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Canadian humour is an integral part of the Canadian Identity. There are several traditions in Canadian humour in both English and French. While these traditions are distinct and at times very different, there are common themes that relate to Canadians' shared history and geopolitical situation in North America and the world. Though neither universally kind nor moderate, humorous Canadian literature has often been branded as “gentle satire,” evoking the notion embedded in humorist Stephen Leacock’s definition of humour as “the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life and the artistic expression thereof.”〔Bourgeois-Doyle, Dick, What’s So Funny?: Lessons from Canada’s Leacock Medal for Humour Writing. General Store Publishing House, 2015. ISBN 978-1-77123-342-2. p.57〕 Various trends can be noted in Canadian comedy. One thread is the portrayal of a "typical" Canadian family in an ongoing radio or television series. Examples include ''La famille Plouffe'', with its mix of drama, humour, politics and religion and sitcoms such as ''King of Kensington'' and ''La Petite Vie''. Another major thread tends to be political and cultural satire: television shows such as ''CODCO,'' ''Royal Canadian Air Farce'', ''La Fin du monde est à 7 heures'' and ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes,'' monologuists such as Yvon Deschamps and Rick Mercer and writers, including Michel Tremblay, Will Ferguson and Eric Nicol draw their inspiration from Canadian and Québécois society and politics. Another trend revels in absurdity, demonstrated by television series like ''The Kids in the Hall'' and ''The Frantics,'' and musician-comedians such as The Arrogant Worms, Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie and Bowser and Blue. Satire is arguably the primary characteristic of Canadian humour, evident in each of these threads, and uniting various genres and regional cultural differences. As is prevalent in other countries, humour at the expense of regional and ethnic stereotypes is also found in Canada. Obvious examples are 'Newfie' jokes (with 'Newfie' being a colloquial term for a person from the island of Newfoundland) and jokes revolving around English-speaking Canadians' stereotype of French Canadians,〔() The Toque〕 and vice versa. Humber College in Toronto and the École nationale de l'humour in Montreal offer post-secondary programs in comedy writing and performance. Montreal is also home to the bilingual (English and French) Just for Laughs festival and to the Just for Laughs museum, a bilingual, international museum of comedy. ==Literature== From the first major work of Canadian humour, Thomas McCulloch’s ''Letters of Mephibosheth Stepsure'' (1821-23) in the Halifax weekly ''Acadian Recorder'', Canadian humorous writing has tended more towards prose than poetry. McCulloch's satirical letters have been described by Northrop Frye as "quiet, observant, deeply conservative in a human sense..." McCulloch's satirical persona, the "conventional, old-fashioned, homespun" farmer, is part of a tradition that originates with Addison and Swift. Compared to McCulloch’s dry and understated style, Thomas Chandler Haliburton showed the same conservative social values in the brash, overstated character of Sam Slick, the Yankee Clockmaker. Haliburton’s Sam Slick persona in ''The Clockmaker'' (1836), as Arthur Scobie notes in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', "proved immensely popular and, ironically, has influenced American humour as much as Canadian."〔Scobie, Stephen ("Humorous Writing in English" ). ''The Canadian Encyclopedia.'' Retrieved on: March 24, 2008.〕 Folk humour and satire were responses to the domination of 19th-century French Canadian culture by the Catholic Church. Napoléon Aubin satirized Quebec public life in his journals ''Le Fantasque'' (1837–45) and ''Le Castor'' (1843), and through his theatre troupe, ''Les Amateurs typographiques, '' established in 1839. He was imprisoned during that same year for his views. This cosmopolitan tradition is also seen in the journalism of Arthur Buies, editor of ''La Lanterne canadienne'' (1868–69), a highly satirical journal of that era.〔Lacombe, Michelle ("Humorous Writing in French" ). ''The Canadian Encyclopedia.'' Retrieved on: March 24, 2008.〕 Light comedy that mocked local customs was typical of 19th-century theatre in Quebec. Examples include Joseph Quesnel's ''L'Anglomanie, ou le dîner à l'angloise'' (1803), which criticized the imitation of English customs, and Pierre Petitclair's ''Une partie de campagne'' (1865). More serious dramas attacked specific targets: the anonymous ''Les Comédies du status quo'' (1834) ridiculed local politics, and ''Le Défricheteur de langue'' (1859) by Isodore Mesplats, (pseudonym of Joseph LaRue and Joseph-Charles Taché), mocked Parisian manners. Other examples of theatrical satire were Félix-Gabriel Marchand's comedy, ''Les faux brillants'' (1885) and Louvigny de Montigny's ''Les Boules de neige'' (1903), which took aim at Montreal's bourgeoisie.〔 By the early 20th century, the satirical tradition was well developed in English Canada as exemplified in the writing of Stephen Leacock. In ''Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town'' (1912), Leacock, renowned for his satirical wit, used tragic irony and astute insight in examining day-to-day, small-town life. The book remains a classic of Canadian literature, and was followed by ''Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich'' in 1914. An annual Canadian literary award, the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, is named in his memory.〔 The award is presented to the year's best work of humorous literature by a Canadian. Donald Jack, three-time winner of the Leacock Medal, wrote a number of comedies for the stage, radio, and television, but is best known for his nine-part series of novels about aviator Bartholomew Bandy. Following the ''Révolution tranquille'' in Quebec, theatrical satire reappeared in 1968 with Michel Tremblay's play ''Les Belles sœurs,'' written in Québécois joual. The controversial play picked apart the myth of a stable bourgeois Quebec society with a mix of realistic comedy and allegorical satire. Following Tremblay’s lead, Jean Barbeau exposed Quebec popular culture in ''La Coupe stainless'' (1974). Tremblay and Barbeau set the stage for reviews such as ''Broue'' (1979), a collective production, which toured English-speaking Canada as ''Brew'' (1982).〔 Humorous fiction in French Canada draws from the oral tradition of folk songs and folktales which were the common coin of humour in the 19th century. Only a few of these folk tales surfaced in writing prior to the 20th century. However, contemporary writers such as Jacques Ferron (''Contes du pays incertain,'' 1962) in Quebec and Antonine Maillet in Acadian New Brunswick (''La Sagouine,'' 1974, and ''Pélagie-la-Charette,'' 1979), rely extensively on folk humour and popular culture. Other Quebec writers noted for their humour include Roger Lemelin, Gérard Bessette, Jacques Godbout, Roch Carrier and Yves Beauchemin.〔 Beauchemin's picaresque novel ''Le Matou'' (1981) is the all-time best-selling novel in Quebec literature. The plain talking alter-ego as an instrument of satire continued with Robertson Davies' series of Samuel Marchbanks books (1947–67) and John Metcalf's James Wells in ''General Ludd'' (1980).〔 Davies is one of many Canadian writers of "serious" literature who were also renowned for humour in their work. Margaret Atwood, Farley Mowat, Paul Quarrington, Mordecai Richler, Raymond Fraser, Carol Shields, W. O. Mitchell, Ray Guy, Pierre Berton, M.A.C. Farrant and Miriam Toews are all acclaimed writers of mainstream literature who have also been acknowledged for using humour and wit in their writing. Many other writers of Canadian humour have been published as newspaper or magazine commentators, including Gary Lautens, Richard J. Needham, Eric Nicol, Joey Slinger, Will Ferguson, Marsha Boulton and Linwood Barclay. Humour is also central to the work of Canadian children's writers such as Gordon Korman, Dennis Lee and Robert Munsch. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Canadian humour」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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