This Hour Has 22 Minutes

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This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics, combining news parody, sketch comedy and satirical editorials. Originally featuring Cathy Jones, Rick Mercer, Greg Thomey and Mary Walsh, the series featured satirical sketches of the weekly news and Canadian political events. The show's format is a mock news program, intercut with comic sketches, fake commercials and humorous interviews of public figures.

Its name is a parody of This Hour Has Seven Days, a CBC newsmagazine from the 1960s; the "22 Minutes" refers to the fact that a half-hour television program is actually 22 minutes long to make room for commercials.

Jones and Walsh had previously worked together on the sketch comedy series CODCO, on which Thomey sometimes appeared as a guest. Mercer had been a notable young writer and performer on his own, touring several successful one-man shows of comedic political commentary.

Salter Street Films produced the series until the 2003-2004 season. Salter Street was acquired by in 2001 by Alliance Atlantis, and production of the series was transferred directly to Alliance Atlantis in the twelfth season. As of 2005, Halifax Film Company produces the show.

Recognized with 24 Gemini Awards, 22 Minutes is broadcast on the CBC Television network. It is taped before a studio audience in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The show airs Friday at 8:30pm on CBC.

Contents

Cast

Cathy Jones (1993- ) as anchor Sydney Dubizzenchyk (a reference to former CBC anchor Tina Srebotnjak, who had become the host of Midday in 1992) and various correspondents and sketch characters

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Shaun Majumder (replaced Colin Mochrie from 2003- ) as anchor Tucker T. Bartlett and various correspondents and sketch characters.
Mark Critch (recurring member from 2003-05; replaced Greg Thomey from 2005- ), as anchor Bas MacLaren (in homage to two well-known Newfoundland radio announcers, Bas Jamieson and George MacLaren) and various sketch characters.
Gavin Crawford (guest starred 2003-04; replaced Mary Walsh from 2004- ), as anchor Gavin Cooper and various sketch characters.

Note: As of 2006, the anchor character names are rarely if ever used, and in many cases the anchors will refer to themselves by their real names.

Former members

Rick Mercer (1993-2001) as anchor J.B. Dixon and various correspondents and sketch characters. Mercer left the show to devote more time to Made in Canada; after that show ended he launched Rick Mercer Report, a series very similar to 22 Minutes and Comedy Central's The Daily Show.
Colin Mochrie (replaced Rick Mercer from 2001-2003) as anchor Anthony St. George and various correspondents and sketch characters. Mochrie left the show after two seasons to pursue his own projects and other movie roles. Mochrie guest starred on the January 27th, 2006 episode.
Mary Walsh (1993-2004) as anchor Molly McGuire and various correspondents and sketch characters. Walsh appeared less often in season 11 and left the series to pursue her film career and also continue to host [[Mary Walsh: Open Book]], a CBC series in which she moderates a celebrity panel discussing books and literature.
Greg Thomey (1993-2005) as anchor Frank MacMillan and various correspondents and sketch characters. Thomey appeared less often in season 12. Thomey no longer appears on 22 Minutes as of 2006.

Subsitute anchors/Special correspondents

Substitute News anchors on the series are people who "guest star" on the series for when series regulars are away (from Season 10 onwards).

Mark Farrell - (February 1999)
Jonathan Torrens - (September/October 2002)
Dan Joffre - (February 2003)
Jenifer Robertson - (November & December 2003)
Kathy Greenwood - (October & November 2004-)
Geri Hall - (October & November 2004)
Shauna MacDonald - (October 2005 - November 2005)
Tracy Dawson - March 10, 2006

Regular characters and segments

Talking to Americans'': Rick Mercer tours the United States, talking to Americans as if from a Canadian news program, asking them about "Canadian issues." The object is to prove how little Americans know about their northern neighbours. The piece was so popular that the CBC had Mercer create a one-hour TV special based on the segment. It became the highest rated comedy special in Canadian television history when it aired on Canada Day, 2001. Some truly memorable bits include Rick Mercer getting Americans to say "Congratulations Canada on legalizing VCRs!" and getting a professor at Princeton University to sign a petition against the re-starting of the Annual Toronto Polar Bear Hunt. In an election 2000 segment, he convinced then-Governor of Texas George W. Bush that Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien was named Jean Poutine and that he was supporting Bush's candidacy. The success of the CBC special got Mercer attention on numerous American media outlets, including ABC News Nightline. Mercer abandoned the concept after Sept. 11, 2001.
No Pun Intended: is a Ludacris-ish Indian rapper played by Shaun Majumder.
Babe Bennett: A 22 Minutes "sexual affairs correspondent" played by Cathy Jones, Babe is a sassy suffragette, 1940s style, who talks about sexual matters. She ends each segment by saying "I'm just goofin' around, that's all!"

Mary Walsh as "Marg Princess Warrior" alongside politician, now Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.

