New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham taped an edition of the Rick Mercer Report recently at the Ganong Chocolate Factory in St. Stephen. The episode airs next Tuesday
Premier laughs it up with Rick Mercer
TV show to feature Premier Shawn Graham's visit with comedian to St. Stephen chocolate factory
Times & Transcript staff Published Wednesday November 21st, 2007
ST. STEPHEN - New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham can't remember the last time he laughed so hard even if some of the jokes came at his own expense.
"If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?" Graham asked during an interview yesterday.
The premier's comments came 24 hours after he spent most of Monday doubled over with laughter while touring the Ganong Brothers chocolate factory in St. Stephen with Canadian comic and TV star Rick Mercer.
"It was a long, tiring day," Graham said. "It's hard to spend six hours of filming just for a six or seven-minute clip that's going to be on national TV (on the Rick Mercer Report).
"I spent most of the day laughing at him, his jokes and the expressions he gets on his face. It's one thing to see his facial expressions on TV, but he's even funnier when you're with him. It was a great experience."
The Liberal premier and the satirist from Newfoundland, both 39 years-old, toured the famed Ganong plant and even tried their hands at candy-making.
Graham said Mercer had never heard of chicken bones before even though they are a popular Christmas-time confection in the Maritimes.
"We made quite a mess of those and I don't know how much of that is going to end up on TV and how much is going to edited out," Graham said.
"If it reaches the air, the rest of the country is going to discover Ganong's chicken bones. There's a real art to creating them."
The show regularly attracts audiences of 1.2 million viewers.
Graham called Ganong, which was founded in St. Stephen in 1873 and is a fifth-generation company, one of New Brunswick's "great success stories." The plant employs 350 workers.
"We had a lot of fun doing the show and it's going to give the company and our province some great exposure," the premier said.
Greg Fash, Ganong's vice-president of sales and marketing, is looking forward to seeing the segment.
"You never know what's going to end up on the cutting room floor, but I know there were a lot of laughs and carrying on while they were here," Fash said.
"The premier and Rick Mercer both met a lot of people and everyone here appreciated it. It was a terrific time."
The show hits the airwaves next Tuesday night.'
Rick Mercer & NB Premier Shawn Graham.
