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Thursday,
February 13, 2003
KENNY ROBINSON
GUEST STARS
Friday,
February 14th @ 8PM on CBC Television: Guest star Kenny
Robinson joins Roger, Don and Luba
as Colin Powell, Bill Cosby and the master
of love, Barry White. Sketches: John Manley’s
climactic first budget; Air Canada – flies through
financial turbulence; North Korea’s Kim Jong-il,
the attention deficit dictator; Meet The Cosbournes;
Valentine's Day leaves a man asking the big question
– What’s the deal?
Kenny
Robinson has been performing as a stand-up comedian and actor
for more than 25 years. A native of Winnipeg, he has headlined at comedy
clubs throughout Canada and the U.S., and been featured in nearly 30
different television programs and movies.
Robinson
has earned accolades as the creator, writer and host of the edgy late-night
series After Hours with Kenny Robinson on the Comedy
Network. He also brings his irreverent wit and keen political
insight to his current role as co-host of The Morning Rush,
a weekday program on Toronto radio station Flow 93.5 FM.
On
the stand-up scene, Robinson has earned a reputation for fostering cultural
diverse talent. As founder, producer and host of the immensely popular
Nubian Disciples of Pryor All-Black Comedy Review,
he has helped to provide a launching pad for such emerging performers
as Gavin Stephens, Ron Josol and Russell Peters.
He has also been a talent consultant for Montreal's International
Just for Laughs Comedy Festival.
On
stage, Robinson has performed alongside the likes of Jim Carrey,
Chris Rock, Eugene Levy and Norm
MacDonald. His screen career, meanwhile, has included an appearance
in the Chris Rock feature film Down to Earth,
as well as roles in the Showtime television movie Soul
Food and the PAX TV series Doc.
Robinson also created and co-produced the Gemini Award
nominated CBC Special Thick and Thin
with Ronnie Edwards.
Thursday,
January 9, 2003
TERESA
PAVLINEK GUEST STARS
Airing
Friday, January 10 @ 8PM on CBC Television: Teresa Pavlinek joins
Roger, Don and Luba
this week on Air Farce. Originally, Teresa was a member
of The Second City for four years where she wrote and
performed three ground breaking shows - all nominated for Dora Mavor
Moore Awards.
Her
television credits include co-host of The Comedy Network
launch, a lead role in THE NINE O'CLOCK SHOW for the
CBC, the recurring character of Sue Brown on WTN's GO GIRL
as well as SONIC TEMPLE, LIOCRACY and
JONATHAN CROSS' CANADA. A pilot she shot last summer
starring Jann Arden will air on CTV and she is currently
shooting her fifth season of the Gemini nominated History Channel/PBS
series, HISTORY BITES. Teresa also has a recurring
roll in THE SEAN CULLEN SHOW airing on CBC beginning
January 17.
Tuesday,
November 19, 2002
AIR FARCE
MOVES UP 1HR: 8:00PM FRIDAYS
CBC
Television’s comedy cornerstone, Royal Canadian
Air Farce, starts an hour sooner – 8:00 PM
-- beginning Friday, November 29.
The
Farce is returning to the evening’s lift-off time slot in response
to audience surveys which showed viewers preferred the earlier hour.
The show had moved from 8 to 9 o’clock at the start of last season.
“We’re
going back to our finest hour,” says Farce’s Roger
Abbott, “where we drew our largest and most varied audience
numbers for four years. People tell us they like to kick-start their
weekend with Air Farce, and 8 o’clock
is when they want us.”
The
Red Green Show will follow, at 8:30 PM.
In
comedy, timing is everything, and Air Farce and Red
Green are now positioned to anchor the new CBC Comedy
Friday line-up which we’ll launch in January –
including the return of Made In Canada, the new Sean
Cullen Show, and the series debut of An American in
Canada.
Royal
Canadian Air Farce moves to 8:00, and The
Red Green Show moves to 8:30, starting Friday,
November 29 on CBC Television.
Tuesday,
November 12, 2002
ELVIRA
KURT RETURNS TO AIR FARCE
Elvira
Kurt, voted Funniest Female Comic at the Canadian Comedy
Awards, joins Roger, Don and Luba as a cleavage happy lawyer,
sassy senior, self-centered talk show host and Alanis Morrisette.
She
is no stranger to television, having starred in "Elvira Kurt:
Adventures in Comedy", on Canada's Comedy Network, two
specials on Comedy Central and the animated series, "Reality
Chick". On the Oxygen Network she is the voice of the
title character, an eight months pregnant feminist superhero.
As
for film and theater, Elvira has performed in 'The Vagina Monologues'
and is profiled and showcased in a documentary called 'We're Funny
That Way' seen on HBO. Her successful one woman show, 'Viva
Elvira!', has debuted in LA and Toronto.
