CODCOis aCanadiancomedy troupe fromNewfoundland,best known for asketch comedyseries which aired onCBC Televisionfrom 1988 to 1993.[1]
| CODCO | |
|---|---|
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No.of seasons | 5 |
| No.of episodes | 63 |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Newfoundland,Halifax, Nova Scotia(Production Studio) |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBC |
| Release | 1988– 1993 |
Founded as a theatrical revue in 1973,[1]CODCOdrew on the province's cultural history of self-deprecating "Newfie"humour, frequently focusing on thecodfishing industry. The troupe's name was an abbreviation of "Cod Company".
Following the end ofCODCO,two of the troupe's core members and an occasional guest collaborator, as well as some of their sketch characters, moved on to the new seriesThis Hour Has 22 Minutes.[1]
Roots
editIn 1973,Tommy Sextonand Diane Olsen wrote a comedic show about Canadian stereotypes of Newfoundlanders,Cod on a Stick.Originally launched inToronto,the cast consisted of Sexton, Olsen,Greg Malone,Cathy Jones,Mary Walshand Paul Sametz.[2]The show subsequently opened inSt. John's,with Scott Strong replacing Sametz, and then toured the province withRobert Joyreplacing Strong. When the show was taped by theNational Film Boardin 1974,Andy Jonesappeared in the cast as well.
Sexton, Olsen, Malone, Cathy Jones, Andy Jones, Walsh and Joy subsequently performed in the showSickness, Death and Beyond the Gravein 1974. In 1975, all except Malone, who was on a brief sabbatical to study at theToronto Dance Theatre,appeared inWhat Do You Want to See the Harbour For, Anyway?;later that year, Malone rewrote the show asDas Capital.
In the fall of that year, the troupe compiled bits from their earlier shows for a week-long performance inPhiladelphia,which was titledPhiladelphia: Somewhere on the Hungry Coast of Newfoundland.That show was also taped for broadcast onCBC Television'sPeep Show,asFestering Forefathers and Running Sons.[3]
Joy and Olsen left the troupe in 1976.
Mike Jones,Cathy and Andy Jones' brother, was not a performing member of the troupe, but was associated with them as a frequent director of their stage shows.[4]
Over the next number of years, the troupe's members only rarely worked together as CODCO, but often collaborated with each other individually on various projects, including the filmThe Adventure of Faustus Bidgoodand the television seriesThe Root Seller,The Wonderful Grand BandandThe S and M Comic Book.[2]Greg ThomeyandPaul Steffleralso frequently collaborated with the CODCO members on various projects.
TV series
editIn 1986, Walsh, Sexton, Malone, Cathy Jones and Andy Jones reunited as CODCO for a benefit show in St. John's.[2]Sexton and Malone had just completed the successful and popularS and M Comic Bookseries ofCBC Televisionspecials, and the CBC was interested in developing further projects with the duo — after the success of the CODCO reunion show, the troupe decided to work on a CODCO series.
CODCObegan production in 1986, and debuted on the CBC in 1988.[2]Although not regular contributors, Thomey and Joy sometimes appeared onCODCOas guest performers.
For most of its run,CODCOaired as the latter half of a one-hour sketch comedy block, immediately followingThe Kids in the Hall.[1]
Segments and characters
editCODCOshared several characteristics withThe Kids in the Hall,including the presence of openlygaymembers and the use ofdrag[5]— although whereThe Kids in the Halloften revelled inabsurdist humour,CODCO's sketches were typically based around social commentary andsatire,often with a strongly political edge.[6]Their sketches were also strongly reflective of the troupe's background on the stage, sometimes playing more as humorous character or scene studies than as conventional sketch comedy.[1]
Recurring characters included the Friday Night Girls (Walsh and Jones), a homely, dateless pair of female friends whose Friday nights rarely consisted of anything more exciting than riding theMetrobus;[1]Dakey Dunn (Walsh), an unexpectedly insightful macho lout;[1]Frank Arsenpuffin (Andy Jones), a hapless talk show host faced with a succession of horrifying guests; Marg at the Mental (Sexton), a patient in apsychiatric hospital;and Jerome and Duncan (Sexton and Malone), a flamboyant pair of gay lawyers.[1][5]Thomey sometimes appeared on the show as Newfoundland separatist Jerry Boyle, a character he would later reprise onThis Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Another recurring sketch, House of Budgell, was essentially an ongoingsoap operaset in aboarding house.[6]Wake of the Week focused on the Furlong sisters, a pair of elderly spinsters who regularly crashedfuneral wakes,while The Byrd Family focused on a family of hardened criminals. Another of the show's most famous sketches parodied Canadian literary iconAnne of Green Gables;instead ofPrince Edward Island,Anne lived in a dreary Newfoundland fishing outport called Green Gut.[7]In another, a former Newfoundlander now resident inTorontobrought his girlfriend home to meet his parents; the sketch escalated to the brink of violence as the parents tried to explain why theMi'kmaq,not Newfoundlanders, were responsible for the extinction of theBeothuk.
