Jay Baruchel has no immediate plans to visit the Queen City, as far as we know — in reality, that is. But in bizarro TV reality, Burlington is the Canadian comedian’s hometown.

The actor’s face and voice are familiar from a slew of movies, including Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder and How to Train Your Dragon. He starred in Judd Apatow’s series “Undeclared” and wrote the excellent hockey comedy Goon. Now Baruchel has a deal with ABC to produce a pilot for an autobiographical sitcom in which he’ll play a famous actor who chooses to leave Hollywood, return to his hometown and move in with his buds.

Baruchel really does live in his hometown — Montréal. On TV, however, his character will settle in Burlington.

Say what? Despite their relative physical proximity, last time we checked, BTV and Montréal were about as much alike as … a small, quirky American college town and a glittering, ethnically diverse metropolis. Both wonderful towns, but apples and pamplemousses.

So … why?

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Margot Harrison is a consulting editor and film critic at Seven Days. Her film reviews appear every week in the paper and online. In 2024, she won the Jim Ridley Award for arts criticism from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Her book reviews...

6 replies on “Burlington … the Closest Thing to Montréal? For Jay Baruchel’s New Sitcom, It Will Be”

  1. I recall snorting with disdain when Bob Newhart referred to “flying up to Burlington” to visit the hospital. They were never explicit where exactly the Inn where the Newhart show took place was located (the exterior was an inn in Middlebury), but you don’t “fly up to Burlington” from anywhere in Vermont.

  2. I love love love Jay Baruchel. As an actor, his timing is impeccable. I do hope the writers’ for this show take at least a visit to Burlington and make note of what attractions are actually here. There was a movie with Travolta, Williams and Seth Green awhile back, (The name eludes me); and they were supposedly in Burlington, VT at our zoo. Produced by Disney, obviously with, clearly, a great research team, since there is no zoo in Burlington nor anywhere near Burlington.

  3. How quickly could we get a filmmaking tax credit on the books? This state is full of creatives and it’s about time we had an economy that wants them.

  4. Important scene in Sleepwalk with Me takes place at a bar in “Burlington”… apparently Marc Maron hangs out here.

  6. no zoos in vermont: last time I checked you can be fined up to $3000 by VT Fish and Wildlife for bringing an elephant into the state.

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