With his plaid shirt, grey beard, green fishing cap, and roll of duct tape, handyman Red Green has become one of the most recognized characters on Canadian television. With a fan base that spans multiple generations, Red Green’s simple rural wisdom has entertained millions of fans across Canada and beyond its borders.

On Sunday, October 16th, Steve Smith — the man behind the iconic character — brings Red Green back to Peterborough in his latest show I’m Not Old I’m Ripe. His third comedy tour, I’m Not Old I’m Ripe finally cracks the enigma that is Red Green, as Steve reveals the backstory of a character who is familiar to all of us, but who we don’t really know anything about.

“I learned in high school, working on a farm in the summers, that you can have a real simple guy who is quite bright,” Smith says. “You don’t have to be spouting off intellectual things to have a high-functioning mind.”

“The reason I’ve had so much success with this character is that everybody has somebody in their family that Red reminds them of,” he says. “It’s usually somebody in their family that they like. So I become the beneficiary to the goodwill to an uncle or brother or a father or a grandfather. Sometimes it’ll be someone who has passed away. I get a lot of people telling me that Red Green is the last connection to a family member who has passed away that they really liked.”

Steve created Red Green in 1978 for a segment of the popular CHCH-TV sketch comedy series Smith & Smith, which he did with his wife Morag from 1978 to 1985. The character started as a playful satire on television sportsman B.H. “Red” Fisher who hosted a long-running fishing and wilderness show on CTV from 1968 to 1989.

“The message I got from Red Fisher was to believe that nothing would bore an audience,” Steve recalls. “It was Red Fisher’s job to fill a half an hour and to make it interesting. That takes such a strong ego, so much self-confidence. Red Fisher had a half hour fishing show where he wouldn’t catch any fish! Red and Ted Williams would polish off a bottle of scotch and just do a show. Then they’d cut to this footage of him landing on some float plane. It was always the same footage! They used that same footage of that float plane for 10 years. It was outrageous.”

Although Red Fisher has all but disappeared in the minds of modern television audiences, Red Green found his own unique fan base immediately.

“I got instant recognition for Red Green. We got fan mail on it,” Steve says.

“In 1982, when CHCH was running the hockey games, they didn’t know when they’d end. So they asked me if I’d do a Red Green show that would fill in when the hockey game ended, until 11 p.m. I declined because I didn’t want to do that, but that gave some indication that there were some legs to that character.”

Continuing to play Red Green in a number of other shows, such as Max and Me and The Comedy Mill, The Red Green Show finally premiered in 1991. Starring Smith — along with Patrick McKenna as his nephew Harold and Rick Green as outdoor adventure Bill — The Red Green Show shot an astonishing 300 episodes over 15 seasons spanning three different networks including CHCH, Global and finally finding a permanent home on CBC.

Meanwhile, the show found its own cult following in the United States when the show was picked up by Amercian public broadcaster PBS.

“Red Green is very different, so it was difficult to compare it to other things,” Steve says of the show’s popularity in the U.S. marketplace. “If NBC, CBS and ABC are doing cop shows, and they are spending $5 million an episode, and you do a cop show in Canada and you are spending $500,000 an episode, what are the chances that you’ll be able to compete with them? But Red Green is hard to classify.”

“If we had spent too much money on the show we’d have wrecked it. We didn’t have the money to do it right and that made it better. But I think its best asset was that it was different. When it’s unique, there isn’t anything else to compare it too and then nobody cares where it comes from. A lot of Americans don’t even know Red Green is from Canada. They think we shoot it in Minnesota or something.”

Although Steve ended The Red Green Show in 2006, he felt he had more to say with the character, and in 2013 took his first Red Green tour, The Wit and Wisdom Tour, across North America. This was followed by his second show, How to Do Everything (From a Man Who Should Know), the following year.

Steve started his latest tour last spring by performing 26 shows in the U.S., and is doing another 29 performances across Canada this fall.

“Each tour has its own theme,” Steve says. “The first tour was an extension of the show. I did it in character and just talked about the lodge and the characters. The second show was more the handyman aspect of things. But this show is more autobiographical.”

