Those crazy Canucks

Those crazy Canucks

By Emily Forster

The cultural barrier between Canada and America is slowly
collapsing thanks to Canadians like The Chumps, a seven-person
comedy troupe that has recently visited Los Angeles for a stint at
the Improv in Hollywood.

"We went to McDonald’s and I asked for vinegar. They brought out
a bottle of cleaning stuff. They thought we thought the table was
dirty and they started to clean the table, but we just wanted
vinegar on our fries," recalls Warren Wilson, the youngest member
of The Chumps, as he discusses the differences in American and
Canadian food at Westwood’s Hamburger Hamlet.

Two of Wilson’s fellow Chumps, Greg Pearson and Moira Dunphy,
discuss culture, television and hamburgers over a classic American
lunch.

"It’s a different culture. It’s subtly different, but it’s a
different culture," explains Pearson, the Chump best known for his
adaptation of Captain Kirk in the troupe’s "Star Trek" spoofs.

Despite cultural differences, Canadians are as familiar with
"Star Trek" as Americans. It was their country’s affinity for the
American television series that The Chumps relied on for their
first audiences.

"We were looking for a show (to satirize) that would get more of
an audience interested in us. ‘Star Trek’ has a built in audience,"
says Dunphy, one of the two women in the group.

"You put ‘Star Trek’ in the paper half an inch high for an ad
and you’ll get more people to come than if you write ‘Improv
Comedy!’ in a two-page spread," says Wilson, easily substituting
his native metric system for America’s English system as he
emphasizes the financial advantages that come with making fun of
"Star Trek."

Advertising "Star Trek" instead of improv comedy is also
important because, according to The Chumps, people are not familiar
with improv comedy in Canada or America.

"People don’t know what the word ‘improv’ means. They think of
it as a brick wall and stand-up comics," says Dunphy.

"When we improvise people come thinking they’ll see either
stand-up or something as prepared as stand-up, and that’s not what
we’re doing. Literally, we get a suggestion and we start. We don’t
even talk about it for 30 seconds," says Wilson.

Most of The Chumps’ acts are completely improv, but their "Star
Trek" skits are loosely formatted.

"Our ‘Star Trek’ stuff is scripted but inevitably we get
sidetracked. We’re the least respectful of our material. Anyone
else would do it much more faithfully than we would," says
Pearson.

The Chumps find that each mistake becomes an opportunity to do
improv comedy.

"There’s a moment when you’re on stage and something happens or
something comes out of your mouth that’s slightly wrong, and you
see the glint in everybody’s eye. You go ‘Now I’m in for it,’ and
the show can go anywhere," describes Dunphy.

Despite their improv skills, they continue marketing their "Star
Trek" skit as a tactic to bring in crowds. Although successful,
their tactic has created a few problems, such as avid "Star Trek"
supporters.

"I don’t mind anyone who’s a fan, but some people go too far,"
says Dunphy.

"Most Trekkies don’t ever leave their parent’s basement, so we
don’t see too many of them, but for our opening night of ‘Those
Crazy Klingons,’ all of the Klingon fan clubs had to come," says
Pearson.

"It’s a chance for them to dress in their gorgeous outfits,
which are much nicer than ours," says Dunphy.

"They bring real knives and weapons. It’s very scary. But they
usually sit together so if they use their weapons hopefully they’ll
only harm each other," says Wilson.

Particularly frightening was The Chumps’ run-in with the Klingon
Assault Group.

"The Klingon Assault Group, known as KAG, called us and asked us
if we’d give them free tickets and we said, ‘Why would we? You keep
paying to come.’ They said, ‘Well it would be good for your show to
have some real Klingons there,’" says Wilson.

"We had to explain to them, ‘It’s fictional. There are no real
Klingons,’" says Pearson.

"But of course, they couldn’t not come, so in protest they just
came in their T-shirts," says Dunphy.

Another problem with making fun of "Star Trek" is finding good
episodes to satirize.

"We have to look for episodes that take themselves really
seriously because it’s much more fun to do ones where everyone is
really panicked and in a crisis. We also try to find ones that have
enough characters. With seven of us, it’s tough sometimes to find
an episode for all of us to play into," says Wilson.

The Chumps find episodes from "The Next Generation" even more
difficult to satirize.

"It’s so hard to find episodes because there’s so little action.
At least in the original when not a lot happened, there was always
cheesy props and overacting," says Dunphy.

"Now when nothing happens, nothing happens. They just sit around
and talk. If Paramount would just put us in charge of their ‘Star
Trek’ franchise, we could turn that sucker around because we’d have
a lot more punching and kissing and jokes. That’s what it needs,"
says Pearson.

Paramount Pictures, which owns the rights to "Star Trek," is yet
another drawback resulting from The Chumps’ decision to make fun of
the show.

When asked what Paramount thinks of The Chumps’ "Star Trek"
parodies, Pearson jokes, "They love us!"

After a burst of laughter from the group, Pearson continues, "We
don’t know how they feel about us."

Paramount has threatened to close down The Chumps’ act twice.
Both times a Paramount representative saw the show and claimed that
it was funny and should not be shut down.

"At one point we were actually going to be licensed by them but
then it entered the Paramount legal department quagmire and never
emerged out the other end. Eventually they decided to ignore us,"
says Pearson.

The Chumps are hoping that Paramount allows them to make a
transition from theater to television, which they hope to do by
this fall.

"They might choose to jump on us if we get bigger than we are,"
says Wilson.

"We’ve got a couple irons in the fire with the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation. We’re hoping that possibly by the fall
we’ll have something on the air. What we’d like to do is put
together a full production mega-deal so that we can end up in
America too," says Pearson.

Until The Chumps have an opportunity to cross the border and
unite the two nations under one great television show, they will
attempt to learn about America.

"I’m trying a burger at every burger place. I’m hoping to try
all of the burger places we don’t have in Canada," says Wilson.

"That’s how we’re going to soak up American culture," adds
Pearson.

The Chumps hope their television show will reach America not
only to satisfy their quest to bridge the cultural gap between the
two countries but because, as Wilson explains, "American money is
worth more."