Mark McKinney's impression of Canada's new prime minister may be buttoned-up and intense, but he said the process of portraying Mark Carney on "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" is loose and playful.
McKinney joined as a guest to take on Carney in this week's episode of the CBC TV sketch show, opposite a U.S. President Donald Trump portrayed by his longtime friend and fellow Mark: Critch.
"Just between myself and Critch, we're improvising stuff. We're throwing up suggestions for lines as we're standing on set with the cameras blocking us. It's easy," he said by phone from Halifax, after his final day shooting.
McKinney is set to reprise the role in the "22 Minutes" finale, as well as an election special planned for later this month.
"We do it because it's funny, or we try it and it doesn't work. So it is play. Sometimes it's work, and work can be fun too, but this comes from a very fun, 'let's stay in the moment,' improv-y kind of play."
That's not to say he didn't prepare. Carney's control means there aren't a ton of ways to capture his character 鈥� very few catchphrases and quirks.
"It's been a lot more time just with my eyes closed, listening to his cadence on YouTube," McKinney said. "Fortunately he does have a slight sort of rhythm to his cadence, which makes it easy."
Carney is precise with his words, McKinney said.
"Just something about the way he hesitates, you know this guy has a PhD."
McKinney, a founding member of "Kids in the Hall" and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member, said his turn as Carney came about quickly 鈥� a necessity in a time of political upheaval.
Carney was sworn in as prime minister less than a month before McKinney donned a grey coiffe and dark brows to portray him.
But the folks at "22 Minutes" are used to working fast, McKinney noted, and their scripts gave him a solid foundation to play with.
"The playground has already been built, if I may torture a metaphor," he joked.
The most obvious hook for Carney is his relative difficulty speaking French, McKinney said, adding that the prime minister clearly has some mastery of the language because he can answer francophone journalists' questions about policy.
"Just his mouth can't make some of those words too good, you know," he said.
There's not much of an opportunity for McKinney to flesh out his Carney this season. The finale of "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" is next Tuesday at 8 p.m., and an election special that will air sometime before the April 28 vote.
McKinney filmed a sketch for that special on Thursday, but said he doesn't know if he'll be back for Season 33 or if the "22 Minutes" will go in-house, assuming Carney stays on the political stage.
Still, he said, he's open to it.
The last time McKinney was on the show was 2013, in a time capsule of a sketch about then-Toronto mayor Rob Ford. McKinney played now-Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who at the time was a city councillor and de facto sidekick for his brother.
Wearing a spiky blond wig, McKinney flanks Rob Ford 鈥� also played by Critch in a wig not dissimilar from the one he wears for Trump 鈥� during a topsy-turvy press conference typical of that era of Toronto politics.
"We had fun back then," McKinney said. "We've had fun playing off each other this time too."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2025.
Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press
