2023 Legacy Inductees
- Happy Gang
- Rose Ouellette
- Marie Dressler
2023 Creator Inductees
- Jo-Anna Downey
- Joe Bodolai
- Steve Smith *
2023 Performer Inductees
- The Cast of SCTV
- Steve Smith *
- Jim Carrey
- Eugene Levy
- Martin Short
- Billy Van
* First inductee in 2 categories
2023 Legacy Inductees
The Happy Gang (comedy troupe radio show CBC 1937-1959)
In its hay day two million Canadians tuned in to hear the ‘knock-knock ‘on the door, the voice that answered, “Who’s there?” The response “It’s the Happy gang” and the warm welcome, ”Well Come on in!” And the variety show entertained, boy did it entertain.
During WWII the Happy Gang records were played on trans-Atlantic crossings, and back home the song “There’ll Always Be an England” was performed nearly every day by The Gang to give all hope. Bert Pearl was the band leader and Master of Ceremonies, trumpeter Bob Farnon, violinist Blain Mathe and Kathleen (Kay) Stokes rounded out the original four-member troupe/band. In 1975 they did a special show at the CNE with many of them now in their ‘80s. They were so delighted as over 20,000 people showed up to remind The Happy Gang they will never be forgotten.
Rose Ouellette (August 25 1903-September 14 1996)
- Also known as La Poune
- Sometimes Worked as a duo with Olivier Guimond (Ti Zoune)
- Director of the Theatre National
- Her show was sold out, including matinees, for 17 years.
- First Quebecoise artist to record for RCA Victor.
As a pioneer of burlesque theatre and comedy in Québec, Rose Ouellette influenced several generations of francophone artists and comedians. Her talent and contribution to the Québec stage was rewarded with several awards and distinctions. In 1983, she was awarded the Félix tribute award during the ADISQ Gala. In 1991, she was awarded the Prix Victor award at the Festival juste pour rire (along with Juliette Pétrie). She was inducted as a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec (National Order of Québec) in 1990. A street in Montréal has since been named in her honour.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/rose-ouellette
Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934
Marie was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star.[3][4] In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy, Tillie’s Punctured Romance, opposite Charlie Chaplin. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1931 for the comedy Min and Bill.
2023 Creators Inductees
Jo-Anna Downey (Montreal February 1, 1967 – December 1, 2016)
A comic’s comic, and a comic who nurtured comics, the late Jo-Anna Downey was funny, insulting and warm in equal measure. Her legendary Wednesday night open mike at Toronto’s Spirits nightclub had a wide reputation, attracting major stars like Robin Williams (who received a tongue-lashing from Downey for hogging the stage). On any given night, you could see top Canadian comics trying out new material, drop-ins like Lewis Black and Patton Oswalt, or then-future stars like Ryan Belleville and Debra DiGiovanni. Canadian comedy was her extended family, and that family mourns her still.
Joe Bodolai (May 11, 1948 - Dec 26, 2011)
Although born in the US, Joe moved to Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft.
His show Comics! was instrumental in launching and showcasing the careers of the best in Canadian comedy : Brent Butt, Mike MacDonald, Harland Williams, Shaun Majumder and Irwin Barker
He is best known for producing such television shows as It's Only Rock & Roll, Comics!, and The Kids in the Hall and helping to launch the careers of the young talent featured on those shows. He also co-wrote the first draft of the film Wayne's World with Mike Myers.
Bodolai was a founder of The Comedy Network, helping the new channel secure its licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in 1996.
Steve Smith (Dec 24, 1945 - )
A writer, actor and comedian, Steve Smith, created the iconic character Red Green. Smith began in a rock band with his wife Morag. They left the band to form the duo Smith & Smith. Hamilton station CHCH gave the Smiths their own show which ran from 1979-1985. At that time, they took a year off to do a family sitcom, Me & Max. They recreated Smith & Smith as The Comedy Mill which ran till 1991. The Comedy Mill also featured Linda Kash, Meg Ruffman and Peter Keleghan. At this point Morag decided to focus on the family so Steve focused on the character Red Green. Red Green got its TV debut in 1991 and it ran until 2006. During this time Smith also wrote the television show Laughing Matters and a full-length feature Duct Tape Forever. When the TV show ended Steve toured Canada and the US with his one man shows both in character as Red Green and as himself. He received the order of Canada in 2006.
2023 Performer Inductees
The Cast of SCTV (1976-1983)
The television show and its characters that we all fell in love with evolved from the stage show and improv phenomenon The Second City. It featured a cast that had spent time honing their craft on Lombard St at the old Firehall. Created as its own network, SCTV had a President in Guy Caballero, and a stable of ‘stars’ including Bobby Bittman, Johnny LaRue and Lola Heatherton to name a few. SCTV launched the careers of John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Martin Short, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. The show also featured recurring characters played by Tony Rosato, John Hemphill, Robin Duke, Harold Ramis and Jayne Eastwood as well as many special guest appearances.
