Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Chas Lawther: Toronto Mike'd #1615

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

In this 1615th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Chas Lawther about The All-Night Show on CFMT and his role as Chuck the Security Guard. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Hey, you! Welcome to Toronto Mic'd episode 1615. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, 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. Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past.

Building Toronto Skyline, a podcast and book from Nick Ainii's and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Joining me today, making his Toronto mic debut is Chuck the security guard, AKA Chaz Lother. Welcome Chaz. Hey you. Hey, give me a good one. Give me a good one. Hey, you. I love it.

Okay. My goodness gracious. And I mean, we're going to dive into all this, but I completely missed the all night show because I was like, uh, seven years old. I completely missed the all night show because I was like seven years old. I wasn't up all night for anything. Yes, you probably did miss it to that age. Yeah, it's intriguing now as, you know,

as of course the years have passed that there's, you know, when people say, oh yeah, I was 13 and I'd go down into the basement and get stoned and watch you. And- Right. I wish I was that age, I would have done exactly that. So we're gonna dive into it all.

Sure. But it's great to see you. Thanks for being here. It's great to see you, thank you, thank you. I mentioned you're my second Charles of the day. Today's all Chuck Day because you are a Charles, Chas, Chuck, many monikers. And earlier this morning, Charlie Angus dropped by.

So it's all Chuck's today. Well, okay. Glad to follow Charlie Angus, yeah. Are you as angry at Trump as he is? Well, probably not, because I don't live it moment to moment, but I'm thrilled that there's a man such as Charlie Angus speaking out.

You and I both, you and I both. Now you mentioned, uh, when I got you at the door there, that you had been talking to F O T M that means friend of Toronto Mike, you're now an F O T M. Well, excellent. Thank you. You're in a very exclusive club there, but another member with you is Ralph Ben-Murgy. So tell me why were you talking to Ralph this morning?

Uh, thank you, Ralph, for telling Chaz not to hit his head when he gets down here. But what's your relationship with Ralph and yeah, what's up with Ralph Ben-Murky? Well this morning Ralph and I were talking about doing a show together and we have done things together through the years. Actually, I know Ralph when I think Ralph was probably a teenager. And I moved here in 1975. And then when Yuck Yucks, which was a once a week venture at the time on Church Street started up, Ralph would be there. And of course, Ralph was telling funny stories

about his high school science teacher. And so I got to know Ralph during that period of time. And then when I was doing early, early yuck yucks, he was on the bill. And then actually Ralph introduced me to my wife. Wow, that's a fun fact. Yeah, he, she had been watching the all night show and she knew Ralph from school, I think is a little bit older than Ralph, but, um,

she knew him from school and they were sort of in the same social circle. And she said to Ralph, say, you know, that Chuck has Lothar guy would, what do you think? Would he like me? And he said, yeah, well, you know, if you like reggae And he said, yeah, well, you know, if you like reggae and smoking pot. And so he introduced us. We met at a Halloween party that Ralph and a friend had, and we were the only two people not

in, in costume. So we knew we were made for each other. What a small world, right? Like that's unbelievable. And it kind of ties in with a question that came in on Blue Sky, I posted you were coming over, and John Wing went in to say, please say hello to me, a brilliant comedian.

Oh, you know what? John Wing and I actually, sitting here in your new Toronto Etobicoke home, did a gig just down the street together, and it was odd driving out here because I have so many memories of this area because I did, it was my first job out here was just a couple of blocks from here. I worked at a contact center and action contact center, telephone line for crisis, but we did do a

gig together at a place that doesn't exist anymore. And I can't remember the name of it, but I remember, uh, you know, John and I was working with a partner at the time, Suzette Couture and we did a show together so yes I known John very very funny. So all this is to say so I'm gonna build you up to the All Night Show and then I got clips and we have I got a million questions about the All Night Show on CFMT but what you're so you're an aspiring comedian this was the goal you're you're gonna be a stand-up comic? Well no not really it was. But you're a brilliant comedian I'm told by John Wing so. Oh well that's

most gracious of John. Well you know I moved here in the mid 70s because if if you were in show business you had to move to Toronto and I was in Vancouver and I was had a was in a theatre company out there and we decided that there was a ceiling out there for working in show business so you moved to Toronto because then you could do advertising or radio or whatever else was going on. Right.

And I guess, well, hey, talking politicians, Pierre Trudeau really helped the arts in this country because he funded two programs, one called L.I.P., Local Initiatives Program, and the other called OFY, Opportunities for Youth. And those two funding grants basically started up a lot of theater companies because you could kind of bounce from one to the next. So we were writing our own material and it was the time actors were sort of taking over writing material, the farm show with Passemeria for instance.

So I was writing my own stuff and looking for places to perform. And the first place I performed was a little club called Edgerton's on Wellesley and Church, right around there. And then Mark Breslin had started the once a week Yuck Yucks on Church Street. So I went there and it was just a mishmash of all kinds of people doing stuff, people wandering off the street and doing a monologue or whatever. And that's, so I kind of got into the standup world, not intending to really, I was an actor. And I did characters and that kind of thing. And then when Mark got it going on Bay Street full time,

I was the, actually I was the first week's main star, the main attraction. There you go. Oddly, go figure. Well, it makes sense. You're a brilliant comedian, I've been told. So. Well, thanks, John Wing again. Right, now the name that I'm thinking about, because you're talking about Edgerton's,

and then you're talking about, which became known as the Edge when the Garys were promoting there. That's right. The Garys, the reason I met Jeff Silverman is because Jeff Silverman might have been employee one of the Garys. Like he was right there with the Garys from the 99 cent Roxies days. And then of course, Jeff Silverman is Mr. Yuck Yucks with Mark Breslin.

I don't know what title he holds today, but president and god of yuck yucks or whatever. But Jeff Silverman produces the All Night Show. So is he like, what role does he play in all this? Does he meet you at yuck yucks or something? Like, I'm curious about, does Jeff Silverman say, hey, you're the guy I've been looking for for an idea I have? Basically, yes. Jeff was managing, I guess, Yuck Yucks at the time, and there were two other people involved, Errol Bruce

and Michael Lenick, and they also, I think at the same time as Jeff, had an idea that they wanted to do some kind of all-night show. And so they'd met up and he suggested, come down to Yuck Yucks and see this guy, Chaz Lother, because I think he might be just right to host the show. And so they came down and we met each other and kind of agreed, yeah, I think we've all got

something to contribute here. You see, it's all, I mean, it's funny, because I've been doing this for whatever, 12, 13 years, but like I said, I don't remember the all-night show I only know it because I'm close with a gentleman who goes by the moniker retro Ontario and Conroy who has archived old episodes on his YouTube channel and he's kind of been telling me about this show We just missed like we just missed it. We were too young to be watching any all-night show We were probably watching rocket Robin Hood or something

watching any all night show. We were probably watching Rocket Robin Hood or something, who knows. But these pieces all kind of fit together as I talk to you because Errol Bruce, sadly no longer with us. No longer with us, yeah. But he played Ryerson. He did. Well Edgerton is the first name of Ryerson. Whoa. You see how this is working? Whoa. Edgerton is named after, and again, we're not, you know, we renamed, we, I didn't have anything to do with it, but they renamed Ryerson TMU, Toronto Metropolitan University. But Edgerton Ryerson was the gentleman Ryerson was named for and Edgerton's was named after him and before the Gary's kind of rebranded at the edge.

But there you go. Right? Well, that's right. And I guess nowadays, if, if, if Errol Bruce was playing Ryerson on the All Night Show, he'd have to have called himself the Toronto Metropolitan University. Which I have co-opted for myself as the Toronto Mike D universe. So you would be an FOTM in the TMU, but okay, now it's get when the snake starts eating its own tail. Is that what they do? Anyway, it's very meta over here.

