Characters / Corner Gas

Main Cast

Brent Herbert Leroy

Played by: Brent Butt

"It's got soy. That's like the anti-nougat. If nougat and soy were ever to touch, we'd all be vapourized."

Brent is the snarky owner of the titular gas station. He is portrayed as an everyman who loves comic books and often has a smart-alecky response to any line thrown his way. Brent is insecure and jealous toward anyone he deems as more successful than he is. At times he can act rather childish, but is probably the most trusted member of the community.

• The Ace: If something competitive is brought up, Brent will Excel at it.
• Actor-Shared Background: Both Brent Butt and Brent Leroy were lead guitarists in their high school Garage Band. In a bit of Celebrity Paradox, Brent Butt's band, Fast Exit, managed to become world-famous within the Corner Gas universe and is Brent Leroy's favourite band of all time.
• Big Eater: The undisputed king. He ate an entire bowl of perogies in under 5 seconds, and said it wasn't his best time.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Not as bad as Hank, but he has signs of this. He's fond of pulling an Imagine Spot.
• The Danza: invokedPlayed by Brent Butt.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Geek: Is a big fan of comic books, and he'll occasionally drop references to Marvel Comics. Notably, he'll even mention obscure titles or characters, like Sasquatch from Alpha Flight.
• Hidden Depths: His interest and skill at stand up comedy
• Lazy Bum: In addition to Gluttony, Brent's other deadly sin is Sloth (in fact, these two aspects of his personality once had an argument in his mind, and Sloth won). Brent is so lazy that he was unaware that men can pee standing up (apparently never bothering to try it himself when sitting was an option), and then there's this conversation:
  Lacey: How's it goin'?
  Brent: I'm sittin' down. I'm eating. For a lazy glutton, this is like a perfect day.
  Lacey: What is it you love so much about chili cheese dogs?
  Brent: Are you kiddin'? What don't I love about them?! ... Actually, I don't love the poppy seeds on the bun. Could you get some plain ones?
  Lacey: No, just brush 'em off with your hand.
  Brent: ...You heard me say I'm lazy, right?
• Must Have Caffeine: "Dog River Vice" revolves entirely around his attempt to give up coffee to win a bet with Emma. He spends most of the episode in a sleep-deprived daze.
• Only Sane Man: Sometimes
• Super-Senses: Since he's such a Big Eater, his sense of taste is superb. After eating the above-mentioned perogies in under 5 seconds, he complimented Davis for using a hint of tarragon in the butter. When eating a chili cheese dog at normal speed, he is able to correctly identify the brand name of the wiener.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Chili cheese dogs. The first episode, Ruby Reborn, makes their importance clear to him. Lacey takes over the Ruby and tells him she actually took that item off the menu. This causes him to picket in response - she clearly brought them back thereafter.

Oscar Leroy

Played by: Eric Peterson

"I'm a senior!"

Oscar is Brent's father and is the epitome of a cranky old coot. He complains about everything and has a hard time agreeing with anyone. He proves to be a nuisance to most of the townspeople, especially his wife.

• Character Catchphrase: "Jackass", "Holy Hell!", "My taxes pay your salary!"
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Oscar and reality usually aren't on a first name basis. He's probably even worse than Hank.
• Follow in My Footsteps: In the series finale, it's revealed that he burned Brent's letter of acceptance into college so that he'd be around to take over the gas station.
• Grumpy Old Man: He's pretty much only ever happy when he has something to be smug about. Otherwise, he's constantly complaining about everything around him.
• Iconic Outfit: His green hat. This fact is not lost on the characters. Also, when he starts counterfeiting Dog River Dollars, he buys several green hats for himself, as well as a blue hat. "That was an impulse buy!"
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Davis.
• Jerkass: Though since Corner Gas isn't much of a dramatic show, he's rarely ever truly offensive, just a constant nuisance.
• Lethal Chef: Emma claims that the last time Oscar tried to cook something, he broke the toaster, and he wasn't even making toast. Then there was the time he made a salad and it spontaneously exploded in his face.
• Never Bareheaded: He is never seen in public without his green hat, although Emma makes him take it off at the table.
• Pet the Dog: In the animated series, it is revealed that he's nice to Emma during a blue moon as her father died during one.
• Picky Eater: Makes a fuss when Emma serves him salad. Likes Alpha-getti but refuses to eat the E's. Insists that Rice Krispies treats need to be perfectly square because he's "tired of eating rectangles." Thinks there's something lewd about both salsa and relish.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: The most flagrantly rude regular character in the show is one of its oldest.
• There Should Be a Law: Frequently demands that Davis and Karen arrest people for causing any minor inconvenience to him. So frequently that when they went all morning without getting any complaints from him, they assumed he must have died.

