CODCO

In 1973, Tommy Sexton and Diane Olsen wrote a comedic show about Canadian stereotypes of Newfoundlanders, Cod on a Stick. Originally launched in Toronto, the cast consisted of Sexton, Olsen, Greg Malone, Cathy Jones, Mary Walsh and Paul Sametz. The show subsequently opened in St. John's, with Scott Strong replacing Sametz, and then toured the province with Robert Joy replacing Strong. When the show was taped by the National Film Board in 1974, Andy Jones appeared in the cast as well. Sexton, Olsen, Malone, Cathy Jones, Andy Jones, Walsh and Joy subsequently performed in the show Sickness, Death and Beyond the Grave in 1974. In 1975, all except Malone, who was on a brief sabbatical to study at the Toronto Dance Theatre, appeared in What Do You Want to See the Harbour For, Anyway?; later that year, Malone rewrote the show as Das Capital. In the fall of that year, the troupe compiled bits from their earlier shows for a week-long performance in Philadelphia, which was titled Philadelphia: Somewhere on the Hungry Coast of Newfoundland. That show was also taped for broadcast on CBC Television's Peep Show, as Festering Forefathers and Running Sons. Joy and Olsen left the troupe in 1976. Mike Jones, Cathy and Andy Jones' brother, was not a performing member of the troupe, but was associated with them as a frequent director of their stage shows. Over the next number of years, the troupe's members only rarely worked together as CODCO, but often collaborated with each other individually on various projects, including the film The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood and the television series The Root Seller, The Wonderful Grand Band and The S and M Comic Book. Greg Thomey and Paul Steffler also frequently collaborated with the CODCO members on various projects. ==TV series==

In 1986, Walsh, Sexton, Malone, Cathy Jones and Andy Jones reunited as CODCO for a benefit show in St. John's. Sexton and Malone had just completed the successful and popular S and M Comic Book series of CBC Television specials, and the CBC was interested in developing further projects with the duo — after the success of the CODCO reunion show, the troupe decided to work on a CODCO series. CODCO began production in 1986, and debuted on the CBC in 1988. Although not regular contributors, Thomey and Joy sometimes appeared on CODCO as guest performers. For most of its run, CODCO aired as the latter half of a one-hour sketch comedy block, immediately following The Kids in the Hall. ==Segments and characters==

CODCO shared several characteristics with The Kids in the Hall, including the presence of openly gay members and the use of drag — although where The Kids in the Hall often revelled in absurdist humour, CODCO's sketches were typically based around social commentary and satire, often with a strongly political edge. Their sketches were also strongly reflective of the troupe's background on the stage, sometimes playing more as humorous character or scene studies than as conventional sketch comedy. In another, a Newfoundlander brings his girlfriend from Toronto home to meet his parents; the sketch escalates to the brink of violence as the parents tried to explain why the Mi'kmaq, not Newfoundlanders, were responsible for the extinction of the Beothuk. Malone performed a number of celebrity impersonations, including Margaret Thatcher and Canadian television journalist Barbara Frum, The troupe also parodied the conventions of television news through mock local newscasts; in one such sketch, a racist anchor character loudly blamed Africa for AIDS: "It's all your fault, it's all your fault. Nah nah nah nah nah nah. You're black, you're black, take your dirty bugs back. You're screwing green monkeys and giving it to our junkies. We give you all our foreign aid, and all we gets back is AIDS, AIDS, AIDS." Parody music videos were also a frequent feature of the show. In a transparent spoof of Quebec pop idol Mitsou, Cathy Jones played Jansu, a shallow, self-promoting pop singer who tried to be topical with lyrics such as "it's a political world/so separate your garbage!". Sexton parodied body image as Dusty Springroll, who sang an ode to the fashionability of bulimia. Figures such as Anne Murray and Bruce Cockburn were parodied in commercials for compilation albums with satirical lyrics set to the melodies of real songs by the artists, while another sketch was set in a café holding a Leonard Cohen impersonation contest. ==The end of CODCO==

In 1991, a sketch was filmed for CODCO called "Pleasant Priests in Conversation", which involved three Roman Catholic priests discussing their sexual experiences; Malone ran as the Green party candidate for the riding of Avalon for the 2019 federal election. ==References==