1. My American friends don't believe me when I tell them that not only does Canada have a state broadcaster, but it also has government comedians who do government comedy on that government broadcaster.

I know you think I'm making that up, but this is one of their accounts. 👇
2. It's a contradiction to be a government comedian unless your job is explicitly to mock the government itself, like Will Sommers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Somm… He was a jester, a kind of official opposition given legal immunity for challenging the king where others would be punished.
3. We think of jesters as clowns or jugglers who just make jokes. But "many a true word is spoken in jest". Showtime's "The Tudors" has a wonderful depiction of a jester, as a bitter and biting critic of the king, genuinely relied on as an defence against lying flatterers.
4. Comedy -- like punk music -- is inherently anti-authoritarian. So you can't have a government punk band any more than you can have government comedians. If you can't mock the powerful, you mock the weak, and that's not funny:
5. Scroll down the timeline of the government comedy show @22_Minutes. They do mock some powerful people. But only rivals of Trudeau -- so it's really an opposition research war-room, with a laugh track. Trudeau hates Jason Kenney, so his comedians do too:
6. This was a terrible week for Trudeau. Two of his MPs publicly denounced his approach to the truckers. That's fertile soil for jokes. Instead, they loyally mock the dissenters. I'm surprised they don't tag Trudeau and say, "please notice me, boss."
7. Donald Trump hasn't been president for over a year, but Trudeau's comedians still mock him. It's a simulation of speaking truth to power, a placebo -- holding another country's (former) leader to task, so bravely. And siding with "our guy":
8. The legislative rationale for creating the CBC state broadcaster was to broadcast Canadian stories, especially ones that the private sector didn't do. That's obviously obsolete in the age of the Internet. But how are anti-Trump jokes possibly within its mandate?
9. All the funniest Canadian comedians move to the U.S. Mike Myers, John Candy, Jim Carrey, Dan Akroyd, the late Norm Macdonald, Phil Hartman, etc. SNL's Lorne Michaels himself. There's not enough work in Canada to sustain a professional comedian -- except gov't work at the CBC.
10. With few exceptions, it's the losers. But if you're willing to polish Trudeau's shoes, you can get a job at the CBC state broadcaster -- a guaranteed paycheque, without the gruelling town-by-town circuit. The CBC comedians are literally the government bureaucrats of comedy.
11. Half the reason they're obsessed with Trump is they hate him; they know Trudeau hates him; and he's a safe target that won't get them fired. But the other half is, they hope they'll get noticed in New York, scouted in the big leagues.

I don't think it's ever happened.ppend.
12. Now, some Americans might be saying, "we have unfunny comedians who run defence for the Democrats and mock Republicans too".

Sure. But imagine if it was a government department you were forced to pay for their crud through your taxes. $1.5B/year for the CBC.
13. But my main grievance with the government comedians at the CBC state broadcaster isn't their partisanship, or the fact that I'm forced to pay for them.

It's just that they're so deeply, painfully un-funny.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Ezra Levant 🍁🚛

Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ezralevant

Feb 12
1. The Legion head office has been colonized by woke, anti-veteran extremists. They’re hated by the grassroots members (including me). Discount anything from this official twitter account — it’s obviously just Trudeau talking points.
2. The Legion hired a leftist named Nujma Bond who has brought Critical Race Theory into the heart of the Legion. I remember when she freaked out that I had a book launch there. She said I was banned -- the local veterans laughed at her and welcomed me. cbc.ca/news/canada/to…
3. This is the perfect example. Actual veterans are taking down the atrocious fences around the war memorial and cleaning the place up. Police agree with it. But it embarrasses Trudeau, so Nujma Bond falsely speaks in the Legion's name, attacking the veterans. So gross.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 11
1. Let me show you the law used to freeze the truckers' money. (I don't think they're actually seizing it; I think it's safely in a U.S. bank.)

Here's the government's press release. If I can find the full order I'll post it. They're using s. 490.8 of the Criminal Code.
2. Here's the link to s. 490.8 of the Criminal Code: laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/… It's a "a restraint order... in respect of any offence-related property". The kind of thing you'd use to seize a drug-dealer's speedboat, or cash.
3. The court hearing is done in secret -- for the element of surprise. In legalese, "ex parte" -- without the other party there. So it was a sneak attack. The application "may be made ex parte and shall be made in writing to a judge and be accompanied by an affidavit."
Read 35 tweets
Feb 10
1. I think I know how this trucker rebellion is going to end. Hear me out.
2. Two days in a row, Liberal MPs have publicly distanced themselves from Trudeau's fiasco. He's never had such a crisis before and he's never mismanaged it so badly. Gerald Butts' usual advice - smear everybody as racist sexist Nazis - isn't working. It's made things worse.
3. No-one believes it anymore, especially when everyone can see for themselves how happy and Canadian the crowd is. They see thousands of Canadian flags but they hear Trudeau snarling about Nazi flags. Suddenly Trudeau looks old and out of touch. Image
Read 26 tweets
Feb 8
1. The first thing to know about the media is that they're lazy. They'd rather re-write a government press release than get up from their desk and report from the field -- especially when it's -20° out.

So they repeat Trudeau's lie that the truckers are racist and sexist.

...2
2. The second thing to know is that in Canada, more than 99% of journalists receive a payment from Justin Trudeau. Here's the list of the journalists who took Trudeau's $61 million pre-election pay-off: rebelnews.com/exclusive_news…

It's more than 99% of working journalists.
3. There is an illusion of media competition in Canada, but it's an oligopoly. Postmedia -- the largest recipient of Trudeau's media bail-out -- owns every English-language daily newspaper in Canada, except two. And even they just run the same wire copy as their competitors.
Read 29 tweets
Feb 6
BREAKING: Ottawa Police move against peaceful protesters, arresting truckers in the streets.

More to come from our independent journalists. Follow us at ConvoyReports.com.
I just spoke with our reporter @lincolnmjay. He says that when he showed up with his camera, police seemed to stop what they were doing. He has not seen an arrest with his own eyes yet -- the situation is very dynamic. Will report more later.
More from Lincoln: police seem to be seizing fuel from truckers. Fuel is not an illegal substance; this really seems like lawlessness on the part of the police. I can't fathom what possible colour of right allows them to seize property without a warrant.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 6
ਮੁੰਡਿਆਂ ਤੋਂ ਬੱਚ ਕੇ!
I feel like this is the only time I will be able to share my Bhangra faves with you. Here’s another:
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

:(