On Saturday, April 28, at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts

The Ethnic Heroes of Comedy wrapped up a nine-city Canadian tour in Vancouver on April 28. Luckily for them, it was an off night for the Canucks–otherwise, six people might have shown up in this embarrassingly hockey-mad city of ours.

This comedic Olympiad was hosted by Toronto comic Frank Spadone. Competent but unspectacular, the Italian-Canadian offered nothing new. We were treated to some good lines, but his jokes didn't elevate. For example, a bit on wives controlling their husbands ended with: "What happened to the guy I met two years ago?" Decent enough line, but we've been hearing this type of observation since "Take my wife”¦please!" Enough already.

Yet lest anyone think a show presenting underrepresented ethnicities has to be bland and sensitive, fuhgeddaboudit !

Consider: Chinese restaurant workers are the rudest people on Earth, French people are one beer away from being gay, and Italians are, shall we say, well-connected. These comments were uttered by people of Filipino, Indian, and Greek descent, respectively. But everything was said in jest. The show's name may imply political correctness, but PC humour is anathema to standup comedy, which often looks to expose the undergarments of society and broadcast them to the world: it's the Upskirt.com of show biz.

Los Angeles–based Jo Koy represented the Philippines and railed against his fellow Asians–in particular, Chinese waiters who write the bill using their language's characters. "I didn't eat triangle, square, box, box," he complained.

The ultrahip Sugar Sammy, the Indian of the group, bravely did some very funny misogynist jokes, which, if handled by a lesser comic, could have come off as mean-spirited. But the man is so darn likable he gets away with it. In his best whiny-female voice, he imagined a typical woman saying, "Wah, I want an opinion”¦ I want to learn to read and write, too”¦ Unlock this cage." Yowza. For my money, Sammy is better than the hugely popular Indo-Canuck Russell Peters.

What Olympiad would be complete without a Greek? Angelo Tsarouchas batted cleanup but struck out. The 365-pound Montrealer did too many street jokes masked as original material (a patch for fat people fits right over your mouth; all he lost on the Weight Watchers two-week diet was "14 fuckin' days").

Final medal standings, according to my own count: the Philippines took home gold, India silver, and Italy bronze. Greece finished fourth, which, as any Canadian can tell you, isn't bad, eh?