LFCCMCCUJ Volume 15

Polls taken in my head show 80% of surfers and 99.9% of targeted hits go WTF? Sorry. To the rest we are using skills handout #1 and are bored...

As droned on earlier... a mayoral campaign is unique in Canadian politics. A mayor is not the head of a billion dollar corporation as some suggest... the fire department isn't expected to turn a profit... nor is sewers, roads... excepting of course the inevitable toll to be tacked on while taking Davey's Driveway to Bragg Creek... A City makes next to nothing on parks... police or parking... sorry parking rakes it in. A City is different from a company... a mayoral race is different from Canadian politics and a City is not a business. And yet... with really unique exceptions... we keep getting the same results. As a comic it is helpful to look at the position based solely on past winners... because nothing suceeds like excess...

A WTF is when you combine not only the comic skill but the event. Each of the skills in the handout do not stand alone and can be augmented with other skills or their nasty cousins. The same for each of the issues. For example...

Oscar4Mayor was originally a form of ridicule but if you add exaggeration and rhyme to his hilarious appearances at the Public debates he now has a cool theme song and more support than most...

The best WTFs are personal, close to the bone and have some grain of fact. I know it isn't much different than a line used for a public forum or TV debate... and unfortunately not near as funny as the live doorstep show.

As a comic your lack of job is to determine what is the defining trait of the candidates. When you see them on TV... in re-touched photo's... or in person outside your door begging you to Tweet for them... what can you lampoon? A comic WTF is like a gift... something the candidate does... becomes or says that can be attached to your cartoon.

Ric4Mayor started it... when he suggested that he had already sewn up the votes of Aldermen yet to be elected... a WTF of 9.2... I cheered... it plays beautifully into the earlier exaggeration of his close ties. Like most WTF's it is hard to top the actual event...

"Asked at a kindergarten on the importance of getting along Ric4Mayor surprised kids bu pulling out 7 aldermen from his pocket"

"When attacked over his ability to get along Ric4Mayor challenged the heckler to a team bonding meeting with his 7 aldermanic bestest friends... outside in a City shack..."

Barb4Mayor had an easy WTF as well. In fact it plays completely into the cartoon established. Everyone sees her as a nice person... other candidates are courtly and call her Miss... sweet. In comic terms a barb is not really nice... its a tool used by comics to make the person in the front row cry or pee themselves... when Barb4Mayor canned her manager for not performing it ruined my cartoon... I cartooned her as a really tough questioner who is going to ask all of City Hall for answers and information... and expect more than sound bites. So now my cartoon is closer to the perceived reality... bummer. On the bright side you can almost hear the sphincters tighten at City Hall every time she rises in the polls...

"If Barb4Mayor keeps firing people she is going to be untouchable"

"I know it says something different on my brochures... it is a misprint but I fired the printer, his paper supplier and the pizza delivery guy"

Nenshi4Mayor has given me many WTF moments... all of them in some way or other connect to his campaign and sound bites. As a history buff I love the use of purple... it is the royal colour... Caesar went for the purple because the position was that of a deity... and hey who doesn't want to be called "Your Worship"? I cartoon it as a Big Brain Theory campaign and I am secretly captivated by Sheldon running City Hall.

"I will put my experience, qualifications, intelligence, IQ, CV, resume, social network savvy and Level 12 1/2 Elf Abjuration D&D Mage status against anyone."

"I'm the best qualified how many times do I have to repeat myself?"

Bob4Mayor had his WTF with the Bridge to the airport. South West Calgary was given water treatment plants, roads LRT and faster access to Banff ski hills... the Inner City got Bridges, freeway festivals... why shouldn't the North East at least get a Tunnel? The excuse it makes no fiscal sense is odd... nothing the last few Councils did had a basis in fiscal sense... and no matter how much the other camps protest Bob4Mayor is a really nice guy...

"I can get the Tunnel built cheaper by contracting it out to be dug in Red Deer."

"The only way to pay for the tunnel is to put a tax on people using the airport which would put an unfair strain on aldermen who go on junkets, vacations and working vacations."

Wayne4Mayor is just lost in the drone... his biggest WTF was when he released his donor list...

"I challenge everyone to a game of Monopoly... I get to be the banker"

Lord4Mayor had a WTF moment on TV when some old guy asked him how he would counter the loser label. To his credit Lord turned the other cheek...

The rest are fighting the good fight... saying the right things or saying nothing at all. The WTF moment with them was when they paid the deposit...