The CBC in Canada is debuting a new sitcom in January called "Little Mosque on the Prairie," which details the travails of a muslim woman in Saskatchewan. In a NYT preview today, the producers are quoted as wondering if such a thing can be funny in tense times. The best line in the piece is this:
"In an earnest manner not atypical of Canadians, one goal of the show is to explain Muslim behavior, or at least make Muslims seem less peculiar, much as humor about Jews, Italians or gays helped those groups assimilate."
I'm not so sure that Canadian humour is generally earnest. In fact I think our reputation for being earnest and harmless lets us get away with a lot.
The best example of this is Rick Mercer's series "Talking to Americans," which is archived here. No one from Canada could be anything other than harmess, right?
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