This Hour Has 22 Minutes

22 Minutes logo

This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a Canadian television comedy. Begun in 1993, 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 and humorous interviews of public figures. Its name is a parody of This Hour Has Seven Days, a CBC newsmagazine from the sixties.

The show will return for its twelfth season in October 2004. Salter Street Films produced the series until the 2003-2004 season. Alliance Atlantis will now produce it.

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.

Mary Walsh, Greg Thomey, Cathy Jones & Rick Mercer dances at the end of This Hour Has 22 Minutes News Year '98 Special

Cast

Cathy Jones (1993- ) as anchor Sydney Dubizzenchyk and various correspondents and sketch characters
Shaun Majumder (2003- ) as anchor Tucker T. Bartlett and various correspondents and sketch characters
Greg Thomey (1993- ) as anchor Frank MacMillan and various correspondents and sketch characters
Mark Critch (2003- ), as anchor Bas MacLaren and various sketch characters. He was introduced in late Season 10 as a correspondent
Gavin Crawford (as guest, 2003- ), as anchor Gavin Cooper and various characters. His first debut was on the third episode of season 11

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's Monday Report, a series very similar to 22 Minutes.
Colin Mochrie (2001-2003) as anchor Antony St. George and various correspondents and sketch characters. Mochrie replaced Rick Mercer, and left the show after two seasons to pursue his own projects and other movie roles.
Mary Walsh (1993-2004) as anchor Molly McGuire and various correspondents and sketch characters. Walsh appeared less often in season 11, pursuing her flourishing film career, but is dividing her time in season 12. She appeared occasionally on 22 Minutes, but is presumed to have filmed all remaining episodes in her contract. She also hosts Mary Walsh: Open Book, a CBC series in which she moderates a celebrity panel discussing books and literature.

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.
Babe Bennett - A 22 Minutes "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!"
Marg Delahunty - Mary Walsh as a loose parody of Xena, 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".
Uwe Meyer - a Designer and Fashion Consultant. Portrayed by Gavin Crawford, this character was earlier used on The Gavin Crawford Show.
Bas MacLaren - is a 22 Minutes corespondent which is portrayed by Mark Critch. He talks to politicians about their current events and is also one of the 22 Minutes anchors.
Mrs. Enid & Eulalia - two elderly women who talk about daily events (portrayed by Cathy Jones and Mary Walsh)
Raj Binder - a Hindi sports nerd portrayed by Shaun Majumder
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's Monday Report series.
Billyatropia Smithopolis - the outstanding Canadian sports athlete portrayed by Rick Mercer
Dakey Dunn - A 22 Minutes "Male Correspondent" played by Mary Walsh, replete with gold chain, hairy chest, cigarette and beer, who might explain the dilemma of the "Friday Night Girls" -- in one monologue, Dakey admits to not completing high school and, in crude English, lays out a machismo view of economic and cultural matters as if himself in command of Newfiedom. This character was earlier used in the CODCO series.
Jerry Boyle - a Newfoundland separatist whose campaign slogan is "If you can mark an X, you're my kind of people!", portrayed by Greg Thomey (who also played Boyle as a recurring guest on CODCO)
Joe Crow - an aboriginal environmental "Correspondent" who talks about the environment, portrayed by Cathy Jones
Mansbridge One on One - Colin Mochrie as journalist Peter Mansbridge in a spoof of Mansbridge's CBC Newsworld program Mansbridge One on One, where "Peter" has insightful interviews with himself.
Max Pointy - A spoof of the CBC's Rex Murphy's political commentary 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.
Ottawa Gargoyle - Greg Thomey also portrays this character who is a gargoyle who sits on top of the Parliament Buildings and satirizes politicians, occasionally throwing hot oil on them.
That Show Sucked! with Ma and Eddie Reardon who make fun of TV shows, with Ma saying that whatever show that Edddie watches "Suck" (portrayed by Mary Walsh & Greg Thomey)
The Campbell Files with Sandy Campbell (portrayed by Cathy Jones) who talks about the entertainment industry
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).

Other memorable segments

Comedian Rick Mercer and then-Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chretien at a Harvey's

1997-98 - Rick Mercer going out to eat at Harveys with Jean Chrétien
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 Canadian federal election
2001 - Rick Mercer spoofed on Rahim Jaffer and performed 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) visits and talks to Paul Martin
2002-03 - Colin Mochrie's "Apology to America"
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.

Famous stunts

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.

Stockwell/Doris petition

2000-01 - Often cited as the show's best joke. The sketch was aired during the federal election campaign in 2000, 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 100,000 signatures of voting age citizens, 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." View Video Clip

Oilers vs Canadiens

Raj Binder 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. 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.

Specials

22 Minutes New Years '98 Special - (1998)
22 Minutes Direct Hits - (1999)
22 Minutes Holiday Special - (2000)
22 Minutes: Rick Mercer's Talking To Americans - (2001)
22 Minutes New Years '02 Special - (2002)

Origin of Name

This Hour Has 22 Minutes takes its title from the controversial CBC newsmagazine This Hour Has Seven Days, which ran from 1964 to 1966, and from the fact that a typical half-hour television program actually only lasts twenty-two minutes (the remaining eight minutes being, of course, commercials).

External links