Emma Leroy

Played by: Janet Wright

"Do I have to come over there?"

Emma is Brent's mother and is the glue that holds the Leroy family together. She alternates between smothering Brent and bossing him around. At times she seems to stay married to Oscar only so she can continue to make fun of him. She loves knitting and is proud to call Dog River her home.

• The Dreaded: Depends on the episode. In the animated series, she's much more intimidating and occasionally violent.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Mother: In the series finale, she disapproves of Brent preforming stand-up comedy because she thinks a middle-aged man should settle down and "be stuck in a rut with a wife and kids, living the Hell we all lived". Oscar calls her out on this, though as noted in the Follow in My Footsteps example above, he's no better.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: In her knitting group. She drives them crazy because whenever they get together, she complains about Oscar nonstop and never shuts up. The group would rather hang out with Hank than her, and that's saying something since Hank is usually this trope to everyone else. They tell Hank they don't like him very much either, but at least he's better than Emma.
• I Want Grandkids: Wants Brent to settle down because of this. To her chagrin, he and Lacey decide not to have them when they do settle down together
• Never Mess with Granny: By far the most physically strong character, but still has all of the standard old lady hobbies like knitting and gardening. The gardening is likely what made her so strong in the first place, lugging around heavy bags of soil and fertilizer.
• Shipper on Deck: For Brent and Lacey, mostly in The Movie, but did say she hoped he was interested in her during the series
• Sore Loser: Always. For example, when she loses the annual jam contest to Fitzy's grandma after fifteen consecutive wins, she goes into such a funk that she accidentally smashes every plate she and Oscar own, tears up her berry garden and paints "BAD JAM" on the fence, and trashes the women's bathroom at Corner Gas/The Ruby while writing "JAM SUCKS" on the mirror in lipstick. The only thing that snaps her out of it is learning that the winner of the contest had stolen one of her recipes and used it.
• "Stop Having Fun" Guy: When playing Bridge. Although when Wanda acts like a "Stop Having Fun" Guy towards her, she tells Wanda to shut up and stop being a know-it-all. Her commitment to winning at any cost is also shown in the episode where she plays Bingo. She does everything in her power to get the old Bingo caller to return to his job despite the fact that he is badly injured and the fact that Wanda is much better at the job, because he admitted to having a crush on her and deliberately calling her numbers so that she would win every time.
• Stout Strength: The widest character in the show, and frequently implied to be quite strong.
• Supreme Chef
• Women Are Wiser: The long-suffering wife of Oscar Leroy.

Richard Henry "Hank" Yarbo

Played by: Fred Ewanuick

"Hey, do you guys carry dynamite?"

Hank is Brent's best friend since grade school. He is perpetually broke, unemployed, and doing a lot of nothing. Hank tends to have crazy ideas about things and can misunderstand even the simplest sentence.

