{"id":621041,"date":"2024-04-16T18:56:52","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T15:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/rick-mercer-isnt-done-talking-to-you-2\/"},"modified":"2024-04-16T18:56:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T15:56:52","slug":"rick-mercer-isnt-done-talking-to-you-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/rick-mercer-isnt-done-talking-to-you-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#Rick Mercer Isn&#8217;t Done Talking to You"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2f16cc583c1\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" 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ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/rick-mercer-isnt-done-talking-to-you-2\/#Get_the_Best_of_Macleans_straight_to_your_inbox\" >Get the Best of Maclean\u2019s straight to your inbox.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"wp-block \">\n<div class=\"relative ad-free-zone\">\n<div class=\"w-screen overflow-hidden -mt-20\">\n<div class=\"tablet:h-[calc(100svh)] overflow-hidden flex flex-col-reverse tablet:grid tablet:grid-cols-2 bg-white text-dark tablet:text-dark tablet:bg-white tablet:border-b-1 border-b-grey-light\">\n<div class=\"grid place-content-center tablet:pt-40 px-20 tablet:pl-10\">\n<div class=\" text-dark w-full max-w-[600px] mx-auto tablet:max-w-[640px] py-20 tablet:px-40 tablet:p-40 bg-opacity-100 tablet:bg-opacity-[var(--bg-opacity)] text-center\">\n<div class=\"text-grey leading-smm text-smm tablet:text-base tablet:leading-smxl font-lightmedium font-sans mb-10\">And he\u2019s on the road again\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\" text-dark author text-xs leading-xs whitespace-break-spaces\">BY KATIE UNDERWOOD<br \/>\nPHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN LEYDON<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tablet:row-start-auto row-start-1 tablet:h-[calc(100svh)]\"><img alt=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"(max-width: 834px) 50vw, (max-width: 1024px) 80vw, 100vw\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441108-Edit.jpg&amp;w=384&amp;q=80 384w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441108-Edit.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=80 640w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441108-Edit.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;q=80 750w, 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group\"><span>Reddit<\/span><\/button><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"uppercase text-xs leading-normal font-sans text-grey font-lightmedium\">April 16, 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap     undefined\"><strong>When Rick Mercer, <\/strong>Canada\u2019s favourite satirist son, retired from the rant <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> in 2018 after a blazing 15-season run of the <em>Rick Mercer Report<\/em>, he could have gone quietly. For a while, he got into amateur potato farming. But, every day in his shed overlooking the Atlantic, he was also writing, a new loquacious hobby that resulted in not one but two back-to-back instant bestsellers. There\u2019s 2021\u2019s <em>Talking to Canadians<\/em>, which charts Mercer\u2019s course from his school days to getting CBC\u2019s green light, and <em>The Road Years<\/em>, released last October, which chronicles everything after, including the drum lessons with Rush\u2019s Neil Peart, the hilariously reckless adventures in dogsledding and bear-tagging, and loads of facetime with the country\u2019s apex predators: politicians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Mercer soon realized he still had many miles left in the tank. When his friend Jann Arden, another CanCon icon turned author, released a book of her own, the two teamed up for a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of live events\u2014that later morphed into <em>Will They or Won\u2019t They<\/em>, the duo\u2019s unscripted country-wide comedy tour, which kicks off this spring. Luckily for Mercer, a lot\u2019s happened since he went on rant hiatus; luckily for us, he\u2019s still got a lot to say. About everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong><em>The Road Years<\/em><\/strong><strong> is your second book in two years. Obviously you didn\u2019t go the Barbra Streisand route of one 970-page mega-memoir. What didn\u2019t you capture the first time around?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">During the pandemic, everyone was told to work from home; in show business, that usually just means you\u2019re unemployed. I was lucky I had a job to do: writing, which I realized I liked a lot. <em>Talking to Canadians <\/em>opens with my childhood and ends just before we launched the <em>Report<\/em>\u2014basically when my editor said, \u201cOkay, stop, you have a book now.\u201d <em>The Road Years<\/em> isn\u2019t so much a memoir as stories from <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a>ling for 16 years. I could\u2019ve written five books about that, but I wrote one. I didn\u2019t go the Barbra route. Have sympathy for your reader! What if they want to bring your book in the tub?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide !max-w-[720px]\"><img alt=\"alt tag missing\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 100vw\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441256-Edit.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=75 640w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441256-Edit.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;q=75 750w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441256-Edit.jpg&amp;w=828&amp;q=75 828w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441256-Edit.jpg&amp;w=1080&amp;q=75 1080w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441256-Edit.