Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Rick Mercer: Toronto Mike'd #942

Episode Date: November 1, 2021

Mike chats with Rick Mercer about... everything.

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in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. And Mike Majeski of Remax Specialist Majeski Group, who's ripping up the GTA real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com, and joining me this week is Rick Mercer. Hello, Rick. Are you there? Mercer. Hello, Rick.

Are you there? Hi there. Hi, Rick. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Can you hear me all right? Yeah, you sound fantastic. Oh, very good.

You know, Rick, I really appreciate this. And I'll have you know, you're my second Newfoundlander in a row. Who was your first Newfoundlander? My most recent episode featured Sean McCann from Great Big Sea. Okay. You're my second Newfoundlander in a row. Who was your first Newfoundlander? My most recent episode featured Sean McCann from Great Big Sea. Okay. So you're number two. You want to hear the prestigious list of Newfoundlanders you're joining here today?

Sure. Well, Sean McCann, as I mentioned. Davnet Doyle. Oh, I know Davnet. He's fantastic. I went to Afghanistan with Davnet. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Davnet Doyle. Oh, I know Davnet. She's fantastic. I went to Afghanistan with Davnet. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. Awesome. Heather Bambrick. Who's Heather Bambrick? Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. She's actually now she's hosting the morning show here at Jazz FM here in Toronto. Okay. Very good.

And Tom Harrington. Of course. Did he talk about his time as a Sanderling? Yes, absolutely. And yeah, he broke into song, so he was in my... Okay, good. I won't be doing that. I was going to see what I could do.

But last but not least, and this gentleman actually reached out to ask me to specifically say hi to you, Rick, but I'm speaking of Ken Tizard. Oh, yeah, of course. Yes, there's a picture of Ken in the book. Well, amazing. And Ken, of those guests, Ken was the only one who actually zoomed in because he lives quite a bit away from Toronto.

But where do we find you today? Well, I'm in Toronto. Why am I not in the studio? I was just zooming because I assumed that that's the way you guys are doing it. No, I was... I tried to get you here and a certain book publisher

because, of course, you've got a fantastic new book we're going to talk about, but I was told to Zoom. He asked for Zoom, so yes. Maybe it's because there was a bunch of stuff happening today. I actually thought you were in Newfoundland. Well, you know, I was, and now I'm in Toronto.

I bounce back and forth a bit. Get your butt over here. I have gifts for you if you show up. Where are you located? Southwest, so just beside Mimico. Okay, gotcha. Anyway, we're here now. We're here now.

This is the new way. This is better than no conversation with Rick Mercer, that's for sure. My friend, I would consider you a very private guy. I always thought you were a private guy, but here you are opening up in a new book and you're making your Toronto Mike debut. I would argue if you're trying to be a private guy that you're doing it wrong. Well, I don't know if... Yeah, I guess I always was a private guy. I just was a guy.

I was always in the public eye ever since I was a pretty young man, since I was like in my 20s. Right. And I just never talked about my personal life. But talking... Go ahead. If I was doing interviews, I would, you know, and I've

done hundreds of interviews over the years and I was always willing to talk about whatever they wanted to talk about. But if someone just threw a wild card question out there, like, what kind of car do you drive? Right. Or where do you like to travel? I'd be like, oh my God, that's very personal. That was just the kind of person I am. And I'm not a very reflective person, but you have to talk about your life and you have to reflect on things if you're going to write a memoir. Right.

So the memoir is called Talking to Canadians. I actually have it here. I've been reading it and it's excellent. And I see the date it's available is November 2nd. And this episode is going to drop on November 1st. So people can grab this thing tomorrow. That's right. Or they can go to rickmercer.com

and they can pre-order if they want. And that'll take you to, you know, whatever kind of bookstore you like to shop at. But they should be on the shelves tomorrow. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Amazing timing here. Perfect. Now, Rick, you're too young to be retired.

I mean, you're not much older than I am. and I can't imagine retiring at this point in my life. So do you consider yourself retired? No, because I just wrote a book. You know, I kind of retired or I stepped back from television. I had a weekly TV show, The Mercer Report, for 15 years. It was time to wrap that sucker up because for a bunch of different reasons. And at the same time that I wrapped it up, of course, the TV landscape is changing dramatically. And I just wasn't in a rush to embark on another TV project. And I still don't know if I am. And I don't know what that would look like. And I don't know if it would be on a network. And I don't know what a network is anymore. And there's a lot of questions, right?

When it comes to show business that way, if you're in my field. So, but I can also do things that I haven't had the opportunity to do for the last 20 years. You know, a podcast or write another book or go back to the theater. There's lots of options. Keep your options open. That's the key here. Yeah. It's interesting you mentioned that, like, what is TV?

Like, sometimes I'll say, hey, let's watch television. And I think kind of an antiquated term, like, we grew up, you watch television. But now you're basically choosing what to kind of push to that big screen in the living room. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah, it's changed so dramatically. You know, when you were a kid, even not that long ago, people wouldn't say, oh, on Thursdays, I watch this show or on Fridays, I watch that show. Kids today, I mean, I hate to be the guy who just said kids today.

They just don't get that. The only, there are some things, you know, sports is still something that people make appointment viewing to watch, obviously. Live events like a Juno Awards or what have you, people make, you know, an appointment to watch. And I was really lucky with the Mercer Report because we were one of the last shows standing that families watched. You know, adults watched it, but people liked to imprint Canada on their young children. So they had their kids watching and even teenagers, a lot of teenagers would watch the show.

So I could go to a university campus and get a thousand students out for an event. And, uh, but most of my mail came from eight year olds. It was weird. Uh, did you write back? I just read on Reddit. Actually, there's like a post. Somebody said, yeah, when they were like eight years old, they drew a picture of the queen and they sent it to, you know, Buckingham Palace or whatever. And they got a reply, not from the queen, but from like the queen's number lady in waiting or whatever the term is. And right. Right. Like, do you did you would you reply to an eight year old who sent you?

Oh, I reply to a lot over the years, although I'm loved to say that because I'm afraid that some of them might have fallen through the cracks. But oh, absolutely. Especially kids. You would, absolutely. You know, the adults who wrote you to say, you know, sometimes I would, if adults wrote and they say they hated the show and why don't you shut up and blah, blah, blah.

I would answer back and say, so you don't want the free mug then? And then they would email and say, yes, I would like the mug. Here's my address. But yeah, I would always, I would try to answer the kids, certainly. Sweet. Now, speaking of the live events,

you just referenced some live events. One such would be, well, now they're called Canadian Screen Awards, but we used to call them Gemini Awards. Yeah. Did you keep all 25 of your Gemini Awards? Well, you don't throw those things out. But, you know, I don't have – I actually – I have two Canadian Screen Awards behind me.

And I've never had any paraphernalia to do with show business in my office before. And I kind of put those up because I knew I was going to sell the books. And it was suggested that I put some shiny things behind me, so I did. Well, Rick, to sell the books, I'd have all 25 there, just like surrounding you, 25. Oh, yeah, sure. Nothing classier than that. You might have the record for most Gemini Awards won by an FOTM,

which you now are a friend of Toronto Mike, so it's now official. That's a good thing. My friend, we're going to take us back a little bit. Again, the book is called Talking to Canadians and you can go to rickmercer.com right now to pre-order. But if you waited a little bit before you got to this episode of Toronto Mic'd,

it's available now, darn it. Just get this where you buy your books. Can we just go back a bit to show me the button, I'll push it or Charles Lynch Must Die? Yeah, that was a one-man show that I performed when I was a very young man. And in fact, How Young, that's the cover of the book, was the poster for Show Me the Button, I'll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die. I was a very angry young man. And, you know, Canada was going through a constitutional crisis over something called the Meech Lake Accord.

That's not really important. But this guy, Charles Lynch, he wrote a column. And he said, push comes to shove in Canada and the Confederation. If we ever had to choose between Quebec and Newfoundland, clearly we would get rid of Newfoundland. Because not only are they less important, he basically said they're a basket case and we don't need them. And so, of course, I was a young man. I went completely ballistic. And part of my show was about Charles Lynch, hence the title,

Charles Lynch Must Die. But Charles Lynch was a wily old guy. And he wrote a column about the fact that I had this play. And he declared that he was the Solomon Rushdie of Newfoundland. And I had put a fatwa on his head. But he wasn't going to back down. He was going to come to the play and sit in the front row. And we ended up appearing on television together and getting in a big screaming match. He was in his 70s. He was a former head of Southern News. He was a war correspondent. He was beloved by many, many Canadians. And suddenly, there I was, 20 years old, just turned 20, on television.

