Talking to Americans (2001)

Comedian Rick Mercer shows up Americans' near complete ignorance of Canada.

Director:

Geoff D'Eon

Writers:

Luciano Casimiri, Mark Farrell

Stars:

Rick Mercer, Louie Anderson, George W. Bush

Cast

Credited cast:
Rick Mercer	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Louie Anderson	...	Himself
George W. Bush	...	Himself
Al Gore	...	Himself
Letha Hadady	...	Herself
David Hasselhoff	...	Himself
Jerry Springer

Storyline

In this show, comedian Rick Mercer pokes fun at the great Canadian irritation that while Canadians know so much about the United States, Americans on the other hand, know next to nothing about Canada. In response, Rick Mercer conducts interviews in which he asks Americans, ranging from ordinary citizens to politicians, their opinion about patently ridiculous statements about Canada and records their unquestioningly ignorant responses.

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Plot Keywords:

canada | interview | ignorance | tv special | usa | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 March 2001 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Talking to Americans

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Island Edge Inc., Salter Street Films International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

46 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This TV special attracted 2.7 million Canadian viewers making it the highest rated comedy special in the history of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Quotes

American: Congratulations, Canada on getting a second area code.

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Connections

References Canada: A People's History (2000)

User Reviews

Silliness that caught on

A little harmless fun. Some segment are hilarious. I want to see all the outtakes, though. The only real danger here is assuming that this program has a point. Consider how it started:

Rick Mercer: Talking to Americans -- the segment --came about like Cornflakes. It was an accident that happened in the lab. We were down in Washington, D.C. We were shooting and I had kind of run out of things to do. We'd gone to the White House and goofed around at the Canadian Embassy. We just had some time to kill.

There were other news people there asking questions about important matters of the day. So I just started doing the same thing. I started talking to them about the Benmergui Clinton Summit. Should it be called the Benmergui Clinton Summit, or the Clinton Benmergui Summit?

I didn't know if the piece would have legs or not, but it sure did. The response has been phenomenal.

(from radio.cbc.ca)