Nuanced. - 184. Eric Peterson: Corner Gas, Comedy & Playing Oscar Leroy

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Eric Peterson, the legendary Oscar Leroy from Corner Gas, joins Aaron Pete to discuss landing the role, the show's success, Brent Butt, and its cultural impact on Canada. Send us a textThe "What's Going On?" PodcastThink casual, relatable discussions like you'd overhear in a barbershop....Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the shownuancedmedia.ca

Welcome back to another episode of the Bigger Than Me podcast. Here is your host, Aaron P. One of the most legendary characters of Corner Gas is Oscar Leroy. He was an absolute fan favorite. Today I'm speaking with the man who played Oscar. We discuss starting Corner Gas, where the term jackass comes from, the impact of the show on Canadian culture, and the importance of fighting for that distinct culture here in the Great White North. My guest today is Eric Peterson.

Eric, it is an honor to have you on the show. I've been looking forward to this day since I started the show, and I'm so excited to be able to speak with you. I've watched Corner Gas since I was a young man. Since you were born, probably it looked like, and even before you were in vitro, you probably watched. I was very young to me. Can I first ask, how did this role for Corner Gas come about? Well, well, that's a very big. big question if you want to look at it. There's so many ways to look at it. I guess it came

about because Brent Butt had this thing that he did. And he's the guy that thought about this character. He's the guy that wrote this character. I have no idea. I can only assume that the kind of father that I play, you know, that Oscar is. I mean, obviously Brent has some issues with his dad or did. I mean, I mean, no more than I had with my own father, and I loved my own father very dearly, but you can't grow up without having a few issues about your parents. I'm sure I've damaged my children in a perfectly normal way as well,

so, you know, life goes on. So, yeah, he wrote this. Now, I can remember it's a long time ago now, eh? It seems to me, anyway, that they, you know, they were going across the country auditioning people. I get an audition to go in this. I read the kind of, I read the sides that we've had and they kind of set up of the, of the situation. And I go, Saskatchewan, I'm from Saskatchewan. I've got to play this part. You can't grow up in a province that never has any television shows produced there. And when they do produce this

television show, you've got to hire the local people. You've got to hire the, the sons and daughters of Saskatchewan to be in it. So when we did the part, and I immediately, I mean, it's really wonderfully written. It was consistently running wonderfully written. So this part was very, it was very attractive to me. And I could channel my own age into it as well as I knew this, I knew this type, the ball cap slightly on the side. and and and and the kind of what you know the kind of his his stance about reality in the world that he faces I was in my own life facing it where everything was just that was new was just stupid and people

were just stupid you know and it used to be so much better and and everybody basically other than himself was a jackass and and I could I could really get behind that in my own personal life. And it kind of reminded me of my own father. My father was, you know, obviously much more complex than most characters we see on television as real people tend to be. But, yeah, so that was, so when we did the audition, and I don't think I've ever done this before. And Brent was, of course, Brent was at the audition. And I said, you, you have to give me this part. I said, I am this guy.

And I come from Saskatchewan. That probably carried no weight. Maybe everybody, the audition said the same thing, whether they were from Saskatchewan or not. You know, I knew several actors that did audition for it, and some were from Vancouver. Maybe they said the same. They just lied and said, you know, I live in Vancouver, but I'm basically from Saskatchewan. Deep down. Deep down, Saskatchewan.

You know, BC is close to Saskatchewan, closer to Toronto. So anyway, so that's how it came about. But the real genius, the real, the genius is that it, you know, it's the genius of Brent Buck, basically. So when you auditioned, did you have a suspicion you might get the part? What was that follow-up call? When did you find out? And how did that feel? Well, I had been in a long-running, you know, the street legal series, and that was, that had gone like, what, eight seats?

Street legal sucks. It's a classic line. It's totally. I love saying that line. I don't think I was ever so delighted with that line. The other one I loved, the other one I loved was, what was it? Get the F off my lawn. When the street sign fell down, there's a big letter F on his lawn.

I love that one. But to turn and say, street legal sucks, that we had to do many takes because I would break up laughing, saying, I'm so delighted by it. Though sweetly, you know, anyways, getting back to corner gas.

So I didn't know, so I audition for it, and then you don't hear anything for a while. And, of course, immediately, you go, I haven't given it to somebody. That's gone, anyways. But I really wanted to get into a series again.

Being a Canadian actor, I mean, being in a series, A regular in a television series, it's kind of the jackpot, you know, as far as making you living and feeling that you're a valuable citizen, or maybe not even a valuable citizen, just a citizen in your country and gainfully employed. It's a lovely place to be. And street legalists like that. And corner gas, too.

Suddenly you're introduced to this whole kind of routine. And these wonderful people that ended up. up being the cast, as well as the crew, the people you don't see, becomes this incredibly big family with some of the tensions that have, normal families have, but basically you're only working together for maybe four months a year and then coming back to it. So I didn't hear from it. And finally, then I get this call. I get this call. They want to screen test me. Screen in Regina. Now, in my

expectation when I was an actor that I would be screen testing, they want to screen test you in L.A. They want to screen test you in New York. We want to fly you to Rome to screen test with Sophia Loren or something like this.

No, this was, we want us, we want you to come to Regina and screen test, which was fine. My parents were still alive at that point, living in Indian Head, which is 40 miles east of Regina, where I grew up. So that was fine, because they wanted to screen test me with the actress that was going to play Emma. And they didn't say who it was.

