Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jonathan Torrens: Toronto Mike'd #65

Episode Date: January 23, 2014

Mike chats with Jonathan Torrens about Street Cents, Jonovision, Trailer Park Boys, Mr. D., and more.

Welcome to the 65th episode of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavour. I'm Mike from torontomic.com. Joining me is Jonathan Torrens from Street Sense, Jono Vision and the Trailer Park Boys. And hosting this audio file are the good people at CoreFusion. Welcome to Toronto Mic'd, Jonathan. Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here. I had no idea you were going to cab it here. So you were downtown and you actually took

money out of your own pocket, gave it to a cab driver to be here. I'm into this. Assuming I take to be here. I'm into this. Assuming I take a cab back, I'm into this for $80 so far, so we really need to make this count. And you can't expense this. There's no employer that will... Oh, sure I can. So you could expense this. Yeah.

Oh, then you could have brought me a coffee. See, this is the thing. The Starbucks you brought yourself, I had no idea you could expense this. Maybe we can start a fundraising drive that the good listeners of Toronto Mic'd can chip in to pay for my cab. If I knew they would do that, I would have tried that a long time ago. For less than the price of a cup of coffee a day, you can get me back to downtown Toronto. Well, thanks very much for coming in because I was, this is sincere, I think I sent you a link, but years ago, I'm thinking seven years ago, I wrote an ode to Street Sense. They had just canceled the show.

And I talked about basically Street Sense was a show I never missed on a Saturday. I loved that show. I just loved it. And I wrote it at the time. So I didn't edit that entry after I got the email from you. I wrote at the time that you were the heart and soul of that show. Oh, thank you. If I look back at my so-called career, I've been doing 25 years ago,

Street Sense started, and that's when I started on it. Hard to believe. Every show that I've done, I think without exception, is a kind of hybrid. It's sort of a sketch show with kind of hosting. It's kind of a fake reality show. You've been typecast. It's a documentary. Well, the thing is, I can look back at Street Sense as being the perfect training ground for what I've gone on to do in my career. It was sometimes kind of straight hosting to camera. It was sometimes sketch comedy. And it alternated between those worlds seamlessly. And I think I can say a little ahead of its time for two reasons.

I would agree. One is it was infotainment, for lack of a better word. The whole idea being if you speak to teenagers in terms they understand, that's a better way for them to ingest information. And the second is it was kind of the first in a wave of shows that didn't talk down to teenagers. It just said these Reeboks cost $130. It was a smart show. It was a smart show aimed at kids. And every other kid's show at the time still is dumbed down.

It's like they don't speak other kid show at the time and still is dumbed down it's like they don't speak up with even intelligence at the kids i find street sense actually right at intelligence well i would say these rebox are 130 bucks just so you know 120 of that is marketing yeah buy them if you want but this is why they cost this much okay now i think that's useful before we dive deeper into street sense and some of the other awesome stuff you've done, I want to ask you the big question, which is, how did this come to be? You and I sitting here right now for episode 65. The Twitter machine. have asked it is how did you know to write me so little background i guess little context before you explain uh i got an email from you i think about three days ago maybe i was in the waiting room of my dentist's office right at cloverdale mall here in etobicoke and i got an email from

a jonathan and it just said uh could i record thursday night and the fact is unbeknownst to you i just had this discussion with my wife because when we had the ice storm here, I opened my door and I said, anyone who has no power, I had my kids, I have them half the time. So I had two empty bedrooms at the time. And I said, the door's open, come on in.

And my wife said, I shouldn't have strangers in the house. And we had this talk that we co-own this house and I have to tell. So I would, in a heartbeat, I don't know who you are. I didn't realize the email address at the time. I just saw Jonathan and I said, I wanted to know if we knew each other. Do I know you? Right.

Yeah, because I happen to know some Jonathan. So you get an email back from me like, who are you? Do I know you? Right. I am launching a podcast with Jeremy Taggart, who is the drummer from Our Lady Peace. Funny guy. He's a good friend of Humble Howard, who has a podcast down the street.

Of course. I live in Nova Scotia. I was coming to Toronto. Jeremy and I were recording our first podcast. We were looking for a facility in which to do this. A simple Google search of Toronto and podcast turns up Toronto Mic mic'd i was under the impression that you were kind of in addition to doing your own show uh full service that was

the plan that was the plan i see when i wrote that entry or whatever you found i think that was the initial plan and then uh i decided to just do it for people i knew right friends and family for a while so now in theory you could do it for me next time I ask. Yeah, because we're now friends. We're friends now. So I reached out to you via the internet service to see if this was something you would do. There was some good natured back and forthry

resulting in an $80 cab ride. You know what? I'll see. Maybe I can help you out with that. Or maybe I can take the bus. Maybe I'll take the bus back. I know you're going back downtown. If you were going anywhere else, I would throw you out with that. Or maybe I can take the bus. Maybe I'll take the bus back. Well, I know you're going back downtown. If you were going anywhere else, I would throw you in the protege and take you myself.

Nice. Assuming it still starts with the polar vortex. Man, it is bananas. There's a big misconception that on the east coast of Canada, it's colder than it is here. I don't understand the difference between a dry and a wet cold, but whatever this is that you people have, it is bone-chilling and awful. So as a halifax your halifax i live an hour outside

of halifax hour outside of halifax what's the name of your hamlet there you got it i'm not gonna say that it's that i live outside of truro nova scotia all right yeah truro it's like february yeah you gotta remember that are you okay and there it's not as cold as this. It's not. It's not. We've had a lot of snow, but fairly mild winter overall compared to this. This is heinous. I was watching the poor firefighters fight the three alarm blaze in Yorkville yesterday. Right, right, right. What a strange sensation that must be to be coated in icicles wandering into flames. It is. Yeah, it's bizarre. Yeah. And I know you come to Toronto fairly often, probably because a few times a year. This is not normal know you come to Toronto fairly often, probably.

A few times a year. This is not normal. I can't remember a winter like this. I know people say that because, you know, to preserve yourself, you forget these terrible things. I actually can't remember a winter where we had this much cold. Like, this is our second round with this. By the way, Polar Vortex, they just made up that name now, right? Like, we've never used that term before. Who they?

