Genre | Parody |
---|---|
Running time | 112 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Languages | English |
Hosts | "Ernie Scar" |
Writers | Anonymous |
Air dates | since September 1986 |
Brocket 99 - Rockin’ the Country | |
---|---|
Directed by | Nilesh Patel |
Produced by | Nilesh Patel |
Written by | Nilesh Patel |
Music by | Chris Guy, Patrick Stewart |
Cinematography | Jason W. Clarke |
Editing by | Art Maughan |
Release date(s) | 2006 |
Running time | 98 min |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Brocket 99 is the name of an underground comedy audio tape that parodies aboriginal people in Canada and the name of two documentary films about the tape (one produced in 2005, and the other in production).
Contents |
The parody played on numerous aboriginal stereotypes and has been characterized as racist. The tape included names of real people, stores and towns and is an "international underground phenomenon".[1]
The tape was created in 1986 by radio DJs in Lethbridge, Alberta, purportedly inspired by a clip of a parody of gay men running a radio station called "AIDS Radio".[2] The "Brocket 99" tape was never made to be marketed and was meant as a parody.[1]
The premise of the tape was a fictitious radio station broadcasting from Brocket, Alberta, on the Northern Peigan reserve (a real reservation 70 km west of Lethbridge), hosted by a character named "Ernie Scar". It stereotypes natives as drunken bums, welfare recipients and drug addicts and uses pejorative terms to describe native men as "bucks" and native women as "squaws". Songs played on the tape included complete versions of multiple hits by artists such as AC/DC and Dwight Yoakam, often in a row. Between the songs and the DJ segments are fake ads for real products such as Dr. Scholl's foot powder and Lysol spray.
In February 2011, a fan site reported the anonymous actor who played Ernie Scar had died at age 49.[3] The anonymous actor who played Ernie Scar died of a coronary due to clogged arteries.[4]
In 2005, filmmaker Nilesh Patel produced and directed a documentary called Brocket 99 — Rockin' the Country, which examined the ongoing popularity of the tape. CBC Radio's Sounds Like Canada described Brocket 99 as:[5]
"It started as a fake radio show on a cassette. Then it developed a cult following. Brocket 99 is something of a cultural phenomenon in western Canada. It purports to be a radio program on an Indian reserve. Some people find it hilarious and racey. Others say it's outright racist."
In 2006, the film won the Séquences Magazine Prize in the documentary category at the Montreal First Peoples’ Festival and the Special Recognition Award at the Anchorage International Film Festival.[6][7] The film was also featured at the 2006 Calgary and Edmonton International Film Festivals and the Vancouver Asian Film Festival.