Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Conor McCreery: Toronto Mike'd #485

Episode Date: July 10, 2019

Mike chats with Conor McCreery about Kill Shakespeare, writing about the Raps for Raptors HQ, what's next for the Raps, appearing on Off The Record and so much more.

Welcome to episode 485 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Propertyinthe6.com, Palma Pasta, Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair, StickerU.com, and Capadia LLP CPAs. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com, and joining me this week is co-creator of Kill Shakespeare and Raptors Republic author, and I'm sure many more things we'll learn about, Connor McCreary. Thank you. Welcome, Connor. Oh, thanks very much.

Good to be here. I want to say it in a Bostonian accent. Hey, Connor. Connor's here. Park your car. The car's on the street. I've just been watching The Defiant. We're going to the gardens tonight, the Boston gardens.

The gardens. I was watching The Departed, so I got a lot of that. You know, it's a rough town, Boston. That's a crazy accent they got over there. How did that happen? It's Boston. They just wanted to be as annoying as possible. Everything about Boston.

I've hated Boston literally since Penthouse with Wade Boggs talking to Penthouse about Margot Adams. He talked about how Bruce Hur that how bruce hurst and i want to say it was clemens but i don't think it was but hurst and somebody else definitely they would talk about throwing at george bell like weeks in advance of a blue jay series because they knew it pissed bell off so much and so ever since then i mean i came you know i was i was a teenager i came for the penthouse but i i left with a deep hatred for Boston. Yeah, no, I'm with you, buddy. It was Bruce Kyson. Kyson? Yes.

Yes, Bruce Kyson. And he was a famously emotional guy in the mound. If he gave up a home run, he was like a toss the glove on the ground. Yeah, he hated Bell. He has passed away. Did he really, Bruce Kyson?

And now I feel bad. I can't pronounce anything. caught that. Did he really, Bruce Keeson? Yeah, Keeson. And probably, and now I feel bad. I always, you know, I can't pronounce anything. Keeson, Keeson, who knows? It is Keeson now that you say it. And I forever have just assumed it was Keeson because, you know, what do I know? I didn't realize he passed away. He passed away, I believe.

I imagine it's terrible when you report someone passed and they haven't. But I'm pretty sure Bruce Keeson has passed away. Bruce, if you're still out there and you want to like text into the show at Toronto Mike, just let us know you're alive. That would be great. As I'm going to call up a clip. So I was at the Blue Jay game on Friday.

And George Bell replica. It was George Bell replica jersey day. So hold on. Did you get like an actual proper George Bell replica jersey? Yeah. Like a full size one? Yeah. It's a little big on me. but yeah, I got one. My wife

got one. Here he is. So this quickly, let me just, because how many opportunities do I have to play this? Hi, I'm George Bell. You listen to Toronto Mike. So anyway, there's George Bell. Nice. Hebsey got that for me at a golf tournament.

George Bell was my mom's favorite player. George Bell's my favorite player. Really? It is. Nice. Hebsey got that for me at a golf tournament. So I wanted to play that. George Bell was my mom's favorite player. George Bell's my favorite player. Really? It is. Yeah. Really? So that George, that George, that Bruce Keeson moment was like a big deal to me. Like the drop kick.

Yes. I know I was a George Bell fan from, I don't know, about 84, I want to say. I adopted him and he was my favorite Blue Jay. Yeah. He was great. No, my mom really loved him because that was the, it was the whole time he was doing the holdout and he talked about, you know, the fans can kiss my ass purple. And so, you know, my mother being a, you know,

a relatively proper woman, but she kind of, you know, she has a bit of a taste for the outlaw. Wasn't quite sure what she thought about this George Bell guy, but she knew she wasn't as, you know, like that was when the papers were really anti-Bell. And she took me and my younger brother down to spring training that year and george bell sat out there and i guess signed autographs forever and at that point she was like you know what i don't care what the media says about george bell he's obviously a great man and she was a die-hard george bell fan for a woman who kind of

hates sports in general but george bell you know she would ride or die for george oh it's great to hear your mom that's great to hear now that, that day, that George Bell replica jersey day that I was at the game, there was an opportunity to meet and greet George Bell. So I wander over to get in this line. I was at the end of this line

and I was informed by a couple of teenagers working at the Dome that the line had been cut. I was too late. I was not, I know, I never got to,

like, Were your kids with you? No, just me and my wife. Okay. And yeah, so I blew it. I don't know what time I was supposed to get in that line, but I was late. I was going to say, if I was there,

because I've got two kids, a six and a four-year-old, and they have no idea who George Bell was, but they would have just been excited they're going to meet somebody. And for sure, as soon as we were like, oh no, we're not allowed in line, my four-year-old would have just been like, like like not meeting george bell would have been the greatest crisis of his life given that he would not have known who that was till four minutes ago okay that's

hilarious because i took my daughter i don't know what she was probably like 10 or 11 i took her to a leaf game and just in waiting to get into the at the time time it was Air Canada Center, Mike Gartner was walking around. I saw Mike Gartner. I said to my wife, I said to my daughter, Michelle, I said, oh, that's Mike Gartner, a great goal scorer, played for the Leafs, whatever. She was actually mad at me that we didn't go to meet him. I said, you don't know who Mike Gartner is.

It didn't matter. The fact that she could meet somebody who was a somebody was exciting to her. This was a big deal, even though she had never heard of Mike Gartner. Well, I guess probably it feels like that's in your world, right? She knows what you do. So it's like, well, you must know Mike Gartner. You guys must be old buddies. Or as I like to call him, Holla Very Good Mike Gartner.

Uh-oh, something's happened. Yeah, you know what's happened there. Okay, so you're not going to be. Will it devastate you if you're not on Periscope? Because I can see now for some reason, low battery. Yeah. And that's probably,

I use that. Okay. So we'll tell the people listening on podcast. That's how you're going to be upset because there was no Periscope. I feel like, I feel like Milan Talsania, who I believe is a sponsor of the show and an old friend of mine, probably did this because he famously used to tell me,

he goes, Connor, you got a voice for radio, but boy, you've got a face for radio. So I feel like Milan is sabotage this Periscope to save the people out there from seeing my mug. So I'll tell the,

cause you know, up until a few months ago, all this was, was a podcast. Like the Periscope just showed up all of a sudden, like as a bone to, as I told you to watch the cake getting baked. So I do that. Yes. I've been Periscoping just showed up all of a sudden, as I told you, to watch the cake getting baked. So I do that.

Yes, I've been Periscoping episodes. And I Periscoped Gord yesterday, which probably drained the battery. But I'm certain I plugged it in. I had the same thing with my phone. Okay, so maybe it's possible there's like a stranger things going on here because I was just in the car here.

I got here early. I was doing some work. I'm a writer. So I was writing away. And I got on my phone to see if I had any emails and my phone was like low battery i was like but i i know i plugged in last night all i did was drive here with the map on so i don't know if there are other people whose phones are dying maybe you get to a bunker get to a bunker now so yeah i am i feel i now i'm at a point where this bonus thing i just threw together hey we'll

live now i feel bad like all your friends and family were going to watch you and it's gone now. I can see it. It's gone. Yeah, my bad. I should have made sure it was charging last night. I thought I had it charged all night. We shone brightly, but briefly.

But now I'm thinking, if I had to have the periscope fail for either Gord Martineau or Connor McCreary. I know where this is going. I know this is where this is going and I'm not offended. I wouldn't want it to fail for either of you. But if I had to pick, like who will it work for? You know, at least it held in there for Gord and Connor.

Yeah, I'm sorry, man. But you know what? This will just increase the download numbers. That's fair. People will need to tune in. Okay, we met once before. So let's tell the world that you, you showed up very kindly.

You showed up at TMLX3. I did. I did. It was fun. It was good. I had never been to a TMLX and no, it was fun. It was a good time.

It was at the Great Lakes Brewery, which is a great little location. And it was, it was pretty busy. I was surprised by how many people at first I was like, tell me what the expectations were. Well, I knew there was going to be a band,

so I figured, okay, there's going to be something going on. I know Great Lakes, I knew they had the patio, so I was sort of like, okay, well,

they'll have the patio and I guess the band will be up there, which I was right about. What I was wrong about was the gift table, the swag. I was wrong about the number of people who were three, four rows deep around the patio,

people in the brewery. I didn't know what to expect from the music entertainment, but they were great. They were really great. So you're not familiar with Lois DeLisle? Well, no, I see. Okay. I had to leave slightly before Lois DeLisle came on. I saw the opening band who were, I guess, primarily a cover band, but they were like so strong.

I think completely a cover band. I don't think they have anything original now that I think of. if you're listening let me know i don't think so i didn't want to say that because i wasn't sure no there's no shame in that they're they're a really good cover band they're great and they're called the royal pains that's right the royal pain they were they were great like sometimes you hear cover band you're like okay but these guys wow the royal pains like a bunch of different types of music they were really solid it was a good time it was a good time i met a couple of your other of music. They were really solid. It was a good time. It was a good time. I met a couple of your other sponsors.

They were all really lovely people. My wife's a beer sommelier, so Great Lakes is a place that she really likes. I remember now. You showed up a little early, and then I said, oh, let me get you your complimentary beer. And you were all like, I don't need you, man. I don't pay for beer, right? I definitely did not say that. My wife will kill me.

She's like, don't take advantage of my job. But no, my wife is a beer sommelier, and she's a big fan of Troy and the guys at Great Lakes. She really thinks they're one of the stronger breweries. But when you go to Great Lakes, they see you and they're like, give this man a beer. Is that how it goes? On occasion, Troy is very nice to me. I mean,

I'm always buying stuff up there. But I will admit, there are times I've gone around the city and people are like, wait a second, I recognize you. You're a Luxmore husband because my wife and her sister do this thing called Beer Sisters. And I'm like, yes, I am a Luxmore husband. And then I either get free beer or I get discounts. And it's very nice. I never ask for it,

but I always appreciate it when I get it. I know this is going to make me sound stupid, stupid but i was gonna ask you exactly what is a beer what's the word against sommelier yeah so it's kind of like so so a wine sommelier right so somebody who's an expert in wine so for beer it is technically either known as a perdom here in canada or a cicerone in the united states uh and so my wife has both of those designations so she's taken these like super long exams where she has to study the history of beer. She has to do these blind tastings. She actually got her first one when she was pregnant with my,

with our daughter. Um, so we actually flew to Chicago for her to do a beer tasting in Chicago while about seven months pregnant. Uh, and she'd been practicing for months before. So she had like a spittoon in her office as she's like tasting a beer, making notes and spitting. So it was like I was married to a prospector from like 1835 it was it was pretty interesting it's like deadwood

or something it was a little bit well and she can swear too so i mean it is it was very deadwood i mean the beard was a little much i thought i asked her to shave that but you know oh i love you sweetie you didn't i guess okay so why did you have to leave before lowest of the low i'm just curious oh so i i am i am a I am a, I am a, a really dedicated rec league basketball player. Um, as you mentioned, I write for a Raptors HQ. Um, so I'm a big basketball head. I've always been a Raptors HQ. Is that that's different from Raptors? Raptors Republic is a different site. Oh my God. That's okay. Thank you for telling me. I'm so ashamed of that. Okay. I snuck that in there. No, you should have said that to the iPhone. Like it's

still recording me. Yeah. Yeah. It's almost distracting. I'm playing to of that. Okay. See how I snuck that in there? No. You should have said that. I'm looking to the iPhone like it's still recording me. Yeah, yeah. It's almost distracting. I'm playing to it and there's nobody there. That's just a bad sign. Okay, wait. This is a significant error on my part. That's not even the site you write for.

No, Raptors HQ is what I write for. Why did I? Okay, that's my bad. Raptors Republic is a great site. That's where Blake Murphy, who's with The Athletic now, that's where he cut his teeth. So... Has The Athletic come knocking at your door or did Blake take your gig? No, The Athletic

has not come knocking at my door. I was a journalist by trade before. So you mentioned this thing Kill Shakespeare. So to clarify what that's about. Well, there's so many things to cover. That's an interesting thing about you. So yeah, go ahead. So I'm a graphic novelist now, but I

had been a journalist. So I write graphic novels. I can't draw to save my soul. So I'm a graphic novelist now, but I had been a journalist. So I write graphic novels. I can't draw to save my soul. So Kill Shakespeare was a series my friend Anthony Delcol and I came up with about nine years ago. And the idea is basically like, if Game of Thrones and Shakespeare

had a drunken one night stand, we're the illegitimate babies. And so it took all of Shakespeare's characters, put them in the same world. We put out five books in the series. We've done a stage play based on it. It's actually just playing in a US military base. I want to say in Alaska this week.

