The Showcase rock mockumentary Cock’d Gunns has two elements uniquely suited to specialty TV: a shoestring budget and sure losers as characters.

Think Trailer Park Boys and Rent-A-Goalie, and you get a sense of this homegrown comedy from Toronto’s Tricon Films & Television, set to challenge next month for three Geminis: best comedy, best comedy writing and best comedy ensemble.

The Spinal Tap-inspired parody band features singer/songwriter Reggie Van Gunn (Morgan Waters), brother and bassist Dick Van Gunn (Andy King) and drummer Barry Ciccarelli (Brooks Gray) as they satirize music industry stardom.

‘We’re definitely taking shots at the music industry in general, and how embarrassing and pathetic it can be to want fame,’ explains Gray.

‘Musicians really have shallow goals, and don’t have much musical integrity,’ he observes.

You’d recognize the Cock’d Gunns trio from early American Idol episodes where fame-seekers get their egos crushed.

In its first season of 13 episodes, the mock doc has an arrested development storyline where Reggie and Dick Van Gunn live together as brothers for the first time since their childhood, Ciccarelli mostly fails to keep a drum beat and rookie manager Keith Horvak (Leo Scherman) steers the band from disaster to disaster when not fighting off sexual harassment suits.

All that’s missing in this TV frame is Simon Cowell to sneer: ‘It’s never gonna work for you, boys, so you can just – move on.’

Of course, the Cock’d Gunns don’t get the hook, and instead supply endless cringe-worthy comedy for the disconnect between the band members’ inflated sense of talent (aka a woeful absence of talent), and their lack of work ethic, record deals or songs.

Carrie Mudd, Tricon VP of distribution and development, says Cock’d Gunns evolved after the prodco got its feet wet in scripted programming in 2006 with the hidden-camera prank show Screwed Over for MuchMusic.

‘We always anticipated that [scripted programming] would happen, and we didn’t want to do anything too quickly, as we wanted to do something right,’ Mudd explains.

Cock’d Gunns was also IFC Canada’s first scripted show, before the series jumped over to Showcase this fall.

The mockumentary was originally conceived by King, Scherman and Waters, who next brought Gray on board as a fellow writer/producer/actor.

Gray points to the success of Cock’d Gunns just as the mockumentary finds primetime acceptance.

‘You have The Office, Trailer Park Boys. We’re at a point that the mock doc is accepted as a form, and not judged as a documentary,’ he says.

For example, Cock’d Gunns’ characters stop and talk directly to the camera, and the show’s audience doesn’t feel they’re watching a factual documentary.

Gray adds that, should Cock’d Gunns prevail over its heavyweight competition – including Corner Gas and This Hour Has 22 Minutes – and grab a Gemini, he and fellow cast members will cheer.

But securing a second season is the real prize.

‘I don’t want to look at a Gemini on my mantle and wistfully look back on a show that didn’t get renewed. I want to keep it going,’ he says.

And the boys are putting their heads together to think up some pranks to get TV viewers thinking Cock’d Gunns at the Geminis.

‘Award shows offer great opportunities to have some fun with the characters, and we’ve yet to experience that,’ Gray says.

‘I hope we have some surprises in store. The Trailer Park Boys had a lot of success, and it’s fun to watch those guys in character,’ he adds.