The Debaters

The Debaters

Photo taken from a taping of The Debaters at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, with Sean Cullen (in the centre) as host.
Genre	Comedy, Panel Game Show
Running time	30 minutes
Country	Canada
Language(s)	English
Home station	CBC Radio One CBC Television
Starring	Steve Patterson
Created by	Richard Side
Recording studio	Various live venues across Canada
Air dates	since September 2006 (CBC Radio One) 2011 (CBC Television)
Website	The Debaters

The Debaters is a Canadian radio comedy show hosted by Steve Patterson. It airs on CBC Radio One Saturdays at 1:30PM and Wednesdays at 11:30AM (both Eastern time, half an hour later in Newfoundland).

During each episode, two debates take place between two sets of two contestants. The topics are deliberately comedic, including "Apples are better than oranges" and "Darth Vader was a bad father". The winner is chosen by audience reaction at the end of the debate.

The show was first broadcast in September 2006, replacing the long-running comedy show Madly Off in All Directions. The show was created by Richard Side. It is produced by Phillip Ditchburn, Anna Bonokoski and Richard Side.

Each season has approximately 33 new episodes. These are recorded in front of live audiences in studios, theatres and clubs across Canada.

While the show is known officially in CBC listings as The Debaters, during the third broadcast the show was instead introduced as Master Debaters. Ever since then the show has reverted to its original, officially sanctioned name.

The host of the first season was Shaun Majumder. The second season featured a succession of guest hosts, including Sean Cullen, Elvira Kurt, Patrick McKenna and Roman Danylo. As of the third season the regular host of the show is Steve Patterson.

Performers who have appeared on the show include Irwin Barker, Ian Boothby, Sean Cullen, Charles Demers, Gary Jones, Deborah Kimmett, Andy Kindler, Marc Maron, Patrick McKenna, Mark Meer, Darcy Michael, Greg Proops, Lara Rae, Simon Rakoff, Dan Redican, Derek Seguin, Erica Sigurdson, Ron Sparks, Scott Thompson and Mary Walsh.