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Canadian Pie
A funny and fascinating tour de force from Will Ferguson, three-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour. Ferguson has spent years wandering and musing across Canada and beyond. Canadian Pie includes his reflections on the lost art of crank calls, tips on how to get someone to pick blueberries out of a muffin for you, and lessons of a mini-bar ninja. There are “lost” radio scripts of a Maritime soap opera, a roundup of big objects beside the highway, and an ode to young love in Old Quebec. Read about his encounter with an aging kamikaze pilot, listen in on an interview with a pair of Canadian brothers playing semi-pro hockey in Japan, gain an appreciation of the unintentional beauty of New Brunswick’s covered bridges, learn how to pick up women (or not), join a journey on the rainforest coast of Vancouver Island, take a trip to PEI in search of someone—anyone—who will criticize Almighty Anne, and much more.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published October 22, 2011
16 people are currently reading
258 people want to read
About the author
Will Ferguson
44 books551 followersWill Ferguson is an award-winning travel writer and novelist. His last work of fiction, 419, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. He has won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour a record-tying three times and has been nominated for both the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. His new novel, The Shoe on the Roof, will be released October 17, 2017. Visit him at WillFerguson.ca
Ferguson studied film production and screenwriting at York University in Toronto, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1990. He joined the Japan Exchange Teachers Programme (JET) soon after and spent five years in Asia. He married his wife Terumi in Kumamoto, Japan, in 1995. They now live in Calgary with their two sons. After coming back from Japan he experienced a reverse culture shock, which became the basis for his first book Why I Hate Canadians. With his brother, Ian Ferguson, he wrote the bestselling sequel How to be a Canadian. Ferguson details his experiences hitchhiking across Japan in Hokkaido Highway Blues (later retitled Hitching Rides with Buddha), his travels across Canada in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, and a journey through central Africa in Road Trip Rwanda. His debut novel, Happiness, was sold into 23 languages around the world. He has written for The New York Times, Esquire UK, and Canadian Geographic magazine.
Ferguson studied film production and screenwriting at York University in Toronto, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1990. He joined the Japan Exchange Teachers Programme (JET) soon after and spent five years in Asia. He married his wife Terumi in Kumamoto, Japan, in 1995. They now live in Calgary with their two sons. After coming back from Japan he experienced a reverse culture shock, which became the basis for his first book Why I Hate Canadians. With his brother, Ian Ferguson, he wrote the bestselling sequel How to be a Canadian. Ferguson details his experiences hitchhiking across Japan in Hokkaido Highway Blues (later retitled Hitching Rides with Buddha), his travels across Canada in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, and a journey through central Africa in Road Trip Rwanda. His debut novel, Happiness, was sold into 23 languages around the world. He has written for The New York Times, Esquire UK, and Canadian Geographic magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
January 28, 2012
A warning: this book is advertised as humour, and while that's certainly the case (Will Ferguson is first and foremost a humourist and an incredibly talented one at that), there's a good deal of heavy subject matter. He has a good deal of respect for Canadian history that shows in some very somber moments tucked in between the laughs.
This is not to say it isn't a well written book -- a collection of short pieces collected from elsewhere and some new, original material -- just to state that you might want to be aware that the categorization is somewhat misleading.
This is not to say it isn't a well written book -- a collection of short pieces collected from elsewhere and some new, original material -- just to state that you might want to be aware that the categorization is somewhat misleading.
December 5, 2011
Another great collection of essays (musings?)/articles from a 3-time Leacock winner. Ferguson is funny, sure, but he also has a great understanding of Canada on the ground, and Canadian political history.
There are some rum filler parts that might have been pulled out from his scribble journals, but because much of the book is collected from his professional work, it's a great read overall.
As the advert says - find out how to get someone to pick the blueberries out of your muffin, learn more about the Canadian fascination for large objects by the side of the road, get the low-down on strip clubs in New Brunswick...
I think why Ferguson does well on Canadian humour is that he isn't afraid to poke us, and not just the tall poppies. His explanation of Conrad Black explains our character quite well, as does his love/hate letters about Canadian cities.
And I gotta say, I liked his original script of the Olympics closing ceremonies better than what appeared in the end.
