Читать книгу Let It Snow. Keeping Canada's Winter Sports Alive онлайн

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The segment showed Americans taking Mercer’s microphone and agreeing that the dome would be a splendid idea, and that in building the dome over the ice building, Canadians could create more revenue by making it a tourist destination.

In a major coup, Mercer was even able to get Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to appear on camera to say “Congratulations Canada on preserving your national igloo.”

Canadians throughout the country laughed at the ways major American politicians could be exposed as being so ignorant about Canadian culture. What Mercer really revealed, however, was exposing how successful Canadians had been in exporting the very image he was exploiting for humorous effect. It’s an identity Canadians are very comfortable perpetuating.

American comedians use the same formula as Mercer when they try to appease Canadians when visiting the country. The jokes almost follow the same “paint by number” creation. They cater to the Canadian audience, and allow the visitor to portray themselves as part of Canadian culture, by creating jokes about the winter, followed by jokes about airplane food, and bad drivers. Canadians can’t get enough of them.