So Jeff Silverman produces the All Night Show. I have a stinger, I've loaded it up, and again, I actually missed this stinger, but again, I was doing all this homework, so I was living in the early 80s, and all this catching up on all that I missed being just born too late. But here is how you a promo for CFMT might have sounded in 1980. I kind of television to more than two million viewers. So there you go. There's a CFMT promo from 1980. Wow. This episode is going to take you back, Jeff. Yeah, I'm flashing back. Flashing back. Alright, so now you kind of started it there, but yeah, give me the nuts and bolts of how

All Night Show comes to be and what it was to be, and then I'll have clips along the way, but sure bury me in the information on the All Night Show as it aired on CFMT in the early 80s. Well, we did a pilot first once we got together, and I can't remember what idea, Jeff sort of had, there was a guy in Buffalo who, I can't remember the name, but he had a kind of a late night show, and Jeff's original idea was a guy in pajamas and and then I think

it through discussion we came up with this idea I had a character I was doing on in my stage act who was a security guard because I always thought security guards were such an interesting job you found so many people who were security guards, but who had completely other lives. So I had a character, a security guard, who was actually East Indian. Of course, I couldn't do that character now. But his dream was to be a country and Western singer.

And he was based on a guy I had actually met when I was in Pakistan. So I think somewhere along the line, I said, or it came up, what if he was a security guard? And then I guess the story unfolded. What if he took over the station at night? And, um, uh, away we went from there and then developing the character on in the pilot, he, I was really wound up because I think Jeff had given me something called a yellow jacket. So I don't know.

Here's the real talk. So this is like an upper, I have some kind of thing, but I was fired up. Wow. This is inside info. And that was quite wrong. Once, once we started doing it, you realized that wasn't the right character for the show at all. It had to be a guy you could really relate to. And it was very calm and was just kind of your friend at night. So I think there was a kind of synchronous gathering because Jeff's ability to coalesce and bring together material that was that's what he really did really well. I mean through the Roxy, the New Yorker all of that that he really could put together and Get material and had a love of old television Michael Lennox the late Michael Lennox was had been working with David Cronenberg on his films and

he was Just obsessed with the minutiae and the technicality. So to be given free rein of working in a television studio all night was like, it was a goldmine for him. Errol was, I think, I think it was tougher for Errol because he, you know, he was a creative, very, very creative guy, but he was sort of also our kind of guru because he had worked on Radio Caroline and he was a little bit older than all of us, but he'd been on Radio Caroline. So we have

another FOTM who worked on Radio Caroline, Keith Hampshire. No kidding. Okay. So for those who don't know, this is pirate radio in the UK, right? That's exactly right. So, so, uh, Errol brought all that cache and also I think Errol was a radio guy. So to play an unseen character who was the friend was kind of a perfect role for him. And then I was, uh, you know, I was in the midst of creating characters and found Chuck the security guard and developed him given the opportunity, given the platform. Okay, well I'm going to play some clips because there are a number of people listening who

are like, I missed this too, Mike. What are we talking about? And is it fair to say that this show exists because is it possible that in Canada we could air less advertising than in the United States? So you needed sort of like interstitial type hosts to kind of between show. What was the reason for it being the raison d'etre? Like why did the all night show need to exist? Why not just air the Twilight Zone and these old 50s shows? Well, I suppose we could have done, but I think the...

See, there was nothing on then at night. There was absolutely nothing on. We came on after Jim Baker and Tammy, after the PTL Club. It went off the air. The national anthem aired and then your TV went to Static. So then we came on and then we were live and there was we were the first all-night television in North America. At that time this was the the Golden Horseshoe had the largest nightworking population in North America who were, you know, had nothing but radio. There was no television to watch.

Uh, though it was just the advent of VHS beta. Uh, and you know, a few people had their own machines. Right. Otherwise you went to a store and you rented either Beta or VHS and you rented the machine and you would take it home. So all of that was happening at this particular time. Oh yeah, I know. Because I was born in 74 and I remember a number of birthday parties around this time, 1980, where you would go to the birthday and basically the kids' parents

rented the V, whatever, Beta beta or VHS rented the tape player and a copy of Star Wars and that was the big thing was we're gonna watch Star Wars in this guy's living room and it was a mind blow oh yeah and it's like you know no one owned their own well no one I knew no own their own player Jeff Silverman did and Mike Glennick did amazing okay let's hear a bit and again I might I mean if you have a bit of time, I might let this brew. I feel like this is the definitive all night show retrospective here. So let's hear. This is courtesy of retro Ontario's YouTube channel and he's got a question

for you coming up. Here we go. Okay. Twilight zone. This is a good Twilight zone, wasn't it? It was interesting, posing the philosophical problems about being replaced by automation and so forth. Actually at the end there, that robot was Robbie the robot, very very famous robot, was in Forbidden Planet, 1956, very very famous science fiction film. Yes. And Ryerson was just telling me that Robbie was actually destroyed. By the MGM prop department. They destroyed him and a fan rebuilt him from the original original plans. Yes.

So he's made TV appearances and everything. He was Robbie the robot. Okay more clips coming up. Just a little taste though. That's you and Errol Bruce in the guise of Ryerson and you're Chuck the security guard and you're live all night on CFMT and yeah you're airing like Twilight Zone episodes and shorts and little videos and things but between them you're taking calls and you're having contests and it's kind of awesome like it sounds amazing. Well Mike we had we had no idea. Let me tell you, when it, when I tell you, when we started, we had no idea what it was going to be. No idea if anyone was watching at all, not a clue. And, uh, so I used to take the street car down to work.

And after the first week I said to Jeff, look, you're going to have to get me taxis because I'm getting mobbed here on the street car where was work like where did they record this right at the bottom of Bathurst Bathurst and Lakeshore in the MTV building which is still there right I actually think it's a shelter now I'm not sure but I think the shelter now yeah okay it's been involved there but yeah I know that building well yeah but like not too far, like where the stadium road was or whatever, where the tip top Taylor wasn't all that.

That's right. Right. So did you get a chit or whatever for a, uh, for a kid? Yes, I did. And it exploded all of a sudden we were just, you know, people were waiting outside the building all night. And so we realized we had this huge audience and that it wasn't merely let's just run an Outer Limits

or let's just run another show, that we actually had people. So then within the first week we got a phone so people could phone in. So people would phone in all through the night and then we started adding contests. And we became just a part of the fabric of the nightlife in Toronto.

Um, amazing. Yeah. We, uh, well, oh God, I could go on. It's like a flashback for me. Go on. Because, uh, I actually have a lovely note from somebody you thanked on the final episode and I have a longer clip from the final episode, but yeah, go on. Let me, let me hear more Chaz about the All Night Show.

Well, once we, once we were all given sort of free rein to, to do whatever we wanted in a TV studio when everyone else was at home, Michael Lenick, of course, took over and started doing blue screens, which no one had done before. Uh, so, you know, he'd say, where do you want to be Chaz? Well, let's, I don't know, let's put you in a you in a snowdome in New York and let's improvise with that. So he would work out those bits. And then we were, you know, when when clubs closed up around three in the morning, musicians would be contacting us.

So then we started having musicians dropping in. And and then it became a kind of a place like Richie Havens came by to play. I watched this clip on YouTube the other day, amazing. Yeah it was amazing to be sitting next to Richie Havens and he's there playing and just became a you know we became part of the fabric and I think the other thing too Mike is that we were there were a lot of blind pigs then in Toronto drinking bars after hours drinking bars, because there was a real Queen Street scene happening too. So you know, in the zeitgeist, all of this kind of came together, I think, and taking

over the airwaves. So I think it was hugely important being live, I think to your earlier question, it would not have worked. People would have watched and been happy to see outer limits and old television this, that and the other. But I think it was the, the live aspect of it that turned it into a community. And there was one scene I was, I feel like I might be stealing a question from somebody coming up, but that's okay.

