Canadian musical comedy duo
consisting of Blair MacLean on guitar and
younger bother Gary MacLean on banjo. Born
and raised in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, they
relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba in the
early 1960, they toured regularly in
Canada between 1972 and 1998.
During their career, MacLean & MacLean
recorded seven albums that included a both
live and studio recordings. Among their
best known recordings were "I've Seen
Pubic Hair" (based upon the well-known
"I've Been Everywhere") and an original
song, "Dolly Parton's Tits", which made
the British music charts after it was used
as the theme music for a British TV show
called O.T.T.(Over The Top).
The title of their album, Locked Up
for Laughs, refers to an incident in
Ontario, Canada where they were jailed
after a charge of public indecency at a
live performance. Controversial for their
use of strong language, in order to
continue performing, they appealed to the
Supreme Court of Canada - and won -
causing Ontario to rewrite its liquor
laws. Their theme song was a
rendition of Ja-Da, retitled Fuck Ya, and
as Blair put it, "We had to go out and
keep committing the crime in order to pay
the lawyers."
In the 1980s the MacLeans created a
character called "The Champ". This
character was licensed to, and further
developed by, radio personality "Brother"
Jake Edwards. Edwards performed a daily
two-minute Champ monologue for syndication
to radio stations in Canada for 20 years,
the longest running feature of this type
in Canadian history. A sample of the
MacLeans' version of the Champ can be
found on Cruel Cuts, but it was Edwards
who gave the character his distinctive
gruff voice. Edwards also released four
CDs of selected Champ monologues, and a
fifth Champ CD described as being "a
little more risque than the radio
program".
MacLean & MacLean performed their last
show shortly before Gary's death in 2001.
Blair released a CD titled Live, a
recording of a 1996 performance in Moose
Jaw, Saskatchewan, to raise money for a
trust fund for his Gary's children.
Blair passed away in 2008.
Compiled from the following sources:
Wikipedia
Made in Manitoba by John
Einarson
MacLean
& MacLean at the St. Vital Hotel
L-R, in both the above photo and the one
on the left:
Gary MacLean, Blair MacLean
