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TORONTO (CP) - Nearly a week after U.S. talk-show host Conan O‘Brien stumbled into a Canadian political controversy, the aftershocks are finally hitting the American media, bringing with it an apology of sorts from the red-faced, red-haired comic.
And the Toronto businessman who spearheaded the effort to bring NBC‘s Late Night show to the city as a tourism booster says he "encouraged them to do the segment," even though the writers expressed concern about being insensitive.
In a sketch last Thursday night, the politically incorrect puppet-provocateur Triumph the Insult Comic Dog targeted French-speaking Quebecers in a series of envelope-pushing barbs.
The issue landed in the House of Commons on Friday with politicians of all stripes denouncing the material and the fact that nearly $1 million in tax money was spent to help lure the New York-based show to Toronto for a week.
On Tuesday, O‘Brien admitted that Triumph may have been barking up the wrong tree.
After his opening monologue Tuesday night, O‘Brien, with a French translator by his side, apologized with a dose of self-deprecating humour.
"People of Quebec, I‘m sorry," O‘Brien said in English.
That was translated and subtitled to: "People of Quebec, I‘m an albino jackass."
O‘Brien went on to say: "We meant no harm with our comedy piece the other night."
That was translated into: "The other night, I wet the bed like a little girl."
The comic then said: "I was a stranger in a strange land and I was very insensitive."
Translated, his comments read: "I have a small penis."
O‘Brien may have been responding to the belated wave of reaction in the U.S. media to the controversy.
American news outlets pounced on the issue this week, with stories about the incident getting an airing on Regis and Kelly and CNN and in USA Today and the Hollywood Reporter.
Even the New York Times weighed in, noting slyly that political satire is a big part of Canadian culture, including anti-American insults.
"Crude anti-French jokes are not uncommon outside of Quebec," the article said. "But they are generally told in private along with other ethnic humour considered politically incorrect."
But Peter Soumalias, businessman and founder of Canada‘s Walk of Fame, says while some of the political fallout was predictable, he has no regrets about his role in having Conan tape four shows in Toronto and believes the national public response has been overwhelmingly favourable.
"I did not receive a single complaint, personally," he said Tuesday. "As organizers, it far and away surpassed all our expectations. . .and we‘d do it all over again and wouldn‘t change a minute of it."
Soumalias says some of the Late Night writers did express concern about being insensitive in their material but that he was the one who encouraged them, assuring them that Canada was mature enough in its comedy.
"I encouraged them to do the segment," he says, adding that if we Canadians can‘t take it then it speaks volumes about how secure we are about our national identity. He says the Conan crew was surprised that the material ended up as a big deal to Canadian politicians.
"If politicians are upset about something, then clearly we know we did something right.
"Government needs to stay out of the public airwaves. It‘s as simple as that."
Soumalias also expresses disappointment over CHUM Television‘s decision to excise the Triumph skit from a Friday night re-broadcast on its Star specialty channel, noting that CHUM got only 15 calls complaining of the content of the bit, but many more beefs than that when they censored it.
He said that in a couple of weeks, he‘ll have the results of a scientific media-value analysis that will show the positive fallout from the O‘Brien visit will be in the tens of millions of dollars. And he sees no reason why they shouldn‘t do it again some time.
"The only thing I would change is I would not involve any government funding."
Meanwhile, the issue has been a heated one for newspaper columnists and for letter-writing readers. Last weekend, the Toronto Star gave over part of its front page to its TV writer who suggested everyone lighten up. But inside the paper, an official editorial told Conan to go home and not come back.
The message board for NBC‘s official website for Late Night also remains filled with comments from Canadian and American fans about the Quebec incident, most of them negative.
Iamcanadian wrote: "My reluctant thanks for uniting my proud but oft divided nation, as today we look beyond our many differences and speak with one voice, expressing unanimous distaste at your lame-o Quebec schtick."
From cityscribe: "Consider it fate‘s way of letting you know that you don‘t have enough information to ‘get‘ why it isn‘t funny."
Gotti2k wrote: "If he would have said those things about black or Latino people he‘d be fired and couldn‘t show his face in public. I hope you lose your job over this."
But Average Canadian posted this: "People who want to trash Conan for tossing about a few insults our way may want to take their collective heads out of their collective behinds. Canadians poke fun at Americans all the time. . .if you dish it out, be ready to take some in return."
Ground Zero for all of the hostility is humourist Robert Smigel, known not only for Triumph but his envelope-pushing animated contributions to Saturday Night Live, including Fun with Real Audio and faux super heroes like The X-Presidents and Ace and Gary, the "ambiguously gay duo."