He's 74 or something. And we're yelling at each other about, of all things, Canada's constitution. And it was peak CBC, of course. And it sold tickets like hotcakes. And my show ended up touring the country. And Charles would graciously appear on the radio or television wherever i was playing we would get into this big yelling match over and over again we basically created a dog a pony show and it uh it sold tickets wherever we played and um

it and i owe him a great service for that and then eventually he he got quite sick and i was playing in vancouver and uh he said i heard that he had cancer and he got quite sick and I was playing in Vancouver and he said, I heard that he had cancer and he was really unwell. So I called him up and I said, I'm dropping the title. The show's no longer called Charles Lynch Must Die. And he said, why in the God's name would you change the title? I said, well, Charles, you're dying. And if you die, it's going to be front page news all over Canada. And I'm going to have posters all over Vancouver that say Charles Lynch must die. I think that's in pretty poor taste. And he said, how long is your run?

And I said, five weeks. And he said, OK, I'll wait five weeks before I die. But don't take down those posters. So I didn't. And as luck would have it, he lived for a couple of years after that. And I was in television at the time when he finally passed away. And when he did pass away, one day in the mail, the bulletin came from his church service, from his funeral. And attached to it was a sticky note.

And written in his hand was, Dear Rick, for your files, regards, Charles Lynch. And he wrote that and gave it to his son and said, When I die, stick it to the church bulletin and send it to Mercer. So eventually he got the last laugh. But that show launched me. It turned me into a national figure and it led to 22 Minutes. And I never I never look back.

So I owe a great deal of gratitude to Charles for that initial column. Now, I'm looking at the photo of the cover photo you referenced of talking to Canadians. I think you look like a bosom buddies era Tom Hanks, which for the record is meant as a compliment. I just want to make sure. Of course. He's a fine looking gentleman. Yes.

All decked out in the finest clothes from Salvation Army right there. And this hour is 22 minutes, of course, as you mentioned. This is where you kind of got your start on television. A couple of questions. So I've got questions I'll sprinkle in throughout this conversation from listeners of the show, FOTMs, who love sending in questions for guests like yourself. Mal Furious just wants to know,

what's your relationship like these days with Kathy Jones? You know, Kathy Jones and I go way, way back. In fact, Kathy gave me one of my first jobs in the theater, working on a very brilliant one-person show that she did, that toured the country. She was a real inspiration for me. I worked with her for many, many years on 22 Minutes, and we shared countless laughs. But I think what your listener is referring to

is she's quite a vocal anti-vaxxer. And I don't prescribe to any of her beliefs. I think she's misguided. And I think it's unfortunate that she's using her public platform to share medical advice because I don't want to alarm anyone but she's not a medical professional nor is she a scientist so but I haven't to be fair I haven't spoken to her in quite a while but this is something many Canadians are grappling with I mean the member of the family who is a staunch anti-vaxxer and maybe his oh sure and you know what? That's exactly it. You know, I don't have anyone in my immediate family that is an anti-vaxxer. But I, of course, consider Kathy as one of the family because I have been, you know, we worked together for so long.

So she is that person in my family that doesn't believe in it. And now, of course, those people have turned it into a human rights issue. But I just know from watching certain individuals, I mean, first it started out that there was no COVID. And then they agreed, okay, maybe there is, but it's being caused by 5G. And there's none in the third world because they don't have high speed. Oh, it's in the third world. Well, that's because it's being caused by something else. And it just, you know, the conspiracy theory or the theory just changes

moment to moment to moment to suit the situation. I mean, it doesn't exist until, you know, the bodies are piling up and then they admit, okay, it does exist, but it's caused by something else. I mean, it's obviously very frustrating. You know, I get my medical advice from my neighbor, who's a doctor. Good. I'm just glad you said, is a doctor there frustrating. You know, I get my medical advice from my neighbor who's a doctor. Oh, good. I'm just glad you said is a doctor there. I was like, okay, that's great. But, you know, you're lucky.

You know, I don't actually have an anti-vaxxer in my immediate family either, but I can just imagine how difficult it would be to kind of maintain a relationship with somebody who's that far out there with the conspiracy theories and kind of picking that hill to, bad pun, maybe bad analogy, but to die on, uh, it's, it couldn't, it can't be easy for those who have loved ones. I think it's, it's certainly tearing families apart and, uh, yeah, it's very, it must be, it must be awful. There's a lot of people out there that have that. And of course, anytime families get torn apart,

it's awful because there's always children involved and other relatives and grandparents and all this business. Yeah, it's not a very pretty, pretty picture. That said, I'm pleased with the vaccination numbers and I think I'm really happy knowing that most people are vaccinated. I'm like everyone else. I just go, you know, I'm just getting used to using this vaccine pass. You know, it's very frustrating and irritating and, you know, you have to keep calm about it because you don't want to be rude at a restaurant or what have you. But it is like the Twilight Zone. But so much of the last 18 months, two years has been like the Twilight Zone.

So it's just one more thing. And it's something that's going to help keep us all healthy. Right. And so this hour is 22 minutes. Then there's Made in Canada, Talking to Americans. And you mentioned the Rick Mercer report. That was 15 seasons, as you said. Yeah.

Like so many comments. I just got to cherry pick a few because we could spend an hour just running down this type of sentiment. But Leslie Ann says, I miss the Rick Mercer report. Then Brian Dunn, basically he goes, I really just want to know when we'll see him on TV again. I miss him. Basically, he goes, I really just want to know when we'll see him on TV again. I miss him. Then High Sturdy chimes in with, I miss the Rick Mercer report.

Will he ever do another show like that again? Or has that ship sailed? What can you say to those who think that you might have ended this thing a bit prematurely? Or a lot. That's very kind. That's very kind because, of course, one of the longest running TV shows in the country. And that was one of the reasons I wrapped it up. There's a couple of reasons. You know, we adapted as the show evolved. For many years, I was involved in a lot of different stunts. And I started thinking that I was getting a little long in the tooth to be throwing myself out of airplanes. myself out of airplanes. We couldn't do the show now anyway, the amount of travel that I did. You know, I've had emails from people who've been watching me in reruns during the pandemic, and they say, it's so strange. You've got like hugged, you know, 75 people and shaking hands with about 100, and we're only 10 minutes into the show. And I would travel to two different

locations every single week. So it would be very hard to do it in pandemic or post-pandemic times. If I do TV again, and I do love it, it's my first love. This is what the book is about. It's about my love affair with creative endeavors, but mostly with television. And I can't see not doing it again. And I can't see not continuing on with what the kind of mandate or the idea behind the Mercer Report was to celebrate the country.

And I'm not saying that there's not parts of our history or parts of our country that aren't deserving of criticism and gazing at. But we decided to focus on the positive and celebrate the country everywhere we went. And I think if I did another show, I would probably carry on in that vein. And I did read a press release that we will see you on our televisions at the end of it, like literally the end of this year, right? Because you're, tell me you're doing something on New Year's Eve. Was there a press release? Yeah.

Okay. It found its way to me. I guess I got the job oh uh so this wasn't shored up for you i've hosted new year's eve a number of times over the past couple of years it's really uh it's always a great night it's a it's a great it's one of those events that people do turn to live television on uh on new Eve. So it gets a great big audience. I've done it from Newfoundland. I've done it from Prince Edward County. I'm not sure yet where I'm doing it from this year,

but we bop around the country like only the public broadcaster can. It's always a good night. Yeah, great music too. So this is just to be clear to everybody, and I believe it's public info. I feel like when it gets to me, that means this is deemed public info. But the New Year's Eve countdown, this is going to be on, obviously, New Year's Eve from 11 p.m. to midnight. I can get a guess that's like an Eastern time because, you know, Toronto's the center of the universe.

I'm not sure how that works exactly. Well, it would be 11 p.m. to midnight everywhere. Right. So it's not live. Okay, I got you. Well, it will be live to your right i mean some of it will be live to you know live completely live but other will be fed into the time zone gotcha it's the magic of television you know when you do uh you know new year's eve in in many places you don't have quite as many time zones to deal with it's a bit

of a it's a bit of a math problem. That's right. Now, as I now look at you on the, you know, we're zooming in because somehow we miscommunicated and I didn't get you in the backyard or the basement, but that's okay. Next time. Next time. I realize I'm very underdressed. You are dressed very sharply. You got a, is that a suit you're wearing there?

What's going on? Well, from here up, no, it's a white shirt, and it's called a jacket. Okay. It's just, you know, I've always worn a jacket on television. I think it has to do with my age. Well, here I am in my T-shirt, my lost IndyCity T-shirt. Well, listen, it works for you. There's nothing wrong with wearing a T-shirt.

It's just I started wearing a jacket at day one, and then you just get stuck with it. Well, that's your brand, and this T-shirt, that's my brand is what you're telling me. There you go. It's just I started wearing a jacket at day one and then you just get stuck with it. Well, that's your brand and this t-shirt, that's my brand is what you're telling me. There you go. That's exactly right. Canada lost a great stand-up comic recently and I'm wondering if you crossed paths with Norm McDonald.