There are some rum filler parts that might have been pulled out from his scribble journals, but because much of the book is collected from his professional work, it's a great read overall.
As the advert says - find out how to get someone to pick the blueberries out of your muffin, learn more about the Canadian fascination for large objects by the side of the road, get the low-down on strip clubs in New Brunswick...
I think why Ferguson does well on Canadian humour is that he isn't afraid to poke us, and not just the tall poppies. His explanation of Conrad Black explains our character quite well, as does his love/hate letters about Canadian cities.
And I gotta say, I liked his original script of the Olympics closing ceremonies better than what appeared in the end.
June 3, 2012
Ferguson is one of my favourite writers. His prose is clean and smart and funny and deceptively breezy (the deception is that, underneath the breeziness, there's an empathy and love that make his books compelling).
Ferguson's subject matter - as usual - is being Canadian. What it means, how we define it, how it defines us. And he approaches it so well. He resists easy answers - any answers at all, really - and shows us the best and worst of ourselves.
The only thing that sometimes wears a bit is that Ferguson's humour is sometimes predictable, and it often verges on the adolescent. Still, it's usually endearing and his talent in other respects more than makes up for it. Definitely a worthwhile read!
Ferguson's subject matter - as usual - is being Canadian. What it means, how we define it, how it defines us. And he approaches it so well. He resists easy answers - any answers at all, really - and shows us the best and worst of ourselves.
The only thing that sometimes wears a bit is that Ferguson's humour is sometimes predictable, and it often verges on the adolescent. Still, it's usually endearing and his talent in other respects more than makes up for it. Definitely a worthwhile read!
October 11, 2012
What a pleasurable read. This is a great book throughout. Ferguson is a great writer. He is quite intelligent and funny and knows a lot about Canada and who we are. He knows how to poke fun at us but in a clever way. Canadians may learn a lot about their country that they didn't quite know. This book was a constant reminder of how proud I am to be from this country. This book isn't entirely filled with humour though, there are heavy subject matters as well. The Story of Eiji Iamzoto and The Last Kamikaze is absolutely compelling.
May 16, 2025
“The material in Canadian pie covers fifteen years of wanderings and musings, of musings and wanderings, often at the same time” (xiii).
This has a lot of the author’s life here so it’s hard to rate it in comparison to other books I’ve read, so I gave it 5 stars.
I enjoyed the humor, scenery, Canadian & Japanese culture, and all the life stories.
“Analyzing humour, it’s been said is a lot like dissecting a frog. You may learn something about anatomy in the process, but the frog itself usually dies.
Stephen Leacock, the funniest writer Canada has ever produced, managed to do the near impossible: he defined the very essence of humour-and did so without killing a single frog. The root of all comedy, he wrote, ‘lies in the deeper contrasts offered by life itself; the strange incongruity between our aspirations and achievements” (48).
This has a lot of the author’s life here so it’s hard to rate it in comparison to other books I’ve read, so I gave it 5 stars.
I enjoyed the humor, scenery, Canadian & Japanese culture, and all the life stories.
“Analyzing humour, it’s been said is a lot like dissecting a frog. You may learn something about anatomy in the process, but the frog itself usually dies.
Stephen Leacock, the funniest writer Canada has ever produced, managed to do the near impossible: he defined the very essence of humour-and did so without killing a single frog. The root of all comedy, he wrote, ‘lies in the deeper contrasts offered by life itself; the strange incongruity between our aspirations and achievements” (48).
September 6, 2016
I grabbed this book a couple years ago at a literary festival, but hadn't read it until recently. I'm a fan of Will Ferguson's other books (well what I've read so far), and his nonfiction How To Be Canadian still makes me laugh when a read it.
Canadian Pie is a bit different than his other books, it's mostly a collection of previously published articles and essays. This is a longer book, but it's pretty light reading. Some of the stories are only a couple pages long making it a great book to pick up at any time Many revolve around Canadian topics, politics (without being overly political), historical figures (many whom I'd never heard of - such is Canadian history), as well as travel essays about different places in Canada (one of my favourite sections, but I always gravitate toward travel writing). He also has a chapter about life as a writer, which as a writer I found quite entertaining.
