The Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour

Trevor S. Raymond is a teacher and librarian with the Peel Board of Education and editor of Canadian Holmes.

Compiling an anthology is a very subjective affair, as Will Ferguson,
who edited this one, makes that quite clear. When a reviewer notices
that 20 winners of the Stephen Leacock Medal are absent from the book
and is about to write, “How can an anthology of Canadian humour
exclude W.O. Mitchell or Gregory Clark or George Bain?” Mr. Ferguson
intervenes: “Please, please don’t send emails demanding to know
‘Why wasn’t X or Y included?’ … X wasn’t included because X
isn’t funny. Y wasn’t included because I just plain don’t like
Y.” And if one wonders why B is represented by this piece and not
another, Ferguson reminds us two-thirds of the way through the book,
“This is my anthology. Go edit your own.”

Let us concentrate, then, on what is here: writing by 57 writers, all
born in the 20th century except for the wonderful Bob Edwards, Stephen
Leacock, and the poet Robert Service. Selections appear alphabetically
by author. There are a few translations from French-Canadian writers and
a smattering of verse. Most pieces are from longer works; many were
newspaper columns. One might wish that each was identified by the date
on which it was published to clarify the occasional topical reference,
but that is a minor cavil. There are pleasant surprises; one might not
associate Mavis Gallant with humorous writing but here she is. Many of
the writers—Robertson Davies, Stuart Maclean, Richard Needham, Dan
Needles, Paul Hiebert, and Stuart Trueman, for example—made me laugh
out loud, which is the ultimate test. On the other hand, a few left me
cold and I only finished them out of a sense of duty. Reviewers can be
subjective, too.