Letterkenny: Did Jared Kesso Really Remove His Own Tooth To Play Shoresy?
In 2016, the hit series "Letterkenny" premiered with the opening line, "A coupla hockey players come up the produce stand the other day." Since then, the Canadian series has aired 11 seasons, each one stuffed to the gills with puns, wordplay, and hilarious vignettes of rural life. But hockey culture in particular has persisted throughout the series, addressed with alternating affection and disdain as different characters wheel, snipe, and celly around the town of Letterkenny.
In 2022, "Letterkenny" creator and star Jared Keeso debuted the spinoff "Shoresy," based on his beloved yet only partially-seen hockey player on "Letterkenny." Shoresy is best known for his lightning-fast retorts delivered in falsetto with his face obscured from the camera. But on his own series, the beleaguered hero is front and center, and, in a nod to the sport's, shall we say, physical nature, Shoresy's devilish smirk is missing a tooth.
Shoresy's missing tooth was a subject of debate on Reddit, where fans argued whether Keeso went full method in his portrayal of Shoresy. Many argued he hid his tooth with makeup, but some sleuthing indicated otherwise. "I saw the missing tooth and assumed it was blacked out," wrote u/Ankylowright. "Then I watched carefully and actually did a frame by frame and I'm pretty sure I've seen the tongue moving behind the gap." As it turns out, the star fully committed to the bit by having his tooth surgically removed, as reported by The Canada Media Fund. But even that revelation hasn't stopped fans from asking questions about the missing tooth.
For Jared Keeso, makeup didn't cut it
"Shoresy" takes place in the same universe as "Letterkenny," in the nearby town of Sudbury, Ontario. There, the foul-mouthed Shorsey vows to bring his senior AAA Sudbury Bulldogs to victory and never lose a game again. The series, which combines the punchy dialogue of "Letterkenny" with the ribald underdog heroics of "Slap Shot," earned a spot as one of Looper's favorite shows on Hulu, and in January 2023, "Shoresy" was officially renewed for a second season.
Star Jared Keeso, a former junior hockey player, and executive producer Jacob Tierney are well familiar with the subtleties of the sport's culture, down to the typically toothless players and their use of "flippers," partial dentures used when you're only missing a few teeth. "Looks like he wears a flipper," wrote u/canadianbairn on Reddit. "A lot of guys I know who played hockey have them." In one scene, Keeso's Shorsey does indeed pop a removable tooth in his mouth before taking it back out.
Even after learning about Keeso's oral surgery, a number of fans still believe the actor had actually previously lost the tooth in his own hockey-playing days. "I can't see someone as level headed as Keeso going that far for a role," posited u/BimmerMan87. "If I were to be a betting man I am guessing he lost a tooth in hockey, got an implant instead of a 'flipper' then had the implant removed for the show."