My Adventures in Canadian Television: An Evening with Rick Mercer

Schmoozin' at the VIP reception




Struttin' it on the Red Carpet

From the program: Rick Mercer chronicles, satirizes, and ultimately celebrates all that is great and irreverent about this country. Known as "Canada's Unofficial Opposition", Mercer is our most popular comic, a political satirist who knows exactly what matters to regular Canadians and what makes them laugh. My Adventures in Canadian Television draws on the best moments from his award-winning show, taking you behind the scenes of classic Canadian moments, including his Talking to Americans specials, and much more. On full display is his understanding of what delights and occasionally enrages us about our politicians, our media, our neighbours to the south, our unique pop culture, and our place in the world.

Official CCA Jury Memorable Moments:

Alex: "Rick Mercer jumping in the lake naked."

Greg: "When the soldiers sang the song."

Jade: "Rick Mercer jumped in a lake naked. This old man kept on hitting him in the nuts. He was just funny."

Giovanni: "The films were hilarious, I liked his jokes. I liked how he made fun of politicians."

Homage

Director Christian Barry took the Jury on a special backstage tour





From the Program: In 2005, my wife, Ann-Marie Kerr, read a Globe and Mail article about an octogenarian sculptor named Haydn Davies whose seminal work, a large scale sculpture inspired by Stonehenge and built out of laminated red Canadian cedar, had been destroyed by the college that had commissioned it 30 years prior. She suggested it might make a good play and I agreed. Over the next couple of years, Christian Barry and I visited with Haydn and his wife Eva Koller Davies on several occasions to talk about the event, and learn about their lives and about their art and aesthetics. We talked, wrote, workshopped. And then, on March 28, 2008, almost exactly one year before our production premiered, Haydn died. This play and its production are an attempt to give form to the themes that Haydn's story suggests- the interplay of form and void, art and politics, life and impermanence. In a medium that is essentially ephemeral, we're pleased that we get to tell you this story, and to keep it alive.

Official CCA Jury Memorable Moments:

Chloe: "They kissed."

Ethan: "Haydn wrecking his model."

Seth: "The crazy blood guy, when Haydn had a heart attack, when they took down the Homage sculpture."