Are we losing our sense of humour?

Well we’re certainly ahead of schedule this year. Normally Canadians lose their ability to laugh at our foibles late into February or early march, the concept of cabin fever having fully gripped those that can’t afford the winter break to Florida, Hawaii or Mexico, sending them into a sullen, warmth deprived ball of snarling humanity.

So it’s a tad distressing to hear that a number of our flock are already ahead of the cranky curve and are being offended by Weird Al Yankovic, the foolish parody maker of the last twenty years or so. Some of us it seems just don’t get or won’t take the joke.

Yankovic has recorded a homage to Canadiana called Canadian Idiot, a parody of the Green Day song American Idiot and a tune that is gaining quite the following with the You Tube population. Type in “Canadian Idiot” into the You Tube search bar and you’ll come up with such home made gems as this, this, this and this.

Clearly some have taken the song and created their own tribute to the King of the parody makers, others however seem to have missed the point. Apparently disappointed and outraged at his supposed disrespect to the Home and Native land. To which we suggest they simply get a life.

Things are so off the tracks that the Globe and Mail even did a feature on the controversy on their website on Thursday.

YouTubers take a shine to 'Canadian Idiot'
Canadian Press

TORONTO — The stereotype of the Canadian as a beer swillin' hockey nut is alive and well on the Internet, thanks to the computer prowess of a bunch of teenage Americans.
Young fans of the parody song Canadian Idiot by Weird Al Yankovic have supplied the Net with cheeky homemade music videos about the Great White North's “Monopoly money” and “silly accent.”

The offerings, on YouTube.com, range from a simple animated video by 16-year-old Danielle Burke of Burlington, Vt., to the more elaborate lip-synching performance of 17-year-old Stephen Georg, of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

All, however, revel in the ludicrous Canuck images featured in Weird Al's song — a spoof of the Green Day hit American Idiot.

Several of the video creators admit that many Americans know little about their northern neighbours.

“Canada isn't really a place I often think about — but when I do think about it, I often think of maple syrup, Mounties, Celine Dion and Jim Carrey,” says Georg, a high school senior who dons makeup and black clothing for his video.

“I imagine Canadians wear a lot of red flannel shirts for some reason,” says Burke, a novice filmmaker who says she spent several hours on the computer project.

Weird Al has described “Canadian Idiot” as written from the perspective of an ignorant American and calls his song “a love letter to Canada.”

The ditty makes light of all things typically associated with Canada, for better or worse: “They all live on doughnuts and moose meat,” Weird Al croons.

“And they leave the house without packing heat, “Never even bring their guns to the ma-a-alllll.”

But it's clear that some Canadians just don't get the joke. Dozens of angry comments have been posted on websites featuring the homemade videos, with viewers admonishing the young filmmakers for encouraging the stereotypes.

“I am a Canadian,” lostxfreakx42 says in the comments section for a video tribute made by a 17-year-old named Anthony who goes by the moniker Apollo22237.

“I can laugh at this because pretty much all of it is untrue. But you sir, are an asshole.”
Canadians shouldn't be offended by Weird Al's lyrics, says Phil McCracken, a 13-year-old fan from Columbus, Ohio.

“It's really making fun of the Americans and their views on the Canadians,” says McCracken, who acts out each verse of the song in his simple video.

“Al is trying to show the quick judgment of those different to us.”

Brit filmmaker Dominick Allen says he went out of his way to state in his YouTube bio that he's from the United Kingdom, not the United States, to head off the flood of anti-American sentiment that initially flowed his way.

“The video is not meant to be racist in any way,” says Allen, a 15-year-old who lives east of London.

“It is more insulting to Americans than Canadians. It is saying, like: ‘Look you stupid Americans, this is what you think of Canada all summed up in 2:23 minutes, see how stupid you really are now?' “ Burke, whose video features stick-figure animation and pictures mined from the Net, says she's never heard of some of the stereotypes mentioned before, such as the claim that Canadians only eat “doughnuts and moose meat” or “Kraft macaroni.”

“When I hear kids talking about Canada where I live, it's usually about how they wish they lived there because the drinking age is 18, instead of 21,” says Burke.

“I know that you have a bit of an accent. I've heard that Montreal is very high-class, but it's different for the rest of Canada.”

Yankovic has been doing the parody thing since the early days of Dr. Demento’s radio show back in the eighties. He’s created some pretty classic parodies of pops biggest egos, Michael Jackson, Eminem, Madonna, Nirvana and Bob Dylan to name a few, in fact his cover of Gangsta’s paradise Amish Paradise is perhaps even better than the Coolio version.

In the music business the simple fact is that you probably haven’t really made it, until Weird Al has done a parody about you. As the Globe put it, Yankovic says his Canadian Idiot is a love letter to Canada, and we all like getting love letters, don't we?

So for this neurotic nation of the north, don’t look at this as an insult, look at it as just another step on the way to greater world recognition…

We had better grab it while we still can!