# Some Canadian Comedians and Comic Actors (North American movies and television)



## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

*Some Canadian Comedians and Comic Actors (North American movies and television)*

It is sometimes said that you can understand a country by its humour. A sometimes-discussed question is whether there are any commonalities in Canadian comedy. Beginning with the 1960's, you may have seen these Canadian comedians and comic actors in North American movies or television shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show, Saturday Night Live, Second City TV, and various sitcoms or sitcoms. The list is on the older side, especially lacking in recent comedians and actors and French-speaking comics. Anyway, here are some that I have liked -- comments?

Mort Sahl
Johnny Wayne & Frank Shuster
Rich Little (impressionist)
David Steinberg
Don Harron (Hee-Haw - Charley Farquarson)
Tommy Chong
Leslie Nielsen
Alan Thicke
Lorne Michaels (producer, Saturday Night Live)
Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas (Bob and Doug McKenzie)
Dan Aykroyd
John Candy, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Martin Short.Joe Flaherty, Catherine O'Hara (Second City)
Jim Carrey
Michael J. Fox
Howie Mandel
André-Philippe Gagnon (musical impressionist)
Mike Myers
Matthew Perry
Norm Macdonald
Russell Peters
Ryan Reynolds
Seth Rogen
Sandra Oh
Samantha Bee


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

The trouble with Canadians is they are all too easy - at least on this side of the Atlantic - to mistake for Americans, and I'd bet few realised some of the individuals above are subjects of Her Majesty. 

One relatively high-profile Canadian Comedian over here in the UK is a girl called Katherine Ryan. Unfortunately, I find her sense of humour has a nasty edge to it, she doesn't mock people or things with what I would call a hint of kindness. I very much doubt she represents all Canadians in that. That is surely not what they're all aboot?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Colin Mochrie is not on the list?


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Where is Steve Smith, the immortal Red Green?


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

CnC Bartok said:


> The trouble with Canadians is they are all too easy - at least on this side of the Atlantic - to mistake for Americans, and I'd bet few realised some of the individuals above are subjects of Her Majesty.
> 
> One relatively high-profile Canadian Comedian over here in the UK is a girl called Katherine Ryan. Unfortunately, I find her sense of humour has a nasty edge to it, she doesn't mock people or things with what I would call a hint of kindness. I very much doubt she represents all Canadians in that. That is surely not what they're all aboot?


Thanks for your post! The main reason for my list was to let people know which well-known North American comedians and comic actors are actually Canadian. The list is derived from Wikipedia's "List of Canadian Comedians" and I deliberately left out those who I thought were known only in Canada. I don't think most of the comedians in the above list are nasty, though Samantha Bee (who does political satire) is considered nasty by right-wingers! If I knew our younger comedians better, I think there would be some more nasty ones as you describe Kathleen Ryan.

_P.S. re "aboot:"_ This is how Americans claim we say "about." We claim that Americans say this word "abowwwt" (the "ow" as in "rowdy"). Are those the distinctions you're referring to?


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

erratic post .


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Art Rock said:


> Colin Mochrie is not on the list?


Glad you mention Colin Mochrie. I loved his performance in the movie _Bon Cop Bad Cop_.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Strange Magic said:


> Where is Steve Smith, the immortal Red Green?


Maybe I'll learn to like that home-repair menace! He was very popular in his prime. By the way, he MUST be distinguished from another Canadian comic, Tom Green, whom I really dislike.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Roger Knox said:


> Thanks for your post! The main reason for my list was to let people know which well-known North American comedians and comic actors are actually Canadian. The list is derived from Wikipedia's "List of Canadian Comedians" and I deliberately left out those who I thought were known only in Canada. I don't think most of the comedians in the above list are nasty, though Samantha Bee (who does political satire) is considered nasty by right-wingers! If I knew our younger comedians better, I think there would be some more nasty ones as you describe Kathleen Ryan.
> 
> _P.S. re "aboot:"_ This is how Americans claim we say "about." We claim that Americans say this word "abowwwt" (the "ow" as in "rowdy"). Are those the distinctions you're referring to?


Very politely (ie a la Canadienne!) what did you think I was talking aboot? I've seen South Park, and that war Canada started......:tiphat:


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Roger Knox said:


> _P.S. re "aboot:"_ This is how Americans claim we say "about." We claim that Americans say this word "abowwwt" (the "ow" as in "rowdy"). Are those the distinctions you're referring to?