I did. Not nearly as well. I mean, many people that I worked with who wrote with me on the Mercer Report were of Norm's vintage and they're a stand-up comedian, so they worked with him very closely over the years, in the early years when Norm was touring Canada, etc. But I did cross paths with him at Canadian Screen Awards that he hosted, in fact. And then we actually, we corresponded for a while about

real estate of all things. Ridiculous. Because I guess he heard through the grapevine that I was the type of person who paid attention to these things. And he was looking for a cottage. And I was trying to convince him to buy a cottage in Newfoundland. But, you know, he was, that was a huge loss. Because, you know, he was a true comics comic. And by that I mean comics really, truly adored him.

And he, you know, there's always been comics that have played only to the comics at the back of the room. Those comics generally don't succeed because by doing that, they alienate the audience. But Norm was able to build a huge, huge audience and still play to the comics at the back of the room. And, you know, there'll never be anyone like him. And there was never anyone like him before he came along. He was a complete original. And, you know, one of those guys that obviously loved stand-up comedy. So many people in stand-up comedy, they're looking for an off-ramp.

You know, David Letterman was one of the greatest standup comics, but the minute he got the TV show, he never did stand up ever again, other than a monologue, but he never went out on the road or anything like that. There's always been those people, nothing wrong with that, but they're looking for an off ramp, but there's other standups that are true pure standups that it doesn't matter what level of success in movies or TV or whatever comes along.

There's still first and foremost standups and they always continue to return. And Norm Macdonald was one of those guys. And I know you've done your fair share of stand-up, but when you talk Norm Macdonald, you mentioned he had that great split where he was the comics comic who still made it big. Like he's in movies and he's on Saturday Night Live. But I'm thinking of another Canadian stand-up

who we lost too early, Mike McDonald, who I would consider Mike McDonald, the comics comic who never was able to parlay that into the screens, be it the big screen or the small screen. You know, comics, you know, and I can't assume to talk about Mike, but, you know, Mike had tremendous success. He was one of the first comics that played stadiums. And, you know, he did big, big tours. And I think that, you know, there's always this perception in the public that things go a certain way. Like, oh, you're a big stand-up comedian, then you'll get a sitcom.

Right. And that'll work. Well, you know, that's happened for some standups, but that that's it's not like there's a magic formula and that's how it's going to work for for everyone. And so, you know, sometimes then people perceive, oh, that that didn't happen. Then that that's a failure and i don't obviously begrudge anyone who goes to the states um but i didn't have to so i didn't and i don't perceive that as a failure but in some people's eyes they might and there's always been big stand-ups that because steve martin was a big stand-up and became a movie star they expect every big stand-up to become a movie star it doesn't work that way you know a lot of stand-ups can't act. Steve Martin can act. He had two different skills. So it's just one of those things.

I think, you know, Mike had tremendous success and a tremendous influence on so many comics. I mean, I can't even tell you how fondly that Canadian comedian stand-ups think of Mike. No, great points, Rick. Absolutely. It kind of speaks to what do we deem as this big level of fame, because Mike McDonald doesn't appear on, I don't know, Saturday Night Live

or on the big screen in a movie. We say, oh, he wasn't able to make it, but define success. You said he was headlining arena shows. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And you know know what i think if you talk to anyone in show business anyone who makes a living in show business uh consistently has had tremendous success i know

i could speak for every canadian in show business that when they you know make a living that year they feel pretty good about it and they feel that that that's a, that's a level of success. That's something to be very proud of. No, no doubt. Now I'm going to return to some, some questions from the listenership. Johnny D, when Rick used to have politicians on his show, which one did he like the least and the most? Well, I would never answer which one I would like the least. There were certainly some duds. There were certainly some that came along and they just weren't willing to put themselves out there

in any way whatsoever because they were being so cautious and that just didn't make for good television. And some of the times we didn't put that on television. But I can say that Jean Chrétien had great comic timing. So with him, not only was it a matter of landing a big fish, because you were getting the Prime Minister of Canada at the day, you were also getting a guy that had timing like Eugene Levy or something. It was freakish. He was so good at it. So that was good. But also Preston Manning, it was a very right wing, socially conservative individual. So he and I saw, you know, didn't see eye to eye on very much at all.

But I always enjoyed my time with him. And he, too, had this goofy, strange sense of humor that translated and made for good TV. So I think my job was always to I kind of got out of talking to politicians so much because I just felt a little bit uncomfortable with it as time went on. But my job was to make everyone who came on my show look good. And with politicians, I felt it was my job to humanize them to a certain extent and show them in a different light. You know, Bob Ray came on the show. He was running for the leader of the Liberal Party, ostensibly Prime Minister of Canada. I invited everyone running for the leadership, Stéphane Dion, Michael Ignatius, to come on a fishing trip with me. And none of them would do it except Bob.

And I thought, well, this is going to look weird if I just take one. But then I thought, shag it. Ignatius won't go. We'll go with Bob. We went on this fishing trip in northern Ontario. Because the most important thing was we had to catch fish. I wasn't going to have a fishing segment without catching a fish. It's like a fishing show where they don't catch a fish. Terrible. So we went to this beautiful friend of mine that has a small plane in Sudbury. And we got in this plane and we flew to these lakes.

You can't even get to unless you have a plane, you know, you'd have to be an idiot not to catch a fish there. It's just beautiful, picturesque, fall, the leaves are changing, just gorgeous Northern Ontario landscape, and couldn't get a fish, couldn't get a fish. And when it was over, the interview was great, the scenics were great, but we never got a fish. I knew that's all anyone would talk about, how these two idiots went up there and they couldn't get a fish. And so it was suggested that we end the segment by getting naked and jumping in the lake. And this is a man who's running for the leadership of the Liberal Party. And he thought about it for about 30 seconds and said, okay, let's go.

And we dropped pants and took off all our clothes and jumped in this lake in the fall. But that spoke to the character of the man and the type of person he is in a way that a thousand interviews with journalists probably never would. And it will probably be in Bob Ray's obituary, which, please, God, won't have to be written for a very long time. But it will be there because it was significant. And it told Canadians something very important about him. I mean, I don't know what it is, but I think it was positive. No, that was one of the most referenced moments when I opened up questions for Rick Mercer. And it's funny, really quick aside is that you mentioned becoming leader of the Liberal Party. That used to mean becoming prime minister at some point, like a slam dunk somehow.

But you did mention two names, Michael Ignatieff and Stéphane Dion, who became leader of the Liberal Party and never became prime minister. So it seems like they broke that streak. And then Bob was interim leader, and they did very, very well as Bob's interim leader. But, you know, this is politics. You know, Bob couldn't beat Michael Ignatieff. And Michael Ignatieff shouldn't have won. He was a terrible politician.

That's not his fault. He thought he would be a good one. Nagy shouldn't have won. He was a terrible politician. That's not his fault. He thought he would be a good one. Enough people thought he would be because he's an intellectual, has written a lot of books, and has traveled all over the world. But he was away from Canada for too long. They just gambled on the wrong horse. Had Bob won at that point, he very much, I think, would have become prime minister. Then when Bob gave it a second shot, he was up against Justin Trudeau. And that was a horse that you couldn't beat at the time. Politics is like that. You have to be in the right place at the right time.

Bob's had a lot of success. He quite often was in the right place, but when it came to the big job, not so much. That's just politics. It's just politics that Ontario, the vast majority of Ontarians, are still angry about Bob Ray's NDP leadership provincially. So as you know, you're not electing a liberal party, you're not electing a liberal prime minister without winning Ontario. That was certainly some baggage that Bob had going in, there's no doubt about it.

But the whole thing that took Bob down, Ray days, seems quite quaint in the rearview mirror. It seems like, well, that actually seemed quite sensible, actually. It seemed fair and sensible. At the time, of course, they did a masterful job of selling it as something disastrous. But I'm not here to defend Bob Ray by any stretch. I just used him as an example of a politician who came on the show. No, and he was fantastic. But you mentioned Jean Chrétien, too.