While I think it was demonstrated well in his other books Canadian Pie shows what a strange and wonderful country Canada is. Many of the essays and articles were informative (particularly the historical points, which usually don't interest me), but like much of Ferguson's works many parts of this book were laugh out loud hilarious. The chapter Made in Canada had me in tears from laughing so hard.
If I had one complaint it would be that the last section, Japanese Encounters. Ferguson wrote about his time hitchhiking across Japan in his book Hitchhiking with Buddha, and he spent several years (and met his now wife) in Japan so it's clear the country holds significance for him. I don't know if the purpose of including Japanese Encounters was to juxtapose some of the cultural differences between Japan and Canada, but it felt a bit out of place with the rest of the book. That being said the articles and essays in Japanese Encounters weren't bad, and I'd go so far as to say one of my favourite articles of the book (The Last Kamikaze) was in that section.
If you haven't read Will Ferguson's work before I'd recommend Why I Hate Canadians or How To Be Canadian as a first read, but Canadian Pie would be a great second or third read.
Canadian Pie is a bit different than his other books, it's mostly a collection of previously published articles and essays. This is a longer book, but it's pretty light reading. Some of the stories are only a couple pages long making it a great book to pick up at any time Many revolve around Canadian topics, politics (without being overly political), historical figures (many whom I'd never heard of - such is Canadian history), as well as travel essays about different places in Canada (one of my favourite sections, but I always gravitate toward travel writing). He also has a chapter about life as a writer, which as a writer I found quite entertaining.
While I think it was demonstrated well in his other books Canadian Pie shows what a strange and wonderful country Canada is. Many of the essays and articles were informative (particularly the historical points, which usually don't interest me), but like much of Ferguson's works many parts of this book were laugh out loud hilarious. The chapter Made in Canada had me in tears from laughing so hard.
If I had one complaint it would be that the last section, Japanese Encounters. Ferguson wrote about his time hitchhiking across Japan in his book Hitchhiking with Buddha, and he spent several years (and met his now wife) in Japan so it's clear the country holds significance for him. I don't know if the purpose of including Japanese Encounters was to juxtapose some of the cultural differences between Japan and Canada, but it felt a bit out of place with the rest of the book. That being said the articles and essays in Japanese Encounters weren't bad, and I'd go so far as to say one of my favourite articles of the book (The Last Kamikaze) was in that section.
If you haven't read Will Ferguson's work before I'd recommend Why I Hate Canadians or How To Be Canadian as a first read, but Canadian Pie would be a great second or third read.
December 24, 2011
Will Ferguson displays the evolution of his by now trademark humour and wit in this collection of essays and articles from his fifteen years of writing about Canada, its culture and history, and his travels throughout the world. He has organized it into themed sections - Canadian politics, intercultural observations from his time living in Japan, and assorted Canadian travelogues among them - that have appeared in various publications over the years; he has also included material such as a lost satirical soap opera written for the CBC and a chronicle of his experience working with VANOC on the Closing Ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics. Along the way, he has sprinkled observations, short anecdotes, and brief explanations to either explain the original context of the pieces or to help understand its presence in the Ferguson canon, as it were. It seems both an invigorating and daunting enterprise to try to anthologize your own work: invigorating because you can draw from such a wealth of material; daunting because you have to allow that some of the earlier material may not be as polished. Ferguson has done an excellent job of collating and collecting his work, and Canadian Pie is a thoroughly entertaining work of its own. I still recommend reading his other works, but this book is a worthy read for any fan of Ferguson or anyone who wants to know more about how Canadians view themselves.
November 30, 2017
This book was assigned reading for my book club. To be honest, it is probably not one I would have read had it not been assigned, however, it turned out to be okay. It is a collection of short stories and essays ranging from historical accounts of Canada to travel memories to topics related to family life. I learned a few interesting tidbits of Canadian history and trivia from it and also appreciated Will's sarcastic humour. A lot of what Will says relates to Canadian customs and personalities which (as all Canadians will attest) we enjoy over-exaggerating and making fun of. The chapters are short and easy to read. If you're looking for a short book on Canadiana this one might just be for you!
