by MATTHEW WOODLEY

Nova Scotia. Home of Rita MacNeil, General John Cabot Trail, Schooner beer, dulce, donairs... sasquatches?

"Samsquampches! I've seen them in the past, believe me. I've dealt with those cocksuckers on a number of occasions."

That's Bubbles, and I've got him all riled up. He's from Nova Scotia too, lives in a shed in Sunnyvale Trailer Park, somewhere outside Halifax. And don't be fooled by his bulbous glasses or funny accent, Bubbles is one of the smartest guys in the park, and he's got strong ideas about furry creatures.

"I fuckin' don't like monkeys either," he adds. "They just scare me, the creepy little fuckers. I don't like the dirty little stinky-ass little bastards." He should know. "Oh I've seen monkeys. Wild monkeys come after me a few times now."

By the way, if you've caught the Trailer Park bug, this should all be making sense. To those scratching their heads, Bubbles is fiction (I'm actually on the phone with actor Mike Smith), there are no wild monkeys in Nova Scotia, and if sasquatches roam the woods, the locals don't call them samsquampches. People swear lots (I'm fuckin' from there, incidentally), but few as much as the fellas in Trailer Park Boys do.

Country coup

Swearing is the salt and pepper of Trailer Park Boys, sprinkled liberally into the dialogue of Canada's new favourite rednecks, who, after four seasons on Showcase have swiftly moved from cult favourite to mass appeal. Since BBC America picked up the show last spring, it's begun to take hold in the U.S. Shot mockumentary-style with a lo-fi, off-the-cuff design, Trailer Park Boys follows the lives of Ricky and Julian, loveable residents of Sunnyvale Trailer Park, who, when not in jail, spend their time drinking, smoking weed, smoking hash and trying to get rich, surrounded by pal Bubbles and a colourful cast of characters.

We've long had a soft spot in this country for rural types who get drunk and fix things with duct tape, but Trailer Park Boys gives the Great White Hick formula a shot in the arm no Canadian show has ever seen. These guys fire handguns, make porn videos, kidnap famous people (Rush guitar player Alex Lifeson and Cape Breton songbird Rita MacNeil) and put magic mushrooms in their enemies' hotdogs. The nemesis trailer park supervisor is perpetually smashed and his double-cheeseburger-bellied assistant and gay lover refuses to wear a shirt.

Each season begins with a few characters getting out of jail and ends with a few going back. Each episode begins with a ribald opening salvo, then - and here's the clincher - cuts into the intro, that sweet slow-motion sepia montage of a trailer park - a happy, sun-gleamed place set to a cheerful, wallowing keyboard intro by Blain Morris over a gentle swing and the sounds of birds chirping and children laughing. (He wrote it around the time his first daughter was born.)

Weed and mistletoe

The birds have gone south and the park is coated in snow in Sunnyvale's latest tale, the hour-long Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special, which premieres this week.

Round up the dysfunctional family: Julian has bailed Ricky out of the pen and he's got a plan. "Re-marketing," Julian calls it (now I'm getting a dose of actor John Paul Tremblay). "We steal Christmas presents from people I feel won't miss them - things like tools that just sit around in some rich guy's garage forever and never get used," he tells me. "We re-wrap the gifts and sell them." Ricky has other things weighing on him though. He's spent his whole life under the assumption that Santa and God are the same person, and he's counting on the guy to bring gifts for his girlfriend and daughter. He does, however, receive a mistletoe belt from the lovely Lucy.

As for Bubbles, he just wants to throw a big bonfire. "I mean, just, I don't worry about Christmas the way most people worry about it," he says. "They're all worried about money 'n' presents 'n' whatnot. I don't think it should be about that. Christmas should just be about gettin' drunk and stoned with your friends and family."

Though the special was shot this past fall, it takes place in 1997, serving as a prequel to the antics of seasons one through four. Trailer park supervisor Mr. Lahey and his future beau Randy haven't yet fallen in love, resident wigger J-Roc is an earnest blonde boy who still goes by "Jamie," and Ricky's car, the Shitmobile, has all four doors.

"I wanted the Christmas Special to stand alone so it could be repeated from year to year," says Trailer Park director and head writer Mike Clattenburg. "It's a great opportunity for us to give our hardcore fans a lot more story on our characters."

Anytown, anywhere

The tenderness of Sunnyvale's foul-mouthed citizens is evident, which provides a nice balance with the gunfights, helicopter chases and whatnot (that's another element you won't come across too often in Maritime culture).

"It's parody," says Clattenburg. "And it's interesting - a guy from California wrote an article in some paper there and said, ‘The joke's on us. I've been to Nova Scotia many times and there are no trailer parks like the one you'll find depicted in Trailer Park Boys.' There's a bit of a mirror of reality TV and Cops in all the stuff that plays out in the show. When we were creating the series, I wanted it to be anytown, anywhere, but I think the vernacular that we go for rings true for a lot of people, not only here in Nova Scotia but in many rural areas."

Consequently, Clattenburg and crew have set up a saga with a hook that goes way past regional humour. As much as this is a bunch of guys from Dartmouth, N.S., parodying themselves, it's a satirical take on the types you'd find on Jerry Springer, hence its growing popularity south of the border.

"It's still a slow burn in the States," Clattenburg says. "The world of Trailer Park is so bizarre. You have to get used to the characters and the anti-production value, the indie-TV feel. It takes a while to get the groove of the trailer park. But we're starting to get some interesting fans. Laura Dern has said publicly that she loves the show. Lewis Black. Wow, you know! And I've been invited to go talk and lecture down there. Recently we had a NASCAR driver who wanted to put the boys on the car... but he crashed and wrecked it."

With any luck it won't be long before the fire catches in the U.S. Clattenburg, Tremblay and Robb Wells (Ricky) are currently writing a feature-length movie and are in the midst of talks with Hollywood producer Ivan Reitman, projecting a shoot next summer.

Culture of cursing

We'll have to wait and see if the potential feature will be free of the bleeps that block out the language in BBC America's broadcast (they run an uncensored version later at night). Not that the boys give too big a fuck, but it's a big part of the show.

"I've always liked the absurdity of swearing," Clattenburg says. "All my life, since I was three or four years old, I've been surrounded by this incredible language, and it became a part of everything I know. It's the same with most of us. We know these people who have sworn this way, we are these people, and it's a valid form of expression. It's not for everybody, but it really is in the vernacular so why not go for it? Why not make it real?"

Take the word "cocksucker," which, in Trailerspeak, essentially means "noun." Says Bubbles: "Oh, it's just a word I've always used. Anything can be a cocksucker - a squirrel, a kitty, shoppin' cart. Anything."

Those with the Trailer Park bug will also know that Bubbles loves kitties - they helped him through a hard time when his parents abandoned him as a child and he was forced to live under Julian's grandmother's trailer - and that he fixes stolen shopping carts and sells them back to the mall for $18 a piece. I wondered what he'd do if Julian finally cashed in on one of his get-rich-quick schemes and shared his million. "Oh my God," he says. "I'd prolly try to buy a ticket on a spaceship or something like that and go to space - always wanted to do that."

"I'm behind him all the way," Julian says. "You wouldn't catch me getting into no million-dollar rocket though. A 10-million-dollar one maybe."

The Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special premieres on Sunday, Dec. 12, at 9 p.m. on Showcase. regular episodes can be seen every Sunday at 9 and 9:30 p.m. and are also out on DVD