Whether he’s ranting on CBC’s Rick Mercer Report, entertaining on This Hour Has 22 Minutes or otherwise sharing his informed opinions on politics and contemporary Canadian lifestyle, Rick Mercer is a national treasure. Before retiring from his RMR show, I doubt I missed an episode in the fifteen seasons his show was on the air. Mercer’s newest book The Road Years is an homage to all those years of attending pumpkin festivals, wreck-em races, and coercing Jann Arden to accompany him on such adventures as a CN Tower skywalk.
On the subject of Jann Arden, there’s another Canadian treasure. I recommend any and all of her books. Mercer tells the story about how he landed in Calgary a day ahead of shooting a particular segment of the show that got axed at the last minute. He called Jann, who was leaving the day after for a major tour. To her great credit, she dropped everything and spent her last day at home on a date with Mercer to show him her town—Calgary. She did caution him that “despite what you may have heard, I do not put out on the first date.” It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Mercer has the inside track on the real-life side of politicians—who is funny, who is paranoid, and who has no personality. He described an attempt by Stephen Harper to improve his public image by allowing reporters to photograph him dropping his kids off at school as “as emotionally charged and choreographed as an eastern European prisoner swap”. That pretty much answers the question about which Prime Minister had no personality.
We soften our impression of some politicians such as former Ontario Premier Bob Rae who was surprisingly game for anything as evidenced by his impromptu skinny dipping with Mercer. One of my favourite interviews was with Jean Cretien which was conducted in an Ottawa Harvey’s Hamburger joint at lunchtime, with Mercer distractedly slurping the ice in his empty cup and rolling his eyes as Cretien rhymes off his political resume in boring chronological order. It was one of my favourite interviews.
Having read Mercer’s earlier memoir, Final Report, I put my name in early at the library for the release of The Road Years. He shares great memories of small-town hospitality, snafus in production, and experiences with everyone from rock stars to small-town local personalities, mayors and politicians.
As a philosopher and self-described political junkie, Mercer is a keen observer of humanity and life in general as evidenced by his comment toward the end of the book, “As a child, it seemed to me that elections boiled down to picking the least bad option. As an adult, I know that observation was correct. Some things change. That hasn’t.” Looking at the lineup in Canadian, American, and British politics we understand the truth in that observation.
Gotta love Rick Mercer. I do and I loved reading The Road Years. It’s a fast and fun read. The 22 Minutes East Coast alumni including Mary Walsh have given Canadians a lot of laughs and much to appreciate about our Canadian way of life. I recommend both—the book, and our way of life.
If you are unable to obtain a copy of Rick Mercer’s newest book (he has many) The Road Years at your local bookstore or library, click on this link to have it delivered directly to your door or tablet.
(Disclosure: I may receive a teeny, tiny commission. Thank you.)
