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News Releases

April 1, 2008

Air Farce wraps it up next December

Dear Friends and Fans:

When we started doing improv comedy together (Roger, Don, Luba and John), a long time ago, we wondered how long we'd be able to have fun before we had to get real jobs. Then we started Air Farce on CBC Radio Radio and wondered how long it would last. Maybe two years? Maybe five? Then, twenty years later, we started Air Farce on CBC Television and hoped it might last for maybe three years. So, for 35 years we've known that one of these days, we'd do our final show. And now, we and CBC have agreed on the date: it'll be December 31, 2008, 35 years after starting our radio series (December 1973) and 16 years after our first New Year's Eve special (1992 Year of the Farce) on CBC Television.

In comedy, timing is everything, and knowing when to make your exit is a big part of that. We're wrapping up our 15th season this week (Friday night, 8-9 PM), and well be back on Friday nights in October, November, a little bit of December. And then on December 31, we'll finish the way we began with a New Year's Eve special.

We've had a terrific career with the great privilege of being able to entertain our fellow Canadians, make fun of Canadian passions and pastimes, and take a poke at Canadian politicians.

Our ratings have remained strong this year, and we're proud to have a large and loyal audience of Canadians of all ages. We thank you for your support and your laughter, and we thank our tremendous production team for contributing their remarkable talents whether it's building sets, designing costumes or graphics, lighting the studio, mixing the pictures and audio, researching the stories, printing the scripts, etc. etc. to every episode.

It's been fun, and it's not over yet.

Air Farce Live: best before 31/12/2008!

IN THE MEDIA:

Final Flight For Air Farce by Alex Strachan (Calgary Herald)
Roger and Me: Podcast Interview With Roger Abbott (Bill Brioux)
Give Air Farce An Honourable Discharge (National Post)
Royal Canadian Air Farce Set To End (CBC.ca)
CBC Comedy Air Farce Grounded (SUN media)
After 35 Years, Air Farce To Wrap It Up (Globe and Mail)
Royal Canadian Air Farce Sketch Series To End... (CP)
Final Call For Air Farce (Martin Knelman, Toronto Star)
Farce Goes Out With A Bang (Bill Brioux, TV Feeds My Family)
Air Farce Grounded After Half Season Order (Bill Brioux)

March 2, 2008

Remembering Jeff Healey (1966-2008): For Auld Lang Syne

Countdown

Click Here To Watch: Quicktime | Windows Media | RealPlayer

Canada lost one of its musical icons with the death of Jeff Healey. Healey was a multi-faceted and multi-talented musician, who overcame a lifetime of battling cancer to become one of the biggest names on the rock and jazz scenes both in Canada and internationally. Click on any of the above links to see exclusive video of Jeff Healey and his Jazz Wizards performing Auld Lang Syne on Air Farce's Countdown to 2005.

February 2008

TV Guide's one-on-one with Craig Lauzon as Stephen Harper

If you've ever wondered what the leaders of this country are thinking, ask the people who play them on TV. Get inside the mind of the man who runs our country, via Craig Lauzon. Craig Lauzon breaks the Prime Minister's silence to the media and comes up with all the answers. Click here to read the interview ... and for the full experience, read aloud in your best Harper voice.

... and Alan Park as Stéphane Dion

Alan Park answers some tough questions on behalf of the leader of the Liberal Party. Click here to read TVGuide.ca's interview with Alan as Stéphane Dion.

January 14-18, 2008

The Diary of Penelope Corrin

From January 14 to 18, 2008, the National Post printed Penelope Corrin's diary. Read this unique insider's view as we put the show together, from the first read-through to the live Friday broadcast.

Click here to read the day-by-day account.

December 20, 2007

Penelope Corrin Tells All!...

And to think, only one year ago, she had to endure Luba's initiation! On the first anniversary of her debut with Air Farce, TVGuide.ca spoke with our own Penelope Corrin, who talks about her life as a new member of the Farce, and reveals some interesting details about the New Year's Eve special. Click here to read the exclusive interview.

November 9, 2007

'Air Farce' in rehearsal: cast and writers adjust to new live format

By: Bill Brioux (Canadian Press)

Air Farce' in rehearsal: cast and writers adjust to new live format

Air Farce' in rehearsal: cast and writers adjust to new live form

"Remember, what happens in here stays in here."

No, that was not an ad for a Las Vegas resort. That was Roger Abbott's warning after I brought my 14-year-old son, Daniel, to a rehearsal session for this week's episode of "Air Farce Live" (Friday night at 8 p.m. on CBC).

The "Farce" cast gathers every Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. in a sparse meeting room above a sound stage to do a second read of the script. The pink pages reflect the fact that changes have already been made from when the first draft was handed out Tuesday. The script will keep evolving right up to airtime as the cast and writers adjust to - and try to take advantage of - this season's new live format.

The reason my son was with me on this occasion was that it was Bring Your Child to Work Day. Since, as a freelance writer, I work from home, Daniel thought he had just won himself a daylong seat in front of the Nintendo screen. Wrong.

A call to a publicist got us booked into the private cast read. Other Grade 9 students were roaming CBC's downtown Toronto headquarters that day, attending a taping session for "The Hour" with George Stroumboulopoulos.

While Strombo is more down with the kid crowd, Daniel is a "Farce" fan and, since he also attends a high school with a performing arts program, was a better fit to monitor the long-running CBC comedy. Besides, with the writers strike shutting down the U.S. television scene, political satire is suddenly in short supply. "Saturday Night Live" and "The Daily Show" - indeed all the late-night talk shows - have gone dark. With its staff of Canadian writers (including two new scribes), the "Farce" is still with us, and may be the only game in town for quite a while.

On the drive down, we tried to guess who the targets might be that week - the soaring Canadian dollar, the Hollywood writers strike, the arrival of snow in Ontario.

None of the above made the cut. Targets for Friday night's show included Bill and Hillary Clinton (neatly parodied by "Farce" veterans Don Ferguson and Luba Goy), Steelback Breweries exec Frank D'Angelo (a swaggering Alan Park) and disgraced TV dude Duane Dog Chapman (a wound-up Craig Lauzon).

