Sorry, We're Funny

The definitive history of the world’s most polite revolution: How Canadian comics took over the comedy world.

“Canada is chock-full of broadcasting talent but hasn’t a comedian worth his salt.” So said the first Canadian Radio Commissioner echoing a near universal sentiment throughout most of the twentieth century: Canadians simply weren’t that funny. They were too deferential, too serious, too Canadian to be funny. And yet, behind their polite exterior, Canadians were pioneering modern comedy.

Canadians built the first Hollywood studios, produced the first comedy films and trained scores of burgeoning comedy directors, writers and actors. “You can hardly move about Hollywood and Manhattan without bumping into Canadians,” wrote Variety in the 1960s, so ubiquitous were their presence in writers’ rooms, studios and TV boardrooms. This wasn’t because they preferred working in the US to Canada; rather, the lack of opportunity and appreciation in their home country offered them few other choices.

But Canadian comics continued to dream of a comedy scene they could call their very own. And from Vancouver to St. John’s, from one generation to the next, they began building the country’s comedy infrastructure, one revue, comedy troupe and late-night sketch show at a time. Pushing back against cultural conservatism, media control and national modesty, they were inventing a new kind of comedy—sly and subversive, character-driven and absurdist, and quietly revolutionary. It was distinctly Canadian, made by and for Canadians, and it would soon take the comedy world by storm.

Weaving together more than a century of Canada’s funniest voices, Sorry, We’re Funny is the most in-depth telling yet of how—against all odds—Canada discovered its comedic voice and became a comedy powerhouse.