I love comedy and have a long list of comedians whom I watch repeatedly. Laughter has tremendous strength to reshape a day, to soften a difficult circumstance, to help heal a broken heart. Rick Mercer has always been a Canadian favourite, but his star is shining even brighter in these days of turmoil that surround us. Rick hasn’t changed his act because of the political shouting and threats, “because this has always been my lane,” Rick explained recently during an interview. He has been persistent in his encouragement for us to buy Canadian and travel in Canada but many more are heeding his words.
Rick Mercer’s resume is a lengthy one, all of which helped Canadians become a new and improved version of ourselves. Rick has what I call a “Newfoundland smile,” with a hint of mischief and a whole lot of wisdom. Newfoundlanders know how to laugh, evidenced by the many comedians whose roots were on “The Rock” such as the legendary Cathy Jones, Mary Walsh, Mark Critch to name but a few. Rick Mercer became an “educational resource” with his clean-spirited illumination of problems and successes in Canada over the years and his beloved “walking rants.” I don’t know how many rants he created for his eight years on This Hour Has 22 Minutes and the fifteen years of The Rick Mercer Report but suffice to say a lot. Could I pick a favourite rant? I’m not sure. I loved his ally rant about his gratitude to Gord Downie when he called Rick to check on the proper Newfoundlander pronunciation of the name of a community he was using in the lyrics of one of his songs. The place was Isle aux Morts, pronounced by Newfoundlanders as “I-la-mort.” Rick gave Downie his dad’s phone number to get a second opinion. Gord Downie called Rick’s dad and talked to him for over an hour never identifying himself more than “Gord, a friend of Rick’s.” Of Gord Downie, Rick had this to say about Canadians missing Gord after his passing, “because as an artist, [Gord] spoke to each one of us directly and he could do that because he listened to people like my dad.” That’s high praise.
In an interview as the last program of The Rick Mercer Report had been aired, Rick spoke of the 500+ locations they visited, places unknown to many. Their first visit was to Nunavut, at Rick’s insistence to the network. Often when he appeared in a town, some kid would inevitably say to Rick, “What are you doing here?” He knew the show had morphed into something special when one kid said, “I knew you’d show up eventually.” That comment meant a great deal to Rick.
Newfoundlanders like to talk and have a love of politics. He confessed that his opinion has evolved over the years, but it has been a gift to him to shine the light on things that needed our attention. His rant about gay teens being bullied helped support an awareness of the difficulties facing young gay teens. His rant about the Harper government going to court against veterans involved a friend of his who lost his legs while deployed in Afghanistan. His friend had to keep proving each year to receive benefits that he had indeed lost his legs. They hadn’t miraculously grown back. Rick’s rant resulted in the government making an official apology. Rick warned that when politicians say they do lots for veterans, “ask them to prove it.” He had many powerful moments.
Many of his segments for The Rick Mercer Report were videos of time spent with his good friend Jann Arden doing such activities as paintballing, walking the CN Tower EdgeWalk, zip-lining, to name a few. Fundamentally, Rick celebrated everything that was Canada. In his final rant on The Mercer Report he invited Canadians to make it their business to explore Canada. “Stand above the treeline,” he said, visit every province and territory. “Go out there and see it.”
Rick has written several books – Rick Mercer Report: The Book, published in 2007; Streeters, in 1998; A Nation Worth Ranting About, in 2012; Rick Mercer Final Report, in 2018; Talking to Canadians, in 2021; The Road Years: A Memoir Concluded, in 2023. He claims he has “run out of runway” and no more memoirs can be written, but he’ll find something to say. He always does. We are better for having been witness to his rants.
wendistewart@live.ca
