story.news.yahoo.com . . .
Conan O'Brien show's anti-Quebec barbs anger Ottawa politicians
TORONTO (CP) - A TV comedy sketch in which a snarky puppet took potshots at French Canadians was called racist and unfunny by some federal politicians Friday while the visiting American TV host who ignited the controversy acknowledged the trouble the comments have caused.
Canadian Press Photo
The incident also raised the ire of Quebec nationalist group Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste, which demanded an apology from the politicians who brought Late Night With Conan O'Brien to Toronto.
In Ottawa, Mauril Belanger - the deputy government house leader - told the House of Commons that the government finds nothing amusing about the NBC show host making fun of Quebecers.
NDP MP Alexa McDonough said the sketch featuring Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was "vile and vicious" and amounted to hate-mongering and that the feds should demand their money back.
"The whole point of trying to help deal with the devastation of the SARS (news - web sites) crisis on the city of Toronto was to attract tourists," McDonough said. "How it got morphed into this kind of garbage I don't know."
O'Brien weighed in during the taping of his final show in Toronto on Friday afternoon.
"For those who don't know me, I'm the guy that was hired to make Don Cherry look good," he said in his opening monologue. He was referring to the trouble the hockey commentator's in for suggesting French-Canadian and European hockey players are wimps for wearing visors.
While federal politicians expressed outrage about Triumph, there was little response from their Quebec counterparts as coverage of the funeral of former provincial Liberal leader Claude Ryan dominated newscasts.
Premier Jean Charest declined to comment, and the program's audience in the province is limited. But the president of Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste was not amused with what he called the show's "extreme vulgarity."
"It's wrong to spread the worst possible ethnic prejudices about Quebecers, which already exist in Canada," said Jean Dorion.
"It seems the governments of Canada, Ontario and Toronto sponsored it," he said of the show. "If that's the case, these administrations must dissociate themselves immediately from the program and apologize to Quebecers, who are indignant at its contents."
The NBC show Late Night came to Toronto this week with the help of $1 million in taxpayers' money, some from the province of Ontario, some from a federal fund set up to help Toronto's tourist industry recover from SARS.
CHUM Television, which carries the show in Ontario, expressed regrets and said it was excising the Triumph sketch from the Friday night re-broadcast on Star, its national channel.
O'Brien has been taping this week at the downtown Elgin Theatre where thousands of young audience members have hooted and hollered their way through the nightly shows. The lanky red-headed comic has delighted them with monologues and sketches that riffed on Canadian themes, from beer to hockey to Mounties.
But on the Thursday show, Late Night regular Triumph - a cigar-chomping, politically incorrect puppet - was dispatched to the Quebec winter carnival in a pre-taped segment that took on Quebecers in general and separatists in particular.
"So you're French and Canadian, yes? So you're obnoxious and dull," the puppet told one passerby. "You're in North America, learn the language," he hollered at another.
In Quebec City, Stephen Harper also sought to distance himself from O'Brien and his puppet.
"This is the place where our country was founded nearly 400 years ago," said Harper, who is seeking the leadership of the new Conservative party. "We can all make jokes about each other but you don't start telling people in Quebec they have to speak another language."
"That's completely unacceptable."
However, businessman Peter Soumalias, who helped bring the New York-based show to Toronto, says some politicians may not understand comedy but the people of Quebec do. "Quebec is home to the Just For Laughs festival; they understand comedy," he said.
"It was funny and this was about comedy," says Soumalias. "It's a silly puppet that tells silly jokes. Again, it's comedy. Most people find it funny."
Indeed, Bruce Hills, Just For Laughs CEO in Montreal didn't find Triumph offensive because he doesn't take him seriously.
"The sensibility of a young francophone who has a sense of humour, who spends a lot of time outside Quebec, I think will take it for what it is - a funny sketch."
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says he doesn't regret the province's role in helping to bring the show to Toronto and points to the "net positive" spinoff in publicity. But he also wants it known that Triumph's brand of humour is not reflective of how Ontario feels about Quebec.
"That does not represent our views with respect to our neighbours," he said Friday. "The Conan O'Brien show does not speak for Ontarians. Ontarians have a wonderful relationship with the people of Quebec. We don't control the content of these shows."
"There were moments where it was a little raw," said Jonathan Laderoute, 24, who came from Ottawa to line up outside the Elgin for Friday's show, although he added that he didn't find the sketch too offensive.
"No one's ever said it before that way," Laderoute said. "Canadians seem really politically sensitive. They always make a big deal of everything. Take it for what it is."
He said Triumph's shtick is to push boundaries, but the difficulty in Canada is francophone issues seem to be off-limits.
-
Some one-liners from Conan O'Brien's monologue Friday night:
On controversy erupting from the show's jabs at Quebecers: "I'm the guy they hired to make Don Cherry look good."
On repeated cheers from the audience of 'Go Leafs Go!: "When they like a joke here, they say: 'Ha, ha, ha. Go Leafs Go!' "
On reports of fans smoking joints while waiting to see the show: "When asked why, a fan said, 'We want Conan to be funny whether he's funny or not.' "
On reports people should drink three litres of fluid a day and that some of it can be beer: "The Canadian doctors said Labatt's is a good choice but if you prefer water, drink Budweiser."
On returning to New York after a week of Canadian shows: "Sadly, it is time for me to get back to my wife and baby in New York. But don't you worry, I'll come back soon to visit my wife and baby in Toronto."
-
Some quotes from the show and the fallout:
"So you're French and Canadian, yes? So you're obnoxious and dull." - Triumph the Insult Dog, a puppet regular on O'Brien's show.
-
"We can all make jokes about each other but you don't start telling people in Quebec they have to speak another language. That's completely unacceptable." - Stephen Harper, former Alliance leader now running for leadership of the new Conservative party.
-
"It's a silly puppet that tells silly jokes. Again, it's comedy. Most people find it funny."- O'Brien promoter, Peter Soumalias, a Toronto businessman.
-
"That's not something I would have laughed at," - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
-
"I think it was vile and vicious. I think it amounts to hate-mongering." - Alexa McDonough, NDP member of Parliament.
-
"We offer our apology and assurance that it is never our intention to air programming that offends any of our viewers," - CHUM Television.
-
"It's a guy's hand, that's all I got to say. They shouldn't listen to puppets." - a man in the Elgin Theatre lineup disguised as Robert Goulet.
-
"People are too sensitive." - University of Guelph student Craig Hobin of Sarnia, Ont., speaking from the Elgin lineup.
-
"I don't watch that stuff. I don't stay up that late and I wouldn't watch that stuff if I did stay up that late."- Former Ontario premier David Peterson.
-
"It's wrong to spread the worst possible ethnic prejudices about Quebecers, which already exist in Canada." - Jean Dorion, president of the nationalist Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
