Being Ian

Being Ian
File:Being ian foto1.jpg
Starring	Dexter Bell Louis Chirillo Ian James Corlett Richard Ian Cox Patricia Drake Tyra Olsen Ty Olsson
Country of origin	Canada
No. of episodes	52
Production
Running time	22 minutes approx.
Original release
Network	YTV
Release	January 1, 2005 – Present

Being Ian is a Canadian animated series, produced by Studio B Productions, Corus Entertainment and Nelvana, focusing on the young Ian Kelley, who is 11, who aspires to become a filmmaker.

The series is based on the early life of actor/writer Ian Corlett. It is set in the city of Burnaby, British Columbia. Produced in 2004, it debuted January 4, 2005 on YTV.

It also airs on Cartoon Network in Latin America.

Cast of Characters

Ian James Kelley (Voiced by Richard Ian Cox)

The protagonist of the series, Ian Kelley aspires to become a filmmaker. He almost constantly totes his camcorder around, hoping to hone his craft. Unfortunately, his family is mostly indifferent towards his creative streak, which is a constant source of frustration for him. Ian is intelligent, if somewhat naive, and he has a very large imagination, and often gets lost in daydreams (many of which are parodies of famous films). His ultimate dream is to win an Academy Award, to the point that he constantly practices his acceptance speech, just so he won't be caught speechless if and when it ever does happen. Aside from this, Ian is a typical sitcom child; most plots involve him either failing at an elaborate scheme or trying desperately to survive in a world that doesn't seem to fit his ideals. According to the episode Being... Principal Bill, Ian's middle name is James, a reference to Ian James Corlett, whom the character is based on.

Kenneth "Ken" Kelley (Voiced by Louis Chirillo)

Ian's father, Ken, owns Kelley's Keyboards, a local music store. Ken, while a loving husband and father, is somewhat clueless, easily distracted, and chronically uncool. While he tries his best to keep his household in check, every member of his family knows exactly how to get their way with him. Ken is chronically dependent on his wife to keep his life in check; when she temporarily left him, it only took a few days for him to regress to a neanderthal. When he was younger, Ken dreamed of becoming a recording star and showing up all of the "cool" kids who snubbed him. However, his recording career ended the same day it began, as the only song he played was "I's The B'y". While often used for comic relief, Ken can be a sympathetic character, especially when he seems aware of how uncool he is. Ken is a workaholic and has a very gung-ho attitude towards volunteer service, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his sons do not share his attitude. His catchphrase is "Holy Moli, Ravioli!".

Victoria "Vicky" Eva-Melita Menske Kelley (Voiced by Patricia Drake)

Ian's mother, Vicki, divides her time as a homemaker and helping Ken run the music store. While she loves her husband and sons very dearly, they all have a good reason to fear her wrath. While she usually is the most level-headed member of the family, Vicki can be surprisingly petty and selfish when she doesn't get her own way. She also constantly annoys her family with odd obsessions she develops (collector's spoons, organic food, deformed animals, etc.), to the point of being oblivious to anything else.

Kyle Kelley (Voiced by Ty Olsson)

Kyle is Ian's brother and the oldest of the family. A laid-back, somewhat doltish teenager, Kyle isn't stupid so much as lazy; he knows how to get his way around the house, and sees no reason to put any real effort into anything. Unknown to most, he is actually very intelligent; he is able to spell extremely difficult words with ease, can perform complex mathematical equations in his head, and can memorize entire science textbooks. The only thing that Kyle is really interested in is the opposite sex; he readily will take chase after any attractive female that catches his eye, but his pursuits seldom lead to anything other than rejection. As with most brothers, Kyle has a playfully antagonistic relationship with Ian; while he probably cares for the "doofus" deep down, the temptations to play off of Ian's gullibility and sensitivity are too much for him to resist most of the time.

Korey Kelley (Voiced by Matt Hill)

Korey is Ian's brother and the middle child of the three. Korey is a rather iconoclastic individual - not even his own family understands him most of the time. Most of the time Korey seems lost in his own world, and he combines his father's lack of coolness with his mother's penchant for bizarre little obsessions. Despite this, Korey actually has a sharp mind and is often very observant - it seems he simply chooses not to be aware of his surroundings most of the time. Caught in the middle between his two brothers, Korey is just as likely to show kindness (if of a rather rough strain) to Ian as he is to team up with Kyle against their hapless younger brother. A running gag is that Korey never removes his cap, even when he sleeps.

Chopin

Chopin is the Kelley family dog, a lap dog of indeterminate breed who is missing one of his front legs. Ian received him as a gift when he was young, and it has since come out that Vicky, who cares deeply for deformed animals, told him that all dogs have three legs at the time. Chopin's role is mostly limited to physical comedy - an often-used gag is the fact that Chopin is unable to stay upright when he lifts a leg to urinate.

Tyrone "Ty" Washington (Voiced by Dexter Bell)

Tyrone is Ian's best friend. Considerably more together than Ian, Tyrone often attempts to act as the voice of reason, although he is usually willing to go along with whatever schemes his friend cooks up. Tyrone is usually the one to pull Ian back to reality when one of his fantasies goes too far.

