Royal Canadian Air Farce - You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers!

Thursday, October 14, 2005 - UPDATE - ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE launches its 13th lucky season on CBC Television, Friday, October 28 at 8pm with six permanent cast members.
Craig Lauzon and Alan Park are now full-fledged conspirators in Air Farce’s comedy antics, joining Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and Jessica Holmes for a new season dedicated to sending up the newsworthy, the pretentious, and the just plain silly.

Both Craig and Alan have made regular appearances on Air Farce - Lauzon sending up Stephen Harper and George Stroumboulopoulos among others, and Park with his weekly ‘Not the Official Story’ sit-down satirical look at the news. Both comics will see their roles in AIR FARCE expanded during the upcoming season.

“There’s a hot supply of funny business, political intrigue, and assorted scandals for us to sink our teeth into this Fall, and we’re ready to ridicule them all,” says Roger Abbott. “Plus, now that we’re a cast of six we can take on even more personalities. More faces means more Farce, more fun.”

Alan Park, who claims both Toronto and Vancouver as hometowns, is a veteran comedy club performer and seasoned comedy writer who has appeared in Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival, and toured extensively in England. He also starred in his own episode of CTV’s Comedy Now.

AIR FARCE is taped every Thursday evening at the CBC Broadcasting Centre, Toronto. Free tickets are available by calling 416.205.5050 or online at www.airfarce.com.

Ottawa native Craig Lauzon has been part of the alternative sketch comedy scene since 1996. He has appeared on The Comedy Network’s Chez Carla show and co-wrote and starred in the Canadian Comedy Award nominated show, The Chick and Cubby Comedy Hour. He is a member of the aboriginal sketch comedy troupe, Tonto’s Nephews.

Thursday, October 6, 2005 - UPDATE - Our season launch will be Friday October 28 at 8:00 PM on CBC Television. Our first taping is the night before, Thursday October 27. Please join us in the studio (click here for tickets) and on CBC Television for our first new show of the season. Roger, Don, Luba, Jessica and Alan, and the Air Farce writers - Gord, Rick, Rob and Wayne - and the entire Air Farce production team are looking forward to the new season of Canada's #1 sketch and satirical comedy show.

Available Now! Click Here. Here are 50 favourite funny scenes from the past Air Farce season, including two visits from special guest (and WWE wrestling Diva) Trish Stratus, plus more than 5 minutes of never-broadcast “flubs and quacks” blooper scenes.

Air Farce built its award-winning reputation by spinning daily news headlines into comedy punchlines, taking shots at world and national politics, and finding the funny in everyday events. And the 2005 season provided tons of topical targets: The NHL hockey lockout, George Bush's second term, Same-sex marriage, the Gomery Inquiry (complete with Jean Chrétien's golf balls), Prince Charles and Camilla tying the knot, Paul Martin's minority government, and Stephen Harper's deadly defence of all things Conservative.

Monday, October 3, 2005 - The good news is that the Canadian Media Guild, representing 5,500 CBC technicians, journalists, designers and production staff, and CBC have reached an agreement to end the 7-week lockout and sign a new labour contract. In the days to come, the deal is expected to be ratified by union members and the doors to CBC studios across Canada will be re-opened.

We hope that our new season of Royal Canadian Air Farce will be able to launch on Friday, October 21. Because so many of the people who work on Air Farce are CMG members, and our studio is at CBC Toronto -- and because we're a topical show that is broadcast within 24 hours of taping -- we have not been "stock-piling" new episodes, ready for immediate broadcast. As soon as CBC crews are back at work, the full Air Farce team will be busy and in production.

Please keep checking in at airfarce.com for further updates, and our official 2005-2006 launch date. If you'd like to join our studio audience, click here for tickets. If you'd like to be on our e-mail list for updates, please e-mail us here and you'll be one of the first to know.

Meanwhile, if CBC is important to you, why not tell your member of
parliament - send him or her an e-mail, and copy Prime Minister Paul
Martin at Martin.P@parl.gc.ca and Heritage Minister Liza Frulla at Frulla.L@parl.gc.ca.

Royal Canadian Air Farce is scheduled to return for a new season on CBC Television. Due to the ongoing lockout, our new season start date remains uncertain. Please check back regularly for more information as talks between the CBC and the Canadian Media Guild continue.

Air Farce saw a ratings uptick during the 2004/2005 season, both on Friday nights (up a modest 3%) and the Monday repeat, which scored a 14% increase in viewers. The dual telecasts delivered an average-per-minute audience of 1,291,000 viewers for each episode of the season, peaking at 1.7-million in mid-February.

The Farce welcomes the ratings rebound, attributing it to the expansion of the cast (as Craig Lauzon and Alan Park joined Roger, Don, Luba and Jessica for most of the season) and the improved pace of the show with more shorter sketches and animations. Viewers responded favourably to the additions, finding more reasons to laugh more often.

CBC Television will repeat episodes from the just-completed season, Fridays at 8:00 PM, from June 17 through September 23.

