Final Report
CBC Books | | Posted: November 1, 2018 7:41 PM | Last Updated: July 19, 2019
Rick Mercer
Rick Mercer can always be relied on to provoke a strong reaction — but what he said one fall day in 2017 truly shocked the nation. In a rant posted on social media, the great Canadian satirist announced loud and clear that the 15th season of the Rick Mercer Report — the nation's best-watched and best-loved comedy show — would be the last. After more than 250 episodes, 250 rants and countless miles spent travelling the length and breadth of Canada to do everything from bungee jumping with Rick Hansen to whale watching with Measha Brueggergosman, it was time to move on. What he will do next is still unknown, and Canada eagerly awaits future developments. But meanwhile, we have this book to keep us going.
This volume brings together never-before-published rants from the last five seasons of the show, plus a selection of the very best rants from earlier years. And throughout the book, in a series of brilliant new essays, Rick shares his hilarious, moving and at times hair-raising memories from the past 15 years. Remember when he and Jann Arden travelled by helicopter to a terrifying bat cave in a mountain? No — because that trip went so horribly wrong it never made it to the screen. Pierre Berton — what was really in that joint he rolled? (It wasn't oregano.) What catastrophe took place in Norman Jewison's bathroom? And can the show still go on when your director in charge is delirious from an allergic reaction? (Yes.) All this and more is revealed by Rick in some of his sharpest and funniest writing yet. (From Doubleday Canada)
- Rick Mercer on the bittersweet memories of filing his Final Report
- Eden Robinson, Rick Mercer & Lindsay Wong longlisted for 2019 Leacock Medal for humour
- The CBC Books winter reading list: 15 Canadian books to read this season
- 15 books for the movie & TV superfan in your life
- 15 hilarious books for the comedy lover on your list
From the book
"Will Rick be ranting?"
This was the only question Slawko Klymkiw, the CBC's director of English-language TV programming, asked when executive producer Gerald Lunz said we were moving to Toronto with plans to launch our own show.
It was the fall of 2002, and Gerald, my partner in show business and in life, assured Slawko, "Rick will be ranting."
There were no more direct questions, which is just as well because we didn't have any answers. Details were hazy. We shook hands, and just like that, we had a TV show.
From Final Report by Rick Mercer ©2018. Published by Doubleday Canada.