Rick Mercer’s new memoir, The Road Years, picks up where his previous memoir, Talking to Canadians, left off – as he was about to tackle his biggest opportunity yet.

At the end of his memoir Talking to Canadians, Rick Mercer was poised to make the biggest leap yet in his extraordinary career, after 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, and creator and star of the dark-comedy sitcom Made in Canada.

The Road Years picks up the story at that exciting point, with the greenlighting of what would become the 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 n 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. He truly is a gifted writer, which complements his wonderful gift of gab. Pick this one up for yourself, or as a gift for one of Rick’s many adoring fans.

Read an excerpt.

Available from Penguin Random House

Rick Mercer is Canada’s sharpest and funniest political satirist. He first came to fame with Show Me the Button I’ll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die, a one-man show that toured across Canada. He co-created and was a resident performer on CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and was the host of The Rick Mercer Report, the Corporation’s highest-rated comedy show, for fifteen seasons. Rick is co-chair of the Spread the Net campaign, dedicated to preventing the spread of Malaria in Africa, and has also campaigned for the Canadian AIDS Society’s The Walk for Life project. His many honours include 21 Geminis and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award.

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist based in Toronto with a focus on tourism, lifestyle, entertainment and community issues. He has written several travel articles and has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He’s willing to take on any assignments of interest, attend parties with free booze, listen to rants, and travel the world in search of the great unknown. He’s eager to discover the new, remember the past, and look into the future.