JOHN MCKAY
http://www.hispeed.rogers.com/entertainment/story.jsp?cid=e021805A
And the Toronto businessman who spearheaded the effort to bring NBC‘s Late Night show to the city as a tourism booster says he "encouraged them to do the segment," even though the writers expressed concern about being insensitive.
In a sketch last Thursday night, the politically incorrect puppet-provocateur Triumph the Insult Comic Dog targeted French-speaking Quebecers in a series of envelope-pushing barbs.
The issue landed in the House of Commons on Friday with politicians of all stripes denouncing the material and the fact that nearly $1 million in tax money was spent to help lure the New York-based show to Toronto for a week.
On Tuesday, O‘Brien admitted that Triumph may have been barking up the wrong tree.
After his opening monologue Tuesday night, O‘Brien, with a French translator by his side, apologized with a dose of self-deprecating humour.
"People of Quebec, I‘m sorry," O‘Brien said in English.
That was translated and subtitled to: "People of Quebec, I‘m an albino jackass."
O‘Brien went on to say: "We meant no harm with our comedy piece the other night."
That was translated into: "The other night, I wet the bed like a little girl."
The comic then said: "I was a stranger in a strange land and I was very insensitive."
Translated, his comments read: "I have a small penis."
O‘Brien may have been responding to the belated wave of reaction in the U.S. media to the controversy.
American news outlets pounced on the issue this week, with stories about the incident getting an airing on Regis and Kelly and CNN and in USA Today and the Hollywood Reporter.
Even the New York Times weighed in, noting slyly that political satire is a big part of Canadian culture, including anti-American insults.
"Crude anti-French jokes are not uncommon outside of Quebec," the article said. "But they are generally told in private along with other ethnic humour considered politically incorrect."
But Peter Soumalias, businessman and founder of Canada‘s Walk of Fame, says while some of the political fallout was predictable, he has no regrets about his role in having Conan tape four shows in Toronto and believes the national public response has been overwhelmingly favourable.
"I did not receive a single complaint, personally," he said Tuesday. "As organizers, it far and away surpassed all our expectations. . .and we‘d do it all over again and wouldn‘t change a minute of it."
Soumalias says some of the Late Night writers did express concern about being insensitive in their material but that he was the one who encouraged them, assuring them that Canada was mature enough in its comedy.
"I encouraged them to do the segment," he says, adding that if we Canadians can‘t take it then it speaks volumes about how secure we are about our national identity. He says the Conan crew was surprised that the material ended up as a big deal to Canadian politicians.
"If politicians are upset about something, then clearly we know we did something right.
"Government needs to stay out of the public airwaves. It‘s as simple as that."
Soumalias also expresses disappointment over CHUM Television‘s decision to excise the Triumph skit from a Friday night re-broadcast on its Star specialty channel, noting that CHUM got only 15 calls complaining of the content of the bit, but many more beefs than that when they censored it.
He said that in a couple of weeks, he‘ll have the results of a scientific media-value analysis that will show the positive fallout from the O‘Brien visit will be in the tens of millions of dollars. And he sees no reason why they shouldn‘t do it again some time.
"The only thing I would change is I would not involve any government funding."
Meanwhile, the issue has been a heated one for newspaper columnists and for letter-writing readers. Last weekend, the Toronto Star gave over part of its front page to its TV writer who suggested everyone lighten up. But inside the paper, an official editorial told Conan to go home and not come back.
The message board for NBC‘s official website for Late Night also remains filled with comments from Canadian and American fans about the Quebec incident, most of them negative.
Iamcanadian wrote: "My reluctant thanks for uniting my proud but oft divided nation, as today we look beyond our many differences and speak with one voice, expressing unanimous distaste at your lame-o Quebec schtick."
From cityscribe: "Consider it fate‘s way of letting you know that you don‘t have enough information to ‘get‘ why it isn‘t funny."
Gotti2k wrote: "If he would have said those things about black or Latino people he‘d be fired and couldn‘t show his face in public. I hope you lose your job over this."
But Average Canadian posted this: "People who want to trash Conan for tossing about a few insults our way may want to take their collective heads out of their collective behinds. Canadians poke fun at Americans all the time. . .if you dish it out, be ready to take some in return."
Ground Zero for all of the hostility is humourist Robert Smigel, known not only for Triumph but his envelope-pushing animated contributions to Saturday Night Live, including Fun with Real Audio and faux super heroes like The X-Presidents and Ace and Gary, the "ambiguously gay duo."
JOHN MCKAY
http://www.hispeed.rogers.com/entertainment/story.jsp?cid=e021805A