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75 1200w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441256-Edit.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=75 1920w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441256-Edit.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=75 2048w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441256-Edit.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441256-Edit.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\"\/><figcaption class=\"w-full text-left\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>You\u2019re on the road<\/strong><strong><em> again<\/em><\/strong><strong> this spring as part of your <\/strong><strong><em>Will They or Won\u2019t They<\/em><\/strong><strong> tour with Jann Arden\u2014a duo plucked straight from Canada\u2019s Walk of Fame. How did you two become friends in the first place?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Years ago, I needed someone to show me around Calgary for the <em>Report <\/em>and our first guest fell through. My backup was Jason Kenney, who I didn\u2019t see eye-to-eye with on lots of things but who was a voice of authority on the city. Then <em>he<\/em> wasn\u2019t available. I didn\u2019t know much about Jann other than that I was a fan of her music\u2014which is very sad\u2014but from minute one, I was hooked. She became a regular on a show that didn\u2019t really have those. When we both had books coming out, we leapt at the chance to hold events together. The audience had a good time, and so did we. As a result, we\u2019re going on this tour.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>So <\/strong><strong><em>Talking to Canadians<\/em><\/strong><strong> has become talking near Canadians? Do you have a set list or are you just going to wing it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">It will be unscripted and unhinged. I was walking down the street the other day, and I was like, <em>Did I dream it, or did Jann tell me she once worked on a shrimp boat to pay her bills in between busking gigs?<\/em> I\u2019ll have to ask her about that one night. I\u2019ve missed the road. I\u2019m good at the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>You\u2019re known for your comedic monologues, but where does your ability to talk at length (and coherently) come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">I\u2019m flattered that you said \u201ccoherently.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">I have few skills, and not shutting up is one of them. If I get on a plane and the seat next to me is empty, half the time I\u2019m thinking, <em>I hope someone sits there and I hope they\u2019re chatty.<\/em> I\u2019ll run into a store to grab something, and when I come outside, my partner, Gerald\u2014who hates being in stores\u2014is like, \u201cWho were you talking to?\u201d and I\u2019ll go, \u201cThis lovely lady, she came here from Prague when she was 17 years old! She didn\u2019t know a single person!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>It\u2019s that East Coaster thing\u2014the pathological friendliness.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">My father says it\u2019s not so much that we\u2019re friendly as we\u2019re nosy. As soon as we find out who you are, where you\u2019re going and what you\u2019re doing, we\u2019ll move on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>On this tour, you get to sit in a chair, an improvement from your last gig, which had you chainsaw carving and wearing bee beards. You also dangled in harnesses a lot.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">I\u2019ve put Jann in a lot of harnesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>What\u2019s your favourite \u201chost-in-peril\u201d story to tell people at parties? That time you skinny-dipped with Bob Rae?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">I enjoy bringing up the fact that I was tasered, only for that segment not to air. Bob Rae\u2019s a favourite, but uncomfortable, awkward\u2014not so much dangerous.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>Let\u2019s dive into politics, actually. Back when you did Rick\u2019s Rants, you tackled all kinds of subjects: minimum wage, Nestle water and online comments, where all the best rants are born. Is there one subject that would bring you out of rant retirement?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">One thing I never discussed publicly was public broadcasting, mainly because I was <em>on<\/em> the public broadcaster. (There was a perception that I was a CBC employee, even though the <em>Report<\/em> was an independent production.) I want to defend the CBC with every iota of my being, but it\u2019s very removed from the broadcaster I fell in love with. There are all these discussions about bonuses and top-ups. There have got to be competent people out there who think it would be an incredible honour to be in charge of the CBC. If I was, the last thing I\u2019d think about is a bonus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>What are you privately ranting about now?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Oh, a <em>number<\/em> of things that I would never admit to you while being recorded. I think a lot of people are worried to say the wrong thing\u2014even an innocuous opinion\u2014and experience terrible consequences. More and more, I find myself sitting around with small groups of people, leaning in almost conspiratorially, even though I\u2019m in the safety of someone\u2019s kitchen, saying, \u201cI would never say this out loud, but&#8230;\u201d That phrase didn\u2019t really exist 15 years ago, especially among friends sitting around a table.