Celebrities

Mike Meyers Wayne's World

Jay Baruchel doesn’t hesitate for a nanosecond when he’s asked whether folks in Hollywood understand that there’s something special about Canadian comic talent. They most certainly do, says the Montreal actor, who has starred in such hit comedies as Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder, Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist and She’s Out of My League.

“That’s one of the truths (people in Hollywood) pick up on the most,” said Baruchel. “They say: ‘Oh, another one of you guys!’ A lot of people have tried to figure out why we export so much comedy.” “It was a friend’s father who had the most succinct analysis,” Baruchel continues. “He said that, in Canada, we grow up raised on two forms of comedy, American and British, and out of that is born the unique Canadian sensibility. We have this ability to make the jokes that make Americans laugh but we also have this unique dry (comedy) that separates us. Like Kids in the Hall. I can’t trace that to anything in the States but I can trace that directly to Monty Python.”

“It’s this weird mélange – it’s an Anglo-American bastard child that’s given birth to what we call Canadian comedy. If I can generalize, we find weirder stuff funny. I was raised on British stuff all my life. My parents showed me (Monty Python and the) Holy Grail when I was 7 and I never recovered.”

Baruchel, 28, along with his pal (and fellow Canuck) Seth Rogen, is a card-carrying member of the new wave of R-rated funnymen and women who have ruled the roost in Hollywood for the past couple of years. He first hooked up with hot comic auteur Judd Apatow on the critically acclaimed but short-lived Fox sitcom Undeclared back in 2001 and has since carved a niche for himself in American comedy films, often playing somewhat nerdy characters.

That description also fits his role in the Montreal-made comedy The Trotsky, which played across Canada this spring. The Trotsky might be the best thing Baruchel’s ever done – a richly comic turn as a high school kid convinced he’s the reincarnation of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. This month, Baruchel’s highest-profile Hollywood flick to date is set to unspool across the continent. He plays the title role in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a bigbudget action vehicle from über-producer Jerry Bruckheimer which also stars Nicolas Cage.

Brendan Kelly


MIKE MYERS

From a gig as a dance show host (billed as “Funky Mike Myers”) to a stint on Saturday Night Live to hit films like Wayne’s World and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Michael John Myers has followed the path of Canadian trailblazers like the SCTV folks who found fame making Americans laugh. Born in Scarborough, Ont., Myers says he was able to break into the American comedy market “because other Canadians helped me.”
Citing early boosters like Dave Thomas, Martin Short and Lorne Michaels (a producer whom the young Myers idolized, even doing an eighth grade project on him), Myers found his feet as a comedian with Second City on stages in Toronto and Chicago.

Then in 1989, he, like Dan Aykroyd and Phil Hartman before him, found fame as part of Saturday Night Live. Since then, Myers has had time to reflect on why Canadians have been so successful in the U.S. To explain, he quotes one of his early advocates.

“Martin Short said something that was kind of interesting, which is when Americans watch TV they’re watching TV but when Canadians watch TV they’re watching American TV. There is sort of a separation. We can look at American culture as foreigners except that we’re not all that different. ‘Wow, we are like two cultures separated by a common language,’” Myers says, paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw’squip about the U.S. and Britain. Canadians, Myers suggests, are the great observers, carefully studying and digesting American movies, television and music before putting their own spin on them. Having both objectivity and perspective allows comics like Myers to analyze pop culture, and then create a unique style that adds to the culture while cleverly (and quietly) dissecting it. “Canada is the essence of not being,” he says. “Not English, not American, it is the mathematic of not being. And a subtle flavour. We’re more like celery as a flavour.”

Richard Crouse


COLIN MOCHRIE

Colin Mochrie was born in Scotland and raised in Canada. As an improv comic, he’s best known as part of the cast of the American TV hit Whose Line Is It Anyway? He is also a regular on Canadian TV, stage and film. His latest movie role was in the independent comedy Gravy Train.

Why are Canadians so funny? “I think part of it is, at least when I was growing up, we had such a heavy influence from both America and Britain. And we seem to get both senses of humour, and we sort of melded into a hybrid of the two. And also we had that outsider, little brother sort of feeling: We’re always trying to get noticed. We sort of have the outsider sense of comedy. We do whatever we can to get noticed.” When asked if there is a Canadian sense of humour that’s different from the American or British ones, Mochrie muses, “I think we’re more self-deprecating, more aware of our foibles – definitely more than America.”

Mochrie is particularly well known for improvisational comedy but says he will never do stand-up. “I have nothing but the deepest respect for people who do it, but it’s too scary for me.” And improv isn’t scary? “No. Because if you’re dying, you’re going with friends.”

Jay Stone


MICHAEL CERA

Michael Cera is the opposite of wacky; rather, he is the personification of passive aggressivity (a Canadian national trait). To a large extent, he is in person as he was in Arrested Development, Juno, Superbad, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist and Youth in Revolt – soft-spoken, prone to comments that trail off, and with a tendency to stammer.

