page_title: List of Canadian comedians
section_title: Social pressures
hierarchical_section_title: List of Canadian comedians / Overview / Social pressures
caption_attribution_description: Tony Law at the Edinburgh Festival. Described on flickr as 'Very happy that I took a friends advice to go and see this guy performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. Very funny and friendly comedy. A great demonstration that funny doesn't have to be nasty'.
context_page_description: Canadian comedians have been recognized internationally since the 1910s and were embraced as the country sought a national identity distinct from that of Great Britain and the United States. Canadians closely identify with their sense of humour, and working-class Canadians popularly consider comedians, along with singers and musical acts, as the country's cultural best. Canadians are known to value modesty, politeness and social responsibility, and comedians who develop their craft before such audiences become acutely aware of the fine lines of comedy.
context_section_description: Domestic audiences traditionally value the collective good over individual freedom of expression, and as a consequence also value politeness and modesty. To overcome the taboo against social criticism, some Canadian comedians will link comedic discontent to group survival. Others will use a character or persona as a comedic mask, a tool which has allowed satire to gain mainstream popularity. Comedic characters with broad appeal are typically low-status, non-threatening, and likeable despite their misbehaviour.
  While social pressures cause Canadians to repress their fears and anxieties, comedians expose such through comedic art. Individual audience members externalize their reaction as laughter, publicly displaying their value system. When an audience laughs together it creates consensus at sharing a common worldview. Canadian comedians thus learn to be surrogates, using individual expression to reaffirm the collective while voicing and soothing the audience's troubles.
caption: Tony Law at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
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