Streeters: Rants and Raves from This Hour Has 22 Minutes

by Rick Mercer

The more than one million Canadians who watch This Hour Has 22 Minutes will recognize Rick Mercer's streeters—the caustically funny rants that have become one of the best-loved segments of the show.

Often called Parliament's Unofficial Opposition, Rick Mercer writes all his rants and is also one of the primary writers for the show. Photos and an eye-catching design set off Mercer's memorable exposés of the pretensions of politicians and the foibles of our society.

Rick Mercer Rants about Quebec:

If Quebec separates it's only gonna get worse...

The first thing they're gonna do once they leave is come over. They'll be like the next door neighbour with an Amway catalogue. How are you? I'm fine. No hard feelings, let's start a carpool, can I stay in the guest room, use your currency, go halves on the army, by the way I'm a king now.

Rick Mercer Rants about Jean Chrétien:

I wish people would just get off Jean Chrétien's back. The man goes to China, he makes a few deals, makes us a pile of cash and what happens? Everyone is all up in arms just because of a few minor human rights violations. Look, Chrétien has no choice. My next door neighbour and I, we go halves on firewood, I save money. It's a great deal for me. But there's some soft liberals out there would prefer if I didn't even talk to the man. Okay so he ran over a couple of kids in his car because they were making a racket out on the cul-de-sac. And yes he's got a bunch of youngsters chained to the furnace because they talked back. But hey, it's not like I haven't made my feelings known to the man. I've done my part. One time I said That's bad. He changed the topic, we went on with our business, had a beer, whatever. My conscience is clear and like Jean Chrétien, I cannot afford to jeopardize this very special mutually profitable relationship with my neighbour just because of a few people chained up in his basement. And don't give me any grief here. Hey, I'm only following my Prime Minister's lead.

Genres: Canada, Humor, Nonfiction, Politics, Essays

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Rick Mercer is Canada’s sharpest and funniest political satirist. He first came to fame with Show Me the Button I’ll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die, a one-man show that toured across Canada. He co-created and was a resident performer on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and was the host of The Rick Mercer Report, the Corporation’s highest-rated comedy show, for fifteen seasons. Rick is co-chair of the Spread the Net campaign, dedicated to preventing the spread of Malaria in Africa, and has also campaigned for the Canadian AIDS Society’s The Walk for Life project. His many honours include 21 Geminis and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. He is from St. John’s and currently resides in Toronto.

Reviews

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rick Mercer is a Canadian, a political satirist, television host, screenwriter, actor and comedian. He is known for his smart “no holds barred” comedy sketches aimed at everything from his countrymen’s contempt for politicians and anything connected to government, to their many unique societal foibles. A man with keen political insight, Mercer is often referred to as “Parliament’s Unofficial Opposition”, a man with an innate ability to connect with ordinary Canadians and urge them to consider important issues. He has created a successful career in the spotlight that has made him a highly sought speaker, a popular TV host and bestselling author. Along the way he has earned a Governor’s General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement, a place as an Officer of the Order of Canada and a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame honoring notable Canadians.

Mercer was both a writer and host of “This Hour has 22 Minutes”, a satirical CBC TV comedy show that lasted over eight seasons and earned over a million viewers every week. One of the most popular parts of the show was the recurring segment called “streeters” during which Mercer jaunted down Toronto’s Graffiti Alley, filmed by a hand-held wobbly camera and spoke directly into the camera, delivering an editorial on some current subject. His rants were sharp, witty and dealt with a wide number of subjects, from the Reform Party and fish stocks to the Prime Minister and Canada’s association with Cuba. Mercer always had a keen sense of what mattered to Canadians as well as what made them laugh, so his choice of subjects and his comments were always “spot on”.

This slim volume published in 1979 includes seventy of these rants, aired sometime between October 1993 to November 1997 and all part of the show. Granted they all work better on television than they do in print, but this retrospective look back gives readers a good sense of what occupied the minds of Canadian public and what they found funny during those times.

The volume includes a forward by well-known Canadian radio host Peter Gzowski and several photographs, giving readers a quick and entertaining read.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

They're all super dated now, although it was a fun trip down memory lane. These always worked better spoken rather than written though. I'm giving it three stars though because it's Rick Mercer and he was a cultural powerhouse at the time.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rick Mercer is one of Canada’s national treasures. His rants got better during the RMR years, but this was still a humorous look back at 90s politics.

[Chinook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in Bolton.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun but rather dated rants by the great Rick Mercer on the political scene during the Chretien years