And, of course, one of the moments everybody talks about with Rick Mercer is going to Harvey's with Jean Chrétien. Well, that was something that you just wouldn't see. It was, well, you can imagine in the prime minister's office, they thought we had completely taken leave of our census. I was a very young person and I wanted Kretchen on the show. That would be a big deal in and of itself. But I wasn't asking for five minutes in his office

or two minutes in the hallway outside his office. I wanted him to travel to me, to the outirts of ottawa to a harvey's and spend a substantial amount of time to pull off what it is that we wanted to pull off and he went for it and uh it turned out to be a great segment but just the audacity was just no one had seen like a prime minister goofing around at a harvey's restaurant right and uh it was, you know, it was masterful on his, from his point of view, in terms of his comic timing, it really was tremendous. But also, it was just, just so strange to see. It was to talk about a guy putting his, putting his, you know, letting his hair down. But you know, he very much was that little guy from Schoeningen. I mean, it was masterful to

watch him work. You know, he walked into the restaurant, no one knew we were coming. And this family, they just stared at him like they couldn't believe it. And he came over and he was shaking their hands and shaking their hands. And then he said to the little guy who was like 11 years old, he said, Do you know who I am? And he's and the kid said, Dad, mom and dad just told me you're the prime minister. He said, That's right. And then he reaches down and took one of the kids onion rings, popped it in his mouth and walked away and i was like that kid is gonna vote liberal for the rest of his life right yeah and uh we had to fight to get cretchen out of the kitchen because there was a lot of new canadians working in the kitchen and he was in

the back wanted to know where they were from how they were enjoying canada how they were being treated at Harvey's. It was actually masterful to watch him work the room, but we had to drag him out, of course, because we had a job to do. Sure. Everybody was in it For miles around Out at the speedway

Some kind of heavy estate Well, I ain't no movie star But I can get behind anything Yeah, I can get behind anything Yeah, I can get behind anything Get it out, get it all out So Rick Mercer's in Toronto, and here we are on Zoom. I totally thought he was in Newfoundland. Regardless, it's an amazing convo. Thank you, Rick, so much. If Rick were here, he would not be leaving empty-handed. I'd have a wireless speaker for him from Moneris. The Yes, We Are

Open podcast hosted by FOTM Al Grego would be streaming from it often. He interviews small Canadian businesses and then he tells the story of their origin, their struggles and their future outlook. If you're a small business owner or entrepreneur like myself, you'll find the podcast both helpful and motivational. Yes, We Are Open is available wherever you get your podcasts. Please subscribe at yesweareopenpodcast.com. Speaking of great podcasts, the CEO Edge podcast from McKay CEO Forums is inspiring fireside chats with CEOs and other executives. Nancy McKade is a great job hosting that show. I urge everybody to subscribe

and download the CEO Edge podcast. If you're hungry, man, Rick, I've got some great goods for you. Should you be here? I have a meat lasagna for you or a vegetarian if that's your preference. But a fantastic lasagna from Palma Pasta. Go to palmapasta.com. I have a Toronto Mike sticker for you from stickeru.com. I urge everybody to go to stickeru.com to buy your stickers and decals and badges and such. Fantastic quality, great business. There's a $75 virtual gift card for you

from chefdrop.ca and listeners can take advantage of a fantastic deal. You can buy one, get one 50% off if you use the promo code FOTMBOGO. Again, go to chefdrop.ca. Check out the amazing chefs and restaurants that are participating

in these meal kits and do yourself a favor and check it out. I highly recommend Uncle Ray's Food and Liquor if you like the southern US inspired menus or there's a Momofuku Noodle Bar or

heck, try out Union Chicken chicken that's the best fried chicken sandwiches you're going to find in this city mike majeski from remax majeski group he serves the gta if you're looking to buy and or sell in the next six months reach out to him you can follow him on instagram right now you'll you'll love the outlandish videos. Majeski Group Homes is his handle on Instagram. Ridley Funeral Home. They've been serving this community since 1921. Go to Ridley

Funeral Home dot com. If you have any questions at all regarding this sensitive nature, you can speak with the good people there about anything and everything. They're there to help. FOTM Brad Jones has been a fantastic supporter of this program. And last but not least, Great Lakes Brewery.

Fresh craft beer brewed right here in southern Etobicoke. I'd have some for Rick. But I urge everybody in the GTA to go to order online. You can get your Great Lakes delivered to you free of charge. Go to greatlakesbrewery.com and now back to Rick. Another memorable

moment. Ken Coward, he's one of many people who brought this up, but Ken Coward wrote, ask Rick about the time he and Rick Hansen went bungee jumping. I'll never forget Rick Hansen yelling, I can't feel my legs. Yeah.

One of my absolute favorite segments of all time because I had everything that I could consider would make up a great segment. It had beautiful scenery. And I mean, beautiful British Columbia, so beautiful. It's like a punch in the face. A great Canadian, Rick Hansen, and action. And we had bungee jumping and not just bungee jumping, but the fact that Rick Hansen is a paraplegic in a wheelchair, you know,

we had it all going on and he turned out to be such a tremendous guest. And he was a bit of a hero of mine when I was a kid. I did a school project on him and stuff. And sometimes you don't want to meet your heroes, but he was fantastic. But more importantly, I asked him to do this, this bungee jump thing. And he was happy to do the show. But he started making noise like he wasn't going to go bungee jumping at all. And I looked into it and i said

you know there doesn't seem to be any real reason why someone who's in the wheelchair paraplegic can't bungee jump i guess you got to check with your doctor and he's like it's not bad i just don't i just don't really want to do it and it turns out he's terrified of heights he doesn't like heights which is a real serious thing like my brother wouldn't bungee jump for a million dollars right i just know that about him. But as luck would have it that night, a friend of Rick Hansen's that Rick has known his entire life went to his house and they were having a few pops and Hansen happened to tell his friend,

he said, you know, Mercer wants me to go bungee jumping on his show. And I'm not doing that. And his friend said, yeah, of course you can't do that. You're in a wheelchair. Well, there's Rick Hansen spent his entire life, you know, his entire life showing that he can do anything that an able bodied person could do. And there's an old buddy of his saying, you can't do that you're in a wheelchair. So he had no choice. So he got me on the phone and said, I'll do it. But it was a real struggle for him. Let me tell you, he didn't. I mean, I didn't want to go off either. But he didn't want not want to go off the edge of that bridge. In fact, I didn't want to go off either, but he did not want to go off the edge of that bridge. In fact, I pushed him off the bridge, which was a great day for me, pushing your hero off a bridge.

But yeah, once he was down there, he delivered that famous line, I can't feel my legs. Brilliant. What a great way to end a perfect piece. And what a great segue to Al Grego's question for you, Rick. Rick Mercer seemed so fearless on his show. He was up for anything, skydiving, bungee jumping, Rick. Rick Mercer seems so fearless on his show. He was up for anything. Skydiving, bungee jumping, etc. I'd like to know if there was anything that he was asked to do that made him second guess whether or not he could do it.

Oh, yeah. One of the things I was always good at was heights. I knew because of my brother, I mentioned he doesn't like heights. I knew that for a big portion of the population, they have a real problem with heights. So if they see someone doing something that involves heights, they think, my God, that person is so brave. They're up for anything. I

could never do that because they feel they could never do it. So it wasn't that I was up for anything. I jumped out of an airplane, but I was tied to a soldier, you know, a very highly trained soldier. So really anyone could do it. A bag of milk could do it, but it always frightened people. But there were things I was afraid to do. And there were things I never did. You know, there's people in Canada, their hobby is or their sport is they stand on the back of horses and the horses like do obstacle courses and they like stand there and every year these people would invite me and i would say no i'm sorry i can't and after four

five six years of turning them down they started getting insulted like why won't you do this you jumped out of a plane and i was like well i'm sorry if you jump out of a plane and you're tied to a soldier nothing bad is going to happen and but if i'm standing on the back of a horse i'd very well end up as a quadriplegic and i'm standing on the back of a horse i very well end up as a quadriplegic and i'm not doing that and plus horses make me nervous and my balance is not that good so there were things that i certainly wasn't up for and there were times when i got in over my head i did this thing called the train of death and that's three cars chained together and the first car has an engine, no brakes.

The second car has no engine, no brakes. The third car has brakes. I was in the back of the last car. So these three cars are racing around a track. And it's like when you're a kid and you're doing skating, right? Whip it, right? And I had to apply the brakes. I didn't know what I was doing.

And halfway through our practice run, I really thought I was going to die or I was going to be in a terrible, terrible car crash. And I was never so afraid. And the only thing that went through my mind was, I'm going to be killed. And people are going to go, well, that's terrible. He died. How did he die?

And they would say he was doing the train of death and then they would laugh like my death would be a punchline because well i guess it's his own fault he signed up for something called the train of death so uh i started backing off on things that i thought could have fatal consequences well that would win you a darwin award i believe well exactly you don't want your death to be a punchline. Right. You know, I was in situations like, you know, going up with the snowbirds. And originally people said, aren't you afraid? And I thought, well, it comes to an end, you know, that'll be a great Canadian way to go. But not the train of death. I mean, that's

just too absurd. There's a listener who goes by the handle Sex Ducks and Rock and Roll. Yes. I mean, that's just too absurd. There's a listener who goes by the handle sex ducks and rock and roll. Yes. I should find out what that's about, but he wants to know, and this will maybe tie in with things you might not want to do, if you will, but let's hear what you say about it. He wants to know when you'll run for prime minister. Well, you know, I've always been fascinated by politics. That's what got me into this business in many ways.

I love comedy and I love politics. I figured out a way to merge them. And I think, you know, politics is my sport. You know, it's my baseball. And I think anyone who's a crazy baseball fan, especially say someone who's a columnist or writes about baseball, they always have this, you know,

this fantasy that someone's going to come along and say, okay, we've had enough. You come on and you pitch, or you be general manager of the Blue Jays. You try to pull us out of this slump, and you go, finally, I will work my magic. So I guess I always had that fantasy in the back of my mind, but I will say I'm less interested now

in being in politics than I ever was in my entire life. But I will also say that I think, when you caught me as a young man, I would have said, politics than I ever was in my entire life. But I will also say that I think, you know, when you caught me as a young man, I would have said, you know, we need to get rid of all these old guys and get some young people in there. And now I think, you know, there's too many people who have never done anything else. They've only ever worked in politics. It would be good to get some people who have real life experience in there. But the short answer is not going to happen. Oh, because there are... Near or distant future.

