“Rick never stops looking for the punchlines in everyday life. He made me realize how funny ordinary things are, how funny and how incredibly interesting.”
— Jann Arden
“It’s safe to say that when it comes to Canada, the reviews have been mixed,” says Rick Mercer, beloved Canadian comic and #1 national bestselling author. “Me? I like the place. But what does it mean to be from here or to have landed here? What does it mean to be Canadian?”
Rick first burst onto the scene with his iconic shows This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Made in Canada. He went on to create and host The Rick Mercer Report—for 15 years!—winning almost 30 Gemini Awards over his career. He won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for his #1 national bestseller, Talking to Canadians, which Margaret Atwood describes as a “funny, pitfall-strewn, no-holds-barred memoir from the ranting TV uproarist, edge-walker, envelope-pusher and pot-stirrer.”
In his new memoir, The Road Years, he offers a look behind the scenes of his unparalleled success. He recounts his adventures across the country with humour and heart, from dogsledding to chainsaw carving to the “Train of Death.” Along the way, he celebrates the ordinary people who make Canada what it is, and investigates what it means to be Canadian today.
A brilliant and engaging speaker, Rick doesn’t just speak truth to power—he rants about it. When he speaks, everyone in the audience loves each other (and the country) just a little bit more. And they have fun throughout.
“We’re in a time with so much strife and toxicity,” Rick says. “People need a laugh.”
Watch an interview with Rick on Global News where he discusses his new memoir, his adventures, and what he’s learned about Canadian identity here.
