Dana Carvey Surrey Girl Joke on Leno
Surrey‘s made its way onto popular American late night television before, I hear there was even a reference to Surrey Girls on one of David Letterman’s “Top Ten” lists although I can’t seem to find it in the archives. My sister informed me today that a few days ago Dana Carvey gave us (and hundreds of thousands of others) a shout out on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Click here to view the video clip, embedding the player is not working at this time.
He then tells of getting some heat from legendary Vancouver radio personality Red Robinson, which seemed kinda fun. Keep watching til the end of the clip as he really plays out the Surrey joke. Me, I’m not offended (mostly because I Love Surrey) and although the joke isn’t all that funny I still find his usage of it on the Tonight Show pretty amusing. Maybe next time Dana Carvey is in town he’ll have to play the Wheelhouse instead.
Update: I was going to close comments on this post since people cannot refrain from insulting me and my family (since we’re all from Surrey) and launching out wretched, intolerant and hateful statements. No, I won’t close the comments for the simple fact that I think people should be able to know that you like to make a fool out of yourself with short-sighted and prejudicial statements on a blog that promotes community and harmony in our beloved region.
Update: This was featured on CBC News, July 3 2008 – You can view the video here.
Entries on this website use the 
Well, you’re on page # 1 of Google when you search for “Surrey Girls”. But truthfully, it should be “Surrey girls rock” because… did I tell you already? … No? Well, I should tell you. You ROCK!
And now, I resume my “hunkering down”. As for you, stay positive, many hugs to you, and all the best to you and John for a family weekend!!!
I heard about that leno interview, though some friends who are from the states and were like wheres surrey and are the girls really that easy? Those jokes aren’t even funny anyways.. I’m sure the guy who told him the joke was laughing his head off.
Hey I’m from Vancouver, and what he says about Surrey girls is true. They are skanky. Lots of prostitutes out that way. He was totally funny. Actually, I noticed that he and Leno, bent over backwards to be polite and were self-conscious that they might offend their Canadian viewers. They were almost apologetic. But it was a mild rant. Sad that Surrey girls make the headlines, but their reputation is well-deserved, eh?
When will the Surrey Girls joke die already? (or will it?)
I’m not offended either (and suspect that using crappy material like “Surrey Girl” jokes could be why Dana Carvey has a limited career now).
However…I still tell people I live in Cloverdale when I meet them.
@Joe – I wasn’t going to approve your comment but it does reflect the sad reality of those who are still so mislead by stereotypes. You should come out to Surrey for Canada Day and take a look around, you may even find it (and its people) quite pleasant.
Joe = ignorant pea-brain…enough said. I can’t believe that “joe” really wants the public to know this! What a moron! Now everyone knows! Ha!
@Miss604: “you may even find it (and its people) quite pleasant.”
… esp. once he gets a little Jägermeister into ‘em.
Surrey’s probably better known nowadays as a major seat of power for the Babar Khalsa. Or maybe moreso as the hotspot (pardon the pun) of the Canadian indoor grow-op industry.
On the whole, the slut thing is probably the more preferable reputation…
I recommend everyone actually READ my “What the Surrey” or “Surrey” categories to at least get an impression of the City since none of the negative commenters probably even make it out that way
surrey made its own name. glad i got the hell outta there. i feel safer downtown
Dave, you are right Surrey has made a new name for itself as a livable, family-friendly and lovely place to work, live and play. The other images that people use are only by those, such as yourself, who are ignorant. Thank you for moving, it’s people like you that give Surrey a bad name.
girl surrey hasn’t improved.. it just got a facelift, but is still the same place. If you want to talk about livable family-friendly and a lovely place to work and live then come visit my neighborhood I live on Commercial Drive (and u wont even need a car)
Wow! A LOT of references to Vancouver, Surrey, Red Robinson. I don’t think this is bad stuff at all. Thanks for pointing this out Rebecca!
The book I’m reading now starts with:
“It was still quite early in the evening, but the Hotel Vancouver ballroom was appropriately decorated and lit, and the band was excellent [...] She and I were both finallu done with Fermi Junior College, in Surrey, British Columbia. Class of 2286″
There ou go – from all the places in the universe, the author chose to place the successfull main characters in Surrey.
That clip is nothing more than just one more lame piece of an attempt at humour. A perfect example of just how bad American TV has become—and why we haven’t bothered with TV, period, for over ten years. And they call that guy a top comic? Give me real satire, smart mimics or whatever … Watching those two just makes me squirm with embarrassment. I don’t think Surrey has anything to fear from them.
Extreme forms of regionalism, provincialism, and nationalism have scant place or hold little currency in the 21st century.