There are, you know, a couple of television stars, if you will, who are, you know, in Trudeau's cabinet right now. I mean, the newest being... Oh, I think the Canada AM cabinet. Yeah, Sean. Yeah, Reagan. And yeah, Marcy Ian here just got named. And, you know, Rick Mercer for MP, you would dominate, I think.

That's very kind of you to say. But, you know, I'd much prefer to write books and do creative things. You know, I used to run for student council in high school, but after I would get elected, I kind of lost interest. I was interested in the campaign and the speeches and the putting up the posters and the organizing. Not so much in the planning the dance part. Right.

Yeah. Before I get to KCR's question, do you think maybe, and this will be the spec, you mentioned Canada AM. Well, Canada AM is no more, but they have, of course, Your Morning, which replaced it. And Ben Mulroney recently left the airwaves on Your Morning, the CTV show. Do you think Ben Mulroney ends up in politics like his father? He's never, ever indicated that he has any interest in that. But, you know, I think a lot of people who go into politics don't necessarily have an interest in it until for some reason they're driven to do it. Um, obviously he would have, you know, he, he understands it. He knows people who understands

it, but he's never, uh, you know, I know him a little bit, not that much, but, uh, he's always wanted to do what it is that he says he's going to do, which is, um, you know, try his hand at, uh, producing. So, uh, I'll take him at his word. That's what I think he's going to do what it is that he says he's going to do, which is, you know, try his hand at producing. So I'll take him at his word. That's what I think he's going to do. Andy Curran would like to know, before I get to KCR, Andy Curran, great musician, by the way, says, I'd like to know if Rick has any fond memories of the episode he did with Neil Peart. Oh, of course. And if anyone out there is a drummer they know exactly why because uh you know i was a failed drummer i i took drum lessons when i was a kid and then you know i bashed around on a trap

kid in the garage but i realized very quickly i was never good enough and i wouldn't that wouldn't be a part of my life but uh you know i love the drums and we would sit around and listen to rush records for neil and uh you know he's arguably one of the greatest drummers in the world. Also famously, I wouldn't say reclusive at the time, but reticent to do any interviews of any kind or meet and greets. And, you know, he was a very complicated figure. He had a really tragic life. You know, he just had a real string of bad luck, a lot of loss in his life. And while he wanted to continue being a professional musician, I don't think he had much time for, you know, the other side of it, the meet and greets and the media and all that stuff.

So we just threw it out there that he would come on the show. And it turned out he was a fan of the show. And he said yes. And it was, i mean my god i played drums with neil peart he played his big kid i played my little kid he was a tremendous fellow um we got on like a house on fire and uh the interview traveled in ways that most of my interviews if not any of them did you know we would get emails from brazil we would get emails from all over the world because there's real fascination with Neil.

But he just did so few interviews. He only did stuff he was interested in. So it was great. Also, it showed a real sense of humor. And I think people just perceived that there was so much loss in his life that he just must be a very tragic, sad figure. And I'm sure he had a spill of sadness.

But he revealed himself to be a really funny guy who was self-deprecating and a great interview. And I don't think people expected that. So it has nothing to do with me, but that interview constantly is getting played on YouTube or wherever because of people who really love Neil Peart and love Rush, for sure. And now that Andy Curran, who asked that question, he's a good FOTM. I just want to shout out his band, Coney Hatch. He's a founding member of Coney Hatch. Okay.

KCR, he just wants you to speak, and you can handle this as you wish here, but he wants you to speak about Doug Ford, Aaron O'Toole, and the Conservatives. I think he misses those epic rants that we got accustomed to. Yeah, I mean, you know, that's a little open-ended. That's a little open-ended. But, you know, Aaron O'Toole,

I guess he's going to go, I would think. You know, this was the last election. I don't think the Tories had a hope in hell. I think this election had the liberals, had the conservatives, sorry, put up a leader that was palatable to the country in any way, shape or form, then Trudeau could have gone down. So I think that the conservatives, they know this,

and I think he's going to have a hard time hanging on to his job but you know he's got a there's a real existential crisis happening inside of the Conservative Party this happens in parties sometimes it wasn't that long ago that Liberals were in third place but you have such a divide among rural and urban

Canadians inside the Conservative Party now that it's hard to form a national government when you have that kind of divide. And they've got some work cut out for them. I don't see, I can't think of anyone who could make it work as leader of the Conservatives right now.

I think they might get lucky and Trudeau might defeat himself if he sticks around and then Porky Pig could get elected. But I think right now, I don't see that formidable leader on the horizon. And there's just, they get bogged down. And like every time you turn around, I mean, they're just out there. It's always the same, right?

And women's right to choose and, you know, gays or whatever. It's always the guns. It's always the same thing that takes them down. It's what I understand. It's always the same thing that takes them down. But I understand. It's a crisis inside the party. Which sounds familiar because we hear about the same thing, similar thing happening to the Republican

Party south of the border. Sure. And Doug Ford, of course, has no opposition, really. I mean, you have an NDP leader who's been around for as long as I seem to remember in my life. And has the aforementioned Bob Ray baggage anyway, right? Which I feel like that Bob Ray baggage we referenced with him becoming liberal leader exists to haunt Andy Horta.

And it is one of those curses that you have to realize. I mean, the vast majority of voters probably have no real memory of that at all. They just know. They've been told, don't ever do that. So they've got their work cut out for them. But I would argue that Doug Ford has no credible opposition, either from the liberals or the NDP. And that's unfortunate. I don't say that because I'm a fan of either of those two parties, but I believe in a strong opposition. It keeps the government honest.

And, you know, again, I think a credible candidate could cause real trouble for Doug Ford, but I don't see any real trouble on his horizon. Nature, and that is the name of this particular person, Nature asks, did he ever watch an episode of Schitt's Creek? Oh, sure. Sure. Tons of them. Yeah, tons of them.

Because I was traveling a lot and they were on the plane too. So it was a real pleasure to be able to watch them on the plane. You know, Dan is obviously, you know, incredibly bright guy who created this show that just captured the imagination

of the entire world, but certainly America. And, you know, incredibly bright guy who created the show that just captured the imagination of the entire world, but certainly America. And, you know, Catherine and Eugene are Canadian comic royalty for a very good reason. I mean, these are, these are two of the most loved,

beloved Canadians in show business by a long shot. So yeah, absolutely. And Emily Hampshire, I worked with on made in Canada and, and she was also great from the show. Yeah, absolutely. And Emily Hampshire, I worked with on Made in Canada and she was also great on the show. Absolutely. Varaj Dave says, would you consider doing a documentary series for CBC Gem? Sure. I don't know what, you know, I've always thought of doing docs at some point. I don't know what that documentary would be about.

And then once I figure that out, maybe I'd go out and figure out, I mean, the way TV works is then you go out and try to get a broadcaster and certainly they would be on the list. Well, I just watched the first episode of this new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

And it opens with basically Larry David is pitching a show to Netflix. And I imagine, you know, you have this idea for a show you have, you know, you have these certain places you get you have, you know, you have these certain places you get to because you're Rick Mercer, they'll take your call, and you can pitch them. This is how I envision it anyways. And yeah, that's, that's exactly how it would work.

And yeah, I hope that people would still take my call. I certainly remember when they wouldn't. So all right, we'll see. I'm pretty sure they'll sure they'll take your call now. That's for sure. David McPherson, who's my next guest, because he just wrote a great book about Massey Hall, the history of Massey Hall. Ah, yes. I just went to order that online yesterday because I noticed that, well, I saw the book and that Jan Arden did the intro. Right. Yes, exactly. Yeah. did the intro. Right, yes, exactly. I thought you were in Newfoundland. So he is nearby. I think he's in Waterloo.

But anyways, David McPherson's making the trek to my home studio here. And he's got the obvious question, and I'm interested to hear you comment on this. He wants to know if you ever performed at Massey Hall. I didn't play Massey. I've played some big rooms in Toronto, but I never played

Massey Hall. I don't really have any... I played Massey Hall. There's been some big comedy shows in Toronto, but no, I never played Massey. Never. I just want to credit Paul Hunter. He wanted you to speak about the Bob Ray getting naked on your show.

And he wanted you to chat about how you convinced Bob Ray to do so. But Paul, thank you for that question. We did talk about Bob Ray getting naked in the show. It's because he didn't catch a fish. That's right. Brian wants to know everything you can tell him about your best friend, Jan Arden. You just mentioned Jan. And yeah, you're tight with Jan Arden, who, by the way, is hilarious.

