Salutin: Wayne and Shuster’s comedy of gratitude

[CHIMO]

As part of its 75th anniversary, the CBC is showing an hour this Sunday of old Wayne and Shuster comedy material. They appeared for almost 50 years, first on radio; then they made the perilous leap to the new medium, TV.

They were a comedy duo in an era of teams: Abbot and Costello, Martin and Lewis — the form reached back to vaudeville. There was the funny guy (Wayne) and his straight man (Shuster), who fed him lines. They did “skits,” which sounds quaint and unprofessional now. Those too began in vaudeville, when you could live forever off a decent routine like Dr. Krankheit. They became hometown heroes by appearing often on Ed Sullivan’s TV show in the U.S., but choosing to live in Toronto rather than move there.

They looked forward as well as back, in the literate quality of their humour: to Woody Allen and his Tolstoy references, or Monty Python’s soccer showdown between Greek and German philosophers. Vaudeville had assumed a mass, working class audience, but by the 1950s universities had opened up to large numbers. Wayne and Shuster specialized in Shakespeare references. When the umpire in a baseball game calls a ball foul, the manager rants, “So fair a foul I have not seen.” I’m not saying they influenced Allen or the Pythons (though there were those Sullivan appearances); just that we had our own version, early.

The other interesting current is political humour. I used to think Canadians like Michaels who went to the U.S. had an edge politically since U.S. comics tended to be so outraged by what they felt was the betrayal of principles they’d learned in school that they lacked the distance to be funny about it. But The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have mastered that challenge. Meanwhile, as our own politics gets polarized along U.S. lines, comics here like Rick Mercer start to seem too mild to handle it. Look how politicians line up to go on his show. If they appear with Colbert or Jon Stewart, they do it with trepidation.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1045153--salutin-wayne-and-shuster-s-comedy-of-gratitude

[AlwaysQuestion]

1. Oh, where ARE the cutting edge comedians......

and I'll take 'em from either side of the border. Too much talent worried about offending the ruling classes. Even Colbert and Stewart aren't there yet. Why must bravery be confined to the battle fields? But I digress.

The early days of T.V. had much better fare than we get today--and with FAR LESS advertising.

I rarely watch TV any more; in fact, I don't subscribe any more. Got fed up with paying over $50.00 a month for inferior programming sandwiched between advertising marathons.

Let me assure you (if you're my age, I don't have to assure you of anything--BUT. if you're among the young crowd, I fear I must) that if people were to unsubscribe, television would change quickly and dramatically towards great stuff. Unfortunately, most people accept the crap. We oldsters experienced entertainment on TV--the kind of fare that was worthy of being called "entertainment."

As for W & S, they were clever (but as the article points out, not political) and when once Rick Mercer was on the cutting edge, he now pretty much panders to the ruling elite--his picadillos effete compared to his earlier ones. Too bad cuz he could be brilliant.

Just as an aside, do you notice there aren't many American visitors to the Canadian forum? Come to think of it, there aren't many Canadians either. So what does that say about our compatriots? Typical Canadians for sure. For some reason, America "everything" seems more appealing. Alas, when I was younger, I was the same. But I is all grown up now and can appreciate Canadian news, especially now that we have our very own kooks, retrobates and worse in political office.

Cheers

[CHIMO]

2. What's that you say? Only in Canada?

Tories order diplomats to hang portraits of the Queen by week’s end

OTTAWA — The Conservative government is ordering all foreign missions to ensure they have hung portraits of Queen Elizabeth II by the end of this week.

Rick Roth, a spokesperson for Foreign Minister John Baird, refused to provide any reasons for the edict, which caught some people off guard.

Roth said the instructions are intended to ensure that Canada’s head of state is properly displayed and recognized at embassies, consulates and high commissions around the world.

“We expect all Canadian missions abroad to display pictures of Canada’s head of state, the Queen, along with the Governor General, the Prime Minister and relevant ministers,” he wrote in an email.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1050609--tories-order-diplomats-to-hang-portraits-of-the-queen-by-week-s-end?bn=1
Published On Wed Sep 7 2011

What a pity!

Royal this, royal that. Can god save the queen and the old symbols be far behind? Or is it just Toronto the good taking over again?