''Bye Bye'' is an annual Quebecois

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

special, broadcast by

Ici Radio-Canada Télé Ici Radio-Canada Télé (formerly known as Télévision de Radio-Canada) is a Canadian French-language free-to-air television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada), the national pub ...

. The yearly program features sketches satirizing the past year's events, followed by a countdown to the next year itself. Originally beginning in 1968, ''Bye Bye '98'' was the final edition of its first run, until the show was revived by the comedy troupe

Rock et Belles Oreilles Rock et Belles Oreilles (RBO) was a Canadian radio, television and stage comedy group that was very popular in the primarily French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec during the 1980s and 1990s. Its name was a pun on the name of the famous Hann ...

, who produced the 2006 and 2007 editions of the show. In 2008, it was announced that

Véronique Cloutier Véronique Cloutier (born December 31, 1974), also known as Véro, is a popular French Canadian TV and radio personality. She is the daughter of Guy Cloutier and the sister of Stéphanie Cloutier. She has hosted various programs on Radio-Canada, i ...

and Louis Morissette would take over the program for its 2008 edition. However, this edition provoked controversy over certain sketches that viewers found to be derogatory and racist; such as a sketch about the

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

of then-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

president-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Unit ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, and a sketch making fun of

anglophone Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...

s. The network received 1,300 complaints from viewers about the content in the special, which led to Cloutier making a public apology stating that the sketches were supposed to criticize racism rather than promote it. As a result of the controversy, a 2009 edition was not produced, but despite the controversy surrounding their edition, Cloutier and Morissette announced that they would return to produce a 2010 edition of ''Bye Bye''. In 2018, the special began to achieve record viewership, with that year's edition overtaking an episode of ''

La Petite Vie ''La petite vie'' was first a stage sketch of the comedy duo Ding et Dong, formed by Claude Meunier and Serge Thériault, and later a hit Quebec television sitcom aired by Radio-Canada from 1993 to 1999. In total, 59 episodes were created plus 3 s ...

'' as the highest-rated Quebecois television program of all-time—with 4.471 million viewers. In 2020, due to restrictions on gatherings due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec The COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Until 2021, Quebec had reported t ...

, ''Bye Bye 2020'' (which featured several sketches lampooning the provincial and federal government's responses) achieved a record 3.8 million live viewers—a 93% market share. The 2021 special—which included a cameo appearance by recently-fired

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

manager

Marc Bergevin Marc Bergevin (born August 11, 1965) is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player. He is currently senior advisor to the general manager of the Los Angeles Kings. Bergevin played as a defenceman in the NHL. Playing career As ...

in a parody of

Uber Eats Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by Uber in 2014. Meals are delivered by couriers using cars, scooters, bikes, or on foot. It is operational in over 6,000 cities across 45 countries as of 2021. The process of ...

' commercials—once again broke records due to strict COVID-19 restrictions. With 4.862 million viewers, it was reported to be the highest-rated Quebecois television program of all-time (and in turn, among the top television broadcasts nationwide of 2021). The only other program among the top five is the aforementioned ''La Petite Vie''.

References

External links

Le Bye Bye
at the Radio-Canada Web site
RBO dit oui au Bye Bye 2007 (from Le Soleil, RBO says yes to Bye Bye 2007)
{{New Year 1968 Canadian television series debuts 1998 Canadian television series endings 2006 Canadian television series debuts 1960s Canadian sketch comedy television series 1970s Canadian sketch comedy television series 1980s Canadian sketch comedy television series 1990s Canadian sketch comedy television series 2000s Canadian sketch comedy television series 2010s Canadian sketch comedy television series 2020s Canadian sketch comedy television series Canadian television specials Ici Radio-Canada Télé original programming New Year's television specials Annual television shows New Year in Canada

See also

References

External links