Mercer's Success 'Made In Canada'
The Toronto Sun, October 5, 1999
By Claire Bickley
Monday night, Rick Mercer goes back to biting the show business that feeds him.
"You know, I don't know if I'm mocking it or if it's a slap in the face with a velvet glove," the actor-writer says of Made In Canada, his satirical series set at a film and TV production company.
Made In Canada had a six-episode run last season and returns Monday night at 8:30 with 13 fresh shows. The action still revolves around the ups and downs of Mercer's character, power-hungry production executive Richard Strong and his co-workers.
When last seen, Richard had crashed hard, having caused his company Pyramid Productions to be embarrassed on national TV and having been caught doing the dog thing on the boardroom table with his bosses' nubile daughter -- all on the same night. As the story resumes, Richard has sunk about as low as he can go -- exiled from Pyramid, he's toiling on a low-budget TV puppet show -- but it won't be long before he claws his way back to the near-top.
Also returning are Peter Keleghan as Pyramid's often-distracted boss Alan, whose concerns this season include failed pectoral implants, the repercussions of shaving private parts and a rivalry with Moses Znaimer that dates back to their time together as singing cowboy waiters.
Leah Pinsent is Pyramid's unflappable executive Veronica, who may be the most quietly ruthless of them all and who is not planning on adopting a houseful of foreign orphans no matter what rumours Richard is spreading. Dan Lett plays giddy brown-noser Victor, Ron James is Richard's long-suffering brother-in-law Raymond, Emily Hampshire is Alan's daughter Siobhan and star of Pyramid's insipid period series Beaver Creek, and Alex Carter is back as the doofus lead in their Sword Of Damacles, now demanding the chance to direct, insisting, "I could be the next Alfred Hiscock."
First-season buzz and a chance to lampoon their own industry attracted guest stars galore: Margot Kidder (whose niece Janet is a regular as one of Pyramid's junior execs) as a screaming diva; Codco's Andy Jones, hilarious as a German TV executive who's hoping Beaver Creek is like Dawson's Creek -- only dirtier; Sarah Polley as a cult leader; and Maury Chaykin as Capt. McGee, a pre-school entertainer caught in a sex scandal. Appearing as themselves are Znaimer, Kiefer Sutherland, Evan Solomon, Peter Gzowski, Ann Medina and legendary showbiz publicist Gino Empry. Bruce Gray, Albert Schultz, Peter Donaldson, Sheila McCarthy and R.H. Thomson also guest.
Mercer considers landing Znaimer, who will deliver Richard's end-of-season comeuppance, his biggest coup. "It was a bit of a gamble," he says, of writing a script so specific it would have had to be thrown out if Znaimer had declined. But the guru-esque broadcaster bought into the joke, allowing the show to film in his CHUM/CITY inner sanctum this summer.
"It was total pandemonium in there because Puff Daddy was there at the same time. So, Puff Daddy's posse was there and there was security and there were screaming teenagers. We were just one of many shows being shot at the time because of course there's always 16 different shows being shot there."
Should you think you recognize anyone else in Made In Canada, such as some real Canadian show business executives and stars disguised in its characters, well, that's for Mercer to know and you to try to figure out.
"You know, I'll take all of that to my grave. I'm not a fool. It's all speculation, anyone's guess," he says.
So far, no one who thought he saw himself in the show's first season storylines has given Mercer the you'll-never-eat-lunch-in-this-town-again treatment.
"No. I've had people talk about how their boss is portrayed in the show and their boss hates my guts. And then of course, he'll come over and say, 'Hi! Love your show!' It's show business after all. No one tells the truth to your face."
After Made In Canada was in the can, Mercer was back at work on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, which also begins a new season this Monday. Specifically, he was back to taking advantage of the limited current affairs knowledge of Americans.
"I went to Mt. Rushmore and told them that a Canadian mining company had the rights to mine the mountain and they were looking for plutonium in the presidents' heads," he reports. "They bought it hook, line and sinker. I also told them we're expecting thousands and thousands of Americans to come up to Canada to celebrate the millennium because in Canada, New Year's Eve falls on American Thanksgiving. They said (things like), 'Oh, really, well my daughter is coming home on Thanksgiving so I don't know.'"