Royal Canadian Air Farce

Royal Canadian Air Farce is one of those comedy shows where you tune in, sit there, waiting to laugh... but you don't. The show never gets into anything story-wise by design, because it's a sketch show, so you're left trying to get a cheap laugh out of the (usually political) premises of the sketches. Problem is, they're not good.

According to Wikipedia, the comedy group started off in 1970 as 'The Jest Society', a play on Pierre Trudeau's goal of a 'Just Society'. Kind of a lame title. This tactic of taking a letter and changing it was repeated when the 'Jest Society' changed their name to the Royal Canadian Air Farce. When the current show started in 1993, the crew had Jean Chretien and multiple other targets of Canadian politics to satirize, and ample material in Canadian culture (like those silly Canadian Tire commercials). But even then, the sketches didn't move past a simple caricature of Chretien's accent, or any other one-dimensional premise.

I specifically remember a sketch about the 'War on Christmas' - and the premise being a guy was reading a Christmas story by a fireplace. What's the joke? Every time the word Christmas should come up, he says 'holiday' instead. And the sketch continues like this for about 7 or 8 minutes. Somewhere along the way, somebody should have said, "Guys - don't you think we should do something more? Make something happen? Have at least some kind of a story, at least?" I guess that didn't ever happen. or maybe it did, and they fired the guy who said it.

Sometimes I have relatives from outside Canada ask me what good Canadian TV shows there are, this show (plus the Mike Bullard show) always comes to mind. It makes me sad that this is such a poorly made show, and yet it's financed and probably shot on HDCAM and viewed by millions (funny considering Canada's population is only 33 million, give or take).

I know it's probably schadenfreudenic (I think that's right) for me to take so much pleasure hating this show. Maybe it wasn't always that bad, but it's just not funny at all. Anyway, to sum up: Don't watch it.

I have tried several times to find some amusement in this program, but I cannot. The jokes are not funny and to me at least seem to be written by some of the worst writers in the history of comedy. This is beyond bland humour, and if this is what other Canadians find funny, then we have some serious character issue problems.

It's not smart humour by any means and each time I happen to "flick" by the show (and watch several seconds in the hope I maybe wrong) I ask myself how anyone can find this funny? I really did try giving this a chance but it is well beyond me.

Anyone trying to catch some great Canadian comedy check out "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" or even better yet one of Canada's best new shows in "Corner Gas".

As a Canadian I am ashamed of this show.

I can't believe after so many years it is still on and doing the same lame jokes. I don't dislike them as people I just feel embarrassed for them when I see them on TV doing such pathetic jokes.

Bringing in the new cast member hasn't helped because they are just as bad as the old ones. Jessica Holmes is just as bad as when she was on The Holmes Show on CTV, I don't understand how she got another chance as a TV star. She always did impersonations of Celine Dione and Liza Minelli that were so irritating! But that is the kind of thing Air Farce is about so I'm not that surprised.

I know some people must like Air Farce because it is still on but I honestly don't understand it and don't know anybody who says they do like and watch Air Farce or maybe they just don't want to admit it.

I think the only thing worse than Air Farce are reruns of Air Farce where the topics are so out of date we don't even know what the jokes are referring to anyway.

1/10, I hope it goes away soon.

Up until John Morgan left, this was one of the funniest shows on Canadian tv. The jokes were mostly political, and poked fun at world leaders. After he left, and there were only 3 original members, they started getting guest appearances, which is ok. Then the jokes started to get more pop-culture based, but were repetitive and weren't as funny. The new episodes are terrible, and they need to take more risks.

One of the worst shows on Canadian television. The jokes are lame, the performers are wooden and untalented. Good political humour (or humour in general) explores unchartered oceans, this one wades in stagnant waste water. I can't believe so many Canadians like this show, it's time to retire it and it's crew.