Odd Job Jack is a Canadian animated comedy television show featuring Don McKellar, about one guy's misadventures in temporary employment. The show is currently in its third season. Animation is the illusion of motion created by the consecutive display of images of static elements. ... Comedy is the use of humor in the performing arts. ... Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian actor, writer, and filmmaker. ...

The eponymous character, Jack, graduates from university with a degree in sociology and becomes a temporary employee at an agency which specializes in filling difficult and unusual positions. Each episode ends with Jack adding a chapter to a book which he is writing about his experiences on his laptop. Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ...

When not working, Jack often hangs with his eccentric friends, an agoraphobic computer hacker who, like one of the characters in McKellar's earlier comedy series, Twitch City, is unable to leave his apartment but nonetheless leads a complex and bizarre life, and an Asian kid who works in the family store by day, and is a club disc-jockey and masked hero by night. Agoraphobia is a form of anxiety disorder. ... A computer hacker is someone who enjoys getting around the technical limitations of computer systems. ... Twitch City was a Canadian sitcom produced by the CBC. The series aired as two short runs in 1998 and 2000. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Jack also spends some time at the beginning and end of each episode at the agency where he attempts to develop a rapport with the female assignment "associate" while under electronic surveillance from the gruff, imperious, and decidedly unpleasant, manager/owner who is often involved in some way in the bizarre conspiracies, sordid sexual escapades, and crimes which lurk behind the workaday appearances of Jack's assignments.

Among the unusual situations which in which Jack finds employment during the show's three seasons are mortuary worker; rodent wrangler on the set of a James Bond-like movie produced entirely with rodents; tree-planter in Bigfoot country; waiter in a chi-chi restaurant where something is definitely not right in the kitchen; security guard in a high-tech firm; Eighties-style business executive in a take-over firm; and Christian theme-park employee. None of these assignments are as straight-forward as they seem. Jack's co-workers and employers can only be describedly as contentedly psychotic.

In the rodent wrangler episode, McKellar plays and parodies himself as a stereotypical vain, role-hungry and superficial actor, as well as voicing the anti-hero, Jack, and is the subject of a self-deprecatory episode based on Being John Malkovich in which a tunnel is dug from Jack's kitchen into McKellar the actor's ego. Maxine (Keener) and Craig (Cusack) meet on the 7 1/2 floor Being John Malkovich is a 1999 film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. ...

There are also a number of sly allusions in the episode to McKellar's movies, including The Red Violin (1998) and Highway 61 (1991). The Red Violin (French: Le Violon rouge, German: Die Rote Geige, Italian: Il Violino Rosso, Mandarin: 红提琴) is a Canadian film released on November 13, 1998 (in the USA on June 11, 1999). ... Highway 61 is a 1991 film by Canadian director Bruce McDonald. ...

The show features voice work by a number of largely Canadian celebrities, especially after the first season: celebrities appear occasionally on the second season, and the third season has a special celebrity guest star for each episode, who either play themselves or voice one of the show's eccentric, if not mad, characters. Celebrities in the first season were Dave Foley, Troy Hurtubise and Gary Farmer. The second season featured the Barenaked Ladies, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, John O'Hurley, Christopher Plummer, Catherine O'Hara and Don Knotts. And the third season sees Tom Arnold, Scott Thompson, Megan Follows, James Woods, Tom Green, Leslie Nielsen, Rick Mercer, Will Arnett and Samantha Bee accompany Jack on his adventures in the weird world of work. David Scott Foley is a Canadian actor, most notable as one of the Kids in the Hall. ... Project Grizzly - VHS Cover Troy James Hurtubise (pronounced like hurt 2 bees) (b. ... Gary Farmer (born June 12, 1953, in Ohsweken, Ontario) is a First Nations actor. ... Barenaked Ladies members, performing onstage. ... Jeff Tweedy. ... Wilco Wilco is an American contemporary rock band, predominantly known for its country music roots. ... John OHurley. ... Christopher Plummer photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1959 Christopher Plummer (born Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer on December 13, 1927) is a Canadian theatrical, film and television actor. ... Catherine O Hara (2005) Catherine OHara (born March 4, 1954 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian actress and comedian. ... Knotts as Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show Jesse Donald Don Knotts (born July 21, 1924) is an American actor. ... Tom Arnold is the name of: Tom Arnold (actor), an American actor. ... Scott Thompson (born June 12, 1959) is a Canadian television comedian, best known for his time as a member of the comedy troupe Kids in the Hall. ... Megan Follows Megan Follows (born March 14, 1968) is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Anne Shirley in the 1985 television miniseries Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels. ... James Woods James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. ... Freddy Got Fingered original movie poster For the polygamous Mormon fundamentalist, see Thomas Arthur Green For the designer and driver of the land speed record holder, see Wingfoot Express Michael Thomas (Tom) Green (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian shock comic. ... Nielsen as Frank Drebin finds himself in an awkward situation with British Queen Elizabeth II (Jeannette Charles) in The Naked Gun. ... Rick Mercer Rick Mercer (born October 17, 1969 in St. ... Will Arnett is a Toronto, Canada-born actor, who currently stars as George Oscar G.O.B Bluth II (pronounced Job, the biblical figure) Bluth in the FOX comedy Arrested Development. ... Samantha Bee (born 1969 in Toronto, Canada) gained notoriety as a correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. ...

Odd Job Jack is created by Smiley Guy Studios in Toronto, Ontario.

It has been cancelled repeatedly but is brought back each time by Comedy Network in Canada to fulfill their Canadian Content quota. It features many washed up and unfunny Canadian comedians.

External links

• Odd Job Jack Homepage