Tim Progosh, co-founder of the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame. The hall’s first-ever full-on festival kicks off on Feb. 21 with an evening of Indigenous comedy.Handout
Looking at the list of members in the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame, one is struck by the legendary names not yet among the enshrined. Where is Russell Peters? Where is Elvira Kurt?
Fact is, there are so many great comedians not in the hall, it’s not even funny.
This year’s inductions take place in Hamilton this weekend. The first wave of performers and creators were enshrined way back in 2000 and 2001, but then the hall went dormant for more than 20 years. Now they’re playing catch-up.
Take Billy Van – please. The funny man hailed by The Globe and Mail in the 1960s as “perhaps the most talented variety performer ever developed by the CBC,” and who was one of the stars of the classic 1971 Canadian children’s series The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, will be inducted this year, more than two decades after his death.
“There isn’t anybody who has held a microphone in this country who hasn’t been influenced by Billy Van, and people are telling us his induction should have happened a long time ago,” says comedian and hall president Kenny Robinson. “Well, a lot of things should have happened a long time ago. But it’s happening now.”
The story of the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame goes back to 2000, when actor/television producer Tim Progosh founded the Canadian Comedy Awards to annually recognize the year in funny. The same year, he established the hall, whose original honourees were John Candy, Rich Little, Dave Broadfoot, Don Harron, CBC’s The Royal Canadian Air Farce and Wayne and Shuster (Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster).
While there was initial enthusiasm for the hall from sponsors and broadcasters, the interest never amounted to anything substantial. Progosh and his partners decided to put aside their plans for the hall and concentrate on the Canadian Comedy Awards. Over the years, proposals to establish a permanent home for the hall in Ontario never amounted to anything. In 2017, after a deal in Niagara Falls, Ont., fell though, a frustrated Progosh gave up on his dream.
“Everything was lost,” says the onetime federal political lobbyist and former regular on the fantasy television show The Adventures of Sinbad. “I went back to being an actor and took a part-time job with Enterprise rental car.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, a board of directors was established and the hall applied for charity status. A virtual ceremony in late 2022 saw a whopping 18 inductions in three categories, including Stephen Leacock, Second City founder Andrew Alexander, Mort Sahl, Leslie Nielsen and Catherine O’Hara.
“It got momentum,” Progosh says of the hall of fame’s resurrection.
Again looking for a home base, Progosh and the board considered Ottawa and Niagara Falls before settling on Hamilton, thanks to a three-year commitment and a “little bit of money” from the city’s tourism office. “Hamilton,” Progosh says, “seemed like a good fit.”
Kenny Robinson, Winnipeg-born stand-up and co-founder of the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame.Handout
Indeed, many of the legacy inductees, creators and performers among the class of 2023 (to be enshrined Friday at the city’s Convention Centre and Saturday at FirstOntario Concert Hall) have Steeltown connections. Eugene Levy and Martin Short are hometown heroes; Steve Smith’s The Red Green Show was produced at Hamilton’s CHCH-TV, as was the Billy Van-starring The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.
The hall’s first-ever full-on festival kicks off on Wednesday with an evening of Indigenous comedy, Got Land, at Levity Comedy Club. Noticeably missing from the hall’s honourees are Indigenous members and people of colour.
“The Canadian comedy industry has not always been inclusive,” Robinson says.
He would know. In the mid-1990s, the Winnipeg-born stand-up introduced the ground-breaking monthly all-Black comedy revue Nubian Disciples of Pryor at Toronto’s Yuk Yuk’s. Both he and Progosh hope to see someone such as veteran Black stand-up Evan Carter make it into the hall next year. Comic Elvira Kurt, who often talks about being a lesbian during her routines, is on their radar as well.
Among this year’s inductees in the creator category is Jo-Anna Downey, a comedian and impresario who died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at age 49 in 2016. She was the beloved host of an open-mic night at Spirits pub on Toronto’s Church Street.
“She made Spirits a place where women and comics under the rainbow banner could feel safe, welcome and loved,” Robinson says. “As an industry, we have kicked some doors down. And what doors we haven’t kicked down, we left the window open on the side so people could creep in.”
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Brad Wheeler