''Comedy Now!'' is a Canadian comedy television series which debuted in 1997 and ended in 2014 featuring the newest in Canadian comedic talent. The show has won numerous

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 English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in th ...

as well as many international awards. It is broadcast in Canada on

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming and operates two time-shifted feeds, runni ...

and CTV while in the United States, the program airs on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

. The show has started the careers of notable Canadian comedians, including

Brent Butt Brent Leroy Butt (born August 3, 1966) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his role as Brent Leroy on the CTV sitcom ''Corner Gas'', which he created. He also created the television series ''Hiccups'' and wrote the 2 ...

Gavin Crawford Gavin Crawford (born 2 April 1971) is a Canadian comedian and actor, best known for ''The Gavin Crawford Show'' and ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes''. He currently hosts the panel show, ''Because News'', on CBC Radio One. Early life Crawford was bo ...

Shaun Majumder Shaun Majumder is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for his role on ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes,'' where he worked from 2003 until 2018. He won a Gemini Award for his work on the series in 2006. Early life Majumder was raised in Bu ...

Russell Peters Russell Dominic Peters (born 29 September 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'' Forbes Celebrity 100, list o ...

, Pete Zedlacher and

Harland Williams Harland Reesor Williams (born November 14, 1962) is a Canadian and American comedian and actor. After several years of performing stand-up comedy in Toronto and Los Angeles, he made his film debut in '' Dumb and Dumber'' (1994) before playing st ...

and has showcased comedians such as Trent McClellan, Darcy Michael, Graham Chittenden and Eric Tunney. Most episodes of the series featured a single comedian performing a stand-up set, although a few highlighted

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

troupes and a number of "gala" episodes featuring several comedians were also aired as specials. These included ''Women of the Night'', a "women in comedy" special which aired in 2001 with Brigitte Gall,

Aurora Browne Aurora Browne is a Canadian actress and comedian, best known as one of the creators and stars of the sketch comedy series '' Baroness von Sketch Show''. Early life She is originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, and currently based in Toronto. Car ...

, Jen Goodhue, Sabrina Jalees, Diana Love and

Renee Percy Renee Percy (born November 14, 1977, in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian actress, writer, and comedian. Percy is best known for her work on the sketch comedy shows Air Farce Live and CTV/ Comedy Network's '' Comedy Inc'', and for her Comedy Now! ...

. This episode garnered a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...

nomination for Best Comedy Program at the

17th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 17th Gemini Awards were held on November 4, 2002, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Seán Cullen, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre an ...

in 2002.

Performers

Solo performers

Sketch troupes and specials

* The Bobroom * Bowser & Blue *The Doo-Wops: John Catucci, David Mesiano *Not Getting It: Adrian Churchill,

Terry McGurrin Terry McGurrin is a Canadian comedian, writer, producer, and voice actor from Ottawa, Ontario. He was the story editor for the 2011 YTV show '' Scaredy Squirrel''. He is known as the voice of Jonesy Garcia on '' 6teen''. He has also been a stor ...

, Anne Marie Scheffler * Not to Be Repeated: Ed Sahely,

Kathy Greenwood Kathryn Greenwood (born March 21, 1962) is a Canadian actress and comedian. She appeared on the American version of ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' numerous times, and played Grace Bailey on the Canadian television drama series '' Wind at My Back ...

, Jonathan Wilson *Skippy's Rangers: Jonathan Crombie,

Lisa Lambert Lisa Lambert (born December 1962 in Washington, D.C.) is an actress, comedy writer, and Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway th ...

, Bob Martin, Paul O'Sullivan *''Women of the Night'': Brigitte Gall,

, Jen Goodhue, Sabrina Jalees, Diana Love,

*''Women of the Night, Pt. 2'': Aurora Browne, Renee Percy

Awards

Several comedians who appeared on the series received

nominations or wins for Best Performance in a Comedy Series, Individual or Ensemble (1997-1999) or Individual Performance in a Comedy Series (2000-2010): * John Rogers — 12th Gemini Awards (Spring 1998) *

—

13th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 13th Gemini Awards were held on October 4, 1998, to honour achievements in Television in Canada, Canadian television. (This year's awards were split into two segments; the first 1998 ceremony was held ...

(Fall 1998) *

—

14th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 14th Gemini Awards were held on November 7, 1999, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Rick Mercer, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and ...

(1999) *

—

15th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 15th Gemini Awards were held on October 30, 2000, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Steve Smith, took place at the John Bassett Theatre and was broa ...

(2000)"Gemini Nominations". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', October 29, 2000. *

—

(2000) * Jason Rouse —

16th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 16th Gemini Awards were held on October 29, 2001, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Mike Bullard, took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre a ...

(2001) *

Glen Foster Glen Seward Foster II (August 14, 1930 – October 1, 1999) was an American sailor. He won a bronze medal in the '' Tempest class'' with Peter Dean at the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of ...

— 16th Gemini Awards (2001)"CTV's Nuremberg leads Gemini nominations". ''

The Telegram ''The Telegram'' is a weekly newspaper in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, published by Postmedia Network. First published in 1879, it was the first and longest-running daily in Newfoundland. In August 2024, following its sale to Postme ...

'', September 18, 2001. * Jessica Holmes — 16th Gemini Awards (2001) * Nikki Payne —

18th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 18th Gemini Awards were held on October 20, 2003, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Seán Cullen, took place at the John Bassett Theatre and was bro ...

(2003) *

—

19th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 19th Gemini Awards were held on December 13, 2004, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was co-hosted by several celebrities, took place at the John Bassett Theatre an ...

(2004) * Levi MacDougall —

20th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 20th Gemini Awards were held on November 19, 2005, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was co-hosted by several celebrities, took place at the John Bassett Theatre ...

(2005) *

—

24th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 24th Gemini Awards were held on November 14, 2009, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Ron James, took place at the Stampede Corral in Calgary and was ...

(2009)"Gemini nominees". ''

'', August 26, 2009. Greg Malone's special, ''Pocket Queen'', won an award at the 1999

WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival The WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, founded in 1968, is an annual film festival held annually in April in Houston, Texas. Notable festival alumni include John Lee Hancock, who wrote and directed the Oscar-winning film '' The Blind S ...

Wyndham Wise Wyndham Paul Wise is a Canadian film historian, critic, editor and publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the film magazine '' Take One: Film & Television in Canada'' (1992-2006). Career Born in London, England, Wyndham Wise was rai ...

"Greg Malone"
''

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

'', November 21, 2012.

References

External links

* *
Comedy Now!
' at

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...

* * {{TheTVDB , id=79623 , title=Comedy Now! CTV Television Network original programming CTV 2 original programming Canadian Screen Award–winning television shows 1997 Canadian television series debuts CTV Comedy Channel original programming 1990s Canadian stand-up comedy television series Television series by Bell Media 2000s Canadian stand-up comedy television series 2010s Canadian stand-up comedy television series 2014 Canadian television series endings