Photo: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

File No. 032404 · Adjudicated

Paul Shaffer

Musician — Late Show with David Letterman bandleader, Saturday Night Live, This is Spinal Tap

Born

1949

Birthplace

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO

Citizenships

Canadianness Score

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

5.0/ 5

Weighted across 2 scored criteria

Designation

Bleeds Maple Syrup 🍁

Born, raised, and still says “out for a rip” unironically.

Scorecard

Path A — born on Canadian soil

I. Origin

Born on Canadian soil

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO

Canadian parentage

Both parents Canadian

Citizenship on record

Automatic by birth

II. Residency

Formative years spent in Canada

Raised — Ontario

Lived in Canada by choice

Residency on record as an adult

Worked or filmed in Canada

Credits filed north of the 49th

III. Cultural evidence — not scored

Section III is recorded for the file only. Birth on Canadian soil already settles the matter.

Publicly claims to be Canadian

Says so, out loud

Canada claims them back

Claimed, enthusiastically

Fun fact

Was a house-band member on Saturday Night Live's earliest seasons and was later offered the show's musical director job outright — he turned it down to join Letterman instead.

The verdict

Letterman's longtime bandleader was born in Toronto and raised in Fort William (now part of Thunder Bay), Ontario, where he cut his teeth playing piano in local bands before heading south to become one of American late-night TV's most recognizable sidekicks. Despite decades in New York, he's never shaken that Canadian musical foundation — and Canadians have always quietly claimed him as one of our greatest exports to the Tonight Show era.

Adjudicated by

The Standings Committee

Status

Final — appealable