8 /10 1 Votes
First episode date 1968 | 7.9/10 IMDb | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Infoman, Tout le monde en parle, Les Parent, Les Bougon, Occupation Double | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bye Bye is a Québécois New Year's Eve sketch comedy special broadcast by Radio-Canada. The yearly program features sketches satirizing the past year's events, followed by a countdown to the next year itself. Originally beginning in 1968, Bye Bye '98 was the final edition of its first run, until the show was revived by the comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles, who produced the 2006 and 2007 editions of the show.
In 2008, it was announced that Véronique Cloutier and Louis Morissette would take over the program for its 2008 edition. However, this edition provoked controversy over certain sketches that viewers found to be derogatory and racist; such a sketch about the assassination of then-American president-elect Barack Obama, and a sketch making fun of anglophones. The network received 1,300 complaints from viewers about the content in the special, which led to Cloutier making a public apology stating that the sketches were supposed to criticize racism rather than promote it.
As a result of the controversy, a 2009 edition was not produced, but despite the controversy surrounding their edition, Cloutier and Morissette announced that they would return to produce a 2010 edition of Bye Bye.