Marg Delahunty: Mary Walsh crashes press conferences, hosts a "sleepover" for the nation's leading female (and gay) politicians, and threatens to "smite" the likes of politicians as "Marg Princess Warrior" (a loose parody of [[Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena]]).
Mark Jackson: a teenage correspondent that talks to politicians who is played by Gavin Crawford. (The character is carried over from The Gavin Crawford Show.)
Bas MacLaren: a 22 Minutes correspondent portrayed by Mark Critch. He talks to politicians about current events and is also one of the 22 Minutes anchors.

Miss Enid in a park.

Misses Enid & Eulalia: Two elderly women who talk about daily events (portrayed by Cathy Jones and Mary Walsh, respectively). Upon Walsh's departure from the show, Jones has appeared alone as Miss Enid. (The characters were normally introduced as "the Misses Enid and Eulalia", meaning "Miss Enid and Miss Eulalia", but this was frequently misunderstood by viewers as "Mrs. Enid" and "Eulalia" without an honorific.)
Streeters, aka The Rant: a weekly commentary on current events and political issues which quickly became the show's most famous feature by Rick Mercer in black and white presentations. This segment was later used in colour presentations on the Rick Mercer Report series. ([Streeters clip])

Max Pointy - A spoof of CBC personality Rex Murphy's political commentaries for The National, performed by Colin Mochrie. Max would start off with a legitimate political issue but end up on an unrelated and generally inane point by the end of his rant, much like the real Rex Murphy.
That Show Sucked! with Ma and Eddie Reardon (portrayed by Mary Walsh & Greg Thomey) who make fun of TV shows, with Ma saying that whatever show that Eddie watches "Suck" and constantly demanding that he give her "the G.D. clickerbox".
The Quinlan Quints - four quintuplets (the fifth one went missing and has never been found) who live in Buchans, Newfoundland and Labrador; portrayed by Cathy Jones, Rick Mercer, Greg Thomey and Mary Walsh (Colin Mochrie plays Mercer's quint role for seasons 9 and 10).
Inside Media Counterspin - Cathy Jones is the host of this talk show that includes two quests. An example is a Newfoundlander and a media professer. Cathy Jones then makes fun of the regular person. Example Newfoundlander.

Crawford's characters

Stuart McLean: Based on the CBC personality.

Uwe Meyer: a fashion correspondent that Gavin Crawford portrays. (The character is carried over from The Gavin Crawford Show.)

Critch's characters

Rex Murphy: Based on the CBC personality.

Jones' characters

The Campbell Files: With Sandy Campbell who talks about the entertainment industry

Joe Crow: An Aboriginal environmental "correspondent" who talks about the environment and the Canadian government's relation with Native peoples.

Majumder's characters

Raj Binder: a sweaty soft-spoken Indian sports nerd portrayed by Shaun Majumder, who has also been used as a behind-the-scenes interviewer on Just For Laughs. ([View Raj's Website])

Ian Hanomansing: Based on the CBC personality.

Mercer's characters

Billyatropia Smithopolis: An outstanding Canadian sports athlete

Mochrie's characters

Max Pointy: Based on CBC radio personality Rex Murphy

Peter Mansbridge: Used in Mansbridge One on One parody skits, where "Peter" has insightful interviews with himself.

Thomey's characters

Jerry Boyle: a Newfoundland separatist whose campaign slogan is "If you can mark an X, you're my kind of people!" The character was created as a recurring character on CODCO.

Ottawa Gargoyle: A gargoyle who sits on top of the Parliament buildings and satirizes politicians, occasionally throwing hot oil on them.

Walsh's characters

Connie Bloor: A 22 Minutes Prairie correspondent played by Mary Walsh, who reports from a donut shop. Introduced in each segment by the line: "She's flat as the prairies and twice as wide," she wears a tuque and earmuffs, and her speech is punctuated with a series of snorts. One of her recurring gags involves feeding paper printouts of celebrities and politicians through a paper shredder.

Dakey Dunn: A 22 Minutes "Male Correspondent" played by Mary Walsh, replete with gold chain, hairy chest, cigarette and beer, who regularly lays out a macho view of economic and cultural matters. This character was earlier used in the CODCO series. Dakey also once accosted Margaret Atwood at a book signing, reciting one of her most famous poems over and over again.

Other memorable segments

Rick Mercer and then-Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien at a Harvey's fast food restaurant.

