The Ben Mulroney Show - Ben's back! And what a story he has to tell about driving into a ditch...

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast is brought to you by the National Payroll Institute, the leader for the payroll profession in Canada, setting the standard of professional excellence, delivering critical expertise, and providing resources that over 45,000 payroll professionals rely on. Why are we paying for tax tools our team doesn't even use? Is now really the right time to make the change? Why are we paying for tax tools, our team doesn't even use? Is our tax research tool actually leaving us? Why are we paying for tax tools our team doesn't even use? Why does my team keep turning to search engine? with blue jay you can help your firm stay ahead by giving your team a tax research tool they'll actually want to use get better answers to tough questions blue jay ai for tax experts

It's the second day of the year, and I'm back, baby. I've been, I was gone, I was gone for a while, gone for a while, but Shady's back. Shaddy's back. Hey, guys, how are you? Yeah, welcome back. And Shreped producer, how are you? Well, I never left. You're the one who left us.

I did, I banded you. Yeah, I did. Amy, how are you? I'm good. Yeah, you? I'm good. Gord, how are you? I'm doing great.

I'm glad to hear that from all of you, and I wish everybody listening and watching. really just nothing but the best in 2026 and however you decide to make it the best year possible just just do it just put your head down small changes if in fact you need to change anything some of you some of you got it right right up from the jump so just keep doing what you're doing uh i sometimes you don't realize uh that you need a reset until you're actually resetting you know my god i was really caring a lot end of the year was tough for me it was a tough year uh for lots for lots of people everyone's everyone's got there struggles and I've got my own and, but I didn't realize how much I needed time and I spent

some time with my mom in Florida for a few days and just four days on the ground. That's all I needed. But I want to rewind to the 27th. You'll remember that I screwed up. No, you might, I don't think you were here. I screwed up my schedule thinking that the 24th was a day off. I thought it was. No. And so I, there you go. I planned to drive my family to Montreal on the 23rd. And then I find out I got to work on the 24th. I was like, holy, holy S. Did I openly laugh at you for that? And rightly so, because I demonstrated idiocy in that moment.

So I drove the family, two months real, on the 23rd. And you'll remember it was a terrible snowstorm. Took a seven and a half hours to get there. It was awful. Stop. Then I had dinner and then turned around, came back. Then I did the show and then went back. Well, you got home at like 3 a.m.

Yeah. Then you showed up a little late the next morning. because understandably, a little tired. A little tired. But then I, and then I went back. And then we came back on the 27th, right? Came back on the, I know, 26th. Came back on the 26th.

And everything was great. Everything was great. And then we're getting, then Waze is telling us. And then the snow is starting. The snow is coming down. It is hot. Like, the closer we get to Toronto, the more impossible it is to drive. Now we're going about 20 kilometers now.

This is on the 26th. Oh, yeah. And so we are, it is the slowest drive. Right? And then Waze tells us, get off the highway. Get off to 401 because it's going to be a, I'm sure like if you don't get off now, you're going to be in a parking lot. So we get off and we are taking side roads. Then we're on and I'm driving relatively slow. I'm not going super fast. I mean, this is snow tires. There's some, but there's some straightaways where I can, I can see on ways. I'm going at the speed limit, but I'm not going crazy. But then we get to a T stop, right? And it's Highway 22, or Highway 22 meets Highway 45 in Baltimore, Ontario, which is in the township of Hamilton, in Northumberland County. Much nicer than Baltimore, Maryland. Yes.

Okay. I'm going to ask you to just listen for me because I'm trying to weave in there. Baltimore, Maryland. Yeah. So let's, we're going to focus. All right. Go ahead. Okay.

And I see the T stop coming. And I apply the brakes. I make 400 feet from the T stop. I apply the brakes and we catch ice and we don't stop and it's a T stop but we're also going down

a little bit of a hill so I'm not I'm not decelerating I'm and I'm going I'm going and I am trying to I we turn the car turns

we hit the embankment and almost flip over we are now off the road in the snow I've got a picture I'll show you we are now almost tipped over

I got the family in the car oh my got the three kids and Jess yeah we're in the car and I and we're all freaking out of the car and it's snowstorm everywhere and we've got to get out make sure we don't flip over

Like how close did you come to flipping? Like no like yeah Like we're teetering We're teetering And we're not gonna like there's no like there's a dish It was just flipped over but anyway But where to go? What to do?

