Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie
{{Short description|Canadian comedy group}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie
| image =
| image_size =
| landscape =
| alt =
| caption =
| background = group_or_band
| alias =
| origin = Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| genre = Comedy
| years_active = 1987-2005
| associated_acts =
| website =
| current_members =
| past_members = *Wes Borg
- Joe Bird
- Cathleen Rootsaert
- Neil Grahn
- Paul Mather
- Jan Randall
}}
The Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie were a Canadian musical and comedy group from Edmonton, Alberta formed in 1987. Their credits include numerous stage productions, a television show and five albums.
The Trolls did sketch comedy, often on risqué or controversial subjects, along with humorous songs. One of their songs, "The Toronto Song" (which is often incorrectly attributed to The Arrogant Worms), makes fun of Ontario by insulting the city of Toronto, as well as all of Ontario, and eventually insulting the rest of the provinces except for Alberta.{{cite web |title=The Toronto Song - Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CF65H7j5Os |website=youtube.com |publisher=YouTube |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221095303/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CF65H7j5Os |url-status=live }} The Trolls also composed musical parodies of historical events such as the War of 1812,{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7jlFZhprU4 |title=War of 1812 |website=YouTube |access-date=2016-11-30 |archive-date=2016-12-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228034610/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7jlFZhprU4 |url-status=live }} and Canada's 1999 division of Nunavut from the Northwest Territories; the song "Nunavut" opens with "We'll keep Canada... and you can have Nunavut!" (pronouncing it "None-of-it").Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie. Steaming Pile of Skit. Track 7.
History
Childhood friends Wes Borg and musician and actor Joe Bird met actress Cathleen Rootsaert at a Rapid Fire Theatre Theatresports comedy jam and formed the group. Neil Grahn was recruited later. Their name allegedly came from a restaurant which called hamburgers-to-go "Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie". They immediately began performing and, by 1991, were touring with a play they called Kevin Costner's Naked Butt. They caught the attention of CBC Television, which gave them a show but it was canceled after five episodes.{{cite web |title=Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie |url=http://citizenfreak.com/artists/104202-three-dead-trolls-in-a-baggie |website=citizenfreak.com |publisher=Museum of Canadian Music |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221095306/http://citizenfreak.com/artists/104202-three-dead-trolls-in-a-baggie |url-status=live }}
Also in 1992, they released their debut album, Con Troupo Comedius.{{cite web |title=Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie – Con Troupo Comedius |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/11453427-Three-Dead-Trolls-In-A-Baggie-Con-Troupo-Comedius |website=discogs.com |year=1992 |publisher=Discogs |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221095303/https://www.discogs.com/release/11453427-Three-Dead-Trolls-In-A-Baggie-Con-Troupo-Comedius |url-status=live }}
In 1993, the CBC paid the group $60,000 to write 10 scripts for a possible new show. The network then rejected the scripts. In April 1994, The Trolls produced the scripts, turning the stage at the Roxy Theatre (Edmonton) into a replica of a real CBC studio.{{cite web |title=...The Show They Never Gave |url=https://theatrenetwork.ca/shows/season/season19/rs-three-dead-trolls-baggie-show-never-gave/ |website=theatrenetwork.ca |publisher=Theatre Network |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221095304/https://theatrenetwork.ca/shows/season/season19/rs-three-dead-trolls-baggie-show-never-gave/ |url-status=live }}
Rootsaert and Grahn left the group; {{cite web |title=Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie |url=http://citizenfreak.com/artists/104202-three-dead-trolls-in-a-baggie |website=citizenfreak.com |publisher=Museum of Canadian Music |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221095306/http://citizenfreak.com/artists/104202-three-dead-trolls-in-a-baggie |url-status=live }} Borg and Bird joined Atomic Improv began collaborating with other Edmonton musicians and comedians, getting heavily into Improvisational theatre (improv).{{cite web |title=Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie |url=http://citizenfreak.com/artists/104202-three-dead-trolls-in-a-baggie |website=citizenfreak.com |publisher=Museum of Canadian Music |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221095306/http://citizenfreak.com/artists/104202-three-dead-trolls-in-a-baggie |url-status=live }}
In 1995, The Trolls performed with the band Jr. Gone Wild at the Garneau Theatre in Edmonton and released the album Jr. Gone Wild & Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie – Live At The Hyperbole.{{cite web |title=Jr. Gone Wild & Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie – Live At The Hyperbole |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/8354889-Jr-Gone-Wild-Three-Dead-Trolls-In-A-Baggie-Live-At-The-Hyperbole |website=discogs.com |year=1995 |publisher=Discogs |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221095303/https://www.discogs.com/release/8354889-Jr-Gone-Wild-Three-Dead-Trolls-In-A-Baggie-Live-At-The-Hyperbole |url-status=live }}
In 2000, they collaborated with the Cross-dressing comedy troupe Guys in Disguise on the scripted play Piledriver, which was about a group of gay wrestlers on tour through the Bible Belt in the 1970s.{{cite web |title=Piledriver! |url=https://theatrenetwork.ca/shows/season/season26/piledriver/ |website=theatrenetwork.ca |publisher=Theatre Network |access-date=22 December 2021 |archive-date=22 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222085807/https://theatrenetwork.ca/shows/season/season26/piledriver/ |url-status=live }} Their play The War of 1812, a humorous retelling of the war of the same name replete with deliberately over-the-top pro-Canadian jingoism, produced another of the group's most famous song, "The White House Burned (The War of 1812)".{{cite web |title=War of 1812 - Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7jlFZhprU4 |website=youtube.com |publisher=YouTube |access-date=22 December 2021 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331144555/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7jlFZhprU4 |url-status=live }} As a result of this production, comedy writer Paul Mather joined the group.
