RIP: Actor & Comedian Dave Broadfoot dies at 90

Dave Broadfoot, Royal Canadian Air Farce comedian, dead at 90

Canadian comedian and former Royal Canadian Air Farce actor Dave Broadfoot has died at age 90, his family confirmed to CBC News.

Born in Vancouver on Dec. 5, 1925, Broadfoot was an early member of the long-running comedy show on CBC. Starting in 1973, he appeared on radio and television versions of the show for 15 years

Among his best-known characters were the Honourable Member for Kicking Horse Pass, Sgt. Renfrew of the RCMP and Big Bobby Clobber, a hockey player who had received too many pucks to the head.

Broadfoot was a fixture on the CBC shows long before his tenure on Air Farce, on television with the Big Revue and Wayne and Shuster Show beginning in the 1950s and on radio with Funny You Should Say That.

He was known for an act that blended genial satire, Canadiana-laced content and an extensive knowledge of political goings-on.

"You tell a Canadian he's apathetic and he'll answer, 'Who cares?" the Honourable Member of Kicking Horse Pass said in one appearance on Peter Gzowski's 90 Minutes Live in the late 1970s.

Broadfoot began hitting stages soon after serving in the navy during the Second World War. He honed his act in an embryonic Canadian entertainment industry, playing all manner of gigs from coffee shops, restaurants and clubs, producing his own variety-style cabarets or appearing at established festivals like Stratford or the Spring Thaw, the annual revue of performers that ran in Toronto for a quarter century beginning in the late 1960s.

He laid the groundwork for a future generation of Canadian comedians and performers, taking shows to the people with titles like Take a Beaver to Lunch. Upon meeting John Cleese of Monty Python in the late 1970s, the British comedian immediately remembered Broadfoot for his Clap Hands show, which toured England in the early 1960s.

Those efforts as a pioneer were recognized by the Canadian Comedy Awards, who named their Comedic Genius award after Broadfoot

Broadfoot left to Toronto in the mid 1960's to make his professional base in Montreal, inspired by the amount of work as as the city's cultural scene expanded around the time of Expo — which included the Montreal-based CBC show Funny You Should Say That — as well as a relationship that led to marriage.

Broadfoot returned to Toronto after the marriage ended and gigs dried up there. He told the Toronto Star in 1974 that the Air Farce came up just as he was considering taking his talents to the U.S., an unimaginable development in retrospect.

After leaving Air Farce, Broadfoot was able to tap into the more developed Canadian comedy circuit, making appearances at the Just For Laughs festival and on the road at Yuk Yuks and other comedy clubs.

He was awarded a pair of Geminis, for his 1998 comedy special, Old Enough To Say What I Want, and two years later for Old Dog, New Tricks.

He published his autobiography, also entitled Old Enough To Say What I Want, in 2002.

In 2003, Broadfoot was presented with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/dave-broadfoot-dead-royal-canadian-air-farce-1.3832170