2021 Calendar
In a career that spanned more than five decades, Bea Lillie made her New York debut alongside the incomparable Gertrude Lawrence, performing the works of super-luminaries Cole Porter and Noel Coward. She is credited with the first public performance of Coward’s iconic Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
Don described himself as being "addicted to the laughs. It's the strongest drug I've ever known. It makes heroin seem like aspirin. It wraps around you like love."
Don’t miss this clip of Don’s interview with Peter Gzowski. Peter begins with a clip from the 1950’s of Don promoting a new CBC Television program – an astonishing performance that makes Robin Williams look sedate.
English majors at UofT, Wayne and Shuster wrote their own material which combined a taste for Classical and Shakespearean themes with their consummate genius for slapstick silliness and a great love of alliteration. Ed Sullivan adored them, inviting the pair back to his show a record 67 times.
Shuster: Are you sure we're alone?
Wayne: Yes.
Shuster: Then who's that beside you?
Wayne: That's you!
Shuster: Yes. But can I be trusted?
King of Kensington and Kim's Convenience brought Canada into the mutlicultural heart of downtown Toronto, albeit in very different ways!
"We might have some cultural differences, but when it comes to family, we are all the same.” Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Mr. Kim)
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The Prairies may be flat, but they certainly aren't dull! Here are some clips from Corner Gas, featuring longtime FRIENDS supporter, Eric Peterson.
If you haven't seen, Qallunaat!: Why white people are funny, you should! You can watch it in full on the NFB Website.
You may also want to check out these sketches by Graham Greene on Air Farce and The Mercer Report.
Canada's Eastern provinces are famous for their natural beauty, their spellbinding music, and their truly unique sense of humour.
Mary Walsh has brough East Coast humour to the whole of Canada for many years. Here are some of her best clips, including her infamous alter ego, Marg Delahunty, who got up close and personal with many a Prime Minister!
More recently, Mary starred in CBC's Little Dog. Here she is on Little Dog, presenting Tucker's Tour of Towny Delights: Downtown St. John's.
The mis-spelling of St. John's in the video title is sadly beyond our control.
The Frantics created a panoply of bizarre and unforgettable characters. A fan favourite among their carnival of originals was Mr. Canoehead, a crime-fighting superhero who, while still a mild-mannered insurance salesman, had been struck by lightning while portaging his aluminum canoe which had, in consequence, become welded to his head.
Likewise, the Kids in the Hall pushed every conceivable boundary to produce some of the whackiest humour ever. The Head Crusher may be their most famous sketch of all. Check it out, below.
The inimitable Max Ferguson requires no introduction.
Billy Van's distinctively whacky humour inspired a generation of Canadian cultural icons. Below, you can watch CBC Radio Host George Stroumboulopoulos discuss how Van's appearance in The Hilarious House of Frightenstein changed his life forever.
So many of Canada's top comedians have been women, starting with Bea Lillie. Today, female comics are leading the way, on CBC and elsewhere. Here are some highlights from this year's calendar.
Second City Toronto, the improv theatre and its wunderkind off-shoot SCTV launched the careers of scores of successful comedians. There are too many to list here.
SCTV has been off the air for years, but its legacy is ever present in Schitt's Creek, the hit CBC show created by SCTV alumni, Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara!
The SCTV gang would lampoon just about anything. Below, they parody Jeopardy! with Eugene Levy playing Alex Trebek, who sadly passed away in 2020.