Roger Abbott
Bobcat
player in the CBC Radio and TV comedy group, Royal Canadian Air Farce,
confirmed. Don Ferguson said that Abbott, 64, died Saturday night at
Toronto General Hospital, 14 years after being diagnosed with chronic
lymphocytic leukemia. He kept the progressive disease secret from all
but a few close friends and family until a week ago, Ferguson said.
"Roger was the guiding light of Royal Canadian Air Farce since it
began in 1973, and all of us who have had the honour of working with
him and the pleasure of knowing him will dearly miss his kindness,
generosity, integrity, leadership and wonderful sense of humour," he
said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/03/27/roger-abbott.html
DanNospamSay
already 122 comments on the CBC story above
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Website has memorial
http://www.airfarce.com/
Lots of radio clips above
....The radio show was discontinued in 1997 in order for the troupe to
concentrate on the successful TV series.
The group started in Montreal, Quebec in 1970 as an improvisational
theatre revue called The Jest Society, a pun on then-Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau's famous goal of making Canada a "Just Society". The
original cast was John Morgan, Martin Bronstein, Patrick Conlon, Gay
Claitman and Roger Abbott.
After a number of personnel changes, the group became "The Royal
Canadian Air Farce" as early as 1973, broadcasting through CBC Radio
from the Curtain Club in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The CBC gives the
date of the first broadcast as December 9, 1973. By this time the
lineup consisted of Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, John Morgan,
Dave Broadfoot and Martin Bronstein. They quickly became one of the
network's most popular programs. Most of their later shows were based
in Toronto and recorded in CBC's Cabbagetown Studios.
TAKE A TRIP DOWN RADIO MEMORY LANE
Unplugged & Uncorked (Air Farce Radio)
Twenty Twenty (Air Farce Radio)
Year of the Farce (Air Farce Radio)
Farce On A Stick (Air Farce Radio)
To Air Is Human (Air Farce Radio)
The Green Album (Air Farce Radio)
Air Farce Live (Air Farce Radio)
The Comedy Album (Air Farce Radio)
5min 22 sec Youtube memorial copied to many stories
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmk8iH76ckY&feature=player_embedded
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Toronto Star claims this story below is staff written,
but much is like
or cobbled from the CP wire story
Air Farce founder Roger Abbott dies at age 64
Published 57 minutes Comments (16)
Roger Abbott died Saturday night after a 14-year battle with leukemia.
He was 64.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/article/962447--air-farce-founder-roger-abbott-dies-at-age-64?bn=1
Handout photo
Lesley Ciarula Taylor Staff Reporter
Actor and comedian Roger Abbott, one of the founders of Canada’s long-
running beloved comedy troupe the Royal Canadian Air Farce, has died
after a 14-year battle with leukemia. He was 64.
“I’m heartbroken to tell you that our beloved friend, Roger Abbott,
died last night at Toronto General Hospital, 14 years after being
diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a progressive disease
that he kept secret from all but a few close friends and family until
a week ago,” friend and co-star Don Ferguson said on the show’s
website on Sunday.
“Roger was the guiding light of Royal Canadian Air Farce since it
began in 1973, and all of us who have had the honour of working with
him and the pleasure of knowing him will dearly miss his kindness,
generosity, integrity, leadership and wonderful sense of humour.”
Abbott was born in Birkenhead, England, and later lived in Montreal
and Toronto.
He played a revolving door of characters on Air Farce, including
former prime minister Jean Chrétien, former U.S. president George W.
Bush and the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge. He said his favourite roles were
Chrétien, Mansbridge, Leonard Cohen and the “misogynist TV critic
Gilbert Smythe Bite-Me.”
He once said, however, that the former prime minister told him his
impersonation sounded more like Preston Manning than Chrétien.
“I’m easy to please,” Abbott wrote of working on the show. “Every time
a theatre is sold out, or a new joke gets an incredible roar, or our
ratings climb higher, I’m happy.”
The show, which became a CBC radio hit before its long successful run
as a weekly CBC Television series, satirized Canadian politics,
culture and multiculturalism, using an armoury of accents and
dialects, instantly recognizable skit characters and the now retired
Chicken Cannon.
The troupe made up the first Canadians inducted into the International
Comedy Hall of Fame.
“It was also a highlight when we performed at the ’88 Olympics in
Calgary the night after the Battle of the Brians (skaters Orser and
Boitano) and Brian Orser was our surprise guest. The audience went
wild.”
Among his awards were the Gemini Humanitarian Award, the Governor
General’s Performing Arts Award, 15 ACTRA awards, a Juno and a star on
Canada’s Walk of Fame.
His major influences, he said, were the British comedy troupe Monty
Python and fellow Farcer Dave Broadfoot.
Abbott emigrated to Canada in 1953 with his parents and sister. At
Loyola High School in Montreal he met Ferguson. He went to Loyola
College, now Concordia University, in 1963.
He was working various jobs in radio when he, Ferguson and John Morgan
founded the improvisational comedy ensemble The Jest Society in 1970.
Broadfoot joined just as the Society was becoming the Air Farce. They
made their first appearance on CBC Radio on Dec. 9, 1973.
The troupe kept performing on radio and television until 2008,
becoming one of the country’s best-loved comedy teams. They also
played cross-country live tours and recorded several albums of
material.
Abbott and Ferguson turned down an offer to write for the American
sitcom Taxi because, Ferguson wrote when Air Farce was retiring, “we
realized it was important to our listeners’ lives” to keep working on
Air Farce.
Of Abbott, Ferguson said at the time, “Roger, the heart, soul and
driving force behind Air Farce, possesses a combination of artistic,
organizational and business talent that’s rare anywhere.”
During their first eight years on TV, the troupe said, they pulled in
1.27 million viewers for their Friday night show and 2 million for
their New Year’s Eve specials. Air Farce was broadcast in the U.S. by
public broadcasting stations and in Australia, New Zealand and Israel.
Abbott and Ferguson also produced Dave Broadfoot’s three TV specials
and the comedy series Sketchcom (1998). Abbott and Ferguson also
hosted the Easter Seals telethon on the CBC for more than 20 years.
In 1993, Abbott was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree by Brock
University in St. Catharines, Ont.
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La Presse Canadienne
Toronto
L'acteur canadien Roger Abbott, surtout connu pour son travail sur
l'émission humoristique Royal Canadian Air Farce, est mort après un
combat de 14 ans contre la leucémie. Il avait 64 ans.
L'un de ses amis et covedettes a affirmé que Roger Abbott s'est éteint
samedi soir au General Hospital de Toronto.
Don Ferguson a mentionné sur le site de l'émission que l'acteur avait
tenu sa maladie secrète de tous, jusqu'à récemment, à l'exception de
quelques proches amis et parents.
Il a fait valoir que Roger Abbott était un phare de l'émission, dont
la diffusion a débuté en 1973.
Roger Abbott est né à Birkenhead, en Angleterre, et a vécu par la
suite à Montréal et Toronto.
Il a interprété nombre de personnages sur Royal Canadian Air Farce,
incluant l'ancien premier ministre Jean Chrétien, l'ancien président
des États-Unis George W. Bush et le journaliste du réseau anglais de
Radio-Canada Peter Mansbridge.