Well about 100 meters away From where we hit Was is a restaurant called Scenery Drive restaurant. Their website is Scenerydrive restaurant.com. It's closed. We can see that it's closed. So the family's hanging out by the awning and I'm trying to flag anybody down. And this

lovely guy named Lex stops in his Ford F-150 and he says, hey, I can try to pull you out. And so we do this thing on the front where you've got a little like almost like a key that you put in the front of the car and it bolts itself in so you can loop you can loop some rope. he can't get me out he can't get me out and I'm like

gosh I'm freaking out here I'm screaming at clouds then so Lex does his best and family gets in his car and waits in the car he takes his kid's car seats out so the family can get warm but at some point we know it's a fool's errand

it's not going to work so he leaves however this lovely man who works for Northumberland County stops he's like I can call a tow truck for you don't you have CIA focus on my story focus on my story story here. Yeah, let's not focus on his

shortcomings right now. So he calls a guy for me. He says oh, he'll be here in 15 to 20 minutes. So now I go to the restaurant to find the family. I can't find my family. They have disappeared. I think it's like a taken situation. And then, but then I see some movement inside the restaurant.

And I push the door doors open. My family's sitting there having hot chocolate. The lovely lady who ran the scenery drive restaurant saw the moving. The restaurant is closed. Two days of the year. This is one of the days it's closed. and she got out of bed to feed and keep my family warm

and I give her a hug I say you are an angel thank you so much the kids are just sitting there and I'm staying warm so I don't have to worry about that anymore and then so I thank her so much and I go back out

because I want to wait for the tow truck and lovely people are stopping to see if I'm okay so like really like really wonderful people and as I leave the lovely woman I think her name was Leslie she asked my wife's like

Is that Ben Mulroney? Oh my gosh We listen to him all the time I gotta go wake up my husband And so she wakes up the husband And then I wait for the towing company And this was Chadwick's towing company He could not have been nicer

He showed up It said 20 minutes He got there in 30 right Totally acceptable Especially because my family's warm Having a hot chug I don't care anymore And he comes

Gets me out of the ditch No problem And then we come into the scenery drive restaurant parking lot and of course my credit card uh wasn't working so i only had my debit card and he said i can't take debit he's like but i know who you are he's like i know how to find him why don't you just just um send me um e transfer tonight and we had a nice conversation and you know we always tell stories about uh the tow truck the tow truck wars this guy was a third generation uh tow truck guy he bought the company from his dad and he we were talking about being a

small business owner and stuff. It couldn't have been nicer. Could not have been nicer. And Leslie and her husband, I want to say less. I hope it was Leslie. But this woman and her husband were so nice. And I was looking at their menu if you happen to be. It looks like I have good fish and chips.

I know. They make everything. They make everything. And she says that their chicken fingers are some of the best. I'm telling you, this is just by Coburg. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, oh, I'm salivated. Scenry drive restaurant. We know you in food.

But it made me, like honestly, this. This was this moment just about broke me to know that my kids and my wife were sort of in like in the cold and in peril and then to be taken such good care of by strangers and all of them. The tow truck guy, Lex, Chadwick's towing, even the OPP guy who saw this happening at the end, he came to make sure. Everyone took care of us in a way that I just want, I just want that to be what we all experience. And in 2026, the, I couldn't believe how the change from when we had the accident to when we were on the road less than an hour and a half later. Wow. I cannot express the gratitude I will forever feel for all those people.

It was the most special Christmas present I could have gotten, right? And it meant so much. Kindness. So much. So again, I'm going to say it again, because these they deserve shoutouts. Scenery Drive restaurant in Baltimore, Ontario, and Chadwick's towing. I cannot stress how thankful I am and for what you did for me, not just practically, but emotionally, it meant so, so very much. Was this your modern, it's a wonderful life?

