John Blanchard | |
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Occupation(s) | Director and producer |
Years active | 1978–2008 |
John Blanchard is a Canadian television director and producer.
He is best known for his directorial work on the sketch comedy series SCTV , The Kids in the Hall , CODCO , MADtv and the talk show The Martin Short Show for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Talk Show. [1]
He also directed episodes of the sitcoms Grounded for Life , Wanda at Large , Cavemen , and Unhitched , [2] as well as a number of television films, one of his notable films being The Last Polka (1985) starring John Candy and Eugene Levy. [3] He also directed the direct-to-video horror comedy Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth .
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian who is best known for his work in Hollywood films. Candy first rose to national prominence in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its SCTV sketch comedy series. He rose to international fame in the 1980s with his roles in comedic films such as Stripes (1981), Splash (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Spaceballs (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), and Cool Runnings (1993). He also appeared in supporting roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Home Alone (1990) and Nothing but Trouble (1991).
Second City Television, commonly shortened to SCTV and later known as SCTV Network and SCTV Channel, is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe. It is a rare example of a Canadian show that moved successfully to American television, where it aired on NBC from 1981 to 1983.
Harold Allen Ramis was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His film acting roles include Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), and as Russell Ziskey in Stripes (1981); he also co-wrote those films. As a director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Groundhog Day (1993), Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002). Ramis was the original head writer of the television series SCTV, on which he also performed, as well as a co-writer of Groundhog Day and National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). The final film that he wrote, produced, directed, and acted in was Year One (2009).
Martin Hayter Short is a Canadian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television shows. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. Short was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019.
Mathew Jay Roach is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the Austin Powers film series, Meet the Parents, Dinner for Schmucks, The Campaign, Trumbo, and Bombshell.
Catherine Anne O'Hara is a Canadian actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She is known for her comedy work on Second City Television (1976–1984) and Schitt's Creek (2015–2020) and in films such as After Hours (1985), Beetlejuice (1988), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Home Alone (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). Her other film appearances include the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest: Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006).
Eugene Levy is a Canadian actor and comedian. Known for portraying flustered and unconventional figures, Levy has won multiple accolades throughout his career including four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2011, and was made Companion of the Order of Canada in 2022.
Frederick Allan Moranis is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, producer, songwriter and writer.
David William Thomas is a Canadian actor, comedian and television writer, known for being one half of the duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. He appeared as Doug McKenzie on SCTV, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award out of two nominations, and in the film Strange Brew (1983), which he also co-directed. As a duo, they made two albums, The Great White North and Strange Brew, the former gaining them a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award.
The Last Polka is a 1985 comedy television film. It was written by and starred John Candy and Eugene Levy, and directed by John Blanchard.
David Steinberg is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid 1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson more than 130 times and served as guest host 12 times, the youngest person ever to guest-host. Steinberg directed several films and episodes of television situation comedies, including Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Golden Girls, and Designing Women. Steinberg also hosted the interview program Inside Comedy on the Showtime network.
Juul Haalmeyer is a costume designer, best known for doing costume design on several iterations of SCTV. Haalmeyer also worked as a costume designer for many movies, television shows, theatre productions, concerts wardrobes for various artists and specials like Bridge to Silence, All My Sons, Long Day's Journey into Night, Noddy, the Shining Time Station Family Specials, Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales, Diamonds, Andrea Martin: Together Again, and Ghostwriter.
Frederick Timmins de Cordova was an American stage, motion picture and television director and producer. He is best known for his work on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Barnet Kellman is an American theatre, television and film director, television producer and film actor, and educator, best known for the premiere productions of new American plays, and for the pilots of long-running television series such as Murphy Brown and Mad About You. He is the recipient of two Emmy Awards and a Directors Guild of America Award. He is the co-founder and director of USC Comedy at the School of Cinematic Arts, and holds the school's Robin Williams Endowed Chair in Comedy.
Andrew Alexander is an English theatre and television producer best known for his previous leadership and co-ownership of The Second City, and co-developing and producing the television show SCTV.
Ali LeRoi is an American television producer, director, writer and actor. He is best known as the co-creator of the Chris Rock semi-autobiographical sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, for which he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series in 2008.
Peter DuBois Baldwin was an American actor and director of film and television.
Jason Brett is an American actor, writer and film producer, who produced the 1986 romantic comedy film About Last Night.
Pamela Gail Fryman is an American sitcom director and producer. She directed all but twelve episodes of the television series How I Met Your Mother.
An Afternoon with SCTV is an upcoming Canadian-American comedy streaming television special directed by Martin Scorsese. The special reunites the cast of Second City Television.