"Are you pro-environment or are you just anti-getting anywhere fast?"
March 19, 2014 12:07 PM Subscribe
In a hard-hitting interview on CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Mark Critch asks Toronto mayoral candidate Olivia Chow tough questions about her platform and does some mayoral candidate debate roleplaying to prepare her for going head to head with the incumbent Toronto mayor Rob Ford. (SLYT)
Not available here beyond the wall.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:11 PM on March 19, 2014
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:11 PM on March 19, 2014
Oh great. I had no idea it would only be available here in Canada. Trying to find another source for it.
posted by orange swan at 12:13 PM on March 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by orange swan at 12:13 PM on March 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
This is not a politically motivated comment:
This Hour Has 22 Minutes -- sorry, just 22 Minutes now, I guess -- has become the worst piece of cheap, hacky garbage. Last time I watched it an audience of about seven people sat on flimsy plastic folding chairs while the mock anchors careened from one total lame duck of a punchline to another at breakneck speed, accompanied by a preposterously phony laugh track. I'm shocked that it's still on the air.
posted by EmGeeJay at 12:22 PM on March 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
This Hour Has 22 Minutes -- sorry, just 22 Minutes now, I guess -- has become the worst piece of cheap, hacky garbage. Last time I watched it an audience of about seven people sat on flimsy plastic folding chairs while the mock anchors careened from one total lame duck of a punchline to another at breakneck speed, accompanied by a preposterously phony laugh track. I'm shocked that it's still on the air.
posted by EmGeeJay at 12:22 PM on March 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm shocked that it's still on the air.
The Royal Canadian Air Farce lasted sixteen seasons on television.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:31 PM on March 19, 2014 [11 favorites]
The Royal Canadian Air Farce lasted sixteen seasons on television.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:31 PM on March 19, 2014 [11 favorites]
I will be a total grognard and say that Air Farce was much better in the early 80's when it was only on CBC Radio. Same with Double Exposure. 22 Minutes has seen better days indeed. I blame Critch.
posted by GuyZero at 12:37 PM on March 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by GuyZero at 12:37 PM on March 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
Air Farce was so brilliant...when it was on the radio.
Also, as a Canadian Daily Show/Colbert Report fan, I can't help but have a bit of shadenfreude to hear that Americans can't watch the video. (Yeah, I know we can watch it on the Comedy Network, but that's never the link posted/tweeted).
posted by jb at 12:37 PM on March 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
Also, as a Canadian Daily Show/Colbert Report fan, I can't help but have a bit of shadenfreude to hear that Americans can't watch the video. (Yeah, I know we can watch it on the Comedy Network, but that's never the link posted/tweeted).
posted by jb at 12:37 PM on March 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
The Royal Canadian Air Farce lasted sixteen seasons on television.
Well, exactly. 22 Minutes has been on for 21 years.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:38 PM on March 19, 2014
Well, exactly. 22 Minutes has been on for 21 years.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:38 PM on March 19, 2014
22 Minutes [...] has become the worst piece of cheap, hacky garbage.
That may be, but this segment was fantastic.
posted by Chuckles at 12:39 PM on March 19, 2014
That may be, but this segment was fantastic.
posted by Chuckles at 12:39 PM on March 19, 2014
That was charming, but I'm trying to figure out how much was scripted. Chow made that "how fast I can leave" joke, which could have been scripted, I guess, but she seemed genuinely surprised and amused by Interrupting Rob Ford. I think I'm leaning unscripted for the whole thing, except for her being forewarned of general topics.
And that was a great dress, too.
posted by maudlin at 12:50 PM on March 19, 2014
And that was a great dress, too.
posted by maudlin at 12:50 PM on March 19, 2014
Arggh. I can't find it anywhere else online.
For those of you who are non-Canadian and can't see it, Mark Critch first asks Olivia Chow, "Are you on crack?" and when she says, "No," first pretends to wrap up the interview and then proceeds to bring up the fact that she has smoked pot in the past, but comments, "You were a arts/philosophy major, so it's kind of a prerequisite, yeah?"
Then he says, "You bike, you don't support island jets, and you don't support the Scarborough subway. Are you pro-environment or are you anti-getting anywhere fast?"
Chow points out that the above ground transit option can be built four years faster, and then says, "Speaking about speed, do you want to see how fast I can get out of this interview?"
Critch then asks, "What's the biggest misconception that the rest of Canada has about Toronto: that people there think that it's the centre of the earth, or that Toronto wants to be a real city, like New York?"
Chow, looking bemused, says, "What rest of Canada? Is there such a thing?"
