Showtime

What: It's A Wonderful Life

Who: Patrick McKenna

Where: St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front St. E., Toronto

When: Now through Dec. 20

Tickets: 416-368-3110

Patrick met Janis in Hamilton.

I know, I was there.

Directing Rumpelstiltskin for the Players' Guild of Hamilton, I was amazed when young Pat McKenna walked into auditions. Boys wanting to sing and dance in musicals are rare. Ones that are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed are even more rare.

"I'm going to be an actor," McKenna said to me after a few days of rehearsal.

"Watching him stumble round the stage, I winced. "Oh sure," I thought. "Of course you are."

That was 1979.

A few years later, McKenna paired-up with Rumpelstiltskin, Janis Harvey. Teenage sweethearts from Hamilton, they dreamed big dreams and made them come true.

McKenna was the class clown. He liked to be noticed. When Westmount English teacher Steve Gal saw that, he took McKenna to Second City in Toronto.

"That's where I learned what comedy was," McKenna says.

"It wasn't just being loud and obnoxious. That visit made me realize I had to harness my extrovert tendencies."

At Sheridan College in Oakville, McKenna was determined to be an actor. Still he had doubts.

"I figured no one would hire me, so maybe I should learn how to open my own comedy club."

Before long, McKenna was the night manager at Toronto Second City. Then he was in the show.

"I did stand-up routines. I learned on the job. But I always had an itch to really act, to play a character, not just Pat McKenna clowning around."

That's where Steve Smith comes in.

"Steve came to Second City with his partner Rick Green. They were looking to launch a new comedy show based on Smith's character, Red Green. They saw me doing Harold on stage, and figured he was the perfect foil for Steve in the TV series."

Twenty-six episodes later, McKenna was a star and Harold entered Canadian folklore.

"Harold was born in a Second City sketch about a bunch of Grade 3 kids presenting projects to their teacher. That cartoon outline became a character that stuck with me for over 15 years."

A star role on TV's Traders and parts in Canadian films like Trudeau made McKenna an even bigger star.

The kid who backed up Rumpelstiltskin and dreamed romantic dreams with sweetheart Janis had made good on his promise.

At 48, McKenna is returning to the stage to play Clarence, the angel in the Canadian Stage version of the holiday film classic, It's A Wonderful Life.

"Traders opened a lot of eyes. People realized I could really act," McKenna says. "In the business, people pigeon-holed me as Harold. They saw me as this Nerd. And it was was hard to break the image. Am I angry about that? Not at all. Harold's the guy who made me a name. I gotta love that. In Canada if anyone remembers you for anything it's a gift. I mean I open the door at Halloween and there are 10 kids dressed like Harold. How cool is that?"

McKenna has learned a lot about being a star in Canada.

"At some point you just hit the ceiling. Producers are always looking for some American to come along and do it better. Can they? No, not really."

McKenna says becoming a star is what agents want you to do.

"What an actor wants is to keep on working."

McKenna agrees doing It's A Wonderful Life is going back to his roots.

"Live theatre is so exciting. On TV it's all about start and stop, wait and go. You can't beat a live audience. It's about working together. TV is just so sporadic. "

McKenna likes the warmth and humour of his character Clarence the angel.

"The Canadian Stage production is performed as a radio show. We're in a studio and we get to see the way the sound effects guy adds that element to things. And we see the 10 actors on stage play 65 characters. We have great respect for the old Frank Capra film. We don't do anything to spoil the memory of that," McKenna says.

Gary Smith has written on theatre and dance for The Hamilton Players Guild for more than 25 years.