“What I’ve been able to do — and what has probably allowed me to enjoy the character for 40 years — is that Red’s become my spokesman. In many ways he’s trying to be funny, but in other ways he’s expressing Steve Smith’s opinions through the filter of Red Green, who is a lot more acceptable to people and certainly more well known. They have an affection for him that allows him to say things that Steve Smith may not be allowed to say.”

So where does the character of Red Green end and the reality of Steve Smith begin?

“I don’t have the problems of William Shatner being Captain Kirk because I created the character,” Steve explains. “It wasn’t thrust upon me. He’s kind of me anyway. The way I look at it is that all of Red Green is in me, but there is a whole lot of me that’s outside of Red Green. It’s not painful for me to be Red Green.”

After the tour finishes at the end of October, Steve will be returning home for a rest — but not for long. Early next year his eighth book, Red Green’s Book of Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Canadian Inventions is being published.

“This never ends,” Steve says. “It’s a miracle. The Red Green Show was supposed to be a summer job in 1990 and it’s been an endless summer.”

Don’t miss this chance to see one of Canada’s most beloved characters on the Showplace Performance Center stage on October 16th. Tickets are $59.50 and are on sale now at www.showplace.org.

For its fall season, Market Hall Performing Arts Centre is bringing an eclectic lineup of musical events to the 350-seat venue in downtown Peterborough.

This October sees award-winning Johannes Linstead performing virtuoso Spanish-style guitar, as well as Brian Risk presenting his “Heart of Gold” tribute to musical icon Neil Young.

In November, Jeremy Wright brings Paul McCartney’s music to the stage in “Here Today”, a tribute to the Beatles’ songwriter and bassist and Wings frontman.

In December, the “In From the Cold” Christmas concert returns for its 17th year, once again raising funds for Peterborough’s YES Shelter for Youth and Families.

Details about each of these shows are provided below:

Market Hall is also upping its game this season by presenting its own concerts, including two this November.

“Traditionally, we’ve been a rental facility but I’ve taken on about seven shows this season on behalf of Market Hall,” explains Chad Hogan, Market Hall’s general manager. “We have our own set of shows that we’re doing. We’ve never really done that before.”

One example is the November 17 concert featuring Welsh-born blues guitarist extraordinaire Philip Sayce. Meanwhile, another “Market Hall presents” show will see former Great Big Sea member Séan McCann take to the stage November 26.

“That’s going to be a really special one,” says Hogan. “He’s a recovering addict, so we’ve partnered with the CMHA. He’s going to do a private one-hour session ahead of the show with people in the community who are struggling with recovery.”

Hogan is mindful that Market Hall has a number of “loyal groups” that regularly stage performances in the venue: Folk Under The Clock, Public Energy, and New Stages Theatre Company have called Market Hall home for years now.

“The acts that I’m booking are not going to compete with what we already have,” he says.

In fact, come November, the upper windows of the hall where it intersects at Charlotte and George streets will see permanent graphics added to them with some of that artwork paying homage to its long-term user groups.

“Market Hall remains kind of hidden in plain sight for many,” says Hogan. “We want to change that.”

As a non-profit organization, Market Hall relies on the support of audiences so it can continue to attract promoters and musicians to the heritage venue. You can help support Market Hall while enjoying a musical night out by buying tickets to the shows below.

Johannes Linstead: Guitar Of Fire (Friday, October 14th at 8 p.m.)

Named World Artist of the Year at the Ontario Music Awards, Johannas Linstead is an award-winning guitarist who fuses virtuoso Spanish-style guitar with Afro-Cuban, Middle Eastern and Latin American percussion and instrumentation.

Nominated in 2007 for a Juno Award for the album Café Tropical and named Guitarist of the Year by the Canadian Smooth Jazz Award, Linstead has nine studio albums to his credit, the most recent being 2014’s Midnight Rhumba.

Having first picked up the guitar at age eight upon receiving the instrument as a birthday present, Linstead didn’t put it down, expanding on his early love of classical music to later include rock, flamenco, and jazz.

“I use music as a way to express what words cannot say,” says Linstead on his website at www.johanneslinstead.com.

“Every note contains a part of me, and all the love, joy, hope and compassion in my heart. I believe that music has the power to uplift humanity — I see it all the time at every one of my concerts. To be able to bring happiness to so many people is a true blessing.”