Malone performed a number of celebrity impersonations, includingMargaret Thatcherand Canadian television journalistBarbara Frum,[6]while Sexton did recurring impersonations ofBarbara WaltersandTammy Faye Bakker.In one famous sketch, Malone as Frum moderated a debate between Jones as a gay teacher who had been fired from his job for testingHIV-positiveand Sexton as Clarabelle Otterhead, the homophobic president of a lobby group called Citizens Outraged by Weird Sex (or COWS).[8]The troupe also parodied the conventions of television news through mock local newscasts; in one such sketch, aracistanchor character loudly blamedAfricaforAIDS:"It's all your fault, it's all your fault. Nah nah nah nah nah nah. You're black, you're black, take your dirty bugs back. You're screwing green monkeys and giving it to our junkies. We give you all our foreign aid, and all we gets back is AIDS, AIDS, AIDS."[6]
Parodymusic videoswere also a frequent feature of the show. In a transparent spoof of Quebec pop idolMitsou,Cathy Jones playedJansu,a shallow, self-promoting pop singer who tried to be topical with lyrics such as "it's a political world/so separate your garbage!". Sexton parodiedbody imageas Dusty Springroll, who sang an ode to the fashionability ofbulimia.Figures such asAnne MurrayandBruce Cockburnwere parodied in commercials for compilation albums with satirical lyrics set to the melodies of real songs by the artists, while another sketch was set in a café holding aLeonard Cohenimpersonation contest.[7]
The end ofCODCO
editIn 1991, a sketch was filmed forCODCOcalled the "Pleasant Irish Priests in Conversation", which involved threeRoman Catholicpriests discussing their sexual experiences;[6]it was a reference to the then-ongoingMount Cashel Orphanagechild abuse controversy. The CBC refused to air the sketch. As a result, Andy Jones quit the show in protest.[6]The series carried on for two more years before it came to a close in 1993. Ironically, the CBC subsequently aired "Pleasant Irish Priests" in aCODCO Uncensoredspecial just a few months after the regular series ended.
Following the end of CODCO, Walsh and Cathy Jones worked with Thomey andRick Mercerto createThis Hour Has 22 Minutes.[6]Several CODCO characters, including Dakey Dunn and Jerry Boyle, were carried over to the new series.
Sexton died in 1993 of complications fromAIDS.[1]
Malone ran as aNew Democratic Partyin theSt. John's Westby-electionin 2000, losing narrowly toLoyola Hearn.[9]Malone ran as the Green party candidate for the riding ofAvalonfor the2019 federal election.[10][11]
References
edit- ^abcdefghiCODCOArchived2017-04-26 at theWayback Machineat the Museum of Broadcast Communication.
- ^abcdCODCOat Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage.
- ^"Television: Ratings are good news for Global".The Globe and Mail,November 20, 1975.
- ^"Codco show no place for reserve".The Globe and Mail,September 22, 1979.
- ^abClaude J. Summers,The Queer Encyclopedia of Film & Television.Cleis Press,2005.ISBN978-1573442091.p. 64.
- ^abcdefgZoë Druick and Aspa Kotsopoulos,Programming Reality: Perspectives on English-Canadian Television.Wilfrid Laurier University Press,2008.ISBN978-1-55458-010-1.
- ^ab"Revisiting CODCO".The Globe and Mail,February 25, 2009.
- ^"Queens pay tribute to clown prince"Archived2013-04-11 atarchive.today.The Telegram,December 21, 2009.
- ^"Tories narrowly win Nfld. byelection".Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.2000-11-10.Retrieved2015-12-15.
- ^"Actor, Activist Greg Malone Running for Green Party in Federal Election".
- ^Emery, Rosie (18 June 2019)."Canadian comedy legend runs for Greens in Newfoundland".Ottawa:Green Party of Canada.Retrieved20 June2019.
