'Being Canadian' doc recruits celebs as it explores what it means to be Canuck

A scene from Robert Cohen's documentary, 'Being Canadian.'

TORONTO -- Calgary-raised comedy writer Robert Cohen has lived in the U.S. for 27 years, but he still feels very Canadian.

Cohen explores what it means to be Canuck, and why there seems to be either an ignorance or a lack of interest toward this country from those outside of it, in his new documentary "Being Canadian."

"It's not like walking down the street, people would point at me and know that I'm Canadian. But I love knowing that that's my DNA," Cohen says.

"I apologize profusely ... I will never demand food in a restaurant -- I will gently circle around the possibility that for my money they might serve me some."

Premiering Saturday at Toronto's Hot Docs festival, the film has interviews with a slew of celebrities -- Canadian and not -- including Dan Aykroyd, Howie Mandel, Kathy Griffin, Mike Myers, Eugene Levy, rockers Rush, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Martin Short, Jason Priestley, Michael J. Fox and Ben Stiller.

"The few Americans in this, they were jealous because they wanted to be part of this, so we let a few of them in," says Cohen, who has been a co-executive producer on "The Big Bang Theory" and has written for series including "The Simpsons" and "Saturday Night Live."

"Kathy Griffin, Conan O'Brien, Ben Stiller -- they'd heard about this idea and they were fascinated by Canada. But then when they'd heard who participated they wanted to get in on it."

Cohen narrates and appears in the doc, which starts with a brief rundown of Canada's history and an outline of his life growing up in Calgary. It then follows his adventures as he drives across Canada, starting on the East Coast and ending in Vancouver on Canada Day.

Throughout his journey he explains more of Canada's history and notes certain Canadian-isms: like how we apologize for everything, have an "inferiority complex," and love hockey, beer, bacon, maple syrup and doughnuts.

Cohen says he started making the doc seven years ago, taking breaks for many months here and there because of other job commitments.

Hence the footage of the Barenaked Ladies with Steven Page, who left the group in 2009.

"Everybody gets thrown by that but they were one of our first interviews when we were just figuring out the movie and obviously the band has changed," says Cohen.

"I just thought the Barenaked Ladies were funny and had good comments, so instead of eliminating them we'd just keep them in there and hopefully they're entertaining."

Cohen says "Being Canadian" will be available on-demand across Canada on Sunday.

The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival runs April 23 to May 3.