Originally beginning in 1968, Bye Bye '98 was the final edition of its first run, until the show was revived by the comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles, who produced the 2006 and 2007 editions of the show.
The network received 1,300 complaints from viewers about the content in the special,[1][2] which led to Cloutier making a public apology stating that the sketches were supposed to criticize racism rather than promote it.
[4] In 2018, the special began to achieve record viewership, with that year's edition overtaking an episode of La Petite Vie as the highest-rated Quebecois television program of all-time—with 4.471 million viewers.
In 2020, due to restrictions on gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Bye Bye 2020 (which featured several sketches lampooning the provincial and federal government's responses) achieved a record 3.8 million live viewers—a 93% market share.
[5][6] The 2021 special—which included a cameo appearance by recently fired Montreal Canadiens manager Marc Bergevin in a parody of Uber Eats' commercials—once again broke records due to strict COVID-19 restrictions.