Every comic knows that timing is everything.
And usually, the timing of the comedians on the CBC hit This Hour Has 22 Minutes is pretty good.
But this morning, 22 Minutes performer Geri Hall misjudged things badly.
Hall wanted to crash a scrum of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty ostensibly to poke some fun at a new rule McGuinty's press handlers laid down that the premier wants five feet of space around him in a scrum.
Not a bad idea but Hall tried to burst into the scrum to have a bit of fun while real reporters were quizzing the premier on a very serious issue: The shutdowns of steel mills in Hamilton and on Lake Erie. McGuinty giggled awkwardly when Hall burst in because he realized this was not the kind of day for him to be seen goofing around. The idling of these steel mills is awful news for a province that just this week announced deficits would total $18-billion over the next two years.
NDP MP Peter Kormos actually shooed Hall away, “Shame on you! 2,000 workers just lost their jobs. We're trying to hold the premier accountable. Why don't you get the hell out of here?”, according to Global Television Queen's Park correspondent Sean Mallen, who was in on the scrum.
You'll remember that Hall, with wig on, was once arrested by Stephen Harper's security guards when she crashed a press conference the PM was giving during the election. All turned out well (in fact, better than well) when Harper's handlers quickly realized the error and got her a one-on-one in Harper's hotel suite. Hall turned that moment into some pretty good comedy.
This time around, though, no one was in the mood for any foolin' around and Hall packed up and left.
“I'm going to go,” she said. “Good luck. Bye.”
I've never understood the value of comedians ambushing politicians to make fun of them, nor of politicians agreeing to guest on comedy shows like Air Farce or 22 Minutes in order to appeal to a wider and younger demographic.
I know many of them have done it – Liberals, Conservatives, Reform, NDP – but I still find it demeaning.
Politicians are ridiculed and satirized enough as it is on “serious” talk shows, in the MSM, in stand-up comedy, in pseudo-news and current affairs shows by hosts like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert & co. Partisan blogs have at them continuously. And they themselves at times say or do things worthy of derision. Why expose them even further to humiliating circumstances?
Now, if the prey of comedians like Ms. Hall were the pious and venerated Al Gore, David Suzuki, Bono, Bob Geldof, Maurice Strong … I'd actually pay to see comedians prick some of those hugely over-inflated egos.