Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Dart Guy: Toronto Mike'd #353

Episode Date: June 28, 2018

Mike chats with Dart Guy about how he's parlaying his 15 minutes of fame into his dream job.

Welcome to episode 353 of Toronto Mike's, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery located here in Etobicoke. Did you know that 99% of all Great Lakes beer remains here in Ontario? GLB, brewed for you Ontario and property in the six.com Toronto real estate done right and pay TM an app designed to manage all of your bills in one spot download the app today from pay TM dot CA and camp turn a soul the leading French summer camp provider in Ontario. I'm Mike from TorontoMike.com.

And joining me is a man I'm going to refer to as Dart Guy. That's the coolest name in the world. I appreciate that. But I have to thank Leafs Nation and everybody out there for anointing me with it. Did you know cigarettes were called darts? Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Where did that start? Do you have any idea? Have you been quizzed on the origin of darts as a name for cigarettes? Absolutely not. And to the best of my knowledge, it's an Eastern thing out on the East Coast. They call them darts out there. I don't know where it started or how it started, but To the best of my knowledge, it's an Eastern thing out on the East Coast.

They call them darts out there. I don't know where it started or how it started. Yeah, I believe it to be an East Coast thing. I believe, I think I first heard it maybe on, like, maybe Jeremy Taggart or somebody like that was calling them darts. Yeah, I don't know. For some reason, I get a little bit of a feeling that the term dart has been around a little bit longer than Jeremy Taggart. Probably, yeah. He likes to tap into the obscure Canadianity.

I think that's his bag. So I know the other term that he often uses is from the National Film Board with the log driver's waltz. They talk about Berlin, I think berlin down and down like water something that he uses that term berlin i think he's bringing that back yeah taggart and torrens are they got a good thing going and uh celebrating uh everything canadiana so yeah that's you man right you're i mean i'll be honest uh when i i wanted to have you on and it is what's the guy's name uh cal uh his name is Brent, and he used to go on Twitter by Toronto Brent, but it's now Cal E-H. So he's a Toronto boy that relocated to California.

He's out in L.A. there somewhere. This begs the question, if you have a great handle like Toronto Brent, why did you change that? I don't know. I was wondering the same thing when I saw it switch have a great handle like Toronto Brent, why do you change that? Right. I don't know. I was wondering the same thing when I saw it switch over to Cal A Brent, but, uh, I thought it was pretty clever,

creative the way he switched, the way he used the play on a there. So there you go. And, uh, yeah. So he, he's like,

get dark guy. He's a big fan of yours. Uh, and he loves your show and he loves Todd Shapiro and we're going to get to all that soon. Yep. But, uh,

I was like, okay, yes, admittedly, I really should have had you on like 14 months ago. That's fair. But then I'm like, oh, I don't really do this flash in the pan thing. Like he's having his 15 minutes,

and then he'll become just a regular fan and go back, be back to normal. What's your real name? My real name is Jason Maslaco. And truth be told I had seen your podcast around and I was getting a little curious as to when I was going to get my

invitation so. I feel shame I feel shame. I underestimated you. This is the truth. I underestimated you because I thought okay once the Leafs are eliminated in last year's not this year's last year's so the 2017 playoffs when the Leafs are gone Dark Guy year's, not this year's, last year's, so the 2017 playoffs when the Leafs are gone, dark guy will be gone too.

And that's the end of his story and he'll be a regular guy. And I totally underestimated you because you, and the reason I wanted to have you on, you have managed to parlay your 15 minutes into life-changing interesting work.

I can't wait to have this chat with you, man. I appreciate that. I take no offense to that because truth be told, when all this happened, Mike, I was in the same boat. I figured I was going to have a couple minutes to enjoy and it was going to be a real cool story to tell my nieces and nephews

later on in life. Luckily, and through a little bit of hard work, like you said, I've been able to parlay this into something a little more and keep it going. And I mean, I'll read you a tweet or two later. Not too many because, you know, we're here to talk about all good things. But I got a few tweets of like, I'm sick of that guy. Like, isn't his 15 minutes up?

Like, he must get a lot of blowback. Like, who is this guy to still have like a media career? Truth be told, it's died down a lot. And I think perhaps I've been able to convince some of the haters that I was more than just a painted face and a blue beard with a cigarette in my mouth. But you know what? No matter what you're doing in life, there's going to be people who are supportive and people who are negative. And for me, I've got so many people that are supportive, it's easy to ignore the negative. And who wouldn't, in your shoes,

who wouldn't try to make the most of this? Why wouldn't you? To me, it's a no-brainer. You're doing great, I'd say. I appreciate that. Absolutely. I was afforded an opportunity here that I never otherwise would have had.

And when this all happened and I started thinking about, you know, where I could go with this and what I could do with it, I didn't want it to just be 15 minutes. I didn't want it to just, I didn't want to just, you know, fade into the distance as much as I was prepared for it. I wanted to find a way to make it work for me. And I think I've done that fairly well so far. Two things, and as I follow your career so closely, two things though, and we'll dive into this deeper too, but the two things I think going in your favor, one is by all accounts, you're not an asshole. This is key. This is key.

So most of us will root for you because you're a solid citizen, decent guy. I appreciate that. And secondly, and this is the biggest surprise, I think, after we saw you and we'll talk about what we saw you on Hockey Night in Canada on TV. And then we're like, there's no way this guy is going to be well-spoken. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? He's going to have trouble putting a sentence together. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you know what? And I can get that. I can understand how somebody might have looked at the original image and been like, oh, my God, look at this guy. I mean, I'm not oblivious to the fact that, you know, it wasn't the most flattering image. You know, the face paint was melting off my face and, you know, I was sitting at the game with a cigarette in my mouth. So I can understand that. But, you know, I'm glad I was able to surprise some people along the way. Well, that's it. I mean, the first thing I think the next day is the first time I heard you talk.

And I was like, wow, the guy can talk? You're a clear communicator better than I am. You're eloquent in how you speak. And I think that's one of those don't judge a book by its cover stories. Yeah, I appreciate that. Like I said, I get how somebody could have looked at the original image and said, oh my God, this guy's from a trailer park or something. I don't know.

We expected a little more of like, out for a rip, are you, bud? Yeah, pretty much. I get that a lot. But you can turn that on, right? You can turn a switch and you could be that guy too, right? Oh, 100%. I actually own a hat that says out for a rip on it. My oldest son loves that.

Oh, man, he loved when that was hot. I think they're from Peterborough. Yeah. But he loved that so much. It's like that's the Bob and Doug McKenzie of this generation. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I was a great one.

Okay. So where did you come from today, like geographically? So I live in Waterloo these days with my wife and my fur baby, Finley. Oh, yes. Okay. So this is a dog, a fur baby. Yeah. I just want to clarify, this baby doesn't have a baby, Finley. Oh, yes. Okay. This is a dog, a fur baby. Yeah. I just want to clarify, this baby doesn't have a big beard like you.

No, no. Although I'm pretty sure a lot of people expect that if I did have a child, it would come out with a beard like this. But I'm jealous. I'm going to get this out. I can't grow that. I try sometimes, and after day four, I look like a homeless disheveled guy, so I kill it and I shave it off.

I can't do that. Well, it's kind of funny, truth be told. Me growing the whole beard started over a little bit of a joke. So there was a Duck Dynasty app. Okay. Where you could Photoshop a beard onto your face, one of the guys from Duck Dynasty. Right.

So my dad lives up in Sudbury, so I hadn't seen him in a little while, and I decided to play with him a little bit, and I took one of these pictures with one of the beards, and I photoshopped it, and I'm telling you, it looked real. It works for you.

And I sent it over to my dad, and he just said to me, he's like, that better be fake. And then you had to make it real. So I said, no, it's real. He said, come on, you cannot grow a beard like that. I said, oh, no, challenge accepted. That's all it took.

And now, because now that you're branding, like your trademark, now you're stuck with it, right? You can't get rid of that beard now. I think there would be a riot or a revolt in Leafs Nation if I were to shave it anytime soon. So I'm going to be keeping it for a revolt in Leafs Nation if I were to shave it anytime soon. So I'm going to be keeping it for a while. Well, I saw you in the car across the street and right away I saw the beard and I'm like, that's Dirt Guy. And there's another thing I saw that

we'll talk about later. I don't want any spoilers here, but I saw something else we'll talk about later. So I have a question here right off the top from Jason from Sudbury, who is a listener of Toronto Mic'd. Jason says, looking forward to the Dark Guy ep, even though he cheers for the wrong team. LOL.

Just kidding. It's going to be interesting. He's a Habs fan, I believe. I won't hold that against him. Maybe I will. Maybe I will. It's going to be interesting, though. I know he's born and raised in Sudbury, so ask him how often he makes it back home. So Jason from Sudbury wants to know

how often do you make it back to Sudbury? I'm usually back at least two, three times a year. I wish I could get back more because it's my hometown and I do love it up there. But I usually make it once or twice in the summer and I'm always home for Christmas. I'll be dark guy, we'll be home for Christmas. Absolutely. Come on, Who is it who Honky the Christmas Goose was a Johnny Bauer Christmas single from the 60s. Where's the dark guy? I'll be home for Christmas. Yeah, I do. I'm not overly familiar with it, but I do know of it.

We got to make that happen. Okay. Another great question here from Dale. He says, can you please ask him as he's been from Sudbury, has he ever been to the Tradewinds? It's a famous bar, he says, can you please ask him, as he's been from Sudbury, has he ever been to the Tradewinds? It's a famous bar, he says. And is it still in business in the Deluxe, a hamburger joint, with two locations and the best burgers he's had in 20 years in Ontario?

Dale says his wife is from Sudbury, and as the joke says, she played hockey. He can elaborate on that. A woman in Sudbury were either whores or hockey players. What's this I'm learning about Sudbury? Is that true? The women from Sudbury are very respectable young ladies. All of them? For the most part.

