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Tuesday, November 01, 2005

 

Would Dubya guest star on a sitcom?

One of my favourite TV shows is Corner Gas. I'm sure most of my American friends have never heard of it, but if you get the chance, do check it out. It's a witty, slightly bent ensemble comedy set in rural Saskatchewan. Every single episode makes me laugh out loud at some point, sometimes through the whole thing. You don't have to be Canadian to get it, but it helps.

Last night's episode started out looking like an interruption to previously scheduled programming in the form of a national address from Prime Minister Paul Martin, which would not be entirely unexpected given that we are anticipating the tabling of the first Gomery report today. (I'm not getting into Gomery here. Google "Gomery" and "Adscam" if you want a tutorial in what's hot on the Canadian political scene right now.)

The Prime Minister is interruted by Brent Butt, the star of Corner Gas:

Brent: "Hello Mr. Prime Minister. Um… I'm just kind of wondering what you're doing?"

PM: "I'm speaking to the nation. I'm addressing Canada!"

Brent: "Um… is this something you have to do right now?"

PM: "Is now a bad time?"

Brent: "Sort of… For me, anyway. I kind of had the next 30 minutes planned out. This is really the only half-hour in the week they let me do anything. The rest is pretty much Canadian Idol."

PM: "But what about my message?"

Brent: "You can do a mass e-mailing. You can "cc" the nation."

PM: "You know I like the way you think."

Brent: "Really? You can make me Minister of something!"

PM: "I gotta go…"

Some days it's great to be Canadian...