Rock et Belles Oreilles (RBO) was a Canadian radio, television, and stage comedy group popular in the primarily French-speaking province of Quebec during the 1980s and 1990s. Their name was a pun on the Hanna-Barbera blue dog character Huckleberry Hound ("Roquet Belles Oreilles" in French).
The group was formed in 1981, with the original lineup consisting of Guy A. Lepage, Yves P. Pelletier, Bruno Landry, André Ducharme, Richard Z. Sirois, and . Sirois left the group in 1987 and Francke in 1992; the group separated in 1995.
History
Radio era: 1981–1986
thumb|right|Guy A. Lepage in 2015
The show Rock et Belles Oreilles was created on 15 May 1981 by Richard Z. Sirois and Guy A. Lepage, who at the time hosted at a Montreal community radio station, and initially focused on the history of rock music. It quickly became a comedy show, however, and the duo recruited Bruno Landry, Yves P. Pelletier, and André Ducharme. Chantal Francke joined on occasion and became a permanent member of the troupe in 1987.
Rock et Belles Oreilles got their own show on CKOI-FM in 1984.
Television era: 1986–1990
thumb|left|Yves Pelletier in 2015
In 1986, RBO were given a contract by Guy Fournier, director of programming at Télévision Quatre Saisons, to produce a television show, giving the group significant freedom to air their creativity. but also generated some criticism, including an article written by journalist Claude Jasmin, who criticized RBO for their crude humour.
At the start of the show's second season, in 1987, Sirois left the group and was replaced by Chantal Francke. Later the same year, RBO released the album The Spectacle. In 1989, they published the album Pourquoi chanter ?, and The Sketches. They also issued a series of DVDs, included in a box set in 2004, each with a season of their former television show. The group also made several television appearances and published RBO: The Documentaire, a series of five documentaries spanning their career.
Bye Bye 2006
In 2006, to mark their 25th anniversary, RBO returned to television after being recruited by the CBC to co-produce and direct Bye Bye, They returned to the show the following year. It consists of twenty episodes that include excerpts from shows broadcast between 1986 and 1988. On 15 May 2021, Noovo presented a 60-minute special titled TOP 40 about the group, comprising an anthology of their best sketches, appearances, and interviews of the past forty years.