The Dog sketch seemed a week late but what "Farce" loses in timing it will likely make up in costumes and visuals, details that couldn't be hustled together when Chapman's racial outbursts first made headlines late last week. While it was fun to see Lauzon and Goy (who plays Dog's brassy wife, Beth) go through the sketch in their street clothes, the promise of outlandish mullet hairpieces and costumes bodes well for this sketch. "Those breasts!" said Goy of Beth, stretching her arms to their limit. "They go out to here!"

Six shows into a live, 22-episode season, the cast and writers are starting to hit their stride. So far, there haven't been any sets falling over or props misfiring. Jessica Holmes almost got the giggles last week in the closest thing to a Harvey Korman moment (the veteran "Carol Burnett Show" funnyman used to break up opposite Tim Conway).

Goy says she misses the "four handers" (sketches involving four characters) they used to do before the show went live. Most of the "Farce" sketches, which average around two minutes in length (as opposed to the six-or seven-minute epics on "SNL"), now involve just two characters, allowing other cast members to quickly change costumes and prep for the next bit.

It is interesting to watch how the seven cast members approach rehearsals. Some, like Goy and Holmes, perform at pretty much the pitch they'll bring on Friday night. Holmes, for example, repeatedly belts out a song for a Bombardier plane inspection number. Lauzon seems to take a more organic approach, finding a voice and improvising bits as he moves through the ever-changing script. Park shares six of the nine or 10 edgy "Not the Official Story" rants he has prepared for this week; he'll add and finesse right down to airtime.

Others pitch in with new lines when what's on paper falls flat. Stuck for a phrase to represent a new banana-peeling invention from Steelback's D'Angelo, new recruit Penelope Corrin nails it with "Frank's Peelback."

Hovering over it all are Abbott and Ferguson - also producers of the show - fussing over specific words and challenging each sketch on its merits. An idea to add words on screen to punch a line is seized by director Wayne Moss, who sees an opportunity to "take the curse out of going for the prop."

Not all the sketches score. A bit on Aussie daycare centres seems hopelessly under the radar. A longish sketch set in Kandahar will need work before airtime. Daniel and I agree that the Clinton opener is a keeper.

The troupe will have a shot at nailing it all down at Friday's 2 p.m. performance, which is taped in front of a studio audience and saved to cover any live mishaps. Then it will all come down to the live event. May the Farce be with them.

Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.

October 2, 2007

A VERY NEW AIR FARCE, WITH EXPANDED CAST,
RETURNS FRIDAY, OCT. 5

Royal Canadian Air Farce becomes Air Farce Live—Friday, Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. For 14 record-breaking seasons, Air Farce has been providing weekly comic relief to CBC Television audiences, and now the show returns with an expanded cast of seven and an unpredictable, fresh take on the week’s events.

Joining the Air Farce Live cast is Penelope Corrin, who made her debut on the show last season while Jessica Holmes was on maternity leave. She joins Luba Goy, Alan Park, Craig Lauzon, Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson and Holmes to form the comedy “Group of Seven.” From time to time, the show will also feature guest stars.

“We’ve always taped in front of a live studio audience, but we always had time to fix our mistakes afterwards,” explains Roger Abbott, also one of the show’s producers. “But this season, we turn 15—and like any teenager, we’re anxious to toss away the safety net. So now, instead of taping…we’re going live.”

Co-producer Don Ferguson adds, “Now, every viewer in the country will have exactly the same experience as the live studio audience. This year, if we make a mistake, you’ll see it at home…did I say ‘if’? I mean, ‘when…’”

March 30, 2007

Air Farce flies live for full hour

Alex Strachan, CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, March 30, 2007

Royal Canadian Air Farce is a national institution -- no surprise there. What is a surprise is that this most venerable of Canadian comedy institutions refuses to rest on its laurels. It's still looking for ways to stay fresh and remain relevant, even if its style of humour is not always for all tastes.

Tonight's milestone episode -- the show's 300th and the season finale -- will be broadcast live in the Eastern time zone for a full hour. The program will be aired on tape delay in other regions, but it's still an audacious call.

The program was still in rehearsal at press time, but a lineup of guests -- first-timers and returnees alike -- has already been decided. Little Mosque regulars Sitara Hewitt, Carlo Rota and Sheila McCarthy will appear in a sketch riffing Saskatchewan's "sitcom explosion" and a rumoured merge between Little Mosque and Corner Gas. The resulting program, Corner Mosque -- Little Gas? -- will be set in a trailer park, and will feature Corner Gas's Fred Ewanuick in a key role. (Relax: It's not real. It's a comedy sketch.)

Mary Walsh will deliver one of her impromptu, off-the-cuff speeches, live and unbleepable, which may get a few hearts racing -- but nothing too serious. She might upset delicate sensibilities and ruffle a few feathers in polite circles, but she's unlikely to go Michael Richards on her audience, live mike or no.

Other planned sketches include lottery wins by store owners -- the joke's on us; marijuana grow-ops, billed as "Canada's fastest growing self-employment opportunity;" Lord and Lady Black's travails in Chicago; and the new Barbara Amiel perfume. Don Cherry will appear -- no stranger to live microphones, he -- along with Ron MacLean, Mutt to Grapes' Jeff.

Some more numbers: Air Farce was the first homegrown comedy program to register more than a million viewers a minute when electronic measurement devices, so-called people meters, were introduced 14 years ago. Air Farce's New Year's Eve program in 1996 registered a series-high 2.3 million viewers and a 34-per-cent share of the audience watching TV at the time. It has scored a million or more viewers every year for seven consecutive years, a Canadian record that may one day be surpassed by Corner Gas, depending on how long Gas remains in production.