1997 - Greg Thomey puts Paul Martin in a headlock.
1997-98 - Rick Mercer goes to eat at a Harvey's fast food restaurant with Jean Chrétien
1998 - Rick Mercer parodies Canadian figure skater Elvis Stojko's groin injury at the 1998 Winter Olympics, his status as spokesman for McCain, and his appearance in an infamously ineffectual anti-tobacco advertisement. Mercer received backlash for what some considered a harsh depiction of Stojko.
1999-2000- such luminaries as Walter Cronkite put Greg Thomey in a "celebrity headlock"
2000 - Rick Mercer and many prominent members of the Canadian House of Commons lip sync to Trooper's "Raise A little Hell" on Parliament Hill to promote voting in the 2000 federal election. [View Clip]
2000 - Rick Mercer proposes a referendum to make Stockwell Day change his first name to Doris, after actress Doris Day.
2001 - Rick Mercer spoofs on Rahim Jaffer and performs a rap based on Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady", with the lyrics "Will the real Rahim Jaffer please stand up?"
2001-02 - Colin Mochrie's Christmas at Parliament-- Twas' the Night before Christmas is re-interpreted by MPs, often airing out their partisan complaints about Paul Martin's 2002 budget
2003 - Chrétien announces that Marg Princess Warrior (Mary Walsh) had decided to run for the Liberal leadership
2002-03 - Misses Enid (Cathy Jones) and Eulalia (Mary Walsh) visit and talk to Paul Martin
2002-03 - Colin Mochrie's ["Apology to America"]

Mark Critch (left), Carolyn Parrish (right) and a Bush doll, in a skit that led to her dismissal from the Liberal caucus.

2003 - [22 Minutes's Viagra parody]
2003-04 - Conservative party leadership candidate Belinda Stronach lipsmacks Mark Critch, Marg Princess Warrior (Mary Walsh) does the same to Stephen Harper, the eventual winner of the Tory leadership.
2004-05 - Mark Critch visits MP Carolyn Parrish, who stomped on a George W. Bush doll and performed voodoo on its head. The ensuing flap still hasn't ended, even with Parrish's dismissal from caucus. [View clip]
2004-05 - The real Stuart McLean confronts Gavin Crawford about Gavin's impression of him. [view clip]
2004-05 - Mark Jackson (Crawford) goes behind the scenes on the Canadian Idol auditions with Ben Mulroney. [view video clip]
2005-06 - Mark Jackson (Crawford) auditioning for Much Music's VJ search. [View Clip]

Famous stunts

Jean Poutine

1999-2000 - During the American election campaign of 2000, Rick Mercer approached Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush on a campaign stop in Michigan, asking for comment on the news that Bush had received the endorsement of Canadian prime minister "Jean Poutine". (The then-prime minister's name was Jean Chrétien, and he had certainly not endorsed Bush.)

Bush accepted the endorsement with a short and grateful speech to the 22 Minutes cameras, which aired as part of the show's regular Talking to Americans feature. In his first official visit to Canada four years later, he joked that his "one regret" about the visit was that he'd "hoped" to meet Jean Poutine." [View the clip]

Stockwell/Doris petition

2000-01 - Often cited as the show's best joke, the sketch was aired during the 2000 federal election campaign, and consisted of a staged rant by Rick Mercer.

When former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day ran for Prime Minister of Canada, he proposed a mechanism to call for a referendum. A petition on any particular subject which gathered at least 350,000 signatures of voting age citizens ("3% of the electors"), would automatically trigger a national referendum.

Mercer's "rant" asked viewers to log on to the 22 Minutes website, and sign an online petition asking the party leader to change his name to Doris Day (after the singer/actress). Producers claim to have obtained in excess of 1,200,000 online votes. This was cheerfully admitted to be a stunt unhampered by the rigours of an Elections Canada-controlled petition. Although the skit had no effect on Alliance policy, it did obtain international publicity for the show and contributed to the general air of farce surrounding Day's election campaign. Day did, however, have a very appropriate response to the petition: "Que sera, sera."

Oilers vs Canadiens

Raj Binder (Shaun Majumder) at the old timers game

2003-04 - Shaun Majumder (as "Raj Binder," bottom left corner) was sent to report on the 2003 outdoors Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens old timers game, preceding the night's actual NHL regular season game, which was the first NHL game to be played outdoors (at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton). Raj actually sneaked into all the team photos, causing uproar from the event's unwitting organizers in the days after, when the photos were released to the press. [view clip]

Mark Jackson Blog

A blog made by Gavin Crawford for the 2006 election.

Specials

This Hour Has 22 Minutes New Year's Special '98

22 Minutes' 100th Episode Spectacular - (1997)
[[This Hour Has 22 Minutes: News Year '98|22 Minutes New Years '98 Special]] - (1998)
22 Minutes Direct Hits - (1999)
[[This Hour Has 22 Minutes: Holiday Special 2000|22 Minutes Holiday Special]] - (2000)
Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans - (2001)
[[This Hour Has 22 Minutes: New Years '02|22 Minutes New Years '02 Special]] - (2002)
[[This Hour Has 22 Minutes: The Best of Cathy Jones and Mark Critch|22 Minutes: The Best of Cathy Jones and Mark Critch]] - (2005)
[[This Hour Has 22 Minutes: 2006 Election Special]] - (2006)

External links

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