Another humorist who does this, in a meaner way, is Sasha Baron-Cohen. The lesson here is not how ridiculous the people being ridiculed are, but rather: Who controls the editing controls everything. (Christopher Hitchens said brilliantly about the dinner party scene in Borat that it showed not how racist Americans are, but how polite they are.)

Mercer's portrayals of Americans are not portrayals of Americans at all, but of Canadians' self-congratulatory caricatures of Americans. It makes me cringe with embarrassment.

Is a lack of exposure to Canadian television really a problem? Americans listen to quite a bit of Canadian music. And a sizable minority also watch a significant amount of British television (Downton Abbey, tons of Murder-Mystery stuff). Not to mention the huge amount of European literature we're exposed to in our education system or that we read for pleasure (Harry Potter). But that's just western culture. Looking East, you can also look at the huge impact Japanese Animation and Chinese Film has had on our culture as well.

Americans will voraciously consume any media that's 1) Made available to them (Most Canadian TV fails this test) 2) In English.

And from showing all of the rest of my non-british loving friends these shows they tend to become instant fans. So I think this meta problem is really not on the American side to be honest but the lack of availability if at all.

And yes, I don't think a show demonstrating foreigners lack of knowledge about US culture would be produced here. That sounds like a very boring show.