The same people that name hurricanes? What vision is that? I envision like a meteorology service where they give you the names of hurricanes. But this Polar Vortex, is that like Claire Martin cooks that up in her kitchen one day and then throws it on the national? By the way, I don't know how you become somebody who names hurricanes, but I would like to apply for that job. Like Hurricane Anvil. They should have names that are menacing and threatening. Not like Hurricane Donnie. Or just named after

bad Etobicoke heavy metal bands. Anvil would be a great name. So you are from the Halifax area, and that is where Street Sense filmed, right? Halifax. Yeah, I'm actually from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, a suburb of Charlottetown, I'm actually from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, a suburb of Charlottetown, South Central Charlottetown,

Sherwood it's called, and moved to Halifax in grade 7 and started working on Street Sense in grade 10. That's like 80s? Yes, 88, 89-ish. So you were young. I was young. I was 15 when I started. Because you still look young. You look pretty young now. It's the rosacea. It's the, you're growing the hair, I see.

Yeah. Is that neglect or intentional? It's both. It's a combination of the fact that I'm working on Mr. D on CBC. Jerry D is a blonde guy. So one has long hair, one has short hair. That's how the people are able to tell us apart. Because you could be mistaken for each other.

You couldn't otherwise. And the second thing is my wife likes it. That's enough. Yeah. That's enough. So tell me, if you don't mind, I did a little homework to remember. I didn't realize that there was a host named Chris Lydon. Yeah.

And he was the original guy. So you're not an original member. No. In fact, I auditioned several times. It was my first showbiz heartbreak. I auditioned, I think, four times, maybe five Heartbreak I auditioned I think four times, maybe five The last audition they said, congratulations You got the job, we'll be in touch

And about a month later I was watching TV on Saturday morning And there was Street Sense, that show I was supposed to be on With a guy named Chris Lydon as the host He was a great guy But it wasn't a good fit He didn't really like the work So my first job on Street Sense Was in episode two or three in season one I had to eat nothing but fast food't a good fit. He didn't really like the work. So my first job on Street Sense was in episode two or three in season one.

I had to eat nothing but fast food for a week, years before Morgan's were locked. Right, right. And had to come on the show and talk about the effects of eating fast food for a week. What was the effects? I didn't really notice any. Because you were a teenager.

Yeah. And not to brag, but I worked at McDonald's. So did I. I worked at McDonald's. I worked at McDonald's as well for 18 months. Where were you? Here in Toronto. I'd run a meet in Bloor.

Really? And I started as a back cook guy. And I used to open on weekends. And I opened on weekends. So I would be the guy at 6 a.m. like Saturday, Sunday to open the breakfast and to be in charge of the breakfasts. And at some point they cross-trained me, put me on cash, which I hated because I hated to be on cash when someone I knew came in the door. I just hated it. It was kind of embarrassing. I wanted to be in the back.

Speaking of embarrassing, my very first day at McDonald's on Quimble Road in Halifax, they have ways to initiate the new people. So they told me to take the fry rack across the street to the Petro Canada to get the wheels aligned. That's funny. So in my brand new sparkling uniform, I wheeled the fry rack across the street to the mechanic and said, I'm here to get the wheels aligned. And he said, turn around, bud. And I looked across the street

and everyone who worked in the restaurant had their noses pressed against glass, pointing and laughing at me. You know, that's hilarious. But today they'd call that bullying. Yeah. That would be unacceptable in 2014. Yeah, it's true.

But I worked at McDonald's off and on, I guess over the course of a couple of years. And I really liked it. I really prided myself on my work in the kitchen. Sure. And I didn't mind working cash. In a way, when McDonald's Monopoly was happening, it was kind of cool to be working at the drive-thru because you could maybe slide an extra couple of tickets to friends who came through.

Nice, nice. And there was a real community there. Sure. So I was maybe the only guy in Canadian television, although it says a lot, working at McDonald's drive-thru and being on a national show at the same time. That is amazing. Yeah. Because I actually quit the McDonald's gig when I got a grocery store job.

A coffee grocery store job. I got a Food City job as a clerk. More money, a much bigger ceiling. Like McDonald's was throwing me a dime raise. Yeah, you had room to move at the grocery store. Yeah, absolutely. And I had to, you know, university was coming up and I had to make some real money.

And I quit. So I quit flipping burgers for a grocery store, but you had a CBC show, but you still flipped the burgers. That's awesome. Mike Clattenburg, the guy who created Trailer Park Boys, worked at a grocery store as well. And not that his job there formed who J-Rock was,

but he worked with this guy named Arnold, who was a tall, skinny dude. And the manager would come over and say, Arnold, are you going to wash the lettuce? And Arnold would say, I. And then the manager would walk away, and he wouldn't do anything. And Mike would say, Arnold, are you going to wash the lettuce?

And Arnold would say, he ain't beating me. Which meant if it came down to a fist fight, the manager couldn't force Arnold to wash the lettuce. And I just love that. I love the idea of that scene. I love the moxie that Arnold had. And Halifax has the largest black population per capita in Canada. I had no idea.

So maybe I'm jumping ahead to talk about Trailer Park. Only because I actually have a question. What inspired the character? Well. But you can answer it now. I know you got a big cab ride ahead of you. Yeah, I went to keep the car running. I'll be right down.

That's right. I went to high school with a lot of J-rocks, and Mike did too. And there is a kind of patois that's even local to Halifax that we both spoke in. He worked at Street Sense. So like Rob Ford. Yeah. Very timely. Yeah, exactly. Kind of a snow meets Rob Ford kind of patois.

And so we talked like that at Street Sense all the time. Like, hey, you man, how you feeling? And when he was doing Trailer Park Boys, he said, you should play that character on the show. So I was out for a very liquor-soaked night with the guy who played Julian and Mike Lattenberg. We were standing in a French fry truck in Halifax, and Julian, or John Paul is his real name, said, pass the ketchup, J-Rock. And that's how the name of the character was born.

That's awesome. I'm going to try to keep it chronological, and I am sensitive to your time schedule, so I'll try to cut to the chase. An hour's not enough for you? Do you have an hour? I wasn't sure with the meeting. If I leave in now, 48 minutes, we're good. An hour's not enough for you? Do you have an hour? I wasn't sure with the meeting. If I leave in now, 48 minutes, we're good.

An hour's enough. An hour's enough. So tell me, okay, so you start on Street Sense, and you have co-hosts Jamie Bradley and Benita Ha, who, by the way, I had a crush on Benita. I thought she was, she probably still is. You're in the company of dozens of other Canadians. Yeah, she was cute.

Yeah, she's a hot-looking tuna. Smart and good-looking. Very smart. Very, the camera likes her, as they say. Yeah, she was cute. Yeah, she's a hot-looking tuna. Smart and good-looking. Very smart. The camera likes her, as they say. Yeah. And we became really good buddies. So that's my question is, how was it with Benita and Jamie,

and how was the relationship, and how is it today? It was great at the time. Nice people, and the work was fun, and it was kind of lost on all of us. Keep in mind, this was a show that was airing early Saturday mornings on CBC. So it wasn't like we were suddenly thrust into this blinding galaxy of stars. If anything, it was a little embarrassing at high school to be that guy on that show.

