Gary Pearson is 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 ...

comedian, and television writer-producer. His writing credits include ''

MAD TV ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by '' Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reunion show in 2015 to celebrate the twentie ...

'', ''

This Hour Has 22 Minutes ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' (commonly shortened to ''22 Minutes'' since 2009) is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics w ...

'', ''

Corner Gas ''Corner Gas'' is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV, CTV2, CTV Comedy Channel, Much, MTV, E! and are streaming on Crave and Amazon Prime. The seri ...

'', and ''

That's So Weird! ''That's So Weird'' is a Canadian sketch comedy television show produced by Halifax Film Company (later DHX Media Halifax), created by Jeff Copeland, broadcasts on YTV. The show has been described as '' SCTV'' or ''Mad TV'' for teenagers and inc ...

''. He is co-creator of the television series '' Sunnyside''.

Career

He grew up in the southwestern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

village of

Comber Comber ( , , locally ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies south of Newtownards, at the northern end of Strangford Lough. It is situated in the townland of Town Parks, the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of Ca ...

. Taking an early interest in politics and art, he began to do editorial cartoons for the nearby weekly newspaper '' The Tilbury Times''. He attended

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west- Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded i ...

's illustration course, then later the cartooning and graphic story course. He got work in the public

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

animation department and became one of its mainstays. He animated segments for ''

Mr. Dressup ''Mr. Dressup'' is a Canadian children's television series, starring Ernie Coombs, a former understudy of Fred Rogers, in the title role. It originally ran on CBC from 1967 to 1996, soon becoming an iconic presence in Canadian media. Producti ...

'' and a portion of a Buddy Cole segment on ''

The Kids in the Hall The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy troupe formed in 1984, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson. Their eponymous television show ran from 1989 to 1995, on CBC, ...

''. In the late 1980s, he got involved with the improv comedy troupe Dangerous Poultry through the group Theatresports Toronto, then with

The Chumps Without a Net ''The Chumps Without a Net'' was a half-hour sketch comedy show aired on CBC Radio in 1996 and 1997. The show aired on CBC Radio One on Saturday afternoons as a segment on ''Definitely Not the Opera'', and on CBC Radio 2, CBC Stereo on Saturday ev ...

, who had a weekly radio show on CBC Radio. He was part of

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

for a time and was a widely recognized face from dozens of TV commercials and television shows in the 1990s. He appeared on such TV comedies as '' The Newsroom'', ''

'' and ''

SketchCom ''SketchCom'' was a 1998 Canadian television comedy series, created by Roger Abbott and Don Ferguson of the Royal Canadian Air Farce. The series aired on Monday evenings, 7:30 pm in most time zones. The first of the series' 13 episodes aired ...

'', all on CBC, and the drama '' E.N.G.'' on CTV. He scripted multiple CBC Radio programs such as ''Muckraker'', which he created. Eventually he joined the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

staff of ''

'', where he contributed writing to 25 episodes of the hit Fox program. He returned to Canada to write for five seasons of ''

'' and the hit CTV sitcom ''

''. In 2009 he became the head writer and executive producer of ''

'', a youth comedy for YTV. In 2009 and 2010 he also wrote for ''

The Ron James Show ''The Ron James Show'' is a Canadian television comedy show, which debuted on CBC Television on September 25, 2009. Starring comedian Ron James, the show intersperses filmed and stage sketches with clips of James performing his stand-up routi ...

'', a comedy for CBC. Pearson has won a Canadian Comedy Award and a Writers Guild of Canada award for writing on ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'', and has five additional award nominations including for Canada's Gemini Awards. In 2014 he won a Canadian Screen Award for his work on ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes''. Pearson has published 3 novels. ''Slapshot of Love'' (2013) is a romantic comedy set in the world of reality TV. ''Me and the Crack Mayor'' (2014) is a political satire which sends up the time Rob Ford was mayor of Toronto Canada. ''Marooned In Space'' (2016) is a comedic science fiction novel about an unlikely group of astronauts discovering distant worlds. All three books are available around the world through Amazon. Along with

Dan Redican Dan Redican (born 1956 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian comedy writer and performer and puppeteer, best known for his work with the comedy troupe, '' The Frantics.'' As a founding member of the troupe he has worked since 1979 on numerous stage ...

, he is a co-creator of the sketch comedy series '' Sunnyside'', which premiered in 2015. It was nominated for 5 Canadian Screen Awards (The Candy), winning 2.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Gary Living people Canadian animators Canadian satirists Canadian sketch comedians People from Essex County, Ontario Sheridan College alumni Canadian male television writers Canadian television producers Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian Comedy Award winners