A 16-year winning streak came to an end last month when a band of scruffy, pot-smoking hosers from out east made off with the best comedy bragging rights at the Gemini Awards – knocking CBC out of the laugher category for the first time ever in an against-the-odds ‘who’d a thunk it?’ win worthy of the Boston Red Sox.

Showcase’s Trailer Park Boys ended the final night of the 19th annual Gems on a high note Dec. 13, taking the comedy prize from under the noses of such Ceeb heavies as This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Red Green Show, while also edging out CTV’s favored challenger Corner Gas.

The third-season nod is the second Gemini win for the Boys, following a People’s Choice Award in 2003. The series by Halifax’s Topsail Entertainment was up for best comedy series last year but lost to 22 Minutes.

Fifteen of the cast and crew, many in varying degrees of costume and character, crowded the stage at the Metro Convention Centre and ran through a quick list of thank-yous before getting cut off by the end of the show.

Many had expected Corner Gas to win when, in the end, the Prairie-set sitcom took none of its five nominations.

This year’s biggest winner was CBC’s three-part $10-million miniseries Human Cargo, which took home seven of its 17 nominations including best mini and best direction for Brad Turner. Cargo, about the plight of refugees, also scored best writing for Brian McKeown and Linda Svendsen, best editing, art direction, musical score and supporting actress for Nthathi Moshesh.

‘It’s important to tell Canadian stories, but in these days of the United States of Canada and Jesusland it’s also important to look at stories about Canada and the world,’ said Svendsen upon accepting the award, referencing a popular editorial comic.

Another Ceeb big ticket, Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion, took five Gems for best photography, sound, costume design and visual effects and picked up a best supporting performance win for Ted Dykstra.

The Geminis broke with tradition this year by airing the last of its three-night awardathon without a host. The two-hour broadcast produced by Lynn Harvey, a veteran of seven Juno award shows, was instead strung together by a series of comedy skits that made light of the talent drain, funding woes and the glam-less life of Canuck celebs – shaking off some of the Gem’s stodgy reputation.

‘This show’s going pretty well for a show without a host,’ quipped The National’s Peter Mansbridge upon accepting the win for best news anchor.

CBC also took a surprising loss for best newscast, which went to Citytv Toronto’s CityPulse at Six, but otherwise, as usual, dominated the awards. The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television changed its voting process this year in hope of correcting what some view as an unfair slant towards CBC. Reps from the Academy were not available to comment on this year’s results.

Gavin Crawford was running against himself in the best comic performance category – he was nom’d for both This Hour Has 22 Minutes and his self-titled stint on the Comedy Network – but won for his work on 22.

‘The last couple of years I’ve always lost to someone from This Hour Has 22 Minutes,’ he told the crowd. ‘I guess, technically, I did again. But it’s me so I’m glad.’

Brent Carver and costar Diane D’Aquila took best actor and actress in a dramatic program or mini for their work on Elizabeth Rex, adapted from the Timothy Findley play about Shakespearian actors, while Paul Gross won best continuing dramatic lead for the similarly themed Slings & Arrows.

The Movie Network/Movie Central series about a small-town Shakespeare theater festival is currently shooting its second season.

Perennial favorite Da Vinci’s Inquest also scooped three prizes, taking best drama series for the fifth time, best direction for Sturla Gunnarsson’s ‘Bury My Own Bones’ episode, and best writing for Alan DiFiore and series creator Chris Haddock. The B.C. series now has 18 Gems to its name.

Haddock took the opportunity to predict a brighter future for Canadian-made drama. ‘Audiences and people in the business are seeing the need to turn things around,’ he told the crowd. ‘I think we’re going to see an uptick.’

Catherine Disher won best actress in a continuing drama for her stint on the short-lived Snakes and Ladders, a political satire that seems to have died quietly at CBC.

‘This is great,’ she said, brandishing the prize. ‘Does it come with a job?’

Other notable winners at this year’s Gems include Allan King’s doc Dying at Grace, which took the Donald Sinclair Award for best social/political documentary, and handyman Mike Holmes, who won the viewer’s choice award for fronting Holmes on Homes.

For a full list of the winners, go to the Geminis website.

– geminiawards.ca