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2/10
A Very Bad Late Night Talk Show
madams20109 August 2018
Oh man was this show ever bad. Every moment of it was unintentional cringe causing awkwardness.

First the host Mike Bullard was the worst possible choice for a late night talk show host. Instead of friendly he was bitter and insulting. His monologues at the beginning of the show weren't very funny and he'd blame and turn on the audience. Whenever he would 'riff' with audience members he would do insulting jokes along the lines of 'oh you're from (insert city name), I drove through there one night it felt like three weeks, what a dump!'... and he would continue whether or not his joke's victim was on board, or the audience as a whole for that matter.

Second is the audience. I'm not exaggerating when I say it always seemed kind of tense and the people there usually looked confused or like they wanted to escape or something. The ones who did laugh had the same look, as if they were just doing it to be polite or out of fear Bullard would insult them with some jokes next. Did the audience have huge bodyguards glaring at them from underneath the 'LAUGH AND APPLAUSE!' signs?

Third, Bullard was terrible but his material was the worst anyway. It seemed like his eyes were always closed and he just came off as creepy, angry and bitter a lot of times. The daddy-est of dad jokes and terrible segments and jokes and skits... say what you want about Bullard and he really was a bad host but NO ONE could have made any of the stuff he read funny anyway.

Fourth, 99% of the guests were no names or people who's career was already over. So many times he would have to explain who the guest was because nobody in his audience or watching on TV would recognize them. If we did recognize their face at all it was usually 'uhhh... isn't he that guy from that... what was that show?'

Every aspect of the show was awkward and unfunny.

EDIT... Remember how I said Bullard was unfunny, serious and bitter and creepy? Well he has now been charged with stalking a woman and making threats and allegedly has done this many times, and also broke his court ordered restraining order or something. Sweet potato and this is a comedy talk show host? That says about all you need to know about how awkward and bad this show was.

I really wish someone would post the entire series online so we could see it again, some of it actually achieved that 'so awkward it's funny' thing that nobody could do intentionally, it just has to happen you know?
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Ugh
TimMoysey29 January 2004
I never watched Bullard's CTV/Comedy Network show much, usually only tuning in if there was a guest that I wanted to see, but judging by his new show on Global, I didn't miss much.

His monologue is a bunch of lame jokes that usually fall flat mixed in with him throwing lamer insults at people in the audience. His comedy bits are even worse than the monologue though (Upside/Downside, Canada vs. America), with the possible exception of 'The Informer', which can be humourous at times.

The guests are C-level at best most of the time -- I think the only 'big' name he's had on in his few months so far at Global has been Kid Rock -- that I'm sure most of the people there have never heard of (supporting players on syndicated or cable shows).

Another problem I think the show has is the acoustics in the theatre he does the show from. It's hard to hear him and the guests talk a lot of the time, as well as whatever laughter he may get from the crowd. He would probably benefit from a more cozy environment where everything is more personal. As it is, the set has a very sterile environment which detracts from the show.

I'm not even going to touch his horrible banter with the band leader. Suffice to say it's quite horrible.

It's a shame, though, as I've heard Bullard's stand-up routine is quite funny. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't translate well to a late-night talk show setting.
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4/10
Slightly Less Than Average
jgoodhand3 February 2019
I know this show wasn't very good but it also was not the worst show ever made as some of the reviewers here seem to be saying. If you didn't like it just turn it off, that's what we always say. No point getting upset over something you don't even have to watch. As for me I had it on sometimes in the background. Never really liked it much to be honest but it was harmless and sometimes had a good guest worth watching. Burt Reynolds was on. Michael Moriarty was amazing.
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10/10
Great Canadian television
rcollins2021 November 2021
Open Mike with Mike Bullard was probably Canada's best and most under appreciated late night talk show ever. At the show's peak, Open Mike had higher Canadian ratings than "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Show with David Letterman." Bullard would typically have on two to three panel guests and end the show with a musical performance. The musical director, bandleader and bassist for the show was the incredibly talented Orin Isaacs, who had a great back and forth with Bullard and often participated in some hilarious sketches. The highlight of the show was when Bullard would talk to audience members, often eliciting amusing comments which he would twist into comedy gold. Bullard had a fantastic dry wit and an incredible ability to improvise, Canadian television should have brought this show back years ago. So if you have a chance to check it out, open your eyes, open a beer, open some chips, and enjoy - Open Mike with Mike Bullard.
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Terrible
va3svd2 November 2003
This is not a slam against Mike Bullard. Off this show, the guy's hilarious. He MC'd a fundraiser in Guelph a couple of years ago and had everybody in stitches. People still talk about it, and he was very generous to donate his time to the event. But this show has to go. It's just so bad it's beyond words. He's not a bad interviewer, but the audience usually gives him nothing to work with and his monologues rely upon audience participation. The problem is, is that they're usually so bad nobody would ever want to participate and interact with them. And it's a shame, because in other fori Mr. Bullard is a pretty good comedian.
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Crap
sujay-111 January 2004
This is one of the worst shows ever, He makes Letterman laughable and the guests are horrible, who's this week's guest? Probably the camera man, some extra from Kung Fu the Legend Continues or Kim Mitchell. If it can be avoided then please go read a book or enjoy you have good eyes and good ears so you don't have to watch this b show!
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Horrible!! No other way to describe it!!
StarGaze-929 December 2001
I think I owe Rosie an apology. THIS is the worst talk show ever made! Seriously folks, it doesn't get much worse than this. The only thing more mind boggiling than the fact that this show actually exists is how it manages to stay on the air. (Its STILL on as I write this!)