Teenage girls melt over that shy, virginal persona. And comedy-wise, it’s gold when he’s matched against a brash adversary. In Youth in Revolt, the enemy was his own alter ego, a French playboy named François. In the coming Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, it’s his new girlfriend’s seven ex-boyfriends, all of whom he must find the courage to fight.

The nebbishy David facing Goliath is a winning formula he’s not about to change.

“Well, um, I don’t know,” Cera says when it’s suggested he always plays the same character (did we mention he’s not an effusive interview?). “I’m not in movies to spread my wings. I like movies a lot, and I’d rather be in a good one, with a director I trust, than be out there doing some acting exercise.”

In the future for the young star is a rumoured leading role in Gilligan’s Island and the recently announced movie version of Arrested Development. So what about these nervous interviews? “It’s not that I’m trying to not answer the questions,” he says. “It’s just that I don’t want to give the impression that I like hearing the sound of my own voice.” Sounds pretty Canadian to us.

Jim Slotek


CATHERINE O’HARA

Catherine O’Hara is one of those intelligent people who understand that comedy is harder than drama. But with an asterisk. “Is comedy harder than drama? Well, I probably would say, yeah, for sure, but I think the best dramatic acting has humour in it,” says O’Hara, a Canadian comic icon known for her sketch work on SCTV and her unforgettable roles in films such as Home Alone, Beetlejuice and several mockumentaries by Christopher Guest. O’Hara chuckles when asked if she leans toward comedy or drama these days. “Oh, yeah, because I’m in such control of my career,” she says. O’Hara did reveal, however, that the main reason she agreed to do the recent Katherine Heigl-Ashton Kutcher movie, Killers, was for the opportunity to spend 10 days in Nice, France, and also to play Tom Selleck’s wife.

“So sometimes you do things for different, funny, silly reasons,” O’Hara says. “I’m attracted to anything that just feels real and interesting and good. And if it’s really funny, I love that. “But I’ll still put the same effort into developing my character as I would in a drama. It’s just as much work. In fact, it’s more – on top of all that, you
have to get a laugh.”

Bill Harris


JIM CARREY

Comedy can be dark, even for an actor who became famous for talking out of his butt. Jim Carrey – the kid from Newmarket, Ont., who became a $20-million-a-picture actor – got his start in the 1994 film Ace Ventura, Pet Detective. It was a silly farce that took advantage of his manic, rubberfaced comedy.

But Carrey has also made serious movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,
Man on the Moon and The Truman Show. And he says that his strained upbringing – his father was fired from his job when Carrey was 12 and the family lived in their van for a while – helps him be funny. “It changed me,” Carrey says. “It gave me an edge that I use all the time ... it has served me incredibly well all through my career. All of the worst times of my life have become tools that I use in my work.”

Jay Stone


BRENT BUTT

Brent Butt acknowledges that when you’re a kid with a dream of being funny, it’s not as if there’s a well-beaten educational path to follow. “I was born in Tisdale, Sask. I went so far as to graduate from high school, but there was no stand-up comedy college,” Butt said. However, Butt recalls that both at home and at school, he never ran across anyone who bluntly told him, “You’re nuts.” Maybe it’s a Canadian thing, but even if Butt wasn’t being actively encouraged, he wasn’t being actively discouraged, either.

“When I started to know other stand-ups as pals and peers, when they’d get talking about their backgrounds, man, I consider myself lucky,” Butt said. “So many of them really had to fight this family pressure of, ‘You have to be a doctor’ or ‘You’re disappointing the family by doing this.’ In my family, if you weren’t hurting anybody and it wasn’t illegal, go for it.”

“I grew up pretty poor. My parents were raising seven kids on nothin’, but they were the happiest people I ever knew,” Butt said. “I don’t think there was anything that could have kept me from doing comedy.”

Bill Harris


SETH ROGEN

In the 11 years since he signed on to the cult high school sitcom Freaks and Geeks and became the go-to guy for producer/filmmaker Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen’s Canadianisms have refused to die.

“I have no choice but to play myself,” he says. “Like any Canadian, I say ‘Sorry’ all the time, but I say ‘Sorry’ instead of ‘Saw-ry,’ and Judd is tired of editing around it.” But Rogen, who’s been Apatow’s muse in two TV series (Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared) and movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People and Pineapple Express, is consummately Canadian in embracing self-deprecating humour. As a country, we don’t produce a lot of “insult comics.”

He and writing partner (and fellow Vancouverite) Evan Goldberg make movies “that have a very simple message, which is to try to be a good guy.” He points to the legendary gross-out comedy Porky’s as an influence – “merely the most popular Canadian movie of all time! You can have people say all the filthy, despicable things you want, and have them do stupid things, and as long as that character is trying to be a good person through it all, then that’s all you need to make it funny. It’s simple, but emotionally speaking, it’s true to my experience.”

