Our nation suffers from a conspiracy-prone mind-set. Or maybe it's just me. But on hearing in quick succession that three of our most revered comedy series were winding down - with Air Farce Live and Corner Gas heading into their final season, and Trailer Park Boys reportedly done - didn't you wonder if there's some kind of hara-kiri trend in comedy taking shape? Has Canada lost its funny bone?

I asked the Big Three just that, and you'll be heartened to hear that I got a resounding "No way." Canada loves its comedy as much as ever, say programming bigwigs at CBC, CTV and Canwest. Indeed, their message to producers is "keep 'em coming."

"The fact that in Canada we've had three successful series that have decided that this is their final season - clearly they are separate decisions," says CTV's EVP programming Ed Robinson. "There is no reason to think that in some way comedy is easing off. There will be the next evolution for all of those."

Far from being fluff, comedy is nothing less than Canada's cultural signature, according to Kirstine Layfield, CBC's executive director of network programming. "In Canada, our best way of defining ourselves in the world is through our comedy," she says. "That's why we're so good at it; it's what we do best."

So if it's so special to us, and we love it so much, then presumably this vacance à trois will create a void in our popular television viewing that will need filling. And so, the burning questions for viewers and producers alike are what's going to fill it, and where's it going to come from?

Just as Air Farce, Corner Gas and Trailer Park Boys each represented the pinnacle of its own distinctive niche, their broadcasters all have a unique and promising claim to fame in the comedy arena.

CTV can take a bow for pushing audience totals for Canuck comedy with Corner Gas, which has from day one brought in one million-plus viewers. The success of the series, arguably, came from a confluence of three key elements. First, there was veteran funnyman Brent Butt's pitch about what his life would have been like if he'd stayed in his small Saskatchewan hometown and hadn't ventured out in search of the footlights. Then there was CTV's very own comedy specialty channel, Comedy Network, which has for a decade made a point of nurturing new talent and taking chances, and which operates as CTVglobemedia's vehicle for "all things comedy." And just as crucially, there was the BCE benefits package, which forced the network to provide the needed dough to promote the bejesus out of the thing once the main network decided to run with it.

In the six-plus years that have since elapsed, you can add to that the net's aggressive broadband strategy. So, in addition to the likes of Corner Gas and Comedy Now, Comedy Network has a list of kicks at the can you may or may not have heard of - from Odd Job Jack to History Bites, Keys to the VIP and The John Dore Television Show. And yes, Comedy is in development with Butt and other Corner Gas writers - as well as non-Corner Gas folk - on quite a number of new projects.