What Country is the Funniest in the World?

[Furious D]

Ever since I was a kid I've noticed the sheer volume of Canadians making it big by making yanks laugh.

As a Canadian I grew up watching these same performers on local tv in their rough early days. We had SCTV, THE KIDS IN THE HALL, and for the past 10 years THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES, and the satirical sitcoms MADE IN CANADA & THE NEWSROOM.

(And if you're a real connossiuer of wierd comedy the Frantics in 4 ON THE FLOOR in the mid 80's.)

I've always believed that Canadian comedy has always been funnier than American comedy. Most of the best American comedy usually has a Canadian involved in it somewhere.

So do you agree with me? Do you disagree?
Let me know what you think.
But be warned.

If you log on to sing the praises of Chris Farley I will be forced to pelt you with rancid back-bacon. Actually, that would be rude, and rude is not Canadian, so I'll probably just post a nasty reply.
:cool:

[El Duderino Diablo]

I've always been of the opinion that Canadian comedy long ago gravitated to a middle ground between broad British and American comedy influences. I am also of ht eopinion that the height of sketch comedy was achieved by the Python troupe in Britain, the original Saturday Night ensemble in the US and The Kids in the Hall here in Canadaland.
Suffice to say I prefer Canadian comedy. I've happily sat through more episodes of This Hour Has 22 Minutes in the past year than episodes of SNL in the last five.

[3ldfilms]

Yeah, Canadians certainly have a knack for comedy. As for whose best? Whose to say.

But we certainly have a few great and/or famous funny folks:

Jim Carrey
Mike Myers
John Candy
Eugene Levy
Dan Aykroyd
Martin Short
Andrea Martin
Colin Mochrie
Dave Foley
Bruce McCulloch (who ironically also directed the SNL film Superstar)
Keanu Reevs (Matrix Revolutions WAS a comedy)

[automanic]

I've always asserted that there was a far-reaching conspiracy of Canadian infiltration into America's comedy... Or maybe there's just some really damn funny Canadians.

I've always wanted to see a list of the nationalities of cast members in the movie "Canadian Bacon." Exactly how many canucks did they enlist to play xenophobic Americans?

[El Duderino Diablo]

Originally posted by automanic
I've always asserted that there was a far-reaching conspiracy of Canadian infiltration into America's comedy... Or maybe there's just some really damn funny Canadians.

I've always wanted to see a list of the nationalities of cast members in the movie "Canadian Bacon." Exactly how many canucks did they enlist to play xenophobic Americans?

Well...



Full Cast and Crew for
Canadian Bacon (1995)
Cast (in credits order) verified as complete
*John Candy .... Niagara County Sheriff Bud B. Boomer
Alan Alda .... U.S. President
Rhea Perlman .... Deputy Honey
Kevin Pollak .... Stuart Smiley (National Security advisor)
Rip Torn .... Gen. Dick Panzer
Kevin J. O'Connor .... Roy Boy
Bill Nunn .... Kabral Jabar
G.D. Spradlin .... R.J. Hacker (president, Hacker Dynamics)
James Belushi .... Charles Jackal (NBS reporter) (as Jim Belushi)
Steven Wright .... RCMP officer at headquarters
Brad Sullivan .... Gus (CIA Canada Desk agent)
Stanley Anderson .... Edwin S. Simon ('NBS Nightly News' anchorman)
Richard Council .... Russian President Vladimir Krushkin
Wallace Shawn .... Canadian Prime Minister Clark MacDonald
Michael Copeman .... Panzer's aide
Bruce Hunter .... President's aide
Beth Amos .... Ruthie (night shift at Canadian Power plant)
Jack Mather .... Pops (night shift at Canadian Power plant)
Kenner Ames .... Mountie sergeant
Roger Dunn .... Mountie major
Natalie Rose .... Toronto kid
Michael Woods .... State Trooper
Matt Cooke .... State Trooper
Barbara Schroeder .... Newswoman
Tara Meyer .... Candy striper at Canadan hospital
*Fab Filippo .... Candy striper at Canadian hospital
Carlton Watson .... Clarence Thomason
Stan Coles .... Secretary of State
Adrian Hough .... Russian aide
Bryan Armstrong .... Auctioneer
Kelsey Binder Moore .... Ice cream girl
Leah Binder Moore .... Ice cream girl
Wally Bolland .... Special Ops soldier
Markus Parilo .... Omega Force leader
Jim Czarnecki .... Snake (bar patron)
Tony Proffer .... Dell
Ben Hamper .... Redneck protester #1
Michael Moore .... Redneck Protester #2
Linda Genovesi .... Polite Canadian woman
Sheila Gray .... Hacker Hellstorm (voice)
Dana Brooks .... Paulette Kalini (talk show host)
rest of cast listed alphabetically
*Dan Aykroyd .... Highway Patrolman (uncredited)
Jordan Nutson .... Chester (bartendr) (uncredited)

*Only actors in the cast that I know are Canadian. :shrug:

[Furious D]

I think it's interesting that Canadian movie comedies are so rare and that the best Canuck work is done on TV. I think the total number of Canuck movie comedies can be counted on one hand. This is because the Canadian Film industry is obsessed with making dark, dreary character studies about voyeurism and incest and not really interested in movies Canadians might want to see.

