Recommend me some Australian and Canadian comedy!

June 29, 2008 4:00 PM

Similar to this thread, please recommend some Canadian and Australian comedy!

I've seen so far Kids in the Hall, Little Mosque on the Prairie, and Corner Gas from Canada, and The Chaser's War on Everything from Australia. I have similar tastes as the previous poster.

Cheers!

posted by NucleophilicAttack to media & arts (21 answers total)

Have you ever caught This Hour has 22 Minutes? Sort of like the Daily Show meets SNL News
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 4:05 PM on June 29, 2008

Trailer Park Boys
posted by birdherder at 4:24 PM on June 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

As an Australian, I can certainly tell you what my fave Australian comedy shows are.

* The Micallef Programme
* Newstopia (kind of an Australian Colbert Report)
* Good News Week (which is available on iTunes as a free vodcast).
* Summer Heights High (which is also available on iTunes as a free vodcast).
* Thank God You're Here
* Frontline
* John Safran vs God
* The Librarians

And although it's not my particular cup of tea, you might also like Kath & Kim. Everyone else except me seems to think it's brilliant, so you might as well.
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:27 PM on June 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

The Newsroom for sure -- Here's a clip to get you started -- The Office before there was The Office.

Twitch City -- Don McKellar rules
Slings and Arrows
posted by loiseau at 4:28 PM on June 29, 2008

dang, Razzle Bathbone got there before me.

This Hour is really good, although Rick Mercer made it really good (he left the show to pursue his solo effort the Monday Report)

Canada also has some incredibly good stand up comedy shows, if you're interested, such as Just for Laughs (from Montreal), and the Halifax Comedy Festival (collections of clips from many stages in Halifax during the festival).

Some of the old Royal Canadian Air Farce episodes are really good too. I personally feel (although this oppinion can be debated for sure) that the past three or four years haven't been as good. However, similar to This Hour, it's heavily based in political humour so some of the skits may have lost their humour at this point. Many of the skits will always be funny, how ever, so you might want to give that a try.

Then there's the Red Green Show (NOT the New Red Green Show) which makes fun of Canadian Back woods culture and includes the construction of inventions which are rediculous even in name, such as the DIY stretch limo (scroll down to episode #196)

Finally, if you're interested in radio comedy, try the Vinyl Cafe, which includes very amusing stories combined with some good Canadian and international music. Also, many weeks the Vinyl Cafe is broadcast from a different Canadian city, including some very small towns, so it's fun to hear about some of the quirks of different parts of the country (and might also inspire you to travel there!)

Enjoy!
posted by Planet F at 4:30 PM on June 29, 2008

Sorry, here are links:

Twitch City
Slings and Arrows
posted by loiseau at 4:30 PM on June 29, 2008

Oh fuck, I forgot about The Late Show! How could I forget The Late Show??? Watch The Late Show!
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:32 PM on June 29, 2008

Self-link here, but Picnicface is hitting it out of the park on YouTube, and may have their own TV show soon. We've got some writers on 22 Minutes (mentioned above), although they kind of loathe the show...
posted by Idiot Mittens at 4:37 PM on June 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

Don't forget about Quebec! I like all the shows you mentioned but I LOVED Les Bougon - if you get it on DVD you should be able to get English subtitles on it.
posted by vodkaboots at 5:04 PM on June 29, 2008

i can't believe no one's mentioned the grandfather of all the abovementioned shows:

you might also want to check out the jon dore show, although his stand-up is much funnier.
posted by Menomena at 5:37 PM on June 29, 2008

Australian Stuff: It was short lived and focused entirely on the preparation for the Sydney Olympics, but The Games is pure brilliance. And it's relevant every four years!
posted by Neale at 6:29 PM on June 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

Frontline, another predecessor to The Office.
posted by Tixylix at 7:18 PM on June 29, 2008

+1 for Trailer Park Boys. Canada's unknown comedy gem. It takes a few episodes before you "get" the joke, but when you do...
posted by drmarcj at 7:29 PM on June 29, 2008

For Canadian, I got a kick out of Rent-a-Goalie on our last trip to Vancouver. Do the New Zealanders from Flight of the Conchords count for close to Australian?
posted by platinum at 7:36 PM on June 29, 2008

Trailer Park Boys is hilarious (and unlike drmarcj, I found it hilarious right away, but I'm from Halifax, so ymmv).

I can't believe nobody's mentioned Four on the Floor yet. A youtube search on The Frantics brings up a bunch of stuff. Mr. Canoehead is probably the most well-known of their skits.
posted by joannemerriam at 7:41 PM on June 29, 2008

A short clip that you can watch to get an idea of the wry, understated Australian sense of humour is called "The Front Fell Off". It concerns a politician being interviewed about an oil-tanker which has suffered an unfortunate accident. The comedian playing the role is John Clarke who also starred in The Games already mentioned above.

Australians love to 'take the piss'. Taking the piss means mocking pretension, self-proclaimed expertise, sophistry etc in an understated way. Happily, all these characteristics are found often in our politicians so they are favourite targets of Australian humour.

Though having some familiarity with Australian politicians helps, The Chaser's War on Everything that you mentioned already being familiar with is a good example of this piss-taking at politician's expense. We had a visit last year from a politician the whole world (unfortunately) knows - George W Bush. The centre of Sydney where he was staying was under very tight and oppressive security. The Chaser Boys thought it might be fun if they tried to enter the security cordon in a fake embassy motorcade with one of them dressed up as Osama Bin Laden. Instead of being turned away at the first security barrier as they expected they got waved past multiple check points and the security goons only noticed something was suspect when they turned around and 'Osama' got out to stretch his legs. That clip is here, and they make all their programs available on their website.

Kath and Kim is wonderful for its dazzling wordplay and excellent acting.

Frontline would be readily appreciated anywhere they have current affairs programming on commercial TV.
posted by Sitegeist at 10:36 PM on June 29, 2008 [2 favorites]

Whoops, by "grandfather of all the abovementioned shows" I meant SCTV.
posted by Menomena at 5:44 AM on June 30, 2008

And +1 to picnicface!!!
posted by Menomena at 5:51 AM on June 30, 2008

Kenny vs Spenny a "reality show" where two best friends compete in various competitions. The loser of the episode must perform an act of humiliation. Kenny cheats a lot to win but it's still fun to watch. The creators of South Park were involved in the production of the forth season.

Here are a couple of the episodes:

Who Can Gain the Most Weight?
Who Do Kids Like Most?
Who Makes the Most Convincing Woman?
Who Can Stay Naked the Longest?
Who Is the Better Rapper?
Who Can Produce More Semen?
Who Can Stay Homeless the Longest?
posted by robofunk at 8:44 AM on June 30, 2008

Re: Kenny vs. Spenny, it's now produced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and airs on Comedy Central, but as much as I love South Park it's become just idiotic -- so stick to the first season when it was Canadian-made.
posted by loiseau at 9:15 AM on June 30, 2008

If you like Frontline, The Hollowmen might be worth following.
posted by d-no at 5:22 PM on July 5, 2008