Rick Mercer, byname of Richard Vincent Mercer, (born October 17, 1969, St. John’s, Newfoundland [now Newfoundland and Labrador], Canada), Canadian satirist, comedian, actor, and writer whose insightful lampooning of Canadian politics made him a national icon. Mercer grew up in an exurb of St. John’s in a middle-class family that loved to discuss politics. While in high school (which he departed one credit short of graduation), he wrote and performed in an award-winning one-act play and cofounded Corey and Wade’s Playhouse, a theatre troupe that performed around St. John’s. In 1990 he won praise for Show Me the Button, I’ll