So if Jan's listening, I'd love to get you on Toronto Mic. I think you're very funny. And just for the FOTMs, I believe, and I'm not sure this is public, but I'm going to say it anyway, that Jan Arden is actually going to appear in a movie directed by the great FOTM, Stu Stone. So I believe that's going to happen in Winnipeg in November. But what can you tell us about Jan Erden? Well, she's a good friend of mine. I met her professionally.

When we would do the TV show, there was no net. We'd go out and do to a place. We're going to get a segment, and we needed that segment. Otherwise, we'd have nothing to put on TV. And I can't remember what the circumstances were, but I was in Calgary and whatever it was we had planned just fell apart. And so we were desperate. We thought, well, I'll do like a guide to Calgary, like a mercy report guide to Calgary.

But I, I thought, well, who the hell am I to be telling people what to do in Calgary? Like I have no voice of authority. I'm not from here. We'll have to get someone to show me around. And I knew Jan was funny from interviews and I'd never met her. Maybe we'd crossed paths and said hello at some thing or something. And I called her up and I said, would you do this? And she said, yeah, okay, I can do that. Like, when do you want to do it? Like, I'll get my calendar out. And I said, oh, like today. She was like, my God, what do you mean today?

And I was like, I need it today. And then she was like, okay, where are you? And I gave her the address. She said, hang on. And like literally 20 minutes later, she pulls in in her car. She's like, okay, let's do it. She said, on the way over, I thought we could go to the zoo. We could go to Calgary, the Calgary Olympic Park and go in there and goof around. And I was like, okay, let's calm down. I've been doing this show a long time. You just don't show up at a zoo

or Calgary Olympic Park and say, let us in. You know, you need legwork. You got to call in advance. There's always proposals. There's insurance. There's a million things. She said, no, it'll be fine. And everywhere we went, they were like, oh, Jen, they opened the door. And next thing you know, we were doing the skeleton. We were doing the bobsled. We were like, you know, spraying water in a hippo's mouth and painting with elephants. It was just a phenomenal piece. And all we did was laugh the entire time.

She just made me laugh the entire time. So she saved my bacon. And she turned out to be a great guest. And she eventually became a regular on a show that fundamentally did not have regulars. We just didn't accept Jan. She was the exception. And then we kind of stumbled on that first segment that people liked to see me encourage Jan to do things that terrified her. And so that became a bit of a running gag. And it worked. And people liked it. And we always

enjoy each other's company. And she's a great person. She loves animals. She likes animals bit of a running gag and uh and it worked and people liked it and we always we always enjoy each other's company and she's a great person she loves animals she likes animals more than people and she likes people she's fantastic and it's enough and uh having said all that she's also a heck of a musician as well believe it oh my gosh you know she she breaks my heart and i always tease her about that she's so funny and you see her in concert. It's like nothing else. She has everyone like dying, laughing, like tremendous storytelling for 10 minutes

and then she sings a sad song and she has them dying, laughing again and then she does an even sadder song and that's the way the night goes and it works. She's tremendous. Amazing. Now, a few people

had similar sentimented questions here, so I'll just do a couple to cover it. But of course, your book is called Talking to Canadians, and people are referencing Talking to Americans. And Kevin, for example, says that you are one of the best ever people

to be at the CBC. That's what Kevin says. He says... That's very kind. Yeah, and that's a tall order. A lot of great people have been at the CBC. That's what Kevin says. He says... That's very kind. Yeah, and that's a tall order. A lot of great people have been at the CBC. Would you do a Talking to Americans series? Talking to Americans series.

And he's saying specifically at Trump rallies. And Dave Carson also chimed in to say he would love to see Rick cover a Trump rally. I think the whole idea that Rick Mercer covers a Donald Trump rally is just something that people would absolutely love to see. Well, that's very kind of him saying, I don't know if I could handle going to a Trump rally. I guess professionally I could. Talking to Americans was so big and the special was so big and the numbers were so big that

everyone wanted me to do another one. And I decided not to do another one because I thought it, it, I was at risk of it becoming what I did and I didn't want to just do that. So I stopped. It's hard to stop something when it's working, you know, uh, hard to walk away from the show just cause you think it's time and no one else does. But, but I did it. And, uh And every time there was a change in leadership at the CBC, and it happened probably six or seven times, I would get a call from them. They'd say, I have an idea, talking to Americans too.

And I would politely decline. And I don't think it would work the same way that it did back in those days. Those days were pre-YouTube, believe it or not. And I had a lot of fun. In the book, I talk a lot about talking to Americans, because there's really fun backstage stories, I think. And I talk about the Genesis because it was a total fluke. And, you know, we ended up shooting with governors, Mike Huckabee, who ran for president, thought that our parliament building was melting because it was made out of ice. We had George W. Bush think that Canada's leader was named Poutine. I mean, there's a lot of stories there. So I talk about that a lot in

the book. But short answer is, I don't see that on the horizon by any stretch. The Magic 8-Ball says, unlikely. Prognosis, unlikely. Okay, Social Animals Podcast, the handle I'm sure is also the name of this gentleman's podcast, says, what was your favorite question to ask Americans? I was the most incredulous when I was at Mount Rushmore and I told people that a Canadian mining company had the rights to mine inside the heads of the presidents. And they discovered plutonium and were planning on going ahead.

And should they be required to drill through the back of the heads? Because it would be cheaper to go through the foreheads. And most people said we should make the Canadians drill into the back of the presidents' heads. But no one said, no, this is a national monument. These are our presidents. You know, you can't drill into their heads. Who sold the mining rights to Mount Rushmore? No, they were just all over the almighty buck.

But my personal favorite was when I told Americans that we were considering legalizing insulin. And that was just a personal favorite for me, I think, because my sister's diabetic and I grew up around insulin vials all my life. I just thought that, and the fact that insulin was a Canadian creation, I just thought it was the height of lunacy that people could believe that in some countries insulin was illegal. But it went on and on, putting the elderly on ice flows, the Toronto polar bear hunts. It just went on and on. We convinced people that we had a national park called Joe Clark's Hole,

and we were now offering bilingual tours of Joe Clark's hole. I mean, it just went on and on. It was just, it was a great gig. It's all in the book. It's all in the book. Do you have any memories of sitting down with a young man named Troy Birch talking about beer? When did I talk to Troy about beer? Now, okay, so he was interviewing you, I think it was called Taps, T-A-P-S. Okay.

Anyway, he now works at Great Lakes Brewery, which is not too far from where I sit right now here in southwest Toronto. And Troy sent me a picture of you two chatting, and he has these fond memories of interviewing you. So firstly, I just want to say hello to Troy Birch, who's a big fan of yours. Hello, Troy. And I must have really been BSing because while I enjoy a glass of beer

or a bottle of beer, although I've never been able to say bottle properly, I'm not one of those guys that can wax on about beer by any stretch. So I bet I changed the subject a lot. I bet he asked me like, do you like the hoppy taste? And I'd be like, well,

I'll tell you one thing about the Primus, you're probably unaware of. Right. Which is probably all he wanted you to do anyways. So shout out to Troy Birch. Hey, Jake Gold. You ever heard of a guy named Jake Gold? Of course. You know, management of the Tragically Hip. Absolutely. Right. And is currently the management of the Tragically Hip. And Jake and I go way back. When we did Made in Canada, the Tragically Hip provided the theme song for Made in Canada graciously. And Jake was the management at the time. I can't imagine Jake was thrilled with the

deal because they literally gave it to me. I mean, they didn't give it to me, but the money was so low because we didn't have any money. Not only did they give me the theme song, they also allowed me to use any Tragically Hip song I ever wanted, written, produced, or yet to be produced, which I did. So in that universe of Made in Canada, if the radio was ever on in the car, in that universe, it was only Tragically Hip music. And so I was a friend of the bands. The bands were friends of mine and of course, Jake's. And Jake's been a great supporter of mine over the years and

he's a great guy. And he's involved, of course, in Road Apples, which is this incredible release of previously on-air Tragically Hip music. Road Apples was the name of, of course, the second full-length LP, but this is called Saskadelphia.

Saskadelphia, sorry, yes. And Saskadelphia, so this is tremendous, unheard, tragically hit music. And I'm in the video for one of the songs with Jay Baronshaw, and I got this call, and they were like, we found these tapes, these tragically hit songs that no one's ever heard before. Will you be in this video? And I said, yes, immediately.

