Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Best of Toronto Mike'd Episodes 1001-1250: Toronto Mike'd #1322

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

In this 1322nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike welcomes back Al Grego as Al plays clips from the best Toronto Mike'd episodes from episode 1001-1250. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Pumpkins After Dark, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

To be quite honest with you, I think that's one of the sort of most stupid questions you can ask somebody. Because where does your voice come from? I mean, of course, everyone's voice comes from wherever it comes from. Who fucking knows? Well done, Greggo. Well done. Shots fired. I wish I had pipes like that guy.

I just gotta smoke more. Welcome to episode 1322 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities like ours, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

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and Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Today, returning to Toronto Mike to unveil the top episodes from 1001 through 1250. It's Al Grego. How are you now? Hey now, Al, I haven't seen you in a long time. How many hours has it been?

I don't know, less than 12, I think. So we're going to remind the listenership who the heck you are we're gonna shout out some uh podcast productions that you are responsible for both professionally and passionately and we're gonna do a mild little tiny recap of what happened last night and then we're going to what are we going to do how many are there in this list uh best of uh what we have 17 clips okay 17 see everyone i'm learning this for the first time i will not know what's going to be played i didn't know what was going to be played in that cold open i have literally

i had a cable connected to my board and al plugged it into his tablet and al's gonna fire off mp3 or audio files and i'm gonna hear it when you hear it and i'm excited okay let's crack open our glb yes sounds good on the mic okay that's a sunny side and i'm gonna pop open a burst so cheers to you al cheers i had one of these I had two of these last night. They were delicious. So thank you, Al Grego, for coming to TMLX 13. It was last night. And if you listened to the Wise Blood episode before this one, we were concerned it might be pouring rain because it was raining during our recording.

But it was a beautiful night. Thanks for being there. Thanks. It was a lot of fun. It was great to see a lot of the fellow FOTMs and a few of the DGENs were there too. There's a little bit of an overlap. Do you want to shout out the DGENs that were there? I know a couple. Sure. Lieve Fumpka, who you might call Miriam.

I might. And Gord. And YYZ Gord. Exactly. Okay. And I'm now wearing my produce stand, or is it produce stand? I don't know. Produce stand. I'm wearing both. I'm wearing these t-shirts. So let's shout out your properties, then come back to TMLX and then get you. Okay.

So everyone who listens to Toronto Mike knows a recent sponsor is Moneris. And a future sponsor too. Love hearing that. I still have some wireless speakers here. I hope so. So you produce and host. Yes,

we are open, which is the Moneris podcast that I love so much. That is great. Is there another, there's another one, right? So you produce and host Yes We Are Open, which is the Mineris podcast that I love so much. That is great. Is there another? There's another one, right? There is. We're in the middle of rebranding. It was called Shop Talk, but as of this month

or this coming month, it'll have a different name. So before we finalize that, I don't want to shout it out, but there is a second Mineris podcast. Okay, so, because I've heard rumors of this. So Yes We Are Open, you're now recording episodes for season five? out it up, but there is a second minute. Okay, so, because I've heard rumors of this. So, yes, we are open. You're now recording episodes for season five? Correct. I leave on Sunday for the

East Coast. We're going to visit... Is that Whitby? Yeah, St. John's, Newfoundland, a little far from Whitby, Halifax, Darden, and Charlottetown. Are you going to pop in and visit FOTM Maestro Fresh West when you get to St. John, New Brunswick? Well, I'm not going to New Brunsown. Are you going to pop in and visit FOTM Maestro Fresh West when you get to St. John, New Brunswick?

Well, I'm not going to New Brunswick. I'm going to Newfoundland. St. John's, the one with the S. The one with the S, okay. I was just in New Brunswick back in March for season four. Right. If I had known that Maestro. Moncton, right?

Yeah, exactly. I know, because of the tides and all. That's wonderful. Now, when can we expect the new season of Yes, We Are Open? It's going to drop the first Monday in October and for eight consecutive weeks. So. Love it. Okay.

Now let's, I'm wearing the produce stand that has nothing to do with the wonderful company that is Moneris. This is a personal passion project. Personal passion pandemic project. All the P's. So I always describe it as like, if you like Letter Kenny, you'll love this podcast.

Yes. You tell me, tell the listenership what they can expect from the produce stand. Well, it's a Letter Kenny and Shorzy after show. So if you like any,

either of those shows, you'll love it. We crank out the content. Actually, we have our 200th episode coming up in a couple of weeks. uh we've done everything from cast member interviews to episode recaps to we've actually visited and recorded from the sets the laura kenny farmhouse kitchen set and the shorezy locker room yeah that's all in sudbury wow uh we're going to be extras in season two of sudbury of uh shorezy which i'm looking forward to it's going to be extras in season two of Shorzy, which I'm looking forward to.

It's going to be fun. So when you say you're extras, is there going to be a hockey game and you're in the stands? We're in the stands, yeah. No speaking parts or anything. But that's amazing. Yeah, yeah. If I loved a show so much, I was going to have a podcast about it,

and then I had the opportunity to be an extra in the show because of my love for the show, I don't know what I'd do. I'd drop the mic. I'd be like, what do I do next for an encore? That's amazing. And the fun, last night I got, I had the absolute pleasure

of meeting Rosie for the first time in person. Rosie in gray. As you know, I've listened to every, every episode of this podcast. You know why? I think that's her first TMLX event.

I think it was, because yeah, I would have remembered, I think. Yeah, because you've been to 12 of 13. And she was hilarious because when she found out about the

produce stand and she's like oh my husband loves letter kenny what's your podcast a new dgen for you it's about letter kenny's well what does a produce stand because they meet at the produce stand and she didn't put two and two together it's like i knew about the produce stand because mike talks about it all the time and wears a t-shirt i won't shut up about it but she's like i didn't know i won't listen but i won't i'll listen i wear the t-shirt. I won't shut up about it. But she's like, I didn't know that. I won't listen, but I won't. I'll listen. I wear the t-shirt and I won't shut up about it. I just won't listen.

That's all right. I tried. I tried. Shout out to Roberta Bondar, FOTM Roberta Bondar. Okay. So now everybody knows the Al Grego podcast out there.

You and I both similar in that we live and breathe podcasts these days. Let's just quickly summarize yesterday and then we'll get to the first of the 17 clips in this best of toronto mic episodes 1001 through 1250 you've been coming over after every 250 episodes to do this

it took us a while to get this one done but i'm so glad you're there so i just want to say last night to me was amazing we ran out of everything like it was uh an incredible night now we didn't run out of palma pasta everybody got their pasta and we didn't run out of beer but i mean i looked at the photo that we took which was a great photo and i shared it on torontomic.com and on twitter and i saw that hey that's before you know before apple's not in that photo and and uh steve pakin's not in that photo and brad bradford's not in that photo like yeah a dozen or so people came after that photo what a tremendous turnout uh just a great vibe and again thank you to palma pasta for feeding us they're amazing and thank you to great lakes for buying

everyone a beer absolutely thank you did you get a final count do you know how many people approximately 85 different people showed up to this event. That's great. And that's without Stu Stone. I was at an event this morning for FOTM David Kynes. And Stu was there. Was he? So I'm like, Stu, you're at this Hollywood suite event. And last night at TMLX 13, you were nowhere to be found.

At least Cam has an excuse. He's posting from Greece. Yeah, he's on his honeymoon. You let Stu know that he's on his honeymoon. Let Stu know that he should check his DMs every once in a while. Okay, we're on Twitter or WhatsApp? What's the best place to reach him? Because I've been trying Twitter

and it didn't work. And I think I tried him on... I think he's got like... I gotta tell you later, but Stu at 5'7 Films or something like that, you can reach the great Stu. Anyways, I saw a lot of great FOTMs today. So my event was fantastic.

I want to thank everybody who came out. Honestly, thank you for being there. I know you postponed a produce stand recording. Yeah, we're going to record tonight instead. Okay, see. Just for you. Like I'm, I don't know what to say. And you're 12 for 13.

Let's shout out Langer. Okay, if we have to. You and Tyler are the best. Michael Lang is the only individual not named toronto mike who has been to all 13 tmlx events but i think yesterday's tmlx event was my favorite ever like great turnout great vibe great weather as usual uh great beer great pasta just like how could that have been better i thought it was amazing yeah it was great and you didn't have to host your own podcast yeah i just said this to stephanie wilkinson earlier shout out to fotm

stephanie wilkinson i actually like this is the first time i got to enjoy a tmlx event like i didn't have to worry about the bands and the recording like i could just like vibe with the rest of you and i even got to eat like yeah thank you again palma pasta thank you again great lakes beer and i just want to shout out ridley Funeral Home and let you know, Al, that not only are you getting a lasagna from Palma Pasta, we got some beer we're enjoying, but that's a measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home that goes into your collection.

Okay. Comes in handy. Comes in handy. Are you ready? We'll get some, I have a few more people I want to shout out, but I actually think we got to get to some of these clips. So is it an order 17 to one,

or is it no particular order? I put them in a bit of a of an order so we'll kind of a thematic order if you will can you share with us how did you come up with these 17 episodes so there's 250 episodes that you had to go through all right so give us any rules like parameters or whatever i got to shut out the the new tmlx best of TMLX committee who helped me this time around because I've been really busy and this is no small piece of work. So shout out to Gord, Leslie, Miriam, aka Leave, Tyler and Andy for your help. So I basically started a Google Sheet.

And all those people were there yesterday. Yeah, they were all there. Yeah. Sweethearts, all of them. Okay. So I started a Google Google sheet. And all those people were there yesterday. Yeah, they were all there, yeah. Sweethearts, all of them. Okay. So I started a Google sheet, and we listed all the episodes. I kind of gave parameters as to which ones were qualified and which weren't.

