Mike's Bloggity Blog

On Tuesday night, British comedian Ricky Gervais picked up the Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award for all of his dedicated and inspiring work towards comedy both in television and the movies.

His speech was the highlight of the night and I was able to capture some of the best parts. After it was done, I tweeted now that I had seen Ricky Gervais, met him and watch him do a speech, I was ready to go to the Golden Gates.

My bucket list keeps getting shorter and shorter!

With all the celebrities at this week’s Banff World Television festival, you knew that someone was going to say something stupid that they would probably regret later!

It is just too bad that it had to be Alberta MLA Lindsay Blackett.

Speaking on a panel Monday afternoon, the Culture Minister was quoted as saying: “Why do we make such shit here?”, speaking in reference to Canadian television and film productions.

Obviously that is a piece of shit statement in itself, so on Tuesday night, he tried  to backtrack by saying that Canadians make great programming and used Heartland as an Alberta-filmed show that is number one in the ratings.  Only 50% of that statement is true.  And if you ask me, his apology didn’t sound too sincere.

So in honor of Blackett’s ignorance towards Canadian productions, I thought I’d remind him of some of my favourite Canadian shows that definitely do not suck.

The Racoons

You Can’t Do That on Television

Degrassi

Being Erica

Flashpoint.

And for no particular reason, this commercial:

What is your favourite Canadian television show or movie?

France’s TV movie London River was the big winner at Tuesday night’s Banff World Television Awards. The movie tells the story of two lives who intersect hours after London’s first suicide bombing.  The win for the film was bittersweet since it’s co-star Sotigui Kouyate, passed away just two months ago.  During the awards, they showed several clips of the powerful movie, so although I haven’t seen the whole thing, it was easy to see why it won Best Drama and The Grand Jury Prize.

Here is the list of all the winners:

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

• Sir Peter Ustinov Award for Comedy: Ricky Gervais

• Lifetime Achievement Award: William Shatner

• NBC Universal Canada Award of Distinction: Eric McCormack

BEST OF SHOW IN ALL FESTIVAL GENRES

• Best Drama: London River, 3B Productions in association with ARTE France, ARTE France – France

• Best Kids + Animation : Le Printemps de Melie/ Molly in Springtime, National Film Board of Canada in association with Folimage, PIWI, Divertissement Subsequence Inc – Canada

• Best Francophone: Aveux, Productions Pixcom inc., Radio-Canada – Canada

• Best Green Program: Bang Goes The Theory: The Human Power Station, Dragonfly Film and Television Productions, BBC – United Kingdom
• Best Canadian Program: 65 Red Roses Force Four Entertainment in association wtih CBC News Network, Knowledge  CBC (The Passionate Eye) – Canada

• Best Entertainment: Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra, Glassbox Productions, BBC – United Kingdom

• Best Documentary: Life, BBC in association with Discovery/SKAI/Open University, RTI Spa – BBC1 – United Kingdom

• Grand Jury Prize: London River, 3B Productions in association with ARTE France, ARTE France – France

GREEN GRAND PRIZE

• Green Grand Prize: Louie Psihoyos, Oscar Winner and director of The Cove.

Watch the trailer for London River:

Speaking of the awards, the big ceremony was on Tuesday night and it was a star-studded affair. I got the chance to talk to Ricky Gervais, William Shatner, Eric McCormack and Jason Priestly. The former 90210-er was the night’s gracious and funny host, while the others all picked up special awards.

Being on the red carpet was tough, mostly because journalists and photographers are usually giant assholes who try to bully you out of your place.  But if I’ve learned one thing, it is stand your ground and be nice to publicists.  While everyone is yelling at them to get interviews, there I sit, broadening my shoulders, flashing my baby blue eyes and just like, I get to talk to the people I want to.  All without being a douchebag.  And they bloggers aren’t journalists.   (Speaking of that:  The Globe and Mail got first question with William Shatner and what did the esteemed paper ask?  ”What shit did your dad say?”  Thanks Globe and Mail, riveting stuff.)

Since he was winning a comedy award, I asked Gervais if he felt pressure to always be funny.  He quickly responded with “No”, and then we had a stare-off, trying to get each other to crack. He broke first and said that his partner doesn’t think he is very funny, but he does try to make himself laugh all the time.

When I asked Shatner what has surprised him most over the past five years during his fascinating career, he replied: “I’m surprised I’m still alive.  I’m very lucky.”  His fiancee agreed, saying that she was lucky too.  She also had lipstick on here teeth, but didn’t know if I was within my rights to tell her.

Eric McCormick brought his wife of 16 years and there son Finngan to celebrate the Will and Grace actor picking up the NBC Universal Canada Award of Distinction.  (Fun fact: His son is named after the Mr. Dress Up character.) You can feel free to have a discussion about how fashionable the little kid is too!  Eric told me that he loves having a career where he is lucky enough to have projects in the States and in Canada.  You can catch him this summer on stage in Vancouver in Glengarry Glen Ross.

It was definitely one of the craziest and fastest red carpets I had ever worked.  But it was also one of the most successful, I felt privileged to talk to such amazing talent!

Sooooooo when did the Banff World Television Festival become the coolest festival in Canada?

With the four day event only a couple of weeks away, organizers are still adding to the growing list of celebrities who will be in attendance.

We already knew that William Shatner, Ricky Gervais, Nigel Lythgoe and Illeana Douglas would be speaking at the festival.  Now comes word that Erik McCormack and Ian Brennan will now be there too! Don’t know who Ian Brennan is?  Well he c0-created Glee with Ryan Murphy!  Bet that is ringing a few bells for ya!

I’m not embarrassed to say that that this event is turning into a big giant wet-dream for television lovers like myself.