And it wasn't until I got into Regina, and the screen tent was the next day. I went to the hotel, and I said, who am I screen testing with? Janet Wright. now I almost fainted I almost swooned I I fell to the floor laughing crying I went hysterical I had an event I had a psychological event because I have known Janet since Janet was the same age as me so we at that point I hadn't we known each other first we first met when I we were were 18. 18. And this was like a number of centuries before the Street League was being shot. So I, and I, she and her sister, Susan, I had known in the theater, you know, I'd never work with them particularly, but we knew each other from Saskatoon, where I went to university and Janet grew up there. So it was, well, I was tickled pink to think that I was going to be doing this

was Jen. And it does, I mean, she was, I took, we went out together for a while when we were 18. So this was, this was, no wonder we kind of clicked as this old married couple. And Janet Wright was, she was just a wonderfully complex kind of defies description, the kind of woman she was, and a wonderful actress. She was also a very good director. Very smart, very, and very funny. So she, that was a treat. And it just, as you saw, Emma and Oscar, I mean, we might as well have been those people. We had so much fun doing that.

She had, we had so much fun, you know, being, you know, exercising the dynamic of that couple. Right. So that was, so, but, yeah, I don't know how many big stars, international stars, have actually flown into Regina to screencast. Yeah. You're the legendary one, I suppose. Would you mind taking me back to season one? What I find really interesting in interviewing the other cast members was that nobody really expected this show to go anywhere, that there weren't high expectations that this was going to get renewed.

Everybody, like Fred Ewanuck, Brent, they all thought they were going to have a good time, but they didn't know if it was going to be a short time or a long time. What was that first season like for you? It was exactly that. And especially on the location that we had for Dog River in Rolo, Saskatchew in the town. And that's where the exterior of the, of course, as people would know, that was where the exterior of the gas station was with the intent. of the store, but the exterior of the ruby was there, too. So you'd be there, you know, we'd be there filming, and people would drive in from the highway to get gas, and that was a wonderful thing about Canadians.

And they'd come in and they'd go, they'd go, and, you know, the ASM would go up and say, I'm sorry, this isn't actually a gas station, where we're shooting a television series here. And people were so apologetic, they go, oh! Oh, I'm so sorry. As if they, you know, as if they'd interrupted a moon launch or something just to pick up gas. They went, they were so apologetic. Oh, I'm kind of really sorry. I'm serious.

We didn't. I hope we haven't ruined anything, you know, forgetting entirely that they were now stranded with an empty tank of gas at a, you know, a fake garage. Yeah. So, and I don't know. Yeah, it was just wonderful. that first year. I mean, it was so fun to shoot this series, the more we did it, and we were all getting to know each other, eh? I didn't know, I'd know Janet, but I didn't know Fred,

I didn't know Lauren, you know, all the people on the cast. I, yeah, I didn't know Brent. And it was, yeah, so that, and the scripts were just delightful to do. They were, you know, and these were very funny people to work with, so shooting was a joy. You know, it was good material to work with. It was funny. The guests that were coming in, getting to know and getting to love and have tremendous affection for everybody else and the whole crew. It was wonderful.

And for me, who had, had, who cared about a kind of, you know, was a cultural nationalist wanting us in Canada to have our own film television theater experience and contribution to the world, as opposed to being a branch plant for the American one, or earlier on when I was first one, the British one, you know, to be that. This was, so a lot of my theater had been new work and original work that was being done in this country. So to be shooting this television series where I had grown up, To come out at lunchtime, when you'd have lunchtime, you know, everybody goes in a film set, your television set, and you shut down for lunch, and everybody goes and has lunch, and then you go back to work.

To be walking and looking out at the prairies, I couldn't get over it. I was tickled pink by this, that here I was, because I had left Saskatchewan years before going, you know, to go to be an actor when they either had to go to Van, I went, I was in Vancouver for a time, I was in Toronto, I'd gone to London, England, and lived there for a while. And, of course, there was always, you had to go to the United States to work to be this. So suddenly to be back in Saskatchewan. And then having this wonderful setup where I, in Regina, I was 40 miles from where I'd grown up and from the Capelle Valley and Lake Catepoa, where we'd always had a cottage and we still

had a cottage. I had this ideal set up. And then I had, my kids were young then. So my two daughters would come out for, and, you know, and we'd always had. extended period. So it was great fun for me to be able to show them where I had grown up as well. And we'd experienced the lake and they all, you know, helped out in the set. It was, it was really wonderful for me to have that happen. So I'm just going to quickly reflect on my take on season one. So I've watched the show many times, but rewatching it with your input and with Fred's input and

and Brent's and nancy's has given me new perspectives on it and now when i look back at season one i feel like we were being introduced there was a lot of comedy from brend i think it was a little bit more low key and the whole cast was a little more low key but one person was not and it was you and i think for that first season you had those moments where it was like bat out of the park humor that really catches people and goes like oh my gosh this is hilarious like uh this might be in the weeds, but like the taxman episode where you're just ripping through stuff and you're just like, like my taxes pay for your salary, like that energy, buddy boy. It's just hilarious. And like, everybody else was more level. And then you were just knocking it out of the park throughout that

first season. And then you see throughout like subsidiary seasons, everybody starts to come out of their shell and have these wild moments. But you really kind of like showed out on that first season. And I'm just wondering your reflections on being able to play that character really fully and give energy to that. Well, again, I felt I felt I had a certain authority about it, both in my personal, you know, my personal stance to the zeitgeist that, you know, Oscars railing against the old fart railing against the present situation. As well as, like I said in the audition, I knew who this guy was. He was my father, he was my uncle, he was everybody else's father I knew.

I just, you know, this was a character that had met the writing that wasn't trying to be another, you know, actor that had acted, another character, you know, I wasn't trying to be some other character from some other series and model it on that. I wasn't modeling it on real life. But the other thing I have to say about the show is, And with acting, you can only act, I don't know how to put this, what's written. Like, if there's good writing, you'll get good acting, if you've got good actors.

Good actors can act good writing. Good actors cannot necessarily give the performance of its bad writing. You really need that. That, it's the genesis of the writing. And Brent's writing and the writers that consistently through the series, but this was my first introduction to comedy writing than, like street legal, was dramatic writing. So with the comedy writers, and they were inevitably, I think all of them were stand-up comedians at one point or another. And it made me understand that being a stand-up comedian is basically a writing exercise. They write all their own material.

