In conversation with Mark Critch

Well-known for his work on Canada’s longest running comedy series, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, comedian Mark Critch’s career began a little further from the national stage. Working alongside a cast of displaced fisherman from a small tourist town in his native Newfoundland, Critch clearly embraced the maxim: There are no small roles, only small actors.

He has since gone on to apply his considerable talents as a writer, anchor, and roving reporter, bringing Canadian politicians and A-list celebrities into living rooms across the country for the better part of two decades. His new memoir, An Embarrassment of Critch’s, is already a national best-seller, taking the reader behind the scenes of some of the most memorable moments of his career. And, this winter, he will be launching a new television show, Son of a Critch, based on his first memoir about growing up in Newfoundland.

We caught up with the famed comic to talk about his start in showbiz, the new show, and what we can expect from a new year in politics.

 

 

 

Harvey Kalles Real Estate: When did you first get the acting bug?

Mark Critch:  In sixth grade, a nun at school came and said you’re going to be in the play. I said, please, don’t do this to me. It was a tougher school and you did not want to be in the play…there was no arguing with the nun. It was a Christmas play, told through the point of view of the innkeeper who turned Joseph and Mary away. And it turned out my father, during the war, had played the same role in this obscure little play at an American base. From there, I wanted to do sketch comedy, when I was about 15, and met up with other like-minded fellows. We rented a theatre in St. John’s, the former Longshoremen’s Protective Union, and they gave us a 60/40 split of the door and said go on at 11. So we played to a small collection of our friends who were allowed out late and some tipsy sailors. I was hooked.

 

HKRE: Your career coincided with, and was bolstered by, the collapse of Newfoundland’s fishing industry.

MC: All of a sudden, in 1992, the government said that’s it. After 500 years, there will be no more cod fishing in Newfoundland. There’s a moratorium, the stock is too weak. Tens of thousands of people were put out of work overnight. A lot of government programs popped up, one was called TAGS, The Atlantic Groundfish Strategy. It was to retrain people who worked in the fishery. They decided to retrain a bunch of people in the town of Trinity, probably a population of 60 year-round, to become actors. There was a historical pageant, a walking tour of the town. People would dress up like old time fisherman…basically, ghosts of themselves. And that was their way forward. I was brought out from Saint John’s, to fill in some of the gaps and to help teach acting. So that was my big start, doing all kinds of plays. We did Saltwater Moon, and we also did Shakespeare. A lot of the guys said, ‘Ye crowds are crazy, we can’t be doing Shakespeare, ye crowds are nuts. So, I said, hang on a second. I circled all the Ye’s in the script and said, see, you’re already speaking Shakespearean. We went on to have great success and that theatre company is still there today. Thousands of people come every year to see them in that town. It’s quite remarkable.

 

HKRE: You’re best known for This Hour Has 22 Minutes. The original cast were all Newfoundlanders. Is there something about the province that lends itself to political comedy?

MC: In Newfoundland, all the politicians are big characters, almost like wrestlers. You have to be like a John Crosby or Danny Williams, to bring something else to the table to keep up with the natural witticism of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. My dad was a reporter, so we would always talk politics. I knew cabinet ministers as well as I knew the cast of Happy Days. So, in sketch comedy as a teenager, then later touring the island doing a political review, satire was always one of the things I did.

 

HKRE: It’s the longest running comedy show in Canadian history. What’s been the secret to its success?

MC: It’s reactionary. Every week something happens in the news and we get to make fun of it. Each week is different. We might get new cast on our show, but we also get a new cast of characters. I remember when Stephen Harper was in and he was a great foil and Jean Chretien was grabbing people by the throat, and how do you top this? But then in comes Justin Trudeau, and in comes Donald Trump.

 

HKRE: Do you have any favourite moments?

MC: Oh, so many…that show’s taken me to China, Russia, Jordan. I’ve got to be in the basement of the White House and hang off the top of the Peace Tower. But a lot of my favourite moments are the moments behind the scenes. You get to see a different side of politicians, and sometimes they get to be on the sidelines of quite historic moments…and you were there to pop out and make fun of it.

2CHARGN Canada’s Progressive Conservative leader Andrew Scheer speaks with CBC’s Mark Critch during a rally in Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 3, 2019. REUTERS/John Morris

 

HKRE:  You’ve got a new show coming this winter based on your book, Son of a Critch. What can audiences expect?

MC: Well, it’s the story of my life, growing up in Saint John’s. It’s set in 1986, the first season is me going into junior high to a new school. I lived on the outskirts of Saint John’s, so my life wasn’t the whales and the icebergs, nor was it a city life with other kids. I was kind of on my own. There were no kids where I lived, and I was raised by a lot of older folk. So, it’s the story of a kid, older than his years, trying to navigate the life of his peers and trying to fit in. Malcolm McDowell, the brilliant English actor, who people would know from A Clockwork Orange, Entourage, and a million other things, he plays my grandfather. And in the show, young Mark shares a bedroom with him and he is his confidant. And the kid playing me is this brilliant actor from Yorkshire, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth. He just turned 13 and he’s playing Pinocchio opposite Tom Hanks in a new Disney adaptation.  He’s one of the best actors, if not the best actor, I’ve ever worked with, and he’s only 13. He’s really special. So, we have an incredible cast, the writing is good, there’s great music by Keith Power and the great Alan Doyle. I can’t wait for Canadians to come over to my house and meet the family.

 

HKRE: This year, Canada lost a great comedian in norm McDonald. You posted a photo of him that I’m sure no one from the public had seen. How did your paths cross?

MC:  That’s not my photo, it’s a picture that had been shared by a friend of mine, but I knew Norm from Twitter. He followed me on Twitter one day. We had lots of mutual friends, but I hadn’t met him. But then he was a great Twitterer and very lovely in direct messages. We’d chat every now and then, and he would be incredibly supportive and hyper-aware of what was going on in Canada. I think that he had a real love of that fellowship of stand-up comedians. He was very supportive of young comics on the road, very loyal, and I think he had a real nostalgia for those days in Ottawa doing stand-up. So, he was one of the greatest comedians ever, but the great thing about him was he was Canadian to the core and always had an eye on what was going on up here, to kind of see if he could help in any way or just be supportive. I know a lot of young comedians he reached out to…it can be a tough business, it can be depressing at times, and when someone like him reaches out and goes ‘hey, I think you’re funny, I think you’re doing great, don’t change, keep going on the road, you’re going to get there,’ that’ll get someone through a year. And I think he got a lot of comedians through a lot of years, just with kindness.

 

HKRE: What are your predictions for Canadian politics in the year 2022?

MC: Mr. O’Toole has sharks circling around him in his party, there’ already been a couple of challenges to his leadership. I see some splintering in the Conservative Party coming, I don’t think he can hold it together. There’s more of a far right and more to the middle sides of the party, so there’s going to be some warring there and that’ll be interesting. I think Mr. Singh is very happy to be propping Mr. Trudeau’s government up for a while because after COVID and these elections, all of these parties are broke. So, somehow, yet again, Justin Trudeau has been able to, like a bull in the China shop, come out the other door without any scratches. But in the next election I think perhaps Mr. Trudeau may have finally worn himself out and I think we might see all new faces, except for Mr. Singh in the next election. Which will be good for 22 Minutes, because heading into our third decade, once again, we’ll get a refresh of all new characters to kind of make fun of and play with.

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Mark Critch is one of the most recognized faces in Canadian comedy, starring on CBC’s flagship show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. For more information on his new memoir and upcoming television series, visit https://twitter.com/markcritch