Canadians are Overrated 

Canadians are Overrated

I used to say I would not join in with the National Post in saying "Canada sucks." But I'm coming pretty close here: are there any more or less famous Canadians, other than Wayne Gretzky, who aren't over-rated?

Conrad Black is way overrated by those who admire the tycoon-British Tory type.
The late Bob Hunter is overrated--his eulogies go on and on here in Toronto.
The late Pierre Berton is over-rated. We were always told he could have made so much more money if he had gone to the U.S. Really? He can be admired as an entrepreneur, in that no one else had the idea of getting rich by writing popular histories of Canada. But the books themselves? Robert Fulford pretty much wrote that as a historian, Berton made a pretty good columnist for the Toronto Star.
Wayne and Shuster are over-rated. So Ed Sullivan booked them many times--they were a relief from the Catskills comics talking about their mothers in law. And today: the greatest Catskills comics are still with us (Jackie Mason) or their material is (Rodney Dangerfield). Is there any Wayne and Shuster material that's actually funny?
Mike Myers is over-rated. I like Austin Powers; I liked the beginning of Wayne's World on SNL, and even the very beginning which I saw at Second City in Toronto years ago. I liked "Middle-Aged Guy" on SNL. But come on. Funniest SNL ever was Eddie Murphy guest hosting. I grant you, Eddie hasn't been funny for many years, but he killed that night--and Myers has never been in that league.
Jim Carrey is over-rated. Probably a richer, albeit crazier brew than Myers--there's flat out more material there. But still. It's not so much the material, it's his gross over-reaction to the material. He's the extreme case of the little guy who isn't sure he can handle much of anything, but comes through in the end. Period.
Sarah McLaughlin is way, way, way God help me over-rated, and Celine (whom David Foster was babbling about on TV tonight), and Shania. Yes, they've all succeeded in a very technical, competent kind of way, and I can't necessarily think of a better American in every case, but still.
Dalton Camp was over-rated. Trudeau emerged from somewhere behind Camp, at least in political circles, and ended up far ahead. But still, I think, over-rated.

Part of what started this was seeing Tom Hayden on TV tonight. This must be tape from his visit a few weeks ago. There's a global movement against the war in Iraq, environment, right-thinking people, blah blah blah, INCLUDING SOME RIGHT HERE IN CANADA. That's great Tom. We'll be your little friend. (I know, there are right-wing versions of a little friend to the Americans: David Frum, over-rated). We get the second-stringers and losers from the States praising us for being different than home. Robert Kennedy. Noam Chomsky.