This Hour Has 22 Minutes

Let's face it. The daily news is usually boring, upsetting and provokes anger and disappointment with stories presented about government, corporate corruption, etc. etc. The list is endless. This Hour Has 22 Minutes pokes fun at current news events and gives us not only a daily dose of what's happening in Canada and abroad, but how our political leaders and celebrities approach the situations when interviewed impromptu in Ottawa.

Currently on sabbatical, Mary Walsh wasn't shy in character as Marg Delahunty who did a great job hunting down Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, and all the Ministers on their way to their daily meetings. You could see politicians ducking for cover, but she always caught up with them! Mary Walsh and Greg Thomey were also hilarious as Ma & Eddie Reardon, the trailer trash mother and son who hauled their couch to the Gemini Awards to meet their TV celebrities backstage.

Also memorable are the episodes featuring Colin Mochrie doing his Max Pointy routine and he can imitate anyone from any commercial.

The news got you down? Tune into 22 Minutes. The news can be funny!

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!!!

I haven't had the opportunity to see many of the episodes, as I can't seem to find when it's on (maybe because the TV guide never shows up).

But from what I've seen, and what I've read, I agree with some and disagree.

This, in my opinion, is a very funny show, but if you're not up to date with current events, common stereotypes, and especially Canada related problems, you're going to find the show dull, boring, and stupid.

For the person who compared this with the Tom Green Show, I'm sorry that's a pitiful excuse of a show thats not funny at all.

This is sort of an educated wit show, you actually need to know something about the world before you watch it. Its like a fraser of comedy, but not really.

For Americans, it wouldn't be funny because in America, you hardly ever get any Canadian news, so it'd be hard for you to understand it. And for those Americans who make an effort to learn about Canada, it would be funny.

Granted, I do not understand all the jokes because I don't know some of the stuff, but, i think the target audience is for adults, maybe 30ish?

Tom Green = Immature adults, or males 15-22

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?

Despite the fact that it's not daily, but weekly, "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" is exactly "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" for Canadians. Just take away unsuspecting citizen guest stars, except for the hilarious "Talking to Americans", where Rick Mercer would travel to America and tell them fictional trivia and ask them questions, now missing from the show due to his leaving and Colin Mochrie's coming.

In fact, "Talking to Americans" just proves: if you're American and you live in America, you probably don't know anything about our politics or politicians, so you probably won't get it. "22 Minutes" is meant for us Canadians. I can't really put it much another way. Many people regard Canada as "peaceful" or "America Jr."(despite the fact we're bigger than you). But we hate our politicians, love to make fun of them just as much, and have many of our own problems, including bad Canadian original programming(this is one of those great shows like "The Simpsons" that makes fun of the very channel it's on), and our unpredictable stock exchange, strange yet incredibly unnecessary-to-mention crimes, and over-spending by the government.

If you lived here, you'd understand.