• Abhorrent Admirer: is implied multiple times to have a crush on Lacey, which she doesn't like
• Butt-Monkey: It's not a Corner Gas episode if someone doesn't mock Hank.
• Cloud Cuckoolander
• The Ditz
• Dumbass Has a Point: Has a good idea to improve the town's tourism by suggesting they construct a "World's Biggest" thing. Sadly, they choose to make the World's Biggest Hoe while failing to realize another town already did that whose remained bigger after they made theirs, and the protagonists visiting to see the genuine World's Biggest Hoe promptly prove the success of the concept.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: downplayed - Hank is the target for a sarcastic joke at the hands of pretty much everyone, but they rarely outright hate him, they just (rightly) think he's a doofus and (to a more arguable degree of correctness) let him know that. Brent claims that the value of Hank's friendship to everyone else is making everybody feel better about themselves when he's around compare themselves to.
• Genius Ditz: Surprisingly adept as a handyman. Of course, while he's quite good at doing the work, good luck getting him to actually do the work. He also has an incredible knack for choosing the perfect gift for the occasion, no matter how bizarre the gift seems. For instance, he has Oscar get Emma a bathroom scale for an anniversary gift. She loved it, interpreting it as Oscar caring about her health.
• Hidden Depths: Apparently becomes incredibly knowledgeable and philosophical about fishing, but only when fishing.
  • He's also a decent singer and surprisingly skilled at gardening.
• Manchild: Consistly implied to be broke, implied to be completely careless of hygiene, and has weird trains of thought, frequently of Geeky and fantastical topics that would probably considered immature to a lot of company.
• Middle Name Basis: Goes by the short form of his middle name Henry.
• Never Bareheaded: Almost always wearing a black baseball cap backwards upon his head. There are a very few occasions to provide an exception to prove the rule.
• Sore Loser: At least when it comes to golf.
• The Alleged Car: His truck
• Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: On a fishing trip with Karen, he apparently discussed "Star Wars vs. Star Trek" to death over the two hour car ride.

Wanda Dollard

Played by: Nancy Robertson

"I know she doesn't have cataracts, so you don't have a chance."

Wanda is Brent's employee at the gas station. She is highly intelligent, but mostly uses her smarts to get out of doing work. Wanda is the only person in town more sarcastic than Brent. She has a rarely-mentioned son named Tanner. Everyone in town thinks of Wanda as a know-it-all and will often go to her to resolve disputes. She does not like Hank. Few people do, of course, but she takes it to a whole new level.

• Brilliant, but Lazy: To the point that sometime after the series finale she went back to college in order to complete her PhD in theoretical physics... then used it as leverage in negotiating a small salary raise from Brent.
• Deadpan Snarker: The snarker of the show, and that's saying something.
• Ditzy Genius: Somewhat. Wanda holds a Masters in Theoretical Physics, yet fails in many social situations and can't do simple math.
• Grammar Nazi: Downplayed, people usually don't find her unbearable about it, but she nonetheless is quick and eager to correct or find the right words for the people around her.
• Green-Eyed Monster: If someone upstages her at anything, from playing piano to putting together Brand X IKEA furniture, she becomes furious and starts trying to sabotage or discredit them. Davis is better at piano than her, so she manipulates him into quitting his lessons so that she can become Emma's only student. Karen puts together the furniture faster than it took her to do Step 1 of the instructions, so she declares Karen must have done it wrong and takes it apart again as soon as she leaves the room, purposely breaking a piece off to use as "proof" that Karen did not put it together correctly.
• Ironic Name: Dollard sounds like dullard, but Wanda is clearly one of the most book smart characters of the show.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: A fan of it, and also correcting people's English.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Can't do simple math.
  • She's also quite ticklish. Her agoraphobia could also count, considering she lives in Saskatchewan

Lacey Burrows

Played by: Gabrielle Miller

"You reject people from the Chamber of Commerce?"

Lacey is the owner of The Ruby cafe. A town transplant from Toronto, she moved to Dog River at the start of the series to take over (and rename) the diner after her Aunt Ruby died. Lacey is rather attractive and seems to know it, often thinking people have a crush on her. She is constantly trying to (a) fit in, (b) improve the town, and (c) try new things at the cafe, much to the townspeople's chagrin. Lacey is known to be a bad liar, a bad loser, a bad winner, and a bad confidante. Despite this, she is generally likable and good-natured.