So tell us what was not eligible. What's not eligible. Not eligible are Kick Out the Jams, Toast episodes, some of your Umentaries. So basically the ones that are eligible are kind of like the OG types of Toronto Mike episodes. Like we just had with Michael Williams. Yeah, your first time interview with Eric Thomas. Exactly.

Gotcha. Yeah, just because it would be too big a task. Right. And what I'm trying to find are moments in these episodes that are memorable. So basically Toast would be ineligible, but recently Stu Stone came on by himself. That's eligible. That's eligible. Gotcha.

Okay. All right. So now that I kind of understand the parameters and there's this committee and you've got these 17 episodes you're going to shout out. And again, I don't have a clue what's going to be played. I hope I can recognize the episode. Like that's always my fear. Like i won't remember this episode or whatever let's do it okay you can fire off number 17 well i'm just i want to shout out first that cold open

uh clip was uh courtesy of gourd yyz gourd that was his pick okay and that was uh um brad roberts from uh the the crash system is right uh telling you you that that was a stupid question you asked. I just thought I'd put that out there. Hey, since you're doing a lot of shout outs, so I just want to say we are live at live.torontomike.com because I like to live stream this stuff. And I see their VP of sales is there watching live. He was at TMLX 13 last night. He was, yeah.

YYZ Gord is there. Tobias Vaughn, who has another name, I won't dox him, but he was at TMLX13 last night. Moose Grumpy is here. Leslieville baked cookies for us, and I think we gave some love to Leslie. They were great. That salty, sweet combo.

I love the oatmeal ones, and there was a bit of an argument between her and I think Lieve over whether raisins are good or not. I love raisins. I'm with, whether raisins are good or not. I love raisins. I'm with Leslie. Raisins are great. What do you think of butter tarts?

Like to me, my butter tarts need raisins in them or it's not a butter tart. I need raisins. Not a huge butter tart person.

But my favorite gloss sets are the raisin ones. Like me. The favorite gloss sets are the raisin ones and raisins and oatmeal cookies are

good. 100% agree with you. I'm so pro raisin. Okay. Nature's candy here. Okay. So keep going. It's really your show. I'll just react to your clips. As I said,

I organized these according to certain themes because we've had... Breaking news though, 1236 is now watching live. If you're going to comment on his episode yesterday, just know he's listening. It was a great episode. It was great, right? I dropped him off at the subway station last night,

and then I put his episode on. No, just at Islington, Lourdes, Islington. And then I threw his episode on, so it was like he never left the car. I spent a lot of time with Wiseblood because he was here when I got back from my ride at like 1 p.m. We recorded for two hours.

He hung out while I actually worked and stuff for like 90 minutes, and then at 5 o'clock or so, I had to get my bike to Great Lakes to receive the Palma Posta. Did he ride on the back of your bike? No, he walked. And I think VP of sales might have met up with him on Royal York somehow. They kind of merged in Royal York. Okay.

I had this hilarious mental image of him riding on the back of your bike. You know, like Dumb and Dumber, you know, where he's like holding on to you and frozen together or something. I would do that for Mark Weisblatt. Okay. So hello to 1236. Okay. Continue. So we've had these themes before in, in like, I think, uh, volume one was kind of, uh, the

theme was, you know, people getting fired. Volume two, people losing children, like losing, uh, right. There's always been. Those are two of the most devastating events in someone's life. I know, exactly. This one here, there wasn't a common theme throughout, but there were some kind of miniature themes inside. So we're going to start with, I mean, first of all, this is the home of real talk.

So we're going to start with the realest of talk. Okay, love this. And this is one of the more recent episodes. I'm not going to give you names or dates because it'll give it away right away, but here we But we should point out, before you press play, I could do this for two hours and I'll never get the first clip. This right now is episode

1322, but you end your clips at 1250. Correct. So we've actually recorded, what is that, 72? I know. You're prolific. What can I say? I can't keep up. I can't keep up i can't keep all right continue on my apologies here we go i was in denial for you know about a week or two

um then i was getting all the love i was getting all the love from my facebook friends i'm getting all the love from people in the industry and you can't eat love you can't pay the rent with love stuff and it's funny too people will then give you the love and then completely move on And you can't eat love. You can't pay the rent with love. And it's funny, too. People will then give you the love and then completely move on. I want to hear you soon. Where are you going to end up? Are you going to start a podcast, et cetera, et cetera?

It's like, I've got no answers for you right now, dude. It comes and goes. There are some days where I just absolutely nighttime sleep, sleep, sleep, so I can dream about working. And then you wake up in the morning and you've got that harsh realization that you don't have a place to go to anymore. I had it briefly when CFRB and I separated, but I was 40 then. And then Mojo came along and it was the best thing that ever happened was leaving CFRB. This time it's just like, it's, it's so final. The finality is, is what I can't handle.

And I know it drives, it drives my wife crazy. Cause she thinks I still have it. I still have that ability to go on and, and make people laugh and make people think and make people whatever feel good. Okay. That is absolutely Mike Stafford. And that was 1250. So the final episode of eligibility. And I'm so glad you chose this episode because I thought that was a very special episode. It was, I mean, Leslie chose it. This was a Leslie's pick.

Well done, Leslie. She gave me about four or five different clips we could have taken from that episode. That whole episode is real raw from beginning to end. I mean, he gets into his finances. He gets into a whole bunch of different subjects that, you know. I just picked this one here just because I feel like he was being really honest about how he was doing. And, I mean, when you ask somebody, how are you doing,

their first inclination is to say, I'm great. But not in this case, no. No. And there are some, I will disclose, there are some detractors, some people who heard the episode and didn't like it or didn't like Stafford maybe, more accurate. But man, there's a man, you know, down in his luck

who came in here and just shared all. And, you know, that's all you ask from a guest. So episode 1250, Mike Stafford, glad I made the cut. Yes, and I mean, he got fired for doing something stupid and no one excuses that, but at the same time, sometimes I feel like the punishment doesn't always fit the crime. Now, I have an update on this. Oh, yeah.

Okay, so by the way, Wiseblood says he couldn't miss the live reveals from Cuddly Al. So where did the Cuddly nickname, before I get back to Stavro, where did the Cuddly moniker comes from? You're going to have to ask Wiseblock. Because he also wanted me to play, is it Sensitivity by Ralph Tresvant? Where does that come from?

Well, that came from the DM group. I think people were posting the singles that they owned, and I posted a picture of one that I own of Ralph Tresvant's Sensitivity, which is a great jam. And from then on on maybe that's where i got the cuddly uh moniker too who knows yeah because you're a sensitive guy okay exactly oh where we got my update so uh because of that episode 1250 a fotm who's in the legal community

okay made some phone calls and we found a lawyer who was willing to work the case against Chorus on contingency. Because the problem was Mike Stafford didn't have money for a lawyer. Yeah. They'd have to take a piece of the, whatever comes out of this. Okay.

So there was a, by the way, the clock was ticking. I did not know this. There was some one year or something, some deadline. He got in under the wire and filed a suit against Chorus.

And it's ongoing. ongoing. I don't think Corris is particularly interested in settling, but there is a significant legal case that's been filed by Stafford's lawyer against Corris. And that's all because of episode 1250.

So, I mean, when we get a result from that, I'm going to get Stafford back in the basement to find out what the heck happened. But, yeah, that was quite an episode. Yeah, I mean, when we get a result from that, I'm going to get Stafford back in the basement to find out what the heck happened. But yeah, that was quite an episode. Yeah, that was. All right. We'll move on now to a particular. This is my pick.

And I had to have this on because I found this to be a particularly epic rant. And you'll hear it right away. Well, I'm going to incur some wrath here. The trucker's convoy. I mean, hashtag freedom, my ass. You know, look, if you care so much about freedom, how many went over to fight for the Ukrainians? I think they're fighting for freedom, aren't they? Grandmothers and kids stuffing beer bottles with Molotov cocktails.

That's freedom, buddy. And by the way, my uncle was in a convoy in World War II. It was called the Battle of the Atlantic. a convoy in World War II. It was called the Battle of the Atlantic. He was in the Corvette Navy protecting merchant marine ships laden with explosive petrol and war munitions bound for Murmansk, Russia to fight the Nazi hordes, never knowing when a German's U-boat torpedo was going to plow into the bow and end his 21 years in a watery grave. That's a convoy. And there was nary a bouncy castle in sight. Right. And you've got this, you know, that craven liver-lipped opportunist, Pierre Poliev, saddling up to the truckers. And Candace Bergen, too, and she didn't have her MAGA hat on.

She brought them everything but casseroles and chocolate chip cookies. It's like, come on, enough, man. You're not going to run the country by anarchy. And Pat King's manifesto as to how Canada should be run wouldn't pass mustard in a grade seven civics class. And maybe we should introduce civics again as a mandatory course in junior high so we don't have more seditious anarchists who were basically come on bro a january 6th cover band influenced by the same bogus alex jones fiction who's gone bankrupt and disappeared thank christ fox news hysteria megaphone dystopian bullshit that was perpetrated by Breitbart and the rest of those clowns with a little dab of QAnon madness and a healthy dose of pseudo-scientific malarkey perpetuated by fundamental Christian fanatics and their prostate at the altar of that biblical acid trip called the Book of Revelations, written 4,000 years ago by some vitamin-depleted, dehydrated mystic Rome in the desert

who wouldn't know the voice of Yahweh from a talking cactus. And look, it's a January 6th all over again. You know, they held the nation's capital hostage for three weeks on diesel fumes and shitty sing-alongs. on diesel fumes and shitty sing-alongs. And they were influenced by the same bogus, amoral Republican effluence that slid from the bowels and the streets of Washington in January 6th that metastasized into a flesh-and-blood mob

of mouth-breathing, batshit crazy, Trump-addled zealots in MAGA hats and Duck Dynasty camouflage looking to put the coup in cuckoo. Okay, I'm here to tell you that when Ron James was sitting in the seat you're sitting in right now, he was not reading that, okay? So that was all recited. I don't know.

