BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.

Subject: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,#
Date: 20 May 15 - 05:41 PM

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Greg F.
Date: 20 May 15 - 05:57 PM

If the folks he's "interviewing" aren't in on the joke, I think the latter is appropriate. Also take solace in the fact that you're neither a U.S. citizen or a Republican.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,#
Date: 20 May 15 - 06:18 PM

All I can think Greg is that they were handpicked.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Greg F.
Date: 20 May 15 - 06:43 PM

From my personal experience, Bruce, they shouldn't have been all that hard to find. Easy pickin's, as it were.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,#
Date: 20 May 15 - 06:55 PM

We have two landlocked provinces in this country (Saskatchewan and Alberta) and Mercer had them both in there regarding cod fishing and seal hunting. I think--although Americans get singled out in this particular piece--that many Canadians wouldn't have done much better. Of interest was the immediate responses from folks who agreed right away: by all means bomb them. What's scary to me isn't the general ignorance shown by so many, but rather how 'basic education' seems to be missing. I think the video is fifteen years old, but I feel confident saying that not too many of those folks have delved any more deeply into learning as a lifelong pursuit. The Mt Rushmore bit was hilarious, but I kinda felt like I was laughing at people who are mentally challenged: not a good feeling.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST
Date: 20 May 15 - 07:12 PM

American's insularity and ignorance of geography and world affairs is nothing new and that is what is being exploited by Mercer.

But some of them sometimes get it right: "One third of American 8th graders think Canadians live in a dictatorship" this according to a survey by the National Assessment of Education Progress.

Anywho, In 2013, Harvard University's Crimson newspaper asked students at the Ivy League institution to name the capital of Canada. Only one answered correctly....she was Canadian.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: gnu
Date: 20 May 15 - 08:11 PM

One can find the stunnedasmearse on every street corner in NA. Our education systems simply suck. As for, "One third of American 8th graders think Canadians live in a dictatorship"... I know for a fact that at least 2/3s of Canucks KNOW we live in a dick-tatorship. Seriously, few people outside of Canada know what is going on here at tis very moment. Many of us Canucks are TRULY scared about what is going on. Bill C-51... a clause buried in the recent budget (our budget GETS passed with NO vote) that RETROACTIVELY says possible violations of law by the RCMP cannot be called to account... 250 Light Armoured Vehicles to be "displayed" in Canadian cities and towns as "monuments" for Afghanistan War Veterans (but they must be garrisoned because the US supplied top secret armour????+... oh... fuck it. It would take me days to tell you what is going on in Canada. BTW... the price of beef has gone up 300% in just over a year. The price of oil on the market is dropping and we are watching the price of our gas and heating oil going up for the 17th straight week. You tell me what's up...

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Greg F.
Date: 20 May 15 - 08:18 PM

What's scary to me isn't the general ignorance shown by so many, but rather how 'basic education' seems to be missing.

For that, you can thank the Republicans as well. Their massive cuts to education funding starting with Reagan, as well as their demonizing of teachers and teachers' unions is bearing fruit.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 May 15 - 10:41 PM

What a farce! From the first moment of Mercer's questions, the grins begin. Most of them are playing along - mind you, they can see the camera! -in some cases they are not sure about the question but a lot of times they are trying to not hurt the feelings of the questioner. There are some nice people south of the border too!

I once took care of a schizophrenic woman who knew there were crocodiles and wolves outside her door. Eventually, she went along with my belief that there were none and was henceforth able to leave her house.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Ed T
Date: 20 May 15 - 11:02 PM

Before anyonevover-reacts, it is merely entertainement comedy.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,#
Date: 20 May 15 - 11:02 PM

And who said there were no nice people south of the border? You are not the first here to mention it looked a bit set up. In fact, everyone who's posted to this thread has said essentially that. So what's the problem?

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 21 May 15 - 02:24 AM

I dislike "comedy" that makes fools of people in order to get a laugh.It is petty and not the mark of a good comedian.
Just my opinion.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 May 15 - 03:14 AM

I think the Americans should leave Saskatchewan alone. It has such an interesting name. If they need to bomb, they should bomb Alberta. There's nothing there, is there?
But they shouldn't bomb Toronto. Toronto has a good hockey team.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 21 May 15 - 07:09 AM

I seem to remember a pretty huge dinosaur skeleton in the Badlands - I think that was in Alberta (but it was 50 years ago).

And in Banff we went to a kind of mini-Calgary Stampede which was delightfully unimpressive.

So please don't bomb those bits.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,#
Date: 21 May 15 - 07:13 AM

"But they shouldn't bomb Toronto. Toronto has a good hockey team."

It may yet have one. It just got the Detroit Redwings' coach.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Ed T
Date: 21 May 15 - 07:26 AM

Clapton's Alberta



Alberta 

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 May 15 - 11:38 AM

Reading this, I found to my dismay that I couldn't remember the capital of Canada. It's Ottawa. Not Oshawa, Orillia, Kanata, Omemee, Odessa or Tronto. Ottawa.