The audience, which is in Halifax, groans and laughs.
Critch says, "Yeah, you're going to fit in pretty good there, Olivia." Then he asks, "Do you think you can take Rob in a televised debate?"
Olivia Chow says, "Anytime."
They then do some practice debate roleplaying, in which Chow is Chow and Critch is Ford and the topic is subway extension vs. light rail transit. Chow begins to enumerate her reasons for supporting the LRT, and Ford's "argument" consists of him interrupting Chow with a bellowed, "SUBWAY! SUBWAY! GET OFF MY LAWN! GET OFF MY SPACESHIP! YOU'RE A COMMIE! FOOTBALL!"
Critch then says, "Then he'd run face first into a camera. You can't compete with this, Olivia!" and adds, "Olivia, I like you as a person, but I'm a comedian, and Rob Ford is gold to me, so I can't endorse you, but I can wish you luck."
It's not a complete transcript, but that's the gist of it.
posted by orange swan at 12:59 PM on March 19, 2014 [10 favorites]
For those of you who are non-Canadian and can't see it, Mark Critch first asks Olivia Chow, "Are you on crack?" and when she says, "No," first pretends to wrap up the interview and then proceeds to bring up the fact that she has smoked pot in the past, but comments, "You were a arts/philosophy major, so it's kind of a prerequisite, yeah?"
Then he says, "You bike, you don't support island jets, and you don't support the Scarborough subway. Are you pro-environment or are you anti-getting anywhere fast?"
Chow points out that the above ground transit option can be built four years faster, and then says, "Speaking about speed, do you want to see how fast I can get out of this interview?"
Critch then asks, "What's the biggest misconception that the rest of Canada has about Toronto: that people there think that it's the centre of the earth, or that Toronto wants to be a real city, like New York?"
Chow, looking bemused, says, "What rest of Canada? Is there such a thing?"
The audience, which is in Halifax, groans and laughs.
Critch says, "Yeah, you're going to fit in pretty good there, Olivia." Then he asks, "Do you think you can take Rob in a televised debate?"
Olivia Chow says, "Anytime."
They then do some practice debate roleplaying, in which Chow is Chow and Critch is Ford and the topic is subway extension vs. light rail transit. Chow begins to enumerate her reasons for supporting the LRT, and Ford's "argument" consists of him interrupting Chow with a bellowed, "SUBWAY! SUBWAY! GET OFF MY LAWN! GET OFF MY SPACESHIP! YOU'RE A COMMIE! FOOTBALL!"
Critch then says, "Then he'd run face first into a camera. You can't compete with this, Olivia!" and adds, "Olivia, I like you as a person, but I'm a comedian, and Rob Ford is gold to me, so I can't endorse you, but I can wish you luck."
It's not a complete transcript, but that's the gist of it.
posted by orange swan at 12:59 PM on March 19, 2014 [10 favorites]
I tweeted 22 Minutes to ask if they had video of the interview online that could be viewed by those located outside Canada, and they tweeted back that they do have this channel, but there only appears to be one video on it, and it's not the right one. Sigh.
posted by orange swan at 1:15 PM on March 19, 2014
posted by orange swan at 1:15 PM on March 19, 2014
It's going to save Olivia a fortune in TV commercial production when all she has to do is assemble some of Ford's Greatest Videos and replay them without comment.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 1:18 PM on March 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 1:18 PM on March 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
She must also be glad that Rob Ford has hired his brother Doug Ford to be his campaign manager. This'll be good. And by "good", I mean "hilariously and disastrously inept in a totally un-self-aware way". Doug's already commented, in his capacity as campaign manager, that people "are going to hold their nose and vote for Rob" and responded to the news that Olivia Chow is leading in the polls with, "I don't know what they've been smoking." Even Ford Nation is going to find it a challenge to maintain their cognitive dissonance over the next seven months.
posted by orange swan at 1:22 PM on March 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by orange swan at 1:22 PM on March 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
I know I used to like 22 Minutes, but I can't remember why anymore.
posted by jeather at 1:34 PM on March 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by jeather at 1:34 PM on March 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
Sorry, just a preview. There do appear to be bits and pieces available...
posted by cosmac at 1:39 PM on March 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by cosmac at 1:39 PM on March 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
> The Royal Canadian Air Farce lasted sixteen seasons on television.
