BOB AND DOUGIE!!! XD!!!!!

Strange Brew baby... Strange Brew.

I remember those characters. They used to play SCTV on NBC during every night during late-night a few years ago.

Love those guys. Made sure my kid brothers knew about them before I left home, and they've shared the legend of the McKenzie brothers with many kids. The legend lives on. X3

Hmm, I thought the original excuse for Bob and Doug was some mythical requirement to have a certain amount of 'purely Canadian' content in each show?

I've heard the story too... it's probably true as far as explaining *why* the McKenzie Brothers were on the air goes.

. . . And many people around the world get their idea of what Americans are like from Hollywood. It’s pretty much the same all over; most folks have only the most distorted idea of how other folks live.

You mean you don't all carry concealed guns when you walk the dog, or drive chrome plated Hummers the length of the driveway just to pick up the mail?

I don’t have (or want) a dog, though I’d like to get a CCW permit. Gosh, you say that as if it were a bad thing!

I despise all SUVs, especially civilian Hummers, and have enjoyed quite a bit of schadenfreude as gasoline prices have skyrocketed. The kernel of truth here is that SUV sales indeed were disproportionately high in the US for a decade or more. They’ve always had plenty of critics here too, but as a symbol of affluence they’re irresistable.

People are hypnotized by the most publicized aspects, whether true or exaggerated, and don’t look past them to the substance of everyday life—but then that too likely is true of just about anywhere in the world.

You see enough Hummers in Toronto too, though its clear that few of the owners need to carry a dead cow through two feet of snow over a moutain to bury it. The supidest thing I've seen in this line isn't the Stretch Hummer, but a drop Hummer with dubs. It was barely clearing five inches from the pavement, and the huge chrome hubs looked like something more at home hanging from Cher's ears. Why buy an off-road vehicle and wreck it this way?

SUV's breifly lost their popularity a few years ago during a gas spike. I thought it was a much deserved death knell then, but gas prices dropped a bit and people got used to it. Then SUV sales returned to what they were again. This time, I hope the stake is hammered home and the gas vampires stay dead.

I don't begrude people who genuinely need a real off-track vehicle. Few of us are modern Indiana Joneses though. Even in the country, I suspect something less than a Hummer is quite adequate. There are smaller but still quite robust Jeeps and Land Rovers that can negotiate all but major ice ages or jagged glacial peaks.

you know, stereotypes just aren't getting any better. I remember, in the mid-70s, me and my mother took a bus trip out to Lancaster for the day. On the way, we passed a man dressed all in black, with a brimmed hat and a beard, riding a horse. I remember saying to my mom 'Look at that, a chasidim riding a horse!'.

That's rich. Of course he was a Mennonite?

Heh.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsfVw9xxoNY

Amish, more likely. The mennonites generally drive, altho some ride for pleasure, of course.

Of course... I knew when you said Lancaster,which is in Pennsylvania and near the Amish region I believe. I was just messing with your head.

I remember me and Assinio made a trip out there when I lived not far away, to a plac3e called the Plain and Fancy. It's still there, but now it's own and run by guatemalans, who have Mennonites dressed as Amish working the front.

You and Kevin huh? That means I probably know you under that clever plastic otter disguise.

He wanted me and Steve Martin to return to Toronto thorugh Amish country one time, but Steve dragged his heels and caused us to leave Anthrocon so late we couldn't fit in a sausage fest on the way back. I think Kevin was a couple of years forgiving Steve. He loves his stomach that man does. But to be fair, I understand that a good Amish restaurnat piles on the food, and its good quality.

I wonder why the Guatamalans don't hire the Amish? Does being Amish demand you not do anything as new-fangled as cash checks, pay UI, or wash dishes in an electric dish washer when you're told? Or are Menonites cheaper?

I used to like a Fish & Chips place in Toronto. It was called The Frying Scottsman, and featured fried haggus on the menu. (Which was great since it didn't come in a sheep's stomach and wasn't served with turnips, thank gawd.) It was run by a couple of Chinese.

Hm? You know me. I'm an east-coast regular, altho I've had to miss the last two anthrocons. You drew yourself breaking the law, in my 'Crime and Punishment' sketchbook. We've chatted many times.



I don't know why the Guatemalans bought the restaurant, but the Amish have been retreating from the tourist side of things for years. Nearly every 'Amish' attraction is stocked with a mix of mennonites and actors. It's a sign of the times. You can't be just 'a little' Amish, and the number of Amish kids who bolt the first chance they get is ever on the increase. On the other hand, the food is still fairly cheap, amazingly plentiful, and tasty as hell, a combination that I rarely encounter.

The problem I have with "meeting" people on the net is that you keep meeting them under different names. Maybe I'm too old fashioned to keep all the pseudonyms straight. You might say I'm "green" at it?

XM Radio has a stand-up comedy channel, Laugh Attack devoted to Canadian content, where I first heard "Take Off'. That led to my looking into the history of the duo.

There's a very entertaining personal account of the whole show, written by Dave Thomas, titled simply SCTV.

It's staggers me to read that so many comedians used to stay up all night together in doughnut shops, bullshitting each other, at pretty much the same time I was doing the same with my friends. I don't thnk we cut quite such a public swath in later life, though one writes about history and has a bit of a rep in some circles, another is a Hugo winning SF writer... and there's me. I don't think any of us have made as much money in our lives as John Candy or Jim Carey made from a single movie...