Comedian Rick Mercer writing weekly election column for Maclean's

Comedian, commentator and TV personality Rick Mercer has signed on to write an exclusive column for Maclean's magazine during this federal election. According to a Rogers Publishing release the first column will be in the issue on newsstands today.

Mercer is the host of The Rick Mercer Report, the highest-rated comedy show in Canada, returning to the CBC for its ninth season this fall. He launched his television career in 1994 as one of the creators, performers and writers on the hit weekly show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. His CBC Television special Talking to Americans, based on the regular This Hour segment wherein he poked fun at Americans' ignorance of Canada, became the highest rated Canadian comedy special of all time with 2.7 million viewers.

In his first column he observes: 

"Being a political junkie in this country is a bit like being a diehard Leafs fan.  Year in and year out you believe you will witness magic; year in and year out you experience the opposite. But yet, you continue to show up, cheer on the team, pay through the nose for a hot dog—and it almost always ends in tears."