Great White North

Great White North is the hit comedy album from Bob & Doug McKenzie, better known as SCTV veterans Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, respectively. There's one serious problem, though. It's not very funny as a whole. The shtick is that the McKenzie brothers are lazy, beer-swilling dimwits who focus on Canadian culture and rely heavily on slang interjections and put-downs like "take off," "beauty, eh?," and "hoser." Only two selections are truly noteworthy. The first is the catchy novelty hit "Take Off," which features Rush's Geddy Lee singing on the chorus. The edited single eliminated the playful banter among Lee and the McKenzie brothers before and after the song portion. Lee's supposed reason for participating? "Ten bucks is ten bucks." The Yuletide favorite "Twelve Days of Christmas" replaces the traditional gifts with items such as beer, turtleneck sweaters, French toast, toques, backbacon, cigarettes, and comic books. The brothers are overcome by their version, and Bob McKenzie says it's comparable to "Stairway to Heaven." A few other cuts are OK. "The Beerhunter" is about a Russian roulette-like game involving shaken cans of beer. (The title spoofs 1978's Best Picture Oscar winner "The Deer Hunter," which included infamous Russian roulette scenes.) "Doug's Mouth" features goofy sound effects. Moranis and Thomas resurrected the Bob & Doug McKenzie characters for the 1983 cult film Strange Brew and beer commercials in the late '90s. ~ Bret Adams