Because the show is a little earnest and a little squeaky clean. That's why I liked it. One thing you don't want to be in high school is somebody who stands out for whatever reason. And when you're on TV, especially at that age, people make assumptions about who you are as a guy and they probably thought I was buying my own stuff. And so it wasn't like I was in the Disney world, right? I wasn't young Justin Timberlake or Ryan Gosling. No, you weren't. What kind of money? What are we talking here?

Was it as much as I was making at the Food City? Probably a little better. Woo! Yeah, probably a little better. But it was by no means like I wasn't retiring, nor was I buying a car. Until season four, I think I bought a car. That was actually a Jeep Cherokee that was used as the rowdy bushwhacker on Street Sense. Wow, that's cool.

So in terms of cash, is this like, this isn't like Joey Jeremiah money. Like, is there, I'm trying to find a comparable. So like Joey Jeremiah was making a lot more money than you at this time because he had a, you know, he was on a primetime show. Well, I think the first couple of seasons we did 13 episodes. So it was kind of sick money from September to December. Seasonal work. So I spent my summers in Cavendish, PEI, selling t-shirts by day and hosting karaoke in a bar at night.

And you were billed as Jonathan from Street Sense? I wasn't billed at all. I would sing songs that made me laugh, like Private Dancer by Tina Turner as the host of the thing and all people wanted to do was sing Summer Lovin' from the Grease soundtrack.

If I hear it brings back acid reflux. As a teenager, the first time I ever went to a strip club, that was the song played during the first, not Summer Lovin',

Private Dancer. Oh, was it? So Private Dancer, whenever I hear it, is like the very first time Lady Dance for me was too private. All the men come in these places. Yeah, it's just perfect. Written by, do you know?

No. Mark Knopfler from Dire Streets. That's awesome. Yeah. Did not know that. Great tune, great songwriter, and great guitar player. Yeah, and somebody I know knows him personally, and it sucks that we're live on this podcast and I can't remember,

but I know someone who knows him. Does that count as a name drop? Yeah. You know somebody who knows him? Yeah, that's like someone I joined, I said, I knew someone who knew Jeremy Taggart. See, you've got to just be one degree of separation from these superstars. Right.

And at the end of this, I want to find more detail how people can listen to your podcast. Sure. So that's episode one, and this is going to be a regular thing? It is indeed, yeah With an eye toward it being a regular radio show Awesome Tiger brings with him obviously vast music knowledge Corky Kind of cachet

And encyclopedic knowledge Of Canadianity And those are things that interest me too We're friends but we don't know each other super well. So it's been kind of fun getting to know each other on air. What's your favorite Our Lady Peace song? Thief. No, it's not bad.

Yeah, it's a good tune. It's my wife's favorite. So I learned to play it on the guitar and not to give you a devastating image, but we've been known to play it around our house. Cool. And is there any truth to the rumors that I'm just going to make up about the Torrens and Taggart podcast, the show becoming... Taggart and Torrens. Taggart and Torrens radio show becoming the new morning show on 102.1 The Edge. You know they're in the market for a new morning show.

They are indeed. Is that why you're in town right now? To talk to the program directors at Chorus about No, no, I'll be I'll be very candid. The idea of having a regular home on radio is appealing, I think, to both of us. My challenge as someone with a kind of mixed background who's done some hosting and some kind of sketch performing is that if I found myself thrust into a morning show environment, I would start playing a character of a morning show host. It's 816. Good morning, and stop being myself. So really what I'm interested in, the whole idea of a podcast and a radio outlet

was born out of missing having a regular place in which to talk about pop culture stuff and get some jokes off and the immediacy and response of the audience. I like that. Well, you know, I have, I don't know if you know Todd Shapiro. So you're a Nova Scotia guy. So, so locally Todd Shapiro was on a morning show here at one open 2.1, the local new rock station.

Right. And he got fired in July, but he's coming in, uh, next week to sit in the seat you're in right now. Is it cabbing in? He is probably cabbing in. Yeah,

I think so. I think so. You know, totally unrelated, but I just had a chat with Jim Richards, who hosts the show on 1010. And I'm a big fan of Jim Richards. And he doesn't own a car. So he did not want to come here because he lives downtown. He didn't want to come into the studio because he doesn't have a car.

He wanted to phone it in. He wants to phone it in. And I didn't want to do a phoner, but I'm going to give him 10 minutes when I have my regular co-host here. I just want to point out the great Jonathan Torrens didn't phone this in. I didn't want to do a phoner, but I'm going to give him 10 minutes when I have my regular co-host here. I just want to point out the great Jonathan Torrens didn't phone this in. I didn't. You're here in the flesh. I'm staring at you right now. Yep.

And I think it's important when you're doing an interview, if at all possible, obviously sometimes circumstances don't allow, but eye contact is important because the laws of conversation and social grace don't necessarily apply to an interview but if we can give each other visual cues non-verbal signals like when you wink at me periodically right i appreciate that twitch yes thanks ken pompadour was a dink i just want you to dink so who was the i don't even remember what's the name of the actor who played brian hyten okay so he was on like the whole run of the show or something yeah he was the president of baiko and he had a boss though and it killed off i remember i have a note and i don't remember it firsthand but i wrote about it when i did remember it firsthand like seven years ago that he had a boss so it was better when he had a boss that would be like bullying him around and stuff and then the boss dies and then he becomes the boss yeah but it was better when he had a boss right when he had a boss

in the early going it kind of made him the uh thumbed weasel in between the unseen boss and us um but you know by season five season six you have to do things to shake it up i suppose it's the great trailer park boys plight right after five seasons the temptation is what do we do do we bring new blood into the park well That kind of chafes. Or do we take the guys out of the park? That's a possibility, but it takes them out of the environment that people know and love. So how do you keep

it evolving without it feeling like a greatest hits record? That's a good point. So Ken Pompadour was a dink, and he was more likable when he had the evil boss, and then I wasn't as big a fan of his role when he was the boss. I just want to throw that out there. Right. Glad you did.

Thank you. I feel better. Like, it's cathartic. He's a phenomenal actor, and somehow made that character likable and sympathetic, and that's not easy to do, especially in a show where people are playing themselves, and you're a scotch-taped-on cartoon character. So in the hands of a lesser actor, that could have really graded, but he's phenomenal.

