Canada's standup comedy scene is thriving, but why? What makes the people of our country so uniquely humorous?Canada's standup comedy scene is thriving, but why? What makes the people of our country so uniquely humorous? (iStock) The Canadian sense of humour is hard to define, but undeniably strong. Many say that "funny" is one of our peoples' most pervasive, universal, and flattering stereotypes (not to say that we aren't proud of our Hockey, Moose and Beer associations. Because we are.)

Comedy in Canada boasts a long, storied history and an even longer list of heroes: Jim Carrey, John Candy, Mike Myers, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Phil Hartman, Elvira Kurt, Leslie Nielsen, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Lorne Michaels, Russell Peters, Scott Thompon, Norm MacDonald and Dan Aykroyd, just to start.

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We're also home to the largest international comedy festival in the entire world: The Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, celebrating it's 30th anniversary this year.

To celebrate the end of the festival and spark a conversation about what, exactly, makes Canada such a funny country, we hosted a live webcam chat on Thursday, June 26.

We were joined by:

  • Nicole Arbour, "world's sexiest comedian," MC, choreographer and producer.
  • Eytan Millstone, Writer, Rapper, Comedian, slam poet and member of the Boom Comedy Sketch Troupe.
  • Andrew Clark, award-winning author and director of Humber’s Comedy Writing and Performance Program.
  • Gary Rideout Jr. of sketch comedy troupe the Sketchersons and owner / artistic director of the Comedy Bar in Toronto.
  • Matt O'Brien, Video on Trial star, rated the Best Standup at LA Comedy Fest and Canada-XM Radio's Next Top Comic.

The entire replay can be seen here: