Talking to Americans

Last updated

Talking to Americans logo, based on the opening of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. This is the five images shown in this order, which represents the feature. Talkingtoamericans.jpg
Talking to Americans logo, based on the opening of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. This is the five images shown in this order, which represents the feature.

Talking to Americans was a regular feature presented by Rick Mercer on the Canadian political satire show This Hour Has 22 Minutes , which was later spun off into a one-hour special that aired on April 1, 2001 on CBC Television. [1]

Contents

The purpose of the skit was to satirize American lack of awareness about Canada, by interviewing Americans on the street and convincing them to agree with ridiculous statements about their northern neighbour. Mercer freely acknowledged that he did not think Americans were collectively stupid; in an interview on Nightline , Mercer explained that "I'm just looking for the short answer. Some people hem and haw and they seem to be on to me, and of course we don't include them... About 80 per cent of the people give me the right answer, by which of course, I mean the wrong answer." [2] He also acknowledged that it would be entirely possible to put together a similar feature getting Canadians to agree on camera to strange statements on topics they knew little about, with the primary difference being that Mercer couldn't do it himself as Canadians would recognize him. [1]

In his 2021 memoir Talking to Canadians, Mercer described the segment as having had its genesis in 1998, when he was in Washington, DC to film an unrelated segment for 22 Minutes. While waiting to begin filming, he met a Capitol Hill staffer whose apparent willingness to talk freely about subjects he didn't actually know anything about led to an impromptu filmed interview in which the staffer was asked questions about a fictional presidential summit between Bill Clinton and Ralph Benmergui, and was successfully convinced by Mercer that Canadians were unfamiliar with the concept of alphabetical order. [3]

On shooting the segment, Mercer wrote in his memoir, “I suppose I had a nagging feeling that 'Talking to Americans' was a tad unsportsmanlike. They didn’t stand a chance. It wasn’t just shooting fish in a barrel; it was more like throwing dynamite into a shallow pool. All I had to do was stand there with a net and scoop them up as they floated to the surface, completely oblivious to what was happening to them. And they just kept coming. It really was a great gig.” [4]

Content

The intent was to satirize perceived American ignorance of Canada and the rest of the world.

Rick Mercer ran the Talking to Americans interviews Mercer SpreadtheNet.JPG
Rick Mercer ran the Talking to Americans interviews

The topics included:

Professors at Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, New York University and Stanford University were consistently fooled by absurdities such as the "Saskatchewan seal hunt". The only Americans who were shown outsmarting Mercer were: a university student who spent her time laughing at him (before finally answering), and a small child who pointed out to his mother, who was also tricked, that Canada had provinces, not states. [5]

George W. Bush

The most famous segment, aired in 2000, featured Mercer asking then-presidential candidate George W. Bush who had previously stated that "you can't stump me on world leaders" for his reaction to an endorsement by Canadian Prime Minister "Jean Poutine", which was a play on the name of then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (poutine is an order of French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy). [6]

Bush said he looked forward to working together with his future counterpart to the north, praising free trade and Canada. That said, Bush never actually used the name of Poutine and only failed to correct Mercer on the name.

A few years later, when Bush made his first official visit to Canada, he joked during a speech, "There's a prominent citizen who endorsed me in the 2000 election, and I wanted a chance to finally thank him for that endorsement. I was hoping to meet Jean Poutine." [7]

2001 special

The special was a co-production between Island Edge (Rick Mercer's production company) and Salter Street Films (at the time the producer of 22 Minutes). It was produced and directed by Geoff D'Eon, who also produced and directed the segments for 22 Minutes. It used both previously broadcast clips from 22 Minutes, and new material shot exclusively for the special.

Talking to Americans attracted 2.7 million Canadian viewers, making it the highest-rated special on Canadian television that year. [8]

The show received two Gemini Award nominations at the 16th Gemini Awards in 2001, for Best Music or Variety Program or Series and Best Host in a Variety Program or Series. [9] However, Mercer thought it was inappropriate to make fun of American-Canadian relations so soon after the September 11 attacks, and requested that the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television pull the nominations. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poutine</span> Dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy

Poutine is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain, and there are several competing claims regarding its invention. For many years, it was used by some to mock Quebec society. Poutine later became celebrated as a symbol of Québécois culture and the province of Quebec. It has long been associated with Quebec cuisine, and its rise in prominence has led to its growing popularity throughout the rest of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Chrétien</span> Prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003

Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003.

<i>This Hour Has 22 Minutes</i> Canadian TV comedy series

This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics with a combination of news parody, sketch comedy, and satirical editorials. Originally featuring Cathy Jones, Rick Mercer, Greg Thomey, and Mary Walsh, the series featured satirical sketches of the weekly news and Canadian political events. The show's format is a mock news program, intercut with comic sketches, parody commercials, and humorous interviews of public figures.

<i>Royal Canadian Air Farce</i> (TV series) Canadian TV series or program

Royal Canadian Air Farce, and often credited simply as Air Farce, was a Canadian sketch comedy series starring the comedy troupe Royal Canadian Air Farce, that previously starred in an eponymous show on CBC Radio, from 1973 to 1997. The top-rated television show was broadcast on CBC Television, beginning in 1993 and ending in December 2008. The Air Farce Live name was adopted in October 2007. For the show's final season which began October 3, 2008, the series was renamed Air Farce—Final Flight!