I'm sure he had wrote it at some point. It's probably part of his routine or whatever. But not a stumble. No, I know. Perfectly executed. He's got the gift of gab. Like, I couldn't turn a phrase the way that Ron James can turn a phrase. That was amazing.

If you don't pay attention to what he's saying, his patter, his everything about it, it could be easily be Dennis Miller, but doing it on the, on the opposite side of the spectrum. Like it's exactly the same kind of shtick that he's got just on the left side,

as opposed to Dennis Miller on the right side. And what a net three solid minutes. I know I was like, he's still going now. Now, again, from a production standpoint, Stafford and Ron James,

they sound so great in my headphones. And I realized this because I sat post COVID and I mean, COVID is still around, but post pandemic, I so soured on the Zooms. I heard Brad Roberts off the top on Zoom from his noisy apartment in New York City. And the difference to me is like, man, Stafford and Ron James.

So I'll be interested to hear how many are remotes and how many are in person, but both of them down here in the basement and good choices so far. Yeah. Thank you. All right. The next one here, we're going to start now with a section called sacred cows uh we're going to slaughter a few of these uh first the first pick here is from our friend leslie uh and let's see here where she was working her butt off on this project she was number four here we go i was in texas actually working on a corporate gig. I wasn't able to watch Hockey Night in Canada, but I was checking Twitter and I saw Ron McLean trending,

as happens pretty much every Saturday now, and it's 95% negative. Oh, he was singing Elvis, as I recall. Yeah, I heard he did some Ron stuff. A lot of people sent me DMs to say, oh my God, this is the worst. You won't believe it. And I'm like, I missed it.

Can you link me to it? And I'm sorry, but that's not the worst. No. Listen, I understand that sometimes Ron goes on tangents and can be a little obtuse. Or, you know, like he can kind of go off in places that not everybody understands or resonates with. Right.

But, you know, I think the universal hatred for Ron really was born after the Don thing. Remembrance Day. Yeah, the Poppy incident. So, Ron was trending in a negative fashion. Sure. Don Cherry was trending. Of course. And as always, it is the lauding, the elevating of Don Cherry.

And I just, you know, obviously I couldn't say anything about it when I worked at Rogers. Right. So, and it wasn't like it's, I've been stewing on it, but in a way, you know, I went through this journey with Ron. I was there the day after the Poppy incident.

I was there when Ron had to make a statement. I felt like Ron was put in a very compromising and difficult no-win position. And, you know, I've said this before, but I don't think people understand what happened to Ron, to us, to the show. After Don was let go and this universal sentiment of Ron threw Don under the bus, we needed security on hometown hockey. We needed additional security for months and months. And again, last season, we had somebody set up with a big, giant flatbed truck

playing Don Cherry quotes on a loop outside of our remote studio. And the cops wouldn't do anything about it because it was a public parking lot. So we, you know, we've been sort of haunted, but also, you know, threatened by this contingent. It's a mob. And so, you know, I just felt very frustrated that Ron is completely just gets gets dragged and dragged and i mean i i just think again he was put in a really really difficult position and i just remain dumbstruck by the fact that there continues to be this elevation of dawn as this important political sage figure when in fact, and I know what I said in the, in the tweet and I use the word bigot,

um, you know, he is not, uh, an inclusive, loving human being. And, you know,

people were so mad at me for so many reasons, including how can you go after an, you know, an octogenarian, um, you know, I mean, he was on TV just a few years ago, and were it not for that incident, he'd probably still be on TV.

People don't change. And so it wasn't random. It was born out of years of frustration watching him be this idol. And I just don't get it. Of course, that's FOTM Tara Sloan from Joy Drop in most recently Hometown Hockey, now working with the San Jose Sharks.

And that was fantastic. Yeah, the sacred callous is Don Cherry. Absolutely. And Terry Hart was in there too. That was the other voice. Yeah, but I mean, it took Tara leaving the country on her way to LA to finally. Honestly, though, I love the fact that she felt safe enough in this basement. Like, you know, Tara Sloan came down and told it like it is about Don Cherry, even though,

you know, you needed extra security and some of these, you know, wing bats, you know, poke these bears, whatever. But she did it. She came over, she shared it. And that was amazing. And I want to say I was hanging out with Terry Hart this morning. Oh, yeah? Isn't that a small world? Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

Okay, another great choice. So where did that come from? Is that... Oh, that one was Leslie. That was Leslie. Leslie's doing all the work here. No, not yet. Okay, here's one from Miriam. Here's a Miriam pic. Another sacred cow gets slaughtered here. Okay. So let's listen to this one. Tell me all the big names I'm missing.

If you're trying to get to somebody I don't like, that's really easy, Mike. I am distinguished, I think, by being the only Canadian who really can't stand Joni Mitchell. Really? Yikes. Oh, my God. So I'm scheduling a special episode of Terry David Mulligan, all about the early years of Joni, when they spent a lot of time, I think, in Alberta together. But tell me what you don't like about Joni Mitchell.

I just think she's mean-spirited. Really? Yeah. And you know that firsthand. You've had experiences with her where she was mean to you? No, that's just from having been hanging around in the olden days and watching where people went, how they developed, and who remembered their roots.

Who was nice to the people who needed help later? Gordon Lightfoot was nice to the people who helped him. And Murray McLaughlin was, and Bruce Coburn was. But Joni Mitchell was not. Anyway. Interesting. Well. Well, you know, Liz, now you're getting the hang of this.

I'm seeing that now you're all warmed up and loosened up. Who else do we hate but everybody loves? Don't tell me any bad stories about Mr. Rogers or Oscar. No, no, no, no, no. No, I don't know. I'm just, I don't know why I have such an issue with Joni Mitchell. But maybe it's because everything is always about Joni Mitchell. I don't know.

But wonderful musician, no doubt. I guess so. I thought maybe we could just come out of it by saying, you know, you don't like her as a person, but she's a good musician. She wouldn't even get that. Liz Braun, formerly of the Toronto Sun, who took a package and then came over for her exit interview, trademark pending.

Yes. She, you know what? I got to get her back here with the other gals, right? There's Rita DeMontis and who else? Jane Stevenson. Like this is like

the Toronto Sun Trio. There was a guy, so Bill Brio was at this event this morning too. A lot of FOTMs at this event. What was this event about? Can you talk about it? Yeah, I guess I can, of course.

David Kynes. I guess he does this every year. I've never been invited to this year, but he has this event about? Can you talk about it? Yeah, I guess I can, of course. David Kynes, I guess he does this every year. I've never been invited to this year, but he has this event at the King Edward Hotel in the Crystal Ballroom. I show up, I was dressed like this. I had a different t-shirt on. What?

I was sweaty when I got back. I didn't want you to smell me. I did the ride and I was like, I have to change my shirt. And you know I wanted to save this shirt for you. The King Eddie is East of Yonge. So in your defense. Barely, but yes, barely.

Barely East of Yonge. But I went East of Yonge. That's right. A lot of, is this for Hollywood Suite? So David Kynes is an FOTM. He said, would you come to my breakfast? I'm like, I could book off Friday morning and bike over to King and Yonge there or whatever for breakfast and

I'm there. Retro Ontario was there. Yeah, I saw the picture. Jay Gold, Joel Goldberg is there. Then I see wandering in, I see the great Stu Stone, his partner. I go, Stu, where were you last night? Was Rodness, Adam Rodness,

his partner was there. Then there were people like Terry Hart. You mentioned Bruce, I mentioned, who mentioned Bruce Colburn? Oh no, Liz Braun did. I heard the name Bruce Colburn. Bernie Finkelstein was there at this event. I mean, David Quinton Steinberg was here, I mentioned Terry Hart. The chick from

Mono Whales, what's her name? Char? Okay, SH is in that name. But the lead singer of Mono Whales was hanging out what's her name? Char. Okay. SH is in that name. But the lead singer of Mono Whales was hanging out and just a bunch of great people. It was great fun. Okay.

So I love that you did that clip. That is definitely a... By the way, Stu hasn't booked his produce stand appearance yet. This is what I'm waiting for him to call me back. Okay. Well, you know what? We're working on

something, a big surprise for FOTMs, and I'll work into that deal that he makes an appearance on. I appreciate that because I've got

lots of listeners who want to hear what he has to say about it. Sally Scharr. Thank you, VP. I said Scharr, Scharr.

I was so close. My God, okay, but she's great. I am taking a note here to edit out all references to protestant from this podcast that's an inside joke for alan yes thank you okay i'm ready liz braun that was great all right and and last one here from the sacred cows this one's a little more fun uh

spirited but uh still very very funny we should probably clarify so i kind of created a pool of potential jams and then you did pick the top 10 from that pool, because I know we talked about why you chose that jam. But then at the beginning, we said I chose the jams. And it's like, who the heck chose these jams? So you had definite input. So do you want to share with me why you chose Working Man by Rush? And then I can bury you in some fun facts. Well, I think it's interesting that it's a female singing and it's saying, or she's saying, working man.

Well, I'm about to blow your mind right now. Are you sitting down? I am. What if I told you that wasn't a female singing? Oh, boy. That's okay. Look, no shame in this game.