And listening to Brent talk about his travels as a standout comedian and biker bars and other venues where if you're not funny, it can be dangerous. So you learn to write well quickly and the hard way, as it were. So their sense of structure and timing, and they may have different languages, a language about it, the button on the scene and things like this, or the joke or the lead-up. But as an actor doing, I had maybe different terminology about it, but totally understood this.

And I always felt terribly secure in the writing that I was having to do. I didn't have to work very hard. I just had to learn it and get into it, you know? Waste the pants. And, you know, I remember, I love the one where the, Oscar decides to build his own coffin.

They go to the funeral, right? And Oscar's going, he's going, he looks in the coffin. It's an open coffin. He looks around the coffin, he goes, you got ripped off, buddy boy. He says to the corpse, right? And he goes, I can do better than this. And I'll save a lot of money. So my plot through this whole episode was Oscar is decided he's going to build his own coffin.

It's going to be a lot better than anyone you can buy. He talks to people about it. And, of course, at the end, he's standing in the coffin. And then it's the first time he realized this, oh, wait a minute, I'm only going to be able to enjoy this coffin after I'm dead. And so then he turns it into a bookcase. Well, it falls apart, for one thing, because Oscar, though he prides himself on his carpentry, is a terrible carpenter. So I always loved the birdhouse. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

So, yeah. So thank you for saying that about it. I love doing that part, and it still is great fun to me. And when we were really shooting it, when it was on television, and a very prominent part and all the time, I was always being stopped by people on this total strangers, coming up to me with a big grin in their face and they're saying, would you call me a jackass?

And I'd go, oh, certainly, you're a jackass, you know. Can I ask on that note, then, what is it about that character? that I do think people really, really resonated with. There was something about, like, the off-the-cuffness, the frustration. Like, there was something about seeing that personified so sincerely that, like, like, we wanted that. Like, we want that energy.

And I don't know where that comes from. Well, again, I mean, not to sound pompous or anything, but again, when you have your own culture, that is, when you are reflecting, when you have art forms that reflect the culture within the, which they come out of, as opposed to this happening in Dodge City or, you know, as Canadians, we can translate the American experience very well and go, well, we're sort of like that, but we're not quite like that. But in this case where you had Brentbott, who grew up in this place,

reflecting in this comic way, a kind of authenticity, that this wasn't based on other forms. this was based on his own experience of the people and community that he lived in. And so, and I responded to that because I also was interested in making art or images or whatever we're doing, jokes, beauty, edginess out of an authentic experience. And that then gets verified or not verified, but in this case in Street League, it's verified by the audience who go, they then recognize, they recognize their own father, their own uncle. The number of times that people came up to me and say, you're just like my granddad. Of course, I wasn't just like their granddad, but again, so you've hit on a kind of arch.

So the community is responding to, and in this case, because in the Canadian situation, they're going, it's kind of unusual because it's a Canadian show. we're so accustomed seeing content from other places, mainly America, that when we get to see our own and we like it and we're proud of it, it's a kind of double whammy. I get to think about my uncle and what a funny guy he was and look at what this guy is doing. And also, I'm proud.

I kind of own it. It's mine. You know, I mean, as I'm thinking as the audience member, that this is a and you know living in Saskatchewan it's kind of it's kind of okay it's kind of you know the show demonstrates that in a way so i think that that element was very strong and because and i go back again i keep going out you have to keep going back to brent butt and the people they put around him but brent was he's a genuine uh valuable artist in this country very funny very shrewd, very

a really wonderful guy, but he really captured something there. And in a sense, we you know, again, I go to the Canadian audience who's we've been so, most of our, most of our film and

television is 99.9 or so that when we hit something that's ours and so even though it's Saskatchewan, well, again, that the, the of that authentic experience of corner gas and that, what they got there, in the comic terms that it's presented in, that's a kind of universality that allows, and of course in Canada,

that Saskatchewan community is really no different than a BC community. I mean, they may have a slightly different accent, and they, you know, they bitch about the different politicians from province to province or from Newfoundland. But we're all that, and even living in Toronto or the city, there's a community around us that has an Oscar in it and has a friend around, you know, it has Hank there. And you can identify this kind of group of people. And it's a delightful experience. The other thing with Oscar was that he was so unaware. of what kind of a guy he was.

He thought everybody else was a jackass, but basically he was the jackass and everybody else was normal in a funny way. And Emma knew this and was always pointing this out to him, but she loved him. You know, they all tolerated. They all knew what he was like.

And I always enjoyed the fact that young, you know, sort of young teenagers or teenagers or that age, you know, the 11, 12-year-old boys. They loved Oscar. They, because he said jackass, for one thing, but they loved that. I, the number of times, and because I then came to realize, because Oscar himself, in some ways, was no more mature than a 12 or 13-year-old kid. You know, they really identified with them. So when a little person would come up and say, well, you call me a jackass? You'd go, you're a jackass. They would ride with pleasure. They thought it,

It was the funniest thing there is. It was really delightful. Where did the catchphrase jackass come from? It came from the show. It was from Brent. Brent had a long, you know, and the buddy boys. He had a wonderful way of capturing that. And the one I loved was the Willerton, when they mentioned the next town and everybody's spit. That was, I killed me coming from Indian head because the people you really hated were the ones closest to you. Like, in my case, it was Centiluter and Capelle and Fort Cable. You know, when you had to play hockey games, it's totally human nature.

You can see this. And across the world, it's the next community is the real rivals. Right. Do you think that, like, it took off? Or was Jackass, do you think always a part of the plan? Because it did become, like, a staple in every season. And maybe you expected to do one episode, one scene, and then it just continued every episode, every season. It did grow.

