CODCO
|
|
CODCO was a Newfoundland and Labrador Canadian troupe that aired on CBC from 1988-1992. This show is a pun on this theatre troupe's origins. Founded as a theatrical revue in the early 1970s in the island-province of Newfoundland, CODCO draws on the province's cultural history of self-deprecating "Newfie" humour, frequently focusing on the cod fishing industry.
From these roots, CODCO subsequently developed a half-hour, television comedy program of the same name, for national broadcast, produced in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's regional studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and on location in St. John's, Newfoundland.
CODCO's pointed satire takes aim at regional differences, national assumptions, politics, sexism, gender roles, gay codes and television genres. The general format of CODCO's satire is sketch comedy, with sets, costumes and make-up that replicate the sources under attack.
The CODCO members' theatrical roots trained them to shape detailed caricatures, with nuances that dismantle not only the conventions of the source personas and genres but also the ideologies of a medium colonized by commercialism.
Spun from the collective writing and acting skills of the members, and ably directed by the experienced John Blanchard and David Acomba, the CODCO members' sketches show the tightness of well rehearsed scene studies, rather than the loose burlesque of Saturday Night Live.
CODCO was produced by Salter Street Films.
| Contents |
Cast
Occasional Guests
- Robert Joy
- Greg Thomey - (occasionally appeared on the series as Newfoundland separatist Jerry Boyle)
Segments and Characters
All five members cross-dress, and their ability to traverse sex roles plays to CODCO's evident interest in social transgression and critique. Cathy Jones and Mary Walsh portray a variety of males, from macho through wimpy, along with their femme fatales, "loud feminists" and pesky middle-aged, bingo-bent matrons.
The sketches featuring the homely, dateless "Friday Night Girls" satirize the isolation of women in Newfoundland's island life. Walsh's Dakey Dunn, replete with gold chain, hairy chest, cigarette and beer, might explain the dilemma of the Friday Night Girls; in one monologue, Dakey admits to not completing high school and, in crude English, lays out a macho view of economic and cultural matters.
Greg Malone's Queen Elizabeth and Malone's and Tommy Sexton's gay lawyers, Jerome and Duncan, share an excessive style and gay-rights politics that only satire can contain on broadcast television. Malone was also known for his spot-on drag parody of Canadian television journalist Barbara Frum.
The End of CODCO
In 1992, the CBC refused to air a CODCO sketch involving two Catholic priests discussing their sexual experiences with altar boys. The Mount Cashel Orphanage child abuse controversy was very much in the news at the time, and as Newfoundlanders, the CODCO crew quite naturally had very strong opinions on the matter. As a result, Andy Jones quit the show in protest, effectively spelling the end of the series.
Following the end of CODCO, Walsh and Cathy Jones worked with Thomey and Rick Mercer to create This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Sexton died in 1993 of complications from AIDS.
Malone ran as a New Democratic Party candidate in a Newfoundland byelection in 2000, losing by less than 100 votes to Loyola Hearn.
External links
- CODCO: Musieum.TV (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/codco/codco.htm)
- CODCO: Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage (http://www.heritage.nf.ca/arts/codcoprof.html)
- IMDb entry (http://imdb.com/title/tt0177644/)