I mean, when I didn't know, I mean, I don't need to, I don't need to be visited by any, I was visited by angels that day. that's for sure. But you came out of that seeing the good and just seeing sewn to such nice things. To be fair, I'm an optimist. I believe there's good out there all the time, but for me to have witnessed it in a time where I needed it so very much

consistently by everybody I encountered in such a short period of time and that turned around a disaster and turned it into a story I'm telling today that doesn't happen often. And I want to highlight it. Anyway, look, we got a great show coming up. uh this is our last show in this time slot

welcome back to the Ben Mulroney show and this is indeed the Ben Mulroney show but this is the last time that we are doing BMS in this time slot moving forward as of Monday the fifth we will be on live here. in the city of Toronto from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. And the final hour of our show is going to be our hyperlocal hour. Where we focus entirely on Toronto. So from three to five, it's still Toronto. It's still national Canadian stories, interesting interviews. But that one will be syndicated in like Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver. And live. We'll be able to have national conversations with the entire BMS nation. I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. I don't

I don't want to have one of those. I don't like that expression. But with everybody who enjoys the show or sometimes they hate listen, and that's fine too. We like you too. But when we put the call out as we do locally, we're going to be able to do that nationally. Yeah. And that's what we've done. We want to find out from you, our listeners, at 4016-870-6400 or 1-3-2-25 talk.

What would you like to see us do with this show in that new time slot? Because it's a different time of day. The news cycle is in a different place. you know, press releases have gone out. Do you want us to do less news? Yeah, you want us to have longer conversations, maybe talk about more emotional things as opposed to less, you know, more political things. Let us know because this is going to be when we sort of road test the new time slot

and what works and what doesn't. So give us a call, let us know. Tell us what you do between three and six. Maybe that'll give us some ideas as to what we could do. because I know that this time of day, some of you are going to work, some of you are already there. Some of you just sent the kids to school

and you're at home. And so you might want different things from us. And we've got a couple of calls already. Let me first ask you, though, how long do you think it's going to take you to reset your sleep clock? Because you're getting up way earlier. I like waking up early.

I love. Well, you continue waking up the same time? Hell yeah. Hell yeah. As a matter of fact, I know I'm going to sleep even better because right now my day, the day here ends around 12.30, except on Friday's when I do the West Block. But then by and large, I've taken care of a lot of other work that I do on the side. And I don't, I'm not really

efficient with the rest of my day. Sometimes I just sit there. Sometimes I sit and like just watch TV or read a book or. And so sometimes I go to the gym and sometimes I don't. This will allow me to go to the gym early and work until 6 p.m. I'll be, I'll do more with my day. So let's check in with our listeners. Kathleen, welcome to the show. Happy New Year. Oh, happy New Year to you, Ben. Listen, listening to you and your story earlier just brought back memories.

My heart was just beating fast. I had a smile from ear to ear. Oh, I'm glad. My mom last year, we ditched ourselves twice. Oh, boy. In half an hour. Yeah. In a half hour.

What? In north of Peterborough, in a snowstorm. She got stuck the first time, couldn't reverse. Got a toe I wanted to drive We were not even close to a town We were just off the highway Highway 7A

Yeah So CAA came 15 minutes later We were out I wanted to drive She insisted no We get back on Highway 36 Going north to Buckhorn

She gets stuck on black ice Same like you coming up to the stop sign But she ends up We end up doing the tourley burt Like fast maybe four times And we end up in a deep ditch next to a tree My God

We had Oh we had people coming out within five minutes Just stopping Nobody could tell us out Because we were so deep Yeah of course How long did it take you to get out About 15 minutes

We had somebody stop And then the same as you We had a oh geez A city guy come Yeah that's sad The guy from Northumberland County He just He's like I can't help you get out

But I can help get somebody here for you He called volleyball They have the reserve firefighters around here. Wow. Oh, I'm so glad. Listen, I'm so glad that story ends up with a happy ending for you as well.

In getting home, we had no way to get home. The fire department auxiliary team, first couple that came, they kept my mom warm. My mom's 84. Yeah. This year, 85 this year, so 84.