It did become, and as the show went on, other people had, you know, Lauren, what was the one he had, he had a kind of, he had a kind of, you know, I can't remember what the phrase was, but he had certain characteristic reactions to things. And the jackass really took off because, again, it was a great word, it was a great choice of words. This goes back again to as stand-up comedians, having this hard-won knowledge of what's funny and what isn't funny, because if it isn't funny, you're going to get killed or a beer bottle will be thrown at you. So you better get it right or change whatever it is that you're getting the beer bottle thrown at you for. So Jack asked that this double word, it's like, you know, it's like asshole or something. It sounds like swearing, but it isn't. And that's where the young kids liked it, you know, it was like it sounds like it sounds like, it sounds like, it sounds like,

this bad word. It's a male donkey, for God's sake, you know, a male mule or whatever, a jackass, as a male junkass. And it's a double, it's a, that, the two consonants, I mean, the two vowels. I mean, the two syllables, God, it is too bad. When you get old like me, Aaron, you have word flight, word flight, the word is there and then it just disappears. Yeah, so when you have the two syllables like that, you can really get behind that when you want to say you're a jackass so and it grew so it i used to have one maybe every second show then there were one every show and then there then there is nothing but jackasses so season one what was your reaction um fred talked about actually getting the call from ctv saying like we are renewing this

this is fantastic and the overwhelming support of that first season the numbers came in you guys came in over a million. What was that reaction for you to be able to be like, wow, like, we, we actually delivered and, like, the audience is responding? Delight. Delight, surprise, gratitude, you name it. I mean, I'd had the experience of street legal. So part of me was going, thank you, Jesus, I need another series that's going to run for a while. And this looked like it. But you could tell, in a way, the first season of shooting it, like, you're on a set, you're doing the things, you're going, you know what, this is really working quite well. It just hasn't seen an audience yet, but you're going, you're going, yeah, this, wow, this is really funny stuff. The other thing I have to take my hat off to is CTV and the Comedy Network, they had a group of people that were producing.

it from the network that were very savvy about this show. First of all, they let Brent and David and, you know, they let the artists that were producing it run it. There wasn't a lot of executives, there wasn't executives coming in, we don't like this, we can't do this. In other situations I'd seen, an over kind of, you know, interference by, for lack of a better word, the producing side, the non-artistic side. So they gave Brent his head. And of course, it was well worth it. He knew exactly what he was doing.

And if you just let him do it, he would lead you to the promised land. There was no doubt about that. But they had people that recognized that and led him. And then they marketed that very well. Because our first performance, it was after some, I can't even remember, some big American, I don't know, show that attracted. a million people or over a million people, and they kept running, I can't remember what it was.

The Big Bang Theory? It wasn't, no, that series, I don't think it was even happening. There was some other thing like... The office? No, it was, it may have been a reality TV show or a music. I can't remember what it was. It's so long ago now. Anyway, it said that drew a big audience.

It was like, say, you know, after the World Series came or something. Or, you know, it'd be like something like that, a big audience. And they just ran ads through the thing saying, after this show, stay tuned for. And lo and behold, people did. And once you started watching it, it was funny. It was funny. And again, when you were shooting it, you're going, this is funny. I don't see how people aren't going to like it.

And again, I go back to the shrewdness and the caniness of the producing the comedy network in CTV and the executives there that went, yeah, this is good, we're going to keep this. You know, and it filled a lot of boxes where it's Canadian content. They had this. It was good. People, you know, it was, it was just one of the, it was just a, you know, perfect convergence of all kinds of considerations that it was blessed in that way. And it was, yeah.

One of the things Lauren shared that I think was really impactful, was about how it resonated with people or the role that it played in people's lives during certain trying times. The one he raised was that he had people reach out to him who were Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan and who had reached out and said, we're watching corner gas when we're being rocket attacked. And that's kind of our solace, our escape. What were some of the feedback you had received from the impact of the show? Well, I never had that. I totally was part of hearing that, that had happened.

And that situation was, yeah, it was very heartening. Again, I go back to the authenticity of the show, how authentic the show was, that as Canadians, this did reflect, in comic terms, something that was true to the experience of all, all of us living in this country. That it wasn't something we had to translate that a town in North Dakota

was something like us, but then again, not quite because, but this was us. And this was us, this was us, and this was good. It wasn't the other trope, which is, it's Canadian, it has to be bad, a kind of self-loathing about what we do and who we are. That other aspect, that darker aspect of us as Canadians,

vis-a-vis living next door to this great cultural beamuth called the United States and speaking the same language. So that whole element of it, for me, what was so interesting about the show was the number of people that said, I can watch it with my whole family. I can watch it with my kids. I can watch it with my teenagers. And we can all sit there and watch this show and have a good time. So the sense of the show bringing that aspect to it,

of community or family could enjoy this. It was very satisfying to me. And again, it speaks to Brent's, I mean, Brent is a stand-up comedian. He's, his, his comedy is not, you know, it's not dirty jokes. It's not bad words. It simply catches the idiosyncraticness and with a my turn of how our lives are. And that gets reflected in the show where things that in real life that aren't

you know, where things like where a pothole becomes a significant event as opposed to, you know, the Cuban Missile Crisis or something like that, you know. It's, yeah, so I would, I,

the enjoyment I thought of the show was this this aspect of the family being able to enjoy it. So I was very proud of that and in it. This question is just coming to me now. You have a deeper connection, I feel like, to knowing all the episode specifics than, like, I spoke to Fred,

and he basically said, like, I can't watch myself. Like, I can't review the, like, I just, I know it went well, but, like, when I was trying to bat past episodes off of him, he was like, yeah, I didn't watch that, It's been a long time and I totally get that. That's one of the challenges of re-listing to interviews and trying to figure out where I can improve. It can be tough to see yourself, watch yourself on screen and stuff. But I feel like you have the deepest understanding of some of these episodes and have highlighted the culture in a deeper degree of like where it was really authentic and living up to its name. And I'm just wondering what that was like for you to watch everybody in their element trying to bring their best to the table because you're, You were the one who kind of saw it at that bird's eye level of the impact it was going to have. Well, that was definitely the lens with which I appreciated the show through.