I'm going to get to the questions and the comments from listeners in a moment here, but I was watching you watching you interviewed somebody so live, you're having an interview with somebody who was in the Twilight Zone episode you just watched, except it turned out this was an actor pretending to be the, do you remember that story? Yes, I do. Well, that was actually my friend, Wayne Robson,

the late Wayne Robson, who was in all of Robert Altman's films. He was in Popeye and McCabe and Mrs. Miller etc. So we were talking about this idea and I said you know Wayne do you want to phone in and be somebody and we've got this we've got this show so he phoned and I had no idea what he was going to to do and so I look at it now and he had this idea where he lived you maybe you have it here so I know I don't have it actually okay but I came up with this idea where he lived. Oh, maybe you have it here. So I know I don't have it actually Okay, but I'm really he came up with this idea that as he was improvising it on air that he was living in an

old person's Trailer park and and at night they would circle the trailers and there's who's riffing on this and it was god It was funny. I just it was brilliant and you know It's about four in the morning and uh away he went so yes, but it sounds like you had immense creative freedom Like such that no one would even dream about having that on terrestrial tv in 2025 Oh, it was yeah. No. No, absolutely not. We were you know, given free reign to do whatever. I mean michael was doing technical stuff that was just free form. And I was just, you know what?

We've got 10 or 15 minutes. What can you fill it with? I don't know, let's have a contest. Let's have a, I know, one of the big contests we had, we would get a phone number for a phone booth and then we would give out little clues as to where the phone booth was. And if you answered the phone booth with, Hey, you, you would win prizes. And so that was, that was a weekly contest

we had. Okay. I'm going to play that again. I did this off the cold open. So where does that come from? That was an idea I had one night that early with that the security guard was unarmed but he would have to have some kind of authoritative voice that froze people in their tracks and that was so I came up with the Hey You and then it became a sort of calling card and then there was a band called The Start who had an album out at that time called Hey You so we used we used them. Well you know now because around this time a little bit later maybe around this time there was a children's show on TVO called Today Special.'s Special. Sure. Okay. You probably know today's special.

So that was more my what I was watching rather than the all night show, probably in 1980. But today's special was like after hours, like all night, obviously it wasn't live or anything, but it was like supposed to be at Simpson's department store after hours. And you had your Sam Crenshaw was the security guard and the mannequin would come to life and all this stuff. And I always wondered like, is today's special influenced at all by the all night show? Just food for thought. I don't have any definitive answer here, but something to chew on maybe.

Well I chew on it Mike, but I have no answer myself. No answers in the zeitgeist. We'll have to find out who created that today's special. Were we connected? It's funny how I don't remember this, but we put this in the calendar way back in 2024. But were we connected by Alan Zweig? Do you remember who connected us?

Or maybe you don't even know who connected us. It was Alan Zweig. Alan Zweig. So let's say hello to Alan Zweig. How do you know Alan? I know Alan again through my wife. Alan and I had a baseball team together. We played softball in the early 80s and

Along with Ralph I think was on the team and a few other friends and so that's where I know Alan from Yeah, it was Alan a good softball player. Yes. He was very fine left fielder Oh, that's where you put your weakest weakest player It's like less Nessman you stick them in left field and hope he can catch something if it comes his way. Okay, hello to FOTM Allen Zweig who connected us. And of course, this episode came out of the fact that the aforementioned Jeff Silverman came over because I was going to moderate a panel discussion in the the Red Room of the Masonic Temple because Gary Taup had a book coming out. Well, it's out now. And Gary Taup, Gary Cormier, Colin Brunton, Ivor Hamilton, and Jeff Silverman were on this panel. And I wanted to have Jeff over here before the panel

so I knew what I was talking about. And then we're talking about the All Night Show, and I'm like, I want Chuck the security guard on Toronto Mic. And I think I threw it into the atmosphere. Alan Zweig listened to that episode, and he's like, here's a chance for you. Well that's wonderful. There's the rest of history. Okay, good. Okay.

That's wonderful. And then, and then shortly after that, I think you had Ralph on because then Ralph mentioned, Oh, you should meet Mike. Right. Okay. So Ralph came over with Brent Bamber. Ralph's been over a hundred times, but his, he came over, you're right, late 2024 with Brent Bambery because when Brent Bambery was on, he suggested I get him and Ralph in the basement together, and then I kind of forgot about it, and then I bumped into Brent at Lambton Arena

where my kid, my 10-year-old was playing hockey, and I bumped into Brent, he was picking up skates, and he was there with his son, and he's like, don't forget the Ralph episode, and then I like literally, during the game, I think I texted Ralph and said, Hey, would you visit and do an episode of Brent Bambry? Rest is history. See, that's how things work.

If you put an idea in my head during this episode, Chaz, it might happen. Okay. And maybe Alan's why I will hook that one up too. Okay. So some questions and comments from the listenership before I get to more clips. Yeah. Walk of life. I don't know if that's a dire straights fan or whatever, but Walk of Life writes, please thank him for all those nights he

kept me company when the insomnia kicked in. You were like an insomniac's best friend. Well it was an interesting dynamic with the audience because there were insomniacs of course who watched all night, but the early part of the evening we went on at one o'clock and I probably till about three o'clock were stoners and people, you know Eager to watch an outer limits and that kind of thing middle of the evening was post club folks and people in blind pigs who would Be drinking and carrying on for the rest of the evening and then around

435 in the morning, I think for somewhere in that ballpark Which was when we ran Burns and Allen and kind of those slightly older shows I dream of Jeannie and whatnot were Older people who would be getting up early because they couldn't sleep all night So the demographic of the audience changed throughout the evening But to Chuck the security guard changed throughout the evening or you were consistent? Well, I'd get a little higher during the evening. How many substances were consumed after that first episode?

Was it you're going to go clean and sober from hence on in or was there any mother's little helpers at play? We smoked pot. We were pot smokers and it was odd talking drugs because hey it's legal now. It's legal now. I checked. I checked of Charlie Angus. It's all good now. But it was an odd time because it was kind of as cocaine became the drug of choice and we were not cocaine people at all. None of us used cocaine. Well your heart thanks you. No kidding. So there would be people sometimes coming in off playing a club, and they'd be ready to get stoned.

But you couldn't do that. It was not that kind of show. I guess it was a stoner show in a way, because we were very relaxed. And we realized right away when we talked to people on the phone, we're dealing with people who are laid back and just sort of enjoying themselves and You know, maybe having a piece of pizza or whatever the case may be but it was it was a calming show

I think I find it kind of yeah kind of calming in kind of when I rewatch these episodes on YouTube I mentioned there's a bunch on YouTube you can watch and yeah I watched the final episode again just the other day to prepare for this and I got a clip from that coming up a couple of clips actually but it is kind of calming it's it's got this kind of what's a pace to it that just kind of brings you down sort of like you're you're smoking a little cannabis. Well I think that's true I also think probably looking back at it from now where there's just simply nobody on television improvising for five or ten minutes just riffing and oh maybe I'll answer the phone and you pick up and

have a little chat with someone on the phone and then it's you know maybe oh I know Ryerson I'll talk about a character who was in this show it was all and the fun fact you dropped about Robbie the robot like and I'm listening like oh this is my kind of thing like like here's a little fun fact about Robbie the robot or whatever oh well that was that was all Michael Lenick because Michael Lenick was the original Google before there was Google he he just you'd ask him a question about what what who's that character and then he would have a five-minute dissertation on a connection to this

character who was in this film and et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, I was going to, so, so when I think about this kind of, you have time and space to kind of be creative and try different things or whatever all night long, I think about radio because until, I don't know when it went away. It did go away at some point, but there was a time. I remember in the nineties, for example, when Bob McAvoy, senior was the program director at the fan five 90, he gave his son, Bob Maccawitz, junior, and his buddy, a couple of guys you might've heard of some guy named Jeff Merrick and a guy named Jeff

Strombo, Opolis. I don't know if you know these names, Strom Strombo and Merrick and Mackle Jr. had a show called The Game where they could kind of try different things and you had some space and it's something that doesn't exist anymore. But to have that on terrestrial TV, quite something. So I'm going to get to another comment though. Sure, sure. Yon Grey writes, the all Night Show was weird and wonderful, a special bygone moment, but especially for the lost and lonely. Its engaging and uplifting host and friends meant the world. I loved it.