Yes, other programs have staged live telecasts and lived to tell about it. The Drew Carey Show did back-to-back live telecasts in Eastern and Pacific time zones, shortly before that program ended, and in 1997 ER pulled off the audacious feat of an hour-long drama broadcasting live in two different time zones on the same night. Air Farce doesn't face the same challenge as ER. An ensemble drama, especially one as visually complex as ER, is a trickier high-wire act to pull off than a sketch-comedy program. Still, Air Farce deserves credit for taking a leap of faith. It would have been so much easier to trot out a clip show, or close the season with a regular show, with one or two high-profile guest stars. Instead, Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and (relative) newcomers Jessica Holmes, Craig Lauzon, Alan Park and Penelope Corrin are going back to their comedy club roots and going live. And if one of them should crack up on camera, feel free to laugh along with them. It's comedy. It's supposed to be funny. (8p.m., CBC)

'Royal Canadian Air Farce' goes live

By BILL HARRIS - Sun Media

Royal Canadian Air Farce always has a live feel to it. But tonight actually marks the first live TV show the comedy troupe ever has done.

It also is the 300th TV show for Air Farce, so there's plenty to celebrate, and also possibly to get nervous about.

"It's funny how unpredictable it is," said veteran cast member Roger Abbott when asked if he is beyond getting scared. "Sometimes I'll just be cocky as all get-out. And then other times, without any warning, my entire body is trembling -- until the first laugh."

Ah yes, the first laugh. It's like a stiff drink for any comedian.

"We're like dogs with cookies," Abbott said. "We want to do that first trick to get the cookie. Then we're immediately gluttons, and we want to do another trick and get another cookie.

"It doesn't say much about the intelligence of comedy performers."

Be that as it may, Abbott and his Air Farce castmates -- fellow radio holdovers Luba Goy and Don Ferguson, and relative newcomers Jessica Holmes, Craig Lauzon, Alan Park and Penelope Corrin -- have been smart enough to keep their show as current as possible through the years.

"It's not like we're doing the same characters we were doing 14 years ago," Abbott said. "Can you imagine any show doing that? It just wouldn't last. There would be press releases every week about so-and-so leaving the cast to pursue other interests."

Abbott was asked if, overall, Air Farce's 300th episode feels more like the 30,000th or the 30th.

"It never feels like 30,000, I have to say. Often it really does feel like 30. Our topicality makes time go by really fast."

Abbott warned that with the live broadcast tonight, there are sure to be moments when the cast members crack each other up. And Abbott is okay with that, as long as it doesn't happen in every sketch.

"We have become fairly disciplined in our TV days after being amazingly undisciplined in our radio days," Abbott said. "Part of the sport was to make each other laugh.

"My hunch is it's inevitable (tonight), but we certainly aren't going to plant anything. Knowing how we work, we won't have to."

Guest stars for tonight's live Air Farce episode include Don Cherry, Ron MacLean, Carlo Rota, Frew Ewanuick and Mary Walsh.

AIR FARCE CELEBRATES LANDMARK EPISODE WITH LIVE SHOW
written by CBC Arts

Interview With Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson (RealPlayer)

Interview With Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson (Quicktime)

Venerable Canadian sketch-comedy show Royal Canadian Air Farce will celebrate its 300th episode Friday night with an hour-long, live-to-air show.

The evening could be "a disaster in the making," Roger Abbott told CBC News Friday morning, just before the first of several scheduled
rehearsals of the landmark episode.

"That's part of the attraction, part of the fun of doing it."

The long-running program originated on CBC Radio in 1973. A first
attempt to introduce the show to television audiences came in 1980,
followed by a 10-episode series and several once-a-year TV specials over the next few years.

After a 1992 New Year's Eve special made a big splash with viewers, Air Farce was adapted to be a mainstay of CBC-TV, with a new series
officially debuting in October 1993.

While the show is normally recorded in front of a live audience, "we've
never done Air Farce live to air," Abbott said Friday morning.

"This is going live to the six Eastern provinces: Newfoundland, the
three Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario. The instant we finish at
nine o'clock Ontario time, it starts in Manitoba. There's no time to fix
anything," he said.

For the live episode, Air Farce 's regular cast of Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, Jessica Holmes, Craig Lauzon and Alan Park will be joined by special guest stars, including Penelope Corrin, who stepped in during Holmes' recent maternity leave.

Among the sketches set for Friday night's show, there will be a mash-up of two current Canadian sitcom rivals featuring Little Mosque on the Prairie's Sitara Hewitt, Sheila McCarthy and Carlo Rota as well as Corner Gas's Fred Ewanuick. Comedian and actress Mary Walsh, who created CBC-TV's This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Hatching, Matching and Dispatching, will also drop in for a sketch featuring her warrior woman character Princess Marg.

Friday's program will also continue with Air Farce's tradition of
topical political and social satire, with sketches poking fun at Prince
Harry, Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel, as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and federal Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.

According to Abbott, Air Farce will keep going "as long as crazy things
are happening in the world or socially. Or as long as Ottawa is still
standing."

"Supplying us with raw material, God bless them," Ferguson added.
The 300th episode of CBC-TV's Royal Canadian Air Farce will air live
from Ontario through points east, beginning 8 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. AT
(9:30 in Newfoundland).

The rest of Canada will see the program at its regular Friday evening
slot of 8 p.m. local time.

Landmark show's stars out in full Farce TheStar.com

Before action-packed 300th, series original Roger Abbott reflects on politicians, new talent – and camels

March 30, 2007

Jim Bawden
Television Columnist

CBC-TV's Royal Canadian Air Farce celebrates its landmark 300th episode tonight at 8. It began its run Oct. 8, 1993.

Only a few Canadian series, including The Tommy Hunter Show (1965-92) and Front Page Challenge (1957-95), have lasted longer.

Tonight's hour-long special will be packed with guest stars, including Little Mosque on the Prairie's Sitara Hewitt, Sheila McCarthy and Carlo Rota, plus Fred Ewanuick from Corner Gas, comedian Mary Walsh and some additional guest surprises.

To celebrate the occasion we asked Farce original Roger Abbott 10 questions about the past and future of the series:

Q This is your 300th episode celebrated Friday night. When exactly did RCAF start on TV?

A We had a very brief run on CBC in 1980-81 and I think at that time CBC was after American-type shows as the best way to beat the U.S. networks. So we didn't play to our strengths. Then in the '80s and early '90s we were typed as radio performers, not visual ones. If you listened to us on radio then, you conjured up your own visuals.

I always thought if you saw us in a skit in appropriate costumes it would be even funnier.

Q You toured a lot then and not much today. Why?