Oh, God, lover. And they drove us home. Oh, that's lovely. Oh, Kathleen, thank you for sharing that story. Oh, thank you. And I'm so glad you're moving to my husband's going to be tickled pink. Oh, good.

I will say hi to him as well. I wish you had nothing but the best this year. I have the best for you and your family and always listening. It doesn't matter what you say. Your voice just calms me and it just makes me just want to listen. My voice calms you down. Well, you're the one person then. Hey, thank you so much.

You're welcome. Bye, Ben. Best of luck. Thanks, guys. Oh, that was sweet. Hey, let's go to our good friend out in Surrey, Verinder. Verinder, welcome the show. Hi, Ben.

How are you? I'm great. Thanks, man. Is I did a good Christmas, a happy new year? Yes, thank you. And you too. I really have a good feeling about this year, ma'am. I think I'm going to have a great year.

Not a New Year, New Year, but just a really, it's going to be a really good year for me. Hope it's one for you. Thank you. I think what it's got to be, we got to take advantage of the things that we can control, right? And the things we can control, we have to do them as well and as positively as possible.

And all the other stuff, sure, there's going to be things to complain about and politicians were going to annoy us. I don't say perfect year. Oh, yeah, yeah. And, you know, and then I started this book, you're off yesterday by opening up a member of Brian Maruni. Oh, yeah.

That's why I started the year. Oh, no. It's a phenomenal book. Can I tell you something about that book? He wrote the entire thing longhand. He wrote it. I can hear your dad's voice, but I read it. Yeah, because he wrote the whole, he didn't have anyone,

he had no one helping him with it except a researchers and that sort of thing. But in terms of the actual writing of it, he wrote, he wrote the entire thing with a pen to paper. Looking before it even more. Yeah. I just want to say, I drive heavy equipment, though. I guess I'll be to see your machine, your, your thing on Bluetooth on the machines, your show. I can't wait to use time.

I'm thinking about it. Yeah. I hope it works for you. Hope you have more time when you have. Oh, it's going to be such a positive change for me personally. And I endeavor to ensure that that positive personal change turns into an even better show here. You know, I'll be in a better place mentally and just time-wise. And so my goal is to then take all those advantages and translate them to the best version of the show.

But Verinder, thank you for always calling. Thank you for being part of this show. I appreciate it. Thank you. Bye. Take care. Ah, that was nice. that was nice

but I'm telling you this Gord that those people at a scenery restaurant like I want to go back out there I just want to eat their I want to go there and show my support

because they were so so wonderful they do I asked them about how they dealt with COVID and they opened a delivery window right so they were able to still cook but they

they were just lovely lovely people that her husband wanted to meet me because he voted for my dad and that was really nice too right. So it was great. It does, you can't script this stuff. I know, I know.

I know. Oh, all right. Hey, Judy, thank you for calling. Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you, too. I love your show. Oh, thank you. And I'm calling because I know you're going to have, you mentioned the Cross Canada. Yes. And I thought the Cross Canada New Year's Eve on CBC was disgusting with the Palestinian flag skating behind them constantly. Well, the good news is nobody really watches the CBC. So there's that. Well, I just want to tell you that going forward, I will be one of those people not watching it anymore.

I could not believe cross Canada, and they're showing the Palestinian flag waving behind them. Yeah. No, that should have been stopped. Well, listen, of all the things in, I guess that's baked in for me at this point, I'm fully expecting that. I'm expecting it on the CBC. And look, I guess the way I look as it could have been worse, right? They could have been loud chants and that sort of thing. Of all the stuff to worry about in 2026.

Across Canada, like really? It would have been nice if there was a Canadian flag there. But this is that's. Thank you. It would have been nice. Absolutely. But when you think about it, I've worked in TV before, I've worked in live TV. You've got producers who are in the truck who are paying very close attention to who's in the shot, right?

