A comedy staple for Canadians looking for homegrown laughs, AIR FARCE is one of the most popular and enduring comedy troupes in the country skewering the biggest news stories, events, people, and pop culture phenomena of the year.This year, the Farce’s long-standing New Year’s Eve tradition celebrates 25 years on television. AIR FARCE NEW YEAR’S EVE premieres Sunday, December 31 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC with an encore broadcast later the same night at 12:05 a.m. (12:35 NT).
AIR FARCE NEW YEAR’S EVE 2017 targets include Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, Donald J. Trump, Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Canada’s new party leaders Andrew Scheer and Jagmeet Singh, Sears, Tim Hortons and CIBC. This year, Wonder Woman battles America’s biggest threat – President Donald J. Trump, Quebec’s anti-burka law gets a well-deserved jab, and The Handmaid’s Tale gets a musical treatment with Taylor Swift. Capping off the special is the infamous F-BOMB – its mission is simple, to eradicate 2017’s most worthy targets, as suggested online by AIR FARCE viewers. An annual tradition, the year’s five most irritating targets get the richly deserved Farce Bomb filled with monstrously messy guck dropped from 50 feet above.
What began as a troupe of four in 1992 – with Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, and John Morgan – has burgeoned into a cast of eight. AIR FARCE NEW YEAR’S EVE 2017 stars founding troupe members Don Ferguson and Luba Goy, and veterans Jessica Holmes (The Holmes Show, The Itch), Craig Lauzon (Fool Canada, The Ron James Show), and Darryl Hinds (My Babysitter’s a Vampire, Little Mosque on the Prairie). Recent recruits include Chris Wilson (The Beaverton, What Would Sal Do, Meet the Family), Isabel Kanaan (Haunted or Hoax), and Canadian Screen Award-nominee Lisa Gilroy (Undercover High, The Zone) who makes her AIR FARCE debut.
As is tradition, joining the cast for the one-hour special are some very special guests: David Suzuki and Lloyd Robertson make return appearances whileCanadian figure skating champion Kurt Browning finds himself on thin ice with an unlikely skating partner in his first FARCE flight.
Over the years, AIR FARCE has featured nearly 200 illustrious guests, our very first being former troupe member Dave Broadfoot. Guests that followed over the next 25 years include: Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau, Paul Martin, Jean Chrétien and Joe Clark; news anchors Peter Mansbridge, Lloyd Robertson and Lisa LaFlamme; TV personalities Don Cherry, Ron MacLean, Mike Holmes and David Suzuki; comedians Brent Butt, Rick Mercer, Colin Mochrie, Russell Peters and Mary Walsh; actors Megan Follows, Graham Greene, Paul Gross, and Sheila McCarthy; musical guests Jann Arden, Measha Brueggergosman, Jim Cuddy, Anne Murray, and Serena Ryder; athletes Mike “Pinball” Clemons, Doug Gilmour, Milos Raonic, Elvis Stojko and Jamie Salé; authors Margaret Atwood and David Chilton; filmmaker David Cronenberg; and astronaut Chris Hadfield, to name a few.
AIR FARCE NEW YEAR’S EVE is written by Kevin Wallis, Wayne Testori, Carly Heffernan and Rob Lindsay. Contributing writers are Chris Wilson and Sam Mullins. The special is directed by Rob Lindsay and Wayne Moss.
AIR FARCE NEW YEAR’S EVE is produced by Don Ferguson Productions (DFP) in association with CBC. Executive Producer is Don Ferguson. Senior Producer is Lucy Stewart. Producers are Rob Lindsay, Mark Selby, Wayne Testori, and Kevin Wallis.
For more details, visit:
WEBSITE airfarce.com
FACEBOOK Facebook.com/
TWITTER @AirFarceCBC