For the most part. I have heard that saying before, and I will neither confirm nor deny but what's okay so have we heard of this bar called Tradewinds yes I have been to the Tradewinds before I don't know if it's still open these days but I have been there now as for Deluxe hamburgers so Deluxe you've been

to Deluxe if anybody is following my Instagram or Twitter they will know that when I head back to Sudbury, say I'm in Sudbury for five days, I hit Deluxe at least four, four times. That can't be good for your arteries. Probably not, but I'm telling you,

the chicken out of bun dinner and the french fries there are out of this world. If you're ever in Sudbury, I'll tell you right now, you got to go to Deluxe and try it out. Here's a dumb question. I don't think I've been to Sudbury. I'm ashamed to say, but I used to camp, and not a long time, maybe my boy and I should try

to get a trip up there, at Killarney. And I remember whenever I'd drive to Killarney, I feel like I got close to Sudbury. Is this true? Is Killarney, you're not sure, are you? No, I know where Killarney is. But not close? You're not that close to Sudbury yet.

Okay, scratch all this. I've got to go further north to get to Sud is. But not close? You're not that close to Sudbury yet. So let's... Okay. Scratch all this. I got to go further north to get to Sudbury. Is that right? Yeah. You've got to go past French River. Right. I thought I'd go by French, get to Killarney.

I don't know. I feel like I go by the French River to get to Killarney. Maybe I'm wrong. Yeah. No. You'd be... I don't know. You'd be about another hour away, I believe.

People already make fun of me. For any time I have to speak about something north of St. Clair, I believe. People already make fun of me. Anytime I have to speak about something north of St. Clair, I get in trouble because I was talking about where does Thornhill begin? And I think I said it was Steeles or something and somebody was like, how could you think it was Steeles?

I don't know. And I think I might have got Shepard and Steeles mixed up in my head. You know what I mean? They're all the same to me. There's these northern... Anyway, I apologize if I've screwed up my geography here. I should know more of my province here.

Okay, great. Dale, this whole... I don't like to spread this rumor. There's lovely women, Dark Guy says in Sudbury. They're not all whores or hockey players. There's a third category of just lovely, lovely women. Yeah, absolutely. Good to clarify.

Now, you're not wearing face paint. Are people disappointed when they see you? You should wear it all the time. You know what? There are a handful of people who do believe I wake up and put the paint on every day or that I should be. Oh, no. Even better. You watch The Simpsons?

You ever see The Simpsons? Yeah, absolutely. Remember that episode where Krusty screams out like, it ain't makeup. Remember? It could just be like tattooed on you or something. That was a theory. Somebody said, why don't you just be like tattooed on you or something. That was a theory. Somebody said, why don't you just get it tattooed on you? I'm like, I've got a Leafs tattoo already, so I think I'm good.

I don't need it right on my face. No, don't get a face tattoo. No. That's a big mistake. I always think that's a sign. This is somebody who, nah, don't do that. I'm not a big fan of the face tattoo. No, no, neither am I.

Did you have, and I don't know how old you are, I'm trying to size you up, late 30s? Yeah, I'm 38 years old. I like to claim I'm still 25, but... No, don't even lie. You're pushing 40 and we all know it, but that's okay. I'm older than 40. But did you have a grade eight graduation? Did you have a primary school that went like kindergarten to grade eight and then you went to high school? Well, yes, basically. So you have a primary school that went like kindergarten to grade eight and then you went to high school? Well, yes, basically. So I had a school

that I went to from kindergarten to grade six and then I switched schools for seven and eight. Is this like a junior high? Like we have like Degrassi junior high? Well, that would have been

basically seven and eight. Okay. So and then, yes, I had a grade eight graduation. Okay. I don't remember my grade eight graduation, but everyone's had one.

I went to my daughter's earlier this week and I went to my son's a couple of years ago. And it's a big thing, this grade eight graduation, but I have no memory of mine. So either mine didn't happen or it was so low key, it just wasn't memorable. I'm trying to see if I'm the only one who doesn't. No, truth be told, I kind of actually remember it like it was yesterday. Of course, it was a big deal. You probably had a dance afterwards. Yeah, there was a dance and had a nice lovely date. Kelly Burgess from Sudbury.

She fell into the hockey player category. Oh, good. Kelly, Kelly, Kelly. There's a song about that, I think, on Cheers. So at this grade eight graduation for my daughter, also graduating is a young woman named Charlie Pletch. And Charlie's dad is Barry Pletch.

And I saw him at the graduation. And Barry has a question for you. He wants to know, which Great Lakes beer are you going to try first? So he tweeted this at me. So this is a good segue. I can give you a gift. Am I missing a six beers? It's a short can, right?

Oh, there's a short can. There is a short can. Okay, okay. I don't want to shortchange you, buddy. So that six-pack is courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery, and it's going home with you. Or you're going camping now, right? That's perfect. Yes, absolutely. So that's perfect.

Which one am I going to try first? Well, let's see what we got here. What do you got there? For Canada Day, they like the Gordy Levesque one there. The lumberjack one. I got to say, I kind of, I think I'm going to be trying

the Blonde Lager first. Blonde Lager. Yeah, I think that'll be the first one I try. Oh, yeah. I'm going to go with the Blonde Lager. Down in Moxie, I think they call that one.

They always have creative, most of them have creative titles. So there's the Pompous Ass. The English Ale. That's popular. I got a guest coming up who actually put in a request he's like my favorite beer in the world is the great lakes beer pompous ass he's like can my six-pack be all pompous asses this was a request and i i drove down i drove over to great lakes and i uh who's at art fish i call her uh bailey and i said uh can we can we? Like, make this guy's dream come true?

It feels like something we can actually do. And yeah, they did it. So Robbie J., when you come over to kick out the jams, we got a six-pack of pompous ass for you. Well, that's fantastic. I've heard nothing but good things about Great Lakes, so I look forward to trying it. Thank you.

No, enjoy. And Barry, thanks for the question. Let's get to the meat here. Actually, you know what, if you don't mind, because this is the final time, I believe, I'm going to be playing this, because one of my sponsors is a French camp, the largest French camps in the GTA,

and they signed up to promote their summer camps. So they basically signed up as a sponsor for March, April, May, and they extended it through June. This is my last episode of June, so I believe this is the last time I will be playing this Nana Muscuri jam for a while. So this is for you, Camp Tournesol. Thank you for sponsoring Toronto Mike.

I hope you come back next year. It's been a pleasure. But for everyone listening who has a child between the ages, or a grandchild between the ages of 4 and 14, you're running out of time. You've got to do it today. Do it right now. Go to campt.ca and register your child for French camp.

There's so many French camps available for francophone children, French immersion kids, and kids with no French experience. Get your camper in a program. They will enjoy it this summer. Their French skills will blossom. And if you use the promo code Mike when you sign them up for a camp you get 20 bucks off and it tells Camp Tournesol

that sponsoring Toronto Mike works you can't I'm sorry dark guy you're over the age of 14 you can't sign up for these French guys that's a shame I was starting to get excited there a little bit and they don't unfortunately

or I should say fortunately because the children are under 14 they do not serve Great Lakes beer at Camp Tournesol in French Camp oh then I'm out

you're out I'm out anyway he's tapping out and I don't think fur babies are allowed either so don't do that either everyone else go to campt.ca

sign your child up for French Camp again thank you Camp Tournesol it's been a pleasure it's tough to get companies to step up and sponsor these independent podcasts, but they did it, and I think that's amazing,

and I hope they're back next year. This has been fun. And goodbye, Nana Muscuri, as I fade you out for the last time in a while here. Nana, farewell. All right, let's set the table by talking about April 15th, 2017, in case people listening aren't aware of what happened that day. Now, you were seen several times on the Sportsnet broadcast of Game 2

in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal, which is a fancy way of saying the first round. We like to say Eastern Conference quarterfinal. Between the a fancy way of saying the first round. We like to say Eastern Conference quarterfinal. Between the Maple Leafs and the current Stanley Cup champion, Washington Capitals. So they were hosting. The game was in Washington. It was April 15th, 2017.

Again, this was game two. Tell me now, let's hear from you. Basically, why did you go to the game and what happened during the game and maybe talk a bit about that day so we can set the table here well i mean basically it was pretty simple uh a couple of friends and i we were we're talking about you know least playoffs and it was the first time there was meaningful hockey in toronto and in quite some time so um we started discussing about wanting to go to a game. And as you know,

most Leafs fans can attest to getting tickets in Toronto for a regular season game is pretty difficult and can be fairly expensive, let alone the playoffs. So we started talking about perhaps doing a boys trip and hopped online and looked and lo and behold, there was tickets available still. And it came together real quick. A couple of us said, you know what?

There's no way we're not going to a game. So booked a hotel, bought the tickets, and we planned to leave Friday from Waterloo at midnight to get to the game, get to Washington at 10 o'clock in the morning Saturday. So wait, what did you pay for your ticket in Washington? $120 US, and we were 20 rows from the ice. And that was for one ticket? For one ticket. But that's a great seat.

What would that have cost? I guess you'd have to pay the markup and everything to get it. But what do you think you would have had to pay to get something even similar for a game at the ACC, a playoff game at the ACC? Face value for that same ticket was roughly about 450, 500 bucks. That's face value, but you're not getting face value tickets. You're not getting that for a playoff game, right? Not unless you're very lucky, no.

You'd have to own those tickets. Yeah, that ticket probably you could have banked on being double that if you were going secondary market. Okay, so what do we have here? Your face was painted, of course, and that picture, I mean, we've all seen the picture, but the blue and white face paint. You dyed your beard blue, right?

And you had a mohawk in the shape of the Stanley Cup. Yeah, and I had Go Leafs Go shaved across the back of my head. So is that like a typical, like is that your typical going to, is that just a playoff mode for you? That was strictly playoff mode. I had done something very similar once before.

The year before the draft in Buffalo when we selected Austin Matthews first overall, I had managed to land tickets to that. So a friend of mine and I, who happened to be a Montreal Canadiens fan, it was great he got to watch us come and draft Matthews. But I had shaved two leafs into the side of my head and dyed them blue. And then at the time, I just had a goatee going. But I shaved handlebars. Yes.