But I kind of in the back of my mind was thinking, you know, if these tapes have never been heard, there's probably a reason. Like they were probably, you know, deemed not good enough, but no, these tapes were lost and it's an incredible album. It's like a great, great hip album. And Jake, of course, made all that happen. So that's fantastic. Yeah. Well, so Jake, well, firstly, another tie into Jake jake of course made all that happen so that's fantastic yeah well so jake well firstly another tie-in to jake gold of course is we opened up by talking about ken tizzard oh yeah and ken of course uh is in the watchman and yeah uh jake did used to used to also manage

uh the watchman as well so uh jake's a good effort and ken tizzard there's actually a picture of ken tizzard in the book because ken tizzard and i were in the same we're in the same uh theater program and we created this this show we were all students of this woman named lois brown and so many people involved in that show ken was in the band what you know ken just was just inducted into the western canadian music hall of Fame. So many people that were in this small group were heavily influenced by this educator, Lois Brown, went on to have creative lives. You know, Andrew Young constantly went on to become one of the most successful TV hosts

doing Canada's Worst Driver, The Tall Ship Chronicles, et cetera. You know, Don Ellis, my buddy, does sound design for Stratford Theatre. Like, we were all heavily influenced by this educator and Ken was one of them. But those were pretty crazy times, let me tell you. Well, I still listen to The Watchmen.

Like I still, I mean, I love The Hip, I love The Watchmen. So Jake Gold was involved and he was also involved, I think maybe now or then, maybe both, but The Pursuit of Happiness as well while we're covering these big events. Not that long ago because I did an event with the pursuit of happiness a couple of years ago. Is that Jake? You think that's Jake? Is he in Edmonton?

No, I don't know who this person is. This is one of those stupid calls. Oh, no. They're threatening to arrest me. Tell them you're almost done, but you still have a… No, I just hung up. Okay, so Jake Gold's question, of course. He wanted me to

ask you about being in that Tragically Hip video, which you just spoke about, but he has a second question. Could you talk about kissing Emily Hampshire in episode one of Made in Canada? Okay, first the Tragically Hip pic. Talk about a phone call that you never think will happen. I mean, it was two years after, you know, Gord Downie tragically hit pick. Talk about a phone call that you never think will happen.

I mean, it was two years after, you know, Gord Downie tragically passed away. You know, on the list of things that could possibly happen in your life, you're not going to get a call from Jake asking, would you like to be in a tragically hit video? So it was just, it was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.

Nevermind that Jay Baronshaw and his wife were in it as well. Kissing Emily Hampshire. Yes, she played the very first episode of Made in Canada. Emily Hampshire played my boss's daughter and we're making out on the boardroom table. It was that kind of show. And she was very kind and gentle with me because I was, I didn't really know what I was doing when it came to kissing the young women, but she was very, very good. And she's a, she's a good friend and super talented. All right.

And this is also an interesting segue because the next question comes from Gord. I was actually lucky enough to meet Gord and his husband, Tom, when they came to the most recent two Toronto Mike listener experiences. Gord says, not sure where Rick went in the book, but he has generally been pretty low key on his homosexuality. Curious about how he decided to thread that needle. I don't think I ever threaded a needle. You know, my joke used to be how many times you have to come out in this country

because I would get emails and say, like, why don't you come out? And I'd say, please see attached the cover of Extra magazine from five years ago. Right. You know, it was just, you know, it didn't come up a lot on the show unless I was making a joke about my personal life. And I was never very good at making jokes about my personal life, mostly because I'm not that type of person. You're a private guy. I talk about it in the book.

anti-bullying initiatives when I was on the show and I talked about the need for visible individuals, you know, to be out and gay because, and I wrote about this in a previous book, that, you know, when I was in the closet, and I was like 15 years old, and I was starting out in comedy with Andrew Younghusband, I can remember clearly being out in front of Andrew's house and he points at a

house across the street. And he said, you know, who lives there? I said, who? And he said, Carl Wells. Carl Wells was the weather guy. And he was a superstar, right? He'd go to the old age homes, he'd go, you know, he'd go out of the fishing boat, he'd go everywhere, right? Carl, the weather guy was everywhere. Big star. He said, Carl Wells lived there. And of course, I was obsessed with anyone on television. I was like, Carl Wells lives across the street from you? And he goes, yeah, he lives over there with his husband. You know, mom and dad had them over one time for drinks. I didn't know Carl Wells was gay. And that was such a huge game changer for me, because I thought, Carl Wells, huge star in Newfoundland, works on television. You could be gay. Plus,

he's here in the suburbs with his husband, and he's having drinks across the street with Mr. and Mrs. Younghusband. It just seemed to me that it told me everything will be okay. You will be able to figure this out as you move forward. At the time, I didn't have a clue how, but I just thought if Carl can do it, I can do it. So I thought it was important that as a person who was on television, that you be visible in the sense that someone could say, you know, that guy's got that show, he's gay. And just why it's important that we have hockey players or police officers or teachers or anything like that. I think that's important. Well said. Mohit says, how many camera people were injured

while filming his rants over the years? In a little happy face. Well, there was only ever two real camera operators for the rants. While I was with 22 Minutes, it was Peter Sutherland. And while I was with the Mercer Report, it was Donald Spence.

Two of the greatest camera operators in the country. And I just don't say that. They are, I mean, okay, for the tragically hip final concert, Don Spence, who did all those rants, he was Gord's close-up camera. So think, when you're putting a show like that together, that important,

that's who you call to be Gord's close-up. But they all hurt themselves occasionally because they had to go backwards right so they're going backwards and quite often it was icy so i can't tell you how many times like suddenly the feet would go out and like the camera would just go up like that and then you'd hear them go as they landed flat on their back protecting the camera at all costs, of course, over their own heads. So they did that. A couple of times I remember Pete hooking himself on a nail as he's going around a corner. It wasn't without danger, but, you know, all their digits were in place and they did survive. But generally, it was only two camera operators.

There were a couple of other people who filled in along the way who were also great, but the vast, vast majority, like 98% were done by those two people. All right, while you're thinking about the rants, Rob wants to know, were they completely scripted or did you have a central idea and just riff off of that? He says they were brilliant. No, they were always 100% scripted. In fact, my process was I would write everything about the subject matter.

But the thing was, it had to be under a minute 30. And the good ones were a minute 10. And so I would just write everything. And then I would just keep distilling it, distilling it, distilling it, almost like putting a cow on the stove until you get just one cup of gravy. And that's the way I kind of thought of it. And then once I got it to that place, then I would run it and run it and run it and run it. And I would always do it the night before.

And then the next morning, I would get up and run it and run it. And it was never, it was never, I never deviated. I mean, I made changes in the field sometimes, but I didn't improv. Also, I had a real responsibility to do everything in my power to make sure I knew the words as well as possible because Don or Peter from 22, but Don would carrying, you know, 45 pound camera and walking backwards under really difficult circumstances, you know, because we were shooting in live alleys. And so trucks would back up, beep, beep, beep, we'd have to cut, you know, some unfortunate individual who lived in the alley might show up and start talking to me in the middle, we'd have to cut. So there was enough extraneous things that could ruin a take. And it was physically really hard work for Don. And so

I felt terrible when I was the reason. And I often was because that's the nature of performance. But I always felt bad if it was me reaching for a word that made them do a second take. Well, Canada Kev wants to know if you ever got dizzy tilting your head from side to side doing those rants in Graffiti Alley. I didn't tilt my head. Don tilted it. Right, that's right. I mean, I might have tilted once or twice, but never to the point of dizziness. No.

I don't actually understand the question, but I'm going to just ask it as is because it's safe enough. I don't know why it's being asked, but Paul wants to know if you watch Hudson and Rex. Well, Hudson and Rex, he's asking that question because Hudson and Rex is shot in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Oh, okay. It's a wildly successful show. I mean, I'm not the demographic, but I have a friend who has twin nine-year-old boys and it's their absolute favorite show. So there's a very big audience. It's sold all over the world. It's a tremendous success.

I'm missing out. And it's created a lot of jobs in Newfoundland. But that's why I was asking, because I think Hudson is the guy and Rex is the dog. Right. Sort of like your, I mentioned your doppelganger, Tom Hanks. He had Turner and Hooch. Yes.

There's been a few. There's been a few. Hobo didn't have a sidekick, no. Okay. Now I understand. Okay. Hudson and Rex. Oh, oh. hobo didn't have a sidekick no um okay now i understand okay hudson rex uh oh oh is it paul still maybe i'm not sure to give attribute this to but uh this person mentions that you went tobogganing with getty lee so you you've been collecting more than one member of rush along the way all three members of rush were on the show and uh Geddy Lee, who, by the way, still a diehard Jays fan. You'll see him at many a Blue Jays home game.

He's hard to miss. Well, he scores the games. I don't know if you've ever scored a baseball game, but that's pretty old school. Yeah, he came on and did what we call a celebrity tip on the show. And the celebrity tips, I would get like an iconic canadian to teach canadians something that everyone should know i pierre burton taught us how to roll a joint and uh margaret atwood taught canadians how to stop a puck and getty lee did a segment on toboggan safety right or how to toboggan although he didn't wear a helmet because I wasn't going to allow that because we needed to show the locks flowing in the wind.

