Mark Critch
Mark Critch (born 1974) is a Canadian comedian, actor, and writer best known for his extensive contributions to the long-running CBC satirical sketch comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes.[1][2]
Born and raised in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Critch began his career in sketch comedy at age 15 through local theatre productions.[1] He joined This Hour Has 22 Minutes in the mid-1990s initially as a writer before transitioning to on-screen performances, where he gained recognition for impersonations of political figures and sharp social commentary.[1][2] Over three decades in the industry, Critch has produced and starred in projects that highlight Newfoundland culture, including the bestselling memoir Son of a Critch (2020), which chronicles his 1980s childhood and inspired a CBC sitcom adaptation.[3][4]
Critch's achievements include multiple Canadian Comedy Awards for writing and the 2025 ACTRA Newfoundland and Labrador Award of Excellence, honoring his advocacy for regional artists and enduring impact on Canadian humour.[5][6] No major controversies have marked his career, which emphasizes storytelling rooted in personal and provincial experiences.[3]
Early Life
Childhood and Family Background
Mark Critch was born on May 14, 1974, in St. John's, Newfoundland, to Mike Critch, a radio journalist who worked for decades at VOCM delivering newscasts, and Mary Critch, who managed the family home.[7][8][9] The family resided in St. John's during the 1970s and 1980s, a period when Newfoundland's economy centered on fishing and emerging resource sectors, with Critch's paternal ancestors tracing roots to fishing communities in Gaskiers, St. Mary's Bay, where his great-grandfather and great-uncle pursued livelihoods as fishermen.[10] His mother's side included farming heritage through the Bell family.[10] Critch grew up alongside an older brother, Mike Critch Jr., in a household influenced by his father's media profession, which exposed him to narrative storytelling and public discourse from an early age.[7] Family dynamics emphasized resilience and humor amid everyday challenges, as recounted in Critch's memoir detailing his awkward adolescence in a close-knit, working-class environment shaped by parental guidance—his father advocating kindness and second chances, and his mother providing stability.[11][9] Newfoundland's regional culture permeated Critch's upbringing, with community events, Catholic schooling, and local traditions fostering an appreciation for oral history and satirical observation grounded in island realities, including the rhythms of a fishing-dependent society prior to the 1992 cod moratorium.[12] These elements, drawn from St. John's neighborhoods, informed his early worldview without formal theatrical training at the time.[12]Education and Formative Influences
Mark Critch attended Catholic schools in St. John's, Newfoundland, progressing from St. Bridget's School in his early years to Holy Heart of Mary High School during the late 1980s and early 1990s.[13][14] As a precocious and outspoken student in these environments, he faced frequent bullying from peers, which prompted him to hone comedic skills as a defensive strategy to deflect aggression and gain social footing.[15] These encounters, detailed in his 2018 memoir Son of a Critch, cultivated an instinctive resilience through self-deprecating wit rather than confrontation, shaping his approach to performance amid a provincial economy reeling from the 1992 Atlantic cod moratorium that shuttered fisheries and displaced thousands of workers.[12] Critch's entry into theatre stemmed from grassroots, community-driven efforts in Newfoundland during this period of economic hardship, including a tourist production that retrained laid-off fishery workers as performers to showcase local history.[16] This bootstrapped initiative provided him with hands-on exposure to stagecraft and ensemble dynamics, bypassing formal training in favor of practical immersion among non-professional casts adapting to new roles post-industry collapse.[17] By age 15, he independently rented a local theatre for an original sketch comedy show, demonstrating early initiative in blending observation of regional quirks—such as political rhetoric and everyday eccentricities—with improvised mimicry to entertain audiences.[12] These formative experiences prioritized adaptive humor over structured education, fostering Critch's reliance on unscripted impressions of authority figures and community archetypes as a tool for engagement and survival in a tight-knit, resource-strapped setting.[12] The interplay of personal adversity and local reinvention amid Newfoundland's fishery downturn thus laid causal groundwork for his comedic instincts, emphasizing authenticity derived from direct environmental pressures rather than institutional pedagogy.[2]Career
Early Work in Theatre and Comedy
Critch began his involvement in theatre and comedy at age 15 in 1989, forming the sketch comedy troupe Cat Fud with high school friends in St. John's, Newfoundland.[18] The group rented out the LSPU Hall, a prominent local venue, to write and perform original sketches, honing skills through direct audience feedback in grassroots settings.[18] [19] These early performances emphasized unscripted, trial-and-error humor drawn from provincial life, without formal training.[18] In the early 1990s, amid Newfoundland's cod fishery moratorium declared on July 2, 1992, which displaced thousands of workers, Critch took on acting roles in tourist-oriented theatre productions featuring casts of former fishers adapting to performance work.[16] [20] These gigs provided practical experience in ensemble acting and improvisation, reflecting the province's economic shift toward tourism and cultural exports.[16] By the mid-1990s, Critch expanded into local media, contributing sketches and appearing on provincial radio and early television spots, marking a progression from amateur stage work to semi-professional broadcasting.[19] His troupe's shows, including at venues like the Battery, continued to test material empirically, prioritizing punchlines that resonated with Newfoundland audiences over polished production.[21] This period laid foundational skills in satirical observation, evident in self-deprecating routines about regional hardships.[18]Breakthrough with This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Mark Critch joined This Hour Has 22 Minutes as a writer in 2003, shortly after Rick Mercer's departure from the cast, and quickly advanced to performing roles, contributing sketches and impressions that became staples of the show's political satire.[22] By 2023, Critch had accumulated approximately 20 years on the program, focusing on parodying current events and political figures through field pieces and studio segments.[23] His work emphasized rapid-response comedy, often targeting Canadian federal politics with a mix of scripted sketches and on-location ambushes. Critch's impressions extended to international leaders, notably Donald Trump, whom he portrayed in multiple trade-related parodies, including depictions of U.S.-Canada tariff disputes. A 2025 sketch featuring Critch as Trump outlining tariff impacts on Canadian consumers amassed over 12 million views on TikTok, alongside millions more across other platforms, demonstrating the segment's broad digital resonance amid heightened bilateral tensions. Earlier iterations in 2019 similarly lampooned trade war escalations, underscoring Critch's recurring role in satirizing economic nationalism's cross-border effects.[24] These pieces relied on exaggerated mannerisms and policy critiques to highlight causal links between rhetoric and real-world trade disruptions. Funded primarily through CBC public broadcasting allocations, This Hour Has 22 Minutes maintains a weekly format of 22-minute episodes blending news parody with sketch comedy, produced in Halifax but distributed nationally to amplify regional satirical voices.[25] This structure facilitates balanced roasts of politicians from both Liberal and Conservative parties, as evidenced by segments critiquing Justin Trudeau's administration alongside Pierre Poilievre's campaigns, fostering a causal dynamic where taxpayer-supported content pressures accountability across ideological lines without favoring one side.[26] The show's longevity—entering its 32nd season by 2025—stems from this adaptability, with Critch's contributions driving viewership spikes during election cycles and international crises.[27]