\n
After relocating the annual bonfire from an inaccessible beachfront to the crappy school gym, to accommodate a special needs kid whose mom demands equal access, the student body on Speechless<\/em> (8:30 p.m. Wednesdays on ABC) are encouraged to express their disappointment in a respectful, inclusive way.<\/p>\n\u201cI just think it\u2019s unfortunate that the best activity of the year got ruined to accommodate one student,\u201d offers one long-faced teen.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery good!\u201d coos the diversity-minded principal, a font of political correctness.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one\u2019s mad at JJ,\u201d explains another. \u201cHe just wants to have the same high school experience as the rest of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if anyone else got it cancelled, we\u2019d be mad at them. So isn\u2019t it demeaning to JJ to not<\/em>blame him?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s right,\u201d crows another. \u201cWe should respect JJ as an equal and be mad at him!\u201d<\/p>\n
The principal nods intently: \u201cAnd in that spirit of respect, what would you say to him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cScrew you for ruining everything!\u201d shouts one student, newly emboldened.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor someone who doesn\u2019t walk,\u201d bleats another, \u201cyou sure do trample on our rights!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mom might be hot,\u201d sermonizes a third, \u201cbut your behaviour\u2019s not!\u201d<\/p>\n
Outrageous? Insensitive? Politically incorrect?<\/p>\n
Come on, that\u2019s so 1995.<\/p>\n
In 2016, after years of plodding, feel-good dramas that paint people with disabilities as saints, caricatures and pariahs, the reset button has finally been set to \u201creality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speechless<\/em>, which breaks ground by casting an actor who has cerebral palsy as a character with the same condition, isn\u2019t interested in quaint homilies about how the disabled must be treated with kid gloves and worshipped as \u201cspecial.\u201d<\/p>\nNor is it interested in lecturing, hectoring or preaching to the converted.<\/p>\n
What it does explore, in sublimely comic fashion, are the tempestuous ironies of real life: what happens when thumb-sucking educators who trumpet feel-good equality come face to face with the very people they purport to champion?<\/p>\n
It also speaks to a cultural moment where the idea of diversity has moved from incubated silo to sprawling metropolis, acceptance trumps awareness, and people unsure how to react are a comic gift that keeps on giving.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur job at the show is plain and simple: to tell good stories and make people laugh. This is no documentary about disability,\u201d creator Scott Silveri told disabilityscoop.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, we\u2019re committed to presenting a character with CP in a way that is informed, respectful and authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Authenticity, coincidentally, is also the key ingredient of Kim\u2019s Convenience<\/em> (9 p.m. Tuesdays on CBC), a hilarious depiction of a Korean-Canadian family that, in its fearless desire to stir the pot, comes off like Archie Bunker meets The King of Kensington<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u201cI have no problem wis da gay,\u201d the heavily accented Korean proprietor of a corner variety store tells mortified customers on the eve of Toronto\u2019s annual Pride parade.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if you is da gay, why can\u2019t you be quiet, respectful gay, hmm, like, uh, Anderson Cooper, no? Neil Patrick Harris, y\u2019know?\u201d<\/p>\n
The two customers, who just want to post their parade flyer on his wall, fidget uncomfortably.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people don\u2019t like Korean,\u201d he goes on, determined to make his point, \u201cbut we don\u2019t making big parade yelling at people, \u2018WE DA KOREAN! WE DA KOREAN!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Called out on his homophobia and threatened with legal action, Mr. Kim (played by the brilliant Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) attempts to defuse tensions by offering a \u201cgay discount.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGay discount?\u201d respond his intrigued yet horrified accusers. \u201cBut how do you know if someone is gay?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell,\u201d he insists, unaware he\u2019s getting himself into deeper trouble. \u201cI have gaydar: 100 per cent guarantee!\u201d<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t imagine a more incendiary or hilariously topical approach to the subjects of inclusivity, gender and race relations in multicultural big city Toronto.<\/p>\n
The genius of Kim\u2019s Convenience<\/em> is that despite its intentionally rough edges, its main characters are sympathetic, flawed beings who make occasional missteps but learn from their mistakes.<\/p>\nAnd they feel real, not \u2014 in grand CBC tradition \u2014 like generic holograms mouthing platitudes about diversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of support out there for the show because it checks off certain criteria,\u201d Ins Choi, a South Korean native who based the series on his award-winning play, told Toronto Life.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanCon, diversity. But it\u2019s still got to be good. If it\u2019s not, it doesn\u2019t matter what boxes are ticked.\u201d<\/p>\n
We saw this firsthand with Little Mosque on the Prairie<\/em>, an earnestly plodding Canadian sitcom that was hailed as a breakthrough for its depiction of Muslim Canadians as something other than terrorists, but squandered its platform on feel-good banalities and the kind of hokey humour people might have laughed at 40 years ago.<\/p>\nKim\u2019s Convenience <\/em>\u2014 the edgiest Canadian comedy since Trailer Park Boys<\/em> and the funniest since The Newsroom<\/em> \u2014 is a different animal.<\/p>\n\u201cWe focus on what makes us laugh,\u201d noted Choi. \u201cWe don\u2019t worry about offending. I don\u2019t even think we\u2019re having fun with stereotypes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In their own ways, Kim\u2019s Convenience<\/em> and Speechless<\/em> provide a road map for the world ahead, a detour around society\u2019s obsession with social mores and covering one\u2019s butt, pushing through the weeds and thickets of obfuscation to a paradigm of true understanding.<\/p>\nFrom a comedy perspective, of course, those weeds and thickets are crucial.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a 15 per cent gay discount only for dis week,\u201d Mr. Kim informs one horrified customer who doesn\u2019t identify as gay. \u201cIs a lucky day for you!\u201d<\/p>\n
And on he goes, foot in mouth: well intended, sure, but as flawed and culpable as the rest of us.<\/p>\n
And every bit as relatable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JOEL RUBINOFF \/ Toronto Star After relocating the annual bonfire from an inaccessible beachfront to the crappy school gym, to accommodate a special needs kid whose mom demands equal access, the student body on Speechless (8:30 p.m. Wednesdays on ABC) are encouraged to express their disappointment in a respectful, inclusive way. \u201cI just think it\u2019s … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpeechless, Kim's Convenience bring awkward humour back to TV - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/11\/07\/speechless-kims-convenience-bring-awkward-humour-back-to-tv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Speechless, Kim's Convenience bring awkward humour back to TV - 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