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Home , Canadian Comedy Awards, Colin Mochrie, Royal Canadian Air Farce

Canadian Hall of Fame

HISTORY – HOW WE GOT HERE 2000

The Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame ( CCHOF) was launched in 2000 but was halted in 2002 so the trademark holders could build a permanent home. In 2000 the trademark holders established an Academy of 200 Canadian Performers who had been in the business of show for 20 plus years to select the first slate of nominees. That academy agreed to automatically induct two of the recipients of lifetime achievement awards presented at the Peoples Comedy Festival that ran in 1990’s. and were added to Don Harron and John Candy who were selected for induction in 2000. They were inducted as part of the first televised in 2000. *the happy Gang was also given a special award but not inducted. 2001- 2002

A list of nominees was selected by the Academy and that list was: Dan Ackroyd, Michael J. Fox, Al Waxman, Mordecai Richler, Stephen Leackock, The , Rich Little. The academy voted to induct The Royal Canadian Air Farce and Rich Little. They were inducted at a special luncheon held at with tributes ( taped and live ) from Dave Broadfoot, Mike McDonald, and . The show was broadcast on StarTV in April of 2001 as part of the 2nd Canadian Comedy Awards. (CCA’s) In September 2001 a terrorist attack almost halted the CCA’s in 2002 but they were held. The Hall of Fame was put on hold. In 2003 the CCA’s moved to London and the trademark holders adopted a “if you build it they will come” philosophy and halted inductions to pursue a permanent location for the CCHOF. 2003- 2008

For the next five years the CCA’s were held in London and a NFP was set up to run and administer the awards. The awards grew and they travelled to London, , , Regina and St. John’s. Meanwhile the CCHOF was dormant. 2009- 2012

During this period the CCHOF became one of the proposed attractions for a new development called “Woodbine Live”, a $750 million development scheduled for the lands around the Woodbine racetrack in the GTA. In 2012 after the recession, plans were halted and the project which had become a major, fully developed tourist attraction, was halted. 2013-- 2018

During this period the CCHOF was approached by several developers and proposed casino developments. When the cities involved decided not to approve the casinos the project was halted. In 2016 close to $15 million dollars was raised for a major development at the corner of Palmer and Bender in Niagara Falls. With major partners and plans to open in 2018 a test of the concept was trialed as part of the CCA’s in Ottawa in 2015. With funding from the Ontario Government the Ontario Comedy Pavilion was launched. By 2018 the developer and major funder, branched into wineries and restaurants and the project was shelved. 2018-2020

The halt in building development was the beginning of the idea for a new approach. What if CCHOF became a NFP/Charity project? What if the industry members could sustain a virtual CCHOF and begin inducting people again? The trademark holders went back to the drawing board and built a new strategy beginning with a grassroots membership driven CCHOF as a charity.