This Hour Has 22 Minutes

I can't believe this show hasn't been cancelled yet, as bad as it has gotten over the past many years the last 2 to 3 years have been just pathetic! The cast is tired and old, by that I mean they are doing the same old characters and jokes. The writing is obviously terrible with really bad jokes you are probably already thinking of the punchlines for before they get to them on the show. They just have turned completely into Royal Canadian Air Farce and that should be very embarrassing for a show that once was so much better than that with sharp writing and a great cast that could do many characters and didn't keep doing the same things over and over. I am so tired of looking at these people on this show, they need new blood, new actors and definitely new writers too because these people obviously just don't care any more, but after 20 years or however long it's been who can blame them? They took forever to cancel Royal Canadian Air Farce so please CBC before it gets any worse cancel this show or replace everyone with new people who have new ideas!

I watched this show again a couple of times this season and didn't even know that they had a new cast. Obviously I knew Rick Mercer left but the other guy is also gone. The show was really bad, not funny for even a moment. The sketches are really pathetic and so are the characters. Gavin (one of the newer cast members) can do some okay character pieces but all of the characters are basic stereotypes and annoying. Mark Critch is one of the most annoying people I have ever seen on TV. I hate what CBC is doing now the comedy shows they make are pathetic. Air Farce is gone but now we have Ron James and still 22 Minutes, any comedy that isn't pathetic jokes by Newfoundlanders, CBC? Get rid of Mercer too because even he is not funny any more. I'm ashamed of the shows CBC is making nowadays.

The reason why This Hour Has 22 Minutes is not funny is because it tries to pass off its hackneyed stereotypes as legitimate satire. It's pretty hypocritical to take jabs at the ignorance of others considering that the writers and producers obviously know very little, if anything, about their own country west of Thunder Bay. Mike (from Canmore) is a good example of this: the old "Albertans are toothless hicks" gag - nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. I understand the gist of the sketch, but why is Mike from a beautiful, touristy, mountain resort village? I'm going to make my own sketch comedy show featuring crap like "Talking to Newfies" and "Pete (from Halifax)" - Pete will be a grizzled, old pirate with a corn cob pipe in his mouth, a peg leg and a bottle of rum in hand. Yeeehaaaw!!!

This show is like watching a community players theater group do sketches every week that they think are funny. The impressions are all just terrible....how many times are we supposed to watch Cathy Jones and Susan Kent dress up like men and still find it funny? The correct answer is zero because it's not funny at all. Shawn Majumder and Mark Critch are just not funny and can't do impressions either. Watching Mark Critch pretend to be Al Pacino was one of the most painful experiences of my TV watching life I felt so extremely embarrassed for him and his family it was unbelievable. Who has the idea that these people should still be on TV after all these years doing the same bad impressions and the same bad jokes?

I can't believe some of the comments mentioned here. First of all, no one should listen to a negative comment which tells you that you shouldn't watch something just because they don't happen to like it. Writing in large caps isn't part of constructive criticism either. For the commenter who said he wrote a review for it, I can guess why it 'mysteriously' disappeared. Was it for an actual magazine, or for a high school Journalism class? You should know that comparing 22 Minutes with Tom Green is like comparing apples to oranges. He went to America, anyway.

Secondly, anyone who has any knowledge of Canadian Comedy whatsoever knows that there are three main types: Sketch, Satire, and Dramatic Comedy. Since 22 minutes is Satire, it's not supposed to be hilarious or keep you on the edge of your seat, but it is supposed to make you think and open your eyes to what's around you. I'll admit that sometimes it's not very thought provoking, but watching it after Sept 11, I found it very comforting.

But just because you don't think it's any good doesn't mean that no one else does. Maybe you just don't understand it. I don't like the Royal Canadian Air Force, but I don't deny that it's a Canadian Classic.