December 7, 2011
Short pieces from various places. Funny and engaging. Reading the "Canadian Lives" section reminded me that I hadn't read any of Pierre Berton's work in a while. (I have his last book, PRISONERS OF THE NORTH out of the library at the moment, and have his book about the Depression on reserve.) I also realized that I had never read anything by Stephen Leacock. And I was introduced for the first time to former Calgary Eye Opener editor Bob Edwards and Grant MacEwan's book about him EYE-OPENER BOB. One book of Ferguson's that I gave a miss to was his Japanese book HITCHING RIDES WITH THE BUDDHA, but the short pieces about Japan in this book make me think that I should take another look.
September 4, 2016
I'm afraid I've finally encountered a work by Will Ferguson that has left me cold. This is about as random & rehashed a collection of items as you can imagine...some of them feeling incredibly out of date. There are moments of brilliance and many gems...but too much wading through dull and uninteresting material to get to those shining literary jewels. If I could cut half of this book and only keep the interesting bits, then I'd add another two stars to the rating. As it stands..."OK" is about all I can muster as a recommendation.
April 24, 2014
The truth is I've been a little down on Canada lately. I know it's a great country but as a news junkie, it can be a little difficult to feel optimistic about where things are heading.
But this book reminded me of all the ways that Canadians, and Canada (of course), are weirdly wonderful. And how we weirdly relish that which makes us unique. Which is often based on regional peculiarities. This book swooped in just in time to remind me that while we still haven't achieved perfection as a nation, our wabi-sabi (look it up) is what makes us perfect anyways.
But this book reminded me of all the ways that Canadians, and Canada (of course), are weirdly wonderful. And how we weirdly relish that which makes us unique. Which is often based on regional peculiarities. This book swooped in just in time to remind me that while we still haven't achieved perfection as a nation, our wabi-sabi (look it up) is what makes us perfect anyways.
December 30, 2015
Reading this, I laughed out loud several times. Is there a better thing to be said of a book of humorous essays? “Bye, Bye, Miss Canadian Pie/ Drove my Ski-Doo to the Rideau/ But the Rideau was dry/ Mes amis were drinkin’ Molsons and rye. Singing this will be the day that I die…eh? This will be the day that I die.” (xii) “My son Alex was in grade five or six when the Twilight craze really caught on… ‘I thought it was a VAMPIRE romance. But it turns out it was a vampire ROMANCE.” (130) This is fun.
Read for A- Z challenge, TBR shelf.
Read for A- Z challenge, TBR shelf.
May 10, 2017
This was the first book I read by Will Ferguson. For the first half of this book I was enthralled. His writing style and the stories that were included were great. I went out and bought all of the rest of his books. The last half of this book unfortunately, really dragged. There were many things that seemed to have been added to simply fill out the books pages. I'm hoping that the rest of his books don't suffer the same fate.
August 12, 2013
A wide ranging collection of essays ranging from humorous to romantic to poignant. While most of the book is about Canada and its foibles and its romance, the final section is about Ferguson's years in Japan. Ferguson writes in an easy to read light hearted style that made this an extremely enjoyable book.
November 23, 2017
Not as humorous as I was expected. As mentioned by other reviewers, the beginning was great but the end really dragged. I got the sense he was just filling space, but I guess that's to be expected for a collection of essays, especially ones he wrote for other publications. This should have been mentioned on the cover.
December 20, 2011
This is a collection of essays/columns by Will Ferguson, most previously published in newspapers and magazines and some of them on topics from previous books like Japan. Some very amusing lines and informative tidbits but mostly only mildly entertaining.
December 16, 2015
I'm not leaving a review because I didn't finish reading this. I'm a fan of Will Ferguson and his utter Canadianness makes me feel a bit bad about my own. Which I'm certain is not his intention. But there you go.
August 12, 2017
There are some laugh-out-loud moments in this book. It is a series of not really connected stories from Canada and from Japan where the author lived. The story of the kamikaze pilot was particularly poignant.
September 17, 2018
An incredible sense of humour combined with writing skills. I wish history teachers would take a page from Will, his details make so many stories come alive and interesting. I am not a fan of collections of short stories but the majority of this book was thoroughly enjoyable.