Back in the mid-'90s I shared an apartment with a guy who in most regards was a model roommate. His one transgression was that he had an inexplicable love for Air Farce, and would sit and watch it while eating dinner and laugh harder at it than you almost certainly have laughed at anything.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:42 PM on March 19, 2014
Back in the mid-'90s I shared an apartment with a guy who in most regards was a model roommate. His one transgression was that he had an inexplicable love for Air Farce, and would sit and watch it while eating dinner and laugh harder at it than you almost certainly have laughed at anything.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:42 PM on March 19, 2014
I can't remember why anymore.
Marg, Princess Warrior (here she calls out corrupt senator Mike Duffy). Marg also frightened Ford into calling 911 on her a couple of years back.
posted by bonehead at 1:59 PM on March 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
Marg, Princess Warrior (here she calls out corrupt senator Mike Duffy). Marg also frightened Ford into calling 911 on her a couple of years back.
posted by bonehead at 1:59 PM on March 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
I know I used to like 22 Minutes, but I can't remember why anymore.
Maybe this?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:16 PM on March 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
Maybe this?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:16 PM on March 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
Clearly scripted
(And RCAF were plagiarists)
Best of the web!
posted by raider at 5:25 PM on March 19, 2014
(And RCAF were plagiarists)
Best of the web!
posted by raider at 5:25 PM on March 19, 2014
As a Canadian I watch British and sometimes American forbidden content using MediaHint. I imagine it works in reverse.
posted by juiceCake at 7:24 PM on March 19, 2014
posted by juiceCake at 7:24 PM on March 19, 2014
Yeah, this is clearly scripted and less Daily Show and more The Soup.
posted by cacofonie at 7:55 PM on March 19, 2014
posted by cacofonie at 7:55 PM on March 19, 2014
"hilariously and disastrously inept in a totally un-self-aware way"
And very entertaining. I don't watch tv, but I watched the Rob Ford on Jimmy Kimmel videos on yt the other night. Rob Ford is Likable! I know he's a dork etc., but I understand why people like him - he's kind of an unassuming, likable drunk guy* who just wants to have fun. His brother, on the other hand is evil incarnate, and pulls Rob's strings and makes him do the bad thing. (But not the Jamaican patois.)
*I do know that under his lovable exterior there's a vicious clown
posted by sneebler at 8:51 PM on March 19, 2014
And very entertaining. I don't watch tv, but I watched the Rob Ford on Jimmy Kimmel videos on yt the other night. Rob Ford is Likable! I know he's a dork etc., but I understand why people like him - he's kind of an unassuming, likable drunk guy* who just wants to have fun. His brother, on the other hand is evil incarnate, and pulls Rob's strings and makes him do the bad thing. (But not the Jamaican patois.)
*I do know that under his lovable exterior there's a vicious clown
posted by sneebler at 8:51 PM on March 19, 2014
OMG you guys, Sarah Thomson is entering the race tomorrow. She has a Tumblr. She has a platform. She will magically provide us with underground transit, and, as poor Jonathan Goldsbie just tweeted: "[Spoiler omitted]" Sarah Thomson's campaign launch video: Why is this happening?"
(Yes, this is a good time for that GIF of Edward Keenan. I think the next 7 months will be a good time for that GIF. And if Ford somehow ekes out a win, imagine Keenan's forehead, hitting the desk, forever.)
posted by maudlin at 9:50 PM on March 19, 2014
(Yes, this is a good time for that GIF of Edward Keenan. I think the next 7 months will be a good time for that GIF. And if Ford somehow ekes out a win, imagine Keenan's forehead, hitting the desk, forever.)
posted by maudlin at 9:50 PM on March 19, 2014
Is this the segment? Works OK where I am (not Canada).
posted by Sutekh at 11:44 PM on March 19, 2014
posted by Sutekh at 11:44 PM on March 19, 2014
Yes, Sutekh, it is! Thanks for finding and posting it.
posted by orange swan at 5:49 AM on March 20, 2014
posted by orange swan at 5:49 AM on March 20, 2014
Just remember people, make sure you don't just vote for the first person on the list. Because then you'll be voting for Don Andrews, the head of the neo-nazi Nationalist Party, and who only runs if he'll be first on the ballot.
Fun fact: Back in '74 he got 2nd in the mayoral election (nobody important ran against Crombie). At the time, if the mayor left/died, the runner-up had the right to succeed them. That was...very quickly changed.
posted by Lemurrhea at 5:56 AM on March 20, 2014
Fun fact: Back in '74 he got 2nd in the mayoral election (nobody important ran against Crombie). At the time, if the mayor left/died, the runner-up had the right to succeed them. That was...very quickly changed.
posted by Lemurrhea at 5:56 AM on March 20, 2014
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