A Radio is a wonderfully portable medium and we went everywhere in those days, meeting you first in Hamilton (I remember). Audiences were wildly enthusiastic. But you just wave goodbye and go to the next site. With TV there's all that equipment to bus out or, if it's in a theatre and not a TV studio somewhere, the lighting, the mics, the sets have to be all tested. And there's so much to do that you have to make an hour special to justify costs.

Q What's the biggest kerfuffle ever with CBC censors?

A We're really not that kind of show. Unlike CODCO we don't have a Newfoundland priest skit somewhere in the files. We've worked with CBC so long we know the parameters. And we've all gone through scripting and then rehearsal.

We do get letters about some things. A lady wrote and said we'd crossed the line on something. Then during summer reruns we reran the sketch and she wrote back saying we'd done it again. We do get testy letters, but not that many.

Q First Dave Broadfoot left and then John Morgan retired (and subsequently died). Was it about then that you realized the troupe was going to expire unless new talent was added.

A Don (Ferguson), Luba (Goy) and I were the young ones. Now we're the older ones. It happens if you're on long enough. When John left I felt if we just added new people they'd have to bear the brunt of people's anger at losing an old friend. That happened on other shows. So we went for guest stars and got the best: Peter Keleghan, Jayne Eastwood. It was great, but they had their own personalities and their own careers. Then Jessica (Holmes) came along. We couldn't ask Luba to do Britney Spears. But we could ask Jessica. And Alan Park and Craig Lauzon fitted right in.

Q Name your favourite animal on the show.

A We had a hamster once. Ran on that wheel like crazy during rehearsals. Slept all the way through taping. We haven't had a horse. They can do funny things in front of a big audience. No cows. We have this huge elevator system so we could bring them up. Camels, etc. We just haven't tried.

Q Your show is steady in the ratings. So is Rick Mercer, then we add CBC's Little Mosque and CTV's Corner Gas. Do viewers just prefer comedy Canadian style or what?

A It's content over style, a big debate here for decades. The American series have style – their budgets are that much bigger. We can only compete with them with content. We're offering something not on U.S. TV. We're very Canada-specific. I think after the success of Street Legal, CBC tried to compete in style and those shows didn't make it.

Q You're letting fewer politicians on these days. Didn't this whole trend start when Nixon said, "Sock it to me!" on Laugh-In?

A It almost became a cliché. I'm not sure who started it, but there was quite a run from Chrétien to (Preston) Manning. (Jean) Charest was particularly good, I recall. Manning was prepared. We also have non-politicians like Sue Johanson. We'd just tell them we are doing a skit on you anyhow. You can be you or be played by somebody else.

Q Any turn-downs?

A Kim Campbell. Her handlers felt that, right before an election, it wouldn't be appropriate. Had she done it, would the results have been different? Hardly. Politicians are trying to establish a regular kind of guy image and for awhile it seemed quite funny.

Q There seems to be little ad-libbing on the TV show compared with radio.

A On radio we ad-libbed like crazy. We do it on TV, but during the writing of the script and the rehearsals. If it's funny, it stays in.

But to ad-lib during taping doesn't work very well because the sets are up, other performers have learned a set of lines. It causes confusion.

Q Could you talk about the future of RCAF?

A We have one more year on our CBC contract. We're thinking about that. The last government lasted so long it was hard coming up with new stuff but there are fresh faces there. I think this year was pretty strong. We have a lot of great people in the special we're working on.

Q But no horses or camels as yet?

'Air Farce' joins exclusive TV club with 300th episode; airs live on CBC

Thu Mar 29, 12:16 PM

By Bill Brioux, The Canadian Press

(CP) - Three hundred episodes.

In North America, it is a pretty exclusive TV club. Only "The Simpsons" (closing in on 400) and "Law & Order" are currently beyond that mark in terms of prime-time entertainment fare. As of Friday, add "Royal Canadian Air Farce" to the list. The CBC sketch series marks the occasion with a special live episode airing at 8 p.m. in Ontario (9 p.m. in Atlantic Canada and 9:30 in Newfoundland; tape-delayed at its regular time in the rest of Canada).

"I pinch myself," says veteran trouper Don Ferguson of the milestone. "It just doesn't seem possible."

Ferguson, along with Roger Abbott, Luba Goy and the late John Morgan, spent two decades in radio before they finally broke through in television in 1993. Since then, they've averaged over a million viewers a week over 14 years. While ratings have dipped in recent seasons, "Farce" bounced back over 1.1 million viewers this past New Year's Eve.

Adding younger cast members Jessica Holmes, Craig Lauzon, Alan Park and, this year - during Holmes's brief maternity leave - featured player Penelope Corrin (back again Friday), has helped "Farce" connect with a new generation of viewers. There's also a new edge to the writing, evidenced this week in a sketch targeting Barbara Amiel (promoting what "Farce" says is her new perfume for journalists, "Slut").

"People used to ask what the secret was to our longevity," says Ferguson. "Our secret is we only think about the show we're doing this week."

The live show features several guest stars, including "Hockey Night in Canada"'s Don Cherry and Ron McLean, former "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" comic Mary Walsh, and cast members from "Corner Gas" and "Little Mosque on the Prairie."

"We're gonna do 'Corner Mosque on the Prairie,' " says Ferguson. "Little Mosque"'s Carlo Rota, Sheila McCarthy and Sitara Hewitt, along with "Corner Gas"'s Fred Ewanuick, will all appear in the sketch.

Seeing "Farce" perform live is a treat usually reserved for a few hundred people seated in the Toronto studio bleachers. One of the perks of witnessing a live taping is seeing stage manager Pat McDonald's low-key cues. "Here's another one that had me in stitches at rehearsal," he typically deadpans before counting down a sketch.

"We'd love to sneak a little of Pat into the (live) show," says Ferguson, who agrees that the CBC veteran seems more like "sombre maitre d"' than a studio boss.

While most "Farce" tapings move at a brisk pace, there are breaks built in while sets are quickly wheeled into place between sketches. To bridge the gaps, studio audiences are treated to the musical comedy duo the Ground Crew. The challenge for the performers this week will be to try to flow one sketch directly into the next without the musical breaks. While that will be a neat trick, it is a shame they just don't go with the Ground Crew - their slick songs add bounce to the mix.