Steve Smith (Toronto Dec 24, 1945)
A writer, actor and comedian, Steve Smith, created the iconic character Red Green. Smith began in a rock band with his wife Morag. They left the band to form the duo Smith & Smith. Hamilton station CHCH gave the Smiths their own show which ran from 1979-1985. At that time, they took a year off to do a family sitcom, Me & Max. They recreated Smith & Smith as The Comedy Mill which ran till 1991. The Comedy Mill also featured Linda Kash, Meg Ruffman and Peter Keleghan. At this point Morag decided to focus on the family so Steve focused on the character Red Green. Red Green got its TV debut in 1991 and it ran until 2006. During this time Smith also wrote the television show Laughing Matters and a full-length feature Duct Tape Forever. When the TV show ended Steve toured Canada and the US with his one man shows both in character as Red Green and as himself. He received the order of Canada in 2006.
Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey is an award-winning actor and New York Times bestselling author who has been honored for both his dramatic and comedic work. He won a Golden Globe Award, for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, for the title role in Peter Weir’s The Truman Show. Jim won his second Golden Globe, for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, for his portrayal of comedian Andy Kaufman in Milos Forman’s Man on the Moon.
Over the course of his career, Carrey has also been recognized numerous times by the MTV Movie Awards,
People’s Choice Awards, and Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. In 2017, Carrey was honored with the Generation Award at the Just For Laughs Festival. Carrey was also honored with the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy at the 2018 Britannia Awards. Carrey was most recently seen starring in Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 reprising his role as the villainous Dr. Robotnik from the 2020 hit film Sonic the Hedgehog. He stars alongside James Marsden, Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz. The film was released on April 8, 2022.
Carrey starred in, and executive-produced, the critically acclaimed Showtime series Kidding portraying Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, an icon of children’s television. Carrey was nominated for a 2019 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for Kidding and the series was nominated for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy. Jim Carrey’s novel, Memoirs and Misinformation, a New York Times bestseller, was
published by Alfred A. Knopf on May 5, 2020. Carrey wrote the book in collaboration with novelist Dana Vachon. It is a fearless and semi-autobiographical deconstruction of persona. Carrey and Vachon have fashioned a narrative about acting, Hollywood, agents, celebrity, privilege, friendship, loneliness, romance, addiction to relevance, fear of personal erasure, growing up in Canada, and a cataclysmic ending of the world — apocalypses within and
without. “None of this is real and all of it is true,” says Carrey. In 2017, he showcased his art in the short documentary Jim Carrey: I Needed Color which explores his life as an artist. In 2018, the Maccarone Gallery in Los Angeles presented IndigNation: Political Cartoons by Jim Carrey 2016-2018. The exhibition featured a selection of
Carrey’s original political cartoon drawings made over the past two years which express his views on the current American political climate. Carrey’s latest exhibition, This Light Never Goes Out, presented by the Phi Centre in Montreal, features over 50 of his works and is running from June 20 to September 1, 2019.
Carrey is the subject of the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton. The documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at Carrey’s award-winning performance as Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon. Carrey received an Emmy nomination as an executive producer. He also served as an executive producer on the Showtime comedy series I’m Dying Up Here, set in the 1970’s stand-up comedy scene. Carrey’s other recent projects include Ana Lily Armipour’s The Bad Batch. In November 2014, the long-awaited sequel Dumb and Dumber To debuted at number one at the box office, with Carrey reprising his role as Lloyd Christmas. Twenty years after Lloyd and Harry set out on their first adventure, they head out in search of one of their long lost children in the hope of gaining a new kidney. Carrey’s film credits include the comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone opposite Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi, the family comedy Mr. Popper’s Penguins, and director Robert Zemekis’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic tale A Christmas Carol, in which Carrey portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge, as well as the three ghosts that haunt him. He also starred in I Love You Phillip Morris, a dark comedy written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and director Peyton Reed’s romantic comedy Yes Man opposite Zooey Deschanel. Previously, Carrey lent his voice to the title character of the CGI-animated film version of Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! which was a blockbuster hit. He also starred opposite Virginia Madsen in the psychological thriller The Number 23, directed by Joel Schumacher; starred opposite Tea Leoni in the hit 2005 comedy Fun with Dick and Jane, directed by Dean Parisot
and produced by Brian Grazer; Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events based on the children’s book series by Daniel Handler; as well as the critically acclaimed drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for which Jim received Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations for Best Actor. In 2003, Carrey starred in the hugely successful comedy Bruce Almighty, which was one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Bruce Almighty also marked his third successful collaboration with director Tom Shadyac, who had earlier directed him in the hit comedies Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Liar, Liar, for which Jim was nominated for a Golden Globe. In 2001, he starred in The Majestic, and in 2000, Carrey had the distinction of starring in the year’s highest-grossing film, Dr. Seuss’ classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His performance as the Grinch brought him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. That summer, Carrey also appeared in the Farrelly brothers’ comedy Me, Myself & Irene. In 2000, he was named “Male Star of the Year” at ShoWest. Carrey was previously named the ShoWest Comedy Star of the Year in 1995 for his breakout roles in the comedy hits Dumb & Dumber, his first film for writers/directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask, for which Carrey received his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. He was later Golden Globe-nominated for his work in 1997’s hit film Liar, Liar.