Wow. Randomly of all places. We have a board game based on it. We had our Shakespeare merchandise. And we're actually developing it as a television show. So one thing I'll be doing later today is I'll be on a call with this writer based in Los Angeles as we get ready to pitch the show out to like networks and streaming services. Okay. We'll call this like a kill Shakespeare, like teaser. And then later we'll dive deep into

this. Cause I do have, I have a whole bunch of questions, but you mentioned Milan from fast time watch and jewelry repair. And he, he told me that, okay, so, and he has a question for you later. So you guys go way back, right? We do. You're high school buddies? Yeah, we're high school buddies. And he wrote me, he said, our fantasy baseball league team, the Homestead Greys. Yes.

He says he hasn't actually played in a few years. That's true. He says it was presided over by your friend, Mike Wilner. So tell us, like, give me a little bit. I need to know, like,

uh, what is this that you guys do with, uh, blue Jay? What does he play by play guy now? Mike Wilner. Yeah. The Mike's great.

Um, so, uh, did you ever play like stratomatic or pursue the pennant when you were a kid? No. Okay. I asked this question because I'm not smart. Mainly hoping that somebody,

so basically it's like, it's like if fantasy baseball and D and D, like how did you, like, this question. Because I'm not smart. Vainly hoping that somebody... So basically, it's like if fantasy baseball and D&D, like this is it. So it's a paper and pencil dice-based game. Okay. But every year what you do is you get cards based on the previous year's season. So for example, I have Jose Ramirez on my team.

Based on what Jose Ramirez did last year, he's a very good player. But for anybody who jose ramirez in their fantasy league this year they probably ripping up their hair because he's been awful this season and so it's like it's very intense there are contracts and a rookie draft and um you know it's it's a full general manager experience and you manage the game so wilner started this with a bunch of buddies i want to say like almost 30 years ago. Wow. And I just kind of fell into it.

I would come back from college. I used to play this Pursue the Pennant, which is again, one of these dice games. You could get the 1987 Blue Jays and I replayed the entire 1987 Blue Jays series. Oh, that was devastating for me. Oh gosh. I think I got a few years on you,

but like I was like, I'm doing the math in my head. I'm like a 13 year old Blue Jay diehard. And that was absolutely, And George stopped hitting. I know he won MVP that year, but he was nothing down the stretch. And he was my guy. That was a devastating... Ernie Wick gets hurt.

Tony Fernandez gets hurt. The Milwaukee Brewers win four painful games. So this is... I mean, I bought this whole game just so I could replay the 80... Because I was 11. I replayed the 87 series. Lloyd Mosby had a 30-30 year.

And I think we won 104 games and swept the Cardinals. So yeah, so it's this very, like, it's, you know, this thing, and Willner started, and I just, it was just the beginning of email, and I kind of emailed him up and said, hey, I hear you've got this fan, you know, you've got this pursue the pennant league, basically. Can I join? And they were looking for owners, and so yeah, I've been in this league for

17 years, and yeah, so, but Milan and I, he's a huge baseball fan as well. We started the team together and I still remember our first two foundational stars we got in the expansion draft were Marcus Giles of the Atlanta Braves and Carlos Lee, then of the

Chicago White Sox. Lee actually had a really good career when you look back. Looking back, you mentioned the Shaker. Are you familiar with this jam right here? Yeah. Wait for it, it's worth it Oh, this is worth it Once again, we're near the end And penny time is here Oh, this is worth it. That's Lloyd Mosby's Shakers rap.

That actually, like, that takes me back. I remember that from being a child. My thought now is, did Grandmaster Flash and Melly Mel like Sue? But no, I forgot about that. I love Lloyd. He's got a little of that Axl Foley, whatever that jam was from Beverly Hills Cop. Don't worry. Especially Baltimore.

Anyway, the lyrics are great. And Shaker was great That guy was a lot of fun in center field for all those years Oh, I love it I mean, as a Jays fan, sitting here, I'm a big baseball guy I pay a lot of attention to the Jays And I think one of the things that's interesting about what's going on now Is to me, this feels like the first time since kind of 83, 84

Where there's a real chance to watch a core of guys come up at the same time, which, again, it hadn't happened in the city for almost 25 years, partially because the good years you were getting free agent talent. Yeah, you were reloading. And the bad years were just badly run. Right, right. So Camp Usano never ended up being the five-tool juggernaut we were promised. Yeah, he was a Rule 5 guy, right?

Was he? I don't remember. Didn't he have to... Maybe I'm getting my guys mixed up. I don't think he was. I think he was one of those guys that they like... Because there was a time

where the Jays were kind of famous because they were, you know, they would... I think they lived off that like run in 83, 84, 85 where they brought up all these great guys and the rest of Major League Baseball

was like, oh man, the Jays really know how to develop players. And I remember year after year they seemed to sell off their high minor guys and none of them League Baseball is like, oh man, the Jays really know how to develop players. And I remember year after year, they seemed to sell off their high minor guys and none of them ever came back to like... Oh, just Jeff Kent. Yeah, Jeff Kent would be the one guy.

Oh, yeah. And that deal worked out okay. Yeah, that definitely worked. We'll do that. That's, yeah, when you win a championship, it's all good. Or it's like people getting mad about,

like I was reading about people, you know, talking about the Mike Young trade and like that's the worst trade in Blue Jays history. And it's like, I mean, they're wrong, but he was the third guy

on their depth chart in minor league shortstops. You're right. Sometimes you lose one. Do you remember, like real quick on the can't miss prospects, Eddie Zosky.

Oh, yes. Like the hype around, I mean, I'm going to ask you about the home run derby in a second here, but speaking of highly touted prospects, not that they're the same

level of expectation, but Eddie Zosky was supposed to be the shortstop of the future, right? Yeah, yeah. I'm still waiting. It's been a long trial. I mean, you think about when Bichette comes up, Bichette will be what the first knock on wood, be the first really

good homegrown shortstop since Gonzalez? Yeah, I'd say yeah. He had a pretty good run. He was a pretty good major league shortstop since like Gonzalez. Yeah, I'd say. Yeah, I think that's like you. He had a pretty good run. He was a pretty good major league shortstop,

but, and then before that, you obviously have Tony, but like, it's been a long stretch of like the Jays have not developed shortstops particularly well. No, good point. And now did,

did you watch the home run Derby? I did. And quite the, uh, quite the, I mean, I think, I think it's fair to say that's the, the most exciting home run Derby in the history of the, I mean, I think, I think it's fair to say

that's the most exciting home run derby in the history of the universe. What would you say about that? I think that was literally the best thing to happen to baseball in about 25 years.

Yeah. Unbelievable. Now, it really, and I never thought I'd ever care about the home run derby because I never did

until suddenly I do because like, the seating seems to really matter because Vladdy was seated very low and then he had to always bat first. And he had to go first, which hurt him.

I think he beats Alonso. This is amazing, Blue Jays fans. We are about to do a deep dive into the home run derby because this is all we have this season in Toronto baseball. But yeah, I think if he hits second, he beats Alonso. I think you're right. Can I also say that we did not make enough of Jock Peterson taking pitches?

When I saw that, I was like, J make enough of jock Peterson taking pitches. Oh, when I saw that, I was like, jock Peterson's just going to take, Oh, that's a three swing. Okay. Well, even before,

like, even like in the minute thing, like, you know, Vladdy was like going after everything, right? Anything near the zone, he was hacking at.

And Peterson started to just like, he took some, cause he was only going to, you know, use his energy on, on the real sweet spot pitches. Yeah. I mean, okay. Cause I was going to say with the three swing thing, you should, use his energy on, on the real sweet spot pitches. Yeah. I mean,

okay. Cause I was going to say with the three swing thing, you should, you should be taking pitch. Yeah, of course you should. Well, but Vlad didn't the first time out,

right? Like Vlad just, he got, he saw three, he hit three and Peterson. I was like, he's going to win. Cause he's just going to sit like,

of course, Peterson is going to be able to hit a meatball out of the park. Like every, any good major league pitcher can do that. But he got under one and he yanked the other one. I was like, that's what you get. So he had 91 homers in total, Vladi, which is, of course, that's a record.

But I will say it's kind of interesting that people are doing the whole, like, Vladi's the real winner. Like as if suddenly, I mean, the fact, can we just, for the record, no, but just the fact that rules were clear before the event and Vlade did not actually win that event.

Like, not that it doesn't matter, except Vlade did not win. Like, I think there's a lot of Jays fans like, oh, 91 homers, that's the real winner. No, I don't think it works that way. Like, Vlade finished second, which was, and it was exciting. Always funny, because at the time, I was watching with a couple of buddies and they were getting wound up about like,

well, you know, the rules say you don't throw the next pitch until the first pitch has landed. And like, you know, Vladdy was doing that, but like Alonzo wasn't. He was just, they were just throwing them in there. He got more pitches. And I'm like, it's the Home Run Derby. Hey, do you care to compare this event, this

Home Run Derby with the Half Man, Half Amazing 2000 Slam Dunk Contest that Vince won. Because to me, they're very similar. They're kind of like the big moments in an exhibition. But we're almost like coming out party, I want to say, in the US of A. No, that's actually a fantastic comparison. I think you're exactly right.

I mean, Vince does what he does at the dunk contest and ends it, basically, in some people ends it basically is for some people's, you know, in some people's mind. And that changes. And, you know, the Raptors start to become a real draw in the States. I mean, you do hear, you definitely hear there are like athletes in the States who are like, oh, yeah, I was a Raptors fan for a few years as a kid because like I saw that dunk contest. I watched Vince Carter. And I'm like the thing about, you know, we were watching like, you know, I'm not sure if you have the same reaction, but like watching when you get in gets in a run of 4 or 5, and he's just killing the ball, and you're just laughing. You're involuntarily laughing because it's absurd that somebody can hit a baseball like this.

Unbelievable. It's almost like now they all know what we've known is coming, which is that this guy's just a beast. Unbelievable. Well, I joked with my buddy. I was like, Vlad's going to win the home run contest, and he's going to hit 330, 420, 650 down the second half of the season right and we laughed but we're like it's actually not impossible right like if vlad vlad could go out there and put up an

1100 ops in the second half of baseball and we'll all look back at this home run derby and be like oh yeah that was the moment now a fun fact that you already know but it's fun is that this is the the this is the home run derby competitor with the least number of career homers, like ever. Yes. So he's the first guy to have less than 10 career home runs and be in the derby. And of course, he belonged there.

He almost won, 91 homers. But that's kind of interesting that a guy with eight career homers is actually there. And kudos for Major League Baseball for getting that right. I mean, it would have been easy. I feel like two or three years ago, Major League Baseball for getting that right. I mean, it would have been easy. I feel like two or three years ago, Major League Baseball had enough traditionalist hard heads

in the front offices that would have been like, he's only got eight home runs. He hasn't earned it. And now Major League Baseball is like, we desperately need to entertain our audience. I mean, again, literally, I think that's the best,

most exciting thing that's happened to baseball in 20 or 30 years, except for, you know, specific fan bases in specific moments of the world series. But for a casual baseball fan, yeah, that was gold.

And it was still too long. Like they need to cut that down to like those, those should be two minutes. No time at like, it's like it dragged. I mean, I remember after the Peterson Guerrero, I think it was a Kuna and Alonzo.

And you were just like, Oh my God, this is taking forever. And nobody's hitting anything like, right. This is so painful, but good on Vladdy for, for the entertainment.

And I didn't, I didn't tune into the game, but I didn't miss a sec. I wasn't going to miss that home run derby. Once I found out Vladdy, I was the same way. Home run derby. I was like,

okay, that's appointment viewing and the all-star game, which apparently from what I heard was actually a pretty entertaining one. And they mic'd up the player. I mean, I feel like major league baseball is starting to get like the one, the one thing the NBA does really, really well.

And I feel like MLB and to a different extent, the NHL are trying to catch up on is they are so good at just putting their players front and center. And it's a bit different, obviously, because in the NBA, you know, if you have LeBron James, you know, unless he gets hurt for 25 games you're a contender you're

going to be in the playoffs where if you have mike trout i see poor angels have learned like you could fritter away an entire career and it's the same thing in hockey like having connor mcdavid is no guarantee of anything but i still feel like you're starting to see these other leagues realize that like we've got to like let our guys personalities come through that that's that's what's fun and all you know and the other thing is all these young stars for the most part you know knock on millennials all you want but most of these young kids like they come up they're smart they're well-spoken they're polite like what's not to like about them right right uh we talked about when the periscope went down so i'm waving to nobody right now.