And I dyed the handlebars blue in honor of our last first overall pick, Wendell Clark. Right. So I had the blue handlebars as a nod to Wendell Clark when we were in Buffalo drafting Matthews. So, I mean, of course, I'm a diehard Leaf fan too, and I was watching this game, and you kept showing up. To me, it was so instant. Like, you're just kind of a guy if your buddy is going to a game in Washington because you can afford a ticket and you want to support your team,

and of course you'd get yourself all dolled up, as they and then you're on the tv so are you ignorant like at what point do you realize there's something happening because we in the twitter sphere are all going kind of nuts like who is this guy we're screen capping it it was it was instant like it was really it was like uh social media in action and we were all looking for something and there you were and you kind of that game went to overtime right double overtime yeah so like you i think it's something about how you look you look like a real fan yep you weren't a suit or what has he said you were a real fan like you know you're your blue collar diehard leaf guy and the dart so yeah that's right the key you had a dart in your mouth and you looked you looked anxious this game went to double overtime. You represented all of us, I'd say. I'd have to agree

with that, and I think that's perhaps why people got so behind it. That image, the stressed out look on my face, the anxiousness, I think all of Leafs Nation, the diehard fans out there could relate

to that because that's what we've all been going through for 20, 30, 40 years, 50 if you've been old enough to have seen the last cup. So I think that was something everybody just could resonate with. No, I mean, right away people started changing their Twitter profile pics to you. First of all, what's that like when you get home and you kind of get back to the hotel room, I guess, right?

Because you went to a hotel room that night? Yeah, so we had a hotel for the night. We didn't go directly back to the hotel. We did a little celebrating in Washington afterwards. So to get to the original question, like when did I realize it? So during the game,

at one point in time, my phone just starts blowing up. It's in my pocket and it's vibrating. I can feel it going off every 30 seconds. And I'm like, I am not pulling my phone. First, I'm ignoring it. And I'm just thinking, whatever. Anybody who really knows me knows I'm in Washington right now. So if there's somebody messaging me right now,

they don't know me good enough to know I'm in Washington, so I don't want to talk to them. And it just kept going and going and going. And I'm like, I'm getting to the point where I'm like, do I need to pull my phone out and check? Like, did somebody die? I'm surprised you didn't just make sure it wasn't that right away. Like, that's my first thought.

So it's going off like a popcorn machine, right? It's nonstop, I suppose. It was. And then one of the friends that I was with, so people started messaging one of my friends and was like, tell Jason to check his damn phone. Because people were looking for my Twitter handle. Because at that point in time when I walked into the game,

I only had 16 followers. Which is amazing. So people were searching everywhere trying to find my Twitter handle and they couldn't get it. So my friends were messaging me for my Twitter handle and everything like that. But even at that point in time, my buddy's like, something's going on. You got to check your phone or whatever.

And roughly around the same time as that was happening, Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post came down to our seats. Right. And he asked if he could do an interview with me. And I just kind of looked at him. At first, I thought he was just pulling my leg. And he's like, no, no, I want to do an interview with you.

I'm from the Washington Post. I'm like, so the same news outlet that broke the Nixon scandal. Yes. Wants to talk to me. That's right. You're kidding me, right? Woodward and Bernstein want to speak to you. The Washington Post wants to talk to me.

And I was a little, uh, I was a little uptight at first because I really, I really thought being in Washington, looking the way I did, I thought it was kind of going to be like a joke, like they were going to be. Oh,

make it, make it funny like this hoser or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Right. So I was a little uptight about it at first, but then he kind of explained to me, he's like, do you know what's going on right now? I said, yeah, I know what's going on. I'm watching a goddamn effing hockey game. That's what's going on.

It's 2-2. Like, I'm watching a hockey game. Leave me alone, basically, is kind of what I was getting at. But then he pulled out his phone, and he showed me everything blowing up on social media. And I just kind of was like, okay, well, yeah, I'll talk to you. Now that I know you're not just here to make fun of the hoser from Canada. Yeah, you're the most famous face in Canada.

It's kind of a perfect storm. Like, you come into this game with 16 followers, and I don't know what you had when you went to bed that night, but more than 16. When I went to bed that night, when I finally went to bed that night, it was around 4 o'clock in the morning, and by that time, I was in the 6,000 to 7,000 range.

Right, and then it just took off. Now, what's it like when... Because you're already kind of... I'm guessing you're already following Leaf fans on Twitter. That's one of my favorite things about Twitter is like during a game like that, like if you're not at the game and you're at home watching, you can kind of commiserate and kind of experience it with other fans like real time. And that's my favorite part of Twitter. Yeah. Now, what's it like when everybody tweeting at you and everybody tweeting has your face as their profile pic? Like, what's that like they're you it was a little overwhelming uh to truth be told i mean i you know i i went on twitter the next day and i'm i'm starting to look you know through comments about the game last night and uh and uh no exaggeration like every single person i'm

following has my face uh it was it was a little over have it like we're 14 months out and i still see your face on other people's twitter oh they, I still see a few, for sure. And, you know, yeah, it's overwhelming, but it was a whole lot of fun in the time, so for sure. Okay, let's talk about that dart for a moment here. So, like, that dart's in your mouth because you're going to – is there a place – can you even smoke during a game anymore? Like, is there a place to go?

Well, outside, yeah. So they let you out, and then they let you back in. Most arenas do. I know the ACC recently changed that last year to not letting re-entry into the building. So once you're out, you're out. But yeah, that was basically it. I was stressed out watching the Leafs

and I needed a smoke. And I had a few pops in me already. So that was making me want to smoke as well. And I just kind of popped it in there waiting for intermission to go have one. Wow. And Dark Guy, like the name Dark Guy, was that pretty instant?

Like, I think it didn't take long before we all anointed you Dark Guy and then that's it, right? Yeah, I do believe the Dark Guy thing came within minutes of the original shot on CBC there when they showed me in the stands. And Dark Guy was perfect. I mean, it's still working for you.

But I did some homework. I was wondering, okay, there's no other Dark Guy in history. But there is an infamous Dart Man. Okay? So just, I don't know if you ever looked this up, but Dart Man was the name given by the media for the suspect of 53 dart attacks on a woman during the summer of 1990 in New York City. So we were smart.

And people call them Leafs Nation. I don't like that term. I like the Barilco sphere. In the Barilco sphere, we were wise enough not to anoint you Dartman. We went with Dartguy. Some people were calling me Dartman. I'm glad after hearing this story that it went the way of Dartguy. I do my research here, Dark Guy.

Of course, I wanted to see. Yeah, so you don't want to be a dark man. You're a dark guy, which is great. Now, it's funny. So I always wonder, because we lost that series to the Capitals. I don't know if you remember that. We ended up losing that series. But I always wonder, what would have happened?

Because it looked for a bit like we might upset the Capitals. You know what? Every game was a was a one goal game we we were in that series and yeah i mean who knows what could have transpired should we have uh you know dispatched to the caps that year instead of going home ourselves yeah yeah and uh i always think of that like i'll talk about the initial 15 minutes and then you've parlayed it into some long longer lasting stuff which is awesome but like that initial 15 minutes, and then you've parlayed it into some longer-lasting stuff, which is awesome. But that initial 15 minutes would have lasted the whole playoff run. It kind of got snuffed out because we went down in six games, right? Absolutely.

And it is what it is, but I've kind of once or twice thought about it myself. What would have happened if we won the Cup that year? Oh, yeah. I think a statue of you would be outside, right next to Wendell and Johnny Bauer and all those guys. Maybe not that far, but I'm thinking maybe I would have been in the parade. Maybe I could have gotten a ring out of the deal, a nice Stanley Cup Maple Leafs ring. You might be running for mayor this fall if that had turned out.

You know what? People have already suggested that I do that now as is. Do we let Waterlooians? What do you call somebody from Waterloo? Waterlooian? No. I'm not overly certain. Being born and raised in Sudbury. Which is a Sudburian. Yeah, Sudburian. That's a good question now. I want to know what a Waterlooian a Waterluer? Yeah.

I don't know. Waterluet? I would check the Google machine, but I'm too into this story. So I have a question from Charles Brandt. Charles Brandt wants to know how much contact, if any, did you have with Toronto Maple Leaf players following that game that made you famous? So I've had a little bit.

The biggest one wasn't actually a player. I had the chance to meet Austin Matthews' parents, so that was pretty cool. But Matt Martin definitely reached out to me. I had been talking to Matt a lot. One of the fun ones was I was going to the MasterCard Center where the Leafs have practice. Very close to here, and the Leafs had actually been practicing that day. So as I was pulling in, it was Connor Carrick, I believe it was, pulled up beside me, and he looked over and he recognized me. Awesome.

And he's just like, you're awesome, dude, out his window. And I'm sitting there like, this is so cool. But yeah, Matt Martin is the only real actual current Leaf that I've had any interaction with. And I've gotten to know him a little bit over the last year. Oh, no, but you did at an Argos game, you met... So, yes. Right, okay. Yeah, I did.

I know your life story better than you do. I'm here to help you out, man. I was just referring to Matt reached out to me and we started talking that way. But yes, I did have the opportunity to meet Mitch Marner. And that was fantastic. I heard he was at the home opener last year and I wanted to meet him. So it was kind of funny because after the game, I was a little bit disappointed.

We went out to Williams Landing where the Argos after parties are. And I was a little disappointed. I didn't get to meet Mitch. And I'm standing there. And I see this guy walk in with a little bit of an entourage. And I look over real quick. And he's pointing at me. And he's like, stay right there.

Nice. And he comes running across the bar to get a picture with me. So that was pretty cool. He's a big Argos fan, Mitch Marner. Yeah, absolutely. It's great to see Toronto athletes supporting other sports within the city. It's always been great in Toronto for that,

so it's good to see. But did the Argos, excuse me, the Argos reached out to you after you became a dark guy? Is that what happened there? Yeah, absolutely. So I had been a lifelong Argos fan, which was very awesome that they reached out to me,

but they had contacted me and they wanted to know, you know, what we could do to partner up throughout the season last year. And I ended up having a great time going to most of the Argos games and painting my face up for them too. I had a moment during the Eastern Conference final last year when we had that last second, or yeah, pretty much last second touchdown to win to go to the Grey Cup.