Are you kidding me? No shame in this game. I've been fooled before as well. And I will say, this band, I think, is an acquired taste, but those who have the taste

like worship this band. This is a Toronto band. Yes, that I know. So that's why we root for these guys. I want to just right now do the Ridley Funeral Home mention that Neil Peart's no longer with us. He died of cancer a couple years back. So we lost the drummer

but the singer, his name is Geddy Lee. He's a dude and Geddy is the way his mom would pronounce his real first name, which is Gary. So she had an accent and she would say, Geddy, Geddy, Geddy, Geddy. And that's where Geddy's nickname comes from. But absolutely a dude. But now that I listen through your ears, I totally understand why you'd think this was a woman's thing. I apologize to the Rush fans out there. Okay. Wow. What a clip. Okay. Now, I am, you know what I'm like.

I respect these sponsors. They cut a check and I can't do this without them. We appreciate that. Yes. Shout out to the only human on the planet besides myself who's been to all 13 TMLX events, Michael Lang lang he used to work at ryobi

and that was becky from ryobi's marketing department who was kicking out the uh you know working jams because that's what you do with ryobi stuff and yeah i uh that moment i'm sitting there as you know it's unedited nothing's edited well the music's in the background you'd hear no editing but i'm listening and she you know she's referencing the female singer talking about working man and i yeah my response was i'm gonna blow your mind right now she sat me up for that perfect response actually are you ready are you sitting down becky yan for a mind blow great clip and i you could see i was very kind to her yes you were that's because money changes everything that was a pick from miriam she had to to get that one in there um next oh i gotta say i mentioned

david quinton steinberg was at this event today what a sweetheart you know drummer with the mods and he's a lawyer now he's rush's lawyer oh yeah we were talking about rush today we were talking alex he also was in Alex Lifeson's Envy of None project. So you're finally going to get them in the basement? I didn't say that. I'm working on it. You know what?

You just got to do it long enough. What is this? Episode 12, whatever. 13 something. You have to just do it long enough that at some point, you know, Michael Williams said no for 11 years and now he lives in my basement.

All right. Next clip here. There were a lot of, there was one story that occupied a lot of time on this podcast during those 250 episodes. And I feel like this was the beginning of that whole saga. Let's spool this one up. I worked with John Derringer later in the Q107 experience and later in my

career. Working with John Derringer was one of the things that lent itself to my leaving radio altogether. That was the worst experience that I had in radio. Would you be willing to elaborate? What do you mean? mean? Like, cause John is a, and I've never had him on the show, but I have asked him on the show and he's politely declined, but, uh, he's one of the radio legends of, uh, his generation in this marketplace. Yeah. Well, the way he treats, um, female co-hosts is also legendary. Okay. So, uh, all right, I will, uh, put it this way. There's a, there are a couple of great write-ups in what was then Frank magazine.

Uh, it's funny because I recently moved and I was going through some of my, you know, belongings that I had poked away and found a couple of Frank magazines. And I'm like, okay, I would have kept these for a reason. So I started going through them and they, they had to do with that experience. One was somebody had written about it in Frank magazine. And then the following edition, another female personality with whom John had worked in Montreal went by the name Peppermint Patty. She wrote an open letter and I believe it was called an open letter to her ladies in arms and said in this letter, she said, you know, to Jackie Delaney and Andrea Ruse. And she mentioned a couple of other names, and perhaps I'm terrible for even bringing up these names. You know, they probably wish I didn't.

So I will just speak for myself in saying that, that she said, you know, I too have been through the, through the trenches. I have remained very quiet about it for all these years for a few different reasons. I, one of them being, I don't want to endure anyone's wrath. I'll be honest. And now I it's, it's like i i i'm okay i have no problem with you bringing it up and i i could have chosen not to even respond uh in the way that i did but there's a pit in my stomach where i'm like oh you know what this yeah but look i'll

just say as i said to start it was my worst experience in radio and um yeah holy shit al that's ground zero yep that's the first time we heard anything and then uh well we did in this kind of a forum anyway you knew but i did know because i i have clients who worked in the same building down the hall but that was before uh jennifer um one month i think was it one month i feel like okay so the jackie delaney that happened and then one month later jennifer valentine released that video on facebook yeah and that was it like he never appeared on q107 again but uh yeah listening to that i got like like a goosebumps because we know what happens one month later and this legend and as you hear me and

it's tough this business of mine is tough like i'll know things but i'll know them and i can't put that on you know lauren honickman would be phoning me and saying you can't say that on the microphone you don't know so i gotta act a little bit surprised like wait a minute yeah that man a legend in this marketplace i mean he's he's a sacred cow as well, if you think about it. Yeah, he was, he was. He was. Okay, that is a tremendous clip.

Yeah, that was from Tyler, by the way. Took a lot of courage for Jackie. Thank you, VPSL. And took a lot of courage for Jackie Delaney to say that. Like, I wonder, because she knew she was coming on Toronto Mic, and she kind of knows the vibe here, and it's the home of Real Talk.

Although I rarely say that anymore. Have you noticed I kind of dropped Real Talk because someone else took it and I said, oh, they ruined it for me. Okay, but it is the home of Real Talk. And I got to say, I wonder like the night before, is she thinking like, what will I say about John Derringer? And it took a lot of courage for her to say that.

And then she mentioned the name Andrea Ruse, who has subsequently been on, and we talked about it. But, you know, those other names that are all, you know, Maureen Holloway and Colleen Rusholm. I mean, these are all FOTMs, right? Except Jennifer Valentine is holding out. And at some point, my pledge to the listenership is that Jennifer Valentine, because we've talked about it often,

in 2024, I'm going to get Jennifer Valentine, because we've talked about it often, in 2024, I'm going to get Jennifer Valentine in this basement. Okay, great clip. Amazing. Thank you, Tyler. All right, let's move on to a section called, I like to call, Classic Radio Stories, because this is your bread and butter, Mike.

This is what you kind of started off with. My claim to fame? Yeah, well, you started interviewing all these great... That's humble and Fred's phone. Yeah, and this one here, you don't get much more classic than this from... Oh, let's just play it. I got to tell you, this strange, strange dude

keeps calling back all the time and says he's going to do me in this one. Yeah. Okay, I'm done. That's all I need. You're the boss, but it's just getting good. So anyway, the guy comes down and it's all staged, of course.

And there's gunshots in the studio and I fall down and then I say, April Fool. Well, that sort of brought the SWAT team down because people, all they heard was this long pause. Right. Before I said April Fool, right? Okay. So it seemed like a great bit. I was a big fan of War of the Worlds, you know, so Orson Welles. And so I said, I would love to do something similar.

And I think I will at the tender age of 21. And, um, the cops, I broke down the front door. Uh, they were weapons drawn. One runs up the stairs with an automatic weapon and um one pops into the studio where i am and uh i just see the muzzle i hear the airlock crack you know you because it's a it's a soundproof booth and i can you can always hear that air escape when somebody opens the door and uh i see a muzzle of a gun point at me and uh the door opens and said uh where's the shooter where's the gun right i went no no no i hang on you're gonna you're gonna laugh

hang on it's uh it was just a joke and he goes where's where's the gun i said there's no gun it was a sound effect record it was april fool's april fool's joke it's it's of april fool's joke and he goes so tell me the funny part i went oh i think i'm in trouble and as it turns out i was and so um the next day um they uh was talking to bob wood and uh he says um i gotta tell you two things number Mike, it was the most brilliant piece of radio I've quite frankly ever heard. And I went, oh, so I'm not fired. And he goes, no, I don't know if I can save your job.

And then the Toronto Star like man on the moon print on the front page, murder at chum, disc jockey hoax during a ra rating period. Wow. Well, all of a sudden, I'm not too bad, you know,

once again, but he's already said he's going to suspend me for three days without pay. Three days without pay is a lot back in 1970, whenever that was. Do you know what it was? I'm just curious. I was making $15,000 a year. Because of the suspension and. Do you know what it was? I'm just curious. I was making 15,000 a year. Because of the suspension and because, you know,

I wasn't going to make any money, all the jocks phoned in sick. See, I was a swing jock. I was the one that filled in for people, plus did the all night show. So when there was nobody to replace the jocks that were sick, they had to call me in. Right.

And it was, God bless all the guys. the jocks that were sick, they had to call me in. Right. And it was, God bless all the guys. They just love me and I love them for doing that. It was very courageous on their part. And I didn't miss one single day's pay because of them. Cooper, who came, Mike Cooper came up on the Eric Thomas episode earlier this week. They worked together at CFTR and Cooper just kind of came in like a lion and had great stories. And that's one of the great Toronto radio stories

without a doubt. And I think in that clip, he said he was 21 years old. Can you imagine having the, like you're 21, you're on the radio and you, I don't know. I mean, I guess i can imagine thinking that's a good idea but actually trying like going through with it and yeah that was

crazy great you know there are you know we talk about radio legends john derringer well mike cooper man there's one of those guys i love talking to those guys yeah i would i think john derringer uh would have been a great Toronto Mike guest. Yeah. One time, one day. Yeah. That's one time. All right. Here's another classic radio themed story.

I worked the all night shift. I'd go on from 12 to five. I'd stroll over and come on and I'd go on after Storm and Norman. And of course we went coast to coast. And one day I was, I was all gassed up, you know, and man, I just had to, you know, let one go. I'm just saying straight up. And I said, George, stumble up.

I said, Georgie, take us to a break because I got to let, if I don't, it's going to kill me. So George says, okay, so go ahead, you know, into my microphone. Okay, I said, okay, 135. Quick break. When we come back, we got Jim in Mississauga. We got so-and-so in Calgary and so-and-so up next. But first of all, these messages here on the spider's web

on the Fan 590. And then I went out on the mic so I knew I was safe. So I let one go like you wouldn't believe and then I looked over to say something to George he was on the other side of the glass and I couldn't see him and I said what the hell is going on and I looked back at my microphone and it was on all that time and George was on the floor

rolling over he was roaring and roaring. I said, what happened? He said, man, you just farted coast to coast. Spider Jones. Okay, great Spider Jones clip. And even a bonus little Strombo reference from his origin there at the Fan 590. That was great. The fart heard around the country.

