{"product_id":"9781771624961","title":"What’s So Funny About Canadians?","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch6\u003eDescription\u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAs the most comprehensive history of Canada’s gift for comedy, \u003cem\u003eWhat’s So Funny About Canadians?\u003c\/em\u003e works from interviews with dozens of the country’s finest comic minds to reveal the vast influence that Canadian performers, writers and producers have exerted on popular culture for decades.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCanadians are used to picturing themselves on the sidelines of world culture, chipping in a few quirky items and the occasional star: a Stanley Cup or a Margaret Atwood here, a Timbit or a Drake there. But as David Spaner’s expansive new work reminds us, this fails to recognize the vast influence that Canada’s comedians have exerted for decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sweeping story in \u003cem\u003eWhat’s So Funny About Canadians?\u003c\/em\u003e travels back more than a century, to the time of Quebec-born Mack Sennett, the silent-movie producer, director, actor and “King of Comedy” whose role in the careers of figures such as Charlie Chaplin and W.C. Fields changed how movies were made. The line of luminaries stretches out from there, with Canadians working to genre-defining effect in all fields of modern comedy, from the groundbreaking, politics-fuelled standup of Mort Sahl to the delirious LPs by the anarchic duo Cheech \u0026amp; Chong, and culminating in the thoroughly Canadian explosion of televised sketch comedy, first with CBC TV’s Wayne and Shuster, then the revolutionary \u003cem\u003eSaturday Night Live\u003c\/em\u003e, created by Toronto native Lorne Michaels, and later with the brilliantly subversive \u003cem\u003eSCTV\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Kids in the Hall\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe effects are so widespread as to be hard to calculate as they echo through the careers of twenty-first-century stars such as Seth Rogen, Russell Peters, Nathan Fielder, and Samantha Bee. Spaner turns to the sources themselves to track this story. He has interviewed dozens of the finest comic minds from north of the forty-ninth parallel, including Rick Mercer, Eugene Levy, Howie Mandel, Rosie Shuster, Mary Walsh, Dave Thomas, Cheyenna Sapp, Hart Pomerantz, Frank Shuster, Robin Duke and Brent Butt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten with engaging warmth, the result is a panoramic history of Canada’s unique gift for filling the world with laughter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e  \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch6\u003eDetails \u003c\/h6\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDouglas \u0026amp; McIntyre\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9781771624961\u003cbr\u003ePaperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e6 in x 9 in - 224 pp\u003cbr\u003ePublication Date: 07\/09\/2027\u003cbr\u003eBISAC Subject(s): HUMOR \/ General,BIOGRAPHY \u0026amp; AUTOBIOGRAPHY \/ Entertainment \u0026amp; Performing Arts,LITERARY CRITICISM \/ Humor \u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Douglas \u0026 McIntyre","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":48074955849986,"sku":"9781771624961","price":26.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0469\/8229\/9803\/files\/Placeholdercoverblankwhite_501bd26f-8b01-4ca4-bcac-767a4b25e357.png?v=1783142526","url":"https:\/\/douglas-mcintyre.com\/products\/9781771624961","provider":"Douglas \u0026 McIntyre","version":"1.0","type":"link"}