I was like in the front row with my buddy Bob and TSN went straight to us after the touchdown was scored. So I had like I had my phone didn't blow up like yours. Suddenly I started getting texts and messages of like, just saw you on TSN, just saw you on TSN. And I'm like, this is like 1% of what Dark Guy must have gone through. I felt a little commiseration with you there. Yeah, you know, it's pretty impressive the amount of phone calls and texts I got

the minute I was on. Brian Carstairs wants to know, who's the coolest person you've met since the Dark Guy life has become prominent? And you can't say Mitch Marner because that's another story, but is there somebody you haven't mentioned yet, a cool person you got to meet because you're Dark Guy? There's so many. I haven't met him yet, and I got to give a nod out to Todd Shapiro because he's definitely one of the cooler ones too.

But I haven't met him in person, but Ty Domi. So Ty Domi, we started interacting on Twitter and on Instagram and stuff like that, and I've had a bunch of conversations with him. So he's definitely up at the top of the list. John Scott was another one I met. And I actually got to trade John Scott, one of the little dark guy heads. I don't know if you'd seen those.

Just like a bobblehead? Well, it was like the 3D printer figurine type thing. Awesome. I actually traded him one for his autographed book. And then I guess I got to give some love to Dallas Smith, I actually traded him one for his autographed book. And then I guess I got to give some love to Dallas Smith, Canadian country music star Dallas Smith. Unfortunately, he's a Vancouver Canucks fan.

But the interaction with him, he sent me some tickets to go see one of his concerts. And I don't know if you'd seen, but him and I had a big bet last year that I unfortunately lost. So I'll be heading out to Vancouver next year to accompany Dallas to a Leafs-Canucks game, and I got to paint my face with a Canucks logo. Oh, that's interesting. Very, very interesting. Now,

yeah, the, what was it, the cool guy, Ty Domi. Are you still going to be friendly with Ty now that his boy is a Montreal Canadian? I don't know if that's a conflict of interest. He's still Ty Domi. He's still Ty Domi to me and I always loved him as a Leaf.

So I'll always respect and maintain that friendship with Ty. Max has fallen down a couple notches for me at this point in time though. Disappointing. So it's John Derringer who took you to the game three. Tell me how you ended up at game three.

Yeah, so it was game three when I came back, I actually got tickets from the Leafs. So on my way home from Washington, I received a message on Twitter from the Toronto Maple Leafs saying, what are you doing tomorrow? And I said, I certainly hope I'm going to a hockey game. And they said, yeah, absolutely you are. So just come down and we'll get you tickets. It was game four. So John Derringer reached out to me on Twitter and he's got a season's tickets in the lower bowl, some great

seats. And he reached out to me and said, it'd be my honor if you accompanied me to game four. So game three was courtesy of the Leafs and game four I was John Derringer's personal guest. So tell me what John Derringer's like. He's an amazing guy. Absolute stand-up guy. Anybody who's ever had the chance to meet him I think would probably give you the same description. I just can't say enough good things about John.

He's a fantastic guy. I can say his brother's a very nice guy. I haven't met John Derringer, but his brother's been on this show, Bill Hayes, and he was a very nice guy. Yeah. And of course John's son is sort of a colleague of yours. No, John's nephew. That's right. So yes, I got to get this right.

John's nephew is Brian Hayes from TSN Radio. So I did not know that. See, this is what I'm here for. Honestly, dark guy, I'm full of this. He's useless. yeah so yes because john derringer is really a john hayes uh he goes by the moniker sort of like a dark guy is not really a dark guy too bad but yeah so brian hayes who's i mean it's yeah we're gonna get to this but you

have an affiliation with tsn radio as does brian hayes of course. He's a prominent voice on TSN Radio 1050 there. But yeah, that's John's nephew. Absolutely. I did not know that. You learn something new every day. I did not know that. Thank you, Mike. Johnny Carson.

I hope I have some more fun facts for you as we go here. You want a fun fact? I got one. Yeah, let's go. I love fun facts. If you were to flush every single toilet in the sky dome at once, it provides enough water to go over Niagara Falls for three seconds.

That's a mildly fun fact. I like that. I got that. That's really a useless fun fact. I've got a couple of those myself. Did they test that? They had that moment where all the personnel are holding a handle and they're like, flush! Synchronized flushing.

I can remember when the Sky Dome, and I will always call it the Skydome, I can remember when the Skydome opened. It was a big thing. I was looking forward to coming down and checking it out, and there was a big article in the Toronto Star, and it had a whole bunch of useless facts about the Skydome, and that was one of them. Okay, I'll tell you right now.

If your show was on Sportsnet Radio instead of TSN Radio, you would not be calling it Skydome. That's my you right now, if your show was on Sportsnet radio instead of TSN radio, you would not be calling in Sky to him. That's my prediction right now. So now here's how I got to get to. I witnessed something. I'm still a little bit disappointed, to be honest. So I remember shortly after the Dark Eye explosion of 2017, if we can call it that, that you had a deal with Nicorette. Yes, sir.

So they came to you and said, let's do a promo together. You quit smoking with us and tell the world about it. Is that the deal? Tell me. Yeah, well, their hope was that I would try. Did you call me sir? Hold on. Did you just call me sir? I don't know. Maybe I did. I think you might have. I recorded this. I'm going to play it

when I'm listening back. I don't know if I'm comfortable. Please continue. I'm sorry. They contacted me and they were interested in doing a collaboration. And what had happened, actually, the first person was Todd Shapiro challenged me on air on his show to quit smoking. And it was when Nicorette got word of this that they said, you know what? If you're going to do this, we can try and help. So that's how that came about.

And you, did you, okay, so what witnessed let me let me disclose this to the people so i see this uh bearded gentleman in a large automobile on my street and i'm like that's dark guy and i'm like oh there's a dart in his mouth that really is dark guy and i said he's still on the darts yes i am yes i am and i for some reason with this nicoret thing, I thought you quit. I was happy for you, but you're back on the darts. Yeah, and I did actually quit for a little while, and Nicorette was actually a huge help in that. Oh, yeah, you've got to be a little bit careful. Did they give you money? Sorry? Nicorette gave you money, right?

Absolutely. So, right, because you're back on the darts. So that's not Nicorette's fault, but you see, Nicorette's probably wishing you're back on the darts. So that's not Nicorette's fault. But you see, Nicorette's probably wishing you had stayed off the darts. It probably would have been a lot better for them if I did. But, yeah, there was a few things happening. And, you know, you kind of alluded to it a little bit earlier, and it's a bad excuse. But some of the negativity that was coming out on social media.

The backlash. Yeah. There were some people who were just going a little bit too far with it and were making comments towards my mother, my wife. And it was starting to get a little bit stressful and it was still starting to weigh on me a little bit. And it kind of led to me picking the cigarettes back up. Now, that's a horrible excuse and it's a crutch of an excuse. Okay, but let's say this. And I've never been addicted to nicotine,

but I understand it's as addictive as heroin. Like, this is an extremely addictive substance. Well, I've never tried heroin, so I couldn't attest to that. Well, listen, do me a favor. Don't try heroin. Because I've seen what happens when you try darts. And look at us today. That's a solid message.

Don't do heroin, kids. Right. I recommend to my children and the few people who actually listen to me and I've influenced this, don't try anything that's chemically addictive. Because why would you don't start something that we know is chemically addictive because you may become addicted to it. And then not only is it going to cost you lots of money,

it's going to shorten your life. One plus two equals Nicorette, you know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. And I'll probably try to quit again in the near future. I actually thought about maybe going the angle saying, you know what? Nicorette helped me, but I

ended up back on the cigarettes. I was actually using that part of a pitch to John Tavares. Oh, JT, I'm going to bring him up later. JT, you come to Toronto, I'll quit smoking. Oh, okay. But then should he sign off another team? We're down to the final six. I'm going to ask you about this later.

He's essentially responsible should you not live a full 90 years of life. Well, that's the angle I figured I would go with. To me, that's almost like murder. I think the police are listening. If you had any bit of a conscience and you heard me say that, you'd probably want to sign with Toronto just to get me to quit.

I don't know. Do you remember this as a kid where you would start punching the air and walking towards somebody? And you're like, I'm punching the air and I'm walking towards you. If I hit you, it's your fault for not moving.

Another solid Simpsons reference. I'm just going to go like this and if you get in the way... That's exactly... Oh my goodness, I could do a Simpsons reference all day. So the fact for the people out there is, dark guys on the darts. Since you seem like you're not an asshole and you seem like a nice guy and I want you to live

a full life, I hope you can quit these terrible, as we call them, cancer sticks. Yeah, I appreciate that. And like I said, I'm a little disappointed. I wasn't able to fully quit. I was very dedicated to it and I had my heart set on it and I kept telling my wife, I said, I'm going to do this,

I'm going to do this. And unfortunately, I went back to it, but hopefully one day soon I'll take another shot at it. No, good for you. And I always wondered if maybe the, because I noticed when you came to game three at the Air Canada Centre, when do we have to start calling it something else?

That's soon, like that's starting next year, right? The Scotiabank Centre? Scotiabank, I don't know what they're going to add to the end of it. I'm hoping Scotiabank Gardens. A little nod to old Maple Leaf Gardens. That would make me happy, but I'm sure it's going to be Scotiabank something or other that I don't like.

Scotiabank Emporium of Excellence or something like that. Yeah, something like that. The Monty Burns Center for... They kind of did that with MasterCard Center. That name always reminded me of that Monty Burns Award that they invented where the Ramones played. Was that the same episode?

No, was that maybe a different episode? But the Monty Burns Center Award for Excellence. Yeah, actually, yeah, I remember that. I'm trying. It's all merging together in my head, bleeding together. So here, where are we at? So you're on the darts. Hopefully that won't be for much longer.

Now I want to ask you, so game three, you're at the ACC. I noticed there was no dart. So this is the problem, I think, with Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment is that they definitely don't want to be associated with a terrible habit like smoking, right? Because they're all about sports and health and all that kind of stuff. So that, being dart guy, I always wondered if being dart guy a terrible habit like smoking, right? Because they're all about like sports and health and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. So that, being dark guy,

I always wondered if being dark guy and the dart, if that was kind of tough for you when it came to being like, I don't know, Nicorette, of course, would work with that, but other businesses

might be frightened away by that unhealthy aspect. I always wondered that. Yeah, you know, I have to agree with that. You know, to address the first thing you were saying, there was no cigarette for game three. Nobody came up to me and said anything.

