How Mark McKinney became Mark Carney

15:00How Mark McKinney became Mark Carney

Mark McKinney isn't necessarily known for political comedy, but in his latest role on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, he's playing Prime Minister Mark Carney.

It all started with a viral post McKinney made on X, formerly known as Twitter, asking how hard it would be to shut down X in Canada and make a Canadian version in its place.

"My comment got assigned to Mark Carney," the Kids in the Hall alum tells Q's Tom Power in an interview. "Someone posted, 'Hey, Mark Carney thinks we should shut down Twitter!' And then that went viral. And then someone corrected him and said, 'No, no. Not Mark Carney — Mark McKinney said that.' And that went viral."

From there, McKinney's post caught the attention of Mike Allison and Mark Critch of 22 Minutes, who invited him to come to Halifax and play Carney on their show.

"I didn't do a lot of deep thinking about whether I had a good Carney impression or not, it was more like, hey, road trip!" McKinney says. "I knew I'd be well-handled and the writers there are really good, and so I felt pretty safe."

But after doing a bit of online research, McKinney realized that, unlike U.S. President Donald Trump, Carney "doesn't have a lot of handles" — meaning he doesn't have the bombastic qualities that typically make for good political parody.

"It turns out he does have a sort of a rhythm, and I'm still learning how to do it," McKinney says. "I don't know if you've been following the American coverage of Carney, but when he made that statement using that incredible compound complex sentence, he really knows how to do it: 'The relationship that Canada has had with the United States for over 60 years is — dramatic pause — over.' And that's kind of his thing. That's his political punch. It's a rhythm thing. He's a little Obama-esque, but Obama can, you know, get them standing and stuff like that."

He's a little Obama-esque.- Mark McKinney on Mark Carney

In terms of nailing Carney's physical characteristics, McKinney gives a lot of credit to the makeup, hair and wardrobe department at 22 Minutes.

"They're used to turning it around very fast," he says. "So I just sat in the chair and watched them put lines on my face and get the eyebrows — he has very strange eyebrows. They sit almost in his pupils. They're very low. They don't really move … and that was actually very hard, to try and do a live sketch with a live audience and all that popping energy and to keep your eyebrows absolutely still."

Pending the results of this week's federal election, McKinney says he'll consider sticking around in the role.

"Maybe I'll run against him and do something really kind of Andy Kaufman-esque," he jokes. "What would be the strangest thing I could do? I think I'll continue to be him in my life, never mind 22 [Minutes]."

The full interview with Mark McKinney is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. He also talks about his time parodying former U.S. presidential candidate Steve Forbes on SNL in the 1990s. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Mark McKinney produced by Liv Pasquarelli.