This week Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize. I was thrilled, as this throws even more attention to the climate change crisis. Along with Gore, the (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was awarded this prestigious award. Canadian John Drexhage was one of the many scientists working with the IPCC, he said he was shocked and humbled to learn the organization had won the peace prize. I struggled for a while trying to make this into my entire post this week and failed. There are many people covering this good news and I felt like a kernel of corn on a huge cob.

Instead I decided (with the help of my fellow Twitterarians) to talk about how Canadians are funny. Iy is funny, not ha ha funny, but funny, that as a people I don't feel we are funny, but lots of Canadians who have gone on to be paid for funny. I have lived in Canada my whole life. Sometimes I am not aware that certain things are not common to American culture. Ex-pat Kyran Pittman reminded me of the ridiculous advertisements about how they get the caramel into the Caramilk bar. The advertising campaigns for Caramilk bars revolves around the question as to how the centre of the confection was put into the chocolate exterior. One notable advertisement involved Dan Aykroyd in costume from his Coneheads Movie investigating the matter. These ads used to drive me crazy as a kid. I could think of at least 10 ways it was possible without being a professional confectioner. The previous link will spill the "secret". They are tasty, I will give them that.

I just noticed that Wikipedia has an entire entry for wiki/Canadian_humour. I dare say it is different. I think Canada is more tolerant of satirizing politics, culture, and ourselves. Offbeat comedy such as The Kids in the Hall, featuring cross dressing and a lot of gay focused humour took a while to catch on in the States. Perhaps we are more laid back or are just really cold a lot of the year nd laughing makes us warmer. The most famous of news satire/sketch comedy shows is probably This Hour has 22 Minutes. One of my favourite bits on the show was a character called Marh Delahunty or Marg, Princess Warrior, a parody of Xena warrior princess, but with middle aged lady glasses. She would accost politicans with criticism and then some motherly advice about their tie, shoes or haircut. It was priceless and I imagine took a gigantic pair of balls to harangue Canada’s sitting prime minister.

Another alumni of the show This hour has 22 Minutes is Rick Mercer. He is known for his dry and acerbic approach to comedy, as well as fast walking and talking rants that are hysterical, but sometimes make me sad (because they are true *sniff*). One of the most popular shows Rick Mercer ever did was series called Talking to Americans. It consisted of interviewing people on the street and convincing them to agree with ridiculous statements or asking them equally ridiculous questions about their northern neighbour. You can check out a YouTube version in true you tube quality. A long time ago I actually looked into buying a DVD of the shows, but had no luck. I would advise reading the Wikipedia entry before watching and I apologize right now for laughing at you. P.S. a Timbit is a donut hole. It is older, from 2001. This video is the first of 6 parts. The only thing I can quite equate to this kind of assault of mockery is Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, who I also love. Here is a link to when Triumph was in Quebec, I love it. For anyone who speaks Spanish, there are subtitles!

If nothing else, this mildly incoherent post should make you giggle. If you watch the videos. Watch them!