Bob and Doug McKenzie are Canadian icons. It makes sense that they came into existence due to a government demand for Canadian content.
TWO MINUTE WARNING
After two years as a production of the small, regional Global Television Network, the sketch comedy show SCTV shifted production to the CBC in 1980. One stipulation: SCTV had to add two minutes to its run time, and, per the requirements of the network and the government’s “Canadian Content” regulations, that two minutes had to be distinctly Canadian.
Producers sent the missive down to the creative staff, which included future comedy superstars Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, who were both cast members and writers. “We thought it was ridiculous,” Moranis later told the Chicago Tribute. “We do the show in Canada, we write it here, we’re Canadians. How can they ask us to be more Canadian?” So, Thomas and Moranis came up with something that sort of celebrated Canada, but mostly made fun of it, creating two characters to embody every Canadian stereotype they could think of—two slow-talking, beer-swilling, plaid-and-toque-clad, back-bacon-eating goofballs who said “eh” almost constantly. They even gave them Canadian-sounding names: Bob and Doug McKenzie. (Thomas called the McKeznies “a satiric statement on what happens when you try to make entertainment a nationalistic issue.”)
THEY TOOK OFF
The McKenzies, portrayed by Moranis and Thomas, made their debut in a sketch on the September 19, 1980 episode of SCTV, as hosts of a talk show called The Great White North. They immediately (and ironically) became the most popular characters on the show—if not in Canadian TV history. Moranis and Thomas also recorded a #1 album as the McKenzies (with the single “Take Off,” featuring Geddy Lee of Rush), not to mention a hit movie (1983’s Strange Brew), and even an animated series.
Pet tarantulas are forbidden in Toronto.