Jann Arden & Rick Mercer
The Will They or Won’t They Tour
A Night of Laughs and Intimate Conversation
Prospera Place in Kelowna
Saturday, May 25, 2024 at 8:00 pm
Singer/songwriter and author Jann Arden and comedian and TV personality Rick Mercer announce they’ll be hitting the road together this spring for the Will They or Won’t They Tour. Produced by Live Nation Canada, this nationwide tour will feature two of Canada’s most notable voices in a free wheeling, unscripted, unrehearsed and unrestrained discussion that will have audiences cheering on the two Canadian icons. Spend an evening of laughter, stories and successes from their careers in entertainment, spanning multiple decades.
Jann Arden is a multi-platinum, award-winning singer, songwriter, actor and author. Arden has released 15 albums with 19 top ten singles. Her most recent album, Descendant was released in January 2022.
Arden’s accolades include 8 JUNO Awards including Female Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year, 10 SOCAN Awards and 4 Western Canadian Music Awards to name a few. In 2020, she was announced as an inductee into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame joining the ranks of Canadian music icons including Alanis Morisette, Bryan Adams, Barenaked Ladies, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Joni Mitchell, Shania Twain and many more. Arden has also been inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, has a Star on Canada’s Walk of Fame and has been awarded the Order of Canada.
Arden has written six books, the most recent being her debut novel THE BITTLEMORES available November 7th, 2023. Her most recent memoir IF I KNEW THEN: Finding Wisdom in Failure and Power in Aging follows Arden’s 2017 Canadian best-seller, FEEDING MY MOTHER: Comfort and Laughter in the Kitchen as My Mom Lives with Memory Loss, which spent a combined 44 weeks on The Globe and Mail bestseller lists.
Season 3 of Arden’s CTV hit original comedy series JANN premiered in September 2021. With Arden serving as co-creator and star of the show where she plays a fictionalized version of herself, Season 1 of Jann was the most-watched new Canadian comedy series of the 2018-19 broadcast season. Other screen credits include guest appearances in Wynonna Earp (Syfy), Private Eyes (Fox), The Detour (TBS), and Workin’ Moms (Netflix).
Whether she is captivating audiences with her heartfelt music, entertaining them with her quick wit or sharing her written word in a boldly honest voice – Arden is a Canadian original – a brilliant multi-dimensional talent.
Rick Mercer, Canada’s top political satirist, returned to CBC Television in September, 2017 for the 15th and final season of the RICK MERCER REPORT. The series ends on April 10, 2018 with an hour-long special. At the March, 2018 Canadian Screen Awards ceremony, the series received the Academy Icon Award “for its ongoing contribution to the media industry within Canada and globally.”
Rick’s weekly helping of topical satire, funny takes on the week’s top stories, Canada wide adventures and famous rants have made this show a perennial audience favourite. Created by Mercer and Gerald Lunz, the show debuted in January 2004 as Rick Mercer’s Monday Report and moved to Tuesday nights in 2005.
At the start of 2017 the Department of Canadian Heritage announced that Rick would be a Canada 150 Ambassador throughout the year celebrating the 150th anniversary of Confederation. On July 1, 2017 Rick hosted the three-hour CBC Television special Canada Day 150! From Coast to Coast to Coast featuring performances in every province and territory across the country. In March, 2018, Rick received the ‘best host’ Canadian Screen Award for that special.
On July 1, 2014, it was announced that Rick was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and he was inducted in a ceremony at Rideau Hall in September 2015.
In October, 2016 Rick received The John Drainie Award from ACTRA in recognition of his contribution to Canadian broadcasting and for “your unique approach to raising awareness of Canadian politics and current affairs through the award-winning series This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Made in Canada, and The Rick Mercer Report.”
On New Year’s Eve, 2016 Rick hosted the CBC Television special Canada’s New Year’s Eve –Countdown to 2017, a cross-country musical celebration from Parliament Hill ushering in the nation’s 150th birthday year.
Mercer launched his television career in 1993 as one of the creators, performers, and writers on the hit topical weekly show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. In 1998 he joined Gerald Lunz and Michael Donovan to create the satirical dramatic series Made In Canada, where he again starred and contributed as a writer. In 2001 his CBC Television special Talking To Americans became the highest rated Canadian comedy special ever with 2.7 million viewers.
