This Is That was a news satire program broadcast on CBC Radio, which aired comedic news stories presented in the style of a real CBC Radio public affairs program.[1]
| Genre | Comedy |
|---|---|
| Running time | approx. 27 min. |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | CBC Radio One |
| Hosted by | Pat Kelly Peter Oldring |
| Created by | Pat Kelly Peter Oldring |
| Produced by | Chris Kelly |
| Recording studio | Vancouver, Canada |
| Original release | July 2010 – December 2018 |
| Audio format | Monophonic |
| Website | This Is That |
| Podcast | CBC Podcasts |
The program began as a summer replacement in 2010,[1] returned in the summer of 2011, and was added to the regular schedule in the fall of 2011.[2] It is hosted by Pat Kelly and Peter Oldring, and produced by Chris Kelly.
The This Is That team have also produced comedy videos for the CBC's web comedy platform CBC Comedy.[3]
In September 2018, the This Is That team announced that its 13 new episodes in fall 2018 would be the show's final season.[3] The show's series finale was a live and improvised special from the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on December 22, 2018.[4]
In the 2019 Canadian federal election, Kelly and Oldring produced a number of short-format This Is That segments for the network's morning news series The Current.[5][6][7][8]
In the media
editThe program, whose style has been compared to The Onion, drew phone calls from listeners who did not realize that they were listening to a comedy program and took the content seriously;[1] Oldring and Kelly admit to having been surprised that listeners would be fooled.[9]
In June 2010, the National Post reported as fact that CTV purchased the set of the NBC series Friends;[10] this, however, was a satirical story by This Is That.[11] Two years later, Canadian journalist Robert Fulford wrote an article for the National Post claiming that the show is "worth tuning in for".[12]
Also in 2012, Public Radio International reported as fact a This Is That story that dogs in Montreal would have to know commands in both English and French by law.[13][14]
In early 2013, Harper's reported as fact a This Is That story in which a Canadian student "sued her university for failing to accommodate her allergies to cactuses, escalators, tall people, and mauve."[15]
In September of the same year, several media organizations, including USA Today and the Washington Times, reported on a story about an U-11 organization that had decided to play soccer without a ball to remove competition from the game.[13][16]
In 2014, Jonathan Jones at The Guardian wrote an article analyzing the satire in their story about a New York artist creating invisible art and selling it for millions.[17]
Awards
editThe program has won three Canadian Comedy Awards.[18][19] Their comedy special "The Christmas Letter" won a gold medal in the category of Best Comedy Special at the 2014 New York Festivals International Radio Awards[20] and their fourth season won a bronze medal in the category of Best Regularly Scheduled Comedy Program at the same awards ceremony.[20]
At the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018, Oldring won the award for Best Actor in a Web Program or Series for his performance in the show's CBC Comedy video series.[21]
References
edit- ^ a b c Natasha Lederman, CBC Radio satirical show 'This Is That' sparks as much outrage as laughs. The Globe and Mail, June 21, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
- ^ CBC Radio One Releases Fall Lineup. Broadcaster, September 6, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
- ^ a b "After 9 seasons, This Is That says farewell (seriously)". This Is That, September 26, 2018.
- ^ "This Is That: The Live, Improvised, and Last Episode". CBC Radio. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ @TheCurrentCBC (September 25, 2019). "SATIRE" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @TheCurrentCBC (October 3, 2019). "SATIRE" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @TheCurrentCBC (October 18, 2019). "@thepatkelly @poldring @CBCThisIsThat If you missed our latest election satire instalment (and we must stress the S…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @TheCurrentCBC (October 21, 2019). "@CBCThisIsThat @thepatkelly @poldring Listen to our final This is That election segment here:" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ James Brotheridge, It’s All Lies: Radio comedy goes newsy on This Is That Archived March 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Prairie Dog Magazine, August 11, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
- ^ Vu, Liem (June 29, 2010). "CTV purchases the set from 'Friends' (well, according to 'This Is That')". National Post. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
- ^ "CTV Buys "Friends" Set". This is That. CBC Radio. June 28, 2010. Archived from the original on July 11, 2010. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
- ^ Fulford, Robert (January 2, 2012). "This Is That is worth tuning in for". National Post. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013.
- ^ a b CBC Radio show strikes again with ball-less soccer satire, by John Bowman, at CBC.ca (via archive.org); published September 6, 2013; archived October 3, 2013; retrieved March 9, 2015
- ^ John Bowman (September 19, 2013). "CBC Radio bilingual dog parody fools the internet". Cbc.ca. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
- ^ "Harper’s Magazine reports joke story as real, blames ‘nefarious CBC’". National Post, January 14, 2013.
- ^ "CBC Radio Satire On 'No-Ball' Soccer League Fools Everyone - SportsGrid". Sportsgrid.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
- ^ Jonathan Jones. "Invisible art: the gallery hoax that shows how much we hate the rich". the Guardian. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
- ^ 2011 Canadian Comedy Award Winners. Torontoist, October 18, 2011.
- ^ "The 15th Annual Canadian Comedy Awards Festival - Award Winners". Canadiancomedy.ca. Archived from the original on December 22, 2014. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
- ^ a b "New York Festivals". NewYorkFestivals.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
- ^ "Andrew Phung, Peter Oldring, Wynonna Earp Digital, Secret Alberta doc win Canadian Screen Awards". Calgary Herald, March 9, 2018.