Yeah, I mean, I listen to his show every night, religiously, and Stormy Norman before that, I mean, he's a legend. You and I are similar. We're similar vintage, and we have similar cultural touch points, and that's why all these cats come on,

like these Eric Thomases and these Spider Jones. It's because I gotta talk about these good old days, man. I gotta capture these stories before these cats come on, like these Eric Thomas's and these Spider Jones, it's because I got to talk about these good old days, man. I got to capture these stories before these cats die on me. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. So those last two clips were my picks because of the radio references. Now we're going to move on to some Toronto Mike lore. And these next few are from Miriam.

Okay. We're going to start with... AKA leave a thumb cut. Miriam's not really a name that people know on this show. Apologies. That's more of a D-Gen name. Exactly. What's going on with this edition?

Share it with the F-15. Can we pick this up in half an hour? The agent is asking me to call him now. So phone? Yeah. What a moment. Could we do... Yeah.

I'm going to call him. Heavily edited, by the way. Hello? Ron, it's Peter. Peter, where are you? I, I'm,

uh, fortunately I'm, I'm at Toronto mics. I was doing a podcast with them. I, I, my information was that this was Wednesday. Am I wrong?

You're wrong. It's Tuesday. It's today. It's almost like a scripted. Hey, if, if I get in touch with these people in five minutes, can I go ahead with it?

Absolutely. Oh, just do the Zoom right now. I'm going to do the Zoom with Toronto Mike right now, okay? That's fine. Okay. Thanks. Okay.

Bye-bye. Thanks. Let me know that you've done it too, okay? I'm sorry about this, Ron. I was sure it was Wednesday. No. Today. Okay.

No forgiveness. This is really exciting. Just do it, Peter. So I'm putting in, and I'm recording as you hear. Oh. You're coming in you ready yep recording in progress all right peter i'm gonna start by grabbing your slate so it'll be your name your height and your agency and i will let you know what i'm rolling okay okay okay standing by and rolling my name is peter. I'm 71 years old.

I'm representing. I'd like to see you try old man. You'd probably keel over. I'm ready to go right now. Bring it, bring it. You think you can take me? I can take you.

I can take your sister. I can take your mother. It's great. Good job. Good job. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much,

Robert. Peter. Sorry. My apologies. My apologies. Thank you so much. That. Peter. Sorry, Peter. My apologies. My apologies. Thank you so much. That was great. Thanks, Peter. Thank you. Peter Gross, how do you feel, buddy? I was so excited watching

how the sausage gets made. Yeah. You back? Yeah. I didn't cut because it was so fucking great. So let me see if I got this straight. In the middle of a Toronto Mike podcast, including me, we went to my audition and it's didn't cut because it was so fucking great so so let me see if i got this straight that in the middle of a toronto mic podcast including me we went to my audition and it's in if this is part of the podcast yes it was so good that's by the way you're a hell of an actor and i don't know

that guy was pretty good too like i'm all pumped up from this altercation i just witnessed i feel like i just saw will smith slap chris rock this was fucking incredible i hope if you get that the legend will be made if you get that audition and he booked the gig ladies and gentlemen i've seen the footage he he received the money i don't know how often he books a gig i know acting friends who are kind of hungry right now but peter gross booked that gig on what a story trying to make podcast yeah and at some point we actually played clips of like his um his uh audition and how it actually ended up sounding you know i could take on your sister and your mother like stop beating up these women the

fun part of that that last part there was an ad-libbed scene the the casting director asked him to to improvise a scene, an argument that would escalate. So that was him improvising. And he was so much better at that. You heard the casting director's response. He was so overwhelmed that he even got Peter's name wrong. Yeah, Robert,

you did a great job. He's like, oh, it's Peter. Okay, so Peter Gross was at TMLX 13 yesterday, and the great VP of sales was tasked with getting him a orange crush. Because Peter and I were on the phone, because he phones me every week. And I reminded him about TMLX 13. And he says, Mike, you know I don't drink. Because there's plenty of Great Lakes beer available for FOTMs.

But not everyone drinks alcohol. And he's like, how come there's no pop? And I said, Peter, what pop would you like and he goes i'd like an orange crush not a diet orange crush i want a regular orange crush and vps sales brought him this we presented it to him a cold orange crush and i'm telling you when i was cleaning up at the end of the night when we were when we were cleaning up it was like he took two sips from that orange crush that's it the there was 98 full this bottle of Orange Crush that we took such... So Peter Gross got his Orange Crush.

Two sips and he didn't even take it with him. Like he just, I don't know. Anyway, shout out to FOTM Hall of Famer Peter Gross. And that's a fucking great clip you played there. Thank you, Levi. And here's another one from Levi. So before I play it, again, this is part of Toronto Mike lore. I think the first 500 episodes, this was on your bingo card.

You never, you, you. Yeah. Is there an updated bingo card or you're too busy for that? I'm too busy right now. I'll get, I'll get to one. But anyway, this one would have been on your, this story would have been on your bingo card. And it finally came to fruition here. Now, let me ask you, did it receive any airplay in this market?

Yes, it did. It received airplay on the radio. What's that like? Do you remember what stations? Yeah. To me at the time was Chum. Chum was a big deal for me. And now

it got played and I was excited about it. But there's a reason why I walked away from that life. Why? Because that life attracted a lot of females. And I'm a guy, and I'm attracted to females. At the time, I didn't know how to control my appetite. And at the time, I didn't know how to control my appetite.

So I'm realizing that this kind of goes against what my real dream is. My real dream was, and still is, to be a dad and to be a husband and to have a wife that I'm able to be with for the rest of my life. And the cowboy made that almost impossible. Women couldn't keep their hands off the cowboy. And the cowboy couldn't keep his hands off of them. That became a problem. And that's a conflict when you're trying to be a family man. That's a conflict. You needed to choose one.

Yeah, most definitely. Again, the cowboy was created. It was a hat I found in Los Angeles. Right. Shirts I ripped up. I created this character. Who I am on the inside is a husband and a dad. That's who I am.

is a husband and a dad. That's who I am. So Kay Pompey, that's Kenrick Pompey, father of Tristan and Dalton Pompey, former Toronto Blue Jay Dalton Pompey, now a police officer in Hamilton. Dalton?

Dalton. Dalton's a cop in Hamilton now. Tristan works at Great Lakes Brewery. Really? Yep. Yep, that's a true story. So the cowboy from Electric Circus, Tristan works at Great Lakes Brewery really? yep yep that's a true story so the cowboy from Electric Circus

this is all like a lot of stuff in my brain now converging here but that clip is amazing because if you dissect

so a personal question Al but are you happily married? I am okay and you have a beautiful wife

and she appears on the produce stand she does yeah she's a co-host I've met her at TMLX events because because you've been to 12 of 13, and she comes out. So, I'm also happily married. Shout out to Monica, who was at TMLX 13 yesterday. Like, can you imagine this universe where, like, I can't stop myself from enjoying other women.

So I must sacrifice my music career because women are throwing themselves at me and I'm incapable of saying no. That's an unbelievable little nugget there. That's amazing. And I always think about this cowboy dancer and you can throw in the maestro Fresh West, the first guy who kind of was talking to me about cowboy dancer,

Jay Gold. Shout out to Joel Goldberg, co-creator of Electric Circus, with Michael Williams and everyone, all these FOTMs. I just had a live chat, and PP says, Carrie Oliver is doing her best to change that. Carrie Oliver is very sweet with me. Okay, let's just leave it at that right now. Shout out to FOTM Carrie Oliver, who was at TMLX 13 yesterday. But there there is a greater i don't know if it's a micumentary or what it is but there is

this irking story you're right i was fixated on it for a while because summertime summertime the 12-inch single from the cowboy dancer from electric circus who fathered blue jay dalton pompeii who was stranded at third base in the alcs we all know that story game six wow i don't even want to revisit that. But fucking it's all incredible. And that clip is incredible. He can't keep his hands off women. So he almost has to make his life such that he's less desirable.

So women stop throwing themselves at him so he could be a family man. Because you can't say no. And he appears on a Great Lakes beer. Electric Circus is a Great Lakes beer. It's a perfect TMU story. I love how he refers to the cowboy in third person. It's not him. It's a character.

And when I'm the cowboy, I'm going to cheat on my wife. It's not my fault. It's just the way the cowboy is. So I need to be less desirable to the opposite sex. He had to kill the cowboy. He sacrificed the cowboy for his family. That's the, you know, that's a true sacrifice.

What a great clip that is. Thank you, Levi. Okay. And you'll give me a heads up when it's top five, right? Like how many more we got? We got seven more. Okay. Seven more.

Here we go. This next one here is from Gord. Okay. So this one here is going to break one of my rules. It's toast. And there's a good reason for it though i couldn't say no to the clip but i want stew stone to remember this because this is a source of our of our um feud a little while back i did pick a toast episode and here it is So everybody listening at home, I have just, the mystery guest has just joined the Zoom and only I can see this mystery guest. So I'm going to ask the mystery guest

if she would please say hello to the FOTMs listening. Hello. Now, mystery guest. Okay. Mystery guest. I have with me here a man named Stew Stone. one of stew stone's claims to

fame claims claims to fame what's about to happen here is he he was once in a movie with a canadian actress uh what's the orgies what was that movie called heavenly bodies heavenly bodies yes classic mystery guest have you ever seen Heavenly Bodies? Never heard of it. I know that voice. Okay. Mystery Guest, let Stu know. Who are you? That's amazing. I'm somebody who could arm wrestle, who could arm wrestle him easily.

