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Canada's funniest political satirist is back and busier than ever. The fifth season of Rick Mercer Report made its debut this week featuring a celebrity tip from Conrad Black. And his brand-new Rick Mercer Report: The Book was already in its second printing before it hit the stores. But he took a few minutes to catch up with a friend.

Alison Gzowski: I remember the first time I saw you was Corey and Wade's Playhouse [a St. John's sketch-comedy troupe] in the late eighties, right?

Rick Mercer: Yes, of course – you came to see the show. I didn't meet you there, but then you convinced your father [CBC broadcaster Peter Gzowski] that he should have me on his radio show. And of course it was a huge break to be on Morningside with Gzowski. Plus, I was pretty new at the racket. And I remember he was asking me questions about the stuff that was in my show and I wouldn't tell him. I said, “Oh, I can't. You'll just have to come see the show.” And he said, “Well, people in Kamloops can't come see the show, why don't you just tell me?”

AG: That wasn't the time you fell asleep during a phone interview on his show, was it?

RM: No, I didn't fall asleep on you father's show, I fell asleep on Ralph's [Benmergui] show.

AG: I thought you fell asleep the time they were calling about ….

RM: Oh, you know what – you're absolutely right. And it had nothing to do with him, it was just so early in the morning. I got on and then they said, “Oh it will be just six more minutes before he comes on.” And I lay back down in bed. I thought, I'll just close my eyes and listen. Then I remember him going, “Rick Mercer in St John's, Newfoundland. Rick Mercer in St John's, Newfoundland.” I was having a pleasant dream that I was being interviewed by Gzowski, then I realized he was actually trying to wake me up. I was like, “Five more minutes, Peter. Just five more minutes.”

AG: That's what I always said to him too in the morning. Now I remember when you were 17 that you were doing a rant on the stage about a lady in a bank, right?

RM: Yes. You know the rants were much more personal back then and the bank had taken away my bank card because of my lack of responsibility. I fought it as far as I could fight it and then they gave me this bank card that was designed for six-year-olds. I think it had a limit of 20 dollars or something. And that's what I was ranting about back in those days.

AG: All of your rants started because you used to yell at the television, right?

RM: Well, I wouldn't say I actually yelled at the television, but I do talk back to it. All the good rants come from, you know, they're moments in time when you're watching the news or you're watching something unfold and you have an immediate visceral reaction. And the great rants just come out. And they almost come out fully formed because they're short.

AG: How do you know when they're working?

RM: I guess I know when they're working when it comes to me in a flash, in an instant. And it's not complicated. I'm not saying that they mightn't deal with complex issues, but unless you can cut through the spin in a minute and half, then maybe it's not the perfect topic for a rant.

AG: How did you pick the ones for the book – you have so many.

RM: I just read through them. Of course there were some where I was just completely wrong.

AG: Like what?

RM: I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's like anything. Can you imagine if you looked back at everything you'd said at a dinner party or talking to friends over the last five years? We all make predictions that don't turn out to be true. So, not so many of those. But then I went back and read them and the ones that I found funny – ultimately, funny is the No. 1 mandate of the show. And also, rants that are still relevant in some way. Either the issue that I'm talking about is still very much in the news or they serve the purpose of looking back at the past four years and seeing where we've been and what the government's been up to.

AG: Do you think people associate you as the rant guy? You know why I'm asking is I'm just remembering one time you were coming to do one of my dad's literacy things, and my brother drove you up. And my father – he hadn't met you yet – warned my brother. He said, “You know it's going to be hard in the car because he's going to rant the whole time.”

RM: (laughs) Did I rant the whole time?

AG: No.

RM: No, I don't. I think people think that, but then I get it out of my system. You know if I wasn't doing this, I think I'd be really good at driving around as a cab driver ranting at the people in the back seat the way some cab drivers do. Although I have a terrible sense of direction so I'd probably be bad at that as well. But if I didn't get it out of my system on a weekly basis because of the show, maybe I would be ranting more. Sometimes I think it's the show that keeps me sane. Otherwise, I'd just be some guy running around the streets barking at parking meters.

AG: But you are kind of insane about politics, you have to admit.

RM: It's my sport. I love it. I think in order to satirize something properly, you have to love it and in order to comment on something, you have to love it. It's something that I pay attention to every day even when I'm on holidays. You know someone who doesn't watch baseball would find it hard to believe that a columnist could write about baseball every day for 20 years. Yet those people are out there and it's some of the best newspaper writing in the business. And that's the way I feel about politics.

AG: I was looking at one of the rants in the books and it begins, “I've seen a few Auditor-General reports in my time,” and I was thinking, Oh my God, you're a nerd.

RM: (laughing) I actually have a few Auditor-General reports on my bookshelves. But they're down low. They're down very low. It's not as if they've been dusted off in quite a while.

AG: Any political predictions?

RM: No, that's the great thing about politics. I certainly make predictions occasionally on the show. You know one of the exciting things about politics – just like sports – is there are no experts and there are no crystal balls.

AG: Are you ever going to run?

RM: No. I love politics and I actually believe that the vast majority of people who are in politics are in it for the right reasons, even the ones who I vehemently disagree with or I might think aren't very good at what they do. I still think most of their motivations are fairly sincere. But it's also a really hard life. Certainly a harder life than my own. And the people who are good at it work very, very long hours and get very little credit.

AG: And they get a lot of criticism too, eh?

RM: Yes, (laughs) from people like me, who have never run for sheriff.