Album flashback

Bob & Doug McKenzie - The Great White North [1981]

Yet another area where Canadian talent punches above it’s weight class is comedy.

Dan Akroyd, Phil Hartman, and Mike Myers all had success on SNL and beyond.

Will Arnett, Jim Carrey, Leslie Nielsen, and Seth Rogen have found their way into multiple projects on TV and in film.

Want teams instead? How about MacLean and MacLean, Wayne and Shuster, The Royal Canadian Air Farce, or The Kids In The Hall.

But the crown jewel, the property that launched more stars into orbit than anything else is SCTV - Second City Television

You know the names - but do you know them all? Because over six zany seasons some came and went.

chart from wikipedia

Candy, Levy, O’Hara and Short are likely the biggest presences here. All with massive careers following the show.

There were many great recurring sketches, too. ‘Monster Chiller Horror Theatre’ will always be my fave.

But there was only ever one phenomenon.

That was Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas portraying brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie on the first pretend cable access show to rule the world - ‘The Great White North’.

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Moving to the CBC Network for SCTV’s third season was met with one request.

More Canadian Content to meet the CRTC’s guidelines. The program needed two more minutes with characters that were undoubtedly Canucks.

Bob and Doug were born.

‘Kanadian Korner’ was shot in batches, after hours, with real beer and back bacon, and mostly improvised.

Originally meant to be a cheeky and satirical way to please the network, soon the feedback started coming in, and it was a smash.

Forty-one segments were shot in total and were featured heavily in season three, and more in season four - before the boys headed off to shot the feature film ‘Strange Brew’.

In between, the decision was taken to record an album. Featuring some reworked and some fresh material alongside two songs that you will never escape in Canada - ‘Take Off’ with Geddy Lee, and ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’.

Spending six weeks at number one between 1981 and 1982, someone’s idea was rewarded with a certified smash - with more than a million sold in North America.

The album opens with the sound of beer bottles being opened and smokes being lit, followed by the legendary theme song. Mayhem then ensues for 45 minutes.

I was in Grade 7 when the record came out, and like a lot of comedy that I’ve owned over the years, it was quickly committed to memory. Even relistening now it turns out that my meagre memory is 9% full of bits from this LP.

I have a theory that this behaviour is primarily a male trait, although I’d be delighted to be proven wrong. I did meet a girl once who knew ‘Monty Python’s Holy Grail’ by heart and I proposed!

Anyway, all this to say that the humour here is mostly sophomoric, but I loved it all the same.

Take Off featuring Geddy Lee - #14 Cashbox in Canada, #16 Billboard

Two things many Canadians of a certain age still say - “Ten bucks is ten bucks” and “I’m a professional, eh”.

Moranis’ school chum Geddy crushes his vocal here. And even after all these years, the ‘hit single section of our album’ is still good value.

Ralph The Dog

I think the boys really enjoyed the LP as a medium as they were very creative with sounds and voices.

‘Ralph The Dog’ is the bedtime story portion of the album and plays really well in your ‘phones. And, of course, their bickering gets in the way of a nice story about a dog and a nuclear submarine.

What followed is frankly a little insane for a comedy sketch that was meant as a piss-take.

A feature film [which I saw in the theatre!] and an accompanying album which were less than great.

There were many commercials, for Pizza Hut and Molson Brewing [naturally] and even Todd McFarlane action figures.

An animated series, a reunion show and a documentary. And maybe the wildest of them all, an actual statue of the pair in Edmonton.

Photo by Fish Griwkowsky /Postmedia

So, there you have it, hosers. If you’re the comedy album type or you just want to relive one of the biggest fads of the early 80s give ‘The Great White North’ a spin.

Good day. 🇨🇦