Photo courtesy of the Diamond Mine Agency.
Ever wondered what it’s like to give’r with Terry Cahill from the Canadian cult classic film FUBAR? Find out for yourself on March 30 as Cahill brings FUBAR Live to Cheers Live with special guests Trish and Shank as part of the Western Canada Tour.
For those unfamiliar with the film, FUBAR, a ‘mockumentary’ released in 2002, explored the world of hard rock headbangers in Calgary through the eyes of Terry Cahill and Dean “Deaner” Murdoch. Shot on a home movie camera with little to no money, FUBAR became much bigger than ever anticipated with audiences still discovering the film today.
A sequel, FUBAR 2, was released in 2010 with the boys trying to cut it on the rigs in Fort Mac before a bit of mayhem and a heart-warming tale are told.
Despite “The Mac” being described as a cruel mistress who will freeze you if you don’t love her in the film, it was there, at a strip club called “Peelerz” (a former strip club located in Nisku that actually changed its name to Peelerz after the film came out) where Terry met the love of his life, Trish, and the rest is history. They may be on-again, off-again, but Terry and Trish are excited to bring their unique show to the Border City for a night to remember.
The Source caught up with Cahill last week, as well as Dave Lawrence, Cahill’s creator and the man who’s been playing him since he was 15 years old.
“I can’t wait for the show,” said Cahill while travelling last Friday. “I’ve never been to Cheers Live, but apparently it’s a good place to go.”
Cahill explained FUBAR Live consists of stories from his, Trish’s, and Shank’s life, and since these are fictitious characters, everything is improvised on the spot.
“We’re going to tell some stories from our lives, and we’ll be getting the crowd involved to play characters who come up through these stories … maybe someone plays one of my neighbours, and maybe that neighbour happens to love shotgunning beers … and then we really gun beers with them.”
Shank, who Cahill described as his blood cousin, is another member of the FUBAR family hitting the road this month to add an extra twist to the show.
“Shank was in the show we did for Vice called ‘Age of Computer,’” said Cahill. “He’s a bit f-ed up in the head, so I wouldn’t look him in the eye for too long. He’s got one witchy eye that’s all foggy … I think he was welding galvanized steel or something.”
Cahill explained March 30 is also Trish’s birthday, so the trio will be doing some karaoke with great prizes up for grabs.
The Source also had a couple of questions for Lawrence, and when asked, this was the response we heard.
“Hold on, Dave’s in the car, let me just get him, hold on, just wait,” said Cahill as he audibly fumbled with his phone.
“Oh, hey, Taylor, sorry, Terry was really excited to talk to you, so I let him call the number,” said Lawrence.
Lawrence explained when the film was released 22 years ago, he and Paul Spence, who played Deaner, never thought it would reach the heights it has today.
“Being from Calgary, we thought we were just portraying Calgarians, bangers we’d seen in high school or bangers we met through the pipeline, so we thought we were portraying local Albertans, but as the film spread, people started to realize they all knew people just like the guys in FUBAR,” said Lawrence.
“Even bangers from Australia, where AC/DC is from, even they know bangers like Terry and Deaner. We quickly realized it resonated quite wider than we ever thought it would.”
Lawrence also explained the reason he and Spence decided to start their own project was due to the fact that Canadian actors weren’t getting much work at home at the time.
“Most of the productions in Calgary were American films, so for local guys, the only jobs available were for the crew, or a role with very few lines. There wasn’t anything juicy for local actors, so we thought we might as well make our own movie,” he said.
“Since we didn’t have a lot of money, we knew it had to be a documentary because that’s the only thing we could possibly afford, so I used my credit cards to rent the cameras. The biggest expense was the hair extensions. We had relatively long hair, but not full mullets, so the hair extensions were $800 a piece.”
To cover the costs involved in finishing the film, Lawrence maxed out his credit cards; his dad even refinanced the family home.
“That scene where Deaner’s out in the rain, we wrecked our camera shooting that, and then the bus shelter (we smashed), we had to pay The City of Calgary to break that,” said Lawrence. “We maxed out my credit cards, then we got into the Sundance Film Festival.”
Lawrence also addressed the elephant in the room, the void created by the lack of Paul Spence, A.K.A Deaner.
“In 2019, Paul sold his shares to the FUBAR brand, so he stepped away,” said Lawrence.
“So, he’s not part of the FUBAR brand, but he’s working on a film called Deaner ’89, which is coming out soon. It’s a project Paul made in Manitoba with the Indigenous Screen Institute.”
Want to hear these stories and more like them live and in person? Make sure to get your tickets for FUBAR Live at Cheers Live on March 30. Tickets are available through Eventbrite for $32.21.