Sandra "Sandi" Crocker (Voiced by Tabitha St. Germain)

Sandi is Ian's other best friend. She is an athletic, short-tempered tomboy, and can physically dominate Ian and Tyrone easily (often with a well-timed noogie). Together with Tyrone, Sandi often acts as a bemused sort of Greek chorus to Ian's antics. Her relationship with the boys is completely platonic, although she once accidentally admitted that she expects Ian and Tyrone's friendship to be strained by fighting for her affections when they get older.

Grandma Kelley (Voiced by Patricia Drake)

Grandma Kelley is Ken's mother, of Scottish descent. She speaks in a thick brogue and can terrorize her entire family with little effort - no member of her family is willing to cross her. A clever joke is made of this in the opening titles of the show; at one point, Ian fantasizes his family as movie monsters, but Grandma Kelley stays nearly exactly the same.

Grandma Menske (Voiced by Christina Jastrzembska)

Grandma Menske is Vicky's mother, of Polish descent. A doting grandmother, she is constantly pampering her family with hearty meals and tacky hand-made clothing. She never approved of Ken's marriage to Vicky; in fact, she sees it as a result of a Gypsy curse on her family. Even after Ken and Vicky had been married for two decades, she still held out on hope for Vicky to get with her creepy ex-boyfriend Lubomir Wormchuk. She only gave her blessing to the marriage when she discovered that Lubomir had lost his teeth (what had attracted her attention in the first place).

Odbald (Voiced by Ian James Corlett)

Odbald is Ken's assistant at Kelley's Keyboards. An immigrant from Holland, he moved to Canada to escape a life of "polishing cheeses and carving wooden shoes". Odbald, despite being an adult, is very immature - leaving him in charge of the Kelley boys always results in disaster. Odbald is an expert in keyboards of all kinds, to the point that he becomes emotionally attached to them. Odbald is utterly devoted to Kem - or "Mishter Kelley", as he calls him - and often goes out of his way to aid Ken in tasks far beyond his duties in Kelley's Keyboards. Whenever Ken accidentally damages something, his stock response is to say "Odbald, could you take care of that for me?" Odbald lives in the back room of Kelley's Keyboards, and has a proclivity for nodding off at inopportune times and eating messily.

Episode List

Season 1

1. The Kelley Boys and the Mysterious Lighthouse Mystery
2. Cyrano de Mille
3. Piano Man
4. Truth in Advertising
5. Miss Tweenage Burnaby
6. The Greatest Story Never Told
7. Little Camp of Horrors
8. Cool Status Quo
9. The Kelleys
10. Catch Me if you Cane
11. Joust Kidding Around
12. The Boy Who Cried UFO
13. Once a Pawn a Time
14. Is There an Ian in the House?
15. For Whom the Wedding Bell Tolls
16. Links for Love
17. Show Me the Bunny
18. Ian's Louse-ey Day
19. Sask-Watch
20. The Curse
21. Snow Fun
22. Bad Day at White Rock
23. Crime-Corder
24. Band 'o' Bruthaz
25. Hockey Night in Burnaby
26. Planet of the Imps

Season 2

27. SCREAM Because I Know What You Did to that Psycho Last Summer
28. Animal House
29. What's Comb Over You
30. O Brother Where Art Thou?
31. Morning Zoo
32. Kelley VS Kelley
33. Ian the Peckyhead
34. Being... Principal Bill
35. Million Dollar $andi
36. Health Nut
37. Behind Bars
38. Out of Focus Group
39. Ken Kelley and the Keyboard Factory
40. Kelley's Seven
41. Good Egg
42. The Five o`clock Snooze
43. Home Alone
44. Dorkbusters
45. Spells Like Teen Spirit
46. Dummy Up
47. The Great Escape
48. Ian Kelley's Day Off
49. The Fifth and a Half Sense
50. Doofus
51. Hurry for Hollywood Pt. 1
52. Hurry For Hollywood Pt. 2

Voice Cast

Ian Kelley: Richard Ian Cox
Kyle Kelley: Ty Olsson
Korey Kelley: Matt Hill
Kem Kelley: Louis Chirilla
Vicky Kelley, Grandma Menske: Patricia Drake
Odbald, incidental characters: Ian James Corlett
Sandi Crocker, Grandma Kelley: Tabitha St. Germain
Tyrone: Dexter Bell
Grandma Kelley: Christina Jastrzembska
Principal McCammon: Richard Newman

