The mirth of Mercer

When the hell did Rick Mercer get so funny?

With the Rick Mercer Report now in its fifth season, I feel like I've been missing out on the arrival of what might be the first Canadian satirist who has actually managed to make satirizing Canada hilarious.

When he was part of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, he never struck me as any funnier than his CODCO cohorts—who were rarely any funnier than mildly amusing. His Yankee-baiting "Talking to Americans" bits were pretty good, but let's face it: easy prey. But since he went solo, Mercer hasn't just been consistently better; he's been consistently brilliant.

Sure, he's cribbing a bit from Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. But in doing so, he's finally cracked the riddle of how to find the funny in Canadian politics. Combine that with his knack of making the most out of guest appearances by the likes of Pierre Berton (showing the proper way to roll a joint, no less) and his own self-effacing wiseacre personality, and you've got a guy who has finally found a way to make us laugh at ourselves out of a genuine love for our own cultural dorkiness, instead of an inferiority complex over the dumb-jock culture next door.