Dr_Macphisto
War Child
I was just curious... what do you all think about the South Park movie and all of its Canadian bashing?
LCK said:Whenever I hear anyone bashing Canada, I just ask myself "What would Brian Boitano do?"
~unforgettableFOXfire~ said:Ive been watching Conan...
It annoys me that theres been such an outcry against both him and Don Cherry - if anything, this proves what he (Cherry) was saying; the French Canadians are whiners.
Conan O'Brien show's nasty Quebecker humour angers Ottawa politicians
John McKay
Canadian Press
Friday, February 13, 2004
ADVERTISEMENT
TORONTO -- A TV comedy sketch in which a grouchy puppet took potshots at French Canadians was called unacceptable and racist garbage by some federal politicians Friday.
Mauril Belanger, the deputy government house leader, told the House of Commons that the government finds nothing amusing about visiting American TV host Conan O'Brien making fun of Quebeckers.
NDP MP Alexa McDonough said the sketch featuring Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was ``vile and vicious'' and amounted to hate-mongering and that the feds should demand their money back.
``The whole point of trying to help deal with the devastation of the SARS crisis on the city of Toronto was to attract tourists,'' McDonough said. ``How it got morphed into this kind of garbage I don't know.''
But while Ottawa expressed outrage, there was little response from Quebec. Premier Jean Charest declined to comment.
The NBC show Late Night came to Toronto this week with the help of $1 million in taxpayers' money, some from the province of Ontario, some from a federal fund set up to help Toronto's tourist industry recover from SARS.
CHUM Television, which carries the show in Ontario, expressed regrets and said it was excising the Triumph sketch from the Friday night re-broadcast on Star, its national channel.
O'Brien has been taping this week at the downtown Elgin Theatre where thousands of young audience members have hooted and hollered their way through the nightly shows. The lanky red-headed comic has delighted them with monologues and sketches that riffed on Canadian themes, from beer to hockey to Mounties.
But on the Thursday show, Late Night regular Triumph _ a cigar-chomping, politically incorrect puppet _ was dispatched to the Quebec winter carnival in a pre-taped segment that took on Quebeckers in general and separatists in particular.
``So you're French and Canadian, yes? So you're obnoxious and dull,'' the puppet told one passerby. ``You're in North America, learn the language,'' he hollered at another.
In Quebec City, Stephen Harper also sought to distance himself from O'Brien and his puppet.
``This is the place where our country was founded nearly 400 years ago,'' said Harper, who is seeking the leadership of the new Conservative party. ``We can all make jokes about each other but you don't start telling people in Quebec they have to speak another language.
``That's completely unacceptable.''
However, businessman Peter Soumalias, who helped bring the New York-based show to Toronto, says some politicians may not understand comedy but the people of Quebec do. ``Quebec is home to the Just For Laughs festival; they understand comedy,'' he said.
``It was funny and this was about comedy,'' says Soumalias. ``It's a silly puppet that tells silly jokes. Again, it's comedy. Most people find it funny.''
Indeed, Bruce Hills, Just For Laughs CEO in Montreal didn't find Triumph offensive because he doesn't take him seriously.
``The sensibility of a young francophone who has a sense of humour, who spends a lot of time outside Quebec, I think will take it for what it is _ a funny sketch.''
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says he doesn't regret the province's role in helping to bring the show to Toronto and points to the ``net positive'' spinoff in publicity. But he also wants it known that Triumph's brand of humour is not reflective of how Ontario feels about Quebec.
``That does not represent our views with respect to our neighbours,'' he said Friday. ``The Conan O'Brien show does not speak for Ontarians. Ontarians have a wonderful relationship with the people of Quebec. We don't control the content of these shows.''
``There were moments where it was a little raw,'' said Jonathan Laderoute, 24, who came from Ottawa to line up outside the Elgin for Friday's show, although he added that he didn't find the sketch too offensive.
``No one's ever said it before that way,'' Laderoute said. ``Canadians seem really politically sensitive. They always make a big deal of everything. Take it for what it is.''
He said Triumph's shtick is to push boundaries, but the difficulty in Canada is francophone issues seem to be off-limits.
His final show on Friday night was to feature Jim Carrey.
? Copyright Canadian Press
joyfulgirl said:
But I'm boosting this thread for another reason. I didn't want to start a new thread for this yet I wanted to tell the Canadians that I just met one of your apparently famous people: Shelagh Rogers. Of course I've never heard of her but I hear she's a bit popular up there. Sooooo nice, really lovely. I met her at a work dinner last night and then she was in our office this morning chattin' it up. Who is she anyway? I mean, I know she has a radio show but what is she all about?