The Goon Show is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 1951, was titled Crazy People; subsequent series had the title The Goon Show.
A double entendre is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacceptable, or offensive to state directly.
Wayne and Shuster were a Canadian comedy duo formed by Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster. They were active professionally from the early 1940s until the late 1980s, first as a live act, then on radio, then as part of The Army Show that entertained troops in Europe during World War II, and then on both Canadian and American television.
Just for Laughs was a comedy festival that was held every July, for 40 years, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1983, it was the largest international comedy festival in the world. In addition to the festivals themselves, Just for Laughs also developed, produced, and distributed other forms of comedy entertainment, such as television programming.
Light entertainment encompasses a broad range of television and radio programming that includes comedies, variety shows, game shows, quiz shows and the like.
Andrew Stuart McLean, was a Canadian radio broadcaster, humorist, monologist, and author, best known as the host of the CBC Radio program The Vinyl Cafe. Often described as a "story-telling comic" although his stories addressed both humorous and serious themes, he was known for fiction and non-fiction work which celebrated the decency and dignity of ordinary people, through stories which often highlighted the ability of their subjects, whether real or fictional, to persevere with grace and humour through embarrassing or challenging situations.
Humour is an integral part of the Canadian identity. There are several traditions in Canadian humour in both English and French. While these traditions are distinct and at times very different, there are common themes that relate to Canadians' shared history and geopolitical situation in North America and the world. Though neither universally kind nor moderate, humorous Canadian literature has often been branded by author Dick Bourgeois-Doyle as "gentle satire," evoking the notion embedded in humorist Stephen Leacock's definition of humour as "the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life and the artistic expression thereof."
CBC Television is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-language counterpart is ICI Radio-Canada Télé.
Ici Radio-Canada Télé is a Canadian French-language free-to-air television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. Its English-language counterpart is CBC Television.
The Office is the original British mockumentary television sitcom first broadcast in the UK on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, it follows the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictional Wernham Hogg paper company. Gervais also starred in the series as central character David Brent.
The Frantics is a Canadian comedy troupe consisting of Paul Chato, Rick Green, Dan Redican and Peter Wildman.
Max Ferguson, OC was a Canadian radio personality and satirist, best known for his long-running radio programs Rawhide and The Max Ferguson Show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Zarqa Nawaz is a Canadian creator and producer for film and television, a published author, public speaker, journalist, and former broadcaster.
Writers & Company, hosted by Eleanor Wachtel, is CBC Radio's flagship literary program, broadcast weekly across Canada on CBC Radio One and internationally through satellite radio, streaming and podcast. For more than 30 years, the program has earned wide acclaim and a dedicated following for its hour-long, in-depth interviews with exceptional writers from around the world.
Basic Black was a long-running radio on CBC Radio hosted by Arthur Black. It was an eclectic show that mixed quirky tunes, comedic informational segments, whimsical monologues, and often humorous interviews with people from all walks of life. The focus was often on people with unusual hobbies or interests; or who had devised strange inventions; or had offbeat stories to tell of things that had happened to them. The show started in 1983, and ended its run at the end of the spring 2002 broadcast season after a 19-year run. The show was initially broadcast from Thunder Bay but moved to Toronto after several seasons and finally to Vancouver after Black moved to British Columbia in 1995.
The Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town is an eight-episode Canadian dark comedy miniseries that aired on CBC Television on Tuesdays between January 12 and March 16, 2010. The show takes place in a fictional Ontario town called Shuckton whose mayor has been murdered. As the Shuckton residents cope with the loss, a new lawyer moves in to prosecute a suspect, though another resident, unsatisfied with the evidence, tries to find the real killer. At the same time, a character who is a personification of death waits at a motel room for the latest Shuckton residents to die.
Krazy House is a Canadian comedy television miniseries which aired on CBC Television in 1977. It was an anthology series of several different sketch programmes independently written, performed and produced by different performers in different cities. Members of the Royal Canadian Air Farce were involved in writing and performing in Toronto-shot episodes 1, 2 and 5, while episodes 3 and 4 were shot in Vancouver and featured the cast of CBC Radio's Dr. Bundolo's Pandemonium Medicine Show. Episode 6 featured a cast of unknowns, and was not connected to either the Air Farce or Bundolo troupes.
Rick Mercer Report is a Canadian television comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 2004 to 2018. Launched as Rick Mercer's Monday Report, or simply Monday Report, by comedian Rick Mercer, the weekly half-hour show combined news parody, sketch comedy, visits to interesting places across Canada, and satirical editorials, often involving Canadian politics. The show's format was similar in some respects to satirical news shows like Mercer's prior series, This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Jonathan Harris is a Canadian actor and comedian from Newfoundland and Labrador. Harris is best known for his roles in the television series Murdoch Mysteries, Still Standing and Hatching, Matching and Dispatching, as well as the films Young Triffie, Moving Day, and Grown Up Movie Star.
