I totally got why bob & doug mckenzie were funny, though.

February 6, 2006 6:04 PM

Please help me understand the humor in a Canadian video I found on the internet.

I don't get the punchline to this video, "Leafs vs Cougars"(warning: embedded video), at all. Well, I assume that the joke's probably that the big guy wants to watch something sissy instead of the hockey the scrawny guy likes. Are the cougars for pansies? Is it hockey-related, even though the Cougars haven't been a hockey team in many years? I googled for Canadian tv shows or movies called "Cougars," but couldn't find one. Or is the song at the end called "cougars"? The tune at the end must be something immediately recognizable to Canadians to impart the joke. Or is this some Kaufman-like joke where there is no real punchline?

I surfed onto their site since I found their "triple tofu tower"(embedded video again) kinda funny; their site repeatedly points out all the accolades this LvsC short earned, so I figure there's some joke in it. And I've seen plenty of unfunny jokes on the net, but I've always at least been to see tell what they were aiming for. But this one just *whooshed* over my head.

(Hopefully I won't feel too stupid when I hear the explanation. Thanks in advance for your help.)

posted by neda to media & arts (24 comments total)

the joke is in reference to the cougars... a cougar being an older woman out on the make
posted by dawdle at 6:09 PM on February 6, 2006

I haven't watched the vid but in canuck parlance cougars = desperate post divorce 40something females who hang out in bars looking for prey (the classic 'cougar bar' is Jozo's at Blue Mountain in Collingwood -- shudder).
posted by unSane at 6:10 PM on February 6, 2006

cougar is not necessarily canuck parlance, more of an urban phenom... and i live in canada...
posted by dawdle at 6:11 PM on February 6, 2006

The chicks on Sex and the City are cougars, albeit attractive ones.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 6:15 PM on February 6, 2006

The music at the end is the theme to Sex and the City. I don't watch or know much about hockey, so that's about as much help as I can give you.
posted by attercoppe at 6:16 PM on February 6, 2006

@dawdle: only heard it here so assumed... there ya go. But Jozo's is still a horror show at closing time...
posted by unSane at 6:16 PM on February 6, 2006

Drat.
posted by attercoppe at 6:16 PM on February 6, 2006

where is this Jozo's and what time does it close ?
posted by dawdle at 6:22 PM on February 6, 2006

The tune is from Sex and the City. Sex and the City's Samantha is most definitely a cougar. None of the teams in the NHL is named the Cougars (though it's a common high school team name).
posted by jellicle at 6:23 PM on February 6, 2006

It's funny* because of the reactions of the two quintessential leafs fans, one of whom apparently likes to watch Sex and the City more than the Leafs. (Who suck this season. A lot.) As has been pointed out, a "cougar" is a post-divorce woman out to hit on younger university-age guys. Leafs vs Sex and the City.

*Actually, it's not very funny. Perhaps this accounts for your confusion.
posted by generichuman at 6:28 PM on February 6, 2006

The last issue of Bust Magazine had a big (somewhat fawning, ahem) article about cougars. Alas, not online, it seems. Googling gives you a little whiff of it.
posted by intermod at 6:34 PM on February 6, 2006

Jozo's is named after Jozo Weider, who founded the Blue Mountain ski resort in Collingwood, Ontario. It's, um, quite the bar.
posted by unSane at 6:54 PM on February 6, 2006

It's not very funny other than the misleading nature of the word Cougar. You could read more into it by supposing that the thinner guy is able to get action in real life while the fat guy has to settle for pretty but older women on TV.

Even if you get the punchline it still isn't very funny, even if you're a Canadian. Unless perhaps you live in Toronto. Everything that comes out of Toronto that appears to come out of Toronto gets way more acclaim and credit than it usually deserves. You want a perfect example, Mike Bullard. What a crock of shit that was. Although there's plenty of great stuff coming out of Vancouver or Montreal, this clip is typical example of Toronto naval gazing. They think they are the center of the Canadian media universe, and we're forced to put up with the mediocre content that ensues.
posted by furtive at 7:13 PM on February 6, 2006

furtive, trust me, no one in Toronto that I know wants to take the credit for Mike Bullard.
posted by greatgefilte at 7:19 PM on February 6, 2006

It is probably unintensional, but the Detroit Red Wings were originally the Cougars.

But I don't think Leafs fans would remember that.
posted by QIbHom at 7:23 PM on February 6, 2006

Okay, I get it now. I had missed the sex & the city reference in the song. Thanks everyone!
posted by neda at 8:30 PM on February 6, 2006

(But it's still not funny.)
posted by neda at 8:31 PM on February 6, 2006

speaking of red wings and cougars, i've heard that bikers ... no, no, i won't go there

i've never heard of this ... but at my age, i guess i'm not likely prey for them
posted by pyramid termite at 9:21 PM on February 6, 2006

furtive: Weird random Toronto hate! I know precisely no one who liked Mike Bullard at all. (In either Toronto or Calgary, where I lived before I moved here.)
posted by SoftRain at 9:22 PM on February 6, 2006

Jozo's is a freakin' nightmare. I used to belong to a ski club that left the resort two hours after the hill closed: designated Jozo's time. My friends and I would play cards in the cafeteria instead.

Yeah, that video wasn't funny. The thinner guy represents hockey, the fat guy represents older women on the prowl. How that would actually be a competition is beyond me.

Also, I live in toronto, and I couldn't stand Mike Bullard. I can't understand how he got his own show.
posted by Kololo at 10:57 PM on February 6, 2006

Cougar is a term most likely more common in Canada than elsewhere. It was invented and publicized by a Toronto Sun columnist in a book giving advice for dating younger men (front cover, back cover). Now I often hear it used by late twenties guys to refer to women just past thirty, or in other situations where the age difference doesn't really justify the smug usage.

However, knowing what cougar is referencing still doesn't make the video funny.
posted by TimTypeZed at 11:51 PM on February 6, 2006

Just popped in to say I 'totally' love the title of this AskMe. Thank you.
posted by raedyn at 6:34 AM on February 7, 2006

I'm not convinced that TimTypeZed's columnist was the one who invented the usage, since I'm sure I heard it before 2001 (the original publication date of the book). However, I am unable to find any cites before that time, so I may be misremembering.

While I was looking I found this: a old Metafilter post about this very thing, in which dhartung theorizes that the book simply publicized some regional slang.
posted by flipper at 8:05 AM on February 7, 2006

I also heard this useage prior to 2001. I'm Canadian, but not from the TO region (not even Ontario).
posted by raedyn at 8:20 AM on February 7, 2006