And that spoke to my previous experiences as an actor and my kind of modus operandi as an artist in this country. I had always been, even starting in Vancouver, associated in theater projects that were new work. And, you know, again, to tell our own stories, for lack of a better term, to use that well-worn term, that we'd be telling our own stories that would be original and from a perspective that only a Canadian could tell because you had to be here. You know, and these stories would be told to our neighbors, and they would be verified or not verified or appreciated or not appreciated, which would allow us as artists to judge how well we were doing

by our community that we were no more important as artists or filmmakers or television producers than the doctor, the teacher, the baker, the plumber. You know, we had a function in the community. We had something to give

to the community, and the community gave something back to us. We had a role. We were no more important and no more exotic than that. We just belonged. And that model was when I discovered this, because I lived in England to be an English actor, and I came back to Canada and fooled around, when I ran into theater groups here in Toronto, and it started basically in Vancouver, that ability to go, you can use, I could use my uncle and aunt as models for the characters and work that I wanted to do. that unleashed a huge burst of creativity for me. I didn't have to pretend to be, you know,

or try to be, I was going to say Brad Pitt. But he's, no, I'm a striking resemblance to Brad Pitt. It's really telling you. You probably thought it was his twin brothers. When you logged on, I said, hey, it's Brad Pitt. Exactly. So, you know, that you could use your own life to as part of the modeling clay that we're going to make this

for, you know, the art out of, for the lack of a better word, I know we call it content now, but it was, you know, this television show. And that was reflected. I mean, what I loved about year after year being in Regina, people would come up to you and then grocery store and go, well, how's the scripts this year? And it was like they were asking you, how's the crop this year? You know, it was like it was, they, you fit right in.

That whole model that I've just described about having a place in the community and the contract, the social contract between the community and you as an artist, was totally fulfilled in the safe way in Regina. When they go, how's the scripts this year? Are we going to have a good crop of jokes, you know, and things like that? Or they'd ask you about different characters. And you would be treated like with respect and a slight sense of ownership that they knew you. and and but they were people weren't going they weren't a gog they didn't become tongue tied they just it was it was lovely and i and i really enjoyed that i had i had the ambition while we were

shooting the show that i wanted to thank every canadian that loved the show i wanted to thank them personally janet wright used to kill she used to she used to tease me unmercifully that she'd see the tourist car. People would come up, but I'd be over there. Hello, I'm Eric Me. And she'd go, you're such a suckhole. She'd say, yeah, they're going over, because she was very shy about fans, Janet was. She didn't, she didn't want to be around them. I, on the other hand, became, you know, Mr. Host. Hello, welcome. This is a set. Hello, yes.

Thank you for watching this show. It's so important, yeah. That's such a beautiful philosophy. I just want to linger on that for a second because I think we sometimes forget why we do things or or what the purpose is and the one piece that I really liked of what you said within my First Nations culture we have this idea of Tomiuk and it's you look back seven generations and you try and learn from them and I think so often I use learn as if it's just like teachings like how to how to make stuff how to make a good casserole those types of things but there's something to what you just said of like learning the idiosyncrasies learning the humor, learning where their head was at, and kind of taking that with you, too,

so that when you're in new circumstances, you can go, how would this person look at this new situation? And that's one way that they can almost stay with you. Yeah, it's very true. And it's also something that is that kind of, that kind of originality. And original not, and you've discovered something brand new, but original because you are the only point of view, all our points of view, are unique. I mean, we all, but we all see things slightly differently. And that difference comes from where you, where you're standing and the eyes you're looking through. It comes from the kind of education, neighborhoods, cultural experiences, everything we've had. You build up this world that you perceive the rest

of the world from. And it's very important, if you can reflect that, in terms of television programs or theater pieces or whatever films, that information is a gift to the rest of the world, it seems to me. And the same way their perception, like in Yugoslavia, you see a movie or something about that, and you suddenly go, there's something about that imaginative connection that is, is so, I mean, all it joins us together is imagination, basically. And when we exercise it in these, in art, that's the, you know, that's the fundamental

joy of it. You're not conscious of it, but to go, I get that in a way. It's sort of like my life. But this connection, this imaginative connection called a television show where everybody's pretending, making believe, bravely, and I say bravely because it takes a lot of guts to get up there and pretend you're somebody else. Let me tell you, it doesn't look, it all sounds like fun and games, but it can be stressful. The audience responds bravely. They also get, you know, let out their imagination, let it run loose a bit. And then you get to, you get to,

experience other people in a way that we don't you know that's that's wonderful it seems to me i know that's all big very vague no i was just about to say that might have been the coldest cut of the whole all my episodes that the thing that connects us all is imagination like when you said that i was like whoa i don't know if we've had like a deeper quote on the show um because that's true and and that is when people sat down and there was the whole family every kid character represented them in some sort of, like their family or who they knew, it all brought them together and it was being reflected back to them. And that's why they were willing to enjoy the show and be so supportive. I don't know if I've ever thought of it that deeply before.

Well, yeah. I mean, that's the, and I think, I mean, I often said, you know, especially in theater, I go, the play is simply an excuse. theater to happen. And by theater, I meant was that you have a bunch of people at the same time, in the same place, letting their imagination go through the story. And that experience is so counter to the other experience that we are all individuals, you live alone, you know, you're born alone, you live alone, you die alone, which is the other extreme. I mean, that's true. But this power that we have of imagining and then imagining the other, there is a bridge then that happens between us, that my understanding, now it's not, you know, I don't experience,

like I don't experience you totally, but I do get to connect with you in a way that is only possible through art, it seems to me. And even watching a painting or a painting, there's something about the joy that a human being has of going, of that imagination being exercised. It's why we've always done it, I guess. Some, danced, made plays. I couldn't agree more. There's one quote, it's, I think, your most legendary quote, and I want to recite it back to you because I think it was the thesis of the show. I also think that it is a huge opportunity to remind people of this path. And it's the last episode.

