F&D on CBC's
(1998)
Royal Canadian Air Farce's Roger Abbot and Don Ferguson
executive-produced SketchCom -- a great 13-episode comedy series for
CBC showcasing sketch comedy talent in Canada (well, mainly Toronto,
but if it wasn't cancelled it would have opened up much more). We did
2 tapings, in May and August 1998, and had an absolute blast.
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In the summer of 1997, after a gig at the Oasis, we were
approached by young hip Air Farce staffers Lisa and P.J., who liked
our stuff and wanted us to audition for Roger and Don's new show at
the CBC with the hope that taping would proceed that fall. Meeting these
2 Canadian comedy icons (Roger and Don, though Lisa and Peej are no
slouches with the funny either) was great; they were very friendly,
down-to-earth and put up with our shenanigans. But taping would have
to wait until the following spring.
After several writing meetings under the able supervision
of Roger, Don, Peej, and director Wayne Moss, we taped our first episode,
with The Bobroom, in May at Studio 42 where the Air Farce do their shows.
It was an amazing feeling performing some of these pieces we had previously
done mainly on time-tested, weather-beaten stages, in front of a hyped-up
TV audience. We recorded "The Accountant Song," "Cuppa
Coffee," "Rock & Roll," and "Dream Weavers"
(which was saved for the second show's broadcast). Complete with wigs,
makeup, sets and props courtesy of the CBC props department, it was
a very cool experience. Our first episode aired, with Skippy's Rangers,
on October 5, 1998, and apparently 647,000 people tuned in -- F&D's
largest one-time audience so far.
Our second taping, done and broadcast with Serious Comedy For Oxymorons,
was directed by Joan Tosoni and included "Raffi," "Hell,"
"You," and "Love Letter" (the last two didn't go
too well and were never aired, truth be known -- fine with us, we still
got a good second episode with the inclusion of "Dream Weavers,"
which featured Rob in a dream sequence as Gord's mom wearing a dress
made out of Brownies (sorry, no pic available), and Gord in a dream
sequence wearing a harem outfit (which, sadly, we do have a picture
of -- see above)). 427,000 people saw this episode.
We managed to get a 1999 Gemini Award nomination for Writing for our
first episode with Skippy's Rangers! Thanks for nominating us, Roger
and Don! We lost to "This Hour Has 22 Minutes," but that was
the style in the day.
SketchCom is currently in re-runs on The Comedy Network (Canada).
Go to SketchCom's
web site for more show info.
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