By Druv Sareen
After completing a cross-Canada comedy tour, Rick Mercer has a more nuanced perspective on the issues of comedy and political correctness.
Mercer says he has a better understanding of both sides of the issues. “I’ve become educated in a certain way. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, I understand how some people find it very frustrating. And I understand that some people take it too far,” says Mercer.
It’s been over a year and half since Rick Mercer delivered his final report. After 15 seasons on air, the graffiti-laden walls of Toronto’s back-alleys have been silent in his absence. However you refer to Mercer, as a comedian, author or political satirist, Canadian media is not the same without him.
For those unaware or uninitiated to the legend of Rick Mercer, there are few voices in Canadian politics as iconic as the ranting Newfoundlander. Starting in 2004, Rick Mercer’s Monday Report was a half-hour show that aired every Monday across Canada. On the show, which featured news parody, sketch comedy, rants and travel features among many other segments, Mercer examined all the goings on in Canadian politics.
The Report, which would later move to Tuesday nights, featured many iconic members of Canadian politics. From Bob Rae jumping in a lake naked to grabbing a burger at Harvey’s with Jean Chretien, Rick Mercer was able to break through the protective shell of politicians and humanize them in front of a national audience. Mercer’s final rant was delivered on April 10, 2018, after 255 episodes.
These days, Mercer is enjoying the freedom granted him, post-Mercer Report. He recently finished the Just for Laughs Comedy Night in Canada tour which saw him perform 23 shows in 17 cities over 28 days. Despite his busy schedule, Mercer took time to talk with Convergence about all the issues surrounding Canadian politics. From political correctness, to a divided Canada post-election and the importance of celebrating Canada, Rick Mercer shared some of his insights.
“I’ve always been a clean act and so I never had those kinds of concerns that other people, I think, or at least it’s not something I worry about,” Mercer says. “The language is always changing. Attitudes are always changing. There’s nobody in this business who has 30 years under their belt, who can look back at things they performed on stage and thought, ‘Oh I wouldn’t do that today,’ because attitudes have changed.”
“There has always been these people who say you shouldn’t say that. But those people were out 30 years ago. Now they just have a greater platform because they can create an anonymous Twitter profile and start chirping at you all day.”
Mercer thinks it’s important to cultivate a non-partisan voice to help escape the echo chamber.
“I always try to remain non-partisan, which is because the world has become more and more and more partisan,” says Mercer. “There are certainly political figures that I just didn’t like, or certain attitudes that I didn’t like, but I was always aware of the fact that in order for people to listen, you have to be somewhat non partisan, or you least have to appear fair. Because once people determine you’re not fair, they’ll just stop listening and then the only people listening are the people who agree with you and then you’re just in an echo-chamber.”
Escaping the echo chamber was important for Mercer when it came to performing the rants, a favourite segment for many fans of the Mercer Report.
“The rant was never performed in an echo chamber. It was performed to a pretty wide audience, and the numbers would indicate if the audience was that wide and they would be all over the political spectrum. This is what satirists and columnists are facing now more than ever, the idea of an echo chamber,” says Mercer.
“I love Bill Maher, but nobody really knows if anyone’s watching Bill Maher who doesn’t agree with Bill Maher 90 per cent of the time,” he says. “Once upon a time, you would get all sorts of people tuning in. But of course, times have changed and now everyone can just pick their comedians and their commentators and their news in a bespoke way where they’re consuming content that sees the world the way they see the world.”
“I consider myself very lucky that I had that platform to do a rant,” says Mercer, “because it was wrapped around the travel in the show, which was a very popular part of the show, the adventure part of the show.”
The Mercer Report’s travel segments highlighted the beauty of Canada and showcased all the different people that made Canada beautiful from coast to coast.
“[Gerald Lunz] created the show with me.
He just said, we’re always going to celebrate, celebrate Canada. That’s what we’re going to do, like the whole show is going to be cel brating,” says Mercer. “That may sound cliche but it’s something that never comes naturally to anyone in comedy. That’s not where funny comedy comes from.”
Mercer recalled talking to a writer about the philosophy of the show a year after its in- ception.
“We’re sitting down, having a cup of coffee, discussing him coming to work on the show. He asked me if there was a philosophy behind the show. Of course, I’ve never asked myself a question like that ever,” he says. “The answer I came up with was, like, we go to Thunder Bay, it’s because it’s the greatest place on earth. And that’s what we’re going to tell people. And we’re going to believe it. We’re gonna find out why people love being in Thunder Bay and what makes it a great place to be, whether it’s the winter, spring or whatever. And that’s something that we carried with us every single day. And look, because it’s comedy. Lots of comedy, funny comedy comes from a place where you’re tearing something down or you’re making fun of something. We just never did that.”
Mercer attributes this celebratory nature as the reason why he was able to get politicians and regular people alike to open up and share their stories.
“I feel like almost everyone who came on the show, whether they were a prime minister, or whether they were an oyster fishermen or a farmer because of the time that I’d been on the air, I felt that there was a level of trust there that people never thought I was going to be out to get them and that they were going to be okay. And so that kind of would weigh heavily on me too because I wanted them to look great,” says Mercer.