Classic episodes from earlier seasons (currently 1996-1999) are screened Tuesday to Thursday afternoons at 3:00 PM on CBC.

And episodes from the recent past air daily on the Comedy Network at 7 AM, 1 PM and 7 PM (Eastern and Pacific time; that's 6, 12 and 6 in Atlantic and Mountain; 8, 2 and 8 in Central).

Thanks for another great season, and please join us for our new season starting sometime in the fall.

FRIDAY, DEC. 31 AT 8 PM: There are some new holds, twists and throws as Royal Canadian Air Farce takes its annual shot at laughing out the old year on 2004: YEAR OF THE FARCE, New Year's Eve at 8pm on CBC Television.

The Farce foursome has morphed into a six-some this season, as originals Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson and Luba Goy and recent newcomer Jessica Holmes are joined by versatile sketch player Craig Lauzon and satiric commentator Alan Park.

Adding to the fun this New Year's Eve is special guest, five-time World Wrestling Entertainment® Womens Champion, Trish Stratus. The Toronto-born WWE superstar is a household name for wrestling fans, and she's developing a reputation in comedy, too—with appearances on Fox's Mad TV and on stage with Toronto 's famous The Second City. Stratus promises “Stratusfaction Guaranteed™”. Also dropping by with his annual laugh-back at the year is national treasure Dave Broadfoot.

It also wouldn't be New Year's Eve without the multiple firing of the Chicken Cannon Target of the Year. Tune in to find out our top target of 2004. The top ten range from politicians like Alfonso Gagliano and Carolyn Parrish to the lovable Spongebob Squarepants to the NHL negotiations between Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow. Whoever the target, the ammunition is sure to be messy.

The Royal Canadian Air Farce's New Year's Eve Special repeats at 10:30 p.m., and the Air Farce will be back at 11:55 p.m. for their traditional countdown to midnight and 2005. Count down the final minutes of 2004 and welcome the new year with Jessica Holmes and Craig Lauzon. They'll show some comedy clips, check the clock, and count down the final 30 seconds of the year. At the stroke of midnight, Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards will launch into a swinging version of Auld Lang Syne , providing the soundtrack for Canadians everywhere to toast the new year. Laughs and the accurate time—plus, a monkey riding a dog and Rex Murphy in a thong—what a way to spend New Year's Eve!

Continue the comedic journey to 2005 at 9 pm on CBC Television with Just For Laughs New Year's Special . Hosted by Shaun Majumder's slick alter ego Raj Binder, the special features performances by Wayne Brady, Caroline Rhea, Tim Allen, Tom Arnold, Lewis Black, Tammy Pescatelli, Omid Djalili and many more. It's a sneak preview of the upcoming Just for Laughs TV series that starts in January. This show repeats at 11:30 p.m. with a break at 11:50 p.m. for the countdown to midnight.

More Farce fun with the hot-button topics of 2004: Coach's Corner on a 7-second delay! Jacko gets more wacko! Squirting baby hoser! George Bush & Britney Spears! Sister Melanoma's Movie Review! Love to lose with the Stankins diet! The TV Commercials you love to hate! Governor General's Spending Spree! Chrétien's "A Proof is A Proof!"

Over an hour of non-stop laughs with Royal Canadian Air Farce, starring Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and Jessica Holmes.

Here are 4 great Air Farce episodes, featuring 4 great guest stars - Sean Cullen, Ron James, Peter Keleghan and Patrick McKenna - each forming a foursome with Air Farce's Roger, Don and Luba.

Each episode is also a time capsule of what was shaking our world (or at least making headlines) that week - wayward politicians at home, a spanking nun, weapons of mass destruction, and our own weapon of messy destruction, the mighty Air Farce Chicken Cannon.

And, as a special bonus, there's a clip-filled tribute to original Air Farce star and writer John Morgan ("I'm Mike, From Canmore") which Alison Smith prepared for CBC News: The National when John retired from the series. Click here for more details and ordering information.

ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE is a quartet again! Roger, Don and Luba have invited JESSICA HOLMES to join them as a permanent Air Farce cast member.

After guest appearances where she's performed characters ranging from shamed celebrities Michael Jackson and Paris Hilton to Canadian sports stars Hayley Wickenheiser and Terry Leibel, and plenty of viewer response, Air Farce welcomes Jessica as a weekly player.

"Jessica is a tremendous fit with Air Farce,” says producer Don. “She is a wonderfully skilled and versatile comic who invents characters and impersonates the famous with great ease. Jessica is a fresh and funny addition to our show.

A veteran of sketch and improvisational comedy, Jessica Holmes is an Ottawa native who attended a performing arts high school where she performed comedy with an award-winning improv team. Before studying at Ryerson University 's Radio and Television Arts program in Toronto , she traveled in Europe and did two years of missionary work in Venezuela . After graduating she joined the Second City company and toured the country.

Jessica Holmes starred in the CTV series ‘The Holmes Show' last season, and other TV series appearances have been in Sonic Temple, The Itch, History Bites, and in the feature film Welcome to Mooseport. She also starred in a one-woman show called Jessie's Girls.