Why 22 minutes is a funnier alternative to the news

By Giorgio Lee

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Cathy Jones puts on pink lipstick, a blonde wig and a purple dress before entering the set of This Hour Has 22 Minutes to film her latest comedy sketch.

  “Yesterday we heard Ivana Trump saying (on The Wendy Williams Show) that Melania wasn’t really the first Lady because she was Trumps first wife,” Jones explained. “So I played Ivana and she (Susan Kent) played Melania and we had a little interview with each other.”

“The boys (writers) wrote up a sketch where we by mistake kept saying the same thing together and realized afterwards that we were a lot a like.”

  With the help of fellow CBC alumni Mary Walsh, Greg Thomsey, and Rick Mercer, This Hour Has 22 Minutes was born-debuting in October 1992.

A parody of the 1960’s CBC newsmagazine This Hour Has Seven Days, 22 Minutes features a variety of sketch comedy skits of both weekly news stories and Canadian political events. Wither its reenacting the Constitutional Act of 1981 by portraying a arrogant rendition of Queen Elizabeth II or having Margaret Attwood be little Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro for her contributions to literature, Jones’s goal going into these sketches has always remained the same-take depressing stories that news organizations are doing and turn them into laughable sketches.

“ It’s important to provide a counter voice that lighten things up for people to tell them that we are all in the same boat,” Jones explained. “All we are doing is trying to give them a little break so they can laugh, be a bit stupid, and have fun, so it’s really like being a nurse because we are comedy healers in a sense.”

Trent McClellan is one of the new “comedy healers” to make his debut on 22 Minutes this season. A well-known stand-up comedian, McClellan is used to transforming plain old news stories into comedy gold. In October, McClellan travelled to Vancouver, B.C to do a story of the common stereotypes that surround Canada’s 3rd largest city.

Does everyone do yoga? Do most residents smoke large quantities of weed?  Are all Vancouverites vegan?

These were questions McClellan answered in his pre-taped package, taking a topic that wouldn’t typically be in a newscast and transforming it into a 2-minute story.  

“Journalism back in the day was just reporting the facts, but now there is big bucks in opinion and saying that thing that’s shocking.” McClellan says.

“ The advantage of being on a show like 22 Minutes is that we take the news and we then get to say things that other people probably cant say on a news show.”

“We can spin it in a comedic affect; that’s why I love comedy because you can take something from a specific angle and when someone laughs that means they get what you are saying.”

Whether it’s shooting the breeze with Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan at Fan Expo Canada or mocking former NDP leader Tom Mulclair at a local daycare, Mark Critch is always trying to find a way to spin a serious news story and make it into an engaging piece.

A long-time member of the 22 Minutes cast, Critch says news organizations long airtime and lack of focus are the reasons why viewers are switching to 22 Minutes..

“The 24 hour news cycle is getting crazy because people say and do anything on newscasts now because there’s just too much airtime, “ Critch says. “When the news was on a couple hours a day it had focus, you had to say what was relevant, and now so much of it is just talking heads with different backgrounds arguing over each other on some stupid panel.”

Other then the politically charged comedy sketches and reporter stories, Critch believes 22 Minutes’ unique take on current event is why the show is still popular with Canadians.

“We make fun of current events and it’s interesting that a lot of people watch us instead of the news,” Critch says. “Our show is getting older and the audience would drop off, but news keeps getting crazier and people want to talk about it. Now I think so many people are ingesting news and then watching shows like ours or Colbert’s to hear someone’s take on it because the world is a bit crazy sometimes.”

“I think in Canada people have expectations of humor to have some kind of political merit, so political based comedy in the country always does really well because I think we’re so used to talking around the kitchen table about what’s going on in the world. That’s really what we’re doing, just on a bigger level.”