With his trademark wit and sharp eye on Canadian life, Rick Mercer is hitting the road this fall for a coast-to-coast Stand-Up for Canada tour, and we caught up with him ahead of the Toronto stop on the tour on Oct. 3, at Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
What inspired you to launch this coast-to-coast comedy tour now?
I feel like the timing is right for a Stand-Up for Canada comedy tour. These are interesting times. My act hasn’t changed. I’ve always taken the line of celebrating the country, celebrating what I love about the country, talking about the country. And it just seems like now is the time for that. It’s about celebrating, not about dunking on the United States. They seem to be doing a good job of that themselves.
What does Stand-Up for Canada mean to you?
It’s a play on the times we’re in. And obviously we’re in a time where, for example, I spent the summer in Newfoundland, and I met so many people not just from Ontario, but from western Canada and from Quebec, that were visiting Newfoundland. We’ve always had those people, but there was way more than ever before. Obviously Canadians are travelling inside of Canada like they never had before. Obviously Canadians are buying Canadian like never before. When I first went out on a national tour many years ago, the tour was called Rick Mercer’s Hockey Comedy Night in Canada. And there were Americans, and there were Brits on the tour, and it was a great tour. And I said — and if I do it again — it’s going to be an all-Canadian lineup. Ever since then, that’s what I’ve done.
What about this lineup of young Canadian comics you have on the tour?
Well, these comedians — this is an A-list. This is not an up-and-coming cohort. I mean, they are young, certainly compared to me. But Sophie Buddle is one of the hottest in demand comedians anywhere in the United States and Canada right now — all the big comedy festivals, all the big night time talk shows. Julie Kim has been working steadily both sides of the border and in England. Mayce Galoni is one of the funniest guys working out there. These are all great comics, and people are going to be really thrilled to see them. And for a lot of people in my audience, they’re not running out to comedy clubs at 11 o’clock at night for a standup show. And I just know that my audience is going to love coming to see this show.
You’ve always blended political commentary with comedy. Will politics play a big role in this tour?
Well, sure. I always talk about the times that we’re in, and these are very interesting times. We’ve just come through an election that had a result that I don’t think anyone expected a year previous. Obviously, the Canada-U.S. relationship is fraught with unknowns right now. Canadians are also anxious, and there’s a lot of unknowns, but now is a good time for a laugh.
Where is your favourite place to send visitors when in Toronto?
Where is your favourite place to send visitors when in Toronto? Allen’s on the Danforth is always a go-to for me, because it doesn’t matter what what you like, you will find it at Allen’s, and everything is top notch. So that’s at the top of my list.
Are you a Halloween person?
I would suggest that I’m almost always here [in Toronto] for Halloween. And many times I’ve gone out of my way to make sure I’m here from Halloween. And I have a pretty busy neighbourhood, and I actually flex my creative muscles exactly once a year and carve a pumpkin, sometimes with success, and sometimes with abject failure. But yeah, I give it a try.