I have a friend named Andrew Stokely who helped me put together this podcast studio, and he tells me he used to work on Street Sense. No, Jonovision. Jonovision, okay, yeah, okay. So I have a terrible research staff. I'm going to fire somebody right after we're done. Andrew's one of the great audio technicians at CBC.

And as you can imagine, I mean, on paper, Jono Vision just seems like a bunch of people in a chair talking about a pair of pants that they lent a friend and never saw again. But deeper down, imagine we did four episodes a day. Imagine one of them was six young bands from New Market playing in the Jono Palooza for the coveted Golden Ear Award. It was a real challenge for our crew and especially the audio guys.

And Andrew was a total pro and a total gentleman. He says that, here's a quote from him. He wanted to know how you felt about doing the show out of Studio 43, otherwise known as the Mr. Dress Up Studio. 43, otherwise known as the Mr. Dress-Up Studio? Often when you meet your heroes, you're disappointed in some way. They're better viewed from afar. And I've said this before, but I think the big misconception about celebrities is that they'll be remotely interesting. And I think what makes people interesting is real life experience and things to draw

on and things to talk about, which is why I live in rural Nova Scotia. It also helps fill the creative well to play different characters because you can inspire them kind of loosely, whether you know it or not, on people around in your life. I find the who's who kind of boring in Canadian television. I have to say meeting Ernie Coombs, who played Mr. Dress Up, I was fortunate enough to get to travel with him in some kind of CBC Kids promotional stuff. to travel with him in some kind of cbc kids promotional stuff he was every ounce the humble kind soul you would expect and to walk through an airport with mr dress up and see guys in business

suits and girls with mohawks and children and senior citizens melt in his wake he continued to the very end to have a surprised, bemused quality about what all the fuss was about. And he actually came on an episode of Jonavision. And to see these kind of hardened city teenagers stand up and say, Mr. Dress-Up, you rock my world, bro. It was really cool. No, it pleases me to hear this.

I was a big Mr. Dress-Up fan. Yeah. As most guys. We're about the same age. And that's a key part of our childhood mr dress-up and the tickle trunk and totally and finnegan i am in possession i i sent off a tweet in the last month or so um of a mug that says tickle trunk forever that i was given nice um and it's one of my proudest possessions as a as a motto and mantra for life agreed anded. And did you also enjoy Friendly Giant?

Was that on your childhood playlist? Sure, Bob Domi. Sure it was. Rusty and Jerome. Yeah, because that was a big one for me too. So the legend goes. When they set up the chairs. Yeah, tell me.

So the legend goes it was the same puppeteer that played Rusty and Jerome, and they kind of did a reach around. Did they know that? That post in the castle. I know CBC did some parody years ago for the Junos, I think, where they kind of showed the old age home of these puppets

and then the people who own the rights to these puppets were offended and took them out of the CBC Museum. I remember this controversy somewhat of the Rusty and everybody got yanked out of the CBC Museum to punish them. I remember seeing them there years ago. By all accounts, the puppeteer,

I believe her name is Judith, who played Casey and Finnegan on Mr. Dress Up, was very proud of her work, as she should be, and very protective of Casey and Finnegan's likeness. As you can imagine, over the years with Junos and Geminis and stuff, there's been a lot of requests to have them appear, and she's not up for that. And I get it.

She wants to preserve their innocent likeness. So Mr. Dress-Up, that's great. You were in Studio 43, which I just learned is the Mr. Dress-Up studio. That's pretty awesome. And the Friendly Giant, one thing is whenever the Friendly Giant would set the chairs out for you, I just got as close as I could to the TV when he put out the chair for me. giant would set the chairs out for you i love i just got as close as i could to the tv to when he put out the chair for me a friend of mine who was a props guy at cbc had the chair for two to

curl up in on his mantle that is awesome that's the guy i want on the podcast next that's canadian hook me up with that guy uh before we dive into jono vision just would you mind uh one of my favorite parts of street sense is when something was fit for the pit. Yeah. Some crappy piece of merchandise that was overpriced, you'd say, this is fit for the pit, and you'd throw it in a pit, like a sewer or something. Yeah. Could you say, I don't know how we'd say it, maybe this Toronto Mike is fit for the pit or something? How about this?

A $40 cab ride is fit for the pit. something about this a 40 cab ride is fit for the pit you know what the pit was it was a 750 watt light with a red gel on it and a smoke machine and in the early days we often didn't have more than one version of the product we were throwing in the pit so if you threw it in you had to aim elsewhere so that it didn't land on the light and get burnt so we could do multiple takes wow yeah that's how's that you know what that's the shit i'm looking for man that's the stuff i'm looking for we're digging deep that's gold yeah that's gold the big big question i'm getting and i have is is why can't we bring street sense back like don't we need

street sense today more than ever i got a 12 year old and a 10 year old who are inundated with marketing all the time. And I'm always telling them, basically, I'm telling them what's fit for the pit. Can you do that for me? Can't you bring this back and let me put them in front of your show on Saturdays and let them see what's really going on? It's not lost on me that in recent years, it's become a recurring sentiment that I've heard over and over again. I'm really proud of the fact that people have fond memories of that. And given the different shows that I've done from Street Sense to Air Farce, people fall into different kind of categories or age groups based on the shows they remember me from.

There is a real diehard Street Sense posse that gives me the warm fuzzies. And sure, I don't see why a sketch show with information about consumerism wouldn't play now. Sure it would. And I don't want new young people to be hosting. Let's get you and Benita. You want Benita hot? Yeah.

Is that cool? Sure. Can we make that happen? Yeah, let's do it. That would be awesome. And for both people who watched, it would be a real treat. I can promise you three because I can make sure my brothers tune in. Oh, yeah?

So that's three. Okay, that's pretty good. It's better ratings than a lot of the stuff that's on Canadian TV right now. I believe it. I think now with all these extra stations and stuff, I think I have more listeners than some of these shows have. I bet. Well, the challenge is when you're making a Canadian TV show,

if you try to compete with American shows, you're never going to pull it off because we simply don't have the resources to do it. And if you try to make it Canadian, it either reeks of trying to be Canadian or is so niche-y that you can't find a broad audience. It's really a challenge, and I don't envy Canadian programmers right now. I know they take a lot of flack for some of the choices that they make. But fiscally and creatively, they're in a tough place. But don't you find we always did well with sketch stuff like Kids in the Hall?

Or I don't know, was that CTV? Yeah, but Kids in the Hall was under the very real threat of being canceled every single year it was on. It was only when it kind of landed on cbs from what i understand that it was kind of made safe and we have this you have to be validated in the states in order for us to really get behind something kids in the hall was very popular with a core rabid audience but it was by no means a broadly accepted comedy.

