# Who is the best Canadian Social Emissary to the U.S.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845 "2010-12-03T19:30:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/1 "2010-12-03T19:30:14Z")
I was thinking while biking to work today that I know much of my Canadian culture from two people: Rick Mercer and Stuart McLean. So which one better represents Canada from a Canadian perspective? I would guess Rick Mercer is the better one, as the way he can get politicians (well really anyone) to be human is really great. Plus he really drives some of his social beliefs in his rants. Or is there someone else I should be listening to? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/2 "2010-12-03T19:35:32Z")
Who is Stuart McLean? I’m not sure what you’re asking here - who should Americans be listening to in the US to get a good Canadian perspective? Who should Canadians be listening to, to get…something, I’m not sure what? What personality best represents Canadians to the world at large? ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/3 "2010-12-03T19:43:54Z")
Stuart McLean is the host of the Vinyl Cafe on CBC- perhaps, Canada’s Garrison Keillor. I was mostly curious who Canadians thought represented their country most accurately. (Tim Horton is not an option). Perhaps it is an impossible question, but I was curious if there was a Go-To person for Canada. (Like Maradona for Argentina and Pele for Brazil- except I wanted to restrict discussion top just Canada.) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/4 "2010-12-03T19:51:43Z")
Stuart McLean is the writer/performer behind the [Vinyl Cafe](http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/home.php). I’d throw in Ron James for the fun of it. [Ron James on Tim Horton’s.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv_qssv1Q1w) [The Computer Rant.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjyrp6lYI2I) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/5 "2010-12-03T19:56:49Z")
Brent Butt. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/6 "2010-12-03T19:59:39Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Brent Butt. 🙂 Good one - I was just thinking of Red Green. I reckon most suggestions are going to be comics, too… ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/7 "2010-12-03T20:51:04Z")
William Shatner? ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/8 "2010-12-03T21:36:42Z")
Alex Trabek? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/9 "2010-12-03T21:56:00Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Brent Butt. 🙂 Actually… yes. If an American was truly interested in gaining some perspective on Canada, I’d recommend a _Corner Gas_ marathon. Just yesterday I caught the episode where Brent engages in an extensive practical joke to convince Oscar that he’s legally an American citizen and had best try to “act Canadian” lest some shadowy agency like the CRTC swoop down and deport him. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/10 "2010-12-03T22:11:51Z")
Paul Gross (aka Benton Fraser) taught me a lot about Canada. _Due South_ was full of humor/humour about US perceptions of Canada & Canadian perceptions of the US. I recently had cause to remember [this scene](http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-306385.html): > [@](#): > > Benton Fraser: Geiger was an escaped convict sworn to vengeance on a legendary Mountie who bore an uncanny resemblance to the Canadian actor and comedian, Leslie Nielsen. > > Robert Fraser’s ghost: Who has yet to receive the Order of Canada. > > Benton Fraser: Long overdue. That “legendary Mountie” was played by Leslie Nielsen–in an episode where he was able to use both his comic & dramatic chops to great effect. (And he later, indeed, received the Order of Canada.) I was also going to mention Red Green–who appeared on an episode of _Due South._ (Just as Paul Gross played a clueless Canadian yuppie dealing with the denizens of Possum Lodge.) And I learned about “urban” Canada from [Twitch City](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitch_City). (Which featured Callum Keith Rennie–have you ever played “Six Degrees of CKR”?) Is it really true that every Canadian knows every other Canadian? ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/11 "2010-12-03T22:13:44Z")
Mclean and Mercer are quite different mediums, although I think that Mclean and his stories nail the typical suburban Canadian middle class life far better than the Mercer Report. I listened to way too much Mclean when I was at grad school as I only had a radio in my basement suite. Mercer is better with the politics and pop culture, but the characters Mclean uses in his monologues are just so goddamn Canadian I want to throw the radio across the room every time it hits the airwaves. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/12 "2010-12-03T23:11:45Z")
But clearly Mercer is the better emissary to the US, since he has all that experience Talking to Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/13 "2010-12-04T00:18:37Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Actually… yes. If an American was truly interested in gaining some perspective on Canada, I’d recommend a _Corner Gas_ marathon. Just yesterday I caught the episode where Brent engages in an extensive practical joke to convince Oscar that he’s legally an American citizen and had best try to “act Canadian” lest some shadowy agency like the CRTC swoop down and deport him. Jim and I both have older relatives who have stated that they don’t see what’s so funny about “Corner Gas” - my response to them is that it isn’t supposed to be a documentary. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/14 "2010-12-04T00:20:26Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > I was thinking while biking to work today that I know much of my Canadian culture from two people: Rick Mercer and Stuart McLean. So which one better represents Canada from a Canadian perspective? > > I would guess Rick Mercer is the better one, as the way he can get politicians (well really anyone) to be human is really great. Plus he really drives some of his social beliefs in his rants. > > Or is there someone else I should be listening to? Or [here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibpyc0eFF0A) Stuart McLean on the Rick Mercer Report… ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-best-canadian-social-emissary-to-the-u-s/562845/15 "2010-12-05T04:10:14Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Jim and I both have older relatives who have stated that they don’t see what’s so funny about “Corner Gas” - my response to them is that it isn’t supposed to be a documentary. My older relatives find it hilarious. The scary part is, I’m not sure if they realize they’re laughing at copies of themselves or not.