Sorry, We're Funny
How Canada Became a Comedy Powerhouse
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Sorry, We're Funny
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Kliph Nesteroff
"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.
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Critic reviews
Advance Praise for Sorry, We're Funny:
"Kliph Nesteroff, the foremost contemporary authority on comedy, has focused his skillful insight and impressive research on how Canada went from a humourless arctic wasteland to a fertile garden, producing comedic greats like my colleagues Michaels, Candy, Radner, Short, Levy, O'Hara, Thomas, Moranis, Reitman, Shuster, Shaffer and many others." —Dan Aykroyd
"As a child I always wondered why Canadians were so much funnier than Americans. With the publication of the epic Sorry, We're Funny, I finally have the historical proof behind this tragedy." —Judd Apatow
"A fascinating read with truly eye-opening lessons about how a polite nation quietly gouged its deep influence on an uproarious business." —Brent Butt
Praise for Kliph Nesteroff:
"The premier popular historian of comedy." —The New York Times
"No one knows the inside story of comedy, and the trials and tribulations of the people who can't stop themselves from making it, like Kliph Nesteroff." —Bob Odenkirk
"Kliph Nesteroff is a 'comedy nerd' in the deepest sense of the word. . . . He is the preeminent historian of modern comedy." —Marc Maron
"The human encylopedia of comedy." —Vice
"Kliph Nesteroff is the king of comedy lore." —Los Angeles Magazine
"Kliph Nesteroff, the foremost contemporary authority on comedy, has focused his skillful insight and impressive research on how Canada went from a humourless arctic wasteland to a fertile garden, producing comedic greats like my colleagues Michaels, Candy, Radner, Short, Levy, O'Hara, Thomas, Moranis, Reitman, Shuster, Shaffer and many others." —Dan Aykroyd
"As a child I always wondered why Canadians were so much funnier than Americans. With the publication of the epic Sorry, We're Funny, I finally have the historical proof behind this tragedy." —Judd Apatow
"A fascinating read with truly eye-opening lessons about how a polite nation quietly gouged its deep influence on an uproarious business." —Brent Butt
Praise for Kliph Nesteroff:
"The premier popular historian of comedy." —The New York Times
"No one knows the inside story of comedy, and the trials and tribulations of the people who can't stop themselves from making it, like Kliph Nesteroff." —Bob Odenkirk
"Kliph Nesteroff is a 'comedy nerd' in the deepest sense of the word. . . . He is the preeminent historian of modern comedy." —Marc Maron
"The human encylopedia of comedy." —Vice
"Kliph Nesteroff is the king of comedy lore." —Los Angeles Magazine
No reviews yet