Mayor Rob Ford had a rough start to the week.

He called 911 after being accosted outside his Etobicoke home around 8 a.m. on Monday as he was leaving for a council meeting at City Hall.

The attackers turned out to be from the CBC comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes, which specializes in catching politicians unaware. By the time police arrived, the TV crew and Ford had gone.

According to a neighbour, a woman brandishing a microphone jumped out of a dark blue Jeep and ran yelling toward Ford’s driveway with a cameraman in tow.

The woman was 22 Minutes alumna Mary Walsh, in character as her alter ego Marg Delahunty and dressed outlandishly as Marg, Warrior Princess, CBC spokesman Chris Ball confirmed.

Ford, who has received death threats in recent months, was furious at the ambush, saying he had no idea who was coming at him.

Ford told reporters his daughter Stephanie, 5, was with him and was frightened when Walsh came running.

Ford said he heard the woman yelling, “We’ve got you Rob Ford, we got you.” He said the crew was in his driveway and blocked him from getting in his car. He retreated into his house and called 911.

“I’m open to games, I have no problem. But when you come to my private house early in the morning and ambush me, I think that crosses a line,” Ford said.

Next door neighbour Zdravko Gagro said police arrived about 10 or 20 minutes after the incident.

Walsh left 22 Minutes in 2004 but has returned occasionally, such as in 2009 when she ambushed former Alaska governor Sarah Palin at an Ohio book signing.

CBC spokesman Ball said Walsh was looking to conduct a surprise interview with Ford for an upcoming segment of the show about Movember, the annual campaign in which participants grow moustaches to support men’s health.

“We do these types of interviews in a bunch of different locations with a bunch of politicians across the spectrum,” Ball said. “It’s something that’s become a part of public life in Canada.

“They’re one of the more lighthearted moments of being a public official.”

Ford, however, didn’t see the humour.

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“Don’t come to my house. I just hope someone else doesn’t do that again because I just don’t want anything else serious to happen.”

With files from Paul Moloney and David Rider