Same thing like Kodko from Newfoundland. Very funny performers. Do you remember that show? I remember it. I never watched it. Andy Jones is, for my money, one of the best comedic performers in this country. This was like after Air Force, right? It might have even been before Air Force was a show. It was kind of Kodko and Kids in the Hall were paired together,

and Andy ended up quitting over CBC notes they were giving him on a priest sketch that he wanted to do, maintaining his integrity. And those performers were so confident and just did stuff that really pushed the envelope. But it wasn't for everybody. Well, one successful Canadian show was Degrassi. Yeah, continues to be it continues i know they're currently casting like a new reboot of degrassi like uh because i know someone yeah there's like maybe spike's granddaughter or something i know a guy who met a guy i know i know that i was on degrassi this is where i'm going okay so i actually the

first run of degrassi i watched religiously like i watched as often as i watched street sense i was watching i was watching monday nights i think at eight o'clock or something yeah i watched degrassi uh i think we already had a joey jeremiah reference reference in this podcast but uh they did um they did the next generation and spike is kind of the one of the stars with spike's daughter spike had this daughter with Shane on the original Degrassi, but when they did the reboot and they had Shane come back,

they had you playing Shane. Yes, they did. So my first question is, why not the original guy? From what I gather, The Next Generation was about Spike and Shane's daughter Emma, played by Miriam MacDonald,

a great actor, who was at the time kind of mid-teens. The actor who played Shane in the original series, you might recall the character jumped off a bridge and had unspecified head injuries. He had like he was a drug addict, right? I think so. Yeah. He took acid and jumped off a bridge.

Right. I remember this. So when the reboot happened, Bill, I believe is his name, the actor who played Shane, was saying to Epitome Pictures, write me in. I'd love to come back. Write me in, write me in. They wrote a special two-part episode you can't afford to miss. I watched it. And Bill, from what I gather,

this is hearsay, I think Bill felt that the character wasn't taken in the direction he hoped it would be, so he opted out. And suddenly they were stuck with this two-part script and no actor to play him that's part a part b is in the final season of jonna vision we did a degrassi reunion two-part episode with the original cast right i remember this and uh in part because of the

overwhelming enthusiasm on the jonna vision audience's part for degrassi, Linda Schuyler, the creator with Kid Hood, got the idea to do this reboot. So almost as a, hey, thanks for helping. They called me and said, you're blonde. You do look a bit like Shane. I bet you a lot of people thought you were the original actor. Maybe. I'm willing to bet.

Yeah. But as far as an acting challenge goes, all we knew about Shane was that he had a serious head injury. He rocked when he was nervous and he knitted to kind of soothe himself. So any actor will tell you that when you're playing someone with disabilities, it can easily cross the line from Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot into cartoonish caricature. Well, you can't go full retard, I think is what they said. Who said that?

It's a movie. Why do I know that? It's the movie where Robert Downey Jr. wears blackface. All right. And Tom Cruise has the cameo. All right. I can't remember what it's called, but that movie. You're going to get lit up like a Christmas tree by your listeners for not remembering

the name of it. Yeah, I could Google it. I have a device here, but I'm not even going to do it. I just want to stay ignorant until we're done. I feel like it's the letter C. It starts with a C. Okay, let's see. Air is in there?

Or Commando? Yeah, something like that. Command Air. Air Command? Command Air? Something like that. That sucks. Air America?

No, that's a different movie. That's a different movie. I actually, maybe you can help me. So this guy, Bill, who originally played Shane. So I play in a slow pitch team and we've been playing together forever. Braggart. Yeah. I am now a third baseman because I got too slow to be the shortstop because I got old.

Happens. I'm the oldest guy on this team. But I, years ago at a party at my buddy's angle, my buddy Engel's house, our left fielder, sorry, our right fielder, Alex Patino and I, we were watching the Leaf game. So we're watching the Leaf game. There's a commercial for CIBC and there's a guy in the commercial, a blonde guy. Alex

Patino exclaims, that's the guy who played Shane on Degrassi. I look at this guy on the TV and I tell him that's not the guy. I know my shit. I've watched a lot of Degrassi. Sure. He and I ended up having a... We were yelling at each other. We almost came to blows.

I had to leave the party. It blew up. It's become this famous thing we refer to all the time. The Patino incident. Yes, Patino incident. And I promised Patino, I'm going to find out. I'm going to find this guy

and find out if he ever did a CIBC commercial. Is it possible Bill did a CIBC commercial commercial do you want to know the truth yeah i have no idea i know you have no idea but i just want to throw that out there uh we're getting closer i feel like you could i'm almost there you could connect me to bill and i could find out once and for all well in in in jonah vision season five we started casting pat maestrani and stefan brogren in a bunch of sketches. I did a little mini-series called Drag in the City about this idiot on a banana-seated bike who towed a tiny tent trailer behind him. And those two played the thugs.

And it was a real thrill for me because those guys hadn't really spent much time with each other since the original series ended. Wait, this was Joey and who? Snake? Yeah. Okay. Who went on to star in The Next Generation. Really cool guys. They hadn't seen each other in a while.

So I got to kind of witness their, hey, so what have you been up to? And it was kind of like a ping pong match for me watching them go back and forth with, remember that time, remember this person. That's awesome. I, of course, got to get to the bottom of, okay, so Stephanie Kaye, huh?

All the way with Stephanie Kaye. Yeah. I remember that. And she went on some American, I don't know if it was an American show, but Lyle Alzado was in it. So remember Lyle Alzado? No. He was like a football star who became an actor and he died of cancer.

Yeah. But he was starring in a show that had, I remember she left Degrassi to star on this show. And I don't know if it was American or Canadian, but it was. She jumped too soon. She jumped too soon. The Jimmy Fallon syndrome. She was great, Stephanie Kay.

One of the strangest CanCon TV stories, a very sad story, is that Wheels died and we found out about it five years later. Yeah, it was really sad. That's such a bizarre story that he took five years for the public to be told that he was no longer with us. Yeah, it was really sad. And I don't know a lot of the details. I know that Wheels was in fact booked to be on the John O'Vision reunion. I know that he had a conflict with one of the other cast members. So it came down to, would it be this person or this person?

We opted out of having him on ultimately for a myriad of reasons. And I was really sad to hear that. Yeah, it's too bad. Very sad. J-Rock. Okay, i have to confess something which is that what a seamless segue yeah that's what i it's like a card you're like verbal calking well i know that you don't know but the shane cibc thing is like let's just get to this j-rock thing so my confession to you is that i actually have never seen the show i've come across it and it's, I've never,

I know it's a cult favorite and every, I should love this show, right? I, I should love it because I love everything else you've done. And everybody seems to really like trailer park boys. I could never get into it. I'll be honest with you.