As
a Second City alumna, Elvira's training has served her well. Her Gemini
nominated hour long special, 'Big Girl Now', also nabbed the
Gold Award at the Worldfest International Film Festival and she's
had stand out appearances on HBO, VH-1's 'The List', Showtime,
A&E, PBS, Lifetime, two CBC Comedy Specials,
pilots for CBC and Second City and countless special and
guest appearances, hosting and co-hosting on various benefits, awards
and talk shows.
No
slouch in the writing department, Elvira has contributed to the CBS
pilot and HBO special for Ellen DeGeneres, written
for 'This Hour Has 22 Minutes' and all the Canadian award shows
(Film, Television, Music and of course, Hockey) one of which was nominated
for a Gemini for best writing.
Tuesday,
November 5, 2002
PETER KELEGHAN
RETURNS TO AIR FARCE
Friday,
November 8 @ 9PM on CBC Television: Guest
Star Peter Keleghan joins Roger, Don and
Luba as a drained-brain local news anchor, a videophone
user and a prisoner fighting for his right to vote. Sketches: Jean Chretien’s
new board game – where every second square is “Screw Paul
Martin”; John Manley’s bank plans encounter merger-interruptus;
Charlton Heston takes a shot at explaining why guns are good and Air
Farce donut trio looks at U.S. immigration, racial discrimination and
drunk-driver elimination.
Peter
Keleghan is one of the most visible actors in Canada, co-starring on
Made in Canada and portraying Ranger Gord on
The Red Green Show. This will mark his third appearance
on Air Farce.
A
double Gemini Award nominee for both Made For Canada and
for his role as the self-absorbed news anchor in Ken Finkleman's The
Newsroom, Keleghan has appeared on Seinfeld, Murphy Brown,
Cheers, Burke's Law, Forever Knight and General
Hospital. He first attracted attention in Smith & Smith's Comedy
Mill series, and was in the feature film Ginger Snaps. He
was also seen Ranger Gord in the Red Green feature, Duct Tape Forever,
and recently reprised his character of Jim Walcott in Ken Finkleman's
Newsroom: The Movie.
Monday,
November 4, 2002
VIEWER'S
CHOICE WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Congratulations
to our ten "Viewer's Choice Winners". Thanks for picking
our November 1st show. There were so many excellent suggestions, but
we could only fit in enough one half hour! But due to the response,
we'll put together another "Viewer's Choice"
special next spring
And
our winners of a gift basket are:
Derek
Warren- Coquitlam, BC
Lee Hunt- Calgary, Alberta
Matt Litton- Prarie River, Saskatchewan
Steven Castellucci-Toronto, ON
Virginia Toth-St George, ON
Steve Dominy- Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Laura Kollenberg- Ottawa, ON
Jang Kwon - Montreal, Quebec
Emily Wilson- Moncton, New Brunswick
Martha Hutton- Halifax, Nova Scotia
Friday,
October 18, 2002
SEAN CULLEN
RETURNS TO AIR FARCE
Coming
Up: Friday, October 25 @ 9PM on CBC Television: Sean Cullen,
an original member of the music/comedy troupe Corky & The
Juice Pigs returns to Royal Canadian Air Farce for
his third visit. He first appeared on Air Farce in 1993, and more recently
on last year's season premiere (Click
here to watch Sean's last episode with us). For more than a decade,
this master of stream-of-consciousness improvisation, parody, absurdism
and calculus has performed all over the globe. His repertoire includes
stand-up, song, characterizations and spot on impersonations. Sean has
guest starred on Mad TV, worked with Abbott/Ferguson
on their SketchCom series, made 2 appearances
on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, received
critical acclaim for his solo comedy special, Wood, Cheese and
Children, and for his performance on Just For Laughs.
Sean has just finished shooting six episodes of The Sean Cullen
Show which premieres Fridays at 8:00pm on
CBC Television, beginning January 17.
(Followed by Made in Canada and, of course, Royal
Canadian Air Farce!).
Tuesday,
October 15, 2002
JANET VAN
DE GRAAFF RETURNS TO AIR FARCE
Janet
Van De Graaff came to Toronto to get her M.F.A. in acting at
York University. After a one and a half-year stint in the Second
City National Touring Company, she joined
the Toronto Second City Main Stage cast. She wrote
and performed in five revues there, receiving two Dora Award
nominations for her work. Other theatre credits include The
Brady Bunch Live (Bathurst Street Theatre),
Honest Ed: The Bargain Musical (Poor Alex),
The Drowsy Chaperone (Toronto Fringe Festival
and Theatre Passe Muraille), and two seasons of the
live improvised soap opera, Sin City (Tim Sims
Playhouse). On television, Janet played Yvonne,
the effervescent co-host of WTN's Go Girl! She just
received a 2002 Canadian Comedy Award for her work
on the hit series History Bites, which is currently
shooting its fifth season. She has appeared in such films as The
Last Don and The Five Senses, and as a guest
on Made in Canada, The Royal Canadian Air Farce
and Dave Broadfoot's First Farewell Tour.
