After 10 years of ranting on the air, Rick Mercer is pushing his opinions on the page.
The comedian has been doing the Rick Mercer Report for about a decade now, which famously includes a weekly rant.
"I can count on one hand for the past five years the times I've beat myself up finding something to rant about. There's lots to rant about," Mercer said in an interview.
In A Nation Worth Ranting About, Mercer compiles a collection of rants from the past few years, as well as a few articles he's had published, and some new essays. Sitting in a bar in east-end Toronto, he says the goal, obviously, is to be funny whenever possible.
"It can be about the PM or it can be about winter drivers. A good rant just has to come from the rant place, quite often an angry place," Mercer says. "And I can be angry about lots of stuff, not just the prime minister."
His rant following the death of Jamie Hubley, a gay teen who was bullied and took his own life, is one that Mercer highlights among his most important. While he says he doesn't necessarily have an absolute favourite, he was happy the Hubley rant got so much attention, blew up on YouTube and received a ton of media coverage.
"If I could choose any rant to go viral, or if I could choose any rant that teachers would bring into classrooms, it would be the Jamie Hubley rant."
He says he's glad the Rick Mercer Report has turned into a family show, even though it started out as a show for adults.
"We're lucky to have stumbled onto a show that university students watch, but also kids watch, and their parents watch. It's the holy grail in TV; people are always looking to do that.
"I didn't set out to do that."
A Nation Worth Ranting About is available today, which coincides with the start of the next season of the Rick Mercer Report on CBC-TV.
