culture
The Canadian Romantic Spews Sweet Nothings
But the charming sleaze falls short amidst a three-hour-long set.
The Canadian Romantic educates the crowd on sins of the flesh.
An evening with The Canadian Romantic is, in the words of Mr. Romantic himself, “a string of hidden agendas and a chocolate fountain.” The pervy alter-ego of comic and writer Robert Dayton came to Double Double Land Thursday night for the launch of his new book, and three hours of seemingly stream-of-consciousness erotica, Canadianisms (including assertions that “the Canadian polar bee makes the maple syrup” and “I’ve heard that Diefenbaker had very soft skin”), and words of sensual wisdom.
Bedecked in a green satin robe and white hip-hugging bellbottoms, his long hair greased back to frame a prominently receding hairline and handlebar mustache, Dayton addressed the audience from a plush vinyl armchair to a soundtrack of late-sixties dream pop. Unfortunately, ambience frequently outweighed ingenuity in a set that featured far too many video clips of the likes of Telly Savalas and William Shatner demonstrating the now-forgotten art of musical oration, and episodes from his own YouTube channel.
Yes, there was a chocolate fountain.
Not to say that there were no moments of hilarity—Canadian Romantic–coordinated group hugs and faux-historical accounts of Sir John A. MacDonald’s alleged sodomizing of a maple tree, for instance, were among a number of semi-uncomfortable chuckle-makers in the evening-long performance. But these nuggets of campy charm were outweighed by the sheer length of the show, whose pacing would have warranted a set half its length at best. Still, it’s refreshing to see delightfully bad taste given its place in Toronto the Good. For that, The Canadian Romantic is to be saluted.