Royal Canadian Air Farce
Royal Canadian Air Farce is a Canadian television show, broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It stars Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and Jessica Holmes.
The show, a weekly sketch comedy series, focuses on political and cultural satire, and is one of the most popular shows on Canadian television. It is so firmly established as a Canadian institution that no-one can claim to be a major political figure in Canada until they have been parodied by the Air Farce.
History
The group started in Montreal, Quebec in 1970 as an improvisational theatre revue called The Jest Society (a play on then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's famous goal of making Canada a "Just Society".)
After a number of personnel changes, the group became The Royal Canadian Air Farce in 1973 with a lineup that consisted of Abbott, Ferguson, Goy, John Morgan, Dave Broadfoot and non-performing writers Gord Holtam and Rick Olson. They debutted on CBC Radio that year, and quickly became one of the network's most popular programs. They travelled throughout the country to record their weekly radio broadcasts, which featured a mixture of political and cultural satire.
Recurring characters included addle-brained hockey player Bobby Clobber (Broadfoot), Sgt. Renfrew of the RCMP (Broadfoot) and socialite Amy De La Pompa (Morgan), along with political figures such as Brian Mulroney, Joe Clark and Pierre Trudeau. They recorded a one-hour television special in 1980, which evolved into a ten-week series and two sequel specials in addition to their regular radio series.
In the early 1980s, Air Farce's summer hiatus periods were filled by another comedy troupe, The Frantics, who later moved on to their own TV series, Four on the Floor. Later summer hiatus periods, however, were filled by Ferguson and Abbott playing classic comedy recordings.
In 1992, Air Farce took a second plunge into television with 1992: Year of the Farce, a satirical New Year's Eve special. A ratings smash, the special led the troupe to produce another weekly television series, which debutted in 1993. However, this time the move to television was permanent, and the radio series was discontinued. Broadfoot retired from the troupe when they moved to TV, although he continued to make occasional guest appearances.
Recurring characters on the TV series included commentators Mike from Canmore (Morgan) and Jock McBile (Morgan), movie critic Gilbert Smythe Bite-Me (Abbott), bingo player Brenda (Goy), and political and cultural figures such as Jean Chrétien (Abbott), Preston Manning (Ferguson), Sheila Copps (Goy), Lucien Bouchard (Ferguson) and Paul Martin (Ferguson).
However, Colonel Stacy (Ferguson) quickly emerged as the show's most popular character -- each time he appeared, Stacy would load up the Chicken Cannon and fire rubber chickens and other assorted projectiles at whomever he deemed the most annoying public figure of the week (or year).
Morgan retired from Air Farce in 2001, and the remaining three members carried on with a rotating stable of guest stars until Holmes joined the show in 2003. Holmes added celebrity figures such as Paris Hilton and Liza Minnelli to the troupe's satire roster.
Awards
The Air Farce has received many awards including
Video Clips from the Series
For all the clips from all the seasons, click here
External Links
Referenced By
2003 in Canada | CBC English television | CRBC | Canada's Walk of Fame | Canada/Culture | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission | Canadian culture | Canadian literature | Culture of Canada | La Société Radio-Canada | List of Canadian television series | List of Comedians | List of Comedies | List of Comedys | List of Inductees into Canada's Walk of Fame | List of television programs | Literature of Canada | Societe Radio-Canada | Société Radio-Canada | TV shows | The Frantics
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