Talking to Americans

Canadian TV is has a pretty poor reputation, but there’s one notable exception: Rick Mercer’s Talking to Americans., which is a regular feature on the show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Now, this might not seem so amusing to some residents of the US, but to us Canadians, the funniest thing in the world is poking fun at how little Americans seem to know about our country, despite being our closest neighbours.

Talking to Americans has been on for a while, and this is only a small sampling of the funny things Mercer has gotten Americans to say. Other gags:

  • Mercer telling Chicagoans that Canada was thinking of changing its name to Chicago and asking them what they thought of the idea
  • Getting Americans to say that Edmonton should be bombed (A particular favourite of mine since Edmonton is the Shelbyville to my hometown, Calgary.)
  • Asking Americans if they thought Canada should get a Navy even though its landlocked.
  • Getting Americans to congratulate Irish Canadians on finally gaining the right to vote.
  • Convincing Americans that during the past 30 years, Canadians used branches and pine cones as voting tokens in elections.