Dave Broadfoot (December 5, 1925 – November 1, 2016) was a Canadian comedian and satirist. He is best known for his performances as a member of the

Royal Canadian Air Farce The Royal Canadian Air Farce was a comedy troupe that was active from 1973 to 2019. It is best known for their various Canadian Broadcasting Corporation series, first on CBC Radio and later on CBC Television. Although their weekly radio series ...

."Dave Broadfoot, iconic Canadian comedian of the Royal Canadian Air Farce, dead at 90"
''Toronto Star'', Peter Edwards, Nov. 2, 2016

Early life

Broadfoot was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, to a religious family. He left high school in 1943 and joined the merchant navy, serving until 1947.

Career

In the late 1940s, Broadfoot returned home and participated in

community theatre Community theatre refers to any theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community. It may refer to a production that is made entirely by a community with no outside hel ...

in Vancouver, eventually gravitating towards comedy. He moved to Toronto in 1952 and for ten years was a writer and performer in the

stage revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...

s ''Spring Thaw'' and ''The Big Review''. In 1962, ''Spring Thaw'' had a run at the

Hammersmith Theatre The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

under the name ''Clap Hands'', with a cast that included Broadfoot,

Corinne Conley Corinne Alexandra Conley (born May 23, 1929) is an American actress who spent the majority of her career in Canada, notable for having won the Canadian Council of Authors and Artists' Best Actress Award. Conley is known for her voiceover work i ...

Jack Creley Jack Creley (March 6, 1926 – March 10, 2004) was an American-born Canadian actor."A 'great man of words and theatre'". ''The Globe and Mail'', March 19, 2004. Although most prominently a stage actor, he also had film and television roles. Backg ...

and

Eric Christmas Eric Cuthbert Christmas (19 March 1916 – 22 July 2000) was a British actor, with over 40 films and numerous television roles to his credit. He is probably best known for his role as Mr. Carter, the principal of Angel Beach High School, in th ...

. In the 1950s and 1960s, Broadfoot appeared on several CBC television shows, including ''The Big Revue'', the '' Wayne and Shuster Show'', and ''Comedy Café'', on the ''

Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night ...

'' in the U.S. in 1955, and on radio with ''Funny You Should Say That''."Dave Broadfoot"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' From 1973 to 1993 he was a member of the radio version of the ''

''. He retired from regular performing when the troupe moved to television, although he continued to appear on the show as an occasional guest star, including the TV series finale in 2008. In addition to stand-up routines in the traditional format, Broadfoot created a number of recurring characters including, most notably: *Big Bobby Clobber, a professional

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

player who seemed to have taken a few too many hits or else was not very sharp to begin with. *David J. Broadfoot, the Honourable Member of Parliament for Kicking Horse Pass, representing the New Apathetic Party. (

Kicking Horse Pass Kicking Horse Pass (el. ) is a high mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Americas of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta–British Columbia border, and lying within Yoho and Banff national parks. Divide Creek forks onto both s ...

is a mountain pass in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

with a negligible population.) *Sgt. Renfrew of the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP). Broadfoot performed this character for the RCMP on a number of occasions, receiving 'promotions' over the years. He was an honorary

Sergeant-Major Sergeant major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. History In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's infantry, and ranked about third in the ...

. Broadfoot also wrote the scripts for a

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

adaptation based on this character, which was drawn by Olga Urbansky in the late 1970s. After leaving Air Farce, Broadfoot toured comedy clubs and appeared at the '' Just for Laughs'' festival. He starred in the 1998 comedy special, ''Old Enough To Say What I Want'', and two years later in ''Old Dog, New Tricks'', winning

Gemini Awards The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States a ...

for both. Broadfoot also starred in the short-run sitcom '' XPM''. He received several

ACTRA The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is a Canadian trade union representing performers in English-language media. It has 25,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media. The org ...

and

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

awards and was an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. In 2003, Broadfoot received a

Governor General's Performing Arts Award A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

for Lifetime Artistic Achievement for his work in broadcasting. He wrote an autobiography, also entitled ''Old Enough to Say What I Want'' (). He retired in 2005. Beginning in 2006, the

Canadian Comedy Awards The Canadian Comedy Awards (CCA) is an annual ceremony that awards the Beaver for achievements in Canadian comedy in live performance, radio, film, television, and Internet media. The awards were founded and produced by Tim Progosh in 2000. T ...

gave the Dave Broadfoot Award for Special Achievement. He also did voices for two animated Christmas specials, ''George and the Christmas Star'' and ''Bluetoes the Christmas Elf'', and made a guest appearance as a hospital patient in the hit TV series, ''

Puppets Who Kill ''Puppets Who Kill'' is a Canadian television comedy programme produced by PWK Productions and originally broadcast on The Comedy Network. It premiered in Canada in 2002, and in Australia on The Comedy Channel in 2004. It has also been broadcast ...

''. Broadfoot died on November 1, 2016, at the age of 90.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Broadfoot, Dave 1925 births 2016 deaths Canadian stand-up comedians Canadian sketch comedians Canadian radio personalities Canadian male voice actors Officers of the Order of Canada Royal Canadian Air Farce Canadian sailors Canadian satirists Canadian comics writers Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners Canadian male comedians Comedians from British Columbia 20th-century Canadian comedians 21st-century Canadian comedians