Ferguson says the original plan heading into this season was to go live every week. Unfortunately, due to a limited number of high definition cameras, "Air Farce" shares its cavernous 10th-floor CBC sound stage with the "Rick Mercer Report," which tapes Friday nights.

The same hurdle is there this coming season, but Ferguson hopes the live experiment can be repeated on occasion. The new kids are all improv and comedy club vets, he says, and would welcome the challenge.

Whether live or taped, exactly where "Air Farce" will land in the coming years is also in question. There is one more season to go on the group's current CBC contract. There have been suggestions at executive levels in the past year that CBC is moving away from current event comedies and toward reality shows. CTV, which recently failed in a bid to steal "Hockey Night in Canada," might want the "Farce" in their future.

"We're playing our cards close to our chest at the moment," said Ferguson, who expects talks to resume in the fall at CBC. "In the meantime, there are two things going on: do they want us, and do we want them?"

- Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.

AIR FARCE 300 LIVE! - Friday March 30 on CBC Television

ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE HITS THE BIG 300
WITH STARS OF LITTLE MOSQUE

CBC’s evergreen Friday night comedy, Royal Canadian Air Farce reaches another comedy milestone on March 30, broadcasting its 300th episode. To add to the fun, it’s a full-hour show, and live-to-air, with special guest stars from more of Canada’s favourite comedy shows.

Little Mosque on the Prairie is television’s newest hit show, and will be represented by Sitara Hewitt, Sheila McCarthy and Carlo Rota. From Corner Gas, Fred Ewanuick is joining the Farce, along with his Young Triffie co-star Mary Walsh, who conceived This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Hatching, Matching and Dispatching.

Air Farce established several television benchmarks in its 300-episode run:

The first Canadian comedy series to notch over a million viewers per minute in people-meter ratings, Air Farce scored 1,014,000 in its second episode out, and continued onward and upward.
By episode 63, they were up to 1,888,000 viewers for their third season finale.
The Farce’s New Year’s Eve hour in 1996 scored a series high of 2,273,000 viewers per minute, with a whopping 34% share.
Air Farce is the only Canadian series in the people-meter era to score seven consecutive seasons averaging well in excess of a million viewers.
And the show is still attracting hit numbers, with 1,117,000 catching their latest New Year’s Eve outing.
In fact, the average-per-minute audience for Air Farce’s entire 300-episode run, over 14 years, is over a million -- an unprecedented achievement in Canadian television.
Self-effacing guest stars have included Prime Ministers, Premiers, Party Leaders and cabinet ministers; Olympic, NHL and CFL champions; news anchors, recording artists, television celebrities, actors and a sex expert.
Air Farce’s honours have included the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. a Star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, two Viewers’ Choice Gemini Awards, and the Earle Grey Gemini for Lifetime Achievement.

Founding stars Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson and Luba Goy have been joined in recent years by Jessica Holmes, Craig Lauzon and Alan Park. The Farce’s latest recruit is Penelope Corrin, who starred during Jessica’s maternity leave, and returns for the 300th episode.

Look for the Little Mosque stars, Sitara, Sheila and Carlo, to join in a send-up of Saskatchewan’s sitcom explosion, as Mosque and Corner Gas are rumoured to merge and take over a Trailer Park.

That plot thickens when you know Corner Gas guy Fred Ewanuick (“Hank”) is up for a guest appearance. And, always a treat when she’s live and unbleepable, the unpredictable Mary Walsh will bring her robust zest.

Planned sketch topics include the increasing investigations into Lottery wins by store-owners, and Canada's fastest-rising self-employment opportunity, Marijuana grow-ops.

Lord and Lady Black's exploits in Chicago give new meaning to the Black Hawks.

Politically, The Harpers and The Dions are in for some domestic spying. And Monday's Quebec election will be put under the Farce-scope.

And, the show is live, so expect up-to-the-minute jokes about the day’s headlines.

AIR FARCE 300 LIVE airs Friday, March 30 at 8:00 PM, 9 Atlantic, 9:30 Newfoundland/Labrador, on CBC Television. Available in HD/5.1 on CBC HD-East and CBC HD-West.

Note: Air Farce is pre-empted on Friday March 23 for World Figure Skating.

It's A Girl! Jessica's baby Alexa Lola was born December 27!

lsdkfjsklj We're pleased to announce that fellow Farceur Jessica Holmes is a brand new mom! Congratulations to the proud parents, Jessica and Scott, of Alexa Lola. While she was away, we asked Penelope Corrin to help fill the gap. Click here to read her bio.

Penelope

Monday October 1, 2006
Air Farce Goes HD This Season!

Royal Canadian Air Farce becomes Canada’s first High Definition sketch-comedy series on CBC Television. Watch in HD, listen in 5.1. Tell us what you think. Click here to comment on the experience.

Originating at CBC’s new HD studio in Toronto, and recorded digitally on tapeless servers, the long-running highly-rated comedy series will be available in widescreen high definition (16:9, 1080i) over CBC’s east and west HD transmitters, and throughout Canada on digital cable and satellite services.

Estimates of HD ownership and viewing suggest that up to 20% of Canadians are currently watching HD, with sales of new sets and cable/satellite subscriptions increasing daily.

For the 80% of the population viewing standard definition television, Air Farce will be shown in full-height “edge crop” style, similar to most U.S. network comedies and sports, with the wider picture available only in HD. Audio will be presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.

“The switch to HD is a major change in our production style,” says Air Farce producer and star Don Ferguson. “It must be as dramatic a change as when television switched from black-and-white to colour in the mid-1960s.” Sets have been redesigned, character hair and makeup improved, and CBC’s Studio 42 has been completely upgraded with digital HD cameras and control room.

“Air Farce will look better and sharper than ever,” says Ferguson, adding “We’ve ordered nose-hair trimmers for all the cast. Well, the men, anyway.”

