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This Is That
This Is That was a news satire program broadcast on CBC Radio, which aired comedic news stories presented in the style of a real CBC Radio public affairs program.[1] The program began as a summer replacement in 2010,[1] returned in the summer of 2011, and was added to the regular schedule in the fall of 2011.[2] It is hosted by Pat Kelly and Peter Oldring, and produced by Chris Kelly. The This Is That team have also produced comedy videos for the CBC's web comedy platform CBC Comedy.[3] In September 2018, the This Is That team announced that its 13 new episodes in fall 2018 would be the show's final season.[3] The show's series finale was a live and improvised special from the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on December 22, 2018.[4] In the 2019 Canadian federal election, Kelly and Oldring produced a number of short-format This Is That segments for the network's morning news series The Current.[5][6][7][8] In the mediaThe program, whose style has been compared to The Onion, drew phone calls from listeners who did not realize that they were listening to a comedy program and took the content seriously;[1] Oldring and Kelly admit to having been surprised that listeners would be fooled.[9] In June 2010, the National Post reported as fact that CTV purchased the set of the NBC series Friends;[10] this, however, was a satirical story by This Is That.[11] Two years later, Canadian journalist Robert Fulford wrote an article for the National Post claiming that the show is "worth tuning in for".[12] Also in 2012, Public Radio International reported as fact a This Is That story that dogs in Montreal would have to know commands in both English and French by law.[13][14] In early 2013, Harper's reported as fact a This Is That story in which a Canadian student "sued her university for failing to accommodate her allergies to cactuses, escalators, tall people, and mauve."[15] In September of the same year, several media organizations, including USA Today and the Washington Times, reported on a story about an U-11 organization that had decided to play soccer without a ball to remove competition from the game.[13][16] In 2014, Jonathan Jones at The Guardian wrote an article analyzing the satire in their story about a New York artist creating invisible art and selling it for millions.[17] AwardsThe program has won three Canadian Comedy Awards.[18][19] Their comedy special "The Christmas Letter" won a gold medal in the category of Best Comedy Special at the 2014 New York Festivals International Radio Awards[20] and their fourth season won a bronze medal in the category of Best Regularly Scheduled Comedy Program at the same awards ceremony.[20] At the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018, Oldring won the award for Best Actor in a Web Program or Series for his performance in the show's CBC Comedy video series.[21] References
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