Rick Mercer went ziplining with Thomas Mulcair while the NDP leader was in Newfoundland and Labrador last month for a caucus meeting and much shrieking ensued.
Mercer and Mulcair had only met briefly once before, but they soon bonded over the terrifying-turned-tedious experience that is flying through the air suspended from a cable.
The first pass saw Mulcair let out a scream in — how does one say this politely? — a surprising tone (skip ahead to 2:40 to see the shriek). Mercer followed soon after, spinning himself around like an old pro.
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Much like in the recent South Park episode "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining," Mulcair and Mercer soon became worried the adventure would never end after discovering they would have to traverse 10 separate cables.
"Who knew that there were 10 ziplines?" Mulcair asked. "I knew there was 10, I just didn't know you had to do all 10 to get down the mountain." Mercer replied.
The two did find some time to talk politics, with Mulcair revealing the NDP employs a team devoted to the task of digging through his past to discover likely avenues the Tories will use to attack him.
Mulcair also divulged that he was once a long-haired hippie, albeit one who went to law school.
Mercer: "Stephen Harper was a hippie."
Mulcair: "Really? I'd like to see pictures of him."
Mercer: "(Laughing) No, no he wasn't. No, no, no, no he spoke to a hippie once, he said 'No, I'm sorry I can't give you a ride.'"
The two men finished in tandem — literally — riding the rope together while Mercer joked that this was all part of a plot to knock off Mulcair and replace him with NDP MP, and former leadership hopeful, Paul Dewar.
The "Rick Mercer Report" appearance for the NDP leader with the prickly reputation came just after the far-from prickly Justin Trudeau finished up his televised speech announcing his intention to run for the Liberal leadership.
While Mulcair shrugged off the challenge from Trudeau during a recent dinner written about by Lawrence Martin for iPolitics, a poll last week found a Trudeau-led Liberal party could decimate the NDP and return them to third-party status.
Could Mulcair be mounting a media campaign aimed at softening his public image to better compete with Trudeau?
It's hard to say, but one thing is for sure: Mercer needs to get Trudeau on that zipline stat!
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