Geri Hall contemplates KFC's DoubleDown and Don Cherry's suits.
Geri Hall, a roving reporter and satirical news anchor on CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes, hosts the New Year's Eve Comedy Extravaganza at Toronto's Massey Hall. Before 2010 officially comes to an end, the raspy-voiced redhead speaks about the year and what shape Canada has been left in as a result of the preceding 12 months.
Were you aware that a new CBC poll revealed that Canadians, by and large, feel themselves to be overweight, overworked, tired and stressed out?
Oh, no. Well, the pace of life is a little bit insane. I just got back from Halifax, where we shoot This Hour Has 22 Minutes. I spent three months idealizing coming back here for Christmastime. 'Oh God, it'll be so amazing - we'll play Christmas carols, we'll run around with peppermint-scented hot chocolate and buying packages. And then you get out into the reality of what constitutes shopping in Ontario in December, and you wish you had one of those cyanide pills in a little necklace.
Is it that bad?
I just find Christmas so overwhelming. So if the CBC poll was taken during Christmas, no wonder people feel that way.
While in Halifax, you might have missed a Toronto news story, involving the political activity of your CBC colleague, Don Cherry. What do you make of him?
He reminds me right now of a student in the first level of a Second City improv workshop. They teach you that as an improviser you should never censor yourself. Whatever comes to your mind immediately, you say it - you go with it.
There were a lot of tragic and dour headlines this year. Were you able to find lighter news moments?
One of my favourites was Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who lost his mind and jumped off the plane. He got fed up and had one of those career epiphanies. He grabbed a beer and ran over and pulled the emergency chute and slid off the plane and into unemployment.
One of the big food stories this year was KFC's Double Down sandwich. You did a sketch on that for 22 Minutes , right?
When I first heard about the Double Down, one part of my brain was disgusted: 'That's just inappropriate, and it's not nutritionally sound, and I do not condone this sandwich.' But when we did the sketch, they actually brought one of the sandwiches in, and I had to eat it. I can't tell a lie: It's delicious. I didn't want it to be delicious, but it was.
There were other crazy caloric situations this year, like deep-fried beer and the so-called Angry French Canadian, which involves bacon, hot dogs and poutine.
I think it's a backlash. I've learned that if the human brain is told it can't have something, it then wants that thing more than anything in the universe. Also, I think we're so exhausted hearing about the South Beach Diet or an exercise contraption that's finally going to tone your thighs, and all this conflicting nutritional information.
Have you had a Double Down since the sketch?
I'm not going to make the Double Down part of my regular life, but if someone tells me I can't have one, then I might start eating a lot of them.
In effect, Don Cherry is the Double Down of television personalities.
So true. And his suits probably have more calories than the sandwich does.
This interview has been condensed and edited.