Details from Audible:
- Written by: Rick Mercer
- Narrated by: Rick Mercer
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 2023-10-31
- Language: English
- Publisher: Doubleday Canada
- 4.9 out of 5 stars 4.9 (49 ratings)
Publisher’s Summary
THE INSTANT #1 BESTSELLER
Rick Mercer is back—again!—with the eagerly awaited sequel to his bestselling memoir
At the end of his memoir Talking to Canadians, Rick Mercer was poised to make the biggest leap yet in his extraordinary career. Having overcome a serious lack of promise as a schoolboy and risen through the showbiz ranks—as an aspiring actor, star of a surprisingly successful one-man show about the Meech Lake Accord, co-founder of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, creator and star of the dark-comedy sitcom Made in Canada—he was about to tackle his biggest opportunity yet.
The Road Years picks up the story at that exciting point, with the greenlighting of what would become Rick Mercer Report. Plans for the show, of course, included political satire and Rick’s patented rants. But Rick and his partner, Gerald Lunz, were also determined to do something that comedy tends to avoid as too challenging: they would emphasize the positive. Rick would travel from coast to coast to coast in search of everything that’s best about Canada, especially its people. He found a lot to celebrate, naturally, and was rewarded with a huge audience and a run of 15 seasons.
The Road Years tells the inside story of that stupendous success. A time when Rick was heading to another town—or military base, sports centre, national park—to try dogsledding, chainsaw carving, and bear tagging; hang from a harness (a lot); ride the “Train of Death;” plus countless other joyous and/or reckless assignments.
Added to the mix were encounters with the country’s great. Every living prime minister. Rock and roll royalty from Rush to Randy Bachman. Olympians and Paralympians. A skinny-dipping Bob Rae. And Jann Arden, of course, who gets a chapter to herself. Along the way he even found the time to visit several countries in Africa and co-found and champion the charity Spread the Net, which has gone on to protect the lives of millions.
Join the celebration, and revive a wealth of happy memories, with what is Rick Mercer’s funniest, most fascinating book yet.
©2023 Penguin Random House (P)2023 Doubleday Canada
Initial Thoughts:
Ok let’s be clear, I love Rick Mercer, he’s hilarious and knows WAY more about politics than I ever will. I think he is one of the funniest Newfoundlanders alive and I knew I would enjoy this book even before I heard it. It’s a tradition here (as is many places I’m sure) to be very proud of other Newfoundlanders who are successful/recognized in the media and I’m one of them. I have listened to all his audio books and there was never any doubt I would listen to this one. I can’t say I’ve seen everything he’s ever done but I’ve seen plenty and I always enjoyed it.
Main Points:
It’s become a real fascination for me the past few years, listening to an author read his own true stories, an autobiography told to you by the person who lived it. Luckily Mercer has plenty of stories to tell and we get some great ones here. It’s the sign of a great book when you can be laughing in one chapter and then get an important lesson on poverty and malaria in Africa in the next.
I’m not a political guy, not usually. The world got too serious/bizarre/twisted once Trump got “elected” in 2018 and I had to pull back even more than I had before. That said I do quite enjoy hearing about Canadian politics, we seem so tame compared to the US and I have always loved Mercer’s take on it. I think for me it’s also always great to hear not just a Canadian but a fellow Newfoundlander talk about how he views the world and what he feels about Canada.
The really wonderful parts of the book are not only all the behind the scenes/best of RMR stories but how he seeks the answer of a fundamental question, what does it mean to be Canadian? It’s something a lot of Canadians, at least of my generation, struggled with. For me being Canadian often just meant not American but really that’s not enough. As he says in the book it’s perhaps an impossible question to answer because what that means to me as a townie (though I have never lived in St. John’s, I’m physically close enough to say that) here in Newfoundland is completely different than a lobster fisherperson in PEI or a rancher in the prairies in Alberta or a businessperson in Vancouver, British Columbia. He suggests that maybe being Canadian is accepting that we are all very different from each but we all get along.
Final Thoughts:
In the end the other conclusion he comes with is that while he’s not sure what it means to be Canadian, he thinks that the best ones he’s met do have something in common, they believe in improving the world. I really loved this ending as it’s something I believe too. That’s what it means to be Canadian, make things better in whatever way you can. I try to spread positivity all around, I try to help those in need and I believe that if we focus on the positive the world will get better. I also felt a surge of pride when Mercer talks about how much he loves Newfoundland and it was the best place to spend the pandemic (and of course many other times) but he lives (not sure for how much of the year) in Toronto. He talks about how lucky he was to get to explore so much of Canada for the show, year after year and how it was really tough for him during the pandemic when he couldn’t travel. I felt the same way, for those who are lucky to travel it is the best thing you can do to enrich your life and make you feel more connected in the world and to those in it. I hope Rick reads this review sometime, if he does I want to say thank you for this book and I hope you keep writing forever, I’m a fan for life and I love your stories. My only small complaint is I found some chapters short and I wished there was more. A very solid 8.5 out of 10 from me. I’ll admit a full half point is just because I know so little about politics, so that’s not really Rick’s fault but did take me out of my enjoyment for a few brief moments, perhaps someone else would feel differently. I’ll think about this book for a long time and I can’t recommend it enough. There is some coarse language and mature themes, so ages 14+. I’m lucky to have Mercer as a one of my favorite Newfoundland authors, I got to see him in person this year and he was hilarious. If you ever get a chance to see him don’t hesitate, you’ll be glad you did.