I'm blushing right now. That's Cynthia Dale. That's Cynthia Dale. That's unbelievable. Oh, well, that is it. That's unbelievable. oh well that is it that's unbelievable that's my mom i want to be quiet for a moment you two have a little exchange i haven't spoken to her in like since i'm like you know i've just the amount of times that i've seen that movie it feels like i've seen cynthia every day because it's like such a huge, I think that she needs to understand in Cynthia. You can hear me.

You need to change the camera. Now Cynthia is looking right. She's looking right at me. This is unbelievable. Oh, there you are. Look at this. You look great. Listen, you need to embrace the fact that that is a classic and you are so good. You look great in it and you're dancing your ass off. And it's not good a movie, darling. I got to tell you. People love it though. People love it. You know, art is subjective, right? To some people it's beautiful art. And I just think that it's so incredible that,

uh, I mean, it probably haunts you, but I think it's great. No, it doesn't haunt me. No, it doesn't. Look, it was of a time, right? It was this little bubble, this little moment in time, many lifetimes ago for me. Yes. Well, you've had such a beautiful career that you've gone on to do such amazing stuff. I love you.

I love you. Thank you. And it all started with you. You know, that was my first movie role. That was, and, and. You were young. I was literally, I was like a little pitcher. You were probably here for that to have a career.

Yes. Well, I was like working in like craft macaroni commercials and stuff at the time. So I had to get, you know, give me some credit there. But, but that was like the first time I got to like, I had to learn lines and like go to the, you know, what a trip this is. I'm glad you made an exception because, you know,

and now looking back when I used to do that with this mystery guest, it was a lot of work. And sometimes my mystery guest didn't show up, but it did create some pretty magical moments. And that is absolute, like to reunite the mother and son from heavenly bodies. Like who else is doing that, Al?

Like think about it. They're not doing that on breakfast television. No, they're not. You're right. They used to do that on This Is Your Life, but I guess

This Is Your Toronto Life now. I love that clip. And, you know, Cynthia Dale, we had a run there and I got to get her back on in person, Cynthia Dale, we had a run there, and I got to get her back on in person this time. But she was a great FOTM. She was really game, and she went to the same high school as I did and built Brio.

Is she in Toronto still? Yeah, like they have a Stratford home. They have a condo in Toronto, and they have like a, I don't want to call it a castle, but they have some property in Scotland. Like the Mansbridge family has some real estate well then she's she's doing all right shout out to fotm peter mansbridge if he's listening all right this next one here uh uh still toronto mike lore i'm gonna blame leave a for this one don't blame Here we go. Kenny, happy birthday to your mother. Oh, no.

To my mother? Oh, delete. What? No. No. Because Darren's giving me that. Your mom did not just turn 100. No.

No. She passed away a few years ago. Okay. But thanks for finding the sore spot on me. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. That's amazing. Okay. On social media, a Kenny Robinson said, my mom just turned 100. And now I realizeley Funeral Home. That's amazing. Okay, on social media,

a Kenny Robinson said, my mom just turned 100, and now I realize, very embarrassed. It's another Kenny Robinson. I know, I'm so embarrassed. It's a Caucasian Kenny Robinson. So there's another Kenny Robinson. There's a bunch.

There's a couple of black preacher comics that do the Christian comedy circuits in the States named Kenny Robinson. Oh, Kenny, I'm so sorry, buddy. Because I saw my Facebook, and I thought you and I were Facebook friends, and now I'm thinking, it's never been you. You're also friends with another Kenny Robinson.

But yeah, then there's a Kenny Cornbread Robinson who just won Christian Comic of the Year. So he added Cornbread to his name so not to get mixed up with me. It's always good to start a show with Happy Mother's Day to your dead mom. Oh, my God. That's a good start. You have no idea. She's a hundred. Well,

she had to die seven years ago. She'd be close, but Hey, it's okay. Your, your, your sponsors are, are weed and undertakers.

So, uh, good market. That might be the single most, uh, embarrassing clip in the history of Toronto Mike. So thank you for playing that, that now as VP people,

VP points out in the live chat, the prototype for the Chris of Toronto Mike. So thank you for playing that. Now, as VP points out in the live chat, the prototype for the Chris Tate incident. I was going to say, there's going to be another moment in the next Best Of, I'm sure. The real, not the real, they're both real. The chalk circle Chris Tate is in the Toronto Mike calendar

for later this month. So that is actually going to happen and we'll reference it again there. But I like Kenny Robinson a lot. I think he was a great guest and I think he's hilarious. And I was, you know what? That's a big mistake.

Like I saw on Facebook, I thought I was following that Kenny Robinson and I really did come at it thinking it's exciting. Your mom just turned 100. But as it turns out, I had the wrong Kenny Robinson

and that was a super embarrassing moment. But no, I did not edit it out. I don't do that. And here I am now again, not editing it out i don't do that and here i am now again not editing it out but uh i deserve this so leave a leave a is just trying to get me you got me leave a you got me wow what an embarrassing clip all right we'll we'll get back okay top five now i know not yet so this is a top sixth one here uh it is a comedy legend i think you'll know are you like are you self-aware i'm always

wondering are you self-aware of what that show meant to so many of us like i mean i know you look around and you say oh wow look john candy was a big deal and katherine o'hara was a big deal and there's rick moranis but like are you aware that you're a key component your key cog in this wheel of hilarity that still makes people laugh and smile well i'm aware of that yeah um i've heard it a few times that's why i'm aware of it but does it go to my head or do i feel like that i'm this legend or anything like that no i mean i'm still trying to now i'm writing books i've been moving weaving my way through doing things. I've always been able to make money doing whatever I want to do. Whenever I run out of money, I come up with some crazy idea and sell it. Then I got enough to go on a little while longer. I spend money like a lunatic. I don't ever have this nest egg that I can fall back on. I got to keep making money. But I never doubted my ability to make money.

So I was like, okay, all right. That's not a worry. But I probably should have doubted it. But these people that I do consider myself extremely lucky to have met these people who are all kind of gathered together at the same time with a common goal. Everybody wanted to do comedy. Everybody wanted to do a type of comedy that was new and that was different. And, you know, these people became my friends. And Marty and Eugene were my friends before this started. But we all went to Toronto and Dan Eckhardt and Valerie Brownfield to come in from Ottawa.

Gilda Radner had come in from Detroit. Andrea Martin had come in from Maine. You know, Joe Flaherty come in from Pittsburgh, actually from Chicago, Pittsburgh to Chicago, Chicago to Pittsburgh. You know, there's these people that were all kind of gathered in Toronto, socializing. There's these people that were all kind of gathered in Toronto socializing. And Marty Short says that in his fantasies, he likens it to Paris in the 20s. Right.

You know, where all the artists were kind of collectively gathering, bouncing off each other. And that's certainly what we were doing. And there was a real fertile playground for comedy at that time. Like hearing that in the headphones, Dave Thomas, it's like, that happened? I had this two hour plus chat with Dave Thomas. Doug McKenzie. Isn't that amazing? It's crazy. How the fuck did that happen? That's wild.

Oh yeah, I remember I asked him. Dave Thomas and now his brother is also in FOTM, Ian Thomas. We played one of his songs at the FOTM jams last night. That's a great fucking clip. And it reminds me that Dave Thomas is an FOTM. And there's an example of a time where I don't mind doing a Zoom because I'd rather have a Zoom

of a Dave Thomas than not have Dave Thomas on Toronto Mike. Yeah, that was a gourd pick and absolutely legend. I mean, when you talk about everyone that came out of that was a gourd pick and absolutely legend. I mean, when he, when you talk about everyone that came out of that troupe, I mean, just legend after legend after legend. And they all started in Toronto, like through Toronto.

Like, I like that, uh, Martin Short, uh, comparison to Paris in the twenties. Like this convert, these people, a lot of them are American. A lot of them are Canadian, you know, and to this day, we're still, uh, watching comedy with Martin Short or Eugene Levy. Like, you know, we had, I think Rick Moranis is back doing stuff. Although Martin Scorsese, where's the, where's the documentary?

Where's the doc? Come on, get on that. Where's the doc? Yeah. Fun fact, maybe not to your listeners, but to me anyway. To Jane Sibri? The owner of Diabolical Coffee, which is the sponsor for the produce stand, used to rent the apartment from which,

with the balcony where they toss the TVs over the edge. Of course. In the FCT. Wasn't that Edmonton? No, that was Toronto. No, that was Toronto. Yeah. Okay. He used to rent that apartment. Okay, no, that is a fun, see, I think that's a fun fact. I know. Jane Sibri. I wonder if Jane Sibri shows up in the next Best Of.

Definitely an episode people are talking about. Okay, so Dave Thomas in that clip, he talked about needing to make money. He needed a nest egg. Okay, I wish Dave Thomas were listening right now. Maybe he is. He's an FOTM. If he wants to learn how to plan, invest, and live smarter,

Raymond James has a podcast for him. It's called The Advantaged Investor Podcast. And whether you work with a trusted financial advisor now or you're currently managing your own investment plans, The Advantaged Investor provides the engaging wealth management information you value as you pursue your most important goals. Shout out to the host of this show, Chris Cooksey. And again, so subscribe to the Advantaged Investor Podcast and then go to pumpkinsafterdark.com because the award-winning Halloween event in Milton, Ontario is back September 23rd through October 31st.

That's Halloween. And if you buy your tickets now, you can save 15%. 15%. Last time, I think we only could save 10%. 15% if you use the promo code TOMIKE15. So get your tickets now, FOTMs, to Pumpkins After Dark.

Subscribe to The Advantaged Investaged investor wherever you get your podcasts and go to recycle my electronics.ca to find out where you can drop off your old tech your old electronics your old devices and they will safely recycle it instead of having those chemicals end up in our landfill so thank you recycle my electronics.ca And I've already shouted out Ridley Funeral Home, but I got to talk to Brad because he didn't show up at TMLX 13 and he better have a good excuse. I'm sure he does. He's a hardworking man, but shout out to Brad Jones at Ridley Funeral Home, host of Life's Undertaking, which is almost as good as the produce stand hosted by Al Grego. Okay.