It’s not just Surrey that has issues (Delta, Coquitlam, Burnaby, etc), but as someone who lives in the West End I’m sure even you can’t put the blinders on for the kind of trash that comes downtown for the fireworks thanks to the skytrain. I love the irony of your Surrey-flag waving all the way from the west end.
Glad to see someone came out of that melting pot of redneckery intact. Congrats on whoring out your blog to cbc on the back of an american late night talk show!
[...] I was contacted earlier this week by the CBC, wanting to do a story about my blog and some of my unique angles. The most prominent discussion currently on my blog is about the Dana Carvey Surrey Girl Joke. [...]
I grew up in Whalley, and have since lived in other various parts of Surrey. I am PROUD to say I went to West Whalley & QE. I am PROUD to say I have convinced my boyfriend to move from Abbotsford to Surrey. We bought a condo here in Surrey – and have no plans on leaving this city. I am excited on how my City has changed over the past years, and how it is going to change over the coming years. I feel safer walking down King George Hwy at 108th street in the middle of the night – then i have ever felt walking anywhere else in the lower mainland. I was more interested in the fact that Surrey got mentioned on Leno – Surrey jokes – are as old and lame as blonde jokes.
Those who continue to hold stereotypical attitudes toward Surrey have obviously not spent much time there. Every city has areas which aren’t necessary pleasant and livable. Twenty years ago, the Whalley neighbourhood had it’s issues, but I also went to school there, played baseball there, taught martial arts there and had a great time.
Even if Whalley were as bad as its reputation would lead people to believe, it’s a small neighbourhood in a very large city. It would be equivalent to people thinking that Vancouver is an unsafe and horrible place based solely on the impressions put forward by people who’ve seen something about the Downtown East Side. Main and Hastings doesn’t provide a representative view of the entire City of Vancouver.
For Joe, Ian and Dave, none of whom have spent much time actually getting to know Surrey, I too invite you to come out to the City of Parks and actually interact with people. It’s a diverse and vibrant community. I lived in Surrey for 21 years before moving to Burnaby (purely to cut the Port Mann Bridge out of my commute — but that’s a discussion for another day).
The Dana Carvey schtick in and of itself is relatively harmless. In context, it’s quite obvious that the “Surrey-girl” joke he told went over like a lead balloon, which pretty much sums up how most people react to these jokes. Carvey’s job is to be a commedian and get a rise out of people. We expect him to say outlandish and frankly untrue statements to fulfill that role. It’s sad to see comments like those manifest themselves as legitimate opinions because it belies a level of ignorance which doesn’t need to exist in this day and age.
This makes me laugh.. no, not the joke. The fact that this is all said by the douchebag who dressed like a turtle in his last movie. Dana Carvey hasn’t had a career sinces Waynes World.
Though I am not a girl, I grew up in Surrey and I have nothing bad to say about the place. Half my family still lives in Surrey.
We’re giving too much attention to this person who obviously deserves none.
It’s amazing how many pro Surrey people there are.
It’s good to have pride about where you are from, but you guys & gals are talking about Surrey like it’s Yaletown.
Yes, there are some nice areas of Surrey, mainly towards the border.
And I have to disagree that Burnaby & Coquitlam are trashy. These are newer areas without the shitbag renters that are causing Surrey and surrounding areas to decline in quality.
Besides, the joke that Carvey talks about has truth to it. It’s actually happened.
The story involves those condos in Whalley, a surrey girl and a couple of members of the BC Lions. Enough said.
Oh goodness I hope Surrey NEVER becomes like Yaletown – please see this tshirt for tongue-in-cheek reference
Having lived adjacent to Surrey for much of my childhood, in North Delta, in addition to living in SOUTH Surrey (essentially White Rock, thank God) for 8 years, I can say with a great deal of confidence that Surrey deserves at least 85% of the reputation it has garnered over the past decades, if not more.
Whally is a mess, a cesspool of dirty bars with even dirtier women. Newton’s not bad, as there are more young families and businesses. I’ve been to Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, Seattle, New York, Boston, Montreal, London, New Delhi, and even Toronto, and I can say that without any hesitation Surrey is the most soiled of all the cities I’ve been to.
Recently, my cousin and I visited Surrey Memorial Hospital to pick up my aunt, and while we waited outside the complex we witnessed a prostitute being “purchased” for the night (I assume just one night; I could be wrong) on King George and 94A Ave. Prostitutes hang around Kwantlen University, even during the day, according to my friend. I even know a few Surrey girls, and they are all “Surrey girls”.
I don’t make the stereotypes, but my experiences assert them.