For me, that was out of the utmost respect for the Maple Leafs organization, the players, the ownership, management. I'm surprised they didn't, like, a cute, funny aside about, like, can't wait to have you, the players, the ownership, management. I'm surprised they didn't, like a cute, funny aside about like, can't wait to have you at the game, but leave the dirt in your pocket. Like I'm surprised there wasn't like a, you know, that would be expected and appropriate. And I don't think anybody would. Yeah.

It's not like censoring you. But unfortunately, and I haven't had as much beyond them being so kind enough to reach out and get me the tickets for game three, I haven't had a lot of interaction with the Maple Leafs or helping them promote the playoffs or anything like that. And I do believe in my heart that it's the cigarette that's turned them off. They don't want to make it look like they're promoting smoking. So by them promoting me, people are going to say it looks like they're promoting smoking.

So I think that's part of the reason why. Probably partially. There's another reason we'll get to in a bit. But we live in this world of cable company conglomerates and different political things of that nature, which we'll talk about very, very shortly. I have a question from Basement Dweller, who is a listener of the podcast basement dweller has a question for dark guy will there eventually be a makeup free dark guy akin to mid period sorry mid period kiss and will he then

switch to a more professional look and like a three-piece suit for instance no seriously any advice for how to successfully infiltrate the media from my current subterranean home would be most welcome. Thanks in advance. So I think he's a... I think what a lot of people experience is sort of like they root for you and your success, but they're also kind of jealous because they could be you. I think

there's a little bit... I think that might be some of the backlash is like, who is this guy to hit the home run when I'm out here swinging away? And you know what? I guess that's fair. That's not fair. You don't have to be so polite there.

That's not fair. You know, there's a lot of people out there who know hockey. And, you know, a lot of the backlash surrounding the media side of things that came out was actually from media people. So it was a lot of people who had just graduated from broadcasting school and just spent $20,000 on tuition that are unfortunately unemployed. I know who you're talking about. And when I get to the, shortly after the break here,

we're going to get to the TSN radio portion of this. And I will address that specifically because I know exactly what you're talking about. So I hate to use this. Put a pin in that one and we'll circle back. this and i will address that specifically because i know exactly what you're talking about uh so i hate to use this put a pin in that one and we'll circle back but here's an idea that basement jeweler pointed out i do you know this uh i think it's yorkdale i think yorkdale maybe there's a or york there's a a mall santa who's like this slick cool santa who dresses like really well or whatever you could kind of change your image

or forget the makeup and everything. Keep the beard maybe, clean it up a bit, but keep the beard and go with the expensive three-piece suits and you can reinvent yourself. Well, I tell you, if there becomes an opportunity

where the Dark Eye Touch Bureau show can be something more on TSN, I'd have no problem doing that. Maybe I could braid the beard, do like the Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. Yeah, I see that. Or there could be two of you. You could always have the alter ego. You could still be dark guy.

Dark guy, blue collar guy, whatever. But you can also be, I don't know, you give yourself a new moniker similar to dark guy, but not dark guy who is the three-piece suit kind of. You could be two. Well, hey, I actually do enjoy wearing a suit. I don't know if you've seen some of the stuff

from the scouting I've been doing, but I always got the shirt and tie going on. And I don't know. I've been told recently I'm the best dressed guy in junior hockey now, so I'll take it. You've said the S word, okay? And that means it's time to hear from Brian Gerstein. So Brian Gerstein is a sales representative with PSR,

a real estate sales representative with PSR Brokerage. And he's recorded a message for you. And since you said the S word, I'm now going to play his message for you. Hi, Jason. Brian Gerstein here, sales representative with PSR Brokerage and proud sponsor of Toronto Mic'd. 416-873-0292 is the number to call or text me for any of your real estate needs. I have had the pleasure to meet and keep some of Toronto Mic'd's listeners up to date on the market and would love to do the same for others. No obligation, just reach out to me and I

can set you up for regular market updates on any facet of real estate you are interested in. Jason, I am sure that most of Toronto Mike's listeners will be surprised to hear that you are the head scout of the Aurora Tigers in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. You are a real hockey puck with substance to back it up. How was this past year doing that? And do you have higher aspirations to climb the scouting ranks? Well, I have to thank him first for the very kind words. And yes, I've been the head scout with the Aurora Tigers. But as much as I love junior junior hockey and I appreciate the opportunity afforded to me by Jim Thompson and the Tigers out in Aurora,

yes, I have aspirations to move the needle forward. This whole dark, I think, has given me an opportunity I never would have had. And I'm back in hockey, and I wanted to be an NHL player as a kid. It didn't happen for me. So this is going to be my way to get there as a scout, maybe even general manager.

Who knows? Watch out, Kyle Dubas. Is that what you're saying? Here comes Jason. You have to go by your real name when you're the general manager. Absolutely. And I don't know. Maybe if I don't want to say I'm aiming for Kyle's job,

maybe I could be his understudy for a little while and see how that went. But it's an unfortunate... When is the show actually being aired? I'm going to put it up 15 minutes after you drive away. Okay. Well, that would have been the perfect segue. I have a major announcement.

There's going to be a press release next week. Can you give us a clue? I'm taking another step forward in my scouting career. I will be remaining with the Aurora Tigers as head scout of the program there. However, I am taking another step forward towards my goal of becoming an NHL scout. And that step is? I could play my breaking news stinger. That step is... You'll be able to find out next week

on all my social media. What a tease. There's going to be a press release out next week. I'm sorry. If you would have said that you were going to hold this off and air it next week, I could have maybe told you. No way.

I'm too proficient for that. Maybe I should have just told you I was going to hold this off and air it next week. I could have maybe told you. No way. I'm too proficient for that. Maybe I should have just told you I was going to do that and then stuck it up. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And then I walk out of here and it's on the air. And it's like, I'm tweeting this news.

He got me. Dark guy. They can't believe already they fired Kyle Dubas. Jason's the new GM. Listen, whatever this news is, and I'll find out when the world finds out, I'm happy for you because you got, yes, this moment, this window opened because of this moment in Washington.

And you, a lot of people would kind of, I think you've done an excellent job of how to parlay that 15 minutes into real life-changing career happenings. This is a good story. I appreciate that. I think for the people out there who are on the hater side of things or had a little bit of negative feedback,

I think it's important for them to know that I am not a head scout for the Aurora Tigers because I painted my face and dyed my beard blue. I don't have a radio show with TSN and Todd Shapiro because I have a blue beard and a painted face. I had to prove myself. That wasn't just handed to me. And I had to show that I belonged in the radio industry. I had to prove that I belonged in the hockey world.

And it wasn't just handed to me. Right. You have to have the chops. Like Brian Hayes, for example. Brian Hayes is not on the air on TSN radio because his uncle is John Derringer. No, absolutely. Brian Hayes. Maybe at some point a door opened or a window opened or an interview happened because of that for sure.

Like that's why Dark Guy got some interviews probably. But the fact is you have to have, you have to back it up with substance. You got to be able to walk the walk. I appreciate that. And I guess I have to this point because it's been working for me. I can't wait. Now we're going to dive into the TSN radio show. But first, Paytm

Canada. Paytm Canada is the only app in Canada that gives you rewards for bill payments. Plus, you get to choose how you pay. You can pay with your credit card, you can pay with your bank account, or you can pay with Paytm Cash. And you can watch your points grow and redeem them in the rewards section. There's a million reasons to use Paytm Canada. I use it, but here's the best reason. If you use

the promo code Toronto Mike when you make your, I think they call it a referral code, I guess I'll call it a promo code. But if you use the referral code Toronto Mike when you make your first bill payment, you get $10 in Paytm cash you can use towards another bill. So there's $10 in free money sitting there. Use the promo code Toronto Mike. Again, go to paytmcanada.ca. Download the app. If you have any questions, write me, tweet at me. I really do use it. I've been using it since before they were a sponsor. And I just love it. I used it this morning to pay a hydro bill. So do it up people. Dart guy, dart

guy. We keep talking about this radio show. I have so many questions about the radio show. So where do we begin? Maybe we'll begin with how did you end up with what is being referred to as the dart guy and Todd Shapiro show? How did that come to be? Did they approach you?

Yeah, so I had been doing a lot of stuff with Todd Shapiro on his Todd Shapiro show on SiriusXM. And I had made, I don't know, a half dozen or a dozen appearances on his show. We did the Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer last year. And I think it just kind of gave me a little bit of a radio portfolio, an on-air portfolio. And somebody over at TSN, Jeff McDonald, I guess he liked what he heard on the show. Todd and I, I don't know what it was, but we had an instant chemistry together. And I guess he kind of heard that when I was on his show. And they contacted us last summer and said, hey, we got an idea here that we'd like to try out

if you guys are game. Well, Todd, there's rumors, just rumors, rumors that Todd was being auditioned, if you will, to be Michael Landsberg's co-host on The Morning Show. So to me, if he could get even this weekend, because when does the Dark Guy and Todd Shapiro show air? So it was on every Saturday. Our usual time slot was 3 till 5.

But we had to be flexible because there was Toronto Raptors games and TFC that day air and the Argos games. So we were usually 3 till 5 on Saturday. We'd usually or we would jump to about 1 to 3. We went from the start of the season right basically through to the end. When the Leafs got eliminated, we did one more wrap-up show and we finished up season one after the Leafs were eliminated.

Are you signed up for season two? We do have a meeting with TSN coming up towards the end of July. And for all intents and purposes, it looks like there will be a season two of the Dark Eye and Todd Shapiro show. Okay, cool, cool. So, yeah, so it made sense, as a season two of the Dark Eye and Todd Shapiro show. Okay, cool, cool. So it made sense, as I was saying,

it makes sense for Todd Shapiro to get on to TSN Radio even just to get in the door and kind of audition, if you will. What is his name? Jeff McDonald? He's a producer. Programming director, I believe, actually, sorry. But if Todd wants the

co-hosting job next to Landsberg in the morning, that would be, I think, would make Sorry. But if Todd wants the co-hosting job next to Landsberg in the morning, that would be, I think, would make sense. Well, Todd had actually been doing, he had filled in for years. He had been doing fill-in spots on TSN. I do believe there was a couple episodes when Michael Landsberg had OTR,

if I remember correctly, that he was gone for whatever reason and Todd filled in there. He also filled in admirably I must say as well last year for about two, three weeks with Landsberg in the morning as well. Right, and they always talked

about bringing in a co-host for Landsberg so I always thought he was definitely one of the contenders if you will. Absolutely. You know what, Todd's a great radio guy. He's worked hard to shed the image of Toddy Tickles. He's washing the Blundell stink off of him. Yeah, I guess that'd be the easiest way

to put it. Blundell had him do a lot of things back in the day with The Edge and it kind of gave him a negative image to some people and he's worked very well and very hard to do that. He's been very successful in doing so. Do you want a fun fact here?