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000 Canadian federal election</span>

The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 37th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party won a third majority government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Mercer</span> Canadian comedian (born 1969)

Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist, and author. He is best known for his work on the CBC Television comedy shows This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Rick Mercer Report. He is the author of four books based on content from the shows and the two part memoir consisting of Talking to Canadians and The Road Years. Mercer has received more than 25 Gemini Awards for his work on television.

<i>Made in Canada</i> (TV series) Television series

Made in Canada is a Canadian television comedy which aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2003. Rick Mercer starred as Richard Strong, an ambitious and amoral television producer working for a company which makes bad television shows. A dark satire about the Canadian television industry, the programme shifted into an episodic situation comedy format after its first season.

Events from the year 2001 in Canada.

Events from the year 2002 in Canada.

This Hour Has 22 Minutes Direct Hits is a videocassette compilation of the best bits from the Canadian television series, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, from the years of 1993–99.

The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Boudria</span> Canadian politician

Don Boudria is a former Canadian politician and current senior associate at Sandstone Group, an Ottawa-based executive advisory firm. He served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1984 to 2006 as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Whelan</span> Canadian politician

Eugene Francis "Gene" Whelan was a Canadian politician, sitting in the House of Commons from 1962 to 1984, and in the Senate from 1996 to 1999. He was also Minister of Agriculture under Pierre Trudeau from 1972 to 1984, and became one of Canada's best-known politicians. During his career, he would meet Queen Elizabeth II, help Canada beat U.S. president Richard Nixon to the punch in "opening up" China, and play a catalyzing role in the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War. In an editorial immediately following his death, the Windsor Star said:

Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the Constitution Act, 1982. The process was necessary because, at the time, under the Statute of Westminster, 1931, and with Canada's agreement, the British Parliament retained the power to amend Canada's British North America Acts and to enact, more generally, for Canada at the request and with the consent of the Dominion. That authority was removed from the UK by the enactment of the Canada Act, 1982, on March 29, 1982, by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as requested by the Parliament of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawinigan Handshake</span> Chokehold made by the Canadian prime minister

Shawinigan Handshake is the epithet given to a chokehold executed on February 15, 1996, by Jean Chrétien, then-Prime Minister of Canada, on anti-poverty protester Bill Clennett. The phrase comes from Chrétien's birthplace of Shawinigan, Quebec, as he often styled himself the "little guy from Shawinigan".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of the Prime Minister (Canada)</span> Central agency of the Canadian government

The Office of the Prime Minister (commonly called the prime minister's office or PMO comprises the staff that supports the prime minister of Canada and is located in the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council Building in Ottawa, Ontario. The PMO provides policy advice, information gathering, communications, planning, and strategizing. It should not be confused with the Privy Council Office, which is the higher office that controls the Public Service of Canada and is expressly non-partisan; the PMO is concerned with making policy, whereas the PCO is concerned with executing the policy decisions made by the government.

Chris Finn is a Canadian stand-up comedian and comedy writer.

A prank call is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call. It can be illegal under certain circumstances.

There have been numerous depictions of prime ministers of Canada in popular culture.

<i>Rick Mercer Report</i> Television series

Rick Mercer Report is a Canadian television comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 2004 to 2018. Launched as Rick Mercer's Monday Report, or simply Monday Report, by comedian Rick Mercer, the weekly half-hour show combined news parody, sketch comedy, visits to interesting places across Canada, and satirical editorials, often involving Canadian politics. The show's format was similar in some respects to satirical news shows like Mercer's prior series, This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

References

  1. 1 2 Dana Gee, "Still talking to Americans: Rick Mercer turns Canadian pastime of making fun of U.S. into hour-long special". Vancouver Sun , April 1, 2001.
  2. "Rick Mercer talks to Americans on Nightline". Welland Tribune , August 2, 2001.
  3. Rick Mercer, "Rick Mercer recalls the day an American introduced Canadians to ‘alphabetical order’ — and spawned a show that’s now a classic". Toronto Star , November 5, 2021.
  4. Rick Mercer, Talking to Canadians, Penguin Random House Canada, 2021, page 194.
  5. Celine Taillefer, "Americans' ignorance of Canada really irks me". Sudbury Star , May 11, 2000.
  6. Tony Lofaro, "George W. Bush swallows `Jean Poutine' prank: Presidential hopeful confuses Prime Minister Chretien with cheesy fries". Ottawa Citizen , March 3, 2000.
  7. "Forging a 'fruitful partnership'". Vancouver Sun , December 2, 2004.
  8. "2.7 Million watch Talking to Americans". Waterloo Region Record , April 5, 2001.
  9. "CTV mini series Nuremberg leads this year's Gemini nominations: East Coast Music Awards show receives three nominations". Journal-Pioneer , September 18, 2001.
  10. "Rick Mercer refuses Gemini nods for Talking to Americans". Timmins Daily Press , September 20, 2001.