Rick Mercer first came to fame with Show Me the Button, I'll Push It (Or, Charles Lynch Must Die), a one-man show that premiered at the National Arts Centre in 1990 and subsequently toured across Canada. He co-created and was a resident performer on CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes, created and starred in five seasons of the critically acclaimed Made in Canada, and created and starred in the CBC special Talking to Americans, which premiered to over 2.7 million viewers on April 1, 2001, making it the most-watched comedy special in Canadian television history. He is now host of Rick Mercer Report. Rick is co-chair with Belinda Stronach of the Spread the Net campaign—www.spreadthenet.org—dedicated to preventing the spread of malaria in Africa. His many honours include 21 Geminis and the Governor General's Performing Arts Award. He is from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.