And if they don't like the shot, they will move people out of shots, right? Exactly. So, we can't. Pardon? It's difficult at times. It can be, but if that's your shot

and if that's your thing, you could see that coming a mile away and you can, and there are ways to do it. There are absolutely ways to do it. You can put people in the crowd who can just start nudging people. That's not the next thing,

you know, they're out of the shot. And so the fact that they didn't do it probably meant that they wanted it there. Look, CBC is a day will come when when the rubber is going to meet the road and a day is going to come where the cost of the cost of the CBC versus the benefit

of the CBC is going to be up for debate. That day is not today, but they're not making their they're not making their case for themselves very, very well. Judy, thank you very much. Happy New Year. Thank you and all the best to you, your new time, Scott. I listen to your show every day. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Up next. What did I miss on my week off?

Well, there's a story worth revisiting. Don't go anywhere. What up, everybody? Welcome back to the Ben Mulery show. Thanks so much for being here. Yes, I've been off for a little bit, and I'm back, and I'm hit the ground running. But what did I miss while I was,

gone. Because you, you, you hosted the show while I was gone, Mike Drillay. Oh, yes, I did. Yeah. Yeah. I recall. Well, we want to bring back the story of Osmond Azizoff, right? He was one of the guys. One of three guys. One of three guys who was arrested during that spate of attempted kidnappings of, of suspected they were trying to kidnap Jewish women in the city of Toronto. And it happened over a bunch. This story broke, and we spoke about it this, a week and a half ago before you left. But then it took a bit of a turn. We always expected that, you know, these guys would get bail.

And he got bail. Yes. So there was one guy who essentially was like future version of this guy, who had been arrested before on a bunch of stuff. This guy, Osman, was almost new to the game. And the alleged ringleader is the guy with ties to ISIS. Yes. So one guy is accused of terrorism. And Osman, not terrorism, just terrorizing women.

right so he's got like a long list of charges against so he came to Canada illegally with his family in 2017 and this is what global news broke yeah uh just last week do we want to do we want to do we want to air the no no no no there okay yeah so so ozmanaz is off came to Canada illegally with his family in 2017 but once he got here they they applied for refugee they went through the system refugee claim rejected all appeals failed right every time they tried the city the the the country said no thank you uh but he was still living in toronto years later eventually granted permanent residency on humanitarian grounds this is a guy who was arrested for allegedly terrorizing women and we we told him a million times you can't stay here but he was given permanent residency

and then he was told no his appeal is gone yeah but then he they they appealed to say yeah humanitarian grounds and please just let us stay again. Even though their asylum case was thrown out. Asylum case was thrown out and then what did you, okay so let's live in a world let's live in a world where there were reasons for the humanitarian

ground. You would think that somebody who tried to stay in the country came here illegally refugee claim denied, tried all these appeals, denied, denied, denied, and all of a sudden like a deus ex machina coming from the heavens you are granted the gift of humanitarian

grounds residency, okay? You would think that if that happened, you would feel blessed, blessed to stay in a country like Canada. Thank goodness. Oh my God, the world is open to me now. I am going to build a business and I'm going to be the best GD Canadian that this country has ever seen. Thank you, Canada, for letting me stay here on humanitarian grounds. That's what I would do. That's what Mike Droulet would do. That's what I think most of it, if not every single person. person listening to the Ben Mulroney show would do. You think you would be thankful. What did Osman, as is off, do?

What's he accused of doing? Facing, he and two others facing nearly 80 charges linked to armed kidnapping attempts, targeting women. Police say the attacks were motivated by hate. And you remember these cases from last summer when there was a case, one of the attacks, one of the attempted kidnappings, and they weren't arrested at the time. and it was, we put out the stories and this is terrifying and they had some pictures

of this and that and could tell who they were and it was one of those moments where people in Toronto were terrified. And so this guy Osmanazza is off befriended or made friends or acquaintances or decided to go into business allegedly with one

of his co-accused charged with terrorism offenses including allegedly supporting ISIS which now has raised the stakes of the case. So this matter for a lot of reasons. One, because if all of this is proven in court,

then this is a person of such low moral character. We're not even talking about the law. Like I said, this country extended a hand to you, and this is how you repaid us by terrorizing women allegedly. So what do you do about

his family? So now we find out all this stuff. And why this matters is this guy was denied refugee staff. allowed to stay, allegedly terrorized women, and he's out on bail. Oh, surprise, surprise. Oh, shocker. Shocker.