“I wanted everyone to think ‘Man that oyster fisherman is one cool guy, I’d like to spend time with him.’ And likewise the politicians, I wanted to cut through the BS in the veneer that they created as public personalities and maybe show another side of them. I believe they allowed themselves to relax around me. In Bob Rae’s case to the point that he got naked and jumped in a lake with me,” says Mercer. “So if I have one superpower, I can talk to people, I can get them to relax to the point where they will get naked and jump in a lake.”
Mercer says that he’s not comfortable saying that everyone should celebrate every- thing at all times, but admits it was what he was comfortable with.
“Celebrating does not come naturally to any comedian or comedy writer. It’s a tough one. So I would never say ‘Oh, everyone should just go out and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate.’ It’s just what I was comfortable with and what I wanted to do, especially as I was traveling around the country, and have been given this opportunity to do that,” he says.
Traveling seems to be something Mercer enjoys. The Just for Laughs comedy tour took him across Canada where he could see the post-election schism many are pointing to following the election. Mercer says that these issues are not new to Canada though.
“We’re certainly going through some serious issues on the United Canada front. But these issues have always been there. They’re just bubbling to the surface a bit more these days than normal.” says Mercer.
“I sat at home just like many people of my generation and older and watched the needle stuck basically at 49 between 49 and 50 per cent. And we watched to see whether Quebec was going to separate from the rest of Canada. So at that moment, I will say that was a historic low in the Canadian unity front.”
“Right now. Certainly there’s, there’s some serious issues that need to be dealt with. And certainly, it was always in my mind as I was going across the country, because context is everything. I’ve played in Alberta, Calgary, Edmonton. hundreds of times, but in light of the election, I was wondering, would there be a different reactions or what the vibe would be,” he says.
“It’s certainly not a good time and feelings are hurt. People are angry and some people are sowing the seeds of discontent for their own, you know, their own political gains, which is always something that people have done in this country.”
With the 2019 federal election in our rear- view mirrors and the American election on the horizon, Mercer says he still receives re- quests to bring back one of his more popu- lar segments, Talking with Americans. In the segments, Mercer would stop Americans and ask them innocuous questions about the true north, strong and free.
“Talking to Americans was such a phenomenal success that I’ve been offered that opportunity every six months since, to bring it back. Someone gets the brilliant idea ‘ Hey I got a great idea, You do Talking to Americans again!’ And, I just, I stopped doing it.”
“The time had come to move on because I thought there was a risk that it could just end up defining the rest of my career and I wanted to do other things,” he says.
Mercer thinks that the segment would be harder to pull off in the age of YouTube.
“I don’t think it would work now quite frankly,” he says. “The context of when it was done. It was pre-YouTube, if you can believe it. I used to justify in my mind I’d say ‘These poor people. Well, it doesn’t matter that there’s no chance they’ll ever see this because is going to air on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation exactly one time’. Of course then it was a special. And then years later people started putting it on the internet. Now it’s alive forever. Every week I talk to numerous young people who weren’t alive when it was made, you know, and they watch it for what- ever reason. So it lives forever. But I don’t think it would work now. I think people are more wary,” says Mercer.
For many people, like myself, the Mercer Report represented an important part of the news cycle but Mercer says he never saw the show as someone’s primary news source.
“I kind of always equated the show with an editorial cartoon, in the sense that I felt that most people that liked my show were the type of people that liked being informed somewhat about current events. If you picked up a newspaper, and you never ever read any part of the newspaper other than the editorial cartoon, you really wouldn’t understand what the editorial cartoon was about,” he says. “I always viewed us as an editorial cartoon.
“So I think I never believed that we were anyone’s primary source. “Certainly, some- times we did things on the show. And people weren’t aware of something because some- times I was very fortunate. I got to bring attention to something. But by and large, I was reflecting what was going on that week,” he says.
“So I don’t think we were ever people’s primary source. But I think it was probably one of their favorite sources because if you watch conventional newscast or you’re getting your news from wherever, it’s not entertaining.”
“It’s not meant to be but we would do it in a way that was entertaining and so therefore,
it was probably people’s favorite news source,” says Mercer.
While many people view Rick Mercer as an iconic legend, he has a hard time putting himself on the Mt. Rushmore of Canadian media.
“If anyone sits around and starts thinking about where they fit in the stratosphere, the atmosphere, I think that’s just a waste of time,” Mercer says, “Because I’m still working. You know, I am a working guy. I just have never spent any time thinking about that. I mean, that’s very flattering. It’s very flattering to talk to people like yourself who might have grown up watching me because, of course, like anyone.”
“I really feel like I started 10 minutes ago but I started 30 years ago. So I’m always surprised that I’m talking to someone who says they grew up watching me,” he says.
“I remember, of course, talking to people that I grew up watching and what that was like. I think if you’re serious, you got other things to do it and sit around and wonder where you fit in the grand scheme of things,” says Mercer.
“If you’re Canadian and you work in entertainment, or in any creative field, you’re always worried about what you’re going to do next. There’s no time to sit around and think about what you’ve accomplished.”