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>Are we talking about cancel culture here?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">No. I just mean I\u2019m glad to be out of the opinion business. I sensed a change during the last few years of doing my show. There were always people who thought one of my takes was dumb, but we never considered turning off or deleting the comments on our YouTube or Facebook pages. Toward the end, that was someone\u2019s full-time job. Often, the comments had nothing to do with me but rather some vulnerable group or person. It was truly vitriolic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>Yes, rants have certainly lost their levity. A totally harmless topic can turn racist <\/strong><strong><em>fast<\/em><\/strong><strong>. I can tell you that from my own adventures in reading the comments.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">You can start a thread on Facebook that says, \u201cOkay, folks: blueberry pie or raspberry pie?\u201d Very quickly, it\u2019s a swamp. Just in the last couple of days, I noticed there are all these people on X analyzing Justin Trudeau\u2019s face because they think he\u2019s been cloned. And then you click on their profile, and they\u2019re, like, a person who pays taxes and has a job!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>Funny, because I was going to ask whether you had an opinion on Pierre Poilievre\u2019s cool-guy makeover. The glasses are off!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Oh, they all do that. Preston Manning had laser eye surgery and took elocution lessons to lower his voice\u2014and nobody was ever as uncomfortable as Preston Manning was about that. I think Poilievre enjoys it, though. I used to have a joke that went: <em>I feel about sunsets the way Justin Trudeau feels about mirrors; I could stare at them all day.<\/em> If there was a very close second to him, it would be Pierre Poilievre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide !max-w-[720px]\"><img alt=\"alt tag missing\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 100vw\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441353-Edit.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=75 640w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441353-Edit.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;q=75 750w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441353-Edit.jpg&amp;w=828&amp;q=75 828w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441353-Edit.jpg&amp;w=1080&amp;q=75 1080w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441353-Edit.jpg&amp;w=1200&amp;q=75 1200w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441353-Edit.jpg&amp;w=1920&amp;q=75 1920w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441353-Edit.jpg&amp;w=2048&amp;q=75 2048w, \/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441353-Edit.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.macleans.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F04%2FRICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441353-Edit.jpg&amp;w=3840&amp;q=75\"\/><figcaption class=\"w-full text-left\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>You specialized in satire, but is there a point at which you just won\u2019t poke fun?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Everyone in comedy will say there\u2019s nothing that\u2019s off-bounds. But our show\u2019s motto was, \u201cWe don\u2019t shit on Thunder Bay.\u201d If we\u2019re<em> <\/em>going to Thunder Bay, we\u2019re going because it\u2019s the greatest place with the greatest people, and we\u2019re going to find out why they think we should <em>all<\/em> move there. It\u2019s that old adage: don\u2019t kick down. I never had any interest in that kind of comedy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>Your bits seemed to contain at least some constructive criticism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">I like to think they were constructive most of the time. I won\u2019t say I never accidentally slipped, but I can\u2019t believe the amount of name-calling that happens in politics now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>This from a guy who was once known as \u201cthe unofficial Opposition.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Seven or eight years ago, there was no point where a leader of the Opposition would publicly call the prime minister a \u201cself-righteous narcissist.\u201d I can\u2019t imagine saying that to a co-worker! We just went through a period where we lost Brian Mulroney and Ed Broadbent, and Jean Chr\u00e9tien had his 90th birthday. Those politicians used to speak fondly across party lines. Donald Trump changed everything. Thirty years down the line, when this current bunch is being buried, I don\u2019t know that any of them will be saying anything nice about each other. They\u2019re heading to an area you can\u2019t walk back from.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>So there was a collegial fondness between old-school politicians\u2014did you ever become close with any of them?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">Once, when I was in Ottawa, Ross Reid, who was then the executive assistant for Newfoundland politician John Crosbie, invited me to have a plate of spaghetti and a couple of glasses of wine. I thought, <em>He\u2019s a really nice guy!<\/em> Shortly after that, Crosbie resigned and Reid became a senior member of Parliament, and I thought, <em>This is a bit of a problem<\/em>. A little bit too close. I was always friendly, but never became friends with anyone\u2014the exception being Belinda Stronach. We founded a charity together. That was unexpected.