This Hour Has 22 Minutes

Production

Format	Comedy
Created by	Mary Walsh
Starring	Cathy Jones Mark Critch Shaun Majumder Gavin Crawford Geri Hall
Country of origin	Canada
No. of episodes	22-24 per season, 15 seasons
Running time	22 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBC
Original run	1993 – Present
External links
Official website

Description

This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada`s 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics, combining news parody, sketch comedy and satirical orials. Originally featuring Cathy Jones, Rick Mercer, Greg Thomey and Mary Walsh, the series featured satirical sketches of the weekly news and Canadian political events. The show`s format is a mock news program, intercut with comic sketches, parody commercials and humorous interviews of public figures. The on-location segments are frequently filmed with slanted camera angles. Its name is a parody of This Hour Has Seven Days, a CBC newsmagazine from the 1960s; the "22 Minutes" refers to the fact that a half-hour television program is typically 22 minutes long with eight minutes of commercials. Jones and Walsh had previously worked together on the sketch comedy series CODCO, on which Thomey sometimes appeared as a guest. Mercer had been a notable young writer and performer on his own, touring several successful one-man shows of comedic political commentary. Salter Street Films produced the series until the 2003–2004 season. Salter Street was acquired in 2001 by Alliance Atlantis, and production of the series was transferred directly to Alliance Atlantis in the twelfth season. Since 2005, Halifax Film, a new company formed by Salter co-founder Michael Donovan, has produced the show. Recognized with 24 Gemini Awards and 11 Canadian Comedy Awards, 22 Minutes is broadcast on the CBC Television network. It is taped before a studio audience in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The series, which originally aired on Mondays for several seasons and later on Fridays, currently airs Tuesdays at 8:30pm on CBC. The first two seasons have been released onto DVD, and are available for purchase from Halifax Film. Episodes of the current season, Season XV, are available for download through iTunes Canada.