I don't know if I, do you trust this guy to be able to behave in society? I don't trust this man at all. He came to the country illegally somehow because we are, we are, I love Gad SADS expression. You know, we are as a nation's suicide, suicidally empathetic, like we are willing to so how empathetic we are, that we're willing to die for it. And I'm sorry, this is proof of that. This man presents a, allegedly, presents a clear and present danger to everyday citizens.

If he did this allegedly alone, that would be one thing. But he decided to supercharge it, allegedly, with a guy links to ISIS. There's no part of this man that is a, allegedly, that is a good person. He is a terrible candidate to stay in this kind of. for any reason. I don't even want him in prison here. I want him gone. And do not tell me, because chances are, if I have to guess, he's living in one house with his whole family. Right. Can we think that's a, they're not all living in separate condos. They probably are all under one roof. You're telling me that nobody under that roof knew what he was up to, allegedly.

Come on. Come on. So as far as I'm concerned, everybody should be up for review. Whole family. Sorry, not sorry. The whole family had their refugee claim denied. Yes. And yet they're still here. Yeah. I don't understand that how when the claim is denied, you're not on a plane going home. I know.

I know. It's a little bit. I wanted to remind you that because just to put that little bit, that last little bit in that you'd miss when you're away. Because I just want, like, come on. I mean, this man, if this is proven to be true. Yeah. This man is a bad. man. This man is a danger to all of us on for a raft of reasons. And I don't have to say it again,

but I will, if it's proven. Yeah. We as a nation have to start taking the things seriously that seriously matter. And the safety and well-being of everyday Canadians matters. And our refugee, that there are people waiting in line with real refugee claims. They matter. And there are are people who should be allowed to stay here on very real humanitarian grounds. They matter. This man matters insofar as he is a cancer that needs to be cut out. That's it. That's my rant. And we need people in Ottawa who get that. They get that. We are not a bad country for telling this man, Canada is closed to you. We are in fact a very good and moral, upstanding country

because we take the lives of these women seriously. We take terrorism seriously. That's what makes us a great country because we stand up against those things. If we normalize this guy's relationship with another guy who's accused of terrorism offenses, we are saying terrorism doesn't matter. How are we a great and noble country?

If terrorism doesn't matter, we should take great umbrage, great offense to his associations with this man who's allegedly linked to terrorists. That is a terrible position to take to be on this guy's side. He should be told Canada is closed to you. We are too good for you. The people here matter too much to us.

The people who want to come here for very real and legal reasons who fear for their lives in the air. They matter to us. You do not matter to us. You matter to us insofar as you are a threat to them. And therefore, sir, Canada is closed to you. Do you want, do you know what I hope for 2026? Fewer stories like this.

Yeah, yeah. This is what I want cut out. Yeah. So we're going to turn the page on this story. And because you're a Bill's fan, we're going to finish this segment with the shovelers. Tell us the Bill's Mafia story. We don't have time to play the clip.

But Buffalo gets a little bit more snow than we do here in Toronto. Just a tad more. Yeah, it's a lake effect. Lake effect. You'll get no snow here and then they'll get three or four feet down in Buffalo. And they play in an outdoor stadium. And whenever it happens, and they just had a ton of stuff. no they call they say okay they call out to the bills mafia we'll pay you at 20 bucks an hour

which is a good deal yeah yeah gotta be 18 over you sign up ahead they give you food they give you hot drinks but we need you to shovel out the stadium the whole thing the whole people have to sit in there so they have these it's it's a it is amazing to see because they shoveling they they they throw it on these slides and it goes down it's it's quite impressive it's a pros at it's a prozac prozac they're pros at it oh okay I was like You'd probably need Prozac to do something like that. And then you would need Prozac. Yeah, okay.

All right, hey, don't go anywhere because when we come back, it is Shaquille O'Neal to the rescue. We will explain next. Big trouble traffic. My God, I've been gone too long. Still a big trouble. Welcome back to the show, everybody. Hope everybody's having a great Friday.