Royal Canadian Air Farce attracts over a million viewers every week with its funny and fearless topical comedy and political satire. The series resumes on CBC Television, Fridays at 8:00 PM (8:30 NL) starting October 6, with instant replays on CBC, Mondays at 7:30 PM (8:00 NL) starting October 9, both available in HDTV. Friday's HD broadcast is at 8:00 PM Eastern Time on CBC HD East, and 8:00 PM Pacific Time on CBC HD West. Monday's HD repeat is at 7:30 ET on CBC HD-E and 7:30 PT on CBC HD-W.

Wednesday May 3, 2006
SketchCom Alumni Score Broadway Hit

In 1998/99, we produced SketchCom, a 13-episode series featuring new sketch comedy troupes. It aired on CBC and on The Comedy Network.

One of the featured troupes was Skippy’s Rangers, starring Bob Martin, Lisa Lambert, Jonathan Crombie and Paul O’Sullivan.

This week, Bob and Lisa are the toast of Broadway, following the opening of The Drowsy Chaperone, starring Bob and with songs written by Lisa. The show is winning packed audiences and rave reviews. Bob and Lisa are both nominated for New York Drama Desk Awards as well as being nominated in a staggering 13 Tony Awards categories.

The Drowsy Chaperone began at the Toronto comedy club, The Rivoli, as a wedding gift for Bob and Janet van de Graff. In the Broadway show, Janet is played by Sutton Foster.

Both Bob and Janet have appeared on Air Farce. Bob was our guest the week of January 25, 2002, and Janet was a frequent guest performer from 2001-2003.

Congratulations to Bob, Lisa and Lambert on the success of The Drowsy Chaperone.

A few other SketchCom alumni include Gavin Crawford and Shaun Majumder, now both on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Jason Jones who’s now on The Daily Show, and the ubiquitous Sean Cullen.

Wednesday April 12, 2006
TOURETTE SYNDROME: WE'RE SORRY.

On last week's show, we ran a commercial parody, with an office worker using bleeped language to his boss, then offering to solve his problem with "Tourettes Chiclets". We've since heard from several viewers whose lives are directly affected by Tourette Syndrome; they found the sketch hurtful, and we apologize to them. Our aim is always to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable", and in this case we disappointed some good people who didn't expect to be hurt by us.

We invite you to visit the Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada website, at www.tourette.ca - click on "Q&A - What is TS?" - and join us in learning more about this puzzling disorder for which neither a cause nor a cure is known, and where "individuals not only struggle with the condition itself, they must bear the double burden of the stigma attached."

Air Farce did not intend to be part of that burden, and we apologize.

THE WEST GETS IN -- ON THE FUN!
Published in The National Post: Thursday, February 6, 2006

J. Kelly Nestruck

Craig Lauzon, who plays Stephen Harper on the Royal Canadian Air Farce, may be one of the few Toronto actors who saw a positive side to the Conservative minority government. If the Conservatives lost again, Harper would likely have resigned as the party leader and then where would Lauzon be?

"It's kind of a double-edged sword," notes Lauzon, who also portrays CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos and a number of other characters on the comedy show. "What's good for me and the show might not necessarily be good for people in general in Canada."

When he first took on the role, the main characteristic of Lauzon's portrayal of Harper was an exaggeration of the Westerner's stiffness. "We started going for a Dr. Strangelove thing with a crazy arm," notes the comedian, who has been a regular since September, 2004. Harper's "crazy arm" would often get the better of him and make him shout that he wanted to be prime minister.

Lauzon's Harper has since evolved into a full-fledged robot. In a recent sketch, CBC's Peter Mansbridge (played by Air Farce veteran Roger Abbott) had to stick a coin in the new Prime Minister's side before interviewing him. With his arms held in front like a wind-up toy, Lauzon's Harper betrayed no emotion except for the occasional maniacal cackle.

The Ottawa-born sketch comedian had been considering making Harper less robotic post-election, but then came the photo op where the new PM shook hands with his children instead of hugging them as he dropped them off at school. "He wants to break that image," notes Lauzon. "He's been smiling a lot and wearing turtlenecks, but he's still pretty stiff ... At times he looks like he's glazed over, like he's looking through you."

The whole Air Farce cast was eager to see who was named to Harper's cabinet on Monday. While Don Ferguson's Paul Martin will now fade into the background, the longtime Air Farce member will again be able to pull out his Stockwell Day, now the minister of public safety. Relative newcomer Alan Park will be able to pull out his Peter MacKay, now that he's in foreign affairs. Members Luba Goy and Jessica Holmes will be keeping an eye on Environment Minister Rona Ambrose and Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Diane Finley. Goy's also well suited to play new Heritage Minister Bev Oda, Lauzon says. "Get her one of those little wigs and glasses and she'd be set."

As for Lauzon, he's got Harper sealed up, but hopes the new president of the Treasury Board ends up in the news. "I'd love to do John Baird," says Lauzon. "He's just got some crazy hair and a really specific way of speaking."

But does he have any desire to meet the new Prime Minister in person? "Nope," says Lauzon, whose portrayal of Harper is not exactly a compliment. "I'm not sure how that would go ... But it's the sincerest form of flattery, right?"

December 22 , 2005 - AIR FARCE NEW YEAR'S EVE COMEDY SPECIAL TELECAST EARLY THIS YEAR: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30 AT 8PM ON CBC TELEVISION!

Royal Canadian Air Farce’s traditional New Year’s Eve special is a night early this year – the night before New Year’s Eve – due to the Saturday night hockey schedule. 2005: Year of the Farce is a riotous, fast-paced romp through the news highlights and headline makers of the past year. In this satirical hour, Air Farce takes special aim at the election campaign and the major party leaders. 2005: Year of the Farce will be telecast on Friday, December 30 at 8pm on CBC Television.