HiLo, I am with you 100% on the topic of cheap humor which makes someone look stupid and then ridicules them. True wit and humor are rare and unpredictable. TV and movies have to produce funny stuff day in and day out, so they rely on ridicule instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: gnu
Date: 22 May 15 - 07:05 AM

OTOH, I enjoy Mercer's rants. Check out "Rick Mercer rants" on You Tube.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,#
Date: 22 May 15 - 06:27 PM

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/one-third-of-american-8th-graders-think-canada-is-a-dictatorship-report-reveals-1.3082239

Then again, maybe Mercer wasn't completely off the mark.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Greg F.
Date: 22 May 15 - 08:17 PM

See, I told Ya!

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,#
Date: 22 May 15 - 09:26 PM

Excellent article here that certainly contains a great deal of truth.

Truthfully, I don't think Canucks do any better in those types of Mercer interviews than Americans do.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Ed T
Date: 23 May 15 - 08:42 AM

An interesting article on Canadian comedy and comedians. My favourite theory on why it does not resonate beyond the borders (beyond most comedians are absorbed to the USA).

Theory 5: The world may not be watching, but Canadians can make other Canadians laugh. It makes sad sense that while Canadian humor entertains the native population—notably with domestic TV comedy series such as This Hour Has 22 Minutes and the Royal Canadian Air Farce—it will never flourish outside the country, because nobody outside of Canada feels any urgent need to read or hear about, or even be aware of Canadian comedy.



On Canadian comedy 

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 23 May 15 - 11:49 AM

A long, solemn, pretentious article about humor. Something wrong there.

By the way, I'm American and discovered Stephen Leacock as a young kid. And I never thought Milton Berle was funny.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: gnu
Date: 23 May 15 - 12:44 PM

Comedy is in the ear of the listener. You can quote me on that.

I just listened to The Debaters on CBC Radio (two shows per week - Wed and Sat). It's good. The Irrelevant Show is good (Thursday). The Vinyl Café is good (Thursday's show is a different format than Sunday's show). Laughing Out Loud on Saturday is good (BTW, the podcast archive is quite extensive and you can download them.)

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Bill D
Date: 23 May 15 - 02:26 PM

One thing I sorta miss about Jay Leno on the Tonight show was his "Jaywalking" segments. where he would interview people on the street about various topics related to the news. It often included geography, history....sometimes science. It never took too long to get a series of examples of jaw-dropping ignorance. (they never included the ones who knew stuff)

Then, now & then they would bring 3-4 of the worst onto the show for a dumb-off. (I'm sure people were aware they were being held up for ridicule, but fame and the chance to be dumb on network TV was irresistible)

What it told me was that basic education was sadly neglected in many places, and that pop culture has captured WAY too much attention.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Ed T
Date: 23 May 15 - 02:51 PM

""Philosophers and standup comics think critically. They ask whether familiar ideas make sense, and they refuse to defer to authority and tradition. It was for his critical thinking that Socrates was executed. So were cabaret comics in Germany who mocked the Third Reich.""   Quote, Philosophy of Humor, 2012

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST,Sol
Date: 23 May 15 - 03:13 PM

I agree with HiLo.
I think this type of 'humour' is cheap and nasty.
It is anti-social.
I imagine Rick Mercer could be made to look just as dumb if he was asked questions on a subject that he was unfamiliar with.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: gnu
Date: 23 May 15 - 03:38 PM

Sol... I disagree. I think Mercer would simply say he is not familiar with whatever. He actually is that smart and polite.

My problem with such antics is what I said in my first post.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Ed T
Date: 23 May 15 - 03:44 PM

Taste in humour is subjective. Personally, I don't find much of Mercers commedy funny-more annoying. But, I realize others viewpoints differ.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: gnu
Date: 23 May 15 - 07:07 PM

He has taken over Wayne Rondstat's position visiting around Canada. He does the odd "commercial". He does some silly stuff. But, his forte is biting politicians' asses and he is GOOD at it. He isn't a comedian. He can be a funny entertainer and I love that about him.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Ed T
Date: 23 May 15 - 07:25 PM

I note Mercer often does silly promotional stuff with key politcians (like skinny-dipping with Bob Rae). I liked Wayne Rondstat and his program, ( he is also a good singer, saw him live a few times in Ottawa area) . Mercer reminds me of an overtalking, smart-ass. But, again, that's just me.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: gnu
Date: 23 May 15 - 10:27 PM

"promotional"? No. He allows them a stage to be themselves. He more often ridicules them or allows them a chance to makes asses of themselves. His record is public viewing and it's a good record.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: GUEST
Date: 24 May 15 - 09:44 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Ed T
Date: 25 May 15 - 06:58 AM

I dont see it as you do, on that front, gnu. IMO, Mercers program seems staged and amateur in that front, though I admit, the promotion is in a different manner than traditional political promotion-I suspect to appeal to a younger audience.

However, I do find "This Hour"does a much better job at comedy, entertainment and at skewing politicians.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Ed T
Date: 25 May 15 - 06:59 AM

Skewing=skewering in my last post.

Subject: RE: BS: Rick Mercer interviewing some Americans.
From: Greg F.
Date: 26 May 15 - 08:51 AM

Ya think the Mercer clip was a set-up? Read This