Bizarre

Bizarre
Premiere	September 18, 1980
Finale	September 1986
Creator	Bob Einstein, Allan Blye
Host	John Byner
Network/Provider	CTV (Canada) Showtime (USA)
Style	30-minute sketch comedy show
Company	Shiral Productions, CTV
Seasons	6
Episodes	141
Origin	Canada

Bizarre is a Canadian sketch comedy show that aired on CTV in Canada and on Showtime in the United States.

Hosted by comedian/impressionist/actor John Byner, Bizarre featured slapstick sketches, monologues, parodies of TV shows and commercials, and performances by guest stand-up comedians, with a variety of celebrity guests backing Byner in the sketches. Also included in the show was the character Super Dave Osborne (played by series co-creator Bob Einstein as a parody of daredevil stuntmen like Evel Knievel), who would attempt to perform elaborate stunts but invariably ended up getting seriously injured when the stunts went awry.

Two versions of Bizarre were produced for the networks they originally aired on; the version of the show aired on cable network Showtime featured coarse language and topless female nudity, while the CTV version removed the nudity and bleeped out the language. The success of the series and the popularity of Super Dave Osborne led to a spinoff series, Super Dave, which aired on Showtime in the US and in first-run syndication in Canada.

At a Glance

At a Glance: Additional information about the series

DVD & Blu-Ray Releases

Title			Release			Discs
Episode Collections  (Region 1)
The Best of Bizarre: Volume 1-5			August 9, 2011	purchase		5

External Sites

• Bizarre on IMDb

• Bizarre at the Canadian Communications Foundation