Another fun fact. So when Todd Shapiro was first going to SiriusXM with his show, I was the guy, the back-end guy, helping him make it a podcast because I had done that with Humble and Fred and Humble and Fred were on SiriusXM and they kind of helped get that interview for Todd or whatever and then

Todd wanted the same blueprint back end infrastructure and then I came in and helped with that. So there's another fun fact for you. I did not know that either. Yeah, there you go. So I heard, tell me, I heard the original name of this show was going to be the Dark Guy show. That is correct.

So they changed it to the Dark Guy and Todd Shapiro show. Is that because I guess Todd wanted his name on the show? No. As much as I'm sure Todd wanted his name on the show, that was something I fought for as well. Todd's been in this industry for 13 years. He's very, very experienced and I was going to be learning a lot from him. We were going into this 50-50. We were partners. He's, I, I was his co-host. He's my co-host.

And I would not have felt right walking in there and having it been called strictly the dark guy show, uh, you know, knowing Todd's the one with all the experience. You're a good guy, man. A lot of people would be a-okay with that. Like just for brandy. Yeah. Not, not me. And I know in the end,

I don't think Todd would have been too happy about it either, as much as he's happy for all the success I've been having. This was a partnership, and it was going to be called The Dark Eye and Todd Shapiro Show, one way or another. Tell me what kind of show, I mean, for those who haven't heard it. See, I would say this is a, like a fans show. Like this is a, this is a show where you're unapologetically

a Leafs fan. Absolutely. And you take calls and stuff from, from Leafs fans. And it's sort of like a, to get you kind of excited for the game, the Saturday night game, right? Yeah. Basically the angle we took on it was it was a show for fans by the fans. Neither Todd or I were pretending to be experts. We weren't going in there trying to be Craig Button and Bob McKenzie acting like we knew everything about the game. I mean, while

we're both very knowledgeable hockey fans, it was a different angle for TSN to try with it being actually a fan show. I feel it was pretty successful. The callers every week were growing throughout the year. We were still getting new callers towards the end of the season. I think it exceeded my own and TSN's expectations.

Cool. Now, you're a bit younger than me, but you might remember, probably will remember, listening to Storm and Norman Rumack on the Fan 590. Do you remember this name? I actually do not. Oh, darn it. Maybe in Sudbury. Another stupid question about Mike not knowing his Ontario geography.

Can you receive AM signals from Toronto in Sudbury? You can. You used to be. Can you get 590 up in Sudbury? Absolutely. It used to be a lot stronger, like the reception. I don't know if they still can now. I do recall often listening to 590 when I was younger.

Well, this is nothing. So 1050 comes later, but for a long time, there was only 590 for Sports Radio in Toronto. And they had a guy named Stormin Norman Rumack. He's been on this show, but they called him the late late night vampire and he had kind of a show like that he was a huge wendell clark fan and he was a on a eventually he became a heel he turned what's that called a heel turn in wrestling and he kind of became a sabers fan and went anti-leaves but that was uh the jump the shark moment for normie but he was a big leafs booster like rose blue colored

glasses i always joke and he uh loved wendell clark because he was all hard and this and that and and that was that program i think dart you're kind of like uh that's the kind of show you're doing i think where it's like and i know you're not um you're not stupid which means like you're you're not gonna uh suggest i always hear about the you know hey why why don't we trade these couple of Marlies for Crosby and get him here? Like, you know,

those guys always come. Yeah. Well, you know what, is, there were a couple times when we did get callers in and it was like,

you did have a little bit of that extreme, but for the most part, you know, would you call it the Barilco sphere? Yes, the Barilco sphere.

That's what I call it. Barilco sphere. I'm the only one who calls it that, but I call it that. It's pretty knowledgeable. And we had a lot of great callers. There was one or two times where you wanted to say like, are you drunk?

What are you thinking? But in the end, who am I to say anybody's opinion is wrong? So it was a good outlet for people to call and it was a safe environment for people to call and voice their opinions without the risk of, you know, somebody jumping down their throats and telling them they're crazy or whatever. All right. Here's a personal question you don't have to answer. But I was always told I've never worked in radio, but I was always told that the weekend shows don't generate revenue. So they don't pay. They don't pay well. Like somebody will have an hour weekend show, and if they got $100, they were scoring big time. This is stuff I've been told.

What do I know, right? What do I know? But did actual money come into your bank account for the Dark Guy show, or the Dark Guy and Todd Shapiro show? Simple answer is yes, but with all due respect to Todd Shapiro, the financials of what we were doing there

are going to stay quiet. Stay in the vault? Yes, sir. I have to get you some peach schnapps. Is that what opens the vault? Or some Great Lakes beer, maybe? No, no. I do like an occasional shot of peach schnapps every once in a while, but you'd take a whole lot more than that.

But would you... Here, so let me ask you this then differently. I'm like a lawyer here. So, okay, so you don't want to divulge what you earned from TSN Radio, which is fair, but were you allowed to sell some kind of a sponsorship and do that on the air to make money like that way?

Like, could you... We most certainly did. And we had a solid run of some pretty good sponsors on the show. Okay, so that, so I mean, even let's pretend,

and again, you're not telling us what you made from TSN, which is your right, but let's pretend they didn't pay you anything. What if they just said, here's two hours, do your thing. And we're not giving you anything, but we're giving you this two hours on 1050 TSN radio. And then you and Todd could go to people and sell stuff and to promote on the air.

And you're making your money that way. Like in theory, that's a business model that exists. Absolutely. And if somebody is willing to grind it out and get those sponsors in, it can be lucrative. Okay, good. No, and we want things to be lucrative.

I saw you drive a nice automobile, so you can't do too badly. Well, I also worked at Toyota for a very long time. Oh, you know what? I never even asked you. You know what? I should have asked you this earlier.

What the heck? What did you do for money when you went to that Washington Capitals game in 2017? So I actually painted cars at the Toyota plant in Cambridge. I had been there for, I don't know,

eight years or 10 years, something like that. However, in the last year, we've parted ways so I can pursue my dream of making the NHL, whether it's through broadcasting, radio, or scouting. Good for you. How could I not ask that question?

Who is this dark guy who could afford to go to Washington and buy those tickets? So that Dodge Durango you saw out there, that wasn't paid for by the proceeds of Dark Eye. Unfortunately, for everything as amazing as this has all been, I haven't won the lottery yet. Gotcha. No, but you're still plugging away,

which I think is very, very cool. So the show now, you said it's on hiatus for the summer. Nobody wants to talk, although there is a lot of Leafs talk, I noticed, but they shut down for the summer. You're going to have this meeting and hopefully make an announcement that it is coming back for next season.

Yeah. Now here's one of the criticisms when they announced the Dark Guy show that one of the criticisms was that you were taking, so this is a two-hour show, and you're taking a job, if you will, you're taking valuable airtime from someone who maybe went spent their you know

went to school for broadcasting and maybe had been working hard behind the scenes that maybe even tsn radio i mean i i won't name a name but i talked to a young woman uh who was doing exactly that trying that would love to have had a two-hour uh slot on tsn radio to uh improve her skills and stuff this is valuable especially now you got uh syndicated programming and re-rolls and all this stuff. It's more rare than ever now, live programming on radio. So what would you say to people who felt you took a job from somebody like that? Well, I can sympathize with them and everything like that. And I hope that they are able to make it in the industry and break through

and find find their way uh but at the risk of sounding like an a-hole i'm also not going to apologize for for what happened to me um the basic the the premise for the show as we just you know kind of went over was it was a show for fans by fans and i did not need a college degree a university degree, to be a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I've been a hockey fan since I could walk. I've been skating since I could walk. I've been a Leaf fan since I knew what hockey was.

So, you know, that qualified me for an opportunity to, you know, have an opinion. And again, you're a well-spoken guy, which isn't not everybody who is a big Die Hard Leaf fan and has a window or a door, sorry, a door open for them

is actually a great communicator. Like, I think that's a key part of the story. Well, I appreciate that. And that's a lot of people have tried to reassure me even when I questioned myself saying, listen, you started out good, but you've gotten better as you went along.

You've learned the ropes a little bit. And I got to attribute a lot of that again to Todd. It was so easy to pick up cues from him and learn the way. But like I said, I didn't ask for this, but I'm very happy it's happened. So I'm not going to sit here and apologize to somebody who's grinding it out and it hasn't gotten it. going to sit here and apologize to somebody who's grinding it out and and it hasn't gotten it i i'm sorry that you haven't had your break yet but uh mine came and and i tried to run with it and what's the expectation there should you uh fall on the sword and say i resign my two-hour slide on

saturdays so that someone else can have an opportunity like please like what are you supposed to do and that's the thing right a lot of people had said the exact same thing to me. Like, which one of these people would say no? Yeah, right. If for whatever reason, maybe they went to broadcasting school, but they didn't catch their break because of radio. Maybe they were seen at a game or something happened or there was a YouTube video that came out that they got famous for.

You're going to tell me you're going to say no? I'm sorry. There's somebody who went to broadcasting school who deserves a job more than me. Right, please. Come on. You're going to tell me, you're going to say, no, I'm sorry. There's somebody who went to broadcasting school who deserves a job more than me. Right, please. Come on. You're a martyr now? You're already a Saint Dart guy, but you're also a martyr. Now, I did get it when I did announce you were coming on. A lot of people looking forward

to it, of course, but then Gilles LeBlanc, for example, who listens to the show. Gilles? Gilles? Okay, Gilles. I'll call him Gilles until I know better. Gilles. Oh, because it's French. You're right. Gilles is actually one of my middle names. Is it? Yes.

