Letterkenny Interview: Tyler Johnston and Evan Stern talk breakdancing, slip-ups

Spencer Legacy, Managing Editor of ComingSoon, spoke with Letterkenny stars Tyler Johnston and Evan Stern about the show's 11th season. The duo discussed the evolution of the Skids and the physical toll of break dancing. Letterkenny Season 11 is now available to stream on Hulu.

“Letterkenny residents deal with influencers, lost dogs, a mystery church bake sale, unwanted beer league visitors and trouble from the Degens during the Canadian comedy's 11th season," reads the season's synopsis.

Spencer Legacy: Tyler, 11 seasons is a milestone. Has your approach to your characters changed over the past seven years of playing them?

Tyler Johnston: Absolutely. spencer. Yeah, the first two seasons, we were kinda… in the drug world.

Evan Stern: Methamphetamines.

Tyler Johnston: We had scars and we had black eyes and we didn't get much sleep - not that our characters changed much in that regard - but Evan and I used to just slam 12 cups of coffee before we got to together and we would dance our hearts out and it was kind of our meth of choice at the time. And now our characters are a little more perfect and have all kinds of other things they get into. So we have to prepare a little more these days.

Evan Stern: We have a lot of preparation. We have a lot of preparation. Ty and I like to run our lines 400 times, as we like to say, the night before. The fact that we have fewer drug references and that we investigate more crimes and start businesses, those are new words for us. Lots of new things to learn.

Tyler, the church bake sale episode is really Stewart's big episode. What was filming like?

Tyler Johnston: Oh, that was so much fun. Whenever we get a group of people together on the same day, we usually have a good time, you know? So we had Coach, Gail, then Katy, Rosie, Glen and Tanis, then of course Roaldie and I went there. You gather a group of characters in one place, it will usually be chaos. Obviously, the actors get along really well, so we know when to be professional and when to try and push each other's buttons a bit.

Evan, the scene in the drug dealing episode where you hover around Stewart in the chair like a Disney villain, tempting him, that was amazing. How many takes did it take?

Evan Stern: Well, I thought they were going to step in, cut them together to make it sound less crazy, but they just kept a wide shot of me doing it. I did not expect that. In fact, I was surprised to see this yesterday. It took a few. You couldn't stop laughing!

Tyler Johnston: The first thing is like, look…he just…we didn't rehearse it. We haven't talked about it. All of a sudden we just started saying the lines and Evan is all over me. I'm supposed to be stoic sitting in this chair. He rubs my shoulder all the way to my fingertips. And then he comes around that... he goes up my neck and around my other side and then his, his lips touch my —

Evan Stern: I was thinking, my hot breath on your neck. At one point I was like -

Tyler Johnston: Inside my ear.

Evan Stern: I still remember that feeling.

Tyler Johnston: Yes. So that's what happened that day, Spencer. Sometimes Jacob [Tierney], our director, just lets us go and kind of leaves us stuck there. And this may be one of the cases where it happened to Evan.

Evan Stern: Yeah, it was Jacob's fault.

Tyler Johnston: Yes, definitely. Jacob's fault.

It would be easy for the Skids to exhaust their welcome or be a rating, but you always keep them entertaining. What is your approach?

Tyler Johnston: Well, I have to say Jared [Keeso] and Jacob did a great job writing the Skids. I think Jared has said in the past [that] the Skids are some of his favorite scenes to write because he can do pretty much anything, which has been pretty cool – being part of this evolution of the Skids. Again, we started as basement drug dealers selling dollar cigarettes, and then we grew into weightlifters, break dancers, and business owners.

Evan Stern: We do it all, man. We do it all. Endless.

Tyler Johnston: Every season is refreshing.

Evan Stern: Yeah, yeah, that's right. It's really just a matter of Jacob and Jared being...