December 17, 2011
What a great book! This is a must read for all Canadians… and everyone else! I would recommend this to all my friends. I’m sure I will go back and read this one again.
July 9, 2012
I have loved everything I've read by Will Ferguson. This book is no exception. It's a lot of fun and has lots of interesting tidbits (Timbits for the mind?)
December 27, 2012
I was a fan of Will Ferguson before I read this but now I want to go back and read or re-read everything he's read. A delightful set of sketches.
Read
June 15, 2016most of it anyway
July 10, 2017
Little snippets of Canadian history and culture with some final notes on Japanese history and culture.
November 17, 2017
I loved the travel section and a few of the other articles. Some of the others were just silly.
January 9, 2018
Will Ferguson can write, but unlike Bill Bryson, he has written a funny book about Canada that is really just funny for Canadians.
March 6, 2018
This book was funny and informative. I learned new info about our canadian history which i found inspiring. This book could have been 100 pages less as it didnt keep my attention near the end.
September 10, 2024
It was … ok. The book is going on 20 years old so the content is dated and a bit cringy in spots. For example, some of the language around relationship of men to women is decidedly last-decade-pre-me-too, and he is entirely oblivious to Sir John A MacDonald’s fall from grace in the court of Canadian public opinion.
A lot of content was confusing and seemed to be included because the author needed to make X number of pages for the book. I skipped over large sections. But the book is also rich in description of this country that I love. He is an excellent, descriptive writer and I especially enjoyed the piece on Riel and the Métis uprising, taking a POV sympathetic to the Métis in spite of his later défense and glorification of JAMacD who symbolically signed the death warrant of Indigenous folks in this land. The descriptions of politics will resonate with folks of my generation but I’m sure would have everyone even one year younger scratching their heads saying Preston Manning? Stockwell who??
Three stars for the garbage sections and for the cringy bits but 4 in terms of good style, good writing and storytelling.
A lot of content was confusing and seemed to be included because the author needed to make X number of pages for the book. I skipped over large sections. But the book is also rich in description of this country that I love. He is an excellent, descriptive writer and I especially enjoyed the piece on Riel and the Métis uprising, taking a POV sympathetic to the Métis in spite of his later défense and glorification of JAMacD who symbolically signed the death warrant of Indigenous folks in this land. The descriptions of politics will resonate with folks of my generation but I’m sure would have everyone even one year younger scratching their heads saying Preston Manning? Stockwell who??
Three stars for the garbage sections and for the cringy bits but 4 in terms of good style, good writing and storytelling.
June 17, 2020
This is the fourth book I've read of Will Ferguson's and I enjoyed it immensely. I needed a bit of a lift recently and rummaged around on some book shelves I'd been ignoring. Voila!
Interspersed among the various stories is a considerable knowledge and love for Canada, as well as his signature humour, often at his own expense.
I enjoyed the bits about Japan as I don't know very much about this country or its citizens. I also know which Will Ferguson book I will be reading next........"Hitching Rides With Buddha: A Journey Across Japan". :)
I especially like his comment about why the CN Tower is such a Canadian icon...."in a country as big as ours, it takes a tower this tall just to get a decent view."
Amen to this. :)
Interspersed among the various stories is a considerable knowledge and love for Canada, as well as his signature humour, often at his own expense.
I enjoyed the bits about Japan as I don't know very much about this country or its citizens. I also know which Will Ferguson book I will be reading next........"Hitching Rides With Buddha: A Journey Across Japan". :)
I especially like his comment about why the CN Tower is such a Canadian icon...."in a country as big as ours, it takes a tower this tall just to get a decent view."
Amen to this. :)
November 23, 2025
Will is a 3-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour. That gives you an idea. This book is short essays on many Canadian topics. It is fun to read. Sections include: The lost art of crank calls; The Kingdom of Anne (about PEI, obviously); A tour of Bigg-Assed Objects Beside the Highway (way more than I thought existed); How to pick up girls (or not); How to get someone to pick blueberries out of a muffin for you; and so on. We enjoyed his writing so much that we have moved on to another one of his books.
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