• Bad Liar: Almost physically incapable of keeping a secret. Though in "American Resolution" she actually exploits her reputation for this to manipulate Hank, Wanda, and Karen to trick them into giving up on their New Year's resolutions before she does.
• Blithe Spirit, Fish out of Water, Naïve Newcomer: which often results in...
  • Bewildering Punishment, Comedic Sociopathy, The Complainer Is Always Wrong, Disproportionate Retribution, Felony Misdemeanor, Kafka Comedy
• Cannot Tell a Joke: Her attempts at humor often lead to her being the only one laughing.
• Can't Take Criticism: Take any of the negative tropes listed about Lacey here, and she has denied it at one point or another.
• Deadpan Snarker
• The Determinator: Any time she needs to prove she's right about something, such as proving Wanda ripped her off on jewelry, demanding that Hank stain her deck, being adamant about her bulletin board rules, proving that home-baked cookies are better than packaged ones, etc.
• Hidden Depths: Surprisingly adept at coaching hockey, and at competitive eating (although she's still nowhere close to being on Brent's skill level).
• Kindness Button: Lacey can switch from angry to pleasant in an instant if provided the right trigger. For instance, she goes from displeased at Brent for encouraging Hank to make up an unflattering story about her, to immediately happy and proud when Brent compliments her storytelling skills.
• Ms. Fanservice: Played with. Lacy is younger and cute, wears a lot of tank and halter tops and has no issue showing a bit of cleavage, but it never reaches vampy or Stripperiffic levels. If anything, she looks like the average woman her age. This is lampshaded in "Doc Small" when a doctor from an even smaller town than Dog River is asked to consider becoming the town physician. Assuming the doctor is a man, Lacey wears a "flirty" top that even less revealing than her normal garb, but the female doctor has never seen anything like it before, asking if the town is large enough to have a Red Light district, and tells Lacey that she dresses "slutty".
• Sore Loser: She doesn't take losing very well. If she has someone else to blame for it, she gets mad. If she has nobody to blame but herself, she becomes depressed and self-loathing, developing an "I can't do anything right so what's the point in trying?" mentality that causes the quality of the food at the Ruby to suffer greatly (she brings Karen a plate of fish sticks that are still frozen, for example).
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: She's a very competitive person and when she wins, she revels in it. The only exception was when she won an Eating Contest, which she felt pretty ashamed of.
• Verbal Tic: When proving a point, Lacey often starts her sentences with a terse "Look it!".

Sergeant Davis Quinton

Played by: Lorne Cardinal

"You know, there's more to me than a pretty boy, tough guy cop."

Davis is the head of the Dog River Police Department. He knows that his job protecting such a small town is relatively easy, but he still hopes the community has a respect for authority. Davis can be cranky, but he has an effeminate side that shows from time to time.

• Camp Straight: Spent the entire year's police budget planning/decorating a wedding and reads Cosmo every month but is stated to be divorced and has expressed his attraction to Big Beautiful Women. Then again, there was that time he went fishing with Hank.
• Character Catchphrase: Likely to say "All right!" with a distinctive inflection when he's happy with a turn of events.
• Clueless Boss: To Karen
• The Ditz: Shared with Hank.
• Feeling Their Age: Pulling his neck once causes this, which promptly makes him grumpy after Oscar lays it on thick about getting old like him. He feels better after Fitzy's grandmother slaps him and complains about youngsters' ruining things after he points out the town's plans to build the World's Biggest Hoe sounds like they're making the World's Biggest Prostitute.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Oscar.
• Missing Mom: His mom left when Davis was a child to follow a rock band, and never came back.
• Must Have Caffeine
• Odd Friendship: Again, with Oscar.
• Police Are Useless: Humorously lax about his job, though it's certainly implied Dog River seems to barely quite require any sort of authority at all to make his laziness non-problematic.
• The Pollyanna: Davis rarely, if ever, gets angry and can find a good side in almost anything.
• Sense Freak: After regaining his sense of smell that he lost as a child.

Constable Karen Pelly

Played by: Tara Spencer-Nairn

"That's what friends do, right? They say things that aren't exactly true to make their friends feel good about themselves."

Karen is Davis' partner and can be equally as lazy. She often questions his decisions and wonders if she would be the better head of DRPD. Karen can come off as abrasive, as she tends not to delve deeply into other's lives and doesn't always respond tactfully.

