''Comedy at Club 54'' was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

program hosted by Ben Guyatt. The show was produced from the early 1990s until 2002 and is now airing in syndicated re-runs on the Canadian

Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octo ...

. Tapings took place in

Burlington, Ontario Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...

at Club 54. The live performances still happen weekly, although new episodes of the ''Comedy at Club 54'' TV show have not been aired since 2002. The taped shows usually begin with a zoom-in to host Ben Guyatt, who then reads the "Joke of the Week", which was a weekly

joke A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with ...

ostensibly sent in from program viewers across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Typically, he then throws the joke card behind him and says to the audience "Welcome to Comedy at Club 54!" This was followed by the opening sequence, audience applause, and the show's

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

, played by an in-house band. Guyatt then introduces the comedians, who over the years have come from all over North America. The performances were almost all of the typical stand-up comedy variety, but also included magicians, ventriloquists, vaudeville acts, comedy duos and musical acts. Every show features at least two comedians with a 12-minute televised spot (less time if there are more guests), although the live performances are much longer and were edited for time. Acts who appeared on the show include Pat McKenna and

Russell Peters Russell Dominic Peters (born September 29, 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on ''Forbes'' list of the world's highe ...

. The show usually closes with Guyatt once again on stage, calling up the comedians for a final bow. At this point Guyatt would usually say "And remember, we share the planet with the animals, so please, I beg ya, treat 'em with respect", followed by "Goodnight Mom, I love ya!"

External links

Comedy at Club 54
- Official Website
Ben Guyatt
- Official Website
Comedy at Club 54
at The Comedy Network 1990s Canadian comedy television series CTV Comedy Channel original programming 1990 Canadian television series debuts 2002 Canadian television series endings Canadian stand-up comedy television series Television shows filmed in Ontario Burlington, Ontario {{Canada-comedy-tv-prog-stub