BBC
Terry Mosher, aka Aislin, describes his approach to cartooning as merely mischievous.
American cartoonist Patrick Oliphant once put it another way. "Anyone as mean as (Mosher)," he wrote for the introduction to one of Mosher's books, "is likely to be invited to go four rounds by the pope himself."
TV viewers will have an opportunity tomorrow to judge for themselves. The Gazette's master satirist is the subject of a documentary called Aislin, Dangerous When Provoked: The Life & Times of Terry Mosher, which airs on the CBC television series Life & Times, at 8 p.m. The show will be rebroadcast Sunday, Aug. 27, at 2:30 p.m.
Director John Curtin of Montreal's Kaos Productions filmed Mosher over the course of a year. Capturing a sense of the recondite inner life of the cartoonist who spends hour upon hour sitting still - drawing - was a challenge for Curtin. "You can only show 30 seconds of someone sitting there drawing," Curtin said. So he got Mosher moving - while he drew.
They visit his birthplace in Ottawa. And they visit his primary training-ground of Quebec City - where he put himself through art school in the '60s by selling drawings in the back alleys of the old city before it was legal. It was during this time - he graduated in 1967 - that Mosher adopted his first-born daughter's name as a nom de plume.
And they visit old Montreal haunts in the Plateau district and downtown Montreal where Mosher spent considerable time and money carousing with the best of them.
Curtin said the drawn-out process of documentary filmmaking made Mosher impatient. Mosher concurs.
"(Curtin) said I was more impatient than (Olympic athlete) Donovan Bailey," Mosher said with a laugh in an interview for this article. "I'm a cartoonist. I sit down and draw and - boom - it's done. So I'd ask him, 'Why am I walking up and down this street?' "
(Curtin's documentary Olympic Warrior: Donovan Bailey's Story was nominated for a Gemini in 1999.)
Dangerous When Provoked opens with an anecdote about a cartoon Mosher drew of Brian Mulroney, a favourite target of Mosher's for years.
The cartoon depicts Mulroney face down in the snow in front of his Westmount home, in the dead of winter, after being tripped by Pierre Trudeau.
The infamous image led to one of Mosher's happiest moments: being denounced in the House of Commons.
Curtin insisted Mosher retrace his steps to the scene of the crime, so Mosher found himself standing in front of Mulroney's house, in the dead of winter. The director "convinced me to do stuff I normally wouldn't be caught dead doing," Mosher said with a chuckle.
"I wanted to open with an image that would reach a broad Canadian public," Curtin said.
He has produced and directed 14 documentaries since founding Kaos Films in 1994. He has learned how to gain the trust of his subjects, whether it be the orphaned children in a Ugandan choir in the recently launched documentary A Song for Africa or the extraordinary ballet dancer Rex Harrington on the eve of his retirement. He hopes his next project will take him behind the scenes at Rideau Hall.
Curtin found Mosher to be marvelously articulate. The artist speaks almost playfully about his fearless approach to provocative cartooning.
Mosher's award-winning cartoons have been on display for decades, but little is known about what has driven him to visually toy with political, public and human foibles for more than 30 years. That's what Curtin wanted to find out.
Although the camera does not reveal all, it does suggest the complexity of the artist is reflected in his detail-driven art; not all is obvious at first glance, but much can be learned if you take the time to poke around in the minutiae.
We hear from family and friends and politicians and former boss Senator Joan Fraser - who as editorial page editor from 1978 to 1992 spent hours poring over Mosher's work in search of hidden or subtle images that might get the paper into trouble.
But the most moving moments come when he speaks frankly about his deadly dance with alcohol and cocaine and how he managed to turn his life around and, in turn, help others struggling with self-destructive behaviours.
"I find myself walking down the street feeling buoyant," Mosher, 63, said in the interview. "Having gone through all that and survived - if I can help someone else, I will."
Mosher's work has been in newspapers and magazines, including Maclean's and Time, plus dozens of books. His latest book, What Next? (McArthur and Company), will be in bookstores in October, as will Mordecai's Montreal (Madison), edited by David Macfarlane and illustrated by Mosher.
Mosher is also a player in the political cabaret The Four Anglos of the Apocalypse, along with Gazette columnist Josh Freed and comedy musical duo Bowser & Blue. The Theatre Lac Brome production returns for a fourth run at Centaur Theatre in September.
CBC's Rex Murphy once said, "Aislin is vivid, steely and fierce. His cartoons are a diary of every folly and controversy that has meshed with the sad Canadian consciousness over the past three decades."
Under the glare of the documentary lens, Mosher's eyes glisten when he speaks of the importance of his charity work and the beauty of his drug-and-booze-free world. The eyes glint when he takes stock of his body of work.
The mischief is still there.
Aislin, Dangerous When Provoked: The Life & Times of Terry Mosher airs on CBMT-6 tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Aug. 27 at 2:30 p.m.
Mosher performs in The Four Anglos of the Apocalypse at Centaur Theatre, 453 St. Francois Xavier St., Sept. 5-10. For ticket info, call 514-288-3161.
kgreenaway@thegazette.canwest.com
