Comedy

FreeImages.com/Julie Elliott-Abshire

Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Dan Aykroyd, Norm Macdonald, Russell Peters, John Candy (RIP), Lorne Michaels, Eugene Levy, Seth Rogen, Colin Mochrie, Phil Hartman (RIP), Howie Mandel, Tom Green, Elvira Kurt, Rick Mercer, Leslie Nielsen, Tommy Chong, Cathy Jones, Scott Thompson, William Shatner, Cobie Smulders, Will Arnett, Harland Williams, Caroline Rhea, Samantha Bee…

‘Nuff said.

Okay I’ll say a little more.

Canada is an absolute incubator of exceptional comedic minds. And we like to show it off, too, across all mediums. The Just for Laughs Festival in Quebec, Yuk Yuk’s comedy club, SCTV, Kids in the Hall, La famille Plouffe, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Beaverton, Trailer Park Boys, The Second City, Men with Brooms and Letterkenny are just a few examples of how Canadians show of their comic hardware.

Some fun “did you knows” about Canadian comedy:

• The Tom Green Show started as an Ottawa community cable TV program

• Lorne Michaels, creator of Saturday Night Live, was born in Canada. Perhaps one reason why Canadians dominated the show for so many years. Michaels also produced Kids in the Hall

• The Royal Canadian Air Farce was a radio program for 24 years before becoming a permanent television program

• The children’s author Robert Munsch, while not born in Canada, resides in Guelph, Ontario

It is another representation of the easy-going, friendly nature of Canadians that we find it so easy to laugh at ourselves, and, in a nice way, at others. 

What is 150 of our favourite Canadian things? Read about it here