Until the last notes of the last show, Joni Mitchell's Night in the City, moons up, nights up, taking the town by surprise. Every show started by smashing the fourth wall, whether it was Chaz's goodness and humor or the dial-in write-in engagement or the shared experience of the experimental. Somehow there emerged a special relationship between host and viewers, a lifelong friend that we have yet to meet.

Thank you, Chaz. Wow. That's lovely. Thank you, Chaz. Wow, that's lovely. Thank you. And I got that on Blue Sky, so hello to Jan. Hello Jan, thank you so much. Steve Cole writes, I was in university when that show was on, maybe 1980 or 81, well you're exactly right, Steve, because I did my homework, okay.

And I remember it well. I was the only one amongst our group who stayed up to watch it. 45 years later, 10pm is a stretch. So Steve Kuhl has fond memories of staying up when he was in university and watching. Did you have a lot of university viewers? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can imagine. Okay, here's a big question. So I mentioned radio. And until fairly recently, there was like all night live stuff on radio. and sometimes you had the freedom to do stuff because the boss wasn't listening. This was all kind of changed recently. But Retro Ontario writes in, you gotta ask Chaz about being on the air the night John Lennon was assassinated. Okay, well, there's two things.

I'll back up just quickly about the radio because I think in some ways, the All Night Show came out of FM because when FM first came on, it was free form and often at night and it was vastly different than the sort of hyperactivity of AM radio. And when we were doing the All Night Show, we connected up and would do broadcasts with the folks on Chum, CFNY, so we'd kind of all be on, all be hosting the evening together. Liz Janick was over at CFNY and she was fantastic and so that was part and parcel of it. We were not on the very night John Lennon got killed, I was actually at Yuck Yucks and heard the news But we knew we were coming up the next we were on the next night

He dies on a Monday night because it was announced on Monday night. Yeah, and yeah, that's right And we were we ran older shows on the Monday night, and then we went live Tuesday, and then we did Yeah kind of holding everybody's hand. That was a very, very profound event, I think, in, in all of our lives, people of a certain age. Um, and, um, yeah, so we did a live show the next night and, um, yeah, I just remember it as being incredibly sad. Well, we have to kind of remember now that, you know, in the time before the internet, you had, you know, radio and TV, that was your, you know, cause

newspapers had to be, you know, they were all, they were printed and then they were on the paper, but it was of the moment. And then there was, you know, that was it once it's printed, but radio and TV was your only live outlets for such a thing. Right. That's right. So, and it mainly radio, cause you were the only show doing what you were doing. That's right. Yeah. And even like you're only in 81. So there's not even a much music yet. Much music shows up in 84 and much music does like a chunk

of hours and then repeats it. Like they aren't live all night on much music either. But Fred Waterer, that's a tough word to say. Fred Waterer writes, I'm not sure CFMT realized what they had there. Every university student that I knew was watching regularly and it was often water cooler talk, as in quotations. They probably didn't have a water cooler at this university. What's going on? The next day at school, I wrote many an essay and studied for many classes with the show on, Hey you, Hey you, Hey you. Yeah. So you can tell I wasn't there. Okay. So yeah, again, we talked about the university people, the insomniacs, the clubbers,

the old people who get up early. I'm sure the shift workers, you were a delight, I'm sure for somebody, uh, shift work or whatever. But these, these were your people. So I'm going to get to the final episode now because I have a great note from FOTM Gere Joyce. But before I get to the finale, if you will, why does it all come to an end? It's like less than two years, I think they get how long did they give this show the all night show? A year, exactly. One year. One year. So it's debuts at some point in 1980 and then a year later in 81 it's gone. September, first week week in September 80 it debuted and we finished up first week in September of 81. Why did it come to an end?

Well, there are many stories. I think, Let's get the real talk here, Chad. I think we look at this, this is the business end of it and Jeff Silverman would probably have have a better idea of this. I think there were two things, at least that I heard, all of which we were trying to incorporate.

But I think then as it was becoming more and more popular, people, other advertisers wanted to get involved and couldn't because the space wasn't available. That's one thing. And the other thing was that it became the biggest show by far and away on CFMT. It became what CFMT was known for. And CFMT was actually an ethnic station. It's multicultural. That's right.

And I think that was part of the problem to too. It probably was more suited to City TV. Yeah it does honestly and I think it was kind of emulated. I'm thinking of Bob Segherini, the Iceman. Yeah he followed and tried to do that. It definitely feels like a Moses thing. It was and when it first went on the air there was there was Jeff was selling it to Moses and then Danny Anuzzi who had been involved with City TV had started up at Channel 47 and he gave Jeff the go-ahead and I think hey look I'm not telling tales out of school I think Moses was quite upset that it had gone that way and

There was a you know know there was some kind of bad blood happening. I could see Moses doing that you know you know I think much music only came to be because he went to like license MTV went down in New York or something was gonna bring MTV to Canada and at the last minute possibly MTV in New York wanted X dollars more or something in the deal and Moses was basically like screw you I'll do it myself. Well I'll tell you a tale out of school. I'm ready now.

Or it'll be in school. And this involves Alan Zweig because Alan was working I think or involved somewhere in City TV after the All Night Show and I remember Alan saying to me we were playing baseball and he said you know I was in this meeting and there was talk about we're starting this thing and you know we're actually going to be kind of having disc jockeys walking through the studio as we did on the All Night Show which was all brand new. I mean we just kind of went through the whole building and took it to ourselves. So those ideas and it came up, uh,

someone said, well, you know, you're talking about the all night show. Why not get Chas Lothar and check the security guard? And Moses said, no, don't want that because that's CFMT. And, um, it's been burnt. It's been burned. Exactly. So we start our own. So I think there was, there was a lot of that going on, I guess. Well, uh, own. So I think there was there was a lot of that going on I guess. Well okay so I'm gonna talk about Gare Joyce for a moment because I know Gare is listening in Kingston Ontario and Gare Joyce was working at the Toronto Sun phone booth or whatever they had an all-night phone center at the Toronto Sun all nights. Let me read his question here since I'm trying to remember what was Gare Joyce doing in 1980. I think he was going by the name Gary Joyce at the

time actually, which is his real name, but Gare Joyce writes, Chas was so great. Thank him for mentioning me on the last show working the midnight police deck at desk at the Toronto sun. Wow. I got mileage out of it with those deskers who worked the late shift and watching when they got home and couldn't sleep, tell him I was dialing and getting a busy signal when I was calling in with a trivia answer, the license plate number

in the prisoner opening. Wow. And he's got another question, but I actually, I found this finale. Like I said, I was watching actually, I found this finale. Like I said, I was watching YouTube and I found the finale. And of course I'm like, okay, gear has been telling me for a while now. He's mentioned in the last show is gear pulling is gear full of it. Like is gear misremembering?

