Friday Night Canadian Cultural Icon -- Rick Mercer at the Arctic Winter Games

Okay – it’s Saturday morning, not Friday night. I went out with friends tonight and saw the 9:20 showing of the Sex and the City movie, which takes two-and-a-half hours. It was Saturday by the time I got home.

Tonight’s Canadian Cultural Icon is Rick Mercer. He’s a political comedian out of Newfoundland. He used to be in a group called CodCo; then most of them started a show called “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” on the CBC. It was a take-off on a news commentary show from the ‘60’s, called “This Hour Has Seven Days”. “22 Minutes” satirizes Canadian life and politics. One of the best segments was Rick Mercer’s Rant. It was so good, he got his own show. It started out as “Rick Mercer’s Monday Report” or RMMR – but now it’s on Tuesdays.

He does more than satire now. There are a lot of different Canadian cultures, and he introduces us to ourselves. In this segment, he’s in Yellowknife, covering the Arctic Winter Games. He doesn’t just show you people doing the sports and cultural activities – they try to teach him how. This is a double-dose of Canadian Cultural stuff tonight – you get the Games and Rick Mercer.

One of the things I really like about living in Canada is that our tax dollars, through the CBC, have always funded really good political satire, and it’s widely heard (on CBC Radio) or viewed. Free speech in action.