The King Of Canadian Comedy

Television Review: Corner Gas

One of the funniest television shows around was created by the king of Canadian comedy. Okay, done laughing? I know, I didn’t even know that Canada had a sense of humor until I saw Rick Moranis in Strange Brew, and that didn’t get funny until my fifth beer. Each night, on WGN America, Canadian comedian Brent Butt stars in Corner Gas, a show about how his life would have turned out had he not left his very small Canadian home town for the bright lights and big city living of Saskatchewan. (Or Ottawa or Newfoundland or whatever; I’m American so I don’t know much about Canada.) Butt’s Corner Gas (snicker) manages to be both simple and clever, original and familiar. It avoids shocking and offensive humor, instead finding laughs in a PG but still lighthearted adult manner. The show is produced in a traditional, but nowadays rarely used (at least successfully), style, but still manages the occasional postmodern turn, such as an absurd cutaway or odd pop culture reference. I would say Corner Gas is old school television: it attempts thirty minutes of witty, easy laughs, and actually delivers.  Now, maybe Canada will be known for more than hockey and . . . uh … their bacon … and, uh ….