Will I find this clip? So I'm now going to play this clip for you, Chas and FOTM's listening listen closely for a shout out to Gary Joyce our very own Gare Joyce here we go. Yeah I'd like to say hi to Roger and Alan and everybody else that watches the all-night show in East York. Okay, sounds good. I'd like to say goodbye to you and Ryerson and Leonard when he was on. And well, I've been watching since practically the beginning and I think it was a great show. Oh well thanks very much. We've had a great time. Really we have.

Yeah we have. It's been wonderful. It's been amazing, yeah. I mean, it's been amazing talking to people and being in contact, because it feels, I mean, obviously we have contact with each other, contact through the medium, so that's been good, for sure. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Good, good.

Oh well, there'll be more. There will be more. Well, good seeing you. Okay, take care. Bye. Bye bye. Who are the guys at The Sun? Oh, Gary Joyce. Let me give everyone at The Sun a hey you. They watch and they support us.

And a wonderful article last week in Sunday Sun, which I was out of town for, but I came back and I saw this article and it was wonderful. So to you people, hey, you! So, you people hey you so you people everyone oh what am I talking about here anyway listen this is this is some some games that we played some take of some games so you but what are we talking about yeah some good games on this way okay here we go start okay here we go. Start up. Press the button. Yep.

Okay, here we go. So there's definitive proof, Chaz, that you do shout out Gary Joyce in the final episode of The All Night Show. Wow. Hey, you. Yeah. And that's where I pulled it from. Tremendous.

And Gare, there you go. Gare doesn't know I was going to dig that up and play it. So I'm hoping he's got a big smile on his Irish mug right now in Kingston, Ontario. But there's an example of this many years later, you know, Gare Joyce would go on to become a hell of a sports writer, working many years at Sportsnet and elsewhere. And he starts out in the midnight police desk and

he's watching, of course, the all night show. We were very big with policemen. Not bad. Gare is one. Well, Gare did not become a police officer, that is for sure. Now, he did have a question. He wants me to ask you about Paul Del Stud. Sure.

And then he wanted me to, of course, thank you for mentioning him on the farewell show. So who is Paul Del Stud? Paul Del Stud was a nom de gare, nom de comedy of a man who Jeff knew and worked at Yuck Yucks and he had a kind of act where he wore a he sort of did a Fonzie kind of thing. He wore a black leather jacket and looked really tough and kind of talked like you know did that kind of thing and and Jeff thought now that would be really funny if we had him read Household Hints so we brought on Paul and he would be given a book of Household Hints and then have you got some of Paul? No I got no Paul I was I'm eager to learn about Paul. Yeah, that was Paul Okay, what's Paul's real name?

I Can recall, you know, I look I do but I ran into Paul called him Paul a few years ago And he got quite upset and insisted that he was not Paul Dale stud and knew nothing about Paul Dale stud interesting Yeah, he's okay. He's rewriting the history. Okay. Not everyone's proud of these, uh, these gnomed comedy here. Okay. But Rob Pruss, okay.

Shout out to Rob Pruss who is responsible for the cover of Rosie and Grey that will close this episode. He writes in, uh, my first time watching the Twilight Zone was on the All Night Show in early 1981 when we were recording our first spoons album at Grant Avenue in Hamilton with Daniel L'Anouar. Wow. Some names were dropping there, that's amazing. So yeah, more Rob Proust spoons

talk next week with Toast by the way. And also a guest Alan Gregg who apparently managed to get the spoons to do some kind of endorsement for one of his conservative political candidates in the early 80s. So stay tuned for a deep dive into that. But okay, our sessions were late night and early morning. And since I was only 15 and couldn't drive, I'd sleep over at Gord Depp's place

on the couch in their family room. And we usually got home from the studio around 12.30 and I stayed up and watched Chuck the security guard the mishmash mix of film TV stuff was so cool and eye-opening to me I loved it all and yes it was all retro 50s 60s stuff as decades passed kitschy has become the new normal and now anything goes all the time something for for everybody. But if you remember when old was new, it can stay new. There are a few YouTube channels I follow these days with a similar vibe, and if you're interested, check out,

he says, pics and portraits is one that he likes. But there you go, there's another anecdote of somebody who remembers fondly tuning in for that one year, tuning into the all night show on CFMT. Wow, wow. So how does it feel? This is like, I told you, it might be like, this is your life. Like when was the last time you spoke this much about the all night show, or maybe it was yesterday at a bar or something? Well, no, it's been some time, but I will say that when I do, you know, I can see people and

they go, all right, you were Chuck the security guard. And Mike, there was something about, I guess, the time, uh, the immediacy of it, the fact that it was live. It, the, the, the very essence. And I always say this is it felt like a family. It felt like we had created a family, uh, that went through the night. Um, and, and whatever people were doing and staying up and whatever age they were at, there was a familial feel to it that I don't know anything else that quite got that.

I mean, you'd be a fan of something. You know, you can be a fan of Friends or TV show this that or the other thing. You can be a fan of friends or TV show this, that, or the other thing. You can be a fan. But there was something familial about the all night shown to be at the epicenter of it was just fantastic for me. I have to say the high point of my acting and writing. Is that right? Oh, without question, it was.

Have you been chasing that high ever since? No, no, no no no no because I could chase the dragon I could I could never get it again I mean you know I hosted to showcase for numbers we're gonna get to that that's where I first saw you for sure I'm gonna get to that absolutely I was tuning in for that those you know sometimes you got us you're looking for a little nudity at a late night if you're a teenager oh I've got a good story about that okay well don't forget that story.

I'm definitely going to want that story for sure here. But let me before I have one more clip from the all night show and then we move on here. Let me give you just a couple of gifts, Jazz, because you made the trek and I'm glad we could do this. Yeah, you know, this is what I do with my guests. Alan Zweig gets gifts, Ralph Ben-Murphy gets gifts. Now even you get gifts. Although John Wing never got a gift because he

wouldn't leave California to do this episode. And we had to do it remotely. No, no lasagna for him, but I have in my freezer chas, a large lasagna for you from Palma pasta. Wow. You can take that home with you. Delicious, authentic Italian food from the, uh, Pichucci family at Palma pasta.

Ooh, I look forward to that. Well, you know, it goes good with Italian food, fresh craft beer. Here in Southern Etobicoke, we have a fantastic, fiercely independent brewery called Great Lakes Brewery. And that beer is a courtesy of GLB. Well, thank you so much. Thank you to them. And thank you to you.

Well, I'm not even done yet because I have a measuring tape for you from Ridley funeral home. So not even done yet because I have a measuring tape for you from Ridley funeral. So, you know, you gotta have a measuring. I had a guest recently Arlene Bishop. She was fantastic, but she couldn't eat gluten because of a, um, disorder, whatever. She couldn't have gluten. So she couldn't have the delicious craft beer

and the, she couldn't have the lasagna I had for her, but so she really appreciated the measuring tape. So. She loved measuring things. Absolutely. Who knows, but she's measuring with that right now. So thank you to Ridley Funeral Home. They have a great podcast called Life's Undertaking.

