‘An interesting story’: Smiths Falls takes centre stage in upcoming episode of CBC’s Still Standing
When Season 10 of the CBC comedy series Still Standing returns this fall, local viewers will notice some familiar people and landmarks.
Host/comedian Jonny Harris will spend one whole episode exploring the highlights and struggles of life in Smiths Falls.
Over the previous nine seasons, Newfoundland-born host and comedian Jonny Harris has visited 105 Canadian towns from coast-to-coast-to-coast to learn about their history, culture, and locals in an attempt to understand in what ways these “underdog” towns are still standing.
From May 3 to 8, Harris spent some time exploring the historic town nestled alongside the Rideau Canal. During his time in Smiths Falls, Harris visited the Canopy Growth factory, spoke with a former Hershey employee, sped along the Lombardy Raceway, visited the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario and more. He then performed his Still Standing comedy show on May 8 at the Youth Arena before taking off to the next town,
In an interview with Lanarkist, Harris shared “We’re looking for a survivor story, an underdog story, and you know, a town that’s taken on a certain set of struggles.”
When asked why they chose Smiths Falls specifically, Harris elaborated, “It was an interesting story that it is the chocolate capital of Canada and the first place Hershey ever made chocolate outside of Pennsylvania. And then, of course, they pulled out. And it was, you know, absolutely devastating for the community.“
Harris explained to Lanarkist that he already knows a good amount about the town he’s visiting before he even gets there, “So we’ve got a strategy. We’ve got our researcher and some story producers, and they’ve already done a lot of homework. We already know who we’re going to talk to and when, and kind of the angle of the story that we want to tell each episode. It’s a team effort amongst everyone to make it happen.”
The largest surprise to Harris when he explored the town was size and scale of the industrial productions, specifically the cannabis factory.
“It’s just more marijuana than ever seen in my life collectively,” Harris joked. “I mean, it’s just enormous and the sophistication of these machines that, you know, fine roll individual joints. And it’s like a real [lab], there’s hairnets and lab coats. They take a true scientific approach to it.”
It’s not everyday the folks from Smiths Falls see a film crew rolling through their town, but Harris confirmed that everybody he encountered was kind and welcoming.
“It’s a bigger town than I was expecting it to be and a bigger town than we usually cover. I mean, Smiths Falls felt more like a small city to me but the people were lovely and very accommodating.”
The Smiths Falls episode of Still Standing will be airing on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 8:30 p.m on CBC TV and can be streamed for free on CBC Gem. Viewers may also recognize Jonny Harris from his role as George Crabtree on the long running series Murdoch Mysteries, which premieres its 18th season on Monday, Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. on CBC TV and CBC Gem.