Um, it's not for everybody. Of course. Uh, some people can't get past the language. Some people can't get past the language some people can't get past the aesthetic of it i mean the kind of down and dirty gritty look of it is exactly how the show should look and feel it's almost like a character on the show in and of itself um we

always say you get past the guns dope and swearing and it's a show about family and people who love each other very much we thought at first maybe people people in Nova Scotia would find it funny because it seemed so micro. And when it started to find an audience across the country, we assumed it was East Coasters living, you know, in Fort Mac or across the country. Then it started to get an audience in the States a little bit, mostly with sports teams and bands kind of sharing the DVDs for required tour bus viewing. I kept thinking, well, that's got to be that then. Every five or six months. I think that was really fun, but that's got to be it.

No one is more genuinely surprised and delighted than I am just how far the show has gone. And it's finding a whole new audience with new generations on Netflix, and it does not seem to have any end in sight and they make movies yeah and there's a third coming yeah the third movie comes out in uh april and um the three guys have actually um taken the torch and they're carrying it on to new seasons, brand new episodes. So does your character appear in the new seasons or just the new movie? Where's J-Rock in all this?

J-Rock is in the third movie and J-Rock is in, in the eighth season. Eighth season. Because I can tell you everything about Street Sense and then it comes to Trailer Park Boys and I'm trying to catch up, but There's been eight seasons, and this is a Netflix show now? Where is it? Where does the new season of Trailer Park Boys... The eighth season, it hasn't been announced where it will be aired yet. It may end up being on SwearNet.com,

which is the website that the three boys have. It may have a home on a broadcaster. Stay tuned. Cool. Okay. But you've already filmed? Yes. Season eight's in the can. So I gather season nine is financed and ready to go again this summer and this third movie uh what's the name of the third movie do you know it's got a name don't legalize it don't legalize

it okay this goes in in theaters we can see this in theaters yes cool the weekend of 4 20 and there's a i don't know anything about this but I sent a tweet out to say, anyone have a question for Jono? And one of the questions is that when is your album going to drop? Is there a J-rock album? Can you talk to me about this? It's kind of funny playing a fake rapper on TV because I obviously wrote a lot of raps for the show and got to perform them, which is really fun. I like words. I like writing rhymes. It's fun. But then I started to get, you know,

invitations to appear as J-Rock and to kind of open for people as J-Rock. And I couldn't really wrap my head around performing as a fake rapper. So I did it on a few occasions and some appearances as J-rock and things like that i think one of the things that's allowed me to have a career in this country is that i keep a pretty low profile and i like to change it up my character on mr d is about as much of a 180 from j-rock as

possible um we tend to have in canada the idea that if someone's had a series or we've seen them somewhere before, well, they've had their turn then let's give someone else a chance. It's very Canadian sentiment. Whereas in the States, a big fat resume is, is a coup, right? That means you're going to work forever. Interesting. So I have, uh, opted to try to close the chapter on, on things as they kind of come to a natural end and look to what's next.

Same thing with Jono Vision. Not to say that it was the biggest rating success in the history of CBC, but it found an audience that CBC didn't otherwise have at the time, there's no question, and they wanted to do another season. My feeling was I wanted to do a show after dark, like same show, but these people who started watching Jono Vision are now in their late 20s, the way I am. Let me do it on the other side of the news. Right. And, uh, there was a feeling internally that I hadn't proven I could hold an audience by myself. So off I went to the

States. So what, uh, what have you done in the States? Um, well, I moved back six years ago. Um, but I did, uh, did lots of stuff. I did the Joe Schmo show on spike TV, which was a fake reality show. Did a show called the Kids Are In Charge on Country Music Television. Did a show called Popularity Contest. Like kind of hosty stuff. But at the time, it was like all carpenters on TV and real estate experts and interior designers. I actually auditioned for a show called Housebusters. And the gist of it was, say you've suffered a horrible tragedy in your living room.

Mike, I know this is hard for you, but have you thought about purple accent cushions in the room where your roommate committed suicide? Wow. And that was like, there were so many signs like that that was like, I have to get out of here. Yeah, that's not cool. I was pleasantly surprised by the city of LA in addition to all the cliches that are there, the wide-eyed ingenue and the wormy agent, and those people definitely exist.

But I also made friends for life. It's Canada's third largest city. There are Canadians everywhere. You're a nice guy too. I just sense people would like you. Well, I guess what I would... Thank you. I like you already.

I met you like an hour ago. I like you too. It's mutual. I think what I was, thank you. I like you already. I met you like an hour ago. I like you too. It's mutual. I think what surprised me is that people who are motivated enough, curious enough, smart enough, adventurous enough, those people all go there too. So in a way, I found my university experience in LA and made friends for life with people who I felt for the first time were like-minded and wanting to do the same things or at least try them. Mostly I went down there. Well, two things,

one self-imposed exile because I turned 30 and I'd been on CBC for 15 years. And if I ever wanted to work again here, I thought I should disappear. And two, I just wanted to answer the what if question. What would happen if I went there? So I have the answer to that. I worked, I made friends, wanted to answer the what if question. What would happen if I went there? So I have the answer to that. I worked. I made friends. The climate's really nice. And then after I auditioned to host a show called America's Cutest Puppy

in which like tonight the canine moves into the mansion. America, the phone lines are open. I got in the car thinking, what am I doing? That's enough. Called my mom back in Halifax. Said, what are you up to? She said, I'm going to the dentist. She's scared to go to the dentist by herself. So I thought at the end of my life, do I want to be the guy who hosted America's Cutest Puppy or do I want to be the guy who took my mom to the dentist? That's beautiful. That's

beautiful. And now you're on a very, very good show, this Mr. D. Well, yeah, when I moved back, I thought, I don't care. I'll go to CompuCollege. I'll become a realtor. I really don't care. There's the things that I used to find suffocating and limiting about Halifax in my early 20s were suddenly comforting and familiar. You'd make a mint in sales, I'm telling you. Thank you. You'd make a mint. It was at that point that I knew there's nowhere I'd rather be.

So I moved back, and it just so happens the TV flourished. Who do you play on Mr. D? Robert Cheely. He's the vice principal of the school and his confidence is writing checks that his charisma just can't cash i grew up a very big maestro fresh west fan you and me both i can do i can do i don't know i can drop the needle i can do let your backbone slide i can do the acapella version he's um he was ono Vision too. That was one of my biggest coups when Jono Vision was on. He came on and did Backbone and he did Stick to Your Vision.