By the way, speaking of great podcasts, Nick Aynes, who's gonna come on and introduce himself, and we're gonna get to know Nick, he kind of stepped up. I dropped an episode in the feed on New Year's Eve about how I need a new partner at Toronto Mic to keep this going so I can get the ongoing history of all night, the all-night show and get Chuck the security guard in here and Nick Aines put up his hand and said I

want to partner with you and keep this going. He's amazing. He's with Fusion Corp developments but he has a great podcast called Building Toronto's Skyline and I'll be talking more about Fusion Corp and Nick Aini's and Building Toronto's Skyline in the near future. And last but not least, before I play this last clip, RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Chaz, if you've got a room or a drawer or a closet full of old tech, old electronics, old devices, old cables. Don't throw that in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca, put in your postal code and find out where you can drop that off. Okay. You got your marching orders there. Will do. Alright,

this is a bit of a longer clip but this is how it all ends. I feel like we need to hear how it all ended. The final episode of the all night show on CFMT The old swan song well, I can't believe it. Yeah, I can't believe it It's been a wonderful seven months eight months nine Hello, Leonard. Hi Chuck. That's a good Okay, well What can I say you should speak rice well

What can I say? You should speak, Ryerson. Well... And... how do you say? I'm... I'm really... I'm actually really sad to be going, on the one hand. But then on the other hand... I can hear the cash register going... Yeah, I know, I understand that. I understand that. And it's not like I'm disappearing forever and ever and ever. I will be around occasionally and I will be talking to you on the telephone and maybe once I buy my own mini-cam I'll go out and shoot stuff around the city.

You can speak over this. What are you going to say? Well that's really interesting because I think this is not from the last show. Oh, it's not from the last show. This is when Ryerson left. Yeah, we had a lot of fun. Because Ryerson... You've gone from just being a good buddy and...

Okay, Ryerson leaves before the show ends. That's why he says seven, eight months. That's exactly right. Okay, my apologies. So this is the only time in the history of the All Night Show you see... ...Eral Bruce. You never saw him. Right. You did not see him in

this one no you don't not even for a split second in the final show you see him for a split second because he came back for the final show okay Earl had had enough okay Errol couldn't Errol was getting tired he was he was running the camera and I think his creativity it wasn't you know there was he was a feeder of information in a camera operator which he was not really what he wanted to do so he was replaced by a character called Leonard who was created by Michael Lenick so we figured maybe we could just jump Leonard in and then Ryerson came on in the weekends and the story with Ryerson was that his

his Uncle grandfather someone or other had given him a castle in Scotland And so he was going back to manage that or live in it or something so this yeah, that's I'm thinking release No, you know what? I'm that's I wasn can tell I'm digging. I'm catching up here. But this is not the final episode of the only show. Let's hear how it ended for. Come on, stand over there. Oh, my mic's cord. Leonard, do you want to know that?

I think it's the equipment telling you no, no. Oh, well. I'm rich. I think it's the equipment telling you, no, no. Ah, well. I'm rich. He's a star, it's wonderful. Good night. Enjoy the next ten years, or the next fifteen. Grey beard.

Or a couple of months. He's up and Walking stuff or something. It feels very live on the floor, which I like. That's what this podcast is like. I like the idea that these are unedited, live on the floor recordings. I tell you, that's the tradition. That's one of the things that I think I would like to leave behind, like a, you know, a legacy for the next 50 years of the All Night Show. That the cameraman shouldn't be seen. How do you feel about that? And thus it came to pass. It's your choice, man.

I think here he shows his face, right here. The camera's all yours. I hope I know what to do with it, Ryerson. I'll follow your legacy. And keep the face hidden! It's fine with me. Maintain the mystery. Goodbye. Farewell, Ryerson.

And it was Ryerson DuPont, right? Ryerson DuPont, yes. Ryerson DuPont, yes. Good night, Chuck. Wow. Sam, sorry for your loss. I have a little clip here of, I think it's a bit of a reunion here with Reiner Schwartz. Yeah, Reiner was, you know, night music. Of course, you can't interview Reiner because Reiner's passed from the scene. He was an odd duck and we wanted to get him on and then he finally he came on

right I think maybe in the last month of the show and everyone was a little nervous about what he might do or say because I think he felt like we'd kind of done something that he had done first. And I know when I first came to Toronto, Night Music was his show and it was on TVO and it was fantastic. I missed Reiner Shores. I knew him actually because there was a period of time on CFNY when they were going top 40 to sell to increase the listenership.

C-R-E-A, cash ruins everything around me. We're like going top 40 to sell to increase the listenership. It's just you know, my CRE a cash ruins everything around me. I think that's a Wu Tang song but And then they brought in Reiner Schwartz at some point to be the program director over there to try to write this right? It was kind of bananas there but so this is it's called a little Reiner in the night and You'll I'm gonna play it and you'll tell me what I'm listening to here. One could only hope that they will bring back a show

like the all night TV show. I think people are starving for something made up of real people embracing the community of the nighttime and all of the people that go with the nighttime. I feel a personal sense of regret, and I know that I share it with many, that this is going to end soon. I can't believe it.

Well, it's finally. Radio and television to me are the sources of three essential things. Information, entertainment, and companionship. Companionship factor is what we have eliminated out of the media process. It was a major high point in my life, and I loved playing the character.

But I think the greatest level was to have this sense of communication and community that we enjoyed for that year. And that still goes on. So what do you think? That's right. So, yeah. Well, so what exactly was that? I have no idea.

Okay. Okay. So no idea. It's called, it's titled. Okay. I was there. Yes. We hear Liz Janek who you can hear on episode 1021,

1021 of Toronto Mike. She joined me for that episode. We did like an ongoing history of CFNY with Marsden and everybody. That clip is called a little Reiner in the night is what it's called. Wow. And yeah, there you go.

Okay, so we move on from the all night show. And when I was chatting with my friend, Ed Conroy from Retro Ontario, he said, don't forget this clip. And I already had it loaded up. So Ed, I already had this loaded up, but lest we forget. ["Gone, Gone, Gone"] Gone, gone, gone.

Gone, gone, ah, gone, gone. Ah, yeah. No, no, no, no, no. Chiclets! Chiclets! Mm-hmm! Flavored gum inside! Flavored shell outside! Flavor?

Flavor. Flavor. Flavor. Mmm! Sperm! Sperm! Sperm! Chiclets!

Chiclets! Gum gum, mit flavor flavor. Gum? Okay, I remember that campaign so well, gum mid flavor flavor. Gum. Okay, I remember that campaign so well, gum gum flavor flavor. Yeah. That's you. That's me.

Oh, the chicklets, the gum of the flavor in the middle of what not. So there's one ad that you were in, one memorable ad that I still remember to this day. That may well be the only memorable ad I was in. There were a couple of others but I can't think that they were memorable. So what do you do after the All Night Show? So you only get a year out of the All Night Show and what was next for Chaz Lother? Well I had continued to work with

Suzette Couture. We had had a quite a successful stage show called joined at the hip which we then produced for global television and Then I you know I just I guess got some cache a from being checked the security guard in in I didn't go back to stand up because I was you know superseded quickly by I, you know, superceded quickly by really good standups. I mean, Howie Mandel came up and Jim Carrey, and I just went, wow, these people are really good, and I'm not that good at that. And it's not really what I wanted to do.

I trained as an actor and a writer at university. So that's what I went into. I spent a couple of years as the story editor for CODCO, the Newfoundland Theater Troupe, when they went to television. And then I was acting through the 80s, just a whole bunch of acting and writing work. And yeah.

Well, there's the hosting role we're going to talk about right now, which is where I first see Chaz Lothar. So apparently I saw him in a Chicklets ad. I didn't know. I was seeing him in a Chicklets ad. By the way, the, the, the name of the Twilight Zone writer director that you, uh, chatted with as a hoax, if you will, it was, uh, Montgomery Pittman. I don't know if you mentioned the name or not. Montgomery Pittman. Yes. And a little research if you will, it was Montgomery Pitman. That's right. I don't know if you mentioned the name or not.

