Welcome To Barth's Burgery

Serving up the best roadkill on the web!




"I heard that!"

You Can't Do That On Television

Everything you ever wanted to know!




"But were afraid to ask!"



Les Lye
lives on at
Barth's Burgery!


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You Can't Do That On Television trivia: 1) Adam Reid (former YCDTOTV cast member) was co-writer for the Pollution 89 episode (and others). 2) Alanis Morissette starred in the 1986 season of You Can't Do That On Television and appears in the Enemies & Paranoia 86 episode in this set. It is rumored that she financed her first CD with the money she made from being on the show. 3) Adam Reid later became a writer for the show and went on to become a successful television writer and producer. 4) In the 1979 season, the show had live musical guests that performed in Studio A at CJOH-TV in Ottawa. Billy Joel, Eddie Money, and Michael Jackson were some of the more famous musical acts that performed on the show. 5) You Can't Do That On Television was filmed in Studio D at CJOH-TV in Ottawa. (And some sketches were shot in Studio A.) 6) Les Lye is the only cast member who appeared in every single episode. 7) The kids got paid extra when they got watered or slimed on the show. They got $75 for each watering and $150 for each sliming. 8) The water and slime scenes were usually shot late in the evening, because the kids would have to immediately go and take a shower. 9) The waterings and slimings were completely staged. They would film the scene up to the set-up and then stop. The director would have the camera man pull in for a close-up. A plastic sheet was put on the floor and the kid would take off his shoes. Then the kid would say the magic word(s) and either get slimed or watered. The kids were told to turn their face upward so that the slime (or water) would get all over their face. Ian Fingler after getting slimed in a 1979 episode was the only kid ever to say after getting slimed, "Ouch!" The other cast members kidded him about it. 10) Abby Hagyard (who played mom on the show) wore latex gloves on most of the episodes because the producers thought her hands were too 'elegant looking' for a hard working housewife. 11) The set where Christine 'Moose' McGlade does the introduction to the show is called "The Link Set". 12) Often when the credits were rolled at the end of the show, if you look closely you'll see gag credits like: "This is like watching paint dry!" 13) Darryl Lucas (who played Barth's helper Zilch) was the only kid who did not play himself on the show. All the other kids played themselves. Daryl Lucas' father was head of marketing at CJOH-TV. 14) Roger Price and Geoffrey Darby shot two pilots in 1983 -- UFO Kidnapped and Bear Lake. Unfortunately neither of the shows were picked up. 15) Brenda Mason was the director for over 50 of the You Can't Do That On Television episodes. 16) The very first thing ever recorded for You Can't Do That On Television was an intro. It was a long burp, with Les Lye (as the announcer) saying, "You Can't Do That On Television!" On the day of the first broadcast, Geoffrey Darby said that the show was about to go on. At the last minute, he qued the tape to just past that intro and it was never used for any of the episodes. 17) At the Christmas party and end-of-the-season party, Alannis Morrisette would sing and put on a show for the cast members and crew. She was twelve. 18) In some of the doctor's office sketches, if you look at the eye chart on the wall it says, "U OWE ME $30". 19) Les Lye created many of the catch-phrases on the show. A) Blip from the Blip's Arkaid sketches, "Sometimes it's so easy!" B) El Capitan in the firing squad sketches, "Ready, aim, fire!" C) Barth in the Barth's Burgery sketches, "Duh, I heard that!" D) Mr. Schidtler in the classroom sketches, "Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to me!" 20) Les Lye taught at the community college in Ottawa. Geoffrey Darby was one of his students. 21) Jim Clarke (the sound man for the show) still has the painted lockers used in the show. The cast of the 1990 season signed their names inside the yellow locker. 