bye-bye

Bye Bye is a Quebec sketch comedy television program from Radio-Canada. It ran for thirty years, from 1968 to 1998, and came back since 2006. Its full name changed as years passed (for example, Bye Bye 95). The show is shown once a year, beginning at 11 PM, on New Year's Eve.

Bye Bye satirized the political, artistic and sporting events of the year, followed by a countdown to midnight and the New Year.

The show originally ran for one hour, but was extended to one hour and a half since Bye Bye 90.

In 2006 and 2007, the comedy troupe Rock et belles oreilles (RBO) produced the Bye Bye, but didn't want to redo it in 2008. The Bye Bye 2008 was produced by Véronique Cloutier. The texts were written by her boyfriend, comedian Louis Morissette.

A major yearly running gag of the show was constant cast member Dominique Michel stating that this was her very last appearance in Bye Bye, which was never the case.

One of the most memorable sketches was broadcast in Bye Bye 70, with Olivier Guimond portraying a drunk soldier in Westmount, with social commentary on that year's October Crisis.

The 2008 Bye-Bye provoked controversy with skits considered as racist by the black community in Montreal.^[1] It received over 1,300 complaints from viewers finding it vulgar, angry and racist for material that included sketches on the assassination of then-American president-elect Barack Obama and anglophone-bashing.^[2] from Jean-François Mercier's speech about English Canadians. The host (also producer and one of the authors) Véronique Cloutier and her boyfriend, Louis Morissette, apologied for what happened. They denied having any racist intent, arguing instead that their purpose was to criticize racism.^[3]

References

1. ^ Quebec New Year's special draws complaints of racism on CBC.ca, January 6, 2009.
2. ^ http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Endless+complaints+about+year+show/1156458/story.html
3. ^ Producers apologize for offensive skits in Quebec New Year's Eve special on CBC.ca, January 9, 2009.

External links

• Le Bye Bye at the Radio-Canada Web site
• RBO dit oui au Bye Bye 2007 (from Le Soleil, RBO says yes to Bye Bye 2007)

See also

• List of Quebec television series
• Television of Quebec
• Culture of Quebec