It's your last rant. Why the hell settle? We never settled. I'm a paper boy one week. You teach piano the next. The next week Lacey's a hockey coach. Wanda is a real estate agent. Hank's an accountant.

The cops have a radio show. We all try new things. And I, for one, want to see Brent up on that stage standing in a bucket of yogurt. And it's just the juxtaposition's beautiful. But I just, I love that because I do feel like one thing maybe we're learning or trying to figure out is to just find hobbies, find passions, find things that interest you, then drop them and try something new next week. Like you are able to chase whatever goals you want to set for yourself. You are the only person standing in the way of living a full and meaningful life. And I just, you saying that as the last kind of big statement at the end of the show,

I just thought tied the whole show in a ribbon for everybody. Well, that's Brent, hey? That's Brent, but thriving. It's just beautiful. He's a, yeah, it is, it is. It's a wonderful bucket of yoke, but I've forgotten all about that. It's really good. Can you tell me about what it was like to go through the anime?

series and the movie like do you do you miss those pieces at all or are you okay can you close the book i i i didn't want the series to end right i mean i'd gone through the i'd gone through the you know the eight years of the eight seasons for street and and and in a canadian series i said are you kidding people just love the show there's the ratings haven't dropped the ratings as strong as ever let's ride this pony into the dirt you know let's take it as far as it'll go But Brent and Nancy wanted to do, you know, they wanted to do other things. So, and Brent wanted to, you know, they wanted to leave on a, on a, on a positive note. I didn't care.

I didn't care. I wanted to, let's write, you know, I was already becoming a submerging artist, you know. It's going to be downhill anyway. So let's ride it as far as we can downhill. So I was sad that when we ended, but you're always sad. I mean, I, the, the series that I. been on. I've always been, when they say, we're not going to go next year. It's a, it's, it takes a day or two to get, you go, to get over your grief about it. And this was no

different. I, I was delighted that we were going to do the movie. And I was delighted with the movie and that the movie was not, was really just three half hour episodes together as a movie. You know, so they didn't change anything. Yeah. Again, And I can't speak, as you've heard, I can't speak too highly about Brent. I just can't. He's just wonderful this way. So that was fun. The cartoon was a hoot.

The cartoon was, I love doing the cartoon. The cartoon was, A, this was a chance for Brent. I just was so delighted because Brent always wanted to be a cartoonist. You know, he wanted to have a cartoon. So suddenly he could do it. This was a way, and the whole thing about the shooting it live was there's certain parameters. You can't have Martians coming in. You can't have, you know, suddenly turning into, you know, I don't know, whatever they kind of,

but in the cartoon, you could because you just had to draw, we just had to draw it. I mean, it sounds simple. I mean, it talked about complicated. Anyway, the other thing I liked about, there was a group of us here in Toronto, and then, you know, Brent and Gabe and Fred and Lauren were all in Vancouver. So they would, they would record, and we all recorded at the same time. So we'd do the episode just with the connection. So they'd go in at 9 o'clock in the morning, and we'd be at 1 o'clock or something in the afternoon here. And we got to visit again

as we shot the, as we were recording the this, the episode we got to visit. Oh, how you're doing you, things like that. So that was a wonderful connection. As well as the great thing was, we were all getting older.

You know, I mean, I, when we started the series, I'm 78 now. I don't know. I was, what, 65 or something? You know, it was, you know, or between 60 and 65. Look at me now. I'm like, I'm older than, I'm older than any, I've gone into the land of the immortal now in film and television parts. I have to, I have to play Zeus, you know, or Santa Claus or a vampire. I have to, I, that's my category now. I can't play a living person anymore, other than if I was a cadaver, I could. I could use my body. In fact, I often thought of getting my publicity shot with the, the kind of oxygen thing, well lit. So I, you know, can do cadaver.

I could hold my breath. I don't know. So doing the cartoon, we were all getting older. Suddenly there's Fred. They're getting gray hair. Lauren, I couldn't believe it. You know, they were all becoming. I mean, so, but your voice doesn't, you know,

your voice at that point, and anyways, didn't. And I used to laugh. I mean, you spoke before about, you know, the, it's a bit of a, it's, it's always, to a certain extent, disappointing watching yourself. Because acting has, you're inside it. You're not on the outside watching you. So naturally, as you're on the inside, acting, there's part of you that thinks, I must be just like Brad Pitt. I'm sure. I keep referring to Brad Pitt. So that when you see yourself and you are nothing like Brad Pitt, it's a bit of a shock. Because while you were doing it, you felt you were Brad Pitt, but then you see you're not.

So even though I can look at myself and go, okay, it's like hearing yourself, you know, on a tape recorder, your own voice for the first time. You're kind of shocked about how different it is. But you do acclimatize yourself to seeing it. And you don't, I mean, especially in film, when you're shooting it, when you're shooting it, It's a coherent scene that you're in. She says this, he says that, I say this, he says this. But then when you watch it, it's cut. So you're going, why did they cut away from me there?

I did such a wonderful thing there. You can be complained about yourself. You're not in control of it. So you see it put together as it's to be, as opposed to. And then that makes you realize I was just raw material when we shot it. I was like copper ore, and then it got refined when it got edited. Right. But where was I going with this?

