| A headliner on comedy stages for more than 20 years, comic Glen Foster bills himself as That Canadian Guy. The moniker pokes fun at the short attention spans of audiences who can’t remember the comedian’s name. Its origins run back to a long-ago show in England where after his set Foster overheard many Brits saying things like, "That Canadian guy sure is funny."
While he covers a broad range of comedic turf in any particular live show, one of Foster’s favourite and most consistent targets is that quirky national group he himself proudly belongs to.
In the performance featured on his current DVD, Shot at the Empire, Foster spotlights a monthly ritual he learned from his father. He describes the routine of sitting down with a cheque book, scribbling off payments for a pile of bills and cursing and complaining the whole time. With an indignant shriek, the Oakville, Ontario resident channels his dad as he proclaims of a high utility bill, "They can kiss my ass! I will sit in the dark."
Foster then explains, "That is such a Canadian threat. ‘Well, if I don’t get my way I will punish myself further. I will see just how much of me I can take!’"
While a propensity for being meek is something Foster sees in many residents of this country, it’s not a trait he applies to directing his career. For his Empire DVD, That Canadian Guy took the rather un-Canadian step of putting it out on his own terms without any grants, credits or taxpayer-funded sponsorships of any kind.
In part to satisfy the requests of fans, Foster says his 100-minutes-plus disc includes updated versions of much of his previously televised material. "I did try on a couple of occasions to convince producers of previous TV stuff to release a DVD, and I met with zero response," Foster says, "so I said ‘screw this, I’ll just do it myself.’"
Released by Bullseye Records, the DVD hit retailers in early November. The well-rounded performance, recorded in Belleville, Ontario, required much forethought in the selection of material. "It was a real logistics nightmare," Foster recalls. "I was trying to think to myself, ‘When will this thing come out?’ We shot it in February (2004) and I am doing jokes about the war on terror assuming that it will still be going on but I am also thinking, ‘jeez, what if there’s an attack in Canada? Anything could happen that could screw it up.’"
Looking at the show now, Foster says, "I don’t think there’s too much on the DVD now that is seriously out of date. It still seems to hold up."
A veteran of many performances at Montreal’s Just for Laughs comedy festival, the self-deprecating funnyman does not shy from going after the woeful status of the Canadian military, the mad cow crisis and other national issues that serve as fodder for many other comics. Foster tackles the subjects he finds amusing and interesting to him. "You can put your own twist on things," he says.
Besides, if anyone were to complain about his joke selection Foster knows that he could fall back on that most Canadian of protests – defy his detractors by announcing, "I’ll sit in the dark!" |
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