Montgomery Pitman, yes. And a little research tells you, because I bet you mentioned Wayne Robson was doing the voice of Montgomery Pitman, but a little research tells us Montgomery Pitman, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home, he passed away in 1962. And I think that's why we felt that we could actually do him in 1980. Yeah, that's right. And you couldn't reference it. You couldn't go online and Google and go Wikipedia.

If we said he was dead or alive, he was dead or alive. Too funny. All right. This is where I first meet, other than the chicklets ad, you. Here we go ladies and gentlemen welcome grandview showcase review i'm ready to be evening

and chas luther tonight we're continuing with our presentation of the anthology of films which were produced by Alan Bleasdale for Channel 4 in England. Bleasdale is best known for his TV series, The Boys from the Black Stuff, and GBH, for instance, which starred Michael Palin. But he gave young writers the opportunity to have their scripts produced. Two thousand scripts were submitted to him and Requiem Apache is one of those that was produced. Now this series as far as I'm concerned just keeps getting better and better. Requiem Apache is marvelous. It has all the other

attributes that these films had which include terrific dialogue, wonderful acting, and it has a very, very surprising ending. Now the star of it is Alfred Molina, and Alfred Molina is one of those actors who absolutely loses himself in every part he plays. He was the sailor on leave in Letter from Brezhnev, he was the treacherous guide in Raiders from the Lost Ark, and he played the very flamboyant David Hallowell, Joe Wharton's lover in Prick Up Your Ears. So he's marvelous and watch out for Julie Walters in this. Now she appears in many of Bleasdale's projects. She's actually doing

one now called Jake's Progress on English TV and she sings the song over the final credits and she has a small cameo. Absolutely hysterical, so you watch out for her. Now I'll be back after the film to tell you a bit more about this and to tell you about some of the other upcoming films we have here on Showcase. And to respond to some of the correspondence which we have received here at the station during the week. So stay tuned for that, but for now, here is Requiem Apache. The following program contains scenes with violence and coarse language. Viewer discretion is advised. I want to keep going here, Chaz. Hold on here.

I need to get the feel. Here we are. So Drambuwe, I was a viewer. I would tune in to showcase. It was Channel 39 on my Rogers box. I believe it was on mine too. Well, that was Requiem Apache and wasn't that a satisfying ending? I was so pleased that happened. All through the film you're waiting for these guys to get their comeuppance and then boom they do and it was so clever. It took me completely

by surprise. I didn't know what to expect but I was so glad because they were bad guys and they deserved exactly what they got. And the acting and the dialogue in this series. Now next week we've got Blood on the Dole which is just as good as all of the films that we've shown in this series. I love this context. You don't get this anymore. Like they just throw you into a movie. So good. So good. I need like a tour guide. I hope you agree with me.

Now I want to respond to some of the correspondence that we got here during the week. Let me hear this, Chad. You don't mind, right? Here's one. I'm intrigued. I'm listening to this guy. Who is this guy?

That's smart to me. It sounded much smarter than doing a Check the Security card, sort of ambling through. Showcase is the best new cable channel on the air. My girlfriend and I watch Showcase review movies all the time. Absolutely. You get nudity in there. You have to tell me the story in a minute. I will. From Orleans, Ontario.

Well, thanks very much, Chris. We appreciate that very much. Now, April Buell just wanted to let us know that she's become a big fan of showcase and she watches East Enders religiously. I'm glad you do. Move over Coronation Street. Andrea Lee Holman Andrea says just to let you know how thoroughly I'm impressed I am with your evening movie series this summer. Well the foreign film idea is excellent I'm there every night at 10. Good movies. See what's on. General general we're not a television fan but i love movies glad you do i'm writing to encourage you to continue this evening adventure throughout the year not just

for the summer right well andrea let me tell you that we do show movies every night on the showcase review uh... every night at ten o'clock well now it varies but every night later on in the evening let me put it that way, we do show a movie 365 days of the year, and please keep watching, this is not just a summer thing by any means, we've purchased a whole bunch of new movies,

great new movies for the fall season, so tune in for that. We're not just here for the summer, we're here every night. So, that is all for me tune in again we're thrilled to have you here if you have any comments questions or anything else contact us at showcase we'd love to hear from you I'm Chaz Lothar I'll see you very soon bye for now Wow. This summer, the passion is rising. You're disgusting. Romance is simmering.

I want you to be this is code for something. You get to see the rivalries on TV. Intense. All you care about is the notches and the Chibainian belt. He acts like he can get away with anything. Yeah, well, we'll see. See the drama unfold. Weeknights.

Street legal. Only on Showcase. Shout out to Cynthia Dale. Okay, talk to me. One Channel. This is Showcase Television. What a sexy station you're on here, Chad. Well, hey.

This is a sexy sultry station. Okay, tell me- I'm intended for an adult audience and may contain scenes of violence. I could do this all day, by the way. Okay. Language and mature suffering... I could do this all day, by the way. Okay. ...and mature suffering...

Well, you're bringing me right back. So we're in the early 90s, I guess. How do you get this gig here at Showcase? How did you get this hosting job? Well, I think what prompted it was I had done a film down east called Paint Cans, which was done by Salter Street Films. And I had the lead in it. And I am Wic Burns. How did you know I cheated?

I did homework. I did homework. I didn't know that in real time, but that was 94. Okay. 94. So I had been doing stuff, did that, and it appeared at the variety of film festivals and I think around that time showcase and Super Channel and other channels were starting up and Bravo Bravo that's right I remember that was

next door I feel like that was 40 like I used to know these off by heart all the station yeah that's right yeah that's Bravo was 40 that's right right so I was approached asked if I would I guess based on someone's memory of the all night show if I would host this television show introducing movies. And I said, sure. Yeah, it's a gig. It was a fantastic gig. It was so great.

I got to watch movies and then write up these intros, deliver them at a pace I can't even imagine anymore because it's, by comparison to Chuck, it's like speed reading. Yeah. But I did have a teleprompter. And you weren't live, right? No, it wasn't live. It was, it was taped. Um, and uh, yeah, I did that. I think, well, you probably know better than I,

but it seemed to me it went probably for probably six years, something in that neck of the woods. I would, yeah, definitely. I just remember it was the early nineties and uh, early 90s and I remember you as one of the hosts of the Drambuie showcase review. I was the host to start with and then part way through Linda Griffiths came on. Who's also sadly no longer with us. She passed away very young. Love that woman. She was fantastic. I was so upset when they hired her because I didn't know her and I'm thinking,

hey, wait a sec, this is my gig, they're bringing someone else on. And then right away we hit it off and we would talk about the shows after. So it got very conversational and she was a fantastic person that breathtakingly talented. You know, sadly we't referring to a lot of people you worked with who have passed on. Yeah. This is unnerving. But luckily, Jeff Silverman is still with us. There we go. And, you know, I did take a look at your IMDB page because, you know, you're in everything.

