The cast of Second City Toronto gleefully lampooned the inner hoser in each of us. Along the way, they somehow became the most influential comedy group in history
on Second City Toronto. First, that Canada is the funniest nation on earth, and second, that Toronto is the funniest city therein. For proof, consider the auspicious spring of 1973, when a collection of charming misfits named Eugene Levy, John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Jayne Eastwood, Valri Bromfield and Gilda Radner wandered into an audition room in a Yorkville church.
These kids were not cool by traditional standards. But it takes gumption to perform extemporaneous make-believe in front of strangers. To expect money in exchange requires a whole other level of swagger. The cast of Second City Toronto, as they became known, were smart, zany and hell-bent on getting their audiences to double over with laughter. They were subversive too, stuffing cultural commentary inside goofball characters to lampoon icons, celebrities and the inner hoser in each of us.
What’s so funny about Canada? Dan Aykroyd thinks the secret lies in the contradictory blend of English and American influences. Malcolm Gladwell postulates that our comic sensibility is propelled by a sly anti-American hostility. Others, like Mike Myers, suggest that our self-effacing comedic impulses are at least partly informed by a perceived inferiority to the US—as if there were a wild party raging downstairs to which we weren’t invited.
I like to think it’s the opposite: that our comic geniuses possess both the confidence and the perspective to see above it all without thinking they’re above it all. They’re proud but not so enamoured of themselves that they can’t self-satirize now and again. After reading our piece, you might develop your own theories. Then again, perhaps it’s better not to. As the icons we spoke to would attest, the more one analyzes comedy, the less funny it gets. Instead, sit back, dig in and enjoy.
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