Comedian Rick Mercer has won more than 30 Gemini awards and received numerous government honours for lampooning Canadian politics and its uninspiring players. Rick Mercer Report: The Book collects dozens of his hugely popular “rants,” originally presented either as TV monologues or blog posts on the show’s website, alongside other material. The rants are sorted into loose sections by theme, each with a short, pithy introduction. For example, “Treating Us Like Idiots” features a number of diatribes on how politicians underestimate the intelligence of their constituents.

While Mercer is generally an engaging writer who can be extremely entertaining on TV, his comedy does not come across as well in print – all but a few of these rants read a little dry. And while some of the material is new, hardcore Mercer fans will find a lot of it to be like watching reruns.

Even worse are the travel anecdotes interspersed throughout the book. One details a charity trip Mercer took to Rwanda with Belinda Stronach. Another recounts serving Christmas turkey with General Rick Hillier to Canadian troops in Kandahar.  These stories often depart from comedy completely, and Mercer adopts an excruciatingly sincere and self-congratulatory tone.

Somewhat more successful tidbits include choice quotes from show guests, such as David Suzuki’s admission that he was concerned less about the environment than about his own testicles when he and Mercer took a winter swim in Lake Huron. Another section recounts the infamous moment when Pierre Berton offered instruction on rolling joints.

In the end, Mercer’s book is very much like his show: mildly amusing, yet harmless.