How ‘Letterkenny’s Music Video ‘Sun Darts’ Came Together for the Final Season

Emily Aslanian January 9, 2024, 2:30 pm

How’r ya now? The long-running Canadian comedy Letterkenny called it quits after 12 seasons, but before they closed the barn doors in December 2023, fans were given a musical parting gift.

In the final season’s second episode, the Skids — with help from the Hicks and A.I. — release their own country music video for their engineered song, “Sun Darts.” According to mastermind Stewart (Tyler Johnston), every hit country single has two essential things: a unique hook/song title (“Sun Darts”), and “as much hick s**t as possible.”

The result? An over-the-top smorgasbord of fun-loving country iconography. Everyone’s drinking a Puppers Golden Lager (the series’ own light beer). The “toughest guy in Letterkenny” Wayne (played by creator Jared Keeso) and Stewart arm wrestle while the good-looking women of Letterkenny cheer in spaghetti strap tank tops — alongside the Skids, like Roald (Evan Stern), of course. There’s wood chopping, Katy (Michelle Mylett) and Bonnie (Kamilla Kowal) washing a pickup truck in short-shorts, water guns, baseball, football, fishing and so much smoking. (If you hadn’t figured it out by now, a “dart” is slang for cigarette.) And the lyrics? As catchy as any country hit right now. “Talkin’ ’bout sun darts, talkin’ ’bout broken hearts, talkin’ ’bout teenage love and truck parts…” What more do you need?

And though onscreen we saw auctioneer Jim Dickens (Alex McCooeye) singing, some hardcore country fans might’ve recognized the vocals were really from Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo.

But how did this comedic masterpiece first come together? “I think it started originally [because of] Dylan [Playfair’s] love for two-steppin’ and country music,” says Andrew Herr, who plays Jonesy, of the series’ hockey-playing duo Reilly and Jonesy, alongside Playfair.

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“It was as a joke that we came up with on tour that we just started singing in the van to and from shows to make each other laugh. And Keeso was like, ‘I think this has got to go in the show,'” recalls K. Trevor Wilson (Squirrely Dan). “We kept wandering around in this really picturesque farm that we found in Sudbury and people would come up with ridiculous things, like Petronijevic [McMurray] and I lighting smokes while almost kissing.”

“We played around with the song for months, maybe a year in advance,” notes Johnston. “For it to actually show up in that final season was a funny moment for all of us.”

By the time the cast shot the scenes, which look like they take place over a summer afternoon, it was actually September, so it got “pretty chilly,” says Wilson.

But shooting the scenes of “Sun Darts” was even weirder than watching them. “I just remember Alex [Jim Dickens], they got him by the horses and they had him lip-synching a super sped up version of the song so it could be in slo-mo later,” says Mylett. “Just him singing so quickly, and he’s so funny, it was just such a surreal, bizarre [moment].”

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Meanwhile, Playfair recalls the memorable afternoon where the cast got to chase each other around with water guns: “The note was like, ‘have the most gratuitous water fight you can think of,’ and then [director] Jacob [Tierney] was like, ‘action.'”

“We were all soaking wet at the end of it,” adds Wilson. “And let me tell you, denim overalls are not the most fun thing to get caught in in a water fight.” …We suggest you let that one marinate.

Above, check out our video with the cast, where they reveal their favorite Letterkenny-isms. Pitter patter.

Letterkenny, Streaming Now, Hulu