Rick Mercer is likely responsible for getting more people excited about politics than any other Canadian on television.
Through his award-winning TV show, Rick Mercer Report, the Toronto resident gets to hang out with polar bear cubs and go ice canoeing in the St. Lawrence River. He’s even zorbed, whatever that is. But he is best known for his rants, which are decidedly political, often controversial.
The show kicks off its 11th season this month.
“Heading into the upcoming season, it’s always the same issue, I honestly don’t know,” says Mercer. “We have no idea. There might be cards on a board somewhere, but once the season starts, the plan goes out the window.”
There has never been a shortage of political satire in the country, from Royal Canadian Air Farce to This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Mercer helped create the latter when his Newfoundland comedy troupe CODCO was tapped to create a new series for the CBC. The show premiered in 1993 during a Canadian general election with Mercer along with Mary Walsh, Cathy Jones and Greg Thomey.
Mercer launched Report in 2004. He made it a point to record and air the show during the fall and winter seasons instead of recording throughout the year.
“That’s just the nature of television,” he says. “The school year starts and you blink and the snow starts to fly. It would be a very different show if we taped in the summer. But we have to be cold just like everyone else.”
It makes it that much more challenging because things can and have gone wrong.
“Things go wrong. We’ve been fogged in or snowed in, or the event is not as advertised, but I never really worry,” he says. “If I can find the right person and talk to them, I know I can find a segment.
Everyone has a story, and it’s my job to get that out of them, so I don’t sweat it too much. There are 35 million plus in this country, and I’m sure I can literally make a segment out of half of them. It’s a big country.”
Mercer and, in fact, political satirists across the country have had a lot to work with over the past few years. Former prime minister Stephen Harper kept a tight rein, and that lack of information left a gaping hole filled by satirists. There was also Rob Ford. It was a good time if one was in the business of poking fun at politicians.
Now, things are a bit more quiet. Toronto’s mayor, John Tory, is nothing if not average and likable. And the new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, doesn’t even have any opposition in Parliament.
Mercer agrees.
“They certainly don’t seem like a government that’s rudderless by any stretch,” says Mercer.
“He’s been very lucky to have a healthy majority and free rein with the opposition in total disarray. Mulcair, the most effective opposition leader in history, I believe, and his party has decided to fire him. He’s a lame duck, and Rona Ambrose is a leader chosen by caucus one afternoon. She’s an interim leader. She’s doing a good job but doesn’t have authority of leadership. The Conservatives are in complete disarray of course; their ears haven’t stopped ringing from the beating that was laid on them.”
But as comedian Mark Critch, of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, demonstrated recently, Trudeau is not untouchable.
The comedian made fun of Trudeau’s penchant of posing for selfies sans shirt by taking his shirt off while standing behind Trudeau in a photo, or photobombing him, while he was in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
There was also the so-called “elbowgate” fracas — which was more absurdist theatre than anything else — when Trudeau barged across the floor of the House to rescue a stranded MP blocked behind Mulcair and a pack of NDPers. But Mercer is more embarrassed for the politicians than anything else.
“I’m actually glad I wasn’t on the air because I would feel obligated to talk about it. But watching it unfold made me question why I’ve dedicated my life to following politics,” he says.
Mercer also has a soft spot in his heart for the Canadian military, having done segments on most Canadian Forces bases in the country in addition to travelling to Afghanistan and Bosnia. He was recently honoured with an award from the Royal Canadian Legion.
“The relationship goes way back and has been one of most personally rewarding relationships I’ve had,” he says. “And unlike most segments, with the military, I feel like I’m getting much more out of it than they are getting out of it.”
“They’ve trusted me,” he continues. “To get that vote of confidence, whether overseas or on any base, is phenomenal. It’s also a good group of individuals to have your back.”