Yeah. And at the kind of vamp at the start of the show, he was like, it's the Vizine, y'all. Jono Vision. I was like, man, he dropped my show's name. I got to get him in here. Stick to Your Vision. He's got to be in Scarborough or something.

He lives in Toronto. Yeah, he's an articulate, passionate cat. And it's been really cool working with him on mr d so so he's as nice a guy as i i hope he is he's the real thing man i went to a public enemy concert last year i'm a big public enemy fan and he brought maestro on stage and it was like i'm at a mishimi by the way as well yeah who i when i was naming my daughter, Michie Mee was in my head, and I called her Michelle. I think I named my daughter after Michie Mee. My daughter's Beyonce. That's amazing.

That's amazing. I have a son coming, and I'm going to call him Justin Timberlake. It's going to be Justin Timberlake Boone. All one word? Yeah. Or hyphenate. I want a hyphen. My daughter's hyphenated name.

Her name's Sugar Daisy. Awesome. Yeah. Is that true? Yeah. I can't tell. Wink if it's a bit. No, it's very true. Sugar Daisy? Yeah. Do you want to Daisy. Awesome. Yeah. Is that true? Yeah. I can't tell. Wink if it's a bit. No, it's very true. Sugar Daisy? Yeah. Do you want to know the story? Yeah. Both my wife's

grandmothers were named Daisy. When she was six months pregnant, we were going to have lunch to talk about, okay, so is it Daisy something or something Daisy or what's her name going to be? I said, sugar is a cute thing to call somebody. Come here, sugar. And Carol said, sugar Daisy. And we thought, that kind of rolls off the the tongue i wonder if that's an actual flower a sugar daisy it sounds cute we get to the restaurant i swear to god yep waitress comes over with a catalog of children's clothes and says carol this line's called bunnies by the bay it just came in yesterday it's really cute take a look at this catalog she opens it up there's a little gingham dress that says sugar daisy that's amazing that's a true story that's a true story that's awesome a true story. That's awesome.

I don't know that I would have had the gumption to go through with naming her that, but Carol was like, well, that's obviously her name. So she's Shug. Shug Days. That's cool. In all seriousness, my son's name, we've chosen, he's going to be born in April, so he'll be my third child,

and we're thinking of Jarvis. Be honest with me. Do you love it? Yeah. The other Jarvis, of course, is Jarvis Church. See, Jarvis Church is a fake name though. Yeah. But there's a Jarvis Cocker, lead singer of Pulp, Common People. And that's what I was thinking in my head. Well, something very

Toronto-y. In the late 1970s, there was a television program. Do you remember what the announcer's name was? No. Gardner Westbound. No, I don't remember this. Isn't that a great name for an was no gardner westbound no i don't remember that's not a great name for an announcer that gardner westbound is perfect yeah i might change my name to that uh do you own a canada goose jacket i do okay so just one yes just yesterday my regular co-host elvis not the elvis do i go i wish that's a good guess too uh elvis uh decided he hates everyone he hates everyone who owns a canada goose jacket because it's just an overpriced status is that

why he's not here i just in case i don't know if you're gonna come in and i don't want any bloodshed in my studio i'll tell you something about the um canada geese um they've been around in the film industry for decades. They are the go-to warm-up jacket for actors if you're shooting outside in the winter overnight. Big in Scandinavia too, right? I saw it in Iceland. It was a big deal. That I don't know.

What, the clam? I turned my phone off and took a cab here, and your phone's on? I apologize. You know, I never get a phone call, and that's actually Freddie P with an XML emergency. Oh. I get XML calls, like support calls.

You can't deny the warmth of a Canada Goose jacket. Mine's a bomber, and I don't have it on this trip. I wish I did. I'll be honest with you. You need it. Why leave it at home when you're coming to the polar vortex? Yes. But I also get what Elvis is saying.

I get that they're everywhere. He doesn't like how people now need to have that logo. you're coming to the polar vortex yes but but i i also get what elvis is saying i get i guess he's he's concerned he doesn't like how people now need to have that logo like it's mean something the logo and it might be a very good jacket but it is a overpriced jacket sure i have a great eddie bauer jacket that keeps me quite warm and it was reasonably priced is it down i don't know it's it's downstairs i'll check it later yeah that's why I'm an amateur and you're the pro. Down is key. The downstairs is more. But my life is in rural Nova Scotia.

We have horses. I'm outside a lot in the wintertime. I have to be warm. I'm certainly not wearing it as a status symbol in rural Nova Scotia. Do you wear a balaclava? No, I have two hats. One's a John Deere baseball hat with flaps, and the second one is a bear head.

Cool. That's for Sugar Daisy to enjoy. Yeah. Very nice. And is there an opportunity? I'm now running through. I see now I got like a 10 minute warning here. So I'm going to bang off my final question.

By the way, can I tell you something? Yeah, go ahead. We thought we'd have one kid. So we blew our wad on Sugar Daisy. Literally. And then suddenly we were having another kid. I was like, well, now what do we do? Donna?

Or like Tina? How do you follow that up? Can't help it. Do you go crazy? You're like, veranda. So that was a real challenge to come up with the name

of our daughter. Our second daughter. And what did you choose? Indigo. Indigo. The Indigo Girls. Sugar Days and Go Go. Very nice.

Yeah. It's kind of like River and Joaquin and you got like, yeah, it's kind of a cool vibe. It's hippie. I feel kind of, because I did James, Michelle and Jarvis. Like, no hippie at all. Yeah. It's kind of like River and Joaquin and you got like, yeah, it's kind of cool vibe. It's hippie. I feel good because I did James, Michelle and Jarvis like no hippie at all.

Nice. I went the other direction. Well, Jarvis is a little out there. It's unusual. Yeah. And my daughter picked it because we were, I was taking her to Selena Gomez, her first concert. She's nine and she wanted to see Selena Gomez and we're at like one Yonge Street.

I think we parked at one Yonge Street. We were jokingly saying, hey, let's just look at things and pick names for the child that's coming. I made a joke. A Captain Morgan ad was there. I said, oh, we can call Morgan. She goes, I don't know. Then she saw a sign that was for Jarvis, the street.

She found it. She said, Jarvis. It's a great story. I said, that's the name. That was it. That's the name. Then she said to me, Daddy, I'm just kidding And I said, that's the name. That was it. That's the name. And then she said to me, Daddy, I'm just kidding. And I said, it's too late.

Too late. Exactly. I thought you were going to say your kid's going to be named Captain. Captain would be a great name. Come here, Captain. Yep. I mean, the truth is you do, as a parent-to-be, you do all the, okay, sugar daisy, booger crazy.

