History of the Frantics
The Frantics comedy troupe consisted of Paul Chato, Rick Green, Dan Redican and Peter Wildman. They were joined by comediennes Maggie Butterfield and then Carolyn Scott in their early years on radio, succeeded by Mag Ruffman in the final 3 years of their radio show.

Before embarking on a radio comedy career, they were a stage comedy troupe, and continued doing comedy reviews while doing their radio show.

The Frantics did about 120 shows for the CBC that were broadcast between 1979-1986, plus a couple of short-series radio specials in the late 80s. For true fans of The Frantics (especially for those who have only seen the TV series or heard of them from their two albums), the radio shows are worth tracking down since many of the comedic ideas and characters (such as "Bill from Bala", "Mr. Canoehead", "Quenelle", "Mrs. Sarnicky" and many others) that first appeared here.

The Frantics released two comedy albums: "The Frantics" in 1984 (vinyl only, and long out of print), and "Boot to the Head" in 1987 (still available on CD from Attic Records). Both of these albums get regular airplay on the Doctor Demento show.

The Frantics also did TV, producing a single season of "Four on the Floor", a madcap comedy series that brought many of their favourite characters (like "Mr. Canoehead") and skits from their radio show.

Since then the individual Frantics members have gone their separate ways, reuniting briefly at the Montreal "Just for Laughs" Comedy festival in 1987. Many of them still doing comedy in one form or another today, and continue to have a major influence on Canadian television comedy through shows like The Red Green Show and Kids in the Hall.