Among the sketches in this special: Peter C. Newman (Roger Abbott) interviews Prime Minister Paul Martin (Don Ferguson) for a new “Secret Tapes” book; Air Farce re-makes Stephen Harper’s TV ad campaign, with Craig Lauzon as Harper; President George Bush (Roger Abbott) gets help from his twin daughters (Jessica Holmes and Craig Lauzon) in preparing his New Year address; Sister Bessie (Jessica Holmes) rips into the campaigning party leaders; and Roger Abbott’s Gilbert Smythe Bite-Me looks back at the year in entertainment. Elsewhere, Don Ferguson brings Jack Layton to life; Jessica Holmes is assisted by Luba Goy and others in a musical version of ‘Russian Idol’; Craig Lauzon performs his spot-on impersonation of The Hour’s George Stroumboulopoulos; and Alan Park trades his van for a helicopter. The regular Air Farce team is augmented by guest comic star, Glen ‘That Canadian Guy’ Foster.

The producers regret that they are forbidden to use clips from the recent leader’s debates – all Canadian networks entered an agreement that excludes debate clips from all entertainment or comedy/satire programs.

No Air Farce New Year’s Eve special would be complete without the Chicken Cannon Target of the Year. Viewers vote for the year’s most annoying newsmakers and personalities, who get blasted with cannon-fired rubber chickens. The #1 target gets special treatment – the ammunition is a disgusting concoction of garbage, glue and food. From Chicken Cannon Headquarters, the top ten nominees this year are: Paul Martin, Stephen Harper, George Bush, Big Oil Companies, Black-Eyed Peas, Conrad Black, Gilles Duceppe, All Politicians, the Cooking with Cheese Lady, and Jack Layton.

The winner will be revealed on the Special.

Hint: it’s a tie.

December 8 , 2005 - CHICKEN CANNON RETURNS FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE "EVE". HELP US PICK THE TOP TEN MOST IRRITATING PEOPLE AND THINGS!

TORONTO, December 8 , 2005: Our annual One Hour New Year's Eve Special will air on Friday, December 30 @ 8PM on CBC Television. Colonel Stacy will aim at the top ten people and things that have really irritated Canadians this year. Nominate your worthiest victims online (click here) or dial 416.205.2155. Name your nominnee, choose your ammunition - the messier the better - and you could win our newest DVD.

November 7, 2005 - AIR FARCE WINS FOR GEMINI HUMANITARIAN AWARD

TORONTO, November 7, 2005: The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is proud to announce the 20th Annual Gemini Special Award recipients. This year’s prestigious roster includes Steve Smith, The Royal Canadian Air Farce, David Halton, David Greene and the documentary Two Worlds Colliding.

Royal Canadian Air Farce - Gemini Humanitarian Award
The Royal Canadian Air Farce will be presented with this year’s Gemini Humanitarian Award. Instituted and supported for the past four years by Global Television Network, this award honours contributions and commitments to community and public service by members of the television industry.

One of Canada’s finest performance treasures, Royal Canadian Air Farce has garnered 16 Gemini nominations and in 2001 was honoured with the prestigious Earle Grey Award for their outstanding body of work and the publicly voted Viewers’ Choice Award for Best Dramatic or Comedy Series. In addition to these exceptional achievements for their work on the air, off the air they have exhibited extr

As a group and individually, the Farce have performed innumerable concerts for charities across Canada, and hosted hundreds of fundraisers. Roger Abbott and Don Ferguson have hosted the annual Easter Seals Telethon in Ontario for over 20 years and also are celebrity spokespersons for Raising the Roof’s annual toque campaign. Furthermore, they continue to support fundraising undertaken by their alma mater, Montreal’s Loyola High School and the Nairobi-based African Jesuit AIDS Network.

Luba Goy headlines fundraisers for the Canadian Ukrainian community at senior residences, bilingual schools, museums and dance companies. She is a leading voice in “Help Us Help the Children”, an orphanage relief program, Co-chair of Volunteer Canada, and also a supporter of "The Quilt: A Breast Cancer Support Project".

Furthermore, Air Farce’s next generation co-stars, Jessica Holmes, Craig Lauzon and Alan Park, are continuing the tradition of giving back to the community.

Global Television Network's sponsorship of the Gemini Humanitarian Award includes a financial contribution of $10,000 to the recipient’s charity of choice. Royal Canadian Air Farce’s has and continues to improve the lives countless people in Canada and around the world. Their diverse activities has lead them to select three charities: The Easter Seals Society of Ontario supporting children with physical disabilities; The African Jesuit AIDS Network working to alleviate the devastation of HIV/Aids in Africa, and the Therapeutic Clown Program at Sick Kids Hospital which minimizes stress during treatment by using spontaneous humour and gentle play.

October 25, 2005 - AIR FARCE STILL FLYING HIGH AFTER 35 YEARS

Alex Strachan - The Ottawa Citizen

(CANWEST NEWS SERVICE) Tuesday, October 25, 2005: Where others may look at Paul Martin and see only grey, Don Ferguson sees inspiration.

The veteran Royal Canadian Air Farce impressionist says Bill Clinton may be more fun, especially while singing Addicted to Love, and Bob Dylan may be more of a stretch, but Martin is where the real challenge lies.

Challenge is everything when you've been flying with the Air Farce as long as Ferguson has -- 35 years now, ever since the group first appeared as improvisational stage company the Jest Society in Montreal in 1970.

Twenty-four years of radio with Roger Abbott (Peter Mansbridge, Leonard Cohen), Luba Goy (the Queen, Kim Campbell) and the late John Morgan (Boris Yeltsin, Mike from Canmore), followed by that increasing rarity, a bona fide homegrown hit TV show on CBC Television in 1992. That first episode struck a chord with Canadian viewers, and not just because the Barenaked Ladies composed the opening theme.

Ferguson, the only Air Farce player born in Canada -- he was born in Montreal -- says his favourite Air Farce characters are the ones that get the biggest laughs at the moment. Who knew our current prime minister could be such a repository of wit?

"I like doing him because he's a bit of a challenge," Ferguson said, proffering a rich, deep chuckle between rehearsals for Air Farce's season opener. "He's not easy to do. For me, there's not a lot to work with.

"I only like to do him if the material is good. The problem is that sometimes there's a tendency to do these people because they've said something this week, and so we think we should do them. I've never agreed with that. I believe that if somebody says something that isn't worthy of comment, then you should just ignore it. It's funny. Some of the characters over the years that I've enjoyed doing the most have been the ones who are personally the biggest stretch."

Mike "the Knife" Harris for example. Preston Manning, doing the underwear jig from Risky Business.