How many middle names you got? Two. Plural. I was going to say, you had two. I was jealous of you guys with two middle names. Gilles Maurice. Okay, that's very French. You don't need to go to camp, turn a soul.

Gilles Leblanc says, oh, Mike. Oh, Mike. Dot, dot, dot. That 15 minutes was up long ago like i get a lot of that kind of snark yeah well you know what i i just the 15 minutes of fame comments have have most certainly died down plenty it's 14 months it's 15 months of fame not 15 minutes of yeah and you know what that's okay you know like i said before everybody's entitled to an opinion and uh not everybody's gonna love you all the time.

So if there's people out there who think it was 15 minutes of fame and they haven't taken the time to dive into it a little bit further, maybe do some research, maybe listen to the show on TSN and find out that I might know a little bit about what I'm talking about, that's their choice. And like I said, it's easy to ignore those things when there's so many people so loving and supportive out there. Let me take a moment just to let people listening know that we are going to kick out a jam. We're not kicking out the jams, but we are kicking out a jam.

But before we kick out a jam, I did bring some dart jams, okay? So I'm going to play a little bit of some dart jams and just chat with you about some dart jams. Sounds good. Yeah.

And also, if people want to help crowdfund at Toronto Mic'd, some dart jams and just chat with you about some dart jams. Sounds good. Yeah. And also, uh, uh, if people want to help crowdfund at Toronto Mike, please go to patreon.com slash Toronto Mike and help keep her going. We have a Patreon exclusive calls and, and, and such, which are interactive.

You can actually go live on the air and chat with me about past guests. So what you liked about dart guy or future guests or anything you want, really. So please become a patron at patreon.com slash Toronto Mike. Sean has a good question. Sean asks, this is talking about you, was he upset when he wasn't mentioned or shown in this year's playoff run, unlike last year?

So give me your answer. And then if your answer is not what I think it should be, I will tell people the reason. Truth be told, yeah, I was a little disappointed. I thought there was an opportunity there for the Leafs to, you know, there was a want from Leafs Nation, from the Borilco sphere out there. People were calling for me. Tim and Sid were calling for me.

And there was a spot on Tim and Sid where they said, where's Dark Guy? And I don't think it was, people took it like they were saying I wasn't there. But I think Tim and Sid were more taking a shot at MLSC saying, why aren't you taking advantage of this? And because I was at the games, I did have my face painted. But you bought your own ticket. I bought my own ticket, and that's fair. I don't expect everything to be given to me for free,

although season tickets would have been fantastic. Well, you did get free beer today. Oh, and before, pause that for a moment. Mike, you are slipping. What's going on? There's a pint glass in front of you, okay? Yes. That's also going home with you, and I should have given you that after Brian's question, but

I was so interested in the scouting stuff and the exclusive. So Brian Gerstein, again, he's the one who asked you about scouting, which I was curious about myself. That's a pint glass. He wants you to take that with you camping so you could pour your beer in there.

Property in the six. Propertyinthesix.com. So yes. Real estate done right. Well, I'm going gonna tell you that this is gonna do very well when i get up to my camp because i got a whole bunch of cold beverages that are gonna go in here no good for you and uh mike uh two minutes in the sin bin for forgetting to uh give the gift to the dark guy at least i remember there so uh let me tell you though uh

forget mlse for a minute that's something separate of. But what matters is the broadcasts of these playoff games are owned for $400 trillion. Rodgers bought the exclusive rights to broadcast playoffs in the NHL. Rodgers, Tim and Sid worked for Rodgers. So it's interesting they brought it up. So we should point that out. Good on them. But there's no way in my mind,

and I've never worked for Rogers or Bell, and I don't have a favorite in that race. I love Bell media people. I have TSN people on all the time. I love Rogers media people. I have Sportsnet people on all the time. I have equal love and hate for both parties, okay? So I'm telling you this as a completely objective guy

who's never earned a penny from either, that there's no way Rogers is going to put your face on the screen during the playoffs when you have a two-hour show on a TSN radio. Yeah, you know what? And truth be told, I never really looked at it that way, and that's a

good point. I have this insight for you because I talk to media people for years I've been doing this, and I'm telling you, they just won't. It'll be like one of those black... Recently, Sportsnet personalities were banned from appearing at like Puck Talks. You know these events?

Yep, absolutely. Do you ever appear at these events? No, I haven't been invited. But they might need you now because they can't have, for example, they can't have Elliott Friedman anymore.

They can't have Jeff Merrick anymore. They can't have Chris Johnston, just to name a few. There's going to be a vacuum to fill because Sportsnet personalities are no longer allowed on these at these events because they're deemed competition now because they stream they stream and they have

advertising so that's a shame i mean it is a shame but that first of all that's good for you i think i have a guy you know mark hebbshire from sportsline yes yes so he has a podcast and we recorded here twice a week and i told him he's the kind of of guy, he's an independent who, he can talk hockey too, but he can really talk baseball. He used to cover the Jays. He'd be perfect to go in and fill like a, where Shulman and Brunt and Wilner and cats like that who were always at these events, pitch talks.

Hebsey will be one who should be there because he's an independent. And you should be at the Puck Talks events. Well, I appreciate that. And you know what? For me, being new in this industry, I'll try and tread lightly and be careful. But I don't understand how cross-promotion is necessarily a bad thing. If I can help, and I've mentioned him on our show, Todd and I's show on TSN.

So I have no problem mentioning him again. Steve Dangle. We've become friends over the last 14 months. He's a great guy. He's done plenty to help keep the dark guy thing going. He's mentioned the show on his show. I have no problem mentioning him in his show, on our show.

I just think in this industry with so much, with the way things have gone over the last few years, you can only stand to benefit by having cross promotion. That's just the way I see it. Yeah. And because you are in your late thirties, you remember a time and I remember a time too, where it was different. Like you would have a TSN personality on 590 and things like it was different it really had they really have gone into silos now like i i see it clearly and so in this day and age like for example uh an aside here is that they just launched a new podcasting umbrella i want to call it uh rogers media just launched this podcasting arm i don't know what

the term is but it's's this podcasting unit, if you will. And they have, of course, they already have some Rogers podcasts, like 31 Thoughts with Merrick and Friedman. And they have Swing and a Belt with Dan Schulman. These are in there. But they launched a news one,

and I wish I remembered the name, but every day they cover a news story. And the people they have on to cover these news stories, they all work for, they either work for a Bell, sorry, sorry, not a Bell, anything. They either work for a Rogers magazine, they work for a Rogers television station like City TV,

or they work for a Rogers radio station. If you don't work for one of those Rogers media entities, your voice will not be heard on this podcast. Like this is how they're doing it. This is the way of the world now. So they're all like promoting their own only and not anyone from the competition, if you will.

So I agree with you. Why not cross-promote? I remember a day where you could have somebody on a talk show and they're on a hit show on a different network and that was normal and fine. You know, Johnny Carson. So Johnny Carson didn't care what network your show was on. He'd bring you on and help you promote it.

Right. Good example. I don't... I wish there was a little more like that. If both parties stand to prosper from the end in the end, why not help each other out a little bit? But that's unfortunately

not the way things are going these days. And make no mistake, that's why you weren't seen. Because for sure, if your show was on Saturdays on 590, for example, instead of 1050, your face would have been seen at the ACC for the, was it the Bruins? Yes, the first round series. Yeah. And I mean, the original question was, did it bother me a little bit?

To a certain extent, it did. I mean, you look at Purdy in New Jersey, the guy that paints himself up, and they had him front and center and everything. It was fantastic to see. It was a rallying cry for the rest of the New Jersey Devils fans to get behind him. There's a lot of great

Leafs fans who could be doing what I was doing or be that same guy that they could have done something with. It didn't just have to be me. It was they did nothing. Whether it was with me or with somebody else. It didn't just have to be me. It was just, they did nothing. Whether it was with me or with somebody else. No, you were persona non grata. No, once you became a Bell Media face in personality,

you were basically taken off the list. You were burnt, if you will. Yeah, perhaps. I didn't look at it that way, but the bigger picture is, dark guy. There's going to be another dark guy eventually, whether it's with the Leafs or somebody else. That'll be a jazz

cigarette. Well, when I say there's going to be another Dark Guy, I didn't necessarily mean with a literally Dark Guy. There's going to be another super fan that comes along. That's not the end goal here, is to be Dark Guy for the rest of my life. No, I mean,

it sounds like you have an announcement next week. I'm on pins and needles. Are you kidding me? But the fact that you're progressing and again, what is the name again? Aurora Tigers?

The Aurora Tigers. I saw the sticker on your car. Yeah. Very cool. So the fact that you're, you know, that's not end game for you. This is a stepping stone

towards something you want to get to. I think it's just tremendous. And you can't get yourself too bogged down in the whole, like, I'm sure there are people, I'm certain, and I won't name names,

there are people at Rogers Sportsnet who loved appearing at pitch talks, for example. Absolutely. Loved it, the interaction, loved that experience immensely. You know, it's one of those things, if you don't like it,

you can quit, I guess. Like, this is your options. This is part of living in kind of the world we live in now with the media companies. Those puck talk things are fantastic because it does give the average person a chance to interact with the personalities and vice versa, the personalities to interact

a little more with the fans. So I could see why some guys might be disappointed that they're no longer able to do it. Well, you know what will happen, and I don't know this for sure, I'm going to speculate here, that Rodgers will start their own kind of like touring kind of collective.

Like they have all, baseball and hockey, they have an immense number of subject matter experts. Yep. So why not do it yourself? And then you can sell your own average. And it's good for you, you know, you can own it, You can control it. You don't have to invite Kelly Gruber

on your pitch talks. I don't know if you caught that story. I can tell you. You missed that story. I'll educate you on that one later. You're a big Kelly Gruber fan? I did like Kelly Gruber when I was growing up. Who didn't? I don't know if I'm going to.

