Paul Shaffer on the Toronto Play That Begat Comedy as We Know It

CANADALAND

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Three years before the first episode of SNL. Four years before the first episode of SCTV. Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner. Andrea Martin and later Dave Thomas, co-starred in a legendary production of a musical called Godspell at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto.

The show that launched the careers of a whole generation of comedians is now the subject of a new doc at TIFF. Appropriately titled, You Had to Be There: How The Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love and Overalls, and Created a Community that Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way).

Today we speak with someone who had a front row seat to it all. Paul Shaffer, of Letterman fame, but who back in the days of Godspell was just a kid from Thunder Bay gigging in strip clubs on Younge Street. That is, until he landed the job of musical director for the play that would change the comedy world as we know it.

Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)

Reported by Ilana Gordon

Fact checking by Julian Abraham

Additional music by Audio Network

Further Reading:

You Had to Be There at TIFF

You Had To Be There - IMDB

You Had To Be There - Trailer

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