Back to you. You're going to take us home. Five, the big five. Fun fact, and this is true. Just today, my wife and I were talking about getting pumpkin,

the pumpkins after dark passes for my daughter's birthday. You would never lie to me, Al. I know you would never lie to me. And that is great news. Use the promo code TOMIKE15 and you'll save 15%. I definitely will. Okay, you're a good man. Everybody follow Al's

lead. Let's sell out this event. Okay. Alright, these next two clips, one is my pick and one is Leslie's pick. The only clue I'm going to give you is uh-oh. That's the only clue I'm giving you. Uh-oh. So, we're going to start with the first one.

Okay. Why did you decide to start this podcast, X's and Uh-ohs? That's a really excellent question. And I can see why people listen to your podcast. Mike's smart. Even though we talked about cocks at the beginning. Well, I'm glad we talked about cocks at the beginning, truthfully. And now we're getting into the divorce.

And yeah, you are divorced. Why there's no cock. There's no cock. You are divorced. So you're married again. So there's definitely no cock. So what happened is that over the years, and we've constructed like this 12-step program within our podcast where we talk about, you know, the moment you find out you're getting divorced to the last step, which is when you become friends again with your ex.

And we were really committed to doing this and to see if we can do this because our divorce was heinous. It was bad and horrible and played out in the media. It was just a clusterfuck. And Dean and I have been talking about doing this for a while. And the truth is we do, well, Dean's still in love with me. That's the first thing. But we get along very, very well. And I don't even want to say it was about our son, Jack. I mean, that was part of it.

But as adults, I felt. That was a catalyst. That was a catalyst. Or a common thread between us. Yes. Our DNA, our offspring. But beyond that, as adults adults i felt that this was unabashedly adult that that for us to reconnect and become friends and revisit why we actually

cared about each other initially was really important to kind of heal and forgive and we've gone through this journey together and it's just been incredible And so many people can relate to it because 60% of the population gets divorced anyway. That clip aged like milk. Okay. Hold on. Hold that thought. I'm going to play the next one right away.

This was 18 episodes later. Wow. I'm lucky enough. I got to produce X's and O's with Dean McDermott and Mary Jo Eustace, but I also produce Humble and Fred's podcast. And we had a chance to promote X's and O's on Humble and Fred. So I arranged for you two to zoom in

at the ungodly hour of 5.15 a.m. California time. So how does that conversation go? Does it start with, mary joe remember that 90210 no no i mean no i can tell you because i wrote a show god poor dean is this too much for you on your birthday it is it's okay it is it is i didn't think uh good i mean great questions guys good deep dive on the questions oh i'm sorry, because I thought that's what this was going to be about. Yeah, so I actually wrote a story about this called Palm Springs, because this is what happened verbatim, is we were on a family vacation with another couple, with Jack and Lola,

and this other couple ultimately sold the story to all the tabloids and made a fortune and renovated their kitchen that's going to happen but um dean was just sort of distanced during the vacation long story short i i write about this i went up to the room to change lola's diaper and dina just got back from golf and um i said uh something's wrong something i just feel something's wrong and i said have you met somebody and he said yeah and i said was it Tori and he said yes I said did you sleep with her and he said yes and I said um he said she's my soulmate we're in love and it's you know and that's where our story began oh he just left he He left. He left. Hi.

Hi. Jealous. All the listeners jealous. He left. He left the podcast. This is all very like this is all real life triggering stuff. I was all up in this thing and listening back. Firstly, I wanted to say I love that woman. I love Mary Jo Eustace still working with her uh senior bitches

great great podcast even jan arden's been on that show hasn't been on toronto mic yet we'll talk about that another episode but maybe that'll be best of at some point but uh wonderful woman i haven't heard from dean mcdermott in a long time like he just basically quit x's and o's and then i ended up seeing my name or at least I wasn't named actually, but like the producer was referenced in like the tabloids and I haven't heard from him since.

But Mary Jo and I remain good friends. But yeah, that was an absolutely wild ride. Like there were so many people asking me about Mary Jo Eustace and Dean McDermott and listening to that first clip, which aged like milk. I mean, remember, we dropped like three episodes or something,

but we recorded like 11 episodes. I had spent months chatting with these two and they got along so fucking well. You heard it in that clip too, that they got along so well that it's like I think something had to give and the rest is tabloid history and I got dragged a little bit.

But yeah, don't ask me. I still get people think I'm so invested in this. I still get people reaching out to me to say, I heard Tori's living at someone else's house now. And Dean's living in a gutter. Like I get these updates. I have no idea what's true. I don't really care.

This is not my life. I'm walking away from all this but i can just report to everybody that mary joe's doing very well and she seems happy and content and i'm happy to produce her podcast but what a fucking weird trip that was yeah that was crazy story it's weird man when you never know what's gonna happen in the tmu the toronto mic universe you never know what's gonna happen i blame humble and fred i think they they're in that brief period of time between launching the podcast x's and o's and those two never speaking to each other again there was a very brief period of time i put them on they did my

show which you played a clip i put them on an episode of on the dl with dana levinson and i had him on humble and fred in which uh you see uh you can hear uh d mcdermott logging off like he said i'm done with this and that that was it for Dean. Like, basically, something happened there and in his life on his birthday. And he was never again, like, part, he didn't record anything else of us after that. Like, that was a, yeah, Humble and Fred

fucked that up. Well, I don't think they did. But I mean, No, of course not. I just love how he says, nice questioning, guys. Like, he was, uh. He didn't like the Tory stuff. But he was, I mean, I did the Tory stuff a but he was okay. I mean, I did the Tory stuff on Mosh. I mean, I'm sure I did the same thing, and he kind of rolled with it, but he wasn't ready for it at 5.15 a.m. on his birthday. No, for sure.

What a moment in history of this podcast. Okay, good clips. All right, these next two clips I call celebrities behaving badly. One's mine, and one's Andy Pandy's. We'll listen to mine first. I think what I want to do or what I don't want to do, that's what's important. Not what I can do best or worst. Whereas, you know, someone with a limitation can stick to what they do best.

Very carefully. You really are something else. Yeah. In other words, you're about to say I'm a c**t. No, I'm not saying anything. What are you into? I can't believe it, man. Okay, that's a wrap.

Cut. Cut. No. Gee, Iggy. I'm happy to talk to you. I know. I can tell. I'm not insulting you.

No, I know. Come on in. Give me a good break. No, I know. Come on, give me a good break. No, I'm honoring you. You're honoring me? I don't think so. Okay, that's Iggy Pop with Eugenie Becker. Tell us what the heck was going on there. Oh, jeez.

Okay, first of all, for all those of you who really want to know, I have video proof of Iggy Pop coming on to me like gangbusters at the Heat Wave Music Festival, which was probably about, you know, a year before, which, of course, I rejected his advances, as all smart young women would have. You know, so Iggy, I think, had a bit of a bone to pick with me because of that. I get it. I'm at my parents having a Friday night dinner. It was really late at night and I get a call from John Martin, who was the producer of the new music, saying, can you go down to the Danforth Music Hall? We got an interview with Iggy Pop like after the show. It'll probably be like two in the morning by the time he's ready to do it.

But please go. And I went, i went okay fine i'll go i was dressed because i was at a friday night dinner with my parents so i probably wasn't wearing the sexy you know vinyl jeans or the kind of you know i didn't look as rock and roll as maybe i normally looked when i was doing the show but whatever right i got to the danforth music hall i go into the dressing room iggy's sitting there like i don't know what kind of gig he had, because I missed the gig, you know, I wasn't there for it. And he's like drinking out of a Mickey of Jack Daniels, which so he was really, you know, drunk. I mean, he was he'd been drinking a lot. And he was just into this very dark thing. And he just started, because I said, in the most innocent way, he told me that he was writing something, writing a book.

And I said, Oh, is that your first attempt at writing? And he got really pissed off that I used the word attempt. He goes, attempt? I don't attempt anything. I do it. And then he got into this really, I am now listening to that, because that was so many years ago. Like, I don't even know, I was maybe like 28 years old or something. I thought, you know what? I handled myself pretty well. I have, you can imagine, Mike, how many interviews I've done in my years, like, you know, since starting my interviewing thing

in the media, like in 1975 in Newfoundland. I honestly tell you that I have never walked out of an interview. I've never shut down an interview. I've never said, you know what? I'm out of here. But that was, he was so insulting, rude and creepy. I just said, I'm out of here and that's it.

So, you know, what can I say? That was a non, I hope we're not ending the podcast now because I don't want to end on that note. No. FOTM Jeannie Becker. Wow. What a very interesting clip there and Iggy Pop who I'm sometimes

surprised that we haven't had to shout out Ridley Peterholm and Iggy Pop he's made the same deal as Ozzy and Keith Keith Richards wow that's a great clip and Jeannie Becker was a great guest and long may she run

yes Toronto legend for sure. Keeping with the theme of celebrities behaving badly, here's a sacred cow one. Can I ask about your relationship with Mick Jagger? Because you're in the video for, well, you're in a few, but you're in just another night. I just got into so much trouble because of course I had my own apartment when I was 15.

