a beauty way to go.] on the 1982 album Great White North (Lee’s supposed reason for participating? “Ten bucks is ten bucks.”)
Listen: Geddy Lee and Bob & Doug McKenzie – “Take Off”
Watch: Bob & Doug McKenzie