Rick Mercer (Rick Mercer Report) on Writers

(Photo by Derek Langer)

The writing team (Rick Currie, Greg Eckler, Chris Finn, Tim Steeves, George Westerholm) from the Rick Mercer Report took home a screen for “Best Writing in a Variety or Sketch Comedy Program or Series”.  I asked Rick about his writers and their jobs, and he paid them high compliments.

“Well, the writers of RMR won the award tonight, and they’re the most tremendous group of guys that I have the privilege to work with. It’s probably the best part of my job – that I get to spend my time with them. They have a very difficult job. For starters, they write about current events and every single week I go to two different places in the country, and they have to prep me for that.”

“It’s like: This week Rick is jumping out of a plane with the Skyhawks, this week Rick is doing the Inuit winter games, this week Rick is visiting seeing eye dogs. These are not subjects which most writers are familiar with.  We do 50 separate segments a year, and they have to put their head inside it, research it and come up with material for me, and they do tremendous work. It’s a very unique job as far as writing goes.”