Born in Newmarket, Ontario, Carrey began his career as a stand-up comic while still in his teens. Moving to Los Angeles at the age of 19, he immediately became a regular at Mitzi Shore’s Comedy Store, attracting the attention of comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield. Dangerfield was so impressed with the young comic that they began touring together. In 1982, he was cast on the NBC series The Duck Factory. The next year he landed his first lead film role in the feature Once Bitten, starring Lauren Hutton. He followed that with roles in Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married and the comedy Earth Girls Are Easy, with Geena Davis. In 1988, Carrey made a brief, but memorable, appearance as Johnny Squares, the self-destructive rock star, in the Clint Eastwood film The Dead Pool. In 1990, Carrey joined the cast of Fox Television’s ensemble comedy hit In Living Color. In November 1991, his first Showtime Special, Jim Carrey’s Unnatural Act, premiered to rave reviews. He followed with a starring role as an alcoholic trying to cope with life in the Emmy- nominated telefilm Doing Time on Maple Drive. In 1994, after several successful seasons on In Living Color, Carrey gained international attention when he starred in the title role of the smash hit comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. His subsequent film credits include the sequel, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, the dual role of Riddler/Dr. Edward Nygma in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever, and Cable Guy, directed by Ben Stiller.
On September 24, 2013, Carrey released his first children’s book, How Roland Rolls. The book received the Gelett Burgess Award which honors books created especially for children. In addition to the book, a 4 song EP with songs written and performed by Carrey and his daughter Jane was released on iTunes as well as an enhanced e-book version. Carrey was awarded an honorary doctorate in May 2014 from officials at the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. In his commencement speech Carrey famously told graduates, "You can fail at what you don't love, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love."
Eugene Levy
Levy started his career writing and acting in the Canadian television sketch series SCTV (1976–1984), earning two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. He also appeared in the films National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Splash (1984), and Multiplicity (1996). He also became known for co-writing and appearances in a string of improvised-dialogue films with Christopher Guest, including Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). He also appeared in the American Pie series of films.
From 2015 to 2020, he starred as Johnny Rose in the sitcom Schitt's Creek, a comedy series that he co-created with his son and co-star Dan Levy. In 2019 and 2020, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, which he won in 2020. He also received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
Martin Short
He is known for his work on the television programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live. Short created the characters Jiminy Glick and Ed Grimley. He also acted in the sitcom Mulaney (2014–2015), the variety series Maya & Marty (2016), and The Morning Show (2019). He has also had an active career on stage, starring in Broadway productions including Neil Simon's musicals The Goodbye Girl (1993) and Little Me (1998–1999). The latter earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and the former a nomination in the same category.
He has starred in comedy films such as Three Amigos (1986), Innerspace (1987), Three Fugitives (1989), Captain Ron (1992), Clifford (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996), Jungle 2 Jungle (1997), and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006). Short also provided voice-work for films like The Pebble and the Penguin (1995), The Prince of Egypt (1998), Treasure Planet (2002), 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2003), The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008), Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Frankenweenie (both 2012), and The Wind Rises (2013).
In 2015, Short started touring nationally with fellow comedian Steve Martin. In 2018, they released their Netflix special An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life for which they received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Since 2021, he has co-starred in the Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building alongside Martin and Selena Gomez. For his performance he has earned nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award, the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and the Critics Choice Television Award.
Billy Van
As a comedian, Van gained national attention in 1963 as a performer on CBC Television's late-night satire programme Nightcap. In the United States he appeared in many commercials for Colt 45 Malt Liquor as a man sitting at a table waiting for a drink, unfazed by everything going on around him; Van starred in these commercials throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, and won a Clio Award for one of these commercials in 1975.[5]
Through the 1970s, Van was a regular member of the "home team" on the CHCH-TV charades series Party Game. In 1971, he began making The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, also for CHCH in Hamilton, Ontario. It is this show for which he is best known, and it has developed a cult following. Some 130 episodes were produced, and Van played almost every lead character.[6] The characters included the Count (Count Frightenstein, for which he put on a fake Bela Lugosi-type voice); Grizelda the Ghastly Gourmet (an old witch with a cauldron who did a cooking show); and The Wolfman, who, in an imitation of DJ Wolfman Jack would play records, and dance to them.
Van was a regular performer on The Ray Stevens Show, The Ken Berry "Wow" Show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Bobby Vinton Show, and the Hudson Brothers
