Thanks, Canada!

I think it’s about time for me to thank our liberal neighbors to the North for providing me with such high-quality entertainment over the years. Here is a brief list of some of my favorite Canadian exports, in no particular order:

KIDS IN THE HALL



I’ve been rewatching this show for the first time since high school. The Kids in the Hall are simply brilliant. Bruce McCulloch was always my favorite – he’s a short, intensely bitter, perpetual-loser kind of guy. Anger always leads to good comedy. Upon rewatching the episodes, I find myself more consistently drawn to Scott Thompson. Not only is he gloriously faggy, but his heart is also full of hate. He’s sublimely derisive and always says incredibly offensive things during talk show appearances. That’s also good comedy.

SKINNY PUPPY



Thanks to their liberal upbringings in liberal Canada, the members of Skinny Puppy manage to be about 200% more liberal than their American industrial music peers. Every liberal political complaint that has ever existed since the beginning of time can be found detailed in Skinny Puppy’s songs. And they’re animal rights activists to boot, too. Thanks, Canada!

THE NEWSROOM



My favorite new TV show – so what if it’s suspiciously close in theme and tone to the Larry Sanders Show and The Office? The Newsroom predates The Office by quite a few years, and since it’s Canadian, it’s more liberal. And I get to add Ken Finkleman (the writer/star/producer/director/etc.) to the growing list of brilliant, studly older men I’d like to… meet.

SEASONS 1-5 OF THE X-FILES



OK, The X-Files is not a Canadian show. I realize that. It is, however, my favorite TV show of all time. A huge part of why I found it so appealing initially was the consistency of tone, which was due in large part to the fact that it was shot in the creepy woods and creepy towns of Canada. The show began to falter during the sixth season when it moved location to L.A. - no coincidence there. Of course, I remained a loyal fan to the bitter end, and the show picked up some good steam during the last two seasons in spite of its lack of Canadian surroundings.

DAVID CRONENBERG



Long Live the New Flesh! Cronenberg is my favorite living director, enough said. Only Canada could produce somebody who is so entirely demented but yet civilized at the same time. I just discovered that two of my Canadian interests converge – David Cronenberg stars in several episodes of The Newsroom (I haven’t seen them yet, but will as soon as the DVDs arrive in the mail). I ordered them from Canadian Amazon.com, and they sent the shipping information in both English and French. Thanks, Canada!