I have to be honest.

The thought of interviewing Rick Mercer freaked the hell out of me.

I've admired the man for almost 10 years -- from his wickedly funny rants on This Hour Has 22 Minutes to his snarky delivery on Made in Canada, Mercer has never failed to make me laugh.

So, when I had the chance to speak with the Canadian comic at the Banff Springs Hotel this week, I wanted to make sure I asked thoughtful, intelligent questions.

Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly the way our interview began.

"I'm scared of you," I blurted out, after shaking his hand.

Smooth.

Thankfully, Mercer was understanding, if not a little surprised.

"I'm not that bad," he said with a smile, before recalling his early days on 22 Minutes.

"When I first started, I was so nervous when I had to interview certain politicians. Because I'm a news junkie, politicians are my celebrities. Those are the people I admire."

The Newfoundland-raised performer was one of the featured guests at this year's Banff Television Festival, which ends today. He is the recipient of the Sir Peter Ustinov Award, given out annually to performers who have made a positive contribution to comedy.

When organizers told Mercer he would be receiving one of the festival's highest honours, it took him a few days to comprehend.

"It was completely odd," said Mercer, who joins the illustrious list of previous winners, including Kelsey Grammer, John Cleese, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Tracey Ullman and Martin Short.

"I don't even have a resume, so I was surprised to find out that I have a body of work and that someone admires that body of work enough to give me an award," said Mercer, who accepted the award at Monday's Banff Rockie Awards.

The 33-year-old Mercer, one of the award's youngest recipients, has been performing comedy since he was in high school in St. John's. He cut his teeth in several one-man shows before joining what would become arguably Canada's best sketch/satire show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, in 1994.

The half-hour comedy series revolutionized political humour by actually informing its audience while it entertained.

Though Mercer and the 22 Minutes team enthusiastically skewered right-leaning conservatives such as Ralph Klein, Stockwell Day and ex-Reform Party leader Preston Manning, liberal lefties were not immune to their poison arrows.

"Right from the beginning I wanted to be an equal opportunity offender," said Mercer, who recalled how the NDP were aghast when he sent up one of its advertising campaigns.

"It was wickedly funny. It really took the gas out of those ads. A lot of NDP members were absolutely offended we did it. They acted like we were selling out a cause.

" 'Sure, it's okay to make fun of Ralph Klein or the Liberals. But we're a sacred cow ...' Sorry, it doesn't work that way."

In 2001, Mercer left 22 Minutes. He had gained a loyal following thanks to his brazen rants and hilarious stunts -- the most memorable of which was getting one million people to sign a petition to have Stockwell Day change his name to Doris.

Mercer felt he had done all he could do on the show. "I was looking into the future and I didn't see anything happening," he said. "And nothing did happen, so it was good timing, I guess."

With Chretien retiring next year, the political landscape is shifting and Mercer feels it's the right time to get back into political satire.

The Rick Mercer Show, debuting this fall, will find him again covering Canadian news stories, with his trademark sarcastic wit.

It's the first time Mercer will be based out of Toronto, although he says the reason for that is so he can get out of Toronto.

"I want to be able to cover the news across Canada. If the big story of the week is in Calgary, I want to be in Calgary to cover it."