For over 20 years, the Royal Canadian Air Farce troupe has been entertaining and delighting Canadian audiences, first on stage and then through a weekly CBC Radio show. They have traveled the length and breadth of the country performing to sold-out audiences and raising money for community charities.

This year, performers Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and John Morgan along with writers Gord Holtam and Rick Olsen took their act to television. They ended up with one of cbc’s highest rated Canadian productions of the 1993 season and received three Gemini nominations for their 1992 Year of the Farce special on cbc: Best Variety Program or Series; Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Program or Series: John Morgan, Gord Holtam and Rick Olsen; Best Performance in a Comedy Program or Series: Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and John Morgan

‘It’s the old overnight success story,’ says performer and series producer Abbott.

In the early eighties, the Air Farce produced a number of television specials as well as a series of 10 half-hours for cbc. The experiences weren’t ideal. ‘In those days, the cbc didn’t want topical stuff and they didn’t want a live audience.’ says Abbott. ‘But they thought, `That’s a good idea. Let’s get Air Farce, whose specialty is topical stuff in front of live audiences, except it can’t be in front of a live audience and it can’t be topical, and we’ll see how it turns out.’ In fact, the programs turned out well and drew audiences of over two million. ‘You could do that in those days,’ adds Abbott, ‘without singing or skating.’

In the late eighties, the team decided to try again – ideally a New Year’s special, a ‘year book’ of their radio sketches of political and social goings on. For five years Abbott and Ferguson actively tried to get the idea on screen. Then producers Brian Robertson and Ralph Mellanby got involved. Finally, in November 1992, Ivan Fecan responded to the idea with a ‘Yes, let’s do it!’

The Air Farce team had a month to produce a tv special (as well as produce and perform their 19th anniversary radio show at Toronto’s Massey Hall). They put 1992 Year of the Farce together in about 10 days.

As an independent production of Air Farce Productions and Robertson/Mellanby Productions, they rented out the cbc studio, used a cbc crew, brought in a live audience and did the show as close to live-to-tape as possible.

Both Ferguson and Abbott agree that it ‘was the best experience we ever had in a tv studio.’

‘It’s an entirely different company,’ says Abbott, comparing their earlier experiences at cbc. ‘The attitude of everybody here is so positive, so helpful, so professional.’

Fecan saw the rough cut and suggested they do the show weekly. Ferguson and Abbott were to produce and Robertson executive produce.

Transposing the troupe to television hasn’t changed Air Farce’s tried-and-true approach to humor (although as Ferguson points out, ‘We can do more sight gags on television (than radio).’ Because of Air Farce’s stage background and the fact that all radio shows are recorded in front of a live audience, the troupe has developed a very visual style – playing to the audience – that was easily adaptable to the camera.

They continue to produce their weekly radio show, with all new material from the tv broadcasts. Despite the pressures of combining two full-time jobs, they still manage, quite literally, to keep their sense of humor.

The performers get their first look at the tv script on Monday. The show is taped in front of a live audience on Thursday night (they tape each show twice, in front of two different audiences, so they have a choice of which to use). On Friday mornings, director Perry Rosemond and associate director Linda Bain do the picture edit. In the afternoon, they throw in the music and sweeten up the program, make a production dub at 4 p.m. and deliver the tape to the national control center for broadcast at 6:30 p.m. for the east coast.

‘The turnaround time is very quick,’ says Ferguson. ‘We don’t do an audio mix after the show. We do one on the fly, and that’s pretty well what goes on the air. From a production point of view, it’s very, very efficient, but it keeps everybody on their toes.’

For the radio show, the team heads down to cbc’s Glenn Gould studio on alternate Friday nights (they often tape enough material for two weeks at one go).

On top of this, they still find time to fit in some on-the-road shows which help them keep in touch with their audiences or, as Abbott says ‘(knowing) what makes Canadians laugh from the east coast to the West Coast to the north coast.’