|
Talking To Americans was a regular feature presented by Rick Mercer on the Canadian political satire show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. It was later spun off into a one-hour special that aired on April 1, 2001 on CBC Television. Rick Mercer Richard Vincent Mercer (born October 17, 1969 in St. ...
Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. ...
Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ...
This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a Canadian television comedy, which airs on CBC Television. ...
April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ...
2001: A Space Odyssey. ...
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a Canadian crown corporation, is the countrys national radio and television broadcaster. ...
It consisted of interviewing Americans on the street and convincing them to agree with ridiculous statements about its northern neighbour. The intent was to satirise perceived American ignorance of Canada. Examples included:
- persuading Americans to congratulate Canada on legalizing VCRs or adopting the twenty-four-hour day,
- various political controversies involving one or more Canadian states,
- congratulating the Canadian government on building a dome over its "national igloo" (apparently a downsized version of the United States Capitol made out of ice) to protect it from global warming,
- agreeing that the U.S. should bomb Saskatchewan or send ground troops into Gilles Duceppe,
- proposing the idea that a Canadian company actually had the mining rights to Mount Rushmore,
- congratulating Canada for officially joining North America,
- controversy around the reconstruction of the historic "Peter Mann's Bridge", named after "Prime Minister Peter Mann" (actually a pun on the name of Canadian journalist Peter Mansbridge),
- asking if Jean Chrétien-Pinochet should be charged with crimes against humanity,
- asking Harvard students and professors to sign a petition asking Canadians to discontinue the practice of abandoning the elderly on ice floes,
- congratulating Prime Minister Tim Horton on getting a double-double (a coffee with two creams and two sugars or, according to Mercer, 'support on both sides of Congress'),
- the coronation of Svend Robinson as King Svend I,
- wishing Canadians a "Happy Stockwell Day"
In fact, some of the Americans interviewed seemed just to be playing along, although professors at distinguished American universities always seemed to be taken in by absurdities like the Saskatchewan seal hunt. The only Americans who were shown outsmarting Mercer were a university student who spends her time laughing at him, and a small child who pointed out to his mother that Canada has provinces, not states. The video cassette recorder (or VCR, less popularly video tape recorder) is a type of video tape recorder that uses removable cassettes containing magnetic tape to record audio and video from a television broadcast so it can be played back later. ...
A state is an organized political community, occupying a territory, and possessing internal and external sovereignty, which successfully claims the monopoly of the use of force. ...
Igloo An igloo (Inuktitut iglu / áƒá’¡á“—, house), translated sometimes as snowhouse, is a shelter constructed from blocks of snow, generally in the form of a dome. ...
United States Capitol The United States Capitol is the US capitol building, that serves as home for Congress, the legislative branch of the United States federal government. ...
Frozen Waterfall in the Rhön mountains A natural, 4 tonne, block of ice on a beach in Iceland Ice can refer any of the 14 known solid phases of water. ...
Motto: Multis E Gentibus Vires (Latin: From many peoples, strength) Official languages English (but legally required to provide some services in French) Capital Regina Largest city Saskatoon Lieutenant-Governor Lynda M. Haverstock Premier Lorne Calvert (NDP) Parliamentary representation - House seat - Senate seats 14 6 Area Total • Land • Water (% of total...
Gilles Duceppe Gilles Duceppe, M.P. (born July 22, 1947 in Montreal) is a Quebec nationalist and social democratic politician in Canada. ...
This article is the current U.S. Collaboration of the Week. ...
World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...
Peter Mansbridge Peter Mansbridge (born July 6, 1948) is a Canadian journalist and anchor of The National, CBC Televisions flagship nightly newscast. ...
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien, PC, QC, BA, LL.L, LL.D (born January 11, 1934) was the twentieth Prime Minister of Canada, serving from November 4, 1993, to December 12, 2003. ...
General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military dictatorship that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. ...
Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ...
Look up Petition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A petition is a request to an authority, most commonly a government official or public entity. ...
Tim Horton was born in Cochrane,Ontario and grew up playing hockey in the small leagues of northern Ontario at the age of five. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of words mainly used in Canadian English. ...
Svend Robinson Svend Johannes Robinson (born March 4, 1952) is a Canadian politician and prominent activist for gay rights. ...
Hon. ...
The most famous segment, aired in 2000, featured Mercer asking then-presidential candidate George W. Bush – who had previously stated that "you can't stump me on world leaders" – for his reaction to an endorsement by Canadian Prime Minister "Jean Poutine", as well as to report the "traditional visit to the US" of the "King of Canada", Lucien Bonhomme. This is a list of television-related events in 2000. ...
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States. ...
Stephen Harper is the current Prime Minister of Canada. ...
Poutine (pronounced, roughly, poo-TEEN, or peuh-TSEEN; exact Quebecer pronunciation is IPA — listen to it in . ...
Bush said he looked forward to working together with his future counterpart to the north, praised his support of free trade, and looked forward to the King's visit. That said, Bush never actually used the name of Poutine and only failed to correct Mercer on the name. A few years later when Bush made his first official visit to Canada, he said during a speech, "There's a prominent citizen who endorsed me in the 2000 election, and I wanted a chance to finally thank him for that endorsement. I was hoping to meet Jean Poutine." Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ...
The special was a co-production between Island Edge Inc and Salter Street Films. It made news on both sides of the border. Island Edge Inc is a Canadian television production company founded by Rick Mercer and Gerald Lunz in 1998. ...
Salter Street Films was a Canadian television and movie production company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. ...
Although the show received Gemini Award nominations, Rick Mercer thought it would be inappropriate to make fun of American-Canadian relations so close to the events of September 11, 2001 and requested that the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television pull the nominations. The Gemini Awards are an annual awards ceremony in Canada. ...
Rick Mercer Richard Vincent Mercer (born October 17, 1969 in St. ...
The World Trade Center on fire The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. ...
See also
Jay Walking is a pre-recorded segment from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (The name is a play on the hosts name and the illegal practice of jaywalking). ...
Jay Leno (born April 28, 1950) is an American comedian of Italian and Scottish extraction who is best known as the host of the long-running NBC television variety and talk show The Tonight Show. ...
External links - CBC Television - Talking To Americans
- IMDB: Talking to Americans
- Stephenville: Talking to Americans
|
Feeds |
Contact