The tragedy of people not being able to watch this cake getting baked, which I feel bad about, but I thought I had a chance. There's a lot of hand talking right now. This would be an exciting moment to watch. But I alluded, you know, hilariously alluded to the fact that I'm glad I didn't go down during the Gord Martineau interview. Now, I need to

know, did you tune in and see yesterday's episode of Gord Martineau? I didn't see it. I didn't see it. Oh, I regretted it. I did hear it. I did listen to it. I listened to it probably about 45 minutes.

Oh, no, that's great. But I regret not seeing it because there was that whole subsection about how handsome Gord Martineau was. And I'm trying to remember back. I'm trying to remember back. I was like, I remember Gord Martineau. I mean, I was born in 76.

I remember Gord coming across. And I'm like, yeah, I guess he was kind of a square jaw no super handsome guy and again uh he was sitting where you are now and i as i remarked my butt has touched where gordon martin's butt is touched ladies you can get a hold of me later and ziggy too many great bums have been on there's a lot of great bums have been in that scene buddy and now there's just a bum in it but gordon what he has is uh very blue eyes like he's just a you know traditionally handsome guy and uh he looks really like chill and like he's he's

digging this uh force i want to call it forced retirement because he's not retired he's just gonna i guess he's uh waiting to see what to do next but um i guess uh i thought it was a pretty great episode considering i could tell right away he had no idea what toronto mic'd was about like this is what i'm starting this is the thing now i can tell right away some people listen tomorrow's guest listens uh rob longley from the sun right and i know he's gonna get it because he listens he gets it uh gourd had never heard a minute of toronto mic'd and had no idea what it was about. Now, to his credit, like he really rolled with it and was great because it can go sideways sometimes

when the guest has no idea. Well, there was that one great bit where you guys were suddenly talking about Sesame Street. Right. And he's like, why are we talking about Sesame Street? And you're like, this is kind of how Toronto Mike works. Exactly. Okay.

That's a great example. So I actually, for that episode of Gord I decided to just go in a straight line kind of deal like I didn't do any tangents but typically we've done about 10 already like typically Toronto Mike is all about you go around to the tangent then you come back or whatever and yeah we were doing it for Sesame Street and I was actually you know sharing a little story I was trying to tell my Snuffleupagus story. Uh, but yeah, he wanted us back on track. That was the traditional media guy Gord there who had no idea that, you know, this is what you do. But, uh, yeah, I thought it was a really interesting episode. Like he just answered the questions and no bullshit. He was, he was really like, I, I was,

I was really struck by, cause I worked in, uh, worked in TV for a number of years, uh, business news network. And I got to say like most of our anchors there were really good um you know i think it's business news it's not so much about you it's very much like the market is the star and like you know because it's such a fact and figured kind of sort of newscast like there isn't as much preening but you know occasionally you saw people from other news stations and i would not my stereotype would not be that an on-air person like Gord Martineau, who spent so much time and was such a, and is such a face,

really, that he would be so open and disarming. And so it was really cool to listen to him talk because he was, he was no BS, you know, he was very nice, you know, and it was really interesting for him to talk about like,

oh yeah, like what was it like, you know, you're so handsome. Did that hurt you? And him being like, yeah, like it did actually, because people, you know, it's the same thing with beautiful women. You just get dismissed. And talk about like, oh yeah, like what was it like, you know, you're so handsome. Did that hurt you? And him being like, yeah, like it did actually

because people, you know, it's the same thing with beautiful women. You just get dismissed. And I was like, that's an interesting point. I deal with that all the time.

Happens to me all the time. I was going to say both of us. I mean, all the time. Damn it. Of all the days not to be on Periscope. Okay.

So, so yes, people listening to the Connor McCreary episode, make sure you go back and listen to Gord Martineau as well. It was really great to have him here. You mentioned TV, so I'm trying to think of guests I've had from BNN,

but I think, was Michael Hainsworth there? Michael Hainsworth, yeah. Actually, Michael Hainsworth and I worked on a show together. We developed a show together at BNN, oh gosh, years ago. That was sort of a 40-minute news digest thing. So yeah, no, I know Mike quite well. And Lou Skeezes? Lou Skeezes.

Happy capitalism. Happy capitalism. Yeah, Lou and his wife, who's the... Linda. Yeah, Linda Nazareth, who's the economics writer for The Globe. A very intelligent woman. Yeah, really, yeah, they're all smart people,

these BNN people. That's how you got the gig, of course. Now, yeah, so Lou's a great friend of the show. In fact, he wanted to be at TMLX3. He had been at the first two. But I guess for his birthday, his family took him to Montreal or something on some surprise trip or something. So he had a good excuse.

But yeah, before we go further, so TMLX3, which you were at, was at Great Lakes Brewery. So there is a six-pack of Great Lakes beer for you. Enjoy this. It's going home with you, Connor. Oh, thank you. Those of you, because you can't see it on Periscope, I've been sort of eyeing this six-pack throughout the piece.

I'm just looking at which ones I've given you here. This one's a new one. Okay, so this guy, what do they call this? As far back as I can remember. Speaking of Boston, it's a New England IPA. So you can kona kona can have a new england ipa now what else we got they over my dad body which is a great uh great name yes oh yeah they they got good names what else we got here this one okay this is the down in moxie the american uh ipa and uh this one's great on a hot sunny day i like the sunny sidenyside Session IPA.

And you've got, of course, a pompous ass. Pardon? Oh, a beer. Right. Yes. I made that joke so many times, I decided I won't use it on Connor. It's too many times, a pompous ass.

And he just went right for it, though, anyways. Robohop Imperial IPA. So enjoy. That's going home with anyways. Robohop Imperial IPA. So enjoy. That's going home with you. Thank you very much. Enjoy. And if you want a tasty Italian meal to pair with that, and you'll have to ask your wife if they pair.

I have no idea. I'm not a sommelier. That's true. I will have to. I'm sure she will. Ask her what beer goes with a lasagna. Now, remind me, were you meat or veggie? I was meat. Okay. But I will eat. I'll eat anything. Now, remind me, were you meat or veggie? I was meat.

Okay. But I will eat, I'll eat anything. No, I got meat for you. I have, I couldn't remember which one you were. And I have one of each. So they're in the freezer where they belong. That's an empty box. But it doesn't matter.

I'm pointing to a box for the Periscope, which is not on. I'm holding it up for the Periscope, which isn't on either. But we're trying. We're practicing. We're doing it the way we should, right? It's like, that's how you get good. You practice like you're going to play. Yeah, great idea. Now, that's courtesy trying. We're practicing. We're doing it the way we should, right? It's like that's how you get good. You practice like you're going to play. Yeah, great idea. Now

that's courtesy of Palma Pasta. Palmapasta.com if you want to find out where they are. They're in Mississauga and Oakville. You can also cater your events, which I've done. I've catered events with Palma. They're amazing. And you can find them on Skip the Dishes, but they're great partners of the

show and we thank them. Family-run Italian eatery. What more do you want? Like authentic Italian recipes, and you will get back to me after you consume your large meat lasagna. Don't eat it frozen. You got to thaw it,

and then you got to cook it, okay? There's a pro tip for you, but you'll get back to me and say, Mike, that's the best lasagna I've ever bought. It's amazing. You will. Now, you're enjoying the lasagna and the beer, but I have stickers for you too.

Did you get that loot bag at TMLXP? I did. My children have already claimed all the stickers, so it's good that there are more now because... And there's two kids? Yes, there are two children. And they ransacked through the bag. They saw a loot bag.

They're like, Daddy, you went to a party. And then their hands were in there. And they were a little disappointed there was no candy, but they love the stickers. Oh, I should get candy for the next one. Okay, so let's see what we got here for you. For each kid, there's a temporary tattoo. I want to see them in their Toronto Mike's temporary tattoo.

There's another Toronto, I know you got one already, but here's another Toronto Mike sticker for you. You can stick that on your automobile or your bike or whatever. There, of course, stickeru.com is who made these stickers. You can get there. You're holding it up for the camera again. One or more custom stickers. You go to stickeru.com.

It's great business. Their headquarters are in Liberty Village. Great Toronto business. And I got all these wall decals down there and everything. But because lowest of the low played TMLX3, they actually made up Agitpop Lowest of the Low stickers and there's a button for you as well.

You have your stickers courtesy of StickerU. You got your Palma Pasta. You got your Great Lakes beer. That's a pop socket. Do you know what a pop socket is? I was going to say, we were talking about this before and I incorrectly identified this as a condom. But these are what you put on your

phone so you can basically use them to set to like a tripod almost. It does look like a condom, but don't use it as a condom. I'm Roman Catholic, it's fine. Okay, then you have to use a rhythm method because you're not allowed to use a rhythm. Come on.

You really do go everywhere. Again, I'm looking a rhythm. Come on. You really do go everywhere. Again, I'm looking at the periscope. You really do go everywhere in a Toronto Mike podcast. I still remember like a religion teacher. I went to a Catholic high school. And the religion teacher explaining how he and his wife used the rhythm method. And I remember, yeah, because he simply, he would not use condoms. And she would not go on a pill.

These things will not happen because he was so like adamant that he followed these Catholic rules. It was very interesting for me to hear this. Interesting is a word for it. Interesting is a word for it. But yeah. Yeah, so that's...

In related news, Irish families were normally 13 children. That is correct. And when I asked Gord Martin if the Pulse news he was on in Montreal was a coincidence because he came from a Pulse news to a City Pulse.

I just didn't know. And he looked at me and said, that was not a coincidence. And then I got the story. So that's not a coincidence. The Irish Catholic families were many. I also learned a couple of good things about Moses Nimer in that little story.

I was like, wow, Moses Nimer takes you out for long walks in hot weather to try to addle your brain and that's how he keeps talent salaries low. I'm like, that's brilliant. Do you know I've during walks, I've passed Moses around Grenadier Pond in High Park.

I have, yeah, there's Moses. Are you going to getoses on the show i've been i i've been kind of not i never talked directly to moses but i've been talking to people doesn't talk directly to moses zimer it's like i'm working on it it's been a long process but the gourd call came out of the seemingly out of the blue like i had been working on gourd after he was let go which is 2016 february 2016 but then not much since then. And then I got a call. And it was an unknown number.

This was just before the Blue Jay game. And I got a phone call and I answer it. Hello? And he's like, it's Gord Martineau. And I'm like, it's Gord's voice. I'm like, this is no one. No one's playing a prank on me here. I'm like, hey, Gord, what's up, buddy?

And then he's like, he told me I'll come over Tuesday at noon. So that's how that happened. That's cool. Very cool. Now that's how that happened. That's cool. Very cool. Now, that pop socket that you got to go on the back of your phone is courtesy of Capadia LLP CPAs. Now, when Milan from FastTime needs accounting help for his burgeoning business, he calls Rupesh Capadia.

Rupesh Capadia, did you meet him? I did. He's like the rock star. The rock star accountant. Yes, he is definitely a rock star accountant. Let's hear from him. This is Rupesh Kapadia, did you meet him? I did. He's like the rock star. The rock star accountant. Yes, he is definitely a rock star accountant. Let's hear from him. This is Rupesh. Hey, hey, hey, this is Rupesh here.

Did you know that you can claim almost up to $154 for Climate Action Initiative recently released by the government? This is just to compensate you for the additional gas tax that they are taking. So if you have not filed your tax return, please, please, please go ahead, rush, file the 2018 return and get your $154 for an individual right away.

Thank you. Thank you, Rupesh. Rockstar Accountant. He sees beyond the numbers. So if anyone listening, including yourself, Kona, Kona, you can get a complimentary 15-minute consultation where you can simply tell him your ideas or things you want to do

or whatever initiatives you're looking at undertaking, and he'll give you best practice advice, what he recommends you to do. He sees beyond the numbers, smart guy, easy to talk to. He runs marathons. He's a rock star. Rupesh Kapadia, thank you so much. Enjoy the pop socket from Rupesh. Enjoy responsibly. Now, I usually do a remember the time from Milan, but he actually has a question for you. So we'll see how it's going. I might do it later. But I want to ask you, you have so many like different parts of your life, like you're in TV and you're writing for Raptors HQ, not Raptors Republic.

I'm so ashamed of that mistake. And the whole comic book thing. So I need to start with this comic book that you spoke about earlier. Like how does the comic book career, like in great detail, like how does it begin? And then we'll get you to this whole kill Shakespeare thing okay so I mean so I guess it kind of goes back to you know I was always somebody who was interested in the arts I mean I went to school uh Wilfrid Laurier University I am apparently the only graduate there in history who had a major in business and a minor in theater

and so I'd always been interested in that and so when I first graduated I went to school in New York City and I took this film academy where I learned how to like edit on a steam bag machine and like which was immediately useless knowledge right like literally I walked out of that school with being like yeah I know how to edit on like this old-fashioned like old-timey like system with like cutting you know cutting film literally with a nut with a razor blade and people like yeah no there's something called a computer you can do that there too that's funny um so yeah i was interested in film i worked for a couple different film companies i worked for one called triptych media which was um kind of one of the first really like um i would say uh like a groundbreaking film company they made a movie called the hanging

garden which was one of the first canadian films that really did the festival circuit and really kind of put canadian independent on the map. And then I worked for this other company called Star Hunter, and they did like super schlocky, super fun science fiction where our number one question was, okay, so is it the Japanese or the German cut that's supposed to have 30 seconds of female nudity? Like that, like a lot of art was going into these. So that's where I started.

