John Doyle has been doing a yeoman’s job of mocking Fox News North. Today’s gem is rife with true comedy, for which Doyle has a talent unlike his Sun News counterparts’ unintentional comedic style:
Why, recently, Conservative MPs on the House of Commons standing committee on access to information, privacy and ethics requested Sun News stars Levant and Brian Lilley to appear to jaw on about the CBC and the CBC’s assertion that some of its activities should continue to be exempt from the Access to Information Act (a matter before the courts this fall). They demurred, being wise showbiz slickers and knowing that their shtick would be diminished by absence from studio lights and the comedy stage that is the Sun News studio.
Mind you, as with all comedy, things can go awry on Sun News. One evening not long ago, on the program Byline, host Lilley went into one of his well-practised attacks on the CBC. He pointed out that the partner of Kirstine Stewart, boss of all CBC English services, is Zaib Shaikh, the sexy guy from Little Mosque on the Prairie and that the sexy guy might have production deals with the CBC. The fact that CBC has a policy on such matters, as does any modern corporation, cut no ice. A photo of Stewart, who is what is known as “a looker,” appeared. A photo of her beau appeared too, though he seemed to be in a leather jacket and wearing shades, looking like the terrorist in some old Bruce Willis movie.
Then Lilley made fun of the name of Hubert T. Lacroix, president of the CBC, calling him “Herbert,” “Hubert” (English pronunciation, for a laugh) and “Hubie.” Now, I ask you – is this funny? Well, I guess it might be at the fun level of schoolboys pulling the pigtails of the pretty girl in the playground and running away going “Nyah, Nyah, Nyah!” And then making fun of some other kid’s name.
It’s not all comedy as Doyle takes aim at the phony claims by Sun News of slaying its competition:
(In the matter of viewership, in the April 18-July 31 period, in weeknight prime time, Sun News averaged 25,000 viewers, CBC NN 111,000 and CTV News Channel 45,000. In mid-August, Sun News boasted of a breakthrough: One night, Charles Adler had 62,000 and Byline 80,000. This was an anomaly, as the next night Adler dropped to 30,000 and Byline to 19,000.)
