The 1st Canadian Comedy Awards honoured the best Canadian comedy of 1999 in live performances, television and film. The awards ceremony was presented by the Canadian Comedy Foundation for Excellence (CCFE), and was held on 6 April 2000 at the

Masonic Temple A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history I ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The ceremony was hosted by Dave Thomas. A one-hour version of the ceremony was broadcast late the following night on CTV, and the full program aired on

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming and operates two time-shifted feeds, runni ...

on 9 April at 9 pm.

Canadian Comedy Awards The Canadian Comedy Awards (CCA) is an annual ceremony that awards the Beaver for achievements in Canadian comedy in live performance, radio, film, television, and Internet media. The awards were founded and produced by Tim Progosh in 2000. Th ...

, also known as Beavers, were awarded in 23 categories. Winners were selected by members of

ACTRA The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is a Canadian trade union representing performers in English-language media. It has over 30,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media. Th ...

(Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists), the

Canadian Actors' Equity Association Canadian Actors' Equity Association (CAEA) is an association of performers in English Canada who are engaged in live performances before paying audiences in theatre, opera and dance. It negotiates agreements and working conditions for its members ...

, the

Writers Guild of Canada The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) is a trade union representing professional writers working in film, television, radio, and digital media production in Canada. Members of the WGC write dramatic TV series, feature films, Movies of the Week, do ...

, and the

Directors Guild of Canada The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC; ) is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assist ...

. It was one of the first award presentations to use online voting. The ceremony also marked the creation of the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame and the induction of its first honourees. ''

The Drowsy Chaperone ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' is a Canadian musical with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, and a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. The story concerns a middle-aged, asocial musical theater fan who, feeling "blue", decides to pl ...

'' and the CBC comedy '' Made in Canada'' led the way with six nominations each, followed by ''

Double Exposure In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be id ...

'', '' Last Night'', and ''

This Hour Has 22 Minutes ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' (commonly shortened to ''22 Minutes'' since 2009) is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics wi ...

'' with five. The big winners were ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' which won four awards in television, ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' which took three awards in live comedy, and

Mike Myers Michael John Myers, (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His accolades include seven MTV Movie & TV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood W ...

who won three in film.

Don McKellar Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. He is known for directing and writing th ...

won two awards across disciplines: best film director for ''Last Night'' and best playwright (together with colleagues Bob Martin,

Lisa Lambert Lisa Lambert (born December 1962 in Washington, D.C.) is an actress, comedy writer, and Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway th ...

and Greg Morrison) for ''The Drowsy Chaperone''.

Ceremony

The inaugural Canadian Comedy Awards ceremony was held on 6 April 2000 in

. The venue was the historic

, home of CTV-affiliate

. The ceremony was hosted by Dave Thomas, a comedic veteran of more than 20 films and 300 sitcom episodes. Thomas is best known for the character Doug McKenzie, a parody of all things Canadian, and the ceremony played on similar humour by serving guests back bacon on a bun and

poutine Poutine () is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a hot brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain, and there are several competing claims regar ...

Awards

The Beaver was awarded in twenty-three categories recognizing work in live performances, film and television. Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface:

Live

Television

Film

Special Awards

Multiple wins

The following people, shows, films, etc. received multiple awards in the inaugural ceremony:

Multiple nominations

The following people, shows, films, etc. received multiple nominations.

Broadcast

The awards ceremony was held in Toronto's

, which

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...

had equipped as a television studio in the late 1990s. The ceremony was recorded for television, produced by Higher Ground Productions and directed by

Bob Sorger Bob Sorger is a Canadians, Canadian television director. Sorger won the 2001 Canadian Comedy Award for his direction of the 2000 Canadian Comedy Awards special. He has been directing TV news broadcasts for over 20 years as well as numerous credit ...

. A one-hour version of the ceremony was broadcast on CTV at midnight on the night of Friday 7 April 2000, with the full program airing on

on 9 April at 9 pm. The special was well received by the members of the industry it represents, who awarded Sorger the Beaver for best direction of a TV special or episode in 2001.

References

External links

Canadian Comedy Awards official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Comedy Awards, 1

Canadian Comedy Awards

Awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

1999 awards in Canada