Right, right. Love it. YYZ, oh, actually he prefers YYZ for some reason. Speaking of Rush, actually, because YYZ, of course, is a Rush song. YYZ Gord wants to know, he would be interested in what news story or news event that you've missed the opportunity to rant about by not having a weekly outlet oh you know when you know i started looking on twitter the night before you know our truth and reconciliation day and i started seeing these people who i perceived as

right-wing trolls they were saying you know the prime the prime minister's plane is in Tofino. And I was scrolling through and I was going, that is like these people, they'll just put anything on Twitter. This is ridiculous. And even though I don't have a show, I've always had a few contacts around. So I sent a note to someone I know is close to the prime minister's office. And I said, there's a few people on Twitter saying the prime minister's plane is a Tofino. That can't be possible on tonight of all nights, is it? And they answered, sadly, that is accurate. And I thought, oh God. And that just really kind of, you know, I wouldn't say it infuriated me, but I thought it was classic Trudeau that he would tell us all that we're supposed to take this time to reflect on this terrible thing. And then he sneaks off and goes to Tofino,

surfing. Ridiculous. That doesn't take part in any of the ceremonies that's happening. Tone deaf, right? Completely tone deaf. And it reminded me very much of, I hosted New Year's Eve on Canada Day. I hosted New Year's Eve on Canada Day. Sorry, New Year's Eve for the Canada celebrations and Canada 150. And Trudeau was supposed to be on the bill. And then someone said, Trudeau's not going to be there. And I said, he is.

I know he's there because I'll be introducing him. And it's Canada 150. Of course, he's going to be there. It's New Year's Eve. They said, he's not going to be there. And I said, well, that's impossible. And they said, I know where he's going, but don't tell anyone. I said, well, where's he going? And they said, he's going to to be there. And I said, well, that's impossible. And he said, I know where he's going, but don't tell anyone. I said, well, where's he going?

And he said, he's going to the Aga Khan's Island. And I said, you're insane because the prime minister cannot leave on New Year's Eve, Canada 150, and go to the Aga Khan's Island. Plus, I said, I think it would be illegal for him to go to the Aga Khan's Island because Canada gives the Aga Khan so much money. And I was like, you're all nuts. And then I was supposed to shoot with him the, like the day of New Year's Eve. And suddenly a call came in saying, oh, you have to do that shoot two days before, because he's going to be away that night.

And I was like, that's impossible. But sure enough, that's exactly what he did. It turned into a huge scandal because it was widely inappropriate that he go there. And lots of people were telling him, just like the Tofino trip. So something like that happens. Yes, I would have liked to have been on the air to talk about that. Just like I would have been on the air to talk about what I thought was really a ridiculous election call.

Like I've seen Jean Chrétien call elections when there's no need to call an election. And somehow with a straight face, he justifies it, which is ridiculous. But this was the most egregious. I mean, there was no reason to have an election with two years left in the mandate in the middle of a pandemic. It just sent all the wrong messages. Ridiculous. So yeah, there's yes, short answer. Yes. Many times. No. Amazing. I did congratulate you on your many, many, many Gemini Awards, but I need to point out to everybody listening that you were also appointed an officer of the Order of Canada, which is a tremendous accomplishment and feat. Congratulations on that. Thank you very much.

I think, actually, I know, I think Scott McCann, my last guest from Newfoundland, also was recently appointed an officer of the Order of Canada himself. So you guys can compare, I don't know, medals? It's a medal, right? It's a medal, yeah. It's a medal. All right. My last question for you, you've been amazing, by the way.

This has been awesome. And I want everybody to know there's so much more good stuff in Talking to Canadians, the new book by Rick Mercer, which is available tomorrow in the bookstores, but you can get it right now at rickmercer.com if you're listening to this the day it drops, like many a good FOTM does. So I'm going to ask you just here, Rick, at the end is about, you know, you've done your fair share of stand-up and there's been quite many a discussion lately about the new Dave Chappelle Netflix

special. So firstly, have you seen the new Dave Chappelle Netflix special? No, I haven't, although I've seen most of Dave Chappelle's work. So I haven't seen it, so I can't comment on it. Even if I had seen it, I'm kind of loathe to comment on other comics work.

I am not a critic of theater or music or comedy in the sense that I've never ever traded in that dark criticism. But I will see it. I know that. I will see it. But I haven't seen it yet. So I won't ask you to comment on anything specific there,

but maybe just a little bit about, and Scott M as well wrote in about this, but your thoughts on, I guess, what we deem cancel culture. So Chappelle, who does make a statement, one sentence he says, I watched the special, and one sentence is, gender is fact, he says, which, I mean, I just had a conversation with Colin Mochrie, who will fervently and passionately disagree with that sentiment, which, you know, is transphobic in nature to suggest that gender is fact.

And I guess the question about cancel culture is because it's one thing to say, you know, I will no longer watch Dave Chappelle's special and I will not buy a ticket to watch him do stand up because I don't like what he says about, you know, trans peoples. But there is a movement to sort of like, should he, to suggest that maybe he shouldn't be allowed to play Scotiabank Arena because of his transphobic comments. So cancel culture in general. I'm curious what you, Rick Mercer, have to say about it. Well, I don't know whether the term is accurate, but it is the term that we are using in, you know, in pop culture because there's a lot of people who claim they've been canceled or a lot of people claim these other people have been canceled who

continue to sell millions and millions of books or continue to have giant contracts. So, so JK Rowling's, of course, a lot of people say, you know, has been canceled, but yet, you know, the street is filled with Harry Potter's last night and, uh, and the books continue to sell and the new books, uh, the deals continue to happen. So I don't think it's overnight playing. There have been certainly people who have been canceled overnight. Uh, but generally, uh,

what they have done is far more egregious than share an unpopular opinion. They've done something criminal in nature. I noticed there was a change in my years on television. I spent a lot of time, we would get emails from people saying, you're an idiot, you shouldn't say that. And suddenly, we started getting a lot of emails from people saying, And suddenly we started getting a lot of emails from people saying, you know, you can't say that. And you should be stopped. And I just think, well, that's weird. Why don't they just, you know, just think that they disagree with my opinion versus I shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion.

Of course, I have an opinion. That's what I do for a living. And people are always quick to say, I won't buy tickets anymore. And I think that's exactly what they should do. That's what they should do. Like, don't buy that guy's record. Don't buy that person's book. You know, I see it. Jan Arden doesn't shy away from controversy.

And sometimes people I see on Twitter, they'll like say, well, that's it. I'm never buying tickets to your concert ever again. And Jan will say, don't buy the effing tickets. You know? So, you know, I could go on and on about cancel culture, I guess. But essentially, I'm glad I'm out of the opinion business, quite frankly, for the time being. But even sometimes I think even having a socially progressive and proper,

for example, you could have an opinion, you might have an opinion that, you know, you think drugs should be legalized so we can, you know, offer better support and like something like that. And you will find people on the other end of the spectrum who want to cancel you for this outlandish take on, on recreational drugs. It's always been, it's, there's always been a natural inclination of people to want to stop people from saying something they disagree with. And we are in a period that certainly, for the longest period of time, there were forces out there that wanted to ban books, that wanted to stop performers, that wanted to go after, limit the ability of certain musicians to sell their records, all of that.

And it always came from the right. It came from the Christian right. It came from social conservatives. It came from the right wing. Now, the leading voices asking for certain things to be stopped, books to be removed, are from the quote-unquote progressive left, although I would argue they're not the progressive left or something else. But so things have changed, but that, that desire to want to stop people from being able to do something that I would have, I'd have to, I can't, honestly, I can't think of what someone would have to be saying in their act for me to

say, they're not allowed to play Massey Hall. You know, that's a, that's a whole different kettle of fish. Thanks again for being so generous with your time today. Next time, let's do it in person. Yes, indeed. I hope so. I hope this virtual thing will soon be a thing of the past. And I hope everyone goes out and gets the book

because in these trying times, you know, I think that I go to the bookstore, I look at the shelf, or I look at the table, it's like, that's dark, that's dark, that's very heavy, that's very heavy, and that's all fine, but I think there's got to be room, especially in these times, in the corner of the table for a funny book.

I hope that's what I delivered. And that brings us to the end of our 940 second show you can follow me on twitter i'm at toronto mike rick is at rick mercer our friends at great lakes brewery they're at great lakes beer chef drop is at get chef drop manaris is at manaris mckay ce Forums. They're at McKay CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home. They're at Ridley FH.

And Mike Majeski of Remax Specialist Majeski Group. They're at Majeski Group Homes on Instagram. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started. It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears. We'll be right back. Well, you know that's true because everything is coming up rosy and green.

Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't stay today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy and green. Everything is rosy and green Well, I've been told That there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize

There's a thousand shades of green Cause I know that's true Yes, grey Cause I know that's true Yes I do I know it's true Yeah I know it's true How about you? They're picking up trash

And they're putting down rogues And they're brokering stocks The class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn because Everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold

but the smell of snow warms me today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray Well, I've kissed you in France

and I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold

But the smell of snow Warms us today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Because everything is rosy now Everything is rosy, yeah Everything is rosy and gray Thank you.