Most funny Canadians do a stint on Canadian TV, then that leads them to a gig down south, and from there to bigger, if not better, things.

I saw Canadian Bacon years ago, and I don't think it should count as a comedy. Comedies should be funny. That's because most yankees can't do political satire without a few Canadians to show him how it's done. But that's another topic entirely.;)

[3ldfilms]

Adding to the Canadian bacon list:

Other casts members Bruce Hunter and Michael Copeland are also Canadian.

[kevinpmurray]

Funniest man ever....Bill Hicks. He was also a great observationist, like my homeland's Billy Connolly. Shame hes dead. Hicks, not Connolly.

He would have had a fuckin field day with our current situation with those camel fuckers in Iraq :D

[bergie]

I lived in Japan for a year...talk about funny programs, movies, sports, and comercials Japan has it hands down for me

[Ellen M.]

Umm fellas, what about the U.K. & Australia???
Do I even want to list all of the hilarious TV shows, movies & actors that have come out of those two countries? "Monty Python", "Teletubbies", "The Wiggles"... hello people!

I mean, any countries that could invent foods like spotted dick, bangers & mash, Vegemite & Marmite are pretty damn twisted!

MJ's a pedophile & I'm an anglophile... so sue me!

Ellen ;)

[Ricky Retardo]

HA! I JUST bought a pre-viewed copy of "Brain Candy" today azzamattafact. I think a big part of it is that too much US skit comedy is based on topicality, which A)does not age well and B) was probably hit or miss in the first place. Canadian comedy seems to work more through inspired irreverance and makes for a more timeless laugh. If given the choice, I'd choose any one episode of SCTV over any 30 episodes of SNL.

[BuckyMcSatan]

There's a great little CBC hour long show, one off, called "The Canadian Conspiracy".

Anyone seen it? It pretty much says it all.

Eugene Levy trapped in a hotel room relating the conspiracy of Canadian comedians that are sometimes mistaken for U.S. comics.

I taped it once, but damned if I can find it.

Nowhere to be found on video.

[Furious D]

Originally posted by Buck Satan
There's a great little CBC hour long show, one off, called "The Canadian Conspiracy".

Anyone seen it? It pretty much says it all.

I saw it when I was a kid in the 80's & thought it was a vicious satire. Remember: LORNE GREENE! GREEN CARD! COINCIDENCE OR CONSPIRACY!?!

Sadly, CBC is damn lax in putting some of their classic programming like THE CANADIAN CONSPIRACY on DVD or video.

Canadians are a nation of watchers. We watch our massive southern neighbour, and we watch our cultural parent England and we suck what we can out of them. This makes us natural satirists, whether the topic is politics, suburban life, or office work, we can watch and see the satire in everything.

That's why Canadians do such great parodies and TV sketch comedy. Australians are similar in sentiment, but not quite as overly polite as their Canuck cousins.

Now if only we can make a decent Canadian comedy feature film.

[El Duderino Diablo]

Originally posted by Furious D
I saw it when I was a kid in the 80's & thought it was a vicious satire. Remember: LORNE GREENE! GREEN CARD! COINCIDENCE OR CONSPIRACY!?!


Lorne Greene is the voice of god. (http://www.candy-fans.com/candy/films/can_conspiracy/cancon03.wav)

[Westerken]

Interesting side note - when Lorne Michael's first pitched to produce a sketch show in the US he used clips from Python and a show he had done in Canada. The room full of execs rolled with laughter, but after the screening said "we could never put that on US television". Years later SNL evolved, which is really a sad standard to measure comedy by. It has it's moments but they're not consistently there.

BUT ANYWAY - WHAT I WANTED TO POST is that I have just produced a sketch comedy DVD called Laughing-Stock (http://www.shortkutzdvd.com/Laughingstock.htm) which features eight sketch comedy groups performing on one DVD. It's very funny and only one of the groups is Canadian.

Film Threat gave it five stars. (http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=5079)

[Ricky Retardo]

Yeah, Mad Cow...real funny.

[Ellen M.]

I've gotta agree with Ricky on this one... Not everything that comes from Canada is a GOOD thing!

Ellen :mad: