Since Rick Mercer is a contestant in two concurrent, admittedly unscientific web polls that I am tracking; it is appropriate for me to share my opinion of the comedian. I like Rick Mercer, when he is being a comedian. I enjoy comedians who do Canadian content, and sadly not enough of them get air time on my cable package. Rick Mercer has made me laugh countless times over his career. I very nearly laughed myself to a near death experience when I watched that "Liberals: Backing down and loving it".
It seems as though his evolution as a CBC personality has drifted slowly from the laugh business to the applause business. There are still jokes, but it has evolved (some would argue devolved) into more driving his own opinion than it is about making people laugh. The opinion then becomes the primary objective, and laughter is just a bonus if you can elicit any. It feels as though every interview of him that I have seen this year has seen Rick predict that we will have an election next week. I haven't watched his show at all this year. Again, he lost me when his art became more about making people applaud an agenda than making people laugh. I am kind of sad, because I feel like I have lost a comedian that I enjoyed in exchange for a Canadian version of Bill Maher. Both still makes jokes, they just ceased being funny.
I'll just have to stick to some of his old material on Comedy Central. Come for the South Park, stay for the old Mercer stand-up.
So far this season, the Mercer Report has been very funny. In fact most of his political commentary has been pointing out the bullshit by all members in politics. And his making fun of Liberal stuff is very brutal, and has been for a while. Most of his CPC stuff has been very fair, as yes they have their problems too.
ReplyDeleteBut his Show is not as comedy focused as 22 minutes. He is filling half of his show, to fill the void that Wayne Rodstad had, when On The Road Again was on, which I really liked.
What would be very beneficial, I would like to see if you have any sepcific examples from the RM Report which you found particularly one sided. As far as I can tell he appears to be mostly libertarian for personal privacy, anti-monarch for his comments on the waste in spending on the Regal properties, and desire efficient spending of taxpayer dollars.
That "knee in my package" bit was hilarious, and the "Gerard Kennedy" picking a puppy was also fantastic.
ReplyDeleteFor clarification, Northern Raven is right that Mercer takes shots at both sides. He is not a complete sellout. But the process by which Mercer lost me as a fan had most to do with those walking up and down the streets ranting clips than any skit comedy bit. That's the part of Mercer that lost me as a part of his audience.
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