“Double Exposure”
By Red Robinson – 2006
Bob Robertson and Linda Cullen teamed up in the 1980s and set a new standard in
satire.
I first became aware of Bob Robertson when he would make regular
appearances on the Frosty Forst radio show each
morning on CKNW. Robertson did the weather, but added some of the most
incredible voice impressions ever heard in this market.
It was at CKNW that Robertson met up with a very talented young
lady named Linda Cullen (no relation to the late Jack Cullen). They paired up
professionally and took their hilarity to the CBC, creating a radio program
called Double Exposure that went national in February 1987.
What made the pair unique was their uncanny ability to
impersonate politicians of the day, whether it was Grace McCarthy, Bill Vander Zalm, Joe Clark or Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
The two worked their magic on radio for 10 1/2 successful years,
with a weekly audience exceeding 300,000 listeners.
During that time, Double Exposure was nominated three times for
ACTRA radio awards (The Nellies), once winning for best comedy program.
In the 1990s, the show toured Canada, playing theatres in every
province and territory. For several years, the duo also wrote, produced and
performed in Double Exposure New Year's Eve specials, each titled some
variation on A Swift Kick in the Year End, and each garnering an audience of
more than one million viewers.
In 1997, the Double Exposure team was hired away by CTV to
produce a weekly comedy program. The two took on duties as executive producers,
writers and performers, working through their own production company Cullen
Robertson Productions Inc.
Despite being up against some heavy primetime programming, their
show found an audience and ran for three critically successful years. It was
nominated for six Gemini awards, including the Chrysler Canada People's Choice
Award, and was the the sixth highest- rated Canadian
television program at the time.
When you reflect on the success of their show you can see how
Robertson and Cullen set the stage for others to follow, such as the current
ratings winner Corner Gas. Double Exposure was recognized elsewhere, too,
winning the U.S. International Film and Video Festival's Gold Camera Award.
Robertson and Cullen continued to produce, write and perform in
television, and notched another New Year's Eve special in 2003. The pair can
also be seen and heard at major conventions across the country throughout the
year. They are two of the most entertaining performers you can imagine and are
always updating their material to suit the times.
The team is at the Waterfront Theatre until March 26, and serves
notice to beware the Snides of March -- a magical,
satirical play. They have brought together an ensemble of fellow comics to poke
fun at today's headline makers.
In recognition of their contribution to the entertainment industry
in B.C., Double Exposure was inducted into the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame
in 2004 with a star on Starwalk on Granville Street.
In many ways, Robertson and Cullen are the George Burns and Gracie Allen of
Vancouver.
***
They don't have Bill Vander Zalm and
Grace McCarthy to kick around any more - but there's still no shortage of
targets for Canada's hottest radio comedy team.
"Vander Zalm was instantly
recognizable because he just let it all hang out," says Bob Robertson, who
with partner Linda Cullen form Double Exposure, CBC's
top-rated radio comedy show with more than a half-million listeners each week.
"We're going to miss him."
On McCarthy's fate as a failed Social Credit leadership
candidate, Cullen says: "I thought I had it made when she ran. I was sure
they wouldn't turn against her again." (McCarthy lost to Vander Zalm in the 1986 leadership race.)
"I could have killed (leadership candidate) Mel Couvelier when he threw his support behind Rita
(Johnston)."
For more than five years, Robertson, 46, and Cullen, 32, have
carved out a career lampooning newsmakers on their weekly radio show (11:35
a.m. Saturdays on AM 690 and 2 p.m. Sundays on FM 105.7) produced at CBC
Vancouver.
"We don't know much about the new NDP government yet,"
says Robertson. "(Premier Mike) Harcourt isn't the easiest guy to mimic,
but he's do-able."
Robertson says Harcourt "has a glibness, even though it's
choppy. He relies too much on cliches . . . and he
loves to say 'my friends' over and over."
Cullen says she really hasn't tuned in to the women in the New
Democratic Party government.
"Really, it depends on whether they develop a national
profile. Our show goes across the country, so everybody should recognize who
we're doing."
Week after week, Double Exposure makes satirical hay poking fun
at politicians such as Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien
and Audrey McLaughlin.
On Joe Clark, Robertson says: "He's so usable . . . a
couple of weeks ago when Mulroney was flirting with going to the UN, Joe came
that close to being prime minister again. We had our fingers crossed."
As much as Robertson and Cullen show no mercy in doling out
comedic shivs, they say their targets secretly
delight in the attention.
"You'd think politicians would find it irritating to be made
fun of," says Robertson, "but when I meet them I get the impression
they really find it kind of flattering."
"Once we've parodied them, they think they've attained
another level of celebrity," says Cullen. "In a weird way, they think
we're complimenting them."
The pair first teamed up in March 1986 when Robertson, who was
born in Britain and raised in Ontario, was writing and performing skits for
CKNW.
Cullen, a Vancouver native who'd taken radio at the B.C.
Institute of Technology, was working at 'NW and was assigned to be Robertson's
technical operator.
"It was obvious Linda had contributions to make," says
Robertson, "but 'NW didn't want her on the air."
Robertson had connections at the CBC and pitched the idea of a
weekly comedy show. After one pilot flopped, the pair persisted by producing
another, which eventually led to a six-week contract.
CBC kept extending its contract, "and the rest is
hysterics," says Robertson.
As for a personal relationship, Cullen and Robertson say they're
"a couple."
"We've been dating for years, but we don't live
together," says Robertson, who is divorced. "We're the opposite of
most couples. We spend our workday together and then go home to our cats."