Grahn returned and he and Borg hosted The Geek Show {{IMDb title |0469240 |The Geek Show}} which aired on Canadian Learning Television, BookTV and Access in 2004-2005. Live music for the show was provided by Second City veteran pianist Jan Randall who also functioned as a sidekick for Wes who hosted. {{cite web |url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/TV_Shows/G/The_Geek_Show/2005/03/05/951379-sun.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709200040/http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/TV_Shows/G/The_Geek_Show/2005/03/05/951379-sun.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 9, 2012 |title=Tangled web of humour |publisher=CANOE JAM! Television |author=Tara Merrin |date=2005-03-05 |accessdate=2008-02-21}} Wes, Joe, and Jan took on a number of gigs at this time billed as Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie, including the Seattle Comedy Festival in 2004.{{cite web |title=Jan Randall |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0709608/ }}
By 2005, the group had broken up. Borg moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 2007 and became a fixture in that city's entertainment scene.{{cite web |last1=Chamberlain |first1=Adrian |title=Victoria's hard-working funny man, Sept 2012 |url=https://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/victorias-hard-working-funny-man-wes-borg-4557774 |website=timescolonist.com |date=22 September 2012 |publisher=Victoria Times Colonist |access-date=22 December 2021 |archive-date=22 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222085807/https://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/victorias-hard-working-funny-man-wes-borg-4557774 |url-status=live }} Mather moved to Toronto and wrote for Corner Gas, Little Mosque on the Prairie and the Rick Mercer Report. Rootsaert is an actor and director;{{cite web |title=Rootsaert, Cathleen |url=http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Cathleen%20Rootsaert |website=canadiantheatre.com |publisher=Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia |access-date=22 December 2021 |archive-date=22 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222085806/http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Cathleen%20Rootsaert |url-status=live }} Grahn is a writer and producer.{{cite web |title=Neil Grahn |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0334399/ |website=imdb.com |publisher=IMDB |access-date=22 December 2021 |archive-date=22 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222085806/https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0334399/ |url-status=live }}
On April 1, 2009, Joe Bird died of a heart attack, at age 41.{{cite web |title=Joe Bird Obituary |url=https://edmontonjournal.remembering.ca/obituary/joe-bird-1065880655 |website=edmontonjournal.remembering.ca |publisher=Edmonton Journal |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=28 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428015144/https://edmontonjournal.remembering.ca/obituary/joe-bird-1065880655 |url-status=live }} His life was celebrated annually at the Empress Pub in Edmonton, until it closed in 2020. Joe's songs are much loved by the Edmonton community, and musicians are working to ensure these songs are remembered.{{cite web|url=https://edmontonjournal.com/business/Remembering+Edmonton+musician+actor+Bird/1457614/story.html |title=Remembering Edmonton musician, actor Joe Bird |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409211638/http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Remembering+Edmonton+musician+actor+Bird/1457614/story.html |archivedate=April 9, 2009 }}
Discography
- Con Troupo Comedius, 1992, Independent
- Jr. Gone Wild & Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie – Live At The Hyperbole, 1995, Stony Plain Music
- Steaming Pile of Skit, 2001, Independent
- The Geek Album 2.0, 2002, Independent{{cite web |title=Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie - The Geek Album 2.0 |url=http://citizenfreak.com/titles/304036-three-dead-trolls-in-a-baggie-the-geek-album-2-0 |website=citizenfreak.com |publisher=Museum of Canadian Music |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221095304/http://citizenfreak.com/titles/304036-three-dead-trolls-in-a-baggie-the-geek-album-2-0 |url-status=live }}
- Skit Happens, 2003, Independent
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie}}
Category:Musical groups with year of establishment missing
Category:Musical groups from Edmonton