The head and heart of Heidi Brander

For six seasons Heidi Brander has been satirizing the world of Canadian politics from the writers' room of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. As the new season approaches she has a new title to match: Head Writer. 

This is the story of how she got there and what she intends to do now. 

In the beginning, Brander first overheard that the long-running CBC show was hiring while she was backstage at a comedy show. 

"In 2012 I got laid off from my day job, but I had three or four months severance. Then I just really put my nose to the grindstone."  

That hard work paid off, and Brander landed an opportunity with the show. 

"I flew to Halifax for like a three-week trial it was super, super competitive. At the exact same time they hired me, they hired another male writer and we were both like, 'There can only be one.' They ended up keeping both of us."

A short writing stint on 22 Minutes had become somewhat of a right of passage in comedy, but Brander was driven by a goal of longevity and set to work on developing her voice. 

"When I came into the writers' room, I really didn't know anything about politics. A couple of days before I flew to Halifax in 2013, I had dinner with my friend who works in politics and he wrote me a grid of who the leaders and major players and were what their deal was. I came in my first day with a literal cheat sheet."

However, as the new season approaches, Brander has a strong grasp on the political landscape, despite how it has changed since she started. 

"Politics is kind of like a soap opera. You really have to have followed it to get it. It's hard to just jump in because there's so many threads that have been unraveling for so long."

"The stakes are a lot higher now. It used to be a lot easier to make fun of things but now whenever you make fun of things you get a lot more backlash. There's a lot more fighting; everyone's a lot angrier about politics these days."

Staying current and understanding the task at hand are the cornerstones to Brander's approach to her new role.

"I'm very good at writing for this show. What I mean by that is you can be the funniest person in the world writing for yourself, but at the end of the day they've hired you to write jokes for this show that's been on the air for 27 seasons."

While 22 Minutes is known for being a high-pressure environment, Brander has found herself thriving.

"I don't think I'm the funniest person, but I think I work really really hard. If you tell me to write a joke about something and you give me five minutes, I'll always come up with the best joke I can," says Brander.

"If I have a deadline I'll always get it done. It's always crazy to me when people let opportunities pass them by. When new writers come into the room and I give them an hour and they only return with two jokes on a topic... I don't really understand, I don't love laziness."

Inspiration 

Brander says one of the art forms that has shaped her sense of humour is drag, and says her favourite moment from last season of 22 Minutes was getting to play Michelle Visage in a sketch she wrote about RuPaul's Drag Race. 

"I love going to drag shows, a lot of my best friends are drag queens. I used to be in a band called The Cheeto Girls with two other drag queens and we used to write song parodies. That was actually another way I was able to stick around at 22 because I had a lot of experience with that." 

I like super campy humour, I really love queer culture and drag culture. Sometimes I'll write jokes for the show that no one will get because they're super-specific Bob Fosse references.

Despite understanding the importance of writing material relevant to 22 Minutes, Brander admits the best moments are when her personal sense of humour works for the show. 

"I like super campy humour, I really love queer culture and drag culture. Sometimes I'll write jokes for the show that no one will get because they're super-specific Bob Fosse references."

Changes

While Brander herself has a new role this season, so does Mike Allison, who has been promoted to the position of showrunner.

"He's completely rebranded the show, the look of it is going to be completely different. I've seen some previews of it and it looks amazing. We're going to just take bigger bites into things."

Brander and Allison have written together for many seasons and are excited to work on the new direction they have developed together. 

"We are over trying to do a million things at once. Especially in an election year. There's so much going on, there is a new focus... we're going to let the show breathe."

This Hour Has 22 Minutes airs Tuesday nights on CBC, and is available to stream now on CBC Gem.