Artist:Bob & Doug McKenzie f/Geddy Lee
Song:Take Off
Album:One Hit Wonderful
Believe it or not, Take Off was a top 20 pop hit in 1982. Like many novelty songs, it was a one hit wonder. Of course the success came when NBC aired SCTV in the early 80s. The guys behind Bob & Doug McKenzie were Rick Moranis (Bob) and Dave Thomas (Doug). They had been part of the SCTV series since it began on 1976. When the show moved to CBC in 1980 and was sold to NBC, the CBC told the producers they needed extra identifiable Canadian content because fewer commercials air in Canada. The entire show was produced in Edmonton so everything is CanCon. After they finished laughing at this request, Moranis and Thomas created a talk show parodying common false stereotypes about Canadians. These segments were improvised with one camera operator at the end of the day's shooting. They thought the segments were stupid. They were shocked when they became the most popular part of SCTV. And when some of them aired in the US, NBC wanted more because of positive affiliate feedback. Meanwhile, Anthem Records promotion director Perry Goldberg thought Bob & Doug could do a comedy album. Anthem is owned by Rush. Moranis went to grade school with Rush lead singer Geddy Lee. The album The Great White North was released on Mercury Records in the US. Except for Take Off, the album was all skits like the TV show. Take Off featuring Lee reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Producers Kerry Crawford and Jonathan Goldsmith wrote the song with Moranis, Thomas and Lee. Those two went on to produce Bruce Cockburn albums. So the album was a big success. It's available as a budget comp. But you can also get Take Off on this PolyGram various artists budget comp. This led to the 1983 film Strange Brew which became a cult film through home video. The characters have resurfaced on a 2007 CBC retrospective. And Thomas produced an animated series in 2009. There is even a Bob & Doug McKenzie statue erected near Rogers Place in Edmonton. SCTV was taped in Edmonton. So it did well considering that Moranis and Thomas thought it was stupid. Here's a video for Take Off by Bob & Doug McKenzie featuring Geddy Lee.
Many years ago I saw a skit by those two that had me laughing good and hard. They made a cheesy low budget film about life after a nuclear war and just the way they did it was very funny. Two very talented comedians and actors. Thank-you Frank. David.
ReplyDelete