I recently posted a thought on Facebook in response to an announcement regarding the imminent documentary examining the life and career of Canadian comedy icon John Candy, entitled John Candy: I Like Me.
“I unironically want John Candy on the Five Dollar bill. Canada’s comedy culture is genuinely important to our national character.”
This largely generated support, in fact it’s probably amongst my most popular comments on that social media platform. There was some pushback though, asserting that surely someone less frivolous should receive that honour. This prompted me to ruminate more on this attitude towards comedy and I will include some of those thoughts here.
Comedy is our greatest cultural export to the world. SCTV in particular showcases a wealth of comedy talent Canada was incubating in the 1980s and John Candy was the standout amongst a cast of masters that continue to produce high-grade comedy to this day. Candy unfortunately also has the distinction of having his career cut short by a heart attack on the set of his worst film, Wagons East, made all the more tragic by the depth of his talent being hinted at in a dramatic scene in JFK and the dramedy Only the Lonely a few years prior. Had he survived, who knows what new heights he may have reached.
What we did receive though includes some absolute gemstones I wish to highlight. Now, I feel it is immensely tacky to self-promote in almost any circumstance, but my friend Ryan and I did a full season of our movie podcast O.K. Video focusing on John Candy, and we uncovered a couple diamonds in the rough I hadn’t heard anyone highlight. Who’s Harry Crumb? is a delightful caper comedy that features Candy as an inept private investigator in the class of Frank Drebin or Inspector Gadget. With the solid comic directing of Paul Flaherty (brother of SCTV castmate Joe), Candy gets to showcase his brand of silliness in one of his best movies. Definitely give it a look when you can.
Huge round of applause for John Hughes, who recognized the immense talent Candy possessed and tailored some films around his abilities. The Great Outdoors is perhaps least amongst those collaborations, but it still has tremendous warmth and a really good shelf life for an 80s family comedy about Yuppies on vacation. The water skiing sequence, the 96’er steak eating challenge and, of course, the entanglement with Jody, the bald-headed Bear. Candy and fellow Canuck Dan Aykroyd imbue this sitcomish premise with enough sparkle to keep me revisiting it when I need a smile.
Of course the year prior was the true masterpiece, not only in John Candy’s career but I would argue John Hughes’ as well. Planes, Trains and Automobiles is one of the first movies I ever saw a glimpse of as a child, specifically the vivid sequence where Neal and Del are driving the wrong way on a major highway and find themselves threading the needle between two big rigs. I was maybe four years old when I saw this and the moment where they are suddenly skeletons seared into my young mind. About a decade later I finally watched the entire movie with my childhood friend David, and we laughed and had a solid movie night. Five years hence, my college friend Cody highlighted how truly excellent the scene where Neal throws a tantrum at a rental car agency was, and this was where Planes, Trains and Automobiles began ascending the charts of my personal favourite movies. I started watching it routinely, and I have found no better film about friendship forming between two adult men. It also seemed to echo the beginnings of my friendship with David, we had really pestered each other as young classmates, but eventually that antagonism turned to fond connection and the way that developed between Neal and Del just seemed exceedingly true to life. Typing this, I’m noticing we share the same letters of our first names, and I do relate more to Neal in terms of stubbornness and getting flustered when things don’t go according to plan. I feel this deep sense of nostalgia and positive feeling about friendships and family whenever I watch this movie and it is now my absolute favourite movie.
Del Griffith is really the heart of that. This lost soul wandering America in search of connection, made all the more painful around the holidays when everyone else has a family they can return to in order to recharge and face the grind again. The simple reveal at the end of the film that he is a widower and has no real home anymore is immediately capitalized upon with the cut to Neal and Del walking side by side with Del’s trunk between them. The music swells, it’s perfectly corny and wonderful. And the freeze on the warmest John Candy smile as he is invited to dinner is just about the most joyful conclusion to any film I can name. Making someone laugh and smile is so much more valuable to me than making someone ashamed and sad. Comedy is better than drama. Comedy is harder than drama. And John Candy was no less a master than Daniel Day-Lewis or Laurence Olivier at his particular branch of acting.
I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from watching any of his films, but the three I highlighted are the trio I’d most strongly endorse. And watch old SCTV episodes, they really showcase the oddball Canadian comic sensibility better than anything else. Camp Candy, Rescuers Down Under, his uncredited bit role in Rookie of the Year. John Candy was providing joy and joviality to kids’ entertainment during my formative years and I believe he was truly gifted at it. Yes, some of it is nostalgia, but I’m really happy I get to be nostalgic about someone this emblematic of positivity and good cheer as John Candy. I double down on my wish, I want him featured on some currency. I want to smile more and seeing Candy smiling on the face of a Five Dollar bill would help that happen.
