Canadian humour

Canadian 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 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.”

The primary characteristics of Canadian humour are irony, parody, and satire. Various trends can be noted in Canadian comedy. One thread is the portrayal of a "typical" Canadian family in an ongoing radio or television series. Examples include La famille Plouffe, with its mix of drama, humour, politics and religion and sitcoms such as King of Kensington and La Petite Vie. Another major thread tends to be political and cultural satire: television shows such as CODCO, Royal Canadian Air Farce, La Fin du monde est à 7 heures and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, monologuists such as Yvon Deschamps and Rick Mercer and writers, including Michel Tremblay, Will Ferguson and Eric Nicol draw their inspiration from Canadian and Québécois society and politics. Another trend revels in absurdity, demonstrated by television series like The Kids in the Hall and The Frantics, and musician-comedians such as The Arrogant Worms, Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie and Bowser and Blue. Satire is arguably the primary characteristic of Canadian humour, evident in each of these threads, and uniting various genres and regional cultural differences.

Comedy award

A Comedy award can refer to numerous awards given for achievement in comedy, including

Canadian Comedy Awards

The Canadian Comedy Awards are an annual awards ceremony celebrating notable English-speaking Canadians for comedic achievements in Live, Radio, Film, Television and Internet media over the previous year. The awards began in 2000, and were initially produced by Tim Progosh broadcast on The Comedy Network.

The ceremonies were held in Toronto until 2002, and from 2003–2007 they were held in London, Ontario in conjunction with an annual comedy festival (known as Comedy Week while in London). In 2008 they moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, then to Saint John, New Brunswick in 2009. They returned to Toronto from 2010-2012, and moved to Ottawa, Ontario in 2013 and 2014 and back to Toronto for 2015.

Past hosts include the Royal Canadian Air Farce, Scott Thompson (of The Kids in the Hall), Dave Thomas, Brent Butt, David Foley and Bruce Hunter (as Rocko the Dog, the character he played on Puppets Who Kill).

The 2000 and 2001 awards were produced and aired on The Comedy Network by Higher Ground Productions. The 2001 special received a Gemini nomination for writing. Annual CCA variety specials were broadcast on TV from 2007-2010. The Doo Wops received a Gemini nomination for their performance in the 2008 special and the 2009 special co-produced by Higher Ground and Minds Eye was nominated for Best Comedy, Music or Variety Special.

Trousers

Trousers (pants in North America) are an item of clothing worn from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, and dresses).

In the UK the word "pants" generally means underwear and not trousers.Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only to around the area of the knee, higher or lower depending on the style of the garment. To distinguish them from shorts, trousers may be called "long trousers" in certain contexts such as school uniform, where tailored shorts may be called "short trousers", especially in the UK.

In most of the Western world, trousers have been worn since ancient times and throughout the Medieval period, becoming the most common form of lower-body clothing for adult males in the modern world, although shorts are also widely worn, and kilts and other garments may be worn in various regions and cultures. Breeches were worn instead of trousers in early modern Europe by some men in higher classes of society. Since the mid-20th century, trousers have increasingly been worn by women as well. Jeans, made of denim, are a form of trousers for casual wear, now widely worn all over the world by both sexes. Shorts are often preferred in hot weather or for some sports and also often by children and teenagers. Trousers are worn on the hips or waist and may be held up by their own fastenings, a belt or suspenders (braces). Leggings are form-fitting trousers, of a clingy material, often knitted cotton and spandex (elastane).

Comedy

In a modern sense, comedy (from the Greek: κωμῳδία, kōmōidía) refers to any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or to amuse by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, television, film and stand-up comedy. The origins of the term are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth is understood to be constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to take recourse in ruses which engender very dramatic irony which provokes laughter.