I've spent this entire day feeling like it's Monday and behaving like it's Monday and I have to remind myself four or five times today I've had to catch myself because it just feels like a Monday It was humorous this morning

why is there nothing in the lineup here I don't see where's the lineup? Oh yeah that's Monday It's it's been a little bit of a mind freak and so I apologize but I'm gonna slip I will slip every now and then let's talk about Shaquille O'Neal or as my dad used to call him

Shaquille Noil. he is one of the most entertaining people his story he's one of the most fascinating guys in in sport right his career was defined by excellence but also humor he's so funny he's so kind and that's really what his post

what his legacy is he always tells these stories of anytime he leaves the house he never comes home unless he has helped somebody right helps somebody financially he knows that he's been blessed with a great many things and he pays it forward all the time. For as good a basketball player as he was

and he was one of the most dominant basketball players in history, he's actually got, he's got a bigger heart and he's probably smarter than he was, smarter in real life than he is his basketball player. He got his MBA, he got a couple of advanced degrees from, I think, yeah, University of Phoenix Online, right? I think, at least one, at least one. Then he became a cop, right?

I think he was like a deputy sheriff. Yeah. But he, like, literally did it. They didn't just give him a badge. Like, he, he did the work. And, uh, and so the, the, the lore around him just continues to grow. And because he's got all these great nicknames. He's got, uh, the, you know, the, Shaq Diesel.

That's one of his favorites. Power and force, right? Superman. He's got the Superman logo. That's obvious. Big Aristotle. That was the humorous intellectual side. But, you know, he's, he's, he's, he's smart as a whip.

He built businesses. He's not, uh, he's not, uh, he's not a fool. He's also, I'd be. None of these ones sort of speak to how funny he is Because he plays practical jokes And he's a funny, funny guy But this story that we want to share with you I think brings out the Superman in him

Because this is Shaq coming to the rescue Kittle O'Neill met 24-year-old Jordan Wilmore in Kema, Texas He didn't expect to meet his match I actually found out about him through jealousy I thought I was the tallest, handsomest cop in the world Shaq, who has several law enforcement titles himself, learned about Wilmore's quest to become an officer and wanted to know more.

Oh, miss, because it's commendable that a kid wants to be a cop. I love cops. Back in September, Steve Hartman shared the story of how Wilmore was encouraged to pursue basketball his whole life because of his height. It was hard for me to share like my dreams or, you know, the stuff I wanted to do growing up because it was, well, you just got to focus on basketball because it can make humility. If you got a phone call tomorrow, the NBA, million dollars, or stay here and be a cop and text? Stay here.

Do you want to think about it? No, I'll stay here. But after completing the police academy, Wilmore fell short of passing the state exam by one point. So Shaq jumped in to help Wilmore rebound. He agreed to pay for Wilmore's expenses for the next five months so he can focus on the exam. Let him know that he had my full support. So I'm going to be on you, brother. Make sure you get it done.

Come on. Come on. That's awesome. That's awesome. Here's a young man. He's a young, 7 foot 3, did play basketball, but never loved it. And he wants to be a cop. He always had that dream.

And despite someone, you know, someone could dangle a million bucks at the NBA. He said, no, I want to be a cop. I want to protect people. I want to, I want to be that example for young. people in my community. And then you got Shaquille O'Neal, who comes from his dad was in the military. He has great respect for people who put on a

uniform so much so that he became a police officer himself and advocates for them and wants to help people who want to be cops become. This is a great story. This is a great, great story. And I'm sure

that it came to his attention because of the sheer size of this man. Yeah. Yeah. Who is just as big. actually even larger than Shaquille O'Neal. Yeah. And, I mean, if this guy knocks on your door on your window and says, yeah, license registration, you're not going to pull some sovereign citizen stuff. Oh, no, I don't believe, just give me the license.

But then it got us thinking here, you know, how would this story have been different if other celebrities who became law enforcement officers in one way or another if it came across their desk? For example, Eric Estrada. Eric Estrada. Remember Chips? Remember Chips? Yeah.

Chips is a show from the 70s. He became a reserve officer in Bedford, Indiana. Later became a reserve deputy sheriff in Virginia. But just to explain chips in case are... California Highway Patrol. Exactly. So they're on the motorbike guys. It was a show in the 70s and early 80s.

