Chicken Cannon fires one last time for Air Farce

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/12/2008 (6143 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The show, which was filmed before a packed studio audience in spite of a major snowstorm striking southern Ontario, was the last time the Royal Canadian Air Farce will ever perform.

Started in Montreal, the group kept Canadian politicians on their toes. “We outlasted seven prime ministers, eight if you count Kim Campbell,” boasted co-founder Roger Abbott, perhaps assuming that Stephen Harper’s days as PM are through — and helped pave the way for Rick Mercer, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Tom Green.

“My parents were more thrilled with me appearing on Air Farce than they ever were about me doing Hockey Night in Canada,” said Ron MacLean, who, like Margaret Atwood, Johnny Bower and a very funny Peter Mansbridge, made a cameo on the farewell show.

Taping their sixteenth New Year’s Eve special — set to air Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. — the gang used Friday night as an opportunity to break out some of their greatest hits. From Craig Lauzon’s eerily robotic portrayal of Stephen Harper to the infamous Chicken Cannon to the denizens of the doughnut shop emptying the sugar once last time, the comedians showed off the skills that once earned them 2.3 million viewers a week.

Covering everything from Guitar Hero to the Maple Leaf food scandal, Detroit’s meltdown and Sean Avery (“Sloppy Joe Seconds! A new food item from the bad boy of the NHL!”), the special is a year in review unlikely to be found anywhere else.

“What I’ll miss most is getting a crack at current events,” said Ferguson. “Parliament starts up again in January, and we have the economic crises, the ongoing political crises — you know, bad times are really good for comedy.”

The comedy of the Royal Canadian Air Farce seems almost quaint in the era of YouTube. Puns, impressions, wit, live music and physical comedy — all of these attributes of an old-time variety show are vanishing, and no one has done it in so proudly Canadian a fashion as the group sneaking nips of Crown Royal backstage.

Air Farce– New Year’s Eve Final Flight airs Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. on CBC.

— Canwest News Service