I started writing Uncredited on the TV show. I wrote a few scenes for that. I did some story editing work for them. And I really enjoyed it. And my buddy Anthony, who I mentioned, he was a graduate from Laurier as well. He was a friend of a friend. We met.

We tried to option a Gordon Corman book, No Coins Please. I loved Gordon Corman. I know. Gordon Corman's amazing. Yeah. And this can't be happening at McDonald's high and all the Bruno and Boots stuff.

But then he did some younger adult stuff like this one, Don't Care High. I mean, I lost touch of it at some point, but it was my favorite stuff as a kid, Gordon. Oh, yeah, I loved it. Another great gourd. I forgot to mention that gourd. You're right.

You're right. I mean, the gourds who make it are like high-functioning gourds. And I know that Martin was under the impression that all the gourds are like schlubs or whatever. But I feel the opposite. I feel like these are Gord Downie, Gord Sinclair. Oh, Gord Sinclair. Right. I forgot to mention him too.

Of course, Gordon Lightfoot. Gordie Howe. Gordie Howe. I don't know how we forgot to mention Gordon. These are the greatest amongst us. I mean, I hear it. Lance, Bruce, Julian, they were our toughest names. That's a great name.

But I feel like I get what Gord's saying, right? Because when you hear the name Gord, you sort of think it does kind of sound like a weirdo name. But you're right. The Gords who make it, they... Maybe because if you have a name like Gord... You have to be good. You have to be good.

Because people are going to be... I could see if Martin wanted to say, yeah, when people are like, name like Gord, you have to be good. You have to be good. Because people are going to be, I could see if Martineau wanted to say, yeah, when people are like, I'm Gord Martineau, and people are like Gord, and he had to like fight that extra level. So maybe that's why all the good Gords, like they're just fighters.

I know when you get an email from Gord from his personal account, it actually says Gord and Martineau for what it's worth. Which makes it different. Fun fact. Different level. Different level.

Like if I suddenly went by Michael, but there is no, Connor doesn't have a longer thing. Like it's just Connor. It's just Connor. Yeah. It's like sometimes people put an extra N in there and that's about it.

Right. But yeah, so I'd been working for these film companies and my buddy Anthony and I, we tried to option this Gordon Corman novel and we got out, we met Gordon Corman and talked about it, which was a great highlight of my life.

Where did you meet him? We met him just north of Kitchener. He was doing a book signing. Oh, I was guessing you'd have to go down to the States or something. No, he was doing a We met him just north of Kitchener. He was doing a book signing. Oh, I was guessing you'd have to go down to the States or something. No, he was doing a book signing up just north of Kitchener at a big new bookstore back when big new bookstores were like considered a good idea. And yeah, so we met him. We chatted with him for a period of time and we told him why we were passionate. And I think he was legitimately interested. Like I think he was like, oh, this is interesting. But I mean, eventually people with actual money and actual connections bid on the book and we did not get it.

But Anthony and I just started there. We started thinking, okay, well, what can we do? And so we created a couple of kids' TV shows. We got some stuff option. We were in a little writer's room for one of them. Nothing ever got made. And we'd always had this weird kill Shakespeare idea. It came up as a joke. One time Anthony was joking because Kill Bill was out and we were joking about, well, what if you could kill a different Bill, right? What if it was Bill Clinton? And we're like, that's a little political. And they were like, well, what if it was Bill Cosby? And we're like,

that's way too political. But in retrospect, we were onto something. And then Anthony was like, what if it was Billy Shakespeare? And we kind of laughed and I was like, oh yeah, you know, Romeo and Juliet would be on one side and Richard III and Lady Macbeth would be on the other. And Hamlet wouldn't know whose team to join because he's Hamlet. Right.

And we sort of went, you know, that's actually not the worst idea. And so then we developed it. We actually ended up raising about $350,000 from private investors so that we could build it as a business. And that was about, I guess, 10, 12 years ago. And so, yeah, we started off, we originally wrote a screenplay because we thought, okay, we're going to turn this into the next Lord of the Rings. And then we kind of took a step back and said,

well, we love this screenplay, but nobody's going to make this. This is a big project. We don't have the money or the connections. And so then Anthony, actually, I had worked at a comic shop earlier in my life. And Anthony was like, well, are there a lot of fantasy adventure comics on the shelves? And I was like, not really.

He's like, well, maybe that's the opportunity. And that's where we started. We pitched five or six companies. They all said yes to the idea we were fortunate to get to choose one idw publishing which has been great for us and yeah and we just started we started putting out comics back in like 2009 i guess so shakespeare i i gotta plead ignorance like i'm so like out of touch with the uh whole comic book universe here. Most people are. So after I learned about Kill Shakespeare, I've done, you know, I've Googled it and stuff. Like this is a real thing out there.

There's like trailers. I actually pulled one and then I realized, oh, it's just a score. Like there's no actual speaking. No, no, it's like a score over like imagery. It would be great for Periscope. Right. So I'm like, oh, you can't play this.

It's just a score. But I mean's this is a this is a big fucking deal right yeah we're trying to yeah i mean we're trying to we're hoping i don't know i i'm i guess we're asking like so it's i see that you you you won a ten thousand dollar award for the best movie idea pitch at tiff like that happened yeah yeah i still have i still have the novelty check somewhere. It used to be on my wall. Is it big? I'm not sure what the heck it is now.

It is quite big. I tried to buy, I biked home from TIF. Did you cash it? I don't know. I biked home from TIF and I almost died because it's this giant thing

and I was like, I'm going to bike this thing home. It's like, you know, it's like a four foot, it's a giant novelty check. Right. And I'm biking along King Street

and it's a blustery day and all of a sudden the wind is hitting this thing and it's like a sail. I'm like sliding. I almost got wiped out by a street car. That would be great press. Can you imagine like the CP24 coverage street day and all the wind is hitting this thing and it's like a sail i'm like sliding i i almost got wiped out by that would be great press can you imagine like the cp24 coverage of the uh this young uh it would be great for the kill be uh kill bill the kill shakespeare novelty check kills

creator right it would be amazing for the franchise like i bet you uh who's your partner anthony was kind of hoping something like that would be amazing for him because you'd be, you'd be dead. But so there's a, so your first issue is published in April, 2010. Yeah. And like how many issues has there been now? Oh God, what have we done?

I guess all told we're probably 50 or 60 issues. I think we probably sold a hundred thousand, I don't know, a couple hundred thousand copies all told. Um, but yeah, we did that. We've got the stage play,

but yeah, you know, the big thing we always wanted to do is we just, you know, we're both kind of like, neither one of us was, you know, you talked about being an English major. So neither Anthony and I were English majors, but we both really love Shakespeare just from having good teachers. And so for us, it was always kind of this,

I think the reason people like it is because if you know nothing about Shakespeare, awesome. You can pick up the graphic novel and if you like fantasy adventure as a genre, you'll love it. But if you're a Shakespeare nerd, then there's a lot of like little Easter eggs that we put into it. Um, smart.

Yeah, it's fun. I mean, you know, in the, in the Venn comics, in the small Venn diagram of like comics, nerds and Shakespeare nerds,

we're like Kings and, you know, beyond that, but you know, it's, it's a fun read and we're really proud of it. And it's got us working on other things. We've done stuff like Anthony's worked for Marvel.

Uh, we've done work on the Assassin's Creed series. I've done work with like regular show and Adventure Time in the comics world. So it kind of opened a lot of doors for us. And then the both of us are now creating our own new original content, you know, which is, you know, and that kind of all came the doors all open because of this Kill Shakespeare project. And knock on wood, we actually did briefly sell it to Amazon as a TV show. And now we're free agents again. And so we're going to look to try to sell it somewhere else.

So how does that work? They give you money to see if it can be a show? Yeah, so basically what happens is the first step is you generally find a producer. So there's a woman named Dawn Olmsted who actually used to make a lot of horror movies here in Canada with her partner. She did Black Christmas, if you remember that one. Yeah, that's the guy who did Porky. Oh, the remake. Yeah, she did the remake.

But yeah, based on the same guy who did Porky's. And she was a fan of the series. She was in Toronto shooting this thing. She went into a comic shop because she's in film and TV and she's always looking for new ideas. And she saw the first issue of Kill Shakespeare. And she chased this for about a decade

being like, guys, I want the rights to this. I want to make this. And every time we'd be like, well, we're not quite sure, Don, we're not sure. And eventually she became the head of NBC Universal. And she's like, all right, guys, I'm in the position now where I can get this thing done. You're going to give me the rights. And so that was the first thing. So there, NBC pays you for the rights, right? So they have the rights for one year to develop this thing as film or television and then in return you know we anthony and i get paid and then we have some element of creative input you know we don't control the property by any stretch but we get some element and then the

next stage is once you come up with a really good pitch for what this tv show is going to look like what's the first season like what's the overall arc supposed to be like what do the characters mean you know what are they really doing so you put together like a 15 page document for that and then you pitch it you know in these rooms in la and you get your free little bottle of water and you know half the time they don't get your names right and yeah you pitch it out there and then you walk out and go geez did they like it i can't tell and from there we got a bunch of offers but the best one we got was from amazon and so then we were officially working with amazon but at that point you don't really get paid until you deliver scripts.

So it's kind of a weird thing. Even it's such a weird thing. It drives my wife nuts because she's like, you've been working for seven months on this thing and you haven't seen a paycheck and it's like, yeah, that's kind of unfortunately the way it goes sometimes.

Interesting. Okay, so right now you're free agents again. Yes. So, okay. And so we're now working with another writer based out of LA who's worked on a bunch of Marvel properties and is a big Shakespeare fan.

And so we're actually meeting with him later today by phone to talk about that pitch he's put together just to give us our thoughts. And then that'll be, we'll start pitching it in Los Angeles again soon. Doesn't Netflix have to spend a trillion dollars on Canada or something? I made up the number trillion.

That's what everybody comes up to me and they're like, yeah, I've got this great idea. You know, you've got this, you've done these comics and I know you've got some TV contacts and like Netflix has to buy this. We'll just take it to Netflix. And it's like, it's not quite that simple. But yeah, Netflix is, they are definitely buying. But that's, I think what a lot of the debate,

if you've been following it, has been about like, well, what is Canadian content? Right. Like how will Netflix define that? Like, could you've been following it, it's been about like, well, what is Canadian content? Right. Like how old enough Netflix to find that? Like, could it be all American stuff and it's just shot in Toronto? Right. Like,

like, like I always think not that this is not a Netflix show, but the Handmaid's Tale, like would that qualify as a Canadian show? Cause it's only like shot here. Well, it's shot here. I mean,

it's based on Canadian. Yeah. It's based on Canadian. I don't know. It's, I mean, it all depends. Cause when I grew up in the Canadian film industry and there was a lot of like,

very niggly, like if you had, you know, to get Canadian tax credits, you had to have this like really, you know, literally binders of paperwork to justify that. Oh,

like the, the third, you know, the, the grip, he was born in Oakville. So that counts. Right.

So I don't know quite where it goes now. Cause thankfully I'm no longer doing tax credit applications. Cause that sucked. Well, maybe somebody listening right now knows a guy or is a guy or a gal who can move this forward. I don't know. We need to make this series. We got to get this Kill Shakespeare thing going. Amazing.

Now, I did this stupid thing and I'm going to do it because it's my show. But just before you came over, I was uh oh it's kill shakespeare like what are some great songs in my collection that have the word kill in it like let's start with the word kill in it okay so i'm going to play just the beginning i won't play the whole song so i'll just play a little bit of five songs that i like that have kill in it okay all? Alright. In the title, I should say. Okay. I know everyone's already identified this, but I'll give it a few seconds

before I kill it. Reminds me of the Phoenix on like a live to air from the Phoenix. Martin Street, 10 years ago. Last weekend. Yeah, that was really sad. The whole circumstances around his passing was very

sad. For sure. And I can almost hear the crowd in the background. Okay, so that's Rage Against the Machine. I still, not that I listen to the CD anymore, but I still listen to that self-titled debut by Rage Against the Machine. I really liked it.

