ralph klein, comedian

Ralph the comedian
Who else? Klein named Alberta’s funniest person
BILL GRAVELAND The Canadian Press

CALGARY — From dinosaur farts to eastern creeps and bums—Albertans like to laugh at what is truly Ralph’s world.

The affable, sometimes controversial Alberta premier is often the target of editorial cartoonists, who like to paint him as a likable buffoon. And apparently that’s just fine in Alberta.

As part of a project marking Alberta’s centennial, a non-profit group called the Cheers Project Humour Language Society on Friday named Ralph Klein the funniest person in Alberta in the last 100 years.

It’s not at all clear, however, that Klein means to be funny when he shoots from the lip.

As mayor of Calgary, he gained national attention by blaming "eastern bums and creeps" for being a strain on the city’s resources and for an escalating crime rate.

Regarding global climate change, Klein suggested in a speech in 2002 that it was just as likely that "dinosaur farts" caused the Ice Age.

On the chances of being infected by mad cow disease, the premier once said, "You would have to eat 10 billion meals of brains, spinal cords, ganglia, eyeballs and tonsils" to get it. Then he pretty well dared the Japanese to prove him wrong.

"I would offer $5 billion to have a Japanese person to come over here and eat nothing but Alberta beef for a year and if he gets mad cow disease I would be glad to give him $5 billion — make it $10 billion Canadian," he said.

Klein also once suggested that Alberta would give "a bus ticket to Vancouver" to destitute people so they could exploit the more generous social assistance of British Columbia. ...