As a Canadian who came to the US many years ago, I heard the same claim that we said 'aboot'. Of course, we don't. In the US, more-so in the southern & southwestern states, we definitely say about with the middle part sounding like 'bow' as in the bow of a boat. In Canada, the middle part would sound more like 'bow' as in a bow in the hair.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

The strength of the Red Green show was its absurdity, presented with a perfectly straight face as normalcy. It also had a gentleness I found refreshing as compared to the overreach that sometimes afflicts more desperate efforts to be funny.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Strange Magic said:


> The strength of the Red Green show was its absurdity, presented with a perfectly straight face as normalcy. It also had a gentleness I found refreshing as compared to the overreach that sometimes afflicts more desperate efforts to be funny.


Thanks for your post! I see that the Red Green show was on PBS as well as Canadian TV. I'll give it another go. Also, thanks to you, I've just found out what Nova Caesarea (aka New Jersey) refers to.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

CnC Bartok said:


> Very politely (ie a la Canadienne!) what did you think I was talking aboot? I've seen South Park, and that war Canada started......:tiphat:


Surely, our "beady little eyes" were an outrageous provocation and on top of "aboot" added to our blame for "that war Canada started" (as is fully documented in the song "Blame Canada.")


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

........and that b***h Ann Murray too?

I have a very nice Canadian colleague, and she says "aboot"


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

CnC Bartok said:


> ........and that b***h Ann Murray too?
> 
> I have a very nice Canadian colleague, and she says "aboot"


Hear a heavy-duty Irishman say a word like "town" and you get something like "taioain".


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

The above is Hondootedly correct..


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

People from the north-east of England (Newcastle, Sunderland etc.) say 'aboot', too. I've never understood why Canadians have to be the only ones ragged over it.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> People from the north-east of England (Newcastle, Sunderland etc.) say 'aboot', too. I've never understood why Canadians have to be the only ones ragged over it.


Because mocking other people makes us feel better about ourselves? If my only shortcoming was saying "aboot", life would be so much easier....:angel:


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

If, as a Canadian, I really said 'aboot' or if any other Canadian really did, I wouldn't care what anyone thought about it. But I believe in keeping the facts straight. Having lived in the southwest US for many years (as a now American citizen) where the pronunciation of 'about' is distinctly different, I am particularly aware of how differently Canadians in the mid-west pronounce the word when I visit there, as I do quite often. And it is even more obvious to me that they don't say 'aboot'. 

Back on-topic:


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I’ve been here a long time, over forty years. I left England as a kid, and my accent has long gone. Though my accent is not really strongly North American. Few North Americans say "aboot". I don’t say aboot, I say abowt. Here on the west coast I notice many pronounce Harry as "Herry" instead of "Hah-ree", and bury as "burr-ree" instead of "berry", and Surrey as "Surr-ree" instead of "Suh-ree". I pronounce those words more like an English person. And I will not say “bay-zell” for basil, the herb. 

I suppose I am at an advantage because I know all of those comedians and actors mentioned in the opening post. And I watch a lot of English television. I have a foot in both worlds. Some of my colleagues here can’t watch English television programming because they can’t get over the accent. That’s weird I think. I understand all accents and I have no trouble telling where someone lives based on their English accent, though Glasgow accents are tough for me.

I have a foot in both worlds, but I’m not fully entrenched in either. Maybe that explains why the UK doesn’t feel like home anymore and I have never really felt like a true Canadian.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

senza sordino said:


> I've been here a long time, over forty years. I left England as a kid, and my accent has long gone. Though my accent is not really strongly North American. Few North Americans say "aboot". I don't say aboot, I say abowt. Here on the west coast I notice many pronounce Harry as "Herry" instead of "Hah-ree", and bury as "burr-ree" instead of "berry", and Surrey as "Surr-ree" instead of "Suh-ree". I pronounce those words more like an English person. And I will not say "bay-zell" for basil, the herb.
> 
> I suppose I am at an advantage because I know all of those comedians and actors mentioned in the opening post. And I watch a lot of English television. I have a foot in both worlds. Some of my colleagues here can't watch English television programming because they can't get over the accent. That's weird I think. I understand all accents and I have no trouble telling where someone lives based on their English accent, though Glasgow accents are tough for me.
> 
> I have a foot in both worlds, but I'm not fully entrenched in either. Maybe that explains why the UK doesn't feel like home anymore and I have never really felt like a true Canadian.


There's something quite whimsically sad in your last sentence. But so long as you never ever say "bay-zell", you're welcome back in The UK any time!


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

CnC Bartok said:


> ........and that b***h Ann Murray too?
> 
> I have a very nice Canadian colleague, and she says "aboot"


Ann Murray? I really admire Anne Murray's singing abilities. So sensitive and so precise to the song writers, unlike so many singers today.


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