So that's Killing in the Name of. And here's another one, quite different, but here's another one. One of my favorite covers. This is the first place I went to. I'm like, will it be Roberta Flack or the Fugees?

No, Fugees for sure. Because you've got to get Wyclef going one time. One time. softly with his song telling my whole life with his words killing me softly with his song there you go the fuj. Still a great jam. Here's kind of an obvious one, but here's another one. Here we go. a building a remedy for Christopher Kennedy at any time

an invitation you can't decline caviar cigarettes queen killer queen extraordinarily

nice and she's a killer queen and here's another one Connor I know you're enjoying this right

Mike playing five songs. No, I'm trying to pick it up. I'm like, okay, we'll just listen. Oh, okay. When Gord mentioned the blackout on the East, he mentioned the 1977 blackout. Yes. And all I thought about was the Spike Lee movie

about the about what was it? The blackout in Brooklyn. Yeah, Berkowitz whose dog told him. Son of Sam. Son of Sam, right. Zodiac I guess. No, Zodiac's not the Spike Lee one.

Well, the Son of Sam. I thought it was the Spike Lee joint. The one with John Leguizamo's in it, and I don't know if it's ringing a bell, but anyway, I remember that because this is when Reggie Jackson was hitting the homers. He hit the three homers in a game, and that was so,

and I remember it was like the blackout and this killer and woman were like dyeing their hair because he was picking on young blonde woman, and so Berkowitz was the Son of Sam killer and all this was kind of going on in New York and that's anyway.

This song was on the soundtrack. This is a long-winded way of saying it. Psycho Killer. Which is a great song. Yeah. Talking Heads.

And so I promised five. All right. And here's one more kill song. All right. All right. I want your pass and you're missing the hooter. I'm the funky Buddha. I'm your fucked up style to get wicked. So come on, the cypress starts to kick it. Cause we're like the outlaw scotty. We're suckers, we're hotties.

Jump behind the bush when you see me driving by. Hanging out the window with my magnum. Taking out some futos, acting kind of local. Just another local kid from the street getting paid for my vocal. Here is something you can't understand How I Could Just Kill A Man. So there you go, Connor. Five jams of Kill A Man. I appreciate that.

That's actually a very nice thing to do. We haven't worked any of those into the stage show. We have a little problem clearing the music rights on those. I don't know. Man, Cypress Hill. We were talking about that the other day. I was in New York with a buddy of mine for a sports trip and we were going through

what part of New York was it? Bushwick? I can't remember what part of New York they were originally from. Now it's totally gone on me. We were just going through and looking in on the train and just being like, man, Cypress Hill. There's never really that funk dubious at Cypress Hill. That kind of very specific kind of rap hasn't... It's like an artifact at that time

they were uh oh yeah they're an interesting band i liked them too uh did they share a dj mugs was that their dj trying to think what they might have shared dj mugs possibly with house of pain i'm trying yeah there was some cross there was some like crossover between those two right which is funny because you look back and you're like oh like there wasn't they didn't there wasn't too much outcry of like those two groups not you know kind of not fitting into like at the time like you know latinos and white guys like you know there was still a little bit of a question as to whether you could be in hip-hop well you know i think broke down the barriers there was remember third base yeah speaking of new york uh third base uh like that i remember that was the maybe that might

be the first i mean other than like the obvious pop hits of like a vanilla ice or whatever but third base was like oh yeah like white people can uh can perform hip-hop too like it was like a eye-opener there but uh yeah that b i know that i don't know if b real i think b real's doing something with chuck d now maybe oh really they got a project going on, Prophets of Rage, I want to say. Yeah, okay. So anyway, I always dug the Cypress Hill stuff, so I had to throw them in the mix there. I wasn't sure if you were going to go with that or Kill That Noise.

No. Public Enemy. Oh. Kill That Noise. Yeah, which albums Kill That Noise on? Because Bring the Noise, but Kill That Noise. I don't remember what that song. It's a more recent one,

right? Cause I mean, I, the first four public enemy albums I have memorized and I don't believe that's on the first four, but I don't think so. Now I'm even sitting here. Did I just like actually cross from that?

Is that actually a little cool? Jay? Maybe it's actually a little cool. Okay. Maybe. Cause I know my PE pretty well. I was going to say, don't stump the expert here.

Thank God. The periscope's not on now. You can't see me sweat. Speaking of experts. Okay. I don't know about you, but when my jewelry is damaged, I go to Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. When my watch needs a new battery, I go to Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair.

Because if I mention that I heard about them on my own podcast, Toronto Mic'd, I get 15% off. So everybody listening should go to Fast Time. What is the, don't butcher the URL. It's fasttimewatchrepair.com to find a location near you. These are the guys you go to, guys and gals you go to when you need to get your watch repaired or your battery installed or your jewelry or even buy a watch. Somebody got a watch at TMLX3. Like they sell watches, bands, you know, you got to go to Fast Time. Milan from Fast Time recorded a special message for you, Connor.

The next voice you hear. I can hardly wait. Belongs to Milan. Hey, Toronto Mike. It's Milan from Fast Time Watch and Jewelry Repair. Hey, Connor. First off, congratulations on all of your success with Kill Shakespeare. It's truly an honor to speak with a Joe Shuster and Harvey Award nominee,

as well as Holy Trinity School's second most infamous graduate of all time. Two-part question. One, as someone who has visited Comic-Cons throughout the world, is there a story you can share of a memory or experience that stands out? And two, as a former guest on Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, what would be your dream sports panel? Thanks, Connor and Toronto Mike. Two-parter.

Two-parter. I'm going to take the second one first. So, yes, I did briefly get on Michael Landsberg a couple of times in my youth when I was working at BNN, which still stands as one of the great highlights of my life and also the great, how on earth did that happen? But a great, okay, I think we want a panel. I want Greg Popovich on that panel. Right. I think Pop is just like, he's such a smart guy.

He's got so many interests outside of just sports. I think you'd learn a heck of a lot from Greg Popovich. Who else would I want? I mean, I'd love to have, I mean, can I have,

can it be living or dead or is it only people living? You make the rule because this is Milan's question. Okay. I'm going to say, you know, we've talked about Greg Gord's.

I think having Gordie Howe, I think it'd be so interesting like, cause he played, you know we've talked about great gourds. I think having Gordie Howe, I think it'd be so interesting. Like, cause he played, you know, like being so dominant, playing for such a long time, playing with his children,

like any, any really encompassed a bunch of different eras of hockey. And I'd be very curious to see like how Gordie Howe looks at like hockey today and what he feels about it. You know, and I just think the stories Gordie Howe must have would be incredible. And going around, let's see who else I'm going to take somebody else from another,

from my other favorite major sport, baseball. Who would I want to speak to in baseball? I mean, Pete Rose. I'm not that big of Pete Rose guys. I'm not that big of Pete Rose guy. I,

you know, I like Petey, but like, oh man, I, you know, I might, the hometown blue Jay thing wants to say Lloyd Mosby,

but I feel like I could do, um, you know, like Jim Leland. I think Jim Leland would be an interesting guy. Like he managed forever. Like he's a pretty old school guy. Apparently he's a hilarious guy.

Um, he would be a great guy to sit down and talk with as well. I think those would be pretty. Oh, and of course Muhammad Ali. I mean, anytime if it's, if it's ever,

I would love to sit down. But you only get Landsberg plus three. So I feel like, okay. So sorry, Jim, Jim, I'm booting Jim.

Sorry, Jim Leland. I love you, Jim. Go on Jim. But I'm Muhammading Jim. Sorry, Jim Leland. I love you, Jim. Go on, Jim. But Muhammad Ali. How do you not bring Muhammad Ali on? The greatest Trump's Jim Leland. Like I think Muhammad Ali

is like such a genius. That'd be cool. Actually, that'd be good. You know, I think you get like an individual support. I know you were talking with Gord about tennis. Yes.

And one of the things that he was talking about, Milos. And one of the interesting things that Katho Kelly had written about that, and I really like Katho Kelly's stuff in The Globe, and he'd was talking about milosh and one of the interesting things that kathel kelly had written about that and i really like kathel kelly stuff in the globe and he'd been talking about how you know individual athletes they really lose like they lose all the time in a way that team athletes don't really do and i hadn't really ever thought about that but like how like how

emotionally wearing it must be so from that perspective i mean roger federer is great but i don't think he'd be an interesting talk. Jimmy Connors? Maybe I'll put Jimmy Connors on here. Can I just explain? Can I have a massive round table? Yeah, sure, sure. For sure you can.

But when you were on Off the Record, do you remember who joined you? Like, do you remember who else was on that? How many times were you on Off the Record? I was on twice. I was on twice. Do you remember your... I almost, Jamie McCowan.

I definitely remember Jamie McCowan because he was going to beat the crap out of me. Came over in the Gilmore tree. He comes on and I look over. They do the roundabout. And I'm like... They introduced me last, of course, because I'm the least important guest.

And I turned across to Jamie McCowan. I said, oh, it's a real honor to be... It's a real honor to be here with the only man who made Rick Natras look like an offensive defenseman. And Jamie McCowan just looks at me like, what fuck are you kid but he kind of smiled he kind of smiled and i was also with ryan vandenbush um who you may remember he's the guy who ended nick caprios's career and i i have to always have this long memory so ryan vandenbush was about my height

like if you walk in i'm about six one i'm not you know i'm not a particularly big dude but i'm not i'm not tiny um and ryan Ryan Vanderbush was like about, he was a little shorter than me and he wasn't that much broader than me. Now you could tell he was obviously in amazing shape, but it struck me first by how he was not a physically intimidating presence. And then he was so soft-spoken.

He was really nervous to be on the show. He was not a guy who I think did a lot of media. And I remember asking him before the show, and I wish I hadn't in retrospect, because I think it actually shook him. And I asked him like, did you remember the Nick Kiprios thing? Like, was that something that stayed with him?

And he really legitimately looked a little haunted. And he was like, yeah, like I remember it every day. Like I remember everything about it, right? Like, and it, you know, you'd heard about how, you know, enforcers have their own code and how most of these guys are actually pretty gentle guys off the ice.

But it was the first time I really thought like wow like i guess you really do you like sometimes when you when you're paid to hit another human being and it goes badly like that's not something you just skate off the ice and like all right well tomorrow i'm gonna fight somebody else like and that the kicker to that was uh the way landsberg would do his show is you know he would ask the new guest talks first and then he would get somebody that he knew that could jump in and go anywhere second. And I'd only been on the show this is the second time, but I got back because I'd done a good job the first time.

And Lansberg tapped me before I went out there and said, look, I'm going to start off with Ryan and I'm going to give him a few seconds, but I'm going to look at you. If he's struggling, I'm going to look at you and jump in. Just jump in. That's like when Johnny Carson invites the stand-up to come sit and talk afterwards. Yeah, they're there just in case the interview doesn't go well.

And so Ryan, he asked Ryan, I don't remember the question. He asked Mr. Vandenbosch, but he started to answer. But he was having trouble figuring out what he wanted to say. And after, you know, 25 seconds, maybe, you know, Landsberg's like, we're on TV and he looks at me. And so I jump in and I cut him off. And I kind of like try to say what he was saying, you know, Oh, I agree with you. You know, it's really like this. And then I moved on and I, I still remember Ryan Vanderbush looking

to looking really hurt, right? Like he was just trying to say his thing and he'd gotten cut off. And I was just like, wow, like this is a sensitive guy. And it just, it really struck me. I don't know why it surprised me that, you know, I got you know i got you know an enforcer hockey player would have this you know this pretty intense emotional life given what his job was but it really did strike me but no the landsberg shows were fantastic they were a lot of fun i'm trying to remember who else was on oh shoot there was i can't remember who it was now i was a canadian track and field guy and he cut me to shreds he was very funny but i said a few things he definitely did not agree with what i was saying and field guy and he cut me to shreds. He was very funny, but I said a few things. He definitely did not agree with what I was saying. And he very humorously cut me to shreds.

Like a member of the four by 100 or something? I can't remember who it was. He was a guy who was like, it wasn't Donovan Bennett, but it was somebody like, it was, um, cause you know,

Donovan Bennett would have been like 12th, but it was somebody who had had a background in Canadian athletics and was now working in Canadian media. He'd been in the CFL as well. And he was working in Canadian media. And I just can't remember who it was, but he was funny and on point and I said a few things and he was just like, nope, wrong. And I was like, all right, good point. But no, it was good. I enjoyed it a lot. Cool. Now the second part, Milan wanted a noble Comic-Cons. I can't remember exactly what he wanted. Oh, he was just saying any like super memorable stories for Comic-Cons. I hate, you know, I really, I was sitting there,

I took the second one first because I'm like, do I have any really, really, really good Comic-Cons? Well, maybe tell us, start by like,

how many have you done? Like, how many Comic-Cons? I guess you go there and you sell a bunch of Kill Shakespeare stuff. Yeah, so basically,

basically, they're trade shows. At the end, you know, anybody out there who's ever done a trade show, that's what a comic convention is, right?