There was something I was going to. Sorry, I've lost my train of thought. No worries. We were just talking about switching over from the animated. Oh, the animated. That's what we wanted. So to see the animated me, I loved it. You could watch yourself without any guy going,

and I looked just like I thought I would look as an animated character. And I used to my big joke was I learned more about acting. That guy's acting, the cartoon Oscar. I could do this now when I acted. I thought it enhanced my live performances when I brought my cartoon experience to bear. One other piece on this that I think you've done an excellent job of is really highlighting the people who made the show possible. And that might just seem obvious to you. but I do think that there's something about like lifting others up and admiring their craft and

admiring Brent Budd and David's story for the storytelling and your ability to do that really stands out to me as something that's important because when you're on a team it can it can you can be very inward looking on what am I doing am I showing up okay am I doing a good job but you've throughout this interview done such a good job of like highlighting what other people were good at and what you admired about the show and what they brought to the table. And I just want to appreciate you for that because I think there's such a deep lesson about the role we can play when we do give people the other leg up. And then when we do put shine on others. And I'm just wondering if you have any other reflections on the cast and what they brought to the table or the cameraman.

I mean, everybody, everybody did. I had such affection for it. And the acting of, they're all wonderful actors on that show and wonderful people. I, you know, and and again, the art form itself, theater, these are communal art forms. You know, you can have one-man shows, but they, it requires the expertise of people in a group. And that's the beauty of it. It can also be part of the hell of it. You know, because we're all human, so to put something forward, to get something, it's both it's fun and not fun at times, but that's only to be expected. That's the best we can do.

And I think it's such a wonderful activity for people to do, to spend their time trying to make something silly and funny, as opposed to getting together to kill other people. or to, you know, blow up this or destroy the universe or the planet. It's so nice that people can get together just to make a joke and make other people laugh. It's a high calling to me. The fact that it was being shot in Saskatchewan also made it what's important, what was to see that, by that happening there, everybody that now grew up in Saskatchewan as opposed to myself and Janet and everybody that

hadn't had this example oh you could do this I could be a stand-up comedian I could be an actor I could shoot films I could be a director I could have this and that was so important to me too to see that this you didn't have to go someplace else you could do this and people could be inspired by this as a career choice when I was growing up when you said I'm I'm working in the They go, what do you do? Do you take tickets? You know, there was no idea that you would be an actor. I grew up, nobody I knew was an actor. Nobody I knew anybody who was an actor.

I mean, it was not on the radar as a possible way of living. And suddenly by having people do this in Canada, wherever it is, suddenly there's this whole other opportunity to do what, I just said, which is to make funny jokes. It's a high calling. It's worth it. You've advocated for this for years. In a CBC interview done 12 years ago, you were going on about how you were fighting for Canadian film, television, and theater, and that you believe that having strong Canadian content that reflects the Canadian culture is important when we are so often overlooked because of what's going on in the U.S., because they have

such a strong film and TV industry and theater industry that it's hard for us to get our shine. And I look at the landscape right now. And to be honest, it couldn't look worse during this period right now from my perspective. We don't have shows like corner gas bringing everybody together in the same way they used to. We have a lot going on in the U.S. that's overshadowing everything going on in Canada right now. And so I'm wondering what is Canadian content from your perspective and how do we fight for it? Well, that's a big question. I mean, I grew up as an adult and my artistic, you know, the kind of artistic experience that I searched for and wanted to establish in this country. The country that I imagined I was in is not the country that we find ourselves in now,

Canada. I think that there's been a lot and one could argue or one could say that part of the conversation that hasn't happened is this coherent Canadian culture. And the results of that, we see part of the results are what's fed into what I see is the country is really on shaky ground. We're all in different communities. The federal, the confederation itself, it seems to be at war with the self. The federal government against the provincial jurisdictions, these are You know, these are highly contentious kind of divisions between us. And then there's other issues. But again, partly that's due to culturally we've changed.

We've changed. We're looking at, you know, I looked at it as an old white guy. This was the candidate that I talked to her. And that perspective, quite rightly, has been said that is a point of view that lots of people in this country don't share. And we want to look at it from those people like First Nations, like yourself. If I look at it that way and tell their stories, then I can get behind that because it's the same impulse I had to tell my story. And again, the same imaginative interchange happens. When I see a story there, I get to be able to imagine and therefore join some experience that I hadn't understood or thought about.

So the other thing I just want to say is my tendency, my passion for Canadian culture or this, basically let's talk, let's let's let our own originality out, has been a constant theme in Canada since, you know, ever since we've, you know, we seem to have, especially in English Canada, a deep affection to be a colony of some sort, for some reason or The other thing, the other big issue that's changed all that now, and so where when I talk of this is very old-fashioned, old-fashioned what I'm speaking of, and really not quite a, it seems to me, very relevant right now. The other thing is the internet, the kind of interconnectivity, the digital interconnected people. So geography has disappeared in a way. You can be in Regina and not

feel and still be totally coherent and current with New York, if you want. We don't have the same sense of land and space because we're all in a virtual space now. Well, you all are. I'm not, as you can see, as you just pointed out, you can't find me. I am under a real rock someplace. Yeah, I had to hunt long and hard. In Ontario. You know, he's living under that blade of grass over there.

He's not on the Internet. So, yeah, so what is Canadian culture now? I mean, I do agree. There are all kinds of strains in this country. And in my lifetime, this is, but there is in the world, too. It's not just in this country. All our democracies, all our liberal democracies are under various strains of other. the world is much more unstable and unsure than any time I can remember in my adult life.

And so we're not alone in that. And I don't know. It's funny today we're talking. This is when Trump comes to power in the United States. And his remarks in the last six weeks have brought Canadians together more than I've seen in a lifetime. as he, and not in the lifetime, but in the last little while. So who knows the what's ahead? I still want to work.