Jim Slotek


WILL ARNETT

Born and raised in Toronto, Will Arnett remains 100 per cent Canadian when it comes to his hockey allegiance. “Go Leafs,” he said in his ironic deadpan during an interview with Movie Entertainment. While the 40-year-old comedian is still waiting to see his first Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup parade, he has other fond memories of growing up Canadian.

His father (E. James Arnett), after all, had one of the most iconic Canadian jobs ever – president and CEO of Molson’s. School, where Arnett struggled, left not-so-fond memories. “I tend to be on the rambunctious side,” said Arnett, who eventually got kicked out of a boarding school. He finally found motivation at an alternative school in downtown Toronto where his theatrical bent was encouraged. “I’ve had a lot of great teachers who were very patient with me,” Arnett said, singling out Judith Robertson, a Subway Academy teacher who he says “had a tremendously positive impact on me.”

A short stint at Concordia University in Montreal did not go well. “I realized very quickly that it was not what I was cut out for,” he said. So, at 20, Arnett did what so many Canadian comedians have done. He headed to the States. Americans found Arnett funny. At a 2007 panel held at the Paley Centre for Media in New York, Conan O’Brien singled out Arnett as one of his three all-time favourite guests. The other two were also Canadians: Norm Macdonald and Harland Williams.

Arnett’s big break was as one of two Canadians (the other being Michael Cera) in the
cast of the critically acclaimed comedy Arrested Development. After three seasons as weaselly brother George “GOB” Bluth II, Arnett went on to comic turns in such movies as Semi-Pro, Blades of Glory and Hot Rod. He was seen last month in Jonah Hex, voiced the character of Mr. Perkins in the animated film Despicable Me out this month, and will appear in the Arrested Development movie in 2011.

Bill Brioux


HOWIE MANDEL

You’d think Howie Mandel would know what the deal is with Canadian comics and American success. The 54-yearold comedian has now lived more than half his life in the United States, having moved to Los Angeles 30 years ago.

He’s the ultimate Canadian comedy cross-border success story, spinning a humble Toronto comedy club beginning into decades of U.S. network television and live concert show success, first with St. Elsewhere and then with Bobby’s World. After hosting his own daytime talk show in the ’90s, he shaved his head and reinvented himself as a game-show host on Deal or No Deal.

This summer, he joins Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan as one of the judges
on America’s Got Talent. According to Mandel, it was growing up in Toronto that made him who he is today. What set Toronto apart for Mandel was the fact that it was so multicultural. “Toronto is like growing up in a melting pot,” says the comedian, who first ventured into Yuk Yuk’s in the late 1970s. “I was in awe of all these different Canadians getting up there. It was a very varied point of view.”

Mandel, who maintains a residence in Toronto, has projects in development on both sides of the border. “I would love to be based and do everything up (here) in Canada,” he says. “I feel comfortable (here), it is my home.” And while he can’t quite articulate how growing up in Canada made him the comedian he is today, what he does say is that he’s proud of his roots. “If people are enjoying me,” he says, “first and foremost, they’re enjoying a Canadian.”

Bill Brioux



THE FRESHMEN

Canada has long been a reliable exporter of great comic talent. Here are five funny Canadians who are inching closer to big breakthroughs.

LIANE BALABAN

This Toronto-born actress was endearingly stroppy as a Cape Breton teen in New Waterford Girl. She has since proven her chops with dramatic roles in One Week and Last Chance Harvey, but her forte may be loopier parts, judging by her hilarious and all-too-brief appearances in The Trotsky and You Might As Well Live.

Where you can see her next:

In The Future Is Now!, a docfeature hybrid by Calgary director Gary Burns.


PAUL J. SPENCE

“Turn up the good, turn down the suck!” That was Spence’s rallying cry as Dean, half of a pair of fictional headbangers immortalized in Fubar. A mock-doc by Mike Dowse, it earned a worldwide cult following, due in large part to Spence’s gonzo performance.

Where you can see him next:

In Fubar 2, in which Dean and buddy Terry head into Alberta’s oil patch to cause more mayhem.


JESSE CAMACHO

As the teenager stuck in the middle of a memorably dysfunctional family on the series Less Than Kind (airing on HBO Canada), this 19-year-old from Montreal is a tightly wound bundle of nerves and hormones.

Where you can see him next:

In the third season of Less Than Kind, slated for early 2011.


JASON JONES AND SAMANTHA BEE

Plucked from Toronto’s comedy scene to work on The Daily Show, this husband-and-wife duo have proven to be two of Jon Stewart’s funniest foils ever. They recently
reteamed to play a suburban couple in Coopers’ Camera, which Jones also co-wrote. They may soon get the same attention that Hollywood gave fellow Daily Show alumni like Steve Carell.

Where you can see them next:

Bee was in Furry Vengeance opposite Brendan Fraser, while Jones appears with Harvey Keitel in A Beginner’s Guide to Endings.

Jason Anderson