It's a trade show, but with people dressed up like superheroes or like science fiction. And it's great. Like, honestly, if you've never taken your kids trade show, that's what a comic convention is, right? It's a trade show, but with people dressed up like superheroes or like science fiction. And it's great. Like, honestly, if you've,

if you've never taken your kids to one, it's super cool. My wife like despises comic culture and nerd culture. She's not into it. Despises is the wrong word, but it's not her thing. Right. Right.

But she really likes going to with the kids because she's like, Oh man, it's like, it doesn't matter what people look like. Like any, any body type you want to be like fat, massive Thor. Cool. Nobody's going to be like, Hey dude, why are you like showing off your belly? They're look like, like any, any body type you want to be like fat, massive Thor. Cool.

Nobody's going to be like, Hey dude, why are you like showing off your belly? They're just like, awesome, nice costume. So it's a really cool place. But yeah,

so I would at my peak when I, if I've got a book out and I'm supporting a book, so I'm writing a new book now that'll be finished. Hopefully I'll finish writing in the next month or so. And then it's going to get started to be drawn by the artist. So next year I should be on the road again to support it. Right. So in a busy year I might be gone 25 26 shows a year wow um and these are like off like a lot of these are i guess california would be uh oh i mean the

big one is san diego so that's the one when people talk about like comic-con like they mean like san diego comic-con that's like the biggest one but then there's a massive one in new york actually toronto's is i think the third or fourth largest in north north america it's a huge show chicago seattle and then like little towns every little town has a comic-con um because comics are the only growing part of like book market and comic-cons are really the only growing part of the trade show market so yeah you go i mean you stand behind a table you you tell people about your show you you know your ideas you sign some books you hopefully meet some people who know your stuff and are super excited your show you you know your ideas you sign some books you hopefully meet some people who know your stuff and are super excited to meet you you definitely meet a lot of people

who are like well this sounds stupid and they walk on right like uh it's a little humbling but no i wish i had like i met um sean astin that was pretty cool yeah he was on uh uh don't tell me because he was on a so he was on goonies he's a goonies guy yeah he's goonies he's like uh lord of the rings stranger Things in season two. He has a big role in that. Right. So that was kind of cool because he came up and he came up and was like, had the book and he's like, I've been reading this.

I think this is great. I want to make this into a movie. And so we chatted with him for a while. So that was really cool. And related to that is Julie Tamer. So you may know Julie Tamer. She created The Lion King, the Broadway stage show. Okay. Julie Tamer. So you may know Julie Tamer. She created The Lion King, the Broadway stage show. And she's also pretty famous for

doing a whole bunch of Shakespeare films and plays. And she did that. You may remember there was a Spider-Man musical where all sorts of people got injured and died. This is the U2. Yes, the U2, Spider-Man, Spider-Man Bring Out the Dark. And so Julie Tamer was also interested in turning Kill Shakespeare into

maybe a movie. And so she invited us backstage of Spider-Man Bring Out the Dark before it opened, which was amazing. We had our artist Danny Belanger there, and he and her geeked out on all the scenic design. It was really cool. But the neat part about that, this is probably the coolest story, she was on Colbert shortly thereafter,

because the show's just about to open. And so Colbert is saying to her, Oh, Julie Tamer, you know, so, you know, it's kind of weird to me. shortly thereafter because the show's just about to open and so Colbert is saying to her oh Julie Tamer you know so uh you know it's kind of weird to me you know you're you're known as this famous Shakespearean uh you know expert and here you are doing this like comic book thing so I mean what's next for you you're gonna do something with Hamlet and his ghost dad running around fighting crime and Julie Tamer looks at me she goes well actually Stephen there's already a comic that does something like that it's called Kill Shakespeare thepeare's not quite there but it's quite good and colbert looks

at her and julie tamer is known as a pretty serious person she's not a she's not a rivaled joker and so steven colbert is looking you're going like what the fuck like is this is she putting me on is she pulling my leg or is this actually a thing so he just shut up for about 15 seconds and she went on and talked about kill Shakespeare for like 20 seconds. Primetime. I would have played the clip. I didn't even, you got, you must have this.

Yeah. Actually, Anthony definitely, he recorded it. He's like, he's got it on Twitter five seconds later. But yeah, at the end we used,

we used to have, you know, we have an, our banner, we have like, like pull quotes from people that love the series. And so we have Stephen Colbert saying they should make this movie. I should play Hamlet.

And that's cause that's literally what he said to Julie Tamer at the end. He's like, you should make that movie and I should play Hamlet. And that's because that's literally what he said to Julie Tamer at the end. He's like, you should make that movie and I should be Hamlet. And so our postscript is Andy, our artist, sent Colbert a portrait of him as Shakespeare. And we kind of hoped that, oh, maybe he put it on,

but he never ended up, whether he got it or got it and was like, nobody's going to get this. But yeah, so that was kind of cool. That was kind of cool. That's super cool. That's super cool. Now, so now um so thank you of course Milan I mentioned fast time watch and jewelry repair good friend of Connor McCreary uh he's the I guess so so is the joke there that Milan is the most

infamous graduate of the I was trying to think is there somebody else all I know about Milan is that Milan is the self-described greatest hitter, greatest leadoff hitter in HTS baseball history. You can take that as you want. He named himself Primetime. He gave himself the nickname Primetime. So I've always known Milan as Milan Primetime Talsania. Oh, that's funny. So there you go.

Things I'm learning. That's fantastic. Self-imposed nickname. When earlier today I tweeted you were coming on and you tweeted about how you might even talk about the multiple death threats that you received in your reporting days what's that about okay so so we were kind of talking about this we got one on a bunch of tangents so so you know as i mentioned you know i started off in film and tv um and i worked for a couple

film companies and myself and anthony created a couple of tv shows and we you we got, we sold a couple and then they just never made it on air for whatever reason. And at that point I was like, all right, I'm not really sure what I want to do now. You know, like I've tried this a little bit. It doesn't seem to be working. I want to get something that actually brings in some money. And this is where I got the opportunity to work at BNN. And so then I started as a journalist. And as I worked there, eventually some friends of mine,, a good friend of mine's wife was working for the UN, and she was actually doing prison reform. And so she was going around the world and visiting prisons and like, giving them advice. And they were in Ghana, which is in West Africa. And they called me up and they're like, hey, you should come here. Like, we've got this place. I think you'd really enjoy it. It's a really amazing culture. And I had been working at BNN for four, four you know probably five years at that point and was like yeah i'm ready to do something different and so i went to my boss at the time and i said look i know i've only got whatever four weeks vacation saved up but you know can i have like an extra three weeks unpaid because i don't really want to go to africa for you know three weeks and turn around like i need some time

and they were and he said no and i said i quit and he's like And he's like, what? I was like, yeah, I mean, if you're not going to give me three weeks unpaid vacation, why the hell am I here? So I left and I went to Africa and I ended up working for a newspaper there called the Ghana Statesman, which was the oldest independent newspaper

in sub-Saharan Africa. Wow, okay. And so that was my, you know, so I got this job of just kind of, I would write about all sorts of things. And so I got death threats for a few different reasons. I got death threats in, so I love Ghana. I'm going to preface this by saying my time in Ghana was amazing. It's like an amazing country. If you've

ever wanted to visit Africa, they call Ghana like Africa on training wheels, right? Like this is a place it's English things work. The rule of law is very respected. The people it's very much like Canada, like Ghana is to Canada as like, say nigeria is to the united states it's a big country it works well it's doing things right but it's not as like influential as our neighbors and so yeah i ended up there and i i just wrote some pieces on what was going on in canadian society and the newspaper i worked for was very uh i would say like a kind of a western democratic kind of newspaper right they were wanting to push ghana into more like western standards whether that's good or bad, who's to say, but that was kind of the slant. And so there's this one kind of old tradition in Ghana where like, if you steal something,

like stealing something in a community where there's, you know, where you're not blessed with great wealth, um, that's a pretty big deal, right? Like if, you know, if I steal these beers from you, you're like, well, you're a dick. If I steal that from you in a place where that's like, that's what you got. So theft is a big deal. So if you steal something, people will chase you down and they will beat you and they'll like leave you to die on the street. And everybody kind of agrees that that's kind of fair because, you know, being a thief is such an awful thing. The problem is it's not unheard of people being like, hey, oh, Mike stole my stuff when you didn't do anything. And this is just selling scores. So I was asked to write a piece

talking about that from my point of view as a Westerner. That got me a lot of death threats. The great news is Connor is not a name that's well-known in Africa. So they thought I was a woman. So at the time I was working with a couple of ladies from journals from human rights. Oh, like Connie or something.

I guess so, yeah. So they're like, so I'd written this thing and like our webpage was filled with all these people being like, we're gonna get you. You don't like this country, like we'll find you. Right. Like some pretty significant stuff. And they're like, you know, I was getting ready to walk home and they say like, aren't you scared? And I'm like, no, I'm not scared. I'm like, it's on the internet. Like you can't take that stuff seriously. A and B, they think I'm a woman. I was like, you guys should get a cab home tonight for sure. Cause

like they might be looking for you. Cause you're like, you know should get a cab home tonight for sure. Because like they might be looking for you because you're like, you know, obviously Westerners leaving the newspaper, but I'll be okay. And so I walked home. And as I'm walking home, a brony is something they say to like, it means stranger, man who comes over the hill. So if you go to a lot of parts of West Africa as a white person or someone who's not obviously like from that country, hey, a brony, a brony.

So I'm walking by and it's pitch black because there's no streetlights. And I'm walking home to where I'm living. And all of a sudden I hear this, hey, O'Bronie, O'Bronie. And I'm like, okay, you hear that a lot. And then the guy says, aren't you the O'Bronie who works at the newspaper? And I'm like, you're kidding me, right?

Like after I've just said that people aren't going to do anything and they're just blowing off steam. And I like turn around and I like don't recognize these do anything and they're, you know, they're just blowing off steam. Right. And I like turn around and I like don't recognize these guys. There's three guys. They've got a fire going. They're sitting there,

they're drinking beers and I'm like, yeah, no, that's me. And they're like, oh yeah. Like they, they were reading my MBA column.

We love MBA. Come sit down and talk MBA with us. I'm drinking these beers and I'm chatting with them for like an hour. Were you shitting bricks for a minute there? I had that like half second where I was like really but even still like it's a pretty it's a pretty chill area and the other time i got in big trouble was i wrote something about uh robert mcgobby so ghana was holding the summit all the african countries were coming and i was asked to interview the opposition party in zimbabwe and so i we just wrote this two-page thing about basically what they said and the next day i was I'd been working on this project about like orphanages.

So I was outside of the main city and I come back in and my phone has like blown up. There's all these texts, like the editor wants you in, get in now. Where are you? Where are you? And to,

to put this in context, I'd only thought I was going to stay in Ghana for about like six weeks. And I ended up being there for about six, seven months. So I, I had like four, I had like six pairs of clothing and I looked like, I looked like a hobo, right? Like all my stuff was like wearing out and I, seven months. So I had like four, like six pairs of clothing. And I look like I look like a hobo, right?

Like all my stuff was like wearing out. And I was just so cheap. I'm like, what do I care if I buy something new? Anyway, so I get in there and I walk into the editor's office. And there's my editor. And then there's this really big dude with no neck in a military like outfit with lots of like buttons on him. And there's like another guy like he's got a you know his bodyguard detail or somebody's just kind of standing there and i walk and i'm like this is

weird and the guy looks at me he stands up and he looks me up and down and he looks back at my editor he goes you're right he's not a very impressive looking white and i was like what now first of all like you don't get much you don't really get much like backlash and kind of like again like you go there and people like treat you well and you're like cool so i was like what and i was tired and I was kind of annoyed and my first instinct, I'm normally just a very chill whatever, I'm not going to lose my temper, but my first instinct was to kind of say something

but thankfully I kind of kept my mouth shut. Anyways, the guy walks out and I'm like, what the hell was that? Well, that was the head of the defense department in Zimbabwe. They'd written my article or read my article about this opposition party and they had come to have a chat with me

and they wanted to take me for a little ride. And my editor had spent the afternoon telling them, like, calming them down, smoothing them out. He'd asked me to write this piece, but he was like, well, you know how the West is. You know how they like to reflect upon

what we're doing here. He wanted to be all high and mighty. And he capped it off by saying, look, when you meet him, you're going to see. When you look this, when you see this kid, he looks like a hobo, right? You're not going to be like, he's got nothing. He's saying nothing.