Air Farce returns Friday (8 p.m.), the linchpin of a CBC all-night comedy lineup that includes The Red Green Show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Just for Laughs.

Air Farce registered a ratings uptick last season, peaking at 1.7 million viewers in mid-February, thanks in part to an infusion of new blood -- Craig Lauzon and Ottawa's Jessica Holmes -- and an emphasis on shorter sketches and more animation. A new player, Alan Park, will join the cast this season.

Ferguson is delighted the much-speculated-about federal election now looks as if it will be delayed until spring: It means his favourite source of inspiration will be in the public spotlight at least until then.

"The election campaign, even though it's going to be in the spring, has really already begun. They'll be at each other's throats through the fall session. And I think that's delightful. At its best, it's great theatre.

"And when it gets really ugly, it's even better theatre, as far as we're concerned."

Ferguson is predicting a Hudson's Bay Rules donnybrook between Martin and Conservative leader Stephen Harper, and that's all to the good.

"They're under great pressure, and I think we're going to see them warts and all. In a sense, both Martin and Stephen Harper are fighting for their political life. And that makes it interesting, because the stakes are going to be high for both of them."

One topic probably won't be mined for an Air Farce sketch: the recent CBC labour dispute.

"It really depends on how mad we are," Ferguson said, and then admitted it's old news. But the lockout continues to stick in his craw -- "You miss the paycheque no matter what the situation is, but there's something emotionally different about being told by your employer not to come in, that they don't want you" -- but good comedy is about knowing when to end the joke.

Looking ahead, Ferguson believes Air Farce's future is in good hands with the recent additions to the cast.

Holmes and Lauzon breathed fresh life into the sketch troupe last season, and Park is expected to do much the same this year.

"That is going to keep us young, I hope -- for the next three years, anyway," Ferguson said.

"A comedy show is to some extent like a renewable resource. You have to bring new people and new ideas. That way, the show refreshes itself. And the audience, when it comes, discovers that."

Just as in politics.

CBC TV'S AIR FARCE RETURNS FRIDAY NIGHT WITH ANOTHER INJECTION OF YOUNG BLOOD

John Mckay - Canadian Press

TORONTO (CP) - Geezers 3, New Kids 3 will be the cast score when Royal Canadian Air Farce returns for its 13th season of sketch comedy and political satire on CBC-TV this Friday night.

Two newcomers are being added to the cast: Craig Lauzon of Ottawa and Alan Park, who claims both Toronto and Vancouver as home, will join veterans Roger Abbott, Luba Goy and Don Ferguson. Last year, the first injection of younger blood came with the addition of Jessica Holmes. So now it's a six-pack.

Abbott says he and Ferguson and Goy were once the newbies who joined retired Dave Broadfoot and the late John Morgan, but eventually they realized it's easy to be made up to look older, but not younger, and there were plenty of young public figures - from Belinda Stronach to Britney Spears - to parody.

"If the times are a-changin', we better change with the times," says Abbott. "Time for us to move to the elder chairs."

Not that Lauzon and Park are fresh faces to the show. They've been supporting cast members for a couple of years now and are just being elevated to the opening credits.

And they have no intentions of shoving the old timers onto an ice floe any time soon.

"I'm just happy to be in the group," says Lauzon humbly, turning to Abbott. "I still can't believe it. You're not pulling my leg, are you?"

Park says people are wrong to say he's replacing John Morgan.

"No. I'm now on the show that he was on. I get that sense of pressure from people who think that. But it's definitely not the case. You can't."

The two younger comics already have their own fan base and kit of favourite impersonations. Lauzon - who is one quarter Ojibwa and used to be a member of the comedy troupe Tonto's Nephews - has some aboriginal bits down pat, including the guy in the Lakota pain-relief commercials. He also does deadly send-ups of Stephen Harper and George Stroumboulopolis. Park has a regular commentary feature called Not the Official Story.

There's a mistaken impression afoot that the Air Farce (which actually began on radio in 1973 making it even older than Saturday Night Live) is a lightweight comedy show that pulls its punches. But when watched carefully, there's often a sting beneath the laughs, which is the way Abbott wants it. He says they get a lot of critical mail.

"The conservatives say we're too soft on the liberals and and vice versa," he says.

"Everybody's a critic. . .lots of little smacks on the wrist."

Abbott says with political satire you have to operate on two levels: a laugh on the surface and a little lingering zinger.

"People don't laugh at satire. They laugh at the joke. It's like Caramilk. The joke's on the outside and the satire's on the inside."

For young humorists, Lauzon and Park have long memories. Lauzon cites as his heroes and inspirations early film stars Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers and Bob Newhart.

For Park it's a wide array of funny folks, including George Carlin, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and the Monty Python gang.

"Who do I not find inspiration from? Then you're down to prop acts: Carrot Top and Gallagher!"

So what to expect Friday night when the Farce joins that CBC lineup that also includes The Red Green Show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Just For Laughs?

Sketches hinted at include Don Cherry's Rock-em Sock-em NHL Lockout, Condoleezza Rice's visit to Ottawa this week and maybe something on that Brian Mulroney-Peter C. Newman book flap.

And yes, the messy chicken cannon will be back but the cast agrees it would be nice if the cannon's target could be in person, and not just a photograph.

Abbott thinks the CBC lockout might be ancient history but concedes that if the recently-locked-out crew had its way, network boss Robert Rabinovitch would be in the cannon's line of fire.

"It would be stuffed with over-enthusiasm on the part of the crew," quips Park.

On a more serious note, Park is impressed that the Air Farce, Rick Mercer's Report (returning Nov. 8) and 22 Minutes all air on the CBC.

"You're not gonna see a show on Global that skewers the elites and the powers-that-be and the governmental structure. There's no way they're ever going to do that."

Abbott agrees, noting that the CBC is the only network in North America that has satirical news shows in prime time.

"Even on Comedy Central (in the U.S.) which you pay for, and on which you'd think you could get away with anything, they don't even let Jon Stewart out till after 11 o'clock."

The Farce tapes twice before studio audiences on Thursday evenings and goes to air with the best from both edited into the final product Friday night.