And it was him and I can't remember what the blonde guy's name was. And they patrolled the highways of California. John. That was his name. That was John. Thanks for that. Ponce and John. Ponce and John.

Ponce and John. But here's something. something about Eric Estrada, the people he might not know. He didn't speak a word of Spanish. Eric Estrada was, is Latino, and with the name, Eric Estrada, you would assume he speak Spanish. Didn't speak a word of Spanish. And later in life, got a job on a telenovela, a Spanish soap opera, and it was super, super popular. But he's like, I don't speak Spanish. They're like, don't worry, we'll figure it out. And they gave him an earpiece. And they would just say the lines to him, and he would repeat them back.

Whoa. I wouldn't be surprised if he knows Spanish now. Yeah. But in the early days of doing that show, he didn't know what he was saying. I can imagine if,

how would he, he'd have to get the accent right? And, uh, I mean, I can't imagine that would be easy. Right, you got Eric Estrada. I don't know that he could help in the same way. Like, you know,

maybe, maybe that telenovelin money was good. But then you got Stephen Seagal. Oh, man. Serve for years as a reserve deputy sheriff in Louisiana in Arizona. He had his own show for a while. Yeah. About that. And he was amazing because

he was, Stephen Seagal was such a character. He thought he was the best at everything. Yeah. And he'd tell him something. And he'd be like, oh yeah, I know about that. But he's also, like, he was also woefully out of shape. And they kept giving him movies to make as the alpha. And so very, very odd. And now I think he lives in Russia.

I think he actually gave up his U.S. citizenship. Yeah, he's a big fan of Putin. He's a big Putin fan. So I don't know, like, I don't know what kind of cops he likes. I think he likes the cops that come and kick down your door and intimidate you and threaten you and place bugs in your house. I think if he went to Jordan Wilmore and he said he wanted to help him, Jordan Wilmore would say, no, thank you.

No, thank you. In fact, I'm pretty sure I could build a pretty solid case against you and arrest you. But then this one I did not know, Lou Farragno. I love Lou Ferrigna. I love. The original incredible home. Yes. He became a reserve deputy sheriff in Los Angeles later in Arizona.

promoting community policing, but he's also legally a deaf, right? Lufric. Yeah. Not bully deaf? Legally. Really? Yeah.

Yeah, he can hear, but it's not. But anyway, so, yes, that's, that's, see, I love Lou Ferrigna for a lot of reasons. One, a big Hulk fan. But I watched King of Queens. We've talked about it. I love that show. People think it's garbage.

I don't care. You're a garbage person if you don't like that show. I love that show. I love a show about a fat man and a mean wife. That's what they, that's how they touted that show. Fat lazy man, mean wife, and crazy father living in the basement. And Lou Ferrigno playing himself was the next door neighbor. That's great. And it was amazing. I love one of these guys played themselves. Yes. And apparently he was on the show, he played a version of himself where he was like a nosy neighbor. He gossiped.

You know, he had, he told God, he would sit around with the hens in the neighborhood and just gossip. And it was, so I have a special place in my heart for Lou Ferrigna. I think Lou Ferrigna. I think Lou Ferigno would have helped out Jordan Wilmore. You know what's great about this? It's, let's be honest. In the states right now, I mean, the cops certainly do need probably a little helping hand in terms of PR. I mean, it's difficult to be a police officer,

especially down the state right now. So this is sort of story that it's just such a positive story. Yeah, I agree. And you just, it's hard not to root for the guy. I want to be, I would be there. Look, Shaquille O'Neal says he's going to return to Kima to, to celebrate Wilmore's graduation from the police academy. So that's how certain he is that he's going to do well.

Kema, Texas. Let's keep an eye on him. All the best to you, soon to be, Officer Wilmore. My name is Jordan, and I'd like to invite you to join me on the Canadian Gothic, a podcast covering stories of Canadian crime, mystery, and the offbeat. The Canadian Gothic blends the spirit of late-night talk radio with the depth of a documentary film and applies that approach to both developing stories in historical cases.

So if you're drawn to the dark, mysterious, and offbeat, search for and subscribe to the Canadian Gothic wherever you find podcasts. You were listening to Canadian Gothic.