Saying that you are proud to be from Surrey just goes to prove that you are on crack. The only thing in Surrey is crackheads,hookers on King George and fat girls with bad hairjobs. So the only question here is Which one are you?
Thank you for that comment Cody (and the hearty laugh that followed). There was no way I was going to let that one stay in moderation. Cheers!
Love the shirt you linked to! As a new resident of Surrey (although I tell everyone Langley), I’m quite enjoying it. We live right on the Surrey/Langley border in Clayton Heights and it isn’t anything like the stories your commenters have relayed re: Surrey.
I’m sure Dave has long since ignored this comment thread, but I wonder if he still thinks Commercial Drive is the bees knees after this.
It isn’t like Vancouver doesn’t have its huge problems. I know people like to ignore Hastings, or are just waiting for the inevitable pre-2010 sweep that takes all the downtown eastside residents somewhere far away. But having lived in East Vancouver (Broadway and Main), I can say without question Vancouverites might not want to judge Surrey so harshly. The first day in my new apartment I found out that the “leader” of this incident lived two doors down from me (apartment building). I had never been interviewed by a Robbery Homicide Sgt. before. That was fun. I’ve lived in Toronto, Philly, San Francisco and even Akron, OH. It wasn’t until I moved to Vancouver that I had to call 911 (domestic abuse in that same apartment building). Then I moved to a “nice” neighborhood (30th and Dunbar) and I got to call 911 for the second time (again, domestic abuse – this time a couple houses down).
Wow.
There sure is a lot of bile on in this comments section. It’s as if people were beaten up in school by someone who’s from Surrey. Truly mystifying.
As for Carvey’s joke, I imagine it was cobbled together for his Red Robinson Theatre appearance, which even he said stunk up the place like last week’s fish supper. It’s a common practice among comics to find out the local stereotypes and fashion jokes around them. It’s a way of giving an audience the illusion that he’s in touch with the local scene in some way, as a means of communicating a ‘hey, I’m one of you’ type of vibe. It’s showbiz, and not to be valued beyond that, at least in my mind. It’s not real. It’s called a cheap laugh.
As everyone with any sense knows, there are tragic people everywhere; people who use drugs, are promiscuous, and are otherwise tainted with the maladies of low self-esteem. I’ve certainly seen in Surrey, but I’ve seen it everywhere I’ve lived. It’s part of the human condition, kids. But, I’ve also seen artistry, good citizenship, and a palpable sense of shared cultural history that is evolving – also part of the human condition and very much alive in Surrey too, of course.
Great comment, thank you Rob.
I know people from Surrey, and they all say the same thing: a Surrey girl is a Surrey girl. These people even lived there. I mean, I even know people that go out on Friday nights to throw pennies from moving cars at the hookers in that street by the Shell at 108 and King George. Hell, I even joke around with girls about being a ‘Surrey girl’, and they are immediately embarrassed. So, why is that?? Because there is some truth there.
Here is to put it into scope: the problem area on Hastings is approx 6-7 km, with ground zero being Main and Hastings, where as the problem area on King George spans approx 10 km, with ground zero being 108 and King George. Not only that, wasn’t Surrey labeled as the car theft capital of Canada? It’s why the bait car program was put into place, cause cars were getting stolen at malls in broad daylight. I’m sure it’s changed, and I would hope so.
As for the whole ‘place for families’ bullshit, all they are doing is exacerbating the problem by pushing all the people into outlying areas, like they are doing on the Downtown Eastside (the poorest urban postal code in Canada). Why?? Because these people, a lot of them, are nothing more than an afterthought to the average Joe, and no one gives a shit. I personally think that Main and Hastings, as well as 108 and King George, is where people go when they have been robbed of their soul and have nothing left.
To sum it up, and it has been said before in this particular forum, that everywhere has problems. If you don’t like the problem, how about giving a shit and helping those who actually want it in those areas? Don’t like the label, THEN DO SOMETHING TO CHANGE IT!
It’s funny you that you laugh about the girls when the majority of the population in the West is exactly the same. Are there not parts of every city with hookers and drug dealers?
And towards the Vancouverites, your women are the worst. They cheat consistantly, lie, and the only reason they don’t have the reputation is because of their money.
It’s funny really, considering more than half the population of surrey is South-Asian, and yet Surrey still has a rep for having slutty girls..hmmmm..how does that work?
where do i begin, dave,you summed it up. as for the snobby vancouverite peons that have a computer ergo beleive they have a brain,i just have to feel sorry for them. i live in surrey;6 years now,it has its problems,like anywhere else.but like grown adults we deal with things,not whine like little girlymen.woooo hoooo hoooo!!!!!.