22) The very first green sliming. In the 1979 season, Tim Douglas had the honor of being the first kid to ever get slimed. Here's the story behind that first sliming: the producers Roger Price and Geoffrey Darby came up with this idea to dump green slime all over the kids. So they went to the stage crew and ask them to fix up a bucket of gross slimey green slop. Well, Dean Carley and Paul Copping did exactly what the producers asked. They took a bucket and filled it with food left-overs, water, oatmeal, and other stuff. It set out overnight and the next day, they dumped it over Tim's head in one of the dungeon scenes. Immediately afterward, the crew realized that this was not going to work. The stuff really stank and they were afraid it would make the kids sick. So the producers got with the stage crew and told them that it didn't really have to be nasty, it only had to look nasty. And so green slime was born. The basic receipe for green slime is: water, green jello, cream of wheat, and baby shampoo. 23) The first scene ever taped for You Can't Do That On Television. It featured Ross (Les Lye) instructing Jono Gebert on how to be a weather forecaster. Check out Ross' hair. 24) Ruth Buzzi starred in the 1979 prime-time version of You Can't Do That On Television entitled Whatever Turns You On. 25) In the 1986 Censorship episode, Alasdair is in the dungeon with Nasti (Les Lye). Alasdair asks why he's in the dungeon. Nasti says it's because you've been saying 'hell' and 'rude' words. Alasdair says I'm not saying bad words, that's the name of the associate producer, Helen Rhude. Check the credits at the end of the show. The associate producer is Helen Rhude. 26) Some parts of the 1979 season (like the Link Set) were done LIVE. That's right! If the kids flubbed their lines, there was no re-do. 27) There were no shows produced for the 1988 season. 28) Christine's little sister, her brother, and her dad all had cameo appearances on the show. 29) In one of the sketches, the crew had rigged an explosive to blow up the kitchen sink. The explosive was too big and the sink really did blow up. Fortunately no one was injured. 30) Here are some characters that were created by Les Lye: Barth Bagg -- Barth's Burgery Ross Ewich -- Floor Director Seth Poole -- Engineer R. Sole -- Director Lance Prevert -- dad 31) Les Lye created a character called 'Snake Eyes'. He was the school bus driver. When the kids would really act up, he would pull out a pistol and shoot a hole in the roof of the bus. Nickelodeon sent the episodes back and said they had to re-do them without the gun. They didn't want to have a gun in a school-related sketch. 32) Lisa Ruddy had the nickname 'Motormouth' on the show. The writers gave her that nickname because she was late to rehearsal one day. She told them she had to stay after school for talking in class. hehe 33) Kevin Schenk said that one time the crew had forgot to take the green slime out of the refrigerator. They had made it the day before. It was very cold and almost solid. He said it just about knocked him out when it hit him on the head. 34) In one of the early episodes, Kevin Schenk was supposed to act like he kicked Les Lye in the leg. Les said Kevin missed and kicked him hard in the leg. He wanted to kill Kevin, but you can't do that on tv. 35) Les plays 'Uncle Roger' the pirate in the Relatives 85 episode. At SlimeCon 2002 Convention, Les tells of an incident that happened at the end of the sketch. Les takes his sword and turns it around backwards where the blade was not sharp. Then he runs the blunt edge across his tongue. As you can imagine, this part was cut out of the network broadcast version. 36) In the Relatives 85 episode, Adam Kalbfleisch in some sketches has a cast on his arm and in some sketches he didn't. He broke his arm at school. 37) Doug Ptolemy had very long hair. During one of the breaks in filming he cut his hair short. When he returned to the set, Roger Price was very angry with him for cutting his hair. 38) Contrary to popular belief, Doug Ptolemy and Vanessa Lindores are not brother and sister. hehe 39) Around 1980, Geoffrey Darby and Roger Price took their idea and went to WGBH in Boston where they produce one season of Don't Do That!. None of the cast from You Can't Do That On Television were involved with this production. Instead of green slime, this show had 'yellow yuck'. 40) Kevin Kubusheskie met Roger Price on a plane flying into Ottawa. Kevin was eleven years old and flying alone. After landing, Roger gave Kevin's mother his business card and told her to bring Kevin up to CJOH-TV for an interview. 