May 26, 2025
SHARE
CANADALAND
#1164 Dave Thomas of SCTV on Why Canadians Rule Comedy
 Dan Aykroyd blew in from Ottawa.  Andrea Martin came in from Maine and Joe Flaherty came in from Pittsburgh. Paul Schaffer came in from Thunder Bay. Marty Short and Eugene Levy and I came in from Hamilton. We congregated (in Toronto) because we had similar comic sensibilities.
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher
Bruce Thorson
Senior Producer
Caleb Thompson
Audio Editor
Julian Abraham
Reporter
max collins
Director of Audio

Canadian comedy legend Dave Thomas is here. What else is there to say? If you want to understand the last half century of comedy from SCTV to SNL to The Simpsons you only need to look to the comedic big bang moment when Thomas, Moranis, Levy and Martin converged on Toronto in the early 1970s. So Dave Thomas will tell you all about it, eh?

Of course SCTV is only one of the hats (toques) the writer, actor, producer and director has worn. Thomas brings us up to speed on his latest venture, travelling to Ukraine to film a documentary on the country’s stand up comedians.

Credits:

Host: Jesse Brown

Caleb Thompson (Audio Engineering), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)

 

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

 

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

Fact checking by Julian Abraham

Additional music by Audio Network

For more information on the Freedom Fund go to:

https://ukrfreedomfund.org/

Sponsors:

The Oat Company: Head over to https://oatcompany.com and use code CANADALAND20 for 20% off your order. They ship across Canada so you can enjoy them anywhere.

oxio: Head over to canadaland.oxio.ca and use code CANADALAND for your first month free!

More from this series
“ I'm sick. I am fatally ill and keeping me here is cruel. And discrimination is cruel.” -Claire Elyse Brosseau
November 9, 2026
What flavour is Noor’s vape? How did Archie break their leg walking? And as an Albertan, what does Sam think about the referendum now that it’s over?
November 5, 2026
“ I'm a little sad for the students because they were robbed, frankly, of their cause.” -Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, senior envoy for Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
November 2, 2026
“Every time I feel or hear sirens, I feel like they’re coming for me.” -Daniel Brown, one of the last inmates of Ontario's "training schools"
October 26, 2026
“The idea that we would be having a secession referendum in the most prosperous province, in one of the most successful liberal democracies in the world, is absurd.” -Patrick Lennox, author of On Treason
October 19, 2026
“Public dollars require public accountability, and every publisher in this country should want that.” -David Skok
October 12, 2026
“What’s my crime? Journalism? … I get that I piss off a lot of people with my articles.” -David Pugliese
October 5, 2026
 ”These are a group of white men coming to our area saying, "We bring you the gift of nuclear waste.” - Dennis
October 1, 2026
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
CANADALAND