Mercer went to Afghanistan in the fall of 2003 to entertain the troops and tape Rick Mercer’s Christmas in Kabul a special for CBC Television and returned twice to entertain Canadian Forces. He is the sole civilian recipient of the Canadian Armed Forces Commander Land Forces, Command Commendation in recognition of his support of Canadian peacekeepers.
Rick Mercer began his career in comedy performing and writing in his hometown St John’s, Newfoundland with a series of one-man stage shows. His solo Show Me the Button, debuted at the National Arts Centre in 1990 followed by a national tour. Subsequent stage performances were in I’ve Killed Before, I’ll Kill Again (1992) and Canada: A Good Place to Hide (1995).
He is the recipient of nearly 30 Gemini Awards and Canadian Screen Awards for television writing and performance and in 2015 again won the CSA for ‘Best Performance in a Variety or Sketch Comedy Program or Series.’ In 2009 The Rick Mercer Report took home the prestigious Golden Rose Award for ‘best comedy’ at the international Rose d’Or Television Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Mercer is the author three best-selling books: Streeters, a collections of his rants from This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and from The Rick Mercer Report two collections of rants,Rick Mercer Report: The Book (2007) and A Nation Worth Ranting About (2012). Mercer has also written for Time, Maclean’s, The Globe and Mail, and The National Post.
In November, 2015 he hosted the Giller Awards on CBC Television for the second time and will host them again in November, 2016. He has also hosted the East Coast Music Awards, The Gemini Awards, Juno Awards, the annual Canada Day show from Parliament Hill, and CBC Television’s The Next Great Prime Minister. In 2014 Rick co-hosted the CBC Television’s Canadian Country Music Awards show with Jann Arden who is also a frequent guest on The Mercer Report.
He has appeared in a number of feature films, including the Quebec hit Bon Cop, Bad Cop.
In May 2015 he received the Stanley Knowles Humanitarian Award from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and in October he was inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame.
Rick has received ACTRA Toronto’s Award of Excellence, the King Clancy Award from the Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled Persons and The Rick Hansen Award of Excellence given by The March of Dimes for his work benefiting the cause of people with physical disabilities. He was recipient of a Diamond Jubilee Medal in celebration of the Queen’s sixty years on the throne and in October 2013 accepted the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Center Award for Public Service.
He is the recipient of numerous Canadian Comedy Awards, the Sir Peter Ustinov Award at the Banff Television Festival, and the Comedy Icon Lifetime Achievement Award at Ottawa’s Cracking Up the Capital Comedy Festival. He was named one of the Artists of the Year by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council and received the National Arts Centre Award at the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards in 2004. In April 2014, he was given The DAREArts Leadership Award from a charitable organization that uses educational experiences to empower children and youth facing life challenges.
In 2006, Rick and Belinda Stronach founded the charity Spread the Net, which raises funds to stop the spread of malaria by providing mosquito nets for African children. Every year the season finale of The Rick Mercer Report features the Spread the Net Student Challenge which has raised now over one million dollars. Other charities he has been active in include Hope Air, PFLAG (Parents Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays), and Toronto’s Casey House, a hospice for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Rick holds Honorary Doctorates from Memorial University, Laurentian University, University of British Columbia, McMaster University, Bishop’s University, Brock University and the University of Guelph. In 2014, he received Honorary Doctorates from the Royal Military Academy and from University of Western Ontario and York University.
In 2019, Rick was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement award by the Governor Generals’ Performing Arts Awards. Three years later, in 2022, he headlined the “Comedy Night in Canada” stand-up tour organized by Just for Laughs as part of the National tour. Additionally, Rick was awarded the prestigious Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for his critically acclaimed and bestselling memoir, “Talking to Canadians.” These achievements reflect Rick’s notable contributions to the field of performing arts and his aptitude for delivering exceptional comedic performances.
He is on the board of The Historica-Dominion Institute, an organization dedicated to promoting the study of Canadian history, identity and citizenship.
Rick is a native of St. John’s, Newfoundland.