41) Kevin Schenk got in trouble for drawing cartoons on his copy of the show script. Kevin is now a successful graphic artist. 42) During one of the Blip's Arcade sketches, Roger Price was upset because the shoot wasn't going as planned. He slapped his hand down on the top of a pinball machine and broke the glass. It shocked everyone. Fortunately he wasn't injured. 43) There was a real video arcade around the corner from CJOH-TV and sometimes the kids would sneak out and go play games. 44) Even though the food at Barth's Burgery looked gross, generally it was actual food with green food coloring and could be eaten. 45) Before moving to Canada, Roger Price produced a children's television show similar to YCDTOTV over in the UK. 46) Geoffrey Darby was one of the creators of Double Dare. 47) This is how Kevin Schenk got on the show: He told a joke during one of the on-location shoots where the public was invited. These were pre-recorded then played back during the show. No one on the show knew what his name was. Roger Price liked him and during the show they played Kevin's clip and requested that he call the show. Kevin was not watching the show but a friend of his was and called the show. Roger called Kevin and had him come in for an interview. 48) The Adoption 87 episode and the Divorce 84 episode were banned from network broadcast on Nickelodeon. 49) CJOH-TV was one of the first television stations to acquire an Ultimatte machine (an early version of chroma keying). They couldn't get it to work and the creator of the machine came up to Ottawa to make it work. They used it a lot on the show. 50) Jill Stanley stared in "Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller" (1988) just prior to staring on YCDTOTV. 51) Roger Price can be seen in several cameos on the show, usually sitting in the crowd on the movie theater sets and as a spectator in crowds. Geoffrey Darby also did several cameos in the early seasons. 52) Kevin Kubusheskie and Christine McGlade produced some of the later shows. 53) Roger Price now lives in Paris. 54) Justin Cammy is a professor at a north eastern university. 55) This is how Adam Reed got on the show: He called up to the station and asked to speak to Roger Price. They patched the call through to Roger. Roger told Adam to write him a letter explaining why he should be on the show. Adam did and the rest is history. 56) Green Slime Shampoo was a spin-off product from the show. I have an original bottle of it. 57) Geoffrey Darby is the founder and president of the Oxygen Network. 58) The Contests 86 episode was based on a video tape that Emily Reichbach made with her family. She sent the tape to Roger who loved the idea. He flew her and her family to Ottawa to see the taping of the show. Emily Reichbach and her brother Ian are credited as co-writers of the episode. Emily Reichbach also produced the SlimeCon 2002 Convention. Thanks Emily for a wonderful convention that I'll never forget. :) 59) The Television 82 episode was the first episode that Vanessa Lindores appeared in. During a Link Set sketch, green, red, blue, yellow, and striped slime was dropped on Vanessa and Christine. Trivia from the movie "Basic Instincts": This clip from YCDTOTV was playing in the background on a television set during one of the scenes in the movie. 60) In one of the episodes, Mr. Schidler (played by Les Lye) is chastising the class for a naughty picture that was drawn on the blackboard. And if you look close, there really is a naughty picture on the blackboard. 61) Roger Price also created the television show, "The Tomorrow People". 62) The producers would shoot five episodes of the show simultaneously, then edit each individual episode together from all the clips. 63) Occasionally bloopers were left in the broadcast version of the show. In the Drugs 82 episode, at the very end, Kevin Somers is being interrogated by Les who is doing a great impersonation of John Wayne. Les flubbs his line and they leave it in. He laughs and says, "We'll have to do that one again." And then he tells Kevin, who had just got slimed, watered, and pied, "Wasn't that fun Kevin?" In another episode, Alasdair is in the dungeon chained up to the wall. He breaks one of the chains loose from the wall and says, "Oh!"

The GMP Group





Updated on 21 FEB 2022
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