Royal Canadian Air Farce (TV series)

Royal Canadian Air Farce
Directed by	Perry Rosemond
Starring	Present : Roger Abbott Don Ferguson Luba Goy Jessica Holmes Craig Lauzon Alan Park Penelope Corrin See also: Cast history
Country of origin	Canada
No. of seasons	16
No. of episodes	335
Production
Production locations	Canadian Broadcasting Centre Toronto, Ontario
Running time	22–23 Minutes
Original release
Network	CBC Television
Release	October 8, 1993 (1993-10-08) – December 31, 2008 (2008-12-31)
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Royal Canadian Air Farce (broadcast as Air Farce Live during 2007, and Air Farce—Final Flight! in 2008), and often credited simply as Air Farce, was a Canadian sketch comedy series starring the comedy troupe Royal Canadian Air Farce, that previously starred in an eponymous show on CBC Radio, from 1973 to 1997. The top-rated television show was broadcast on CBC Television, beginning in 1993 and ending in December 2008.^[1] The Air Farce Live name was adopted in October 2007. For the show's final season which began October 3, 2008, the series was renamed Air Farce—Final Flight!^[2]

The show was a weekly topical sketch comedy series focusing on political and cultural satire and was one of the most popular Canadian television shows. It was initially aired as a radio series beginning in 1973, and on radio, Air Farce continued for 24 seasons through 1997. In terms of the troupe's TV career, the first Air Farce TV special aired in 1980. A short-lived Air Farce TV series was broadcast in 1981, and further TV specials aired in 1982, 1983, and 1984. After a long hiatus from TV, a 1992 New Year's Eve special for CBC-TV was well received, and a new Air Farce TV series began in October 1993. The TV series was retitled Air Farce Live beginning with the October 6, 2007 broadcast and was the first Canadian sketch comedy series to be broadcast in HD. Despite the name change, the show was broadcast live only in the Atlantic time zone. The other time zones aired the show via tape delay.

In November 1998, original cast members Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, and John Morgan received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.^[3]