And I got one last clip I'll play before we say goodbye here. This was amazing. But I did see that you had a little role. You did appear in Good Will Hunting, for example. I did. So it's not just a FX the series and, uh, you know, La Femme Nikita and these, you know, Good Will Hunting. Yes, I was, I went to the audition. Uh,

my agent called me up and said, look, um, there's this film. I don't know anything about it really, but Gus Van Zandt is directing it. And of course I knew his work and I thought, oh well, then I'll go. So there was Gus Van Zandt there and these other two guys, Ben and Matt, and they're kind of sitting there just sort of enthusiasts and they've read the script and I, to this day, my wife says, you threw the script away. They gave me the entire script to read and I kind of read it through and I thought I don't know. It's sort of like oh you didn't keep that what is it the the cryptocurrency that's skyrocketing right now it's like oh yeah I sold it for 25 bucks about five years

ago I was happy to get it you know. Yes I was all a great great sadness to have thrown that away but I thought nothing of it and then I got the role and then it happened and then it gets an Academy Award and it was you know my scene was with Matt mostly and you're an MIT professor. Yes I am and he was such a nice guy he was so gracious and it was it was so much fun that you know It was a day look I went shot that the U of T and It was a day and one of those things and you know you're you kind of when you when you're that kind of job in job Out actor and you're doing a lot of stuff like I did you know urban legend to police academy three

Iron Eagle four I did a lot of sequels right but that was Still looks good on the IMDB. It pops out, right? It does. Of course, at the time, because I remember seeing it in the theaters, Good Will Hunting, which was fantastic, but really the only thing me, Matt Damon, baby Matt Damon might have done this or that, but he was primarily, I think, known at the time as Private Ryan in Saving Private Ryan. Well that was after. Is that after? Oh Good Will Hunting was his first that was it. They wrote it together. I know I saw Saving Private Ryan at the Uptown Theatre, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home, no longer with us either, I love that

theatre and I saw it there but you're telling me and you must be right I must be misremembering so Good Will hunting comes before saving private Ryan oh yeah okay look at that look at that I learned something today all right so I'm gonna play one last clip just cuz you know you're popping up and everything here but I pulled again this is the ongoing history of Chaz Lothar here so let me play one last little thing here. Good news, Bill. You're getting a lobotomy. What are you talking about? A lobotomy, where we remove part of your brain,

the naughty part. I know what a lobotomy is, but surely you don't need a treatment that's so... Drastic? I'm afraid we do. Nothing else has worked. You're still a threat to society. Well, maybe that's cool. Maybe society needs threats, keeps it on its toes.

Do I hear a scaredy baby in the room? I don't know. I can't hear anything over the sound of me shitting myself. The Dalai Lama had to wait 29 reincarnations for eternal happiness. You can have it with a few deft strokes of my scalpel. Well, you are the doctor. Dr. Patterson, Dr. Patterson, you're wanted in gynecology. Now be back here tomorrow, at noon. Goodbye, lobes. Hello, happiness.

There's the spirit. Dr. Johnson, report to the oncology department, please. Well, Bill, I finally caught up with you father it's taken me a lifetime but i finally found your killer But I finally found your killer. Puppets Who Kill. Mm-hmm. So does Jeff Silverman have anything to do with Puppets Who Kill? No.

Nothing to do with it? Okay, I'm trying to... John Pattison. John Pattison was the puppeteer and he created the series and still see him regularly. Okay, very nice. So he's still with us. That's good news. Somebody he worked with is still with us. What are you up to? This is the big final?

Discussion here. What are you chas up to these days? Well, I will fill in one little gap if I'm yeah I need you to fill in the gaps post showcase I again through Ralph Ralph and I knew Anton Leo and I don't know if you've interviewed Anton. No yet Anton was in a comedy troupe and he, Ralph had suggested when Ralph was working at the CBC suggested that I do, they were looking for an idea for a show for the year of the old person, which I believe was 2000. And they, he thought of me. So I pitched them idea with my wife, with whom I had written quite a lot,

we'd written TV together. We pitched this idea of a standup documentary. And the first show was called, How Old Do You Think I Am? And we did it for CBC radio and we would go and interview friends and then I would perform a stand-up piece in front of an audience in the studio and toss to I asked my friends I asked my friends and we did 23 or 4 of those for CBC radio so that's my wife Gail Kerbel, my writing partner, and that kind of loops around to what I'm doing today and why I was talking to Ralph today.

Yeah. Because Ralph and I, I'd been doing a series of shows at the Transact Club and Clinton's and Ralph had, you know, asked Ralph and Ralph had been a part of it. So we were toying with this idea of doing a show together this summer and maybe turning it into something of a live series because Ralph is, well, you know what Ralph's up to now. So we were toying with this idea of putting together a live show. And I had thought I'd like to incorporate So we were toying with this idea of putting together a live show.

And I had thought I'd like to incorporate some of what Gail and I did, which was interviewing people about topics. And so Ralph and I today got together this morning and you mentioned coming over here, we were talking about you and how exciting that was for me and for him and watch your head and away we go. So yeah, so we're working out a live show together and something I think both of us are kind of intrigued by the idea of that we live in a world,

we live in a world with doom and gloom hanging over us at this point, and I think both of us would like to move beyond that, understand our small place in the world, in the natural world, and that we're a part of something much larger, which I think we lose, have lost a sense of as human beings that we think were the epicenter of the world. And we're really not. We're just part of something much larger. And I think as a metaphysical idea, I think both Ralph and I went, you know what, I think we can address that in an entertaining way. So that's, I love what I'm hearing, Chad. So is this something that's been greenlit? Are you still pitching it? Like, is this something we might see on jam at some point? What's the nuts and bolts of this?

Well, the nuts and bolts is that today was the first conversation Ralph and I had worked together before on some ideas and to perform Together and we came back to this and both went, you know, there's something percolating here and Ralph kept pursuing me, you know Let's talk about this. Let's talk about this. And I was, yeah, yeah. So we'll see. I think this summer we're going to, uh, we'll, we'll start with the first show and it'll be live. Um, and we'll see where it goes from there.

You know, Chaz, I'm very interested in this project because, uh, now you're an FOTM. I'll be Following your adventures very closely and of course Ralph Ben-Murgy I used to produce not that kind of rabbi, which is Ralph Ben-Murgy's podcast. So he's been here I don't know dozens and dozens of times Love that guy and I can't wait to find out, you know where I can learn more about this project It sounds very intriguing to me. Well, we will keep you in touch for sure. And when are we going to do like the all-night show again? I think we're ready now.

Like now it's just a YouTube show. Like we're ready for, I mean, you might not have, you might not drop in. You don't need to drop in the shows and stuff, but the whole idea of hanging out with the security guard and everything, I think it's a time for a comeback. Well, I don't think it is, frankly. I think it was of its time and it was unique to the time it was in, but I think it's been superseded now by so much.

You know what, be glad it, don't be sad it ended, be glad it happened. You got a full year of that, that's kind of amazing. Oh, I will keep that in mind. Write that down. I will. But always attribute it to Toronto Mike whenever you use it. Toronto Mike once said, but what a pleasure it is to meet you. We're going to take a photo by Toronto Tree after this.

And I enjoyed my Chuck double header today. That was very different episodes, but both highly enjoyable for me. Thanks for doing this. Oh, Mike, thanks for having me. Totally enjoyable. Thank you. And that brings us to the end of our 1,615th show. Go to torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs, whatever they may be. Uh, go to blue sky.

I post all the time, at Toronto Mike. Is there anywhere in the universe we can follow what's going on with you, Chaz? Or do you just want to come by once in a while and update everybody on Toronto Mike? Oh, there you go. Just tell Ralph and he'll come over and tell me everything. Much love to all who made this possible.

Again, that's Great Lakes Brewery. You got your beer there, Chaz. Much love to all who made this possible. Again, that's Great Lakes Brewery. You got your beer there, Chaz. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Palma Pasta, don't leave without your lasagna. RecycleMyElectronics.ca. And I'm out to measure things right now. Measure everything.

Measure once, cut, no, cut once, measure twice, I think is what you're supposed to do. Building Toronto Skyline, more about the good people at Fusion Corp when I talk to Nick Aini soon. Thank you, Nick. And Ridley Funeral Home, subscribe to Life's Undertaking, which is Brad Jones' excellent podcast. He's the funeral director and owner of Ridley Funeral Home.

See you all tomorrow when my special guest is Drew, an R&B superstar. He was with the band InEssence. Sean Jones was our recent guest. He was also in InEssence. I'm going to play some InEssence, play some Drew. It's going to be a great time. See you all then. So Music