This Hour Has 22 Minutes

A Canadian satire show. Appears to be a news show but has segments and jokes based on recent events. Most of the humor is crude and offensive but a few segments are funny: Talking to Americans and Rick Mercer's rants.
The cast are: Rick Mercer, Mary Walsh, Cathy Jones, and Greg Thomey.
The Royal Canadian Air Farce are much better.

In July of this year (2001), Rick Mercer left This Hour... so that he could focus more of his attention on his newer show, the also-hilarious Made In Canada. This is kind of a shame, since Mercer was widely considered to be the sharpest member of the cast.

Starting with the Fall 2001 season, however, another of Canada's finest, Colin Mochrie, has stepped in to fill Mercer's spot. Seems like the guy's on nearly every channel these days. If you've ever seen an episode of either the Brit's Whose Line Is It Anyway?, or the American version thereof, you'll recognize the face.

Mochrie's goofy improv style of humor is obviously a big shift from Rick Mercer's more deadpan and cynical riffing, but he's still top-drawer talent, and added to the show's news satire formula you could hardly go wrong.

The reaction of most Canadians to Rick Mercer's replacement in 2001 was bittersweet. On the one hand, Mercer had become a staple of the show, and it could even be argued that its popularity was in large part due to him. On the other hand, Colin Mochrie was another highly popular Canadian comic, and it was assumed he could easily fill the rather large expectations awaiting him.

In my opinion, Mochrie's first season on 22 Minutes was almost painful to watch. This, I think, is due to the fact that he attempted to adopt Mercer's style as well as his head anchor role. His slightly more physical/slapstick talents simply couldn't emulate Mercer's sharp, cynical humour.

In this, his second season, however, Mocherie appears to have regained his momentum and seems to have found a way to fit the show while still doing comedy as he does it best.

Comparing This Hour has 22 Minutes and Royal Canadian Air Farce is unfair to both of them. 22 Minutes manages the satirical newscast extremely well, while Air Farce is good in its own right. I don't really believe vulgarity is any part of the issue; both shows are quite mild compared to contemporary television. It was also my impression that the majority of Canadians found 22 Minutes to be the more sophisticated and witty.