Trivia

• In the episode "The Boy Who Cried UFO", the news reporter in this episode is none other than local Vancouver news celebrity Tony Parsons of Global TV.
• The Canuck hockey player Trevor Linden, and retired hockey player Ryan Walter appear in Hockey Night in Burnaby.
• The Band 'o' Bruthaz episode contains a contest called "Burnaby Idol", which features a person with a British accent named "Simeon", obviously making a reference to American Idol. The Vancouver punk band GOB also appears as major characters (they appear as Vicky's band used to beat Ian, Kyle and Korey in Burnaby Idol).
• The video game console Korey is playing on in the Animal House episode is actually a Game Boy Advance.
• During the last few minutes of Animal House, a man audibly exclaims, "This is a ferry to Hell! Get him!" which is odd for a children's show.
• In "Home Alone", while Ian, Sandi, and Tyrone are walking down the street, Sandi says, "Our Saturday Morning TV watching has been ruined!" then Tyrone says "No Yvon of the Yukon, no SpongeRalph RoundPants, and no Being Liam." This is a reference to Spongebob Squarepants, with the third being a parody of the show itself, and all three shows are regulars on YTV.
• Korey's favourite television program is a parody of Super Smash Bros. Melee (they both involve fictional characters fighting. Note that Korey's favourite show also has look-alikes of Marth and Princess Zelda, two of the fighters in Melee).
• The Being Ian Movie was previewed for StudioB staff on Wednesday June 28, 2006.
• Being Ian will be produced for a third season, with production starting in the fall of 2006.
• Every Canada Day, Ian hosts various BBQs. Guests include various characters created in Canada, such as Captain Flamingo, Yvon of the Yukon, The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers, Jacob Two-Two and Martin Mystery.
• The episode Cool Status Quo was originally called The Brainy Bunch
• The episode "Little Camp of Horrors" is a parody of Little Shop of Horrors.
• Episode 27 makes fun of Psycho (1960 film), and Gremlins.
• The Dates Motel is a parody of the Bates Motel
• In this show, Americans are described as "unusual" and have poor security, similar to how Canadians appear as idiots on American TV shows and say eh and oot a lot. (a museum with very valuable and precious artifacts was guarded by an elderly man). For instance, some eat dirt (literally) and some are hillbillies who think all Canadians speak French.
• At the arcade/pizza restaurant Yucky Cheese (a parody of Chuck E. Cheese), there is an arcade game called "Pac-Guy", which is an obvious parody of Namco's arcade game Pac-Man.
• Ironically, there is a parody of Canadian Tire, called Crappy Tire. There is also a parody of Canadian Tire Money called "Crappy Dollars".
• In the episode SCREAM, Because I Know What You Did to that Psycho Last Summer, on a welcome sign that said "Hello", the letter "o" falls off revealing the word Hell.
• In the episode Being Principal Bill, Ian Kelly shoves his television remote control down his pants when he and his brothers were fighting over the remote control. He then says "If you want it, come and get it.", he then farts, gets the remote control out of his pants, and gives it to his two brothers. His two brothers quickly try to toss each other the remote control.
• In the episode Morning Zoo, Mr. Grevils studders "But...but...but...", and Ian Kelley says "Buttcrack!", then he and Dennis laugh uncontrollably.
• Early on in the first season, in "Bad Day at White Rock", Ian says he hates the beach. Sandi then jokes "So you got a wittle sand in your wittle butt crack."
• In one episode Ian is afraid of a rabbit, then he recalls a time in kindergarten when he had to watch two hamsters called Huey and Humphrey, while Huey and Humpfrey crawl in his shirt, Ian stepped on a glue stick. That is loosely based on Calvin's (from Calvin and Hobbes) favourite book hamster huey and the gooey kablooie.
• In some episodes, when Ian or other characters are in the bathroom, a poster can be seen that says "Sicko" showing an image of a knife and a running shower. This is an obvious parody of Psycho.
• There is an episode called "Home Alone". On the title card for this episode, Ian is standing in front of a window with his hands on his face screaming while two monsters are looking in the window. This is an obvious parody of the DVD cover from the film of the same name.
• Episode 48, Ian Kelley's Day Off, is an obvious parody of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. On the title card for this episode, Ian is wearing the same clothes Ferris is wearing on the DVD cover. Also, Mr. Greebil is saying the name "Bueller" repeatedly when he doesn't answer during attendance.
• There is an episode called The Fifth and a Half Sense, an obvious parody of The Sixth Sense.
• Episode 45 is called Spells Like Teen Spirit, an obvious parody of the Nirvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit.
• Episode 39 is called Ken Kelley and the Keyboard Factory, a parody of Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
• Yvon from Yvon of the Yukon makes 3 cameo apearances. The first was in Sask-Watch, where Yvon can be seen frozen in a block of ice. The second was in SCREAM Because I Know What You Did to That Psycho Last Summer, where Kyle and Korey can be seen looking at a TV screen with a picture of Yvon on it. The final time was in Kelley's Seven, where Ian gives Korey a doll with Yvon of the Yukon when he was telling them their parts in the heist.
  • But in "Home Alone", Tyrone mentions Yvon of the Yukon.
• In Cool Status Quo, Kyle says that Status Quo is a Pig Latin word when it is really Latin. If Status Quo was Pig Latin, it would be Tatusay Uoqay.
• In some episodes, Korey's hat will come off.
• In some episodes, Ian actually says "Holy Mioli Ravioli!" and that's his dad's catchphrase.

External links

• Official Being Ian website
• YTV website
• The Being Ian website on YTV.com

• Ian James Corlett (see Being Ian in the Original Projects section)
• Being Ian at IMDb
• Being Ian at TV.com