Rick Mercer Report

Rick Mercer Report (or the Mercer Report, or RMR; formerly known as Rick Mercer's Monday Report or simply Monday Report before it was moved to Tuesdays) was a Canadian comedy news program which aired on CBC Television from 2004 to 2018. Hosted by comedian Rick Mercer, the weekly half-hour show combined news parody, sketch comedy, visits to interesting places across Canada, and satirical editorials, often involving Canadian politics. The show's format is similar in some respects to satirical news shows like Mercer's prior series This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and to Jon Stewart's The Daily Show – however, the Mercer Report‍'‍s on-location segments were usually played relatively straight in comparison to those on the other shows, since participants were usually aware of Mercer's identity and purpose, showing similarity to Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report.

The first two seasons aired on Monday nights – hence the original name, which was likely also a pun on the then-current name of CBC's main Sunday news broadcast, Sunday Report (now the Sunday edition of The National). The Mercer Report then aired Tuesday nights at 8:00 p.m. on CBC. Repeats aired regularly on both CBC and The Comedy Network Canada.

The program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto, Ontario, except for the on-location and rant segments. These segments were shown to the studio audience during taping, with their reactions recorded for broadcast.

Each week's program involved satirical news commentary, sketches, parodies of ads and TV shows, and interviews with political/entertainment figures of the day. In addition, there were longer segments of Rick visiting various people/places across Canada. These segments often highlighted ordinary Canadians who do extraordinary things, from Paralympians to the Rangers to giant pumpkin growers to circus performers to lobster fishermen to RCMP trainees - in the show's finale, Rick Mercer said that these "everyday Canadians" segments were among his favourites.

The tone of the program was quite kind towards the politicians it mocks. Over the show's run, probably every major Canadian political figure was on the show, obviously for the positive publicity of being seen as a comic good sport. Memorable instances include Rick having a burger with Jean Chretien, skinny dipping with Bob Rae, having a sleepover at 24 Sussex (with Prime Minister Stephen Harper reading bedtime legislation - specifically, the Accountability Act), having Pierre Burton demonstrate the correct way to roll a joint of marijuana (back when it was still illegal... and according to Rick Mercer he used actual marijuana), or getting every Member of Parliament to participate in a spoof of the Bud Light dude commercial. (Only the last of these was not re-run in the series finale.)

The show was a spinoff of sorts from This Hour Has 22 Minutes, where Rick was one of the co-hosts. Unlike This Hour or Royal Canadian Air Farce which derives a major portion of comedy from impressions of public figures, The Mercer Report tended to get the real life public figures - especially Jann Arden - to come and make fun of themselves.

Tropes used in Rick Mercer Report include:

Canada, Eh?: Rick loves playing this trope.
Canadian Politics: Often joked about. This show has invited many prominent politicians, including previous and current Prime Ministers.
Clip Show: The series finale.
Facecam: Mercer's infamous rants (read on).
Groin Attack: The Revenue Canada/Capital One Parody Commercial Knee in my Package.
Human Interest Story: The segments of Rick travelling to events (often in small towns) and participating in whatever is going on. Arguably a highlight of the show.
Metaphorgotten: (A fake ad for George W Bush): "Some say the glass is half empty, others say its half full. George W Bush says 'that's my glass, keep your hands off my glass or I'll break it and cut you with the glass.' George W Bush. He'll cut ya."
News Parody
Parody Commercial: one or two an episode, always just before a real ad break.
Platonic Life Partners: Rick and frequent guest Jann Arden, who took part in many, many embarrassing and possibly-dangerous stunts together. (Rick's openly gay, so "Platonic" was as far as it ever went.)
Rant Comedy: A staple of the Report, airing Once Per Episode and carried over from This Hour Has 22 Minutes, is "The Rant." Rick even ranted about how to rant when he made a guest appearance on Royal Canadian Air Farce.
- Rick didn't always rant - on occasions when the entire country was aware of something culturally important that had just happened (such as Gord Downie's announcement that he had cancer), Rick's weekly oration was rant-free.
The Slacker: Not being trained to do lifting and other work requiring strength, Rick often left it to the professionals to do it.
Tear Jerker: In an episode near Christmas, Rick visited the Canada Post distribution centre in Ottawa and found out that Canada Post replies to letters to Santa in over 20 different languages, including Braille. Rick started to cry.