• Babies Ever After: Karen marries a soldier and is pregnant by the time of The Movie
• Berserk Button: Don't imply Karen is stupid. She does not care for Dumb Blonde jokes.
• Brutal Honesty: When others seek her for advice.
• Dumb Blonde: Averted, though it's a Running Gag.
• Fair Cop: Tara Spencer-Nairn looks quite dashing in that uniform. She'll even call herself blonde, pretty and thin.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: She hides the fact that she's a good cook because she feels people would respect her less as a police officer if they knew.
• Letting Her Hair Down: Karen can be noted as being off duty whenever her hair isn't done up in a bun.
• Police Are Useless: Pretty often about as unconcerned with enforcing the law as Davis.
• Pregnant Badass
• Women Are Wiser: Downplayed. She's the Straight Man for Davis and is one of the more sensible characters, but her inexperience on the job or other quirks often hold her down. She's a much better cop than Davis, but that's still not saying much.

Supporting Characters

Mayor "Fitzy" Fitzgerald

Played by: Cavan Cunningham

Fitzy is the mostly ineffective mayor of Dog River. He often frets about losing his position, despite the fact that no one ever runs against him. He shows up whenever a government-type decision needs to be made.

• Clueless Boss
• Cutting Corners: He's not particularly cheap, he's just awful at managing the town's money, so he does this out of necessity. For example, his "desk" is just a wooden door laid on top of two filing cabinets.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: He may be an idiot and completely incompetent at running the town, but he does love his Grandma
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Sometimes.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: "Fitzy" is obviously a nickname derived from shortening his last name, Fitzgerald. Nevertheless, his office door reads "Fitzy Fitzgerald".
• Pointy-Haired Boss
• Ultimate Job Security: The only reason he's mayor is because he's the only one in town who even remotely wants the job, and nobody ever runs against him.

Paul/Phil

Played by: Mark Dieter (Paul), Erroll Kinistino (Phil)

Interchangeable owners of the only hotel in Dog River, which contains the only bar in Dog River.

• Late to the Punchline: Inverted - when Hank asks Paul to let him be in a comedy night, Paul tells Hank to make him laugh to convince him to. Hank starts out by saying about how women and men are different, but Paul just cuts him off by laughing anyway already and lets him do it.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Paul was replaced by Phil partway through the series, with no explanation whatsoever. The only real difference between the two is that Phil is noticeably older.

Josh the Cook

Played by: Josh Strait

Lacey's cook and busboy at The Ruby.

• Living Prop: He's mostly there just to display that Lacey doesn't handle the Ruby all by herself.
• No Name Given: Was as such at the beginning of the series, as he was only seen in the background of cafe scenes. Strangely, he was given a name an episode AFTER he had a Lower-Deck Episode where he quit his job to run a llama farm.

Wes Humboldt

Played by: Mike O'Brien

Owner of a liquor/insurance store in town

• Disappeared Dad: Accidentally finds out from Brent that his dad died performing a Heroic Sacrifice in the Korean War. The town had told him his dad had joined the circus.
• Killed Off for Real: Due to his actor's death, Wes passes away in the animated series
• The Bus Came Back: Was absent for a while, leading to some Epileptic Trees springing up about his fate. Lampshaded in the show.
  Hank: I thought you died or moved to Winnipeg or something.
  Wes: Nope. I've always been here. You guys just didn't seem interested in calling me.
• We Sell Everything: His store sells the bizarre combination of liquor and insurance. Truth in Television, as an actual store like this exists in the town the show is filmed in (which is where the show got the idea).

Fitzy's Grandma

Played by: Jean Freeman

Fitzy's Grandma. Real name Helen Jensen.

• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Is known only as "Fitzy's Grandma" until the second-last episode of the entire show.
  Karen: The winner is... [confused] Helen Jensen? Who's that?
  [Fitzy's Grandma steps forward]
  Karen: [surprised] Oh. The winner is Fitzy's Grandma. Helen, apparently.
  • Hank does call her Old Lady Jensen in "World's Biggest Thing", but her first name isn't revealed until later
• Innocent Innuendo: She comes up with the idea for the town to build the "World's Biggest Hoe", as a reference to Dog River's agricultural heritage. She doesn't get the negative connotation until she overhears Davis make a joke about it later.

Myrtle

Played by: Gwen Seed

A little white-haired woman and town local. She, Emma and Fitzy's Grandma make up a sort of "old lady triumvirate" that serve on every Dog River town committee.

• Hidden Depths: She's good enough at curling that Oscar and Emma are willing to bring her on their team even though she just had hip replacement surgery. The team ends up winning the whole tournament.