And so that's why when he looked at me and I looked like a hobo, he was like... It works for you. Yeah, but apparently I was not allowed to go to Zimbabwe for a period of time. Apparently I was on the list. So that was the most exciting thing I got out of there. Apparently, apparently, apparently I was on the list. Yeah. So that was, that was the most exciting thing I got out of there. But beyond that,

it was great. That was one of the best experiences of my life going there. I actually got to play with a member of the Ghanaian soccer team because there was a, like they play soccer everywhere and I would, they would be like, hey, there's a white guy who wants to play soccer. Awesome. Come on in. And like, man, they can play and I suck. But I got to play with a guy, Jonathan Mensah, who was center back for the Ghanaian team for a couple

of years. So that was pretty cool. Very cool. So you're several months... Taking it back to sports. Yeah. And now I'm curious, at what point do you start writing for Raptors HQ? So that's something in the last couple of years. I'd written stuff for the Toronto Stars old fantasy website years ago.

Like one of my first paid writing gigs was writing for them, like writing like, oh, here's a recap of what happened yesterday in the NBA or the Major League Baseball. So I wrote for them for like writing like, Oh, here's a recap of what happened yesterday in like the NBA or the, or the major league baseball. So I wrote for them for a while. Was that like a, cause I know the star experimented with blogs for a while. Like was that a,

one of the Tron star blogs? It was way more sports, which was one of their first blog portals. So I wrote back stuff like a long time ago and it was a lot of fun. So I wrote for them for a few months and then, you know, kind of got a different job. And then I worked, there's a guy in Los Angeles named Jeff Green, who's a big, or Jeff, yeah,

Jeff Green, who's a film and sports nut. And so he was trying to build out his own kind of, I guess like the ringer, but before the ringer. So I worked for him briefly. So I wrote a little bit for him. And then, yeah, I kind of put it aside until, you know, I am a huge basketball fan and a buddy of mine uh Daniel Reynolds who's one of the guys who runs the site was like look you're a really good writer why don't you

come and do some stuff for us I know you like to you know I know you're you were a journalist for a while and yeah so it's it's more of a for me honestly it's it's more of a I can't figure out what to write for the book I'm working on hey why don't I instead of doing nothing and like playing video games I'll I'll write a piece about the Raptors which is good because it's like you keep sharp if you will like you cannot use the muscle but you don't have you don't have to be that's the excuse I tell myself when my agent's like so how many pages did you get yesterday I'm like well like two but I wrote this really good piece on Kawhi Leonard and she's like I hate you all right let's let's hear from brian gerstein on twitter he's raptor's devotee so you can guess probably you can guess what he's going to be asking about but this is brian

hi connor brian gerstein here sales representative with psr brokerage and proud sponsor of toronto might lately i'll be doing lots of leases. Got two clients' condos at Yonge and Eglinton, one in Richmond Hill, and I'm listing a brand new Minto Westside condo at Bathurst and Front. Contact me for any rental needs you have, and also if you're looking to buy or sell, 416-873-0292. Connor, as Raptors devotee on Twitter, you are in complete agreement with me that the Raps will run it back, at least till the trade deadline,

when an opportunity may emerge. Stranger things have happened, like the Rudy Gay trade, trying to tank and actually ending up better. I see Pascal's an all-star next year. We have more touches and plays run for him. At 25 and not a lot of heavy miles on him, do you concur? He's asking about Pascal.

Spicy P! Spicy P. Yeah, no, I totally do, Brad. Actually, the next piece I'm actually just working on right now for Raptors HQ is about what is the one thing Spicy P needs to do to get to that upper echelon. And for me one there's two options here it's either hitting above the break threes the way he hits from the corners or you know or at least a close percentage or it's getting a bit of a pick and pop game the way

abaca has one so i'm going to do a little inside basketball for those of you who are watching the playoffs last year you may have noticed that uh the philadelphia 76ers and the milwaukee bucks did the same thing to spicy p and the the warriors tried it but they couldn't really do it the same way which is you know the sixers of them joel and bead big man and the bucks of brooke lopez big man and they both basically were very comfortable they dropped them back in the paint and they dared siakam to try to finish over them with his, you know, his suitcase full of fancy little flips and spins. And it was tough for Pascal, right? Like he had, you know, at his worst, there were games where you're like, oh man, he's, he's afraid to try to make a play. He was, became very passive.

And what they left open for him were those above the break threes. And they, you know, if, if Pascal wanted to take two dribbles and step into an 18 footer, they were fine with that to me if siakam and he's such a hard worker right like i remember watching i can't remember the name of his coach but he's putting up twitter feeds last year and i wrote a piece about it last year being like i know we shouldn't get excited about watching an nba player's workout videos but like holy shit pascal siakam looks like the truth and by the way he's wearing a nirvana t-shirt so what's that about is pascal like secretly a kurt cobain fan we need to know um like you know about like what's what's his number one song is it lithium so he so that's i think if siakam if siakam can consistently hit open threes above the break or he develops a pretty solid abaca ask like that mid-range game then i'd really do i think siakam

becomes an offensive weapon and certainly a two-way weapon that is good enough to get you deep in the playoffs um and even to a title depending on who your who's your bet you know who's your robin there is a chance that pascal siakam could be batman and so i'm excited like the best thing about this season and i was talking about this with some of the hq guys is like for the first time in a while like we're just gonna like it's it's just gonna be experimentation we're gonna see a lot of different things and i'm really interested to see how like nick nurse has this reputation as a mad scientist like especially in the offensive end but they've built a really good defensive team and i was talking about this the other day on hq this is a really interesting

defensive team that's gonna have a lot of switchability and it's gonna be really hard to score on and i'm really curious to see a if Nick Nurse can find a way to goose some offense out of this group with like some smart sets or be like maybe Nick Nurse has a defensive mad genius brain too. And we're going to see some wackadoodle stuff that he does where you're just like, wait, that's how he's like, that's how he's trying to deal with LeBron James. So it's going to be exciting. That's how he's trying to deal with LeBron James. So it's going to be exciting. I mean, it's really hard to see them, you know, doing anything, but maybe getting out of a round, maybe two, if everything went perfectly.

But yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see how this goes. I'm trying to think if on this podcast, we've talked since talked about Kawhi Leonard choosing to be a Clipper. I don't think it's actually come up yet. So maybe since I have the Raptors HQ guy here, by the way, Raptors HQ is a SB Nation site, right? SB Nation.

Can I ask, did they leave you guys alone? Like, like, like, yeah, yeah, pretty much.

I mean, I mean, basically, you know, it's, it's still very much like, it's still very much, you know,

it's a sports SB sports blog, right? It's, it's a sports blog site. So, I mean, a guy like Daniel is kind of your assignment editor as you will but like really you know if i if i come to daniel i said hey i want to write this piece on pascal siakam

i give him the heads up partially because i want to make sure that you know josh kearns or like daniel hackett isn't writing something about that as well oh right um who are also great writers you should read um but no yeah you basically i mean, I mean, the most SB Nation gets involved is when you write something and then they take it and put it on the front of SB Nation or they farm it out to the score. So I've had pieces that like go to the score and all of a sudden I'm like scrolling through my app

and I'm like, hey, that's my article. Right. Yeah, so that's a good point. How many people are writing about the Raptors on Raptors HQ? I mean, there's probably 12 or 14 contributors total. There's like probably a core of six or seven who are most active. I would say I'm like, I'm more of an occasional. I tend to, I like writing, I like reading long form, like stuff like in the ringer.

So I tend to write a little more long form pieces. But yeah, there's, there's, I'm not sure what the exact number is, but there's probably a core of eight to 10 who are writing on the pretty regular. All right. Maybe now you can talk to us about, I know you wrote a piece about, uh, a Jimmy Butler move and how it could,

like, yeah, maybe just talk a little bit about Kawhi's departure and what it means for us. And also I'm curious, like, uh, could,

could we, could there still be like a sign and trade going down here? Like, so that's like, so that's off the realms. I actually, I actually embarrassingly talked about the idea about the Raps doing a sign and trade, but because of the nature of how Kawhi got to Toronto,

there is no option. The Raptors couldn't do like, hey, we'll sign you for five years and then we'll trade you to another team. That's what I was wondering. And then you'll give us something because we gave Kawhi the extra year and more money and so he'll be happy and everybody's happy.

That's unfortunately not on the table for the Raps. The four-year deal that if the Raps wanted to to trade him they could only sign him to a four-year deal and flip them um at least like at least right away right otherwise they could sign him for five years and trade them but that would have to wait there would be a period of time and so nobody was going to want to do that so yeah unfortunately there's no sign and trade option there which is too bad although i don't know what the Clippers have left to trade at this stage. But yeah, I mean,

you know, my take on it is now that everything's been said is it sounds like, you know, a year and a half ago, a year ago when Kawhi was like, I want to get traded to LA from San Antonio, that that's what he wanted. He really did want to go to LA.

And then I think, you know, he was here for a good time, not a long time, you know, and he, I think he really enjoyed his time in Toronto. I don't think this is about him not locking Toronto or thinking the franchise was bad.

I think he just made his mind up that I want to play at home and the Clippers are a good organization. And I think there's a, I honestly, I, you know, I don't know quite at all, but I think it's very reasonable to think that there's something about Kawhi Leonard making the Clippers the biggest team in Los Angeles that I think just kind of appeals to him. Like's he's a bit of a he's a different dude right like he doesn't really care what other people think I think yeah I think there's a piece of him that you know he said he grew up and he wasn't a Lakers fan even though he grew up just outside of right he was a an Iverson fan right yeah he was an Iverson fan so I think there's a piece of him that like you know Lakers

like you know I have to spend more time in NBA Twitter than I sometimes like because there's so many Lakers fans and you're like oh my, you're the like Knicks fans are just depressed and sad. And like, that makes me feel like Lakers fans are depressed and like delusional. And like, there's this like Lakers, it's just like, you don't ever tweet at a Lakers fan. It never goes well. But I think, yeah, I think I would enjoy watching the Lakers like crash and burn if he rampaged to the city for four or five. And I would love too I mean I think if you're an NBA fan Toronto would have been a great place for him to go I think a lot of NBA fans would have loved to see Kawhi still in Toronto because I think a lot of NBA fans fell in love with Toronto during this run and just like the

whole the culture of Toronto was I think for a lot of them they never thought about Toronto and so this was just so cool that Toronto was such a passionate basketball market right like if I was the city of Toronto I'd be like all right let's do some basketball trip, like tourism here, right? Like come to Toronto, you know, eat great food, watch some basketball, like have a great time. I think most of the NBA would have loved to see him here, but I think everybody's happy he's not in the Lakers. And, you know, that's the same keep thing I keep hearing.

It's like, well, at least it wasn't the Lakers. How's the city doing, like the collective? Like obviously you can't paint us all, everybody with the same brush here. But generally speaking, like, because I know how I feel personally, but I'm always a little surprised when some people seem to be taking this rather personally. Like some people even seem

angry at Kawhi for some reason. Like I just, what's your, you probably get way more Raptors feedback. You know, for the most part I think it's pretty good. I actually think Toronto fans have handled this, especially given Toronto is such a... You're a longtime sports fan in this city, right? And I think it's fair to say Toronto sports fans

are thin-skinned, not as smart as they think they are, and really touchy. And I think the Raptors fans' base, one of the things I love about them is because basketball is not hockey, I think you've got a lot of pre-educated sports fans like you know everybody born in Canada thinks they know hockey and very few of us really know hockey because hockey is you know there's a lot more to it than you know if you haven't played at a high level

I think most Raptors fans have kind of been like right like he left that sucks but he did what he like I don't understand people are angry he's like he came yeah he conquered yeah like the greatest the greatest run since 92 93 and arguably since 67 right like fantastic and you know he did everything he was supposed to do and he did it like professionally and like i think he changed the call i really do think he changed the culture of the team like the raptors were a little bit like the city. Like I go to, you know,

when I go to Raptors games, I get frustrated with the fan base. Cause I'm like, calm down everybody. Like don't get, this doesn't help being wound this tight. Like you feel the energy in the building. Right. I think why just like,

it didn't matter to him. Right. He just is going to play his back. And I really like watching Kyle Lowry. I thought that was the biggest difference. Kyle Lowry. I mean, I don't know if you remember a couple years ago when he missed the,

or he hit the shot against Miami to go game one of that conference semifinals. They go into overtime, they lose. He has another bad shooting game. And he was like, he was in the gym till midnight shooting. And like, you take a step back and you're like, that's not good for you, right? Like that is like, that is not the way to get yourself out of it. Like, and Kyle Lowry was always wound really tightly. He wants to win for you, right? That is not the way to get yourself out of it. And Kyle Lowry was always wound really tightly. He wants to win so badly, right?