I lived in Los Angeles in Beverly Hills. The landlord rented the apartment to me because I was super tall for my, you know, I was old. I was 5'8". I looked like an adult. And obviously the landlord had bad eyesight because he looked me in the eye and said, you can have the apartment. So I got an apartment at 15. I rented myself an apartment at 15. at 15. I rented myself an apartment at 15. And yeah, so I lived on my own. And then I was doing ghost season, New York City, hanging out with my friend Mackenzie Phillips, and I met him. And 1970s Mick Jagger was gorgeous. It was like, Timothy Chalamet. He was so pretty with those big fat lips and that tousley hair. And I look like a little Moroccan boy and we hooked up. And so I'm doing a podcast and they asked me how I got the role in Commando. And I mentioned that I was in a Mick Jagger movie. And they said, how do you know Mick Jagger? And I said, oh, I used to fool around with him when I was a teenager. Well, apparently there's no statute of limitation, which I know now. And I will say that for people, especially young girls that are trafficked, not to be insensitive to their plight, and I'm not, but not everybody is trafficked and not everybody is traumatized. at 15 living on my own, I was one of the most adventurous sexually advanced girls. And yes,

I was underage, but I had my own apartment. And so needless to say, I had discovered this fun thing called sex and got to meet Mick Jagger and he was fine and gorgeous and yummy. And I was like, yeah, I'm down. I'm down with this experience. I know. I hear you. Like, you're basically saying you knew what you were doing. But it wasn't that I knew what I was doing and I won't ever say that. And I was definitely a child, but I was a an emancipated child. And I still feel that sex is a super fun thing to do. And I was underage, but I didn't feel trafficked at all or out of my league. And let's face it, all the men that I slept with that were adults and I was underage, they were all immature.

And I have to say, I look like a little Moroccan boy, so I think they're all gay, too. Wow. Ray Dawn Chong. We should have preceded this with the opinions expressed in the following clip. Are those, yes. Well, it's never too late for Mark Daly. Oh, man. The following program contains adult themes, nudity, and coarse language. Viewer and parental discretion is advised.

Unbelievable. That is quite the clip. And I only met Ray Don Chong, who I quite like. I love her energy. I'm a big energy guy. I mean, give me the right energy and let's go okay but i only met her through mary joe eustace and now i'm thinking it might be time for like another ray don chong chat because she's a very interesting person and uh wow yeah that was quite

the clip right there i don't know what to say it's a little greasy there that's very very much i mean i've got a 16-year-old son. I can't imagine him living on his own. He won't leave the fucking basement, much less all the other stuff she talks about. It's great. I know it was a different time, but hard to imagine. Hard to explain,

as the Strokes would say. Wow. Okay, that's quite a clip. All right. Wow. Okay. We've got to move on because I have nothing more to say about that. It's icky. Here's our palate cleanser and the final clip as well. Oh, this is the last clip? Yeah, this is quite a clip. All right. Wow. Okay. We got to move on because I have nothing more to say about that. It's icky. Here's our pilot cleanser and the final clip as well. Oh, this is the last clip? Yeah, this is the last clip.

All right, I need to brace myself. This, by the way, I won't say it again in a minute, but you did a great job. I know this is a lot of work. Thank you. And you get your lasagna from Palma Pasta to feed the family. I remember the note Veronica wrote for me, by the way. And how old approximately was she when she wrote that note? Was she like seven or eight? Six or seven.

Okay, because I got a seven-year-old, and it's like, what a sweet age that is, right? And it's like, I haven't seen her in a while, but I'm afraid that she's going to look like an adult or something. Like, well, how old is she now? She's nine. Oh, she's only nine. She'll be 10 next month.

In my mind, she's Radon Chong's age. No. Oh, my goodness. Don't go there. Okay, don't go there. Thank you, Veronica, for that handwritten note. I know you probably don't know it, but maybe they should come to Palma's Kitchen on December 9th at noon

for TMLX 14 because they can eat. But you're going to eat too. Thank you for these clips. Thank you to all the FOTMs who are part of your committee or whatever and helped you pick these things. This was great fun. When I get to episode 1,500?

Is that? Okay, I'm doing the math here. No one told me there'd be math here. When I get to 1,500 eventually, you'll have to get your ass to work. Yeah, they're staying on top of the spreadsheet now. There's been some stuff lately. I'll tell you. I feel like if I, you know, there's been maybe I'm getting better at this, Al. I don't know let me there's been some stuff lately i'll tell you i feel like if i you know there's been i don't maybe i'm getting better at this al i don't know

but there's been some nuggets lately holy moly we've already got some some pretty good clips coming up but thank you to george on that list when that fun fact maybe thank you to gourd thank you to leslie thank you to tyler thank you to andy that was andy's pick by the way the last clip and thank you to to leave a the icky pick that was the way, the last clip. And thank you to Levi. The icky pick. That was quite a story because there is a, Steven Tyler's in trouble for, because there is no statute of limitations on this. And he's in some legal trouble.

And it is surprising. Maybe that witness is not, you know, who knows. But yeah, there's no statute of limitations. So you get these people come on podcasts and they say things. So, oh my goodness. I'm looking at Levi Fumka's note in the live stream, working on this spreadsheet, she says.

So good work, everybody. Can't wait for the next installment. Best of, but we have one more to go in the best of 1000 in one through 1250, which was the Stafford episode. Let's hear it, Al.

All right. This one's from Leslie. And like I said, this is a palate cleanser. I think hear it, Al. All right. This one's from Leslie. And like I said, this is a palate cleanser. I think this is just an all-around fun clip. The song for the Feast of the Epiphany would be We Three Kings

because what happened on the Feast of the Epiphany is that the Magi showed up from the Far East bearing gifts. Myrrh, frankincense. What did Maestro say in that song?

Right? Myrrh and frankincense. That's in That's right up on the slide. I make a lot of sense. Sense. Gold. Myrrh and frankincense that's in yeah yeah that's right up on slide I make a lot of sense sense gold Murph and Frankincense

right when I'm in France they throw me Franks frankly a Swiss account is where I bank bank at home I make bills

brown for my sound in the states green like the grass in the ground when I'm in England they pass me pounds I collect cash in every town

so I slide and nowadays I'm so many suckers on my sacroiliac. It's like a rapsack backpack. Quick, Jack. Give me some slack, Jack. Jungle from vine to vine.

Swung line to line. Swung line to nine to nine. I'm colossal. Use a mosquito. I'm a playtaz and you play cheetah. Cheetah fighter. Love to forge. Better yet, I call you Curious George.

Curiosity cold killed the cat. Can't hide from... Let your backbone slide. Wait, we're almost there. Keenan, that was so weak-ass. I need to edit that out. I've never edited it out. Oh, you're the only guy who had me edit an episode,

and you did it again. I don't know where that came from, though. Why did we start doing these because he said gold, Murph and Frankincense and you're telling me about the three kings so yeah the feast of the epiphany so actually clearly let your backbone slide

is the epiphany it's a Christmas carol that I know earlier when I got Kenny Robinson's mom's birthday wrong and i felt really like oh cringy but this one's far worse like like like that is just like i don't know what to say but uh i will shout out hey ref who i met for the first time yesterday he came out to tmx 13 he's an accountant and he's on the live stream right now les Leslie, of course, and Levi Fumka, and Moose Grumpy, and Tobias Vaughn, and VP of No Sales,

and YYZ Gord, and of course, 1236 is here. Shout out to everybody. And yeah, that Ed Keenan clip of us doing Let Your Backbone Slide. And then, you know, yesterday, just as recently as yesterday, Wise Blot was like, you guys talk like stevie b

is bob dylan and i'm like uh yeah that's fucking right we do the uh maestro fresh wash origin origin story is a significant story in this uh in the lexicon in this uh world that we've created here but what a universe what a list

again uh yes we are open is what you listen to that's the Mineris podcast that Al has produced and hosts

and you do a great job on that you do a very good job on that thank you I even like the sounds like you record the sounds of the moment

I'm into that like I like to hear the I don't know the keys rattling or whatever and the door like that's the stuff I love how you put together an episode of Yes, We Are Open.

I appreciate it. I do my best. And the produce stand is the go-to podcast for all the D-gens out there who enjoy either and or Letter Kenny and Shorzy. Correct. Has Hebsey come on yet? No, and I feel like now that he's disappeared from all media,

we'll never get him on. Well, he tweets a lot of golf pictures. He still tweets about the Blue Jays, I noticed. But yeah, Hebsey's taking a break, I think, from everything.

I've turned my focus on getting Stu on, but yeah, he's been elusive. I would have, if I know him, I guess I could have roughed him up this morning and said,

let's make this happen. Thank you, Cuddly Al. I'll get your lasagna out of the freezer. Shout out to Palma Pasta. And enjoy. Thanks for doing this. Thank you. It's been a pleasure.

Next time. And that brings us to the end of our 1,322nd show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Al is at, don't tell me, Poise for the Worm, right?

So P-F-T-W. That is correct. Poise for the Worm. See how I remembered that? Okay, that is your Twitter handle. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer.

Thanks again to Great Lakes Brewery for hosting us yesterday and buying everyone a first beer. I think the event planner thought we should cap it at 50 and I had to talk to her because we blew event planner thought we should cap it at 50, and I had to talk to her because we blew by 50, and that's just people drinking beer, right?

You know, Jarvis didn't drink a beer. But, okay. So we blew by that because we, and they did make sure every FOTM got a free drink, and that's freaking awesome. So thank you, Great Lakes. People support Great Lakes. Palma Pasta, they sent over enough food for all of us,

and they're sweethearts. Yes. Delicious. And you get that lasagna. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. Pumpkins After Dark are at Pumpkins Dark. Go buy those tickets. And Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH.

See you all Monday when my special guests are Steve Pakin, who we were hanging out with last night, and John Michael McGrath, who co-hosts a podcast with him at TVO. And they're not allowed to podcast right now because they're on strike.

Right. So they're coming here because you cannot silence Steve Pakin and John Michael McGrath. They have things to say and I'm going to let them say it. See you all then. How about you? All that picking up trash And then putting down roads

And they're brokering stocks The class struggle explodes