You mean the one where Barney shoots his mouth off in a Tim Horton’s and finds out why we all have hockey sticks? I figured that was why they have so much Canadian humour in that show, but not why it is such a common meme on tv in the States. Maybe there are Canadian writers on a lot of shows. 
The point is that there is no point. It’s ethnic humor without being offensive; it can’t be offensive because it’s preposterous; discrimination against Canadians is nonexistent and there’s no harm in the joke. By making characters prejudiced agaisnt Canadians, you’re using the concept of racism and bigotry without actually invoking any. The joke goes beyond making a lame joke about Canadian things and becomes a meta-joke about bigoted jokes themselves.
It’s also a great place to park a girlfriend who doesn’t exist.
I didn’t think the US needed one. After all, who is to stop it from displaying the orientation of its choice?
Yeah, but the supposed Canadian cashier had a really thick Fargo-style North Dakota accent.
[site not entirely sfw]
I choked on my coffee over that one. It is far funnier than it should be, but there you are.
I thought this thread would be about
I thought this thread would be about Corner Gas, the funniest sitcom ever!
Brent: Face it, Dad, you’re ornery.
Oscar: I am not ornery!
Brent: You once punched a skunk.
Oscar: Well, he deserved it!!
Jackass.
Not entirely germane to the phenomenon in sitcoms but the term Canadian is used in the midwest anyway as a thinly veiled code for “black person”.
Excellent.
There are several accents found in different regions of Canada. The west coast folks have the ‘surfer dude’-type accent, albeit very subtly, and not completely throughout the entire lexicon, but my SO gets a ribbing from me about it whenever I hear it come out of her. The maritimes (east coast) have a range of accents similar to what you might deem “Fargo-style”, the heaviest being spoken by our beloved Newfies (born and bred in Newfoundland). Of course Quebecers are mostly french-speaking. Ontarians, such as myself, by and large sound like most of the folks on any given US television show.
Very likely. And you know that we completely crave recognition and validation from our totally cool American cousins. It makes me ill whenever there is an interview with some celebrity who’s visiting Canada, there is invariably a line of questions fishing for compliments about the city, region, or nation they are in. It’s natural to poke fun at ourselves, and provide some easy laughs for all, in the process!
I knew it! 
I should add that I know Nova Scotians (is that what they’d be called?) and Toronto natives but neither fit the Red Green mold.
I think it’s absolutely fair that, if Canada gets Cobie Smulders, we get to make jokes about Canada. Come on, it’s the least they can do.
That just makes it funnier for some reason (probably because most Canadians are so pale they glow in the dark).
People from outside Saskatchewan think Corner Gas was a sitcom.
People from Saskatchewan know it was a documentary.
Maritime and Newfie accents are dramatically different from Minnesota Nice; it’d be like confusing Irish and Australian.
Maritime and Newfoundland speech is heavily influenced by Irish and Gaelic accents; Minnesota’s accent is to some extent influenced by Nordic speech.
Ontarians speak an accent similar to American-generic but you might be surprised how quickly Americans will pick you out as Canadian; we absolutely aren’t the same. The difference is less pronounced as you move into large cities and up the educational ladder, but it’s there.
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I prefer to be called translucent.
Heh - ain’t that the truth.