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>Something that sunk in for a lot of Canadians around 2016 was just how not-abstract national politics are. (Hypothetically, if I\u2019m trans and my dad likes Trump, well&#8230;). How do you maintain personal relationships with people who are politically hostile to you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">If it\u2019s a hostile relationship, then, yeah, I have no interest. Certainly, there are views I find abhorrent, and I don\u2019t really want to sit around and talk to the people who hold them about why I\u2019m wrong and they\u2019re right. There was a time in my life when I loved having big debates with people; I don\u2019t do that so much anymore. But you also don\u2019t want to be surrounded by like-minded people all the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>So how do you, a professional speedy-rapport builder, bridge the gap with people whose views differ wildly from yours?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">I have friends who are the most ridiculous, die-hard socialists, and I have friends who think the federal government should be dismantled except for the Department of National Defence. It\u2019s a wide spectrum. I\u2019m happy to talk with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>I guess what I\u2019m saying is I wouldn\u2019t want to be surrounded by people who don\u2019t like \u201cmy way of living,\u201d either, though.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">You know, if you grow up as a gay man, you get used to that. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s right, but there are always going to be people who don\u2019t like the way you\u2019re living. It doesn\u2019t keep me awake at night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>You once said that almost all of Canada\u2019s problems can be attributed to the fact that it\u2019s so damn difficult to get from one end of the country to the other. Do you think that\u2019s still the biggest point of contention?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">That\u2019s one of the big problems, for sure. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I\u2019ve gotten a call because someone wanted a comment about an election in Alberta or Nova Scotia. I think, <em>Why the hell would I comment on that?<\/em> I don\u2019t live in either of those places! If you want to know what\u2019s going on in Canada, talk to Alan Doyle from Great Big Sea. He tours 12 months of the year. Road performers may have more insight than a member of Parliament.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>When was the last time you had a moment of <\/strong><strong><em>I love living here<\/em><\/strong><strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\">I once shot a segment at the Covered Bridge potato chip factory in New Brunswick. (Wonderful people, great chips, still eat them.) I happened to be on X late at night when their factory burnt down. This wasn\u2019t Toronto or the manufacturing belt\u2014and the outpouring! People were truly upset about the job losses. That\u2019s a Canadian trait. If there\u2019s some kind of disaster somewhere, people thousands of kilometres away want to help out. Someone eventually has to say, \u201cStop sending snowsuits!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"     undefined\"><strong>Has what you loved about Canada changed since you retired from touring with the <\/strong><strong><em>Report<\/em><\/strong><strong>\u2014if not touring altogether?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block wp-block-core\">\n<p class=\"    endstyle undefined\">No. My love of country is kind of like the faults-and-all love people have for their children. It doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t be jerks! I understand Canada doesn\u2019t deliver on its promises to everyone, but I still believe we won the lotto. Maybe I shouldn\u2019t say this out loud, but&#8230;\u2005I think it\u2019s one of the best countries in the world. <em>How dare I? <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block \">\n<div class=\"ad-free-zone laptop:px-0\">\n<div class=\"max-w-screen-desktop mx-auto px-20 tablet:px-40\">\n<div class=\"wp-newsletter-signup max-w-screen-desktop mx-auto w-full py-20 my-20 tablet:my-40 tablet:py-80&#10;          border-t-3 tablet:border-t-[6px] border-dark bg-white\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col tablet:flex-row max-w-[800px] w-full mx-auto tablet:items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col tablet:w-7\/12 space-y-10 text-center tablet:text-left px-20\">\n<h2 class=\"text-red\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Get_the_Best_of_Macleans_straight_to_your_inbox\"><\/span>Get the Best of <em>Maclean\u2019s<\/em> straight to your inbox.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"newsletter-subtitle font-sans text-sm leading-xm tablet:leading-smm font-lightmedium text-grey\">Sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>, commentary, analysis and promotions. Join 80,000+ Canadian readers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/culture\/rick-mercer-isnt-done-talking-to-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And he\u2019s on the road again BY KATIE UNDERWOOD PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN LEYDON Copy Link Email Facebook X LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit April 16, 2024 When Rick Mercer, Canada\u2019s favourite satirist son, retired from the rant game in 2018 after a blazing 15-season run of the Rick Mercer Report, he could have gone quietly. For a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":621042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cms.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/RICK-MERCER_MARCH-18-202441108-Edit.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-621041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}