Tuesday,
October 2, 2002
AIR FARCE
RETURNS THIS FRIDAY
RAISE
THOSE GLASSES…IT'S TIME TO CELEBRATE THE 10TH YEAR OF OUTRAGEOUS
BEHAVIOUR ON CBC-TV FROM ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE AS A NEW SEASON LAUNCHES
WITH AN HOUR-LONG SPECIAL ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11 AT 9 P.M.
ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE starts its 10th season of fun on CBC
Television. Making the transition from live performance and
a very popular radio show, to a weekly TV program was a huge transition
and one that has proved enormously successful - as AIR FARCE
starts its 10th season it remains CBC Television's number one entertainment
program. The new season starts with an hour-long special featuring guest
comics Rochelle Wilson and Craig Lauzon
joining forces with Farce stars Roger Abbott, Luba Goy,
and Don Ferguson.
Canada's
newsmaker-of-the-month, Ron MacLean makes a special
guest appearance with a comedy preview of Hockey Night's Coach's
Corner.
"Our
promise this year is to keep the show fresher, faster and funnier all
the way through our tenth season," says Don Ferguson.
In
their extended season opener AIR FARCE takes aim at
a list of current headliners - the Ron MacLean affair, Joe Clark's retirement,
Martha Stewart's financial activities, the Queen's visit and even Dr.
Phil will be put through the comic wringer. And did you really expect
AIR FARCE to ignore The Osbourne Family or George Bush's itchy finger?
Not a chance! Prepare for cheekiness, chuckles, and an hour of satirical
target practice as ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE starts
its 10th season.
Wednesday,
October 2, 2002
AIR FARCE
SEASON 10 BEGINS
Friday,
October 11 @ 9PM. Air
Farce kicks off its tenth season on CBC Television with a one hour premiere.
Returning will be guest stars Rochelle Wilson and Craig
Lauzon.
Rochelle
Wilson hails from Alberta. At the age of 14 she moved to Toronto
with her parents and brother. After two years of studying Art &
Photography at Sheridan College, Rochelle naturally became a banker
and started Theatresports classes. Fortunately
Rochelle gave up banking and pursued her heart's desire and became an
actor.
Rochelle
was a member of the Second City National Touring Company, performing
in the revue It's The Year 2000 And Still No Flying Cars. She
has also taped two episodes of SketchCom for CBC Television,
with The Lolas and The Stand-Ins, and an episode for CBC
Radio's Madly Off In All Directions.
Rochelle
is a currently a member of the female comedy duo the Lolas and has written
and performed for the Comedy Network, The Best of Open Mike with
Mike Bullard, CBC Television, and CBC Radio, as well
as countless live gigs at comedy clubs throughout Toronto. The Lolas
had the honour of receiving one of the very first Canadian Comedy
Awards for "Best Sketch Troupe - Newcomer".
Click
here to watch Rochelle's first guest appearance on Air Farce.
Craig
Lauzon is one of Canada's top character performers. He began
in Toronto’s alternative comedy scene in 1998. His ability to
transform himself into honest and hilarious characters caught everyone’s
attention and in 1999 he was nominated for the prestigious Tim
Sims Encouragement Award - a yearly prize given to promising
comedic talent in Toronto. That summer Craig landed a regular role on
The Comedy Network’s variety series Chez
Carla.
2000
saw Craig appear at the Raising The Roof, We’re
Funny That Way and the Much Ado About Sketch
comedy festivals. Soon after he wrote and starred in Ham I Am,
a live one-man show that got rave revues “…never missing
a beat, Lauzon’s characters managed to capture their biggest stereotypes
in a way that was hilarious without being harmful.” says news
editor Lisa Pirone.
In
2001 Craig co-wrote and starred in The Chick and Cubby Comedy
Hour which was nominated for a 2001 Canadian Comedy
Award for funniest new play. He also starred in his first 1-hour
comedy special for The Comedy Network entitled Ham
I Am, based on his one-man show. His special has been nominated
for two 2002 Canadian Comedy Awards. Craig’s
characterizations have been described as “great Canadian comedy,
quick and snarky with surreal moments of brilliance!” (John
Doyle, The Globe and Mail). On April 12, 2002 he first appeared
as the guest star on the Royal Canadian Air Farce and
completed a feature film script to be produced in spring.
Click
here to watch Craig's first guest appearance on Air Farce.