What's the dill with Chris & John?


Ok, here's the dill with Chris & John. They first met in the 1990's while attending the same drama, dance and arts school in the Niagara Region of Ontario. "At first it was convenient acquaintance," Chris says, "we lived like right down the street from each other and carpooling just seemed to make sense." It wasn't long after that the two became best friends and started experimenting with the video camera, making short fan sequels to their favourite horror movies. "We love horror movies and wanted to replicate the fear and tension seen on the big screen," remembers John, "but we could never quite match the look and quality with our Hi-8 camera."

The duo developed their signature quirky sensibility at a remarkably young age, including fundraising for the SPCA, concocting cakes made from crisp rice marshmallow squares and invading local Polish festivals. "We just found some things to be hysterical, like the Polish festival," John remarks, "so we picked up our trusty Hi-8 and decided to document it." And they never put the camera down again. In fact, the two made such a hobby of making films that they were asked to speak on a panel of the now-canceled Canadian talk show Jonovision. "It was sort of embarrassing," Chris says of the Jonovision experience, "because here we were, kids, on national television, showing a thirty second clip of one of our awful late '90s Hi-8 horror efforts."

It was while John was working at PrideVisionTV (now OUTtv) editing interstitials that had the idea to create a 5 minute series chronicling his and Chris' antics around the streets of Toronto. And thus, The Chris & John Show was born. "It just seemed to make sense," says John of the five minute series, "it was basically just us doing what we did as kids, but with a better camera and in front of a national audience." Their plucky humour struck a chord with viewers and in 2005 Chris & John took their brand to half-hour format in the 6 part reality series Chris & John's ROAD TRIP!. "I really didn't have any idea about how this series would be received", Chris says. But the series was a success, much to the relief of everyone involved. "ROAD TRIP was very demanding" asserts John, "but we're very proud of how it all turned out and the fan reaction was really spectacular.

Off the succes of Chris & John's ROAD TRIP! and in planning a second season, Chris & John decided to take things in a slightly different direction.


Keep reading
© 2007/8 John Simpson Productions Inc.