You love that about him. But I think it was one of his biggest weaknesses. I think Kawhi came in, and I don't think you could be wound tightly around that guy. I think he allowed everybody in that Raptors room to take a deep breath. And you saw it between Game 3 and Game 4 in Philly. They're down 2-1.illy's just kicked their ass they don't play a fantastic game in game four

but they don't play a tight game and they win it you know milwaukee down to oh they go game three i was watching that game from germany of all places they get into overtime like when siakam siakam misses the two free throws right and you're you're like, oh my God, this is like, this is what's going to go down. And, you know, Lowry fouls out, you know, and Powell fouls out, but they didn't play tight. They didn't play great, but they didn't play tight. And I thought that's his legacy. And I hope they can keep that.

Looking back that game three that you described, their double overtime win, like looking back, that's the moment I think, you know, you lose that game and there was ample opportunity to blow that game, actually. You probably don't get the Golden State Warriors. You don't

go beyond... They go from game three on, they go eight and two against the two best teams in the NBA. Eight and two against the two best teams in the NBA. And the two games they lost to Golden State, they could have won both of those. You're right.

They could have had both of them. They played fantastic. And, you know, I know there's people talk about asterisks. Screw the asterisks. No, that's ridiculous. Screw the asterisks. Like Thompson, Curry, and Green won two titles without Durant. And was it fortunate that those guys got hurt?

Yeah, sure. It was. But guys, you know, but it was fortunate for them that Kawhi Leonard was dragging his leg around. Yeah. I don't think he dunked in that series. I don't know. I'm trying to remember if he even left his, sure. It was. But guys, you know, but it was fortunate for them that Kawhi Leonard was dragging his leg around. Yeah. I don't think he dunked in that series. I'm trying to remember if he even left his, yeah. You know, so yeah, I mean, that, I mean, I really think that Toronto team, that was the

most professional team I've ever seen. What a ride, eh? What a ride. Like, we're so lucky we got to experience the ride. And I mean, I'm wearing my bounce shirt right now. Like, I have, you know, Kawhi going to LA that's his right we had a deal come here for one year do your best try to deliver a championship to the city like he did everything like we won the championship nba champs like good luck in la it was it still makes me sad like don't get me wrong like he comes back and like

that siakam article i told you about that siakam article is like oh siakam does this. The Raptors are unbeatable because with Kawhi and a Siakam that you can't just like without having an obvious defensive like strategy against them, it's like you're dead. Well, this team wins another title. Right. We, we all had,

we all, of course we were all braced for this first of all. And now we all kind of adjust expectations. Like instead of repeating, I think we're, I don't know. Uh, I don't know what the expectations are, but it will try to win around, I guess. I don't know. You, you may, I think we're, I don't know. I don't know what the expectations are, but it will try to win around,

I guess. I don't know. You, you may, I mean, they're, they're going to be a really, really good defensive team.

They're going to be, they're going to struggle to score. They're going to be a, I mean, and if Siakam can't figure out that part of his game, they're going to really struggle to score. But if he does, they are going to be a hellacious defensive team.

They're going to be kind of like those Pacers teams that used to challenge LeBron, maybe say about a decade ago with Siakam playing the Paul George role, a different type of Paul George. But again, this is assuming that Siakam adds either the above the break three or the mid-range. All of a sudden, you've got a guy who's a versatile scorer, who's a great athlete, who's a fantastic defender, surrounded

by a bunch of veteran great defenders. And it'll be interesting to see, right? At the deadline, if you tell me that Messiah is going to flip Gasol and Ibaka and Lowry, sure, I could believe it because Messiah has a long history of not losing,

not liking to lose assets for nothing. Right. But at the flip side, I'm not quite sure who's, where those, what the deals are to get those guys because I know the one thing Messiah does not want to do, him and Bobby Webster,

they don't want to take on longer term money on okay deals like they want to be clear i mean you know there's an interesting thing i saw that based on instagram engagements the raptors were the most popular basketball team in the world in june which makes sense right because they were in the finals i mean you know there's them in golden state it's them one two and everybody else is like way behind but messiah's talked about how he really sees that this is an international brand and i believe him i believe that's what he's trying to build and that's gonna be interesting if he can build that and if he can use this championship as the springboard all of a sudden 2021 and you're talking about yannis who's a european dude why not like why wouldn't you consider that is i feel like you know i'm not

just saying yannis is coming to toronto I'm just saying what he's looking for. Because, correct me if I'm wrong, but we've never actually ever landed a top-tier free agent. You put some respect on Hato Turkoglu's name. You put some respect on Hato's name. You're absolutely right. So that's the example, right? But it's kind of interesting because we see,

okay, LeBron's going to LA, and then Kawhi's going to different LA and Durant's going to New York. Like we see these top tier guys just choosing to go there. We saw Bosh leave to go join LeBron in South Beach. And it's really an advantage. It's really a major disadvantage, if you will. We have to draft well. We have to trade brilliantly.

It really gives them a sigh. It's kind of amazing. We are NBA champs. Oh, yeah. I mean, the NBA title is the hardest title to win, right? I love my hockey, but hockey, at the end of the day, there's a lot more luck.

You would think one guy can make such a big difference in the NBA. And that's why I think the NBA title is the hardest to win, right? Because if you don't have that guy, like, you know, again, Conor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Sidney Crosby and Malkin get back there in the first round. Like the Tampa Bay Lightning, like when I saw that

Tampa Bay-Columbus matchup, I'm like, ooh, this is going to be a Donnybrook. This is going to be a good one. But I thought Tampa in six or seven. When Columbus matchup, I'm like, oh, this is going to be a Donnybrook. This is going to be a good one, but I thought Tampa and six or seven, you know, and when Columbus swept them, I was surprised, but I wasn't shocked because you know, it's lucky bounces. It's hot goaltenders and at the end of the day, Conor McGregor, you know, Conor McGregor,

sign up McDavid place, you know, he plays 18 to 21 minutes, you know, like what was our big debate here in Toronto is Austin Matthews wasn't getting an extra 90 seconds, right? And that's somehow those extra 90 seconds a game. That the sailing and maybe it is maybe to be fair it is I don't think so but maybe it is but that's not like when you're talking about LeBron LeBron played 48 minutes of a closeout game against Boston like the you know the the biggest complaint about Milwaukee was that Mike Budenholzer wouldn't play Giannis for 48 like that was my number one fear as a

Raptors fan I'm like what if he plays Giannis 48 minutes and Giannis plays, puts in his greatest game of his life? Like, how do you fight that? Right. That's not an option in hockey. And so that's why I think, yeah,

if you don't have one of those guys, and thankfully we did, we had him in Kwai. That's going to be the challenge for Masai's. How do I get that guy? Right? Right. They don't,

they don't grow on trees. I mean, teams have a guy like that. They, they on trees i mean teams have a guy like that they they're often uh hesitant to part with a guy like that yeah but i mean there's all i mean again this is where siakam's development will be so important because he is such a good defensive player his offensive ceiling doesn't have to be quite as high i don't think to be a guy who could be the man on a title team now i don't know if pas is ever getting there. He may top out as, man, he's an amazing Scotty Pippen. But you know what?

If you've been amazing Scotty Pippen and you've got a couple other good players and you've got cap space and you're in a city that now people look at and say, wow, this is a basketball city and the Lakers are full, right? They've got their two max slots filled and the Clippers have their max slots filled

and the Nets have their max slots filled and the Knicks are still the Knicks. Well, all of a sudden, you know, that next great player shaking out is like, I can't go to LA because there's no space there. Right. So why not Toronto? Like, why not go here? Like, Kawhi won a title here and 2 million people showed up. I want to have 2 million people show up. I want to sit up there and I'll stay. Like, maybe there's a Bradley Beal who's like played like shit in Washington. And I'm not saying Beal's the answer necessarily either, but like he would feel a lot of problems for the raps.

And if he's here, maybe he's a guy who's like, yeah, I'll stay in a place where 2 million people come out and celebrate a title. And it's a great city. And like, you know, maybe I'm just a little tired of the craziness back home.

I, that'll be an interesting thing for me as European guys. And some guys were just like, maybe I want to raise my family in Toronto. So we have to hope Trump gets reelected. back home. That'll be an interesting thing for me as European guys and some guys were just like, maybe I want to raise my family in Toronto. So we have to hope Trump gets reelected. Essentially, it increases the chances of somebody coming here. What's more likely to happen though

that, you know, because the current incarnation of the Raptors excluding, you know, like obviously Siakam and a couple of guys, they're pretty long in the tooth. Like this is an, you know, Gasol and Abaka and Lowry. including obviously Siakam and a couple of guys. They're pretty long in the tooth. This is Gasol and Abaka and Lowry. These are older guys that can already go on the downside of the career.

Isn't this the time where he should just burn it down and build it up around guys like Siakam? I mean, again, I think that gets into the practice. Because Gasol, Siakam, and Lowry, I mean, basically everybody expires at the end of this year. I think it's Ananobi and Powell, I think that gets into the practice. I mean, because Gasol, Siakam, and Lowry, I mean, basically everybody expires at the end of this year, right? There's not a lot. I think it's Ananobi and Powell, I think, are the only guys who are technically on contract

for the year afterwards. And obviously, you'll extend Siakam. You're not going to lose him, and they're going to try to re-sign Ben Bleat. But I assume. But I think, you know, it gets like the best case scenario is you trade a couple of Ibaka.

Okay, the best case scenario is this team gels together. Siakam's a superstar, and like, they're so good that you're like, all right, give them a real chance to defend it, and who knows what happens. I still don't think that can win a title even if everything goes perfectly,

but maybe that's a team that can get into the conference finals if everything went perfectly, and you're just like, wow, okay, that was worth the run back. Beyond that, though, if you can trade those three guys and not have to take back,

because I was writing, I said, I think if you're trying to trade one of those contracts three guys and not have to take back because i mean you know i was writing i said i think if you're trying to trade one of those contracts and you don't want to take back a multi-year contract with real money you probably have to attach an asset to get it done but we'll see we'll see we'll see who's desperate we'll see where people are we'll see if joel and bead gets hurt maybe this you know we'll see there's a chance they'll get some assets i think it's going to take a couple years and at the very least, what I'm most curious about, I mean,

I think Gasol's gone at the end of the year regardless. And they could bring him back, but I don't see it. I'm there, almost certain that Ibaka's probably

not coming back. Maybe there's a little bit more room for him coming back, but I think he'll make too much money. The real interesting one to me is Kyle Lowry

because I like Fred VanVleet, but I'm not convinced that Fred VanVleet is a lead guard, 32 minute a night NBA player. He might be. It's not impossible, but I'm not convinced. But what's the number? Kyle's making 30 million. He's not making anywhere close to that. So then it gets interesting about he's a short guard who traditionally don't age well, but he's a great shooter. And those guys do traditionally age well. And he's a great shooter and those guys do traditionally age well and he's a great competitor and he you know he's not enough and his game is not based on athleticism so i'm curious to see do they run kyle lowry back for a couple more years and what that number is that would be interesting to me that's the most interesting thing off season from

the core but yeah it's it's really going to be everything he's always done draft well smart trades and signings around the edges which I think he's already doing and then it's just loading up so that your next pitch to that next really good free agent is come to Toronto be the next guy to not the first be the next guy to bring a title to this town and I think that's

a much more interesting sales pitch is you can be the next guy and you saw what it looked like for the first guy. In Maasai, we trust. Yes, yes. If only he was running the Blue Jays. You know, I was thinking we just talked sports. We could do another, you know,

easily another 90 minutes here. But we got to save something for your next appearance when you come back to kick out the jams. And that's, you know what I promise you? I've been staring at this non, this periscope that shut itself down when the battery went too low i will make sure it's charged for your next appearance so people can see your handsome face oh thank you i'll get some plastic surgery by then and it's kind of amazing that i got a sports guy here who knows his sports he writes at rafters hq but he's also this like learned uh remember when homer thought it was learned it's learned pepsi and poppy homer with pepsi that's right uh but like you're you're writing about shakespeare and this

uh kill shakespeare and and comic book world you're going to comic cons and and you're married to a beer sommelier like that's a well-rounded interesting renaissance oh man in 2019 well thank you right you know as i as i drink my beer and read my comics i think truly i am the da vinci of my age and that brings us to the end of our 485th show you can follow me on twitter i'm'm at Toronto Mike and Connor. Connor, what's your Twitter handle? You can follow me at Connor McCreary. Also,

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