What are people going to call her when she's in school? But the truth is, they're going to call her whatever they want and to go to hell. It's beyond your control. Exactly. And I think you did a great job there. Thanks, bud. And are you done now? That's it?

Two and out? Two's a good number? Yeah, that's it. That's a good number. We can still do man-to-man coverage. We don't have to switch to a second. I thought it was done, too. So two was perfect.

Now it's more perfect. Yeah. We have one question is, have you ever turned down an opportunity and then regretted it? That's a great question. I think the short answer is no. In my 20s and maybe even early 30s, I was a lot more punkish about people doing work that I thought wasn't great or how could

people stoop to do stupid things like that. Here's the harsh reality of it. If you're making a living in the arts community in Canada, you're in the top five percentile of artists. Very few people get to make a living at it. So let's talk about the concept of selling out for a minute. If I do something that maybe wouldn't be my first choice and it buys me three months of being at home with my kids and dreaming about what's next or volunteering for free on my kids' short film or a friend's short film or whatever,

then what's wrong with that? So unless you have a moral opposition to what's being asked of you or a vital fundamental opposition. Hosting like a sealed clubbing competition or something like that. Right. Something that you just can't even wrap your head around. I wouldn't do that. But I've certainly done things. I have three criteria, fun, money, challenge. And I have to have any two of those criteria. It's a good rule.

And if it's a fun challenge and the money's not there, I really don't care. But anytime I've made a decision to do something for only one of those, it's not been great. And is J-Rock, is that the role you're most known for? If you had to pick what role are you most known for today? It depends. Generally speaking, women in their kind of early 30s remember jono vision um guys with backwards baseball hats on no trailer park boys some older folks uh know when i was on air farce or even guessed it on 22 or things like that some of the kids know me as shane from degrassi wow um and that's fine have you ever met uh rob ford mayor of Toronto? I haven't. Because I suspect he'd be a J-Rock guy.

I suspect he may well be. It's interesting that just the appropriation of culture and, you know, speaking in that patois, there definitely are similarities. The thing that I'm able to find as far as a common thread between the characters that I play is that they generally don't feel bad for themselves. If J-Rock's DJing to four people, or Robert Cheely has these tiny victories in the school, he doesn't see himself as pathetic. And I think that's key. And I think one of the things that people respond to about Trailer Park Boys is, in addition to the fact that everybody knows a Ricky and a Julian and a Bubbles in their town and everybody's cousin can do the best Bubbles impression and all that. Yeah.

What people respond to is it makes you feel a little better about your own life. And to see these people in less than ideal circumstances not feeling badly for themselves, that's kind of uplifting. Very true. Very true. And do you have an opinion as a guy who's not a Toronto guy, but is following? I'm sure you're aware of what's going on with our mayor here. Do you have an opinion on Rob Ford? Any thoughts on him you want to share with the audience? I feel like, remember when George Bush was elected the first time? Yep. And comedians were like, oh,

was elected the first time. And comedians were like, oh, thank you, Jesus. This is going to be great. And then 9-11 happened and it was suddenly not funny at all. And people were thinking, where's Bill Clinton? Get him back. When the Rob Ford falling down on a football field stuff, that's funny. That's fine.

Gold. When there were admissions of crackies and things like that, it's not funny. It's not funny. It's just sad. And furthermore, when he started to kind of relish the attention and seemed to kind of embrace the rock star part of it, I found that really heavy. I agree with you. So to speak. And it was not funny.

Having said that, we went through the valley of not funny for me this um bomba clad stuff we're back to funny of it okay gotcha i wondered how that worked that because i agree with you i i covered it very closely and was kind of in the heart of the storm here and then i felt they hit a point where it was no longer fun or funny it just became very sad well it's know, Biebs was arrested this morning. What do you think of that? Probably the most famous Canadian in the world, possibly. It's the same thing.

Like, I miss the kind of silly, punkish antics of early on. The never say never years. Yeah, but this scissor and being as initials in the snow. And he's obviously in crisis. So he's screaming for attention? Is that what the Biebs is doing here? I feel like, let's remember, he's a teenage boy. I've often maintained that when a kid says, what are you going to do, make me?

There's a part of them that's clamoring to have boundaries. And as a parent, though I'm early on in the parenting role, I think kids like to have boundaries because they like to feel safe and secure and they like to know what's expected of them. So not to sound like an old guy talking about the young people, but my guess is Justin Bieber doesn't have any boundaries and he has nobody saying you can't do that or behave this way. He's probably surrounded by enablers and everybody who wants to keep the party going yeah i think you're right but but i feel badly i don't i don't find it funny no it's not funny it's not fun it's not funny having said that i would say having said that it's still um there's there is comedy gold to be mined from it. Partially because he's not a sympathetic character.

You really have to think a lot about him to feel badly for him because he's so kind of punkish, right? It's like when Brittany shaved her head. Did it stop being funny at that moment? And when she's swinging an umbrella at someone, yeah. That's someone in very real crisis needing help. Good point. Yeah, when somebody's sick. And that's someone in very real crisis needing help. Good point. Yeah, when somebody's sick.

And that's why the Rob Ford thing, there's a point where the man is sick and you don't laugh at someone for having a disease. Right, but the thing that's interesting about Rob Ford is he doesn't seem beaten or bedraggled. He still seems exasperated with us for being so obsessed with this silly story that is none of anyone's business.

Can we please get on with the business of running the city? He needs a new soundbite. I think you're right. Final thoughts, anything you want to share? So we'll look for your podcast. Is this on iTunes? We just searched for... It's not yet.

It's just been recorded last night. So where did you record? I lost the business. You did, yeah. We did it at the Hyatt Regency. And it cost you 80 bucks. We did it at the Hyatt in downtown Toronto. A buddy of ours, Tim,

from the rock band The Arkells, helped out. The boss is coming. I know The Arkells. Good folks and great musicians. So that'll be on iTunes at some point in the coming weeks. Mr. D season three starts airing right after the Olympics on CBC. Trailer Park 8 coming to a TV screen near you.

I worked on Call Me Fitz in Nova Scotia. That's on Movie Network. And I did a guest shot on Seed, the Rogers City sitcom that has now found a life on WB in the States. So there's so much going on in Nova Scotia. Morale is high. You're a busy guy. Yeah.

Good. Good things happen to good people. Thank you. I'm looking forward to the Street Sense reboot. You're going to make some calls in the cab ride back. Let's use this podcast as kindling for the fires of the dream and see how the people respond. Very good idea. And that brings us to the end of our 65th show you can follow me on twitter at toronto mike and jonathan at torrence jonathan i got that right right good see you all next week Thank you.