I still prefer, I just did an audition for a terrible audition for an American thing that's being shot here this morning. And I still go, I still want to do something that's Canadian. I want to do something original. That's all I ask. I want to know. I like to work on somebody that says, let's do this. Let's tell this story. And that, you know, again, I refer to my advanced years. The parts for thousand-year-old men are a few and far between now. But I'm waiting to do any one of them that they want. As the thousand-year-old guy comes up, I shall be there and to try my best.

anyway. How about Wise Man? I think that's a better fit for your gear category. I think the piece that I'm taking away from this is that the reason that I'm such a fan of doing these interviews with you, Lorne, Nancy, Brent, Fred, and yourself is because I'm living off of the steam, the energy. I'm riding those coattails and waiting for something else to come along. that reflects back to me our culture and that is to your point like more risky, more challenging. And like some of the jokes you guys had in those early days, they were bold for the space that existed at the time and letting those producers, the executive producers, run wild and come up with ideas. It was so refreshing. But I just, I do think this is an opportunity for us. I had an an article go out where I talked about how I think this is allowing us to look at the flag, look at our culture, look at who we are, and try and get back on the same page. We don't have to agree on everything, but we used to have a few things that we all agreed on, and

those, that humor, that sensibility was all found on a show that you were instrumental in helping bring to life and give us that connection. And I think a lot of the people who tune into these interviews on Corner Gas are all just trying to grab on to what are Canadian values, where are we, and want to hear that back to them. And I think we're just sorely waiting for something to come to life that reinvigorates that in us. Well, again, even talking about this, who knows what that will spark in anybody who's listening to it as to just the idea of it is important. You know, we can't, we can't dream about something we've never thought about before. We can't move towards something unless there's some sort of indication that there

could be some way out, you know, towards that. And, but it is a tough time. You know, I, by my estimation, this is a tough time. People are, you know, it's, it's hard to share at the moment. People are very defensive, it seems to me, you know, we're all in different, you know, points of view and they, that, they are, yeah, so, but who knows, who knows what's going to happen? I'm just so thankful that I had corner gas. It was a rich experience, it continues to be a rich experience for me, and I was, and talk about luck, you go, if I hadn't been born in 1946 in Saskatchewa, I wouldn't have been of the right age to play Oscar Lee. What a bit of luck that was.

You know, so like in every kind of, you know, life, you have to, I totally want to, and if Brent hadn't been born when he was, and Janet Wright and Fred, and, you know, we wouldn't have met. You know, so the huge, I appreciate, I'm so grateful for this huge amount of whatever fate that allowed us to do this. And again, I'm so grateful that Canadians responded to it and still respond to it the way they do.

I couldn't agree more. Eric, I want to thank you personally. As I said, I watched the show growing up as a kid and it really shaped me. But your character also had a huge influence on me. I am not afraid to speak my mind. I am not afraid to speak up on so many things. And a lot of that was watching

your character so boldly and bravely speak what his opinions were again you might not agree you might disagree but i think that that was so valuable because i do think people are afraid to speak up and all that they need to do is speak up on their worldview and nobody can take that from them and i think we need to give people that permission again and i think that's what your character did for so many is i'm going to say the thing and maybe it's not perfectly well said but i'm going to say what I think the truth is and I think there's so much admiration that I have for you and it's been such an honor to be able to speak with you today. Well, thank you very much, Aaron. It's been a pleasure talking to you too, really, to think about all these things. How can people

follow your work? They have to come to Toronto. Toronto? Are there any shows coming up? Well, no, I haven't anything. I just finished over Christmas I was doing Into the Woods. This was my first musical. My first musical, and I've decided to pivot to become a Broadway star. Wow. Just getting warmed up on the Broadway shows. I'm off to Broadway. I can't wait. There's no business, like show business. I think they've been waiting for me. No, and I'm just doing a workshop now on an original play, but I haven't anything lined up at the moment to see. You know, I'm submerging, as I said. The submerging, I'm slowly sipping below the waves.

Well, you have a huge legacy for so many to aspire to work towards. It's been a blast speaking to you. I love your sense of humor, your lightness and your energy. It's just, it's been so refreshing to speak with you today. Thank you very much. Perhaps we'll meet sometime in person. That would be an honor. Are you in Vancouver as we speak?

I am, yes. Yeah, good. Well, and Tim, of course. Thank you, Tim. Yes. Tim, come on out. Come on out. Come on, Tim.

Come on out. There you are. You look just like your portrait, Tim. That's right. That was delightful. I was just smiling my, I was actually, because Brad Pitt became a recurring go-to for you, I went to the internet and said, how old is Brad Pitt? and he's 61.

So I think if you're talking about relating yourself to a current leading man, you need to scale down just a little bit. But I guess he's... Well, I should have said Paul Newman. He was the guy that I always grew up with. And that I was, I was, I, there was a wonderful story about Paul Newman. I'll just bore you with this story. He, when we were, I was doing street legal.

And Joanne Woodward was his wife, right? And she was doing a theater piece here at the Royal Alex. And one of the costume people on street legal came in one day and said that her aunt had been getting, this was in the summer, a Baskin-Robbins ice cream cone. And she put the ice cream cone, she got the ice cream cone, and she put it in the stand, and she put it in the stand in order to open purse to get the change. And she looked up and she looked into the eyes of Paul Newman. And she was so flustered. She closed her purse and fled from the Baskin Robbins, got outside and realized she'd forgotten her ice cream cone. So she went back into the store

and she went to the rack and there was no ice cream cone. And suddenly beside her was Paul Newman saying, yes, I am Paul Newman, and you put your ice cream cone in your purse. That's amazing. I thought it was a wonderful story about how people were flustered by. That never happened with Oscar. Nobody ever put their ice cream cone in a purse by talking to me. They just said, would you call me a jackass?

One more piece on street legal. You're almost legendary because you have these catchphrases, but I was going through some past videos, and one that you did, your line had Tom fuckery in it, and all the comments were like, that is my new line is stop the Tom fuckery. I even, that's so long ago now. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah.

Oh, God, it's all, I'm all out there in this virtual world that I don't know about. It's just as well. It's for the best. It's all the pieces. I know it's for the best. I'm still just going back under my rock and blade of grass here, somewhere in Ontario. Okay, thanks you guys. Is that, we got it?

We got it. You're the man.