Deeply spiritual, Linstead is a certified yoga instructor, conducting yoga and music retreats when his touring schedule allows. In 2006, he founded Divine Earth, a humanitarian organization that promotes meditation, yoga, holistic living and the healing power of music.

Advance tickets for Johannes Linstead are $32 for adults ($37 for table seating) and $23 for students ($28 for table seating) and are available at the Market Hall Box Office at 140 Charlotte St., by calling 705-742-9425, or online at www.markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).

Tickets will also be available at the door for $37 ($42 for table seating).

Heart Of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young (Saturday, October 22nd at 8 p.m.)

Presented by Brian Risk Music Productions, this widely acclaimed tribute show pays homage to the life and music Omemee-raised singer/songwriter Neil Young.

The tribute will cover all facets of his legendary career spanning 50-plus years, including his solo career, his collaboration with Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and his work with Crazy Horse. Fans of Young can expect to hear all his classics, such as “After The Gold Rush”, “Cinnamon Girl”, “Rocking In The Free World”, and “Old Man”.

Featuring Brian Risk (guitar/harmonica/vocals), Peggy Miller (violin/hand percussion/vocals), Chris Clarke (drums/vocals) and Daniel Perreault (bass), Heart of Gold is broken into two parts: solo acoustic and soft rock numbers are featured first and, after the break, Young’s hard-driving rock classics take things home.

“Neil Young’s music is as relevant today as it ever was,” says Risk at www.brianriskmusic.com

“This show attracts concert goers from a young age well into the baby boomer bracket. His work is acclaimed, loved and revered around the world.”

Advance tickets cost $28 for general admission or $33 for assigned cabaret table seating and are available at the Market Hall Box Office at 140 Charlotte St., by calling 705-742-9425, or online at www.markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).

Tickets will also be available for $5 more at the door.

Here Today: Paul McCartney Tribute (Friday, November 25th at 8 p.m.)

Billed as Canada’s Paul McCartney tribute show, “Here Today” features Jeremy Wright recreating note for note the famed musician’s tunes, both as a member of the groundbreaking British band and as the lead singer of Wings.

Backed by a stellar band, Wright runs through a number of signature McCartney-performed hits, from “Yesterday” and “Hey Jude” to “Band On The Run” and “Jet”.

“Here Today” is being presented by Impress Productions (www.impressproductions.ca), which also produces other tribute shows including “Bangladesh: Canada’s George Harrison Tribute”, “The McCartney Experience”, and “Summon The Beatles One More Time”.

Ticekts are $40 for adults, $35 for seniors, and $35 for students and are available at the Market Hall Box Office at 140 Charlotte St., by calling 705-742-9425, or online at www.markethall.org. Tickets for Row C are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).

In From The Cold Christmas Concert (Friday, December 9th and Saturday, December 10th at 8 p.m.)

Billed as “the heart of a Peterborough Christmas,” In From The Cold returns to Market Hall for its 17th year.

Produced locally, the annual concert features Celtic and contemporary carols and seasonal songs served up by Carried Away, The Convivio Chorus, Curtis Driedger, Michael Ketemer, and Tanah Haney.

In From The Cold was launched in 2000 by John Hoffman, Susan Newman, Rob Fortin and Driedger, a group of accomplished Peterborough roots musicians who came together to form an annual local Christmas concert that would be unlike any other being offered.

In a few short years, In From the Cold has become the hottest ticket of the Peterborough Christmas season, selling out the Market Hall for two nights every December while raising thousands of dollars for Peterborough’s YES Shelter for Youth and Families.

Tickets for In From The Cold cost $20 ($15 for students and children) and are available at the Market Hall Box Office at 140 Charlotte St., by calling 705-742-9425, or online at www.markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).

Market Hall Performing Arts Centre Inc. is a not-for-profit charitable organization overseen by a board and a small staff.

Its mandate is to establish, operate and maintain a facility or facilities for performing and/or visual arts in the City of Peterborough as well as provide for the hosting of theatre productions, music concerts, art exhibitions, and education and informational programs relating to the arts for the general benefit of the public.

For more information on the 2016-17 season at Market Hall, including what shows are being presented and ticket details for each, visit www.markethall.org.