Talking to Canadians

Canada's beloved comic genius tells his own story for the first time.

What is Rick Mercer going to do now? That was the question on everyone's lips when the beloved comedian retired his hugely successful TV show after 15 seasons-and at the peak of its popularity. The answer came not long after, when he roared back in a new role as stand-up-comedian, playing to sold-out houses wherever he appeared.

And then Covid-19 struck. And his legions of fans began asking again: What is Rick Mercer going to do now? Well, for one thing, he's been writing a comic masterpiece. For the first time, this most private of public figures has turned the spotlight on himself, in a memoir that's as revealing as it is hilarious. In riveting anecdotal style, Rick charts his rise from highly unpromising schoolboy ("Rick still owes 15 dollars to the chocolate bar fundraiser" was one of the less brutal items on a typical report) to heights of TV fame, by way of an amazing break as a teenager when his one-man show, "Show Me the Button, I'll Push It. Or, Charles Lynch Must Die," became an overnight sensation-thanks in part to a bizarre ambush by its target, Charles Lynch himself. That's one story you won't soon forget, and this book is full of them.

There's the tale of how little Rick stole a tree from the neighbours that's set to become a new Christmas classic. There's Rick the aspiring actor-hitting the road as a new young punk in a vanload of hippies and appearing on stage in Shakespeare-and a wealth of behind-scenes revelations about This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Made in Canada, Talking to Americans and the coming of the mega-hit Rick Mercer Report.

It's a life so packed with incident and laughter we can only hope that a future answer to "What is Rick Mercer going to do now?" is: "Write volume two."