Mike Bullard is not funny. There is no other way to for me to say this. He is just not funny. His monologue connsits of him taking cheap shots at his audience, then smiling like a squirrel with a shotgun pointed at him and chuckling while the auidence sits in silence and then gives him the token mercy laugh. His guests are mostly no-names. Even the guests I've heard of are still nothing to write home about (Burt Reynolds? Ben Stein? Please, spare me!)

In short, this show stinks! The only worse than the show is the fact that there are actually people who support this garbage. Anytime I hear about people saying that "Open Mike" is great Canadian television, I want to shoot myself!

Rating: Negative 100 stars!!!!

(TY CK ;-))
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Worst...Show...Ever
esherkin15 April 2003
This show makes me embarrassed to be Canadian. It's almost as bad as Off The Record.

Host - not funny Guests - nobody of importance Theme song - inane On TV since - 1997? Are you SERIOUS?

Even Benmergui Live was better.
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I Remember This, It Was Awful
jasongibbonsxxx22 February 2011
I remember this show only I remember it under the title "Open Mike with Mike Bullard", and it was terrible! I had no idea it lasted several years and I don't see how it lasted one full episode let alone one full season or even the several seasons it apparently was on TV for! Mike Bullard was the worst Canadian talk show host ever, even worse than Popcultured, although there is now one who is even worse, Frank D'Angelo from the Being Frank Show with Frank D'Angelo that is nothing more than a guy who is buying his own advertising time (Frank D'Angelo owns Cheeta Energy Drinks) to have his own talk show.

Anyway Mike Bullard was a terrible host, the jokes were never funny and he was just mean to people half the time, the audience just looked uncomfortable and would force laughter to be nice. All the sketches and jokes they did were just groan worthy bad.
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Good effort from Toronto's only memorable tv talk show
phbalanced2 April 2004
Seven years on the air with The Comedy Network is a long time for any Canadian talk show to stay on the air so the move over to Global TV was probably the wrong move for Mike Bullard which ended up a cancelled show last month. And the IMDb doesn't even have a file on The Mike Bullard Show. But over the years this guy has had an interesting line up of guests. Most memorable is the 80s week theme in which guests from both the USA and Canada were brought on to commemorate that decade. Lots of spoofs, laughs and rants. Thankfully, the Comedy Network continues to air reruns of shows. A good effort from Mike. Thanks for the laughs over the years. You provided an interview forum to introduce many Canadian music artists, actors, comedians, who otherwise would just remain unknown to many of us.
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Funny, in a corny sort of way
millennia-222 April 2001
I know that many people will disagree with me, but Mike Bullard isn't a bad talk show host. He definitely can't hold his own against Leno or especially the great Conan O'Brien, but he's original and often pretty funny, and is the best Canada will ever have. For the first few seasons of the show, the guests were all no names, and only recently have they started getting higher profile stars (Leslie Nielsen and Ricky Martin in recent weaks). The most refreshing aspect of the show is the daily "make fun of the audience" segment (not actually titled that, but you get the idea).

He seems shy around the guests though, and the interviews usually suffer because of this, but he's great before them. As for the show, technically it's perfect, with good lighting and great sound, not to mention good camera work and graphics.

7/10
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Not that bad- good for late night when there's nothing else on TV.
Raleon28 June 2003
A lot of people hate Mike Bullard- others love him. To me he's alright- Canada has had better and will have much better in the future. Mike Bullard is somewhere between an insult comic and Johnny Carson, though he is only about as funny as Jay Leno (not that that's a huge accomplishment). The reason I would give this show any credit is because I see Mike Bullard more as a host than as a comedian. He has an abillity to give light to the obscure and the interesting, while keeping a good place for celebrity interviews as well. As far as jokes are concerned, recycling the same Michael Jackson joke just isn't funny. The monologue is worth seeing but needs to be much sharper. But it wasn't until the sixth season he got really good anyway. It opened with an episode consisting of Loydd Robinson leaving in the middle of an interview to "crash" Mike's show and an interview where Dave Foley read off mock congratulatory letters to Mike. Later in the season, there were more memorable shows such as Mike's mock interview with Paul Cellucci over the telephon about not joing in the war with Iraq, and the last episode where Loydd Robinson broke in the middle of Mike's desk bit to "announce" he signed a new contract stating he is allowed to interrupt any show he wants and to wish Mike a happy birthday. Hopefully the seventh season will be even more of an improvement with even more memorable moments. And hopefully when this show ends, it will create an even better late night show spin off. Canada needs more entertainment trying to make our industry work.
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fantastic!
martinjobrien30 December 2002
Like "M*A*S*H" or "60 Minutes", "Open Mike with Mike Bullard" represents the best of television. On a budget that would make Paul Shaffer's optometrist cringe, 5 nights a week Mike puts the best to the test and invests in the rest whether providing up-and-coming Canadian talent with a showcase or ribbing Nicolas Cage. A real gem.
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Creep
Shaun45125 July 2021
I agree with all the reviews here but does anyone remember when he had a then 17-year old Mandy Moore on the show and began hitting on her by calling her a "world class beauty"??
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