Canada

Canadian humour is an integral part of the Canadian Identity. Canadian comedians such as Jim Carrey, John Candy, Mike Myers, Norm Macdonald, Rick Mercer, Seth Rogen, Michael Cera, Martin Short, The Kids in the Hall, Tom Green, Phil Hartman, Eugene Levy, Howie Mandel, Dan Aykroyd and Leslie Nielsen are amongst the most successful in the world. Second City Television, otherwise known as SCTV, isalso regarded as a television show which was very influential on the development of comedy television. There are several traditions in Canadian humour in both English and French.[40][41] While these traditions are distinct and at times very different, there are common themes that relate to Canadians' shared history and geopolitical situation in North America and the world. Various trends can benoted in Canadian comedy. One thread is the portrayal of a "typical" Canadian family in an on-going radio or television series. Examples include La famille Plouffe, with its mix of drama, humour, politics and religion and sitcoms such as King of Kensington and La Petite Vie. Another major thread tends to be political and cultural satire: television shows such as CODCO, Royal Canadian Air Farce, La Findu monde est à 7 heures and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, monologuists such as Yvon Deschamps and Rick Mercer and writers, including Michel Tremblay, Will Ferguson and Eric Nicol draw their inspiration from Canadian and Québécois society and politics. Another trend revels in absurdity, demonstrated by television series like The Kids in the Hall, The Tom Green Show and The Frantics, andmusician-comedians such as The Arrogant Worms, Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie and Bowser and Blue. Satire is arguably the primary characteristic of Canadian humour, evident in each of these threads, and uniting various genres and regional cultural differences.

Humber College in Toronto and the École nationale de l'humour in Montreal offer post-secondary programmes in comedy writing and performance. Montrealis also home to the bilingual (English and French) Just for Laughs festival and to the Just for Laughs Museum, a bilingual, international museum of comedy.

[edit] SportSee also: Sport in Canada

A scene at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver seconds after Team Canada won gold in men's ice hockey.The sporting culture of Canada is different from that of many other countries. Compared to anyother nation, Canadians prefer a unique set of sports that are imported from the United States or home grown — namely football, basketball, baseball, and ice hockey. In Canada, football means Canadian football or what is sometimes called gridiron around the world.

Ice hockey, referred to as simply hockey in the country, is Canada's official winter sport,[42] its most popular spectator sport, andits most successful sport in international competition. Lacrosse, a sport with Aboriginal origins, is Canada's oldest sport and official summer sport.[42] Canadian football is Canada's second most popular spectator sport,[43] and the Canadian Football League's annual championship, the Grey Cup, is the country's largest annual sports event.[44] Association football, known in Canada as soccer inboth English and French, has the most registered players of any sport in Canada, but has never enjoyed sustained popularity as a major professional spectator sport even though the last few years have showed an improvement in terms of popularity and media coverage.

Other popular team sports include Ringette, curling, street hockey, cricket, rugby, soccer and softball. Currently, Cricket is thefastest growing sport in Canada.[45][46] Popular individual sports include auto racing, boxing, MMA, cycling, golf, hiking, horse racing, ice skating, rodeo, skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, swimming, tennis, triathlon, track and field, water sports, bobsledding and wrestling. As a country with a generally cool climate, Canada has enjoyed greater success at the Winter Olympics than at the...