He also scored huge ratings with his “Talking to Americans” comedy special. What followed was a five-season run on the sitcom Made in Canada. “A lot of people said, ‘You’re mad, why would you walk away from this?” said Mercer, “Sometimes you have to take a chance.” Mercer was 23 when 22 Minutes launched and left after eight seasons. That series returns Tuesday night for its 25th season right after the Mercer Report. “I’ve done this before,” said Mercer, who was one of the founders of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. So why walk away from the best job in television? “You don’t know how many people you might meet whose fondest dream is to fly in the back of a fighter jet,” he said. Mercer realized that he’s been living a bucket list life. “So he started explaining his bucket list to me, and I had to stop myself because everything he said, I was like, ‘Oh, you’ve got to do that! It’s great!” “This man had compiled a bucket list of, like, a hundred things that he was going to do. “He revealed to me, sadly, that he didn’t have long to live,” said Mercer. Just how lucky he’s been hit him a few years ago when he struck up a conversation with a passenger on a plane. dominanceĬBC’s fall lineup includes Alias Grace, TV’s third dose of Margaret AtwoodĬanadians are funny that way - at least that’s the myth Humour is Canada’s way of pushing back against U.S. “That’s engaged a whole bunch of young people in ways that just keeps on paying dividends,” said Mercer. He’s proud of all the money raised for causes such as the malaria-prevention “Spread the Net” campaign. He praised members of his road crew, including field producer John Marshall, who have been with him from the beginning. “You can’t get more Canadian than that.”Īll that travel left him with “luggage in my house in various stages of packed and unpacked for 15 years.” “Three coasts and a grain elevator,” said Mercer.

In rural Manitoba, he helped seniors paint a grain elevator.

coast saw him helping to release eagles into the wild. “I had nightmares for days afterwards,” he said.Ī stop on the B.C. In P.E.I., he hung off the side of the Confederation Bridge with a maintenance crew.

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