By the look on your face, I don't know. It's not as bad as you think. By the way, who were your legit Leafs diehards? So when did you fall in love with the Leafs? And who was your favorite Leaf growing up? So, you know, typical Canadian story, right? I spent my winters at the outdoor rinks or practicing whatever team I played for. And then when I got home Saturday night,

hockey night in Canada, watch the Maple Leafs. So that kind of was ingrained with me from when I was a child. But favorite Leafs growing up, I was a goalie, so I always loved Alan Bester. Well done. The Bester-Reggett tandem were highlights of my youth. Bester and Reggett, fantastic.

A couple throwbacks to Mark LaForest and Peter Ng as well. Yes. And Ng went to Edmonton, right, in that big Danfuse trade. Yes. But you don't grow up a Leafs fan. In our age demographic, and not say know Wendell Clark and Dougie Gilmore were were part of probably your favorite Leafs of all time those are my

two favorite Leafs of all time I got five years on you and it's still that answer so yes okay good I love going back down memory lane with you and talking about but yeah good for you bringing up some I always think of those old backup goalies when I was growing up like you might not remember as well, but

Rick St. Croix. Do you remember him? Can you do? You must have been in diapers. Rick St. Croix. And then he did start with Tim Bernhardt. You remember Tim Bernhardt when he was here? No, but I mean, you know, I've done a lot of, I've watched a lot of older Leafs games from before I was around. So that's

why I do know. Don Edwards? Do you remember Don Edwards? I do remember Don Edwards, yeah. Oh, these days then. Yeah, that's great. I actually still, I can still remember one of his old hockey cards where he's just in his, with his, that old mask. Yeah, oh yeah. I still got it at home, I'm sure.

Those guys never went down, those goalies. No wonder Gretzky was scoring 92 goals. Can you imagine Ovechkin, if Ovechkin could go in like a time machine and just, just play a season against like 1983 goaltenders? Yeah. Well, you know what? That's always a debate that's out there. Put Crosby or

Ovechkin back in Gretzky's day. Well, you can look at it the flip side. Give Gretzky all the technology and all the knowledge we have now and all the training we have now. And what does Gretzky do with that? So, but yeah, you got to imagine, you know, the goaltending has evolved so much from the 80s.

The style, and I think maybe a lot of credit goes to maybe Patrick Waugh or Martin Brodeur and those kind of guys. But the style, if you watch like Ken Dryden, for example, watch a game of Ken Dryden and Ken Dryden was the best of his time. He's always standing up. It just seemed like a lot of shots from way out were kind of beating him low. It was just a different style.

Yeah, the butterfly definitely changed the game when it came to it. Give him the five hole, take it away. Now I have a great question here, but you've kind of already answered it because I caught you smoking a dart when you got here. But Philip Parkinson wanted to know, will you take up smoking again

if the Leafs cannot sign John Tavares? So maybe, I don't typically actually talk about current events sports with people like yourself, but we're going to talk about John Tavares really quickly because it's happening right now and it's going to be resolved in the next week or whatever. He's got it down to six teams.

Islanders, Sharks, Bruins, Stars, Lightning and your Toronto Maple Leafs. That's my Andy Frost. I'm working on it. It wasn't too bad. I'm working on it. What are your thoughts? Is John Tavares going to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Okay, so all along, you know, I tried not to get wrapped up in the hype and the what-ifs and what could happen. Unfortunately, I've succumbed to the Tavares watch in the last week or so. You're on the hype train. I'm on the hype train. I don't know what it is about the Taveras situation

that's different from the Stamkos one. Because you want him more. I didn't want Stamkos because I wanted to wait and get Tavares. That was my thought. I would have taken Stamkos,

but I had my questions about his health and stuff like that. It's something about Taveras. I just get a feeling, a gut feeling, that it means more to John, to JT, to come to Toronto and win a championship feeling that it means more to John, to JT,

to come to Toronto and win a championship here than it ever did to Stamkos. I listened to Stamkos talk last, going through the same process and stuff like that and it almost seemed like it was a game to him to hint that he might come to Toronto like he was having fun with

it, like it was some kind of cruel joke. Did you hear someone, one of his confidants or buddies or whatever, just started following all the Maple Leaf stuff on social media? Yes, I most certainly did, actually. People are now like, this is like, what's that Zapruder film after JFK was shot? We're now frame by frame. We're going into conspiracy now. The Bureaucral sphere is getting a little crazy here now.

I'm actually just, I hope we sign John. I think John Tavares is a better player than Stephen Stamkos. Yeah, and like I said, for me, I believe we have a better shot of getting JT than we ever had with Stamkos. And there's just something about him that makes me believe it means more to him to come here and help his hometown team win than it ever did.

And Stamko's had much more reason to stay with the Lightning than Tavares has to stay with the Islanders. I feel like typically they do re-up with their teams, right? They do. He might want to jump off that island. So the one factor for me in this is John Tavares' fiancee, who they're getting married this year. She works in Mississauga. It has recently come out that her license is not transferable to the U.S. So in order for her to be eligible to work in the States,

she has to take a three-year course that would make her eligible to take her job and go to the States. But when your husband makes $10 million a year, you might just change careers maybe? I guess she loves it. Perhaps. Because I like where you're going with this. A lot of people out there want to be independent no matter what, right?

They want to work. They want to be a contributing member of society. And for me, I think that's an admirable quality if that's what she wants to do. But it's okay for me when their boyfriend, girlfriend, or fiance to do the travel and stuff. But I think most married couples want to live together. So if she can't transfer to the States, and it's going to take her three years to do so,

and they're getting married this summer, maybe, just maybe, JT's coming home. I hope so, because that would be fun. It would be fun to have that sort of that Crosby-Malkin one-two up the middle. Oh, absolutely. That would be fantastic. No doubt about it.

Love it. Now, let's do real quickly some dart jams, okay? So before we play your jam, we'll play that at the end, but let's do some dart jams. So I've chosen some dart jams for my personal collection, okay? I noticed the smoking in the boys' room in the background.

This is the cover, you know, that's a cover by Motley Crue. Did you know that? Yep, you know that. So smoking in the boys' room, definitely a dark jam. Maybe we'll do a fun thing. You can tell me hit or miss. Like, you like the jam or not? Oh, this is a definite hit then for me.

You're a Motley Crue, you like the crew. Absolutely. Dr. Feelgood. Dr. Feelgood for sure. He's the one that's going to make you feel good. I love that album, Dr. Feelgood. Yeah, absolutely. And when you're feeling mellow with your lady,

you throw on some Home Sweet Home, you know? Oh, yeah. Love it. Love those power ballads from the hair metal. Oh, the hair metal, absolutely. You can't beat it. All right, let's bring down, that was Molly Cruz, Smokin' in the Boys' Room.

Here's a jam. I want to hear what you think of this one, but I call this a dart jam. Give it a moment so you can recognize it, hopefully. Saw you looking for a light. Face painted

cigarette white. Could be your theme song, right? It could be pretty close, absolutely. So this is Travel Chargers Red. Yeah. Some nice CanCon. I thought we should bring them to CanCon. Yeah.

Do we like this jam? You know what? For the dark guy purposes, yes. A little. But not your taste. Too slow? I listen to a little bit of everything, so I can't really say that it's too slow. I'm not feeling this one.

Let's give it the chorus chorus that kicks up a bit here listen your jams are your jams you don't feel any don't worry if you don't like these jams i'm gonna give this one the miss all right right. But that's another dart jam here. That's a miss. Red by Treble Charger. I don't know if we could be friends, Derek. All right. Here, let's try this one here.

A little bit different. You said you like a little bit of everything. So let's go with something a little different here. Otis Redding. See, I can give this a hit already, and I can tell you why. This is something I can picture myself on my deck, at the trailer. Cigarette and coffee. Thank you so much.

Probably a glass of whiskey on ice. I'm there, buddy. Otis Redding will get a hit from me every time. Good answer. I'll forgive the treble charge. So Cigarettes and Coffee by Otis Redding is a hit here. That's a great jam. And you know, if you're a lady, you know, having a good night,

this is a good jam for that too. So let's bring that down here. Absolutely. Here's one. Okay, my favorite movie of all time is Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino. That's definitely a solid choice for a favorite movie. This is the Statler Brothers Flowers on the Wall, which is on the soundtrack for Pulp Fiction. Here's the movie briefly.

And there's a line in this song about smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo. It's coming soon here. That's a dirt song right there. Absolutely. That gets a hit just for being on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. I love this game, by the way. We should have just done this for 90 minutes.

Yeah, we could have done that. It would have been an option. This song, which I loved when it first came out. Oh, yeah. But you hear it. This has become the arena or the whatever, the sog. What do you call it? A stadium, I suppose, is what I'm looking for.

A stadium. Anthem here. My wife and I, we were driving the other day, and this song came on. I don't know if it was on my iPod or if it was on the radio. But this song to us, it still hits you today. Like, it hasn't gotten old. It still just grabs your attention. Did you know there's a line in this song about cigarettes?

Yes, I did. That's a dart jam right there. Back and forth through my mind behind a cigarette. There it is, behind a cigarette. So there you go, some White Stripes. And a message coming from my eyes says leave it alone. There it is, Behind a Cigarette. So there you go, some white stripes. Nice, Seven Nation Army. Let's bring it down there, Jack.

Okay. It's funny how we have a Jack White and a Jack Black. Here's something here. Well, I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head. That's an easy hint, too. We're doing all right here. Well, I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head. We're doing all right here. And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one more for dessert. Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt. Then I washed my face and combed my hair and stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

I'd smoked my mind the night before With cigarettes and songs I'd been picking There it is, cigarettes. Dart Jam. We should put a whole compilation together. Dart Jam. And your face on the cover. Big, big, darty tunes. Yeah, Dart Jam's 19.

Yeah, big, darty tunes big big dirty tune across the street and cause i need to get a bit of chorus in before i shut this down frying chicken and lord it took me back to something that i lost somewhere somehow along the way Johnny Cash, Landon Black. What a tenor, like what a voice. Like next to Dark Eye, that's probably the best voice out there. All right, now here, I got just a few more here and we'll play your jam, but,

uh, that's a, that's a compliment. I'll take being my, having my voice compared to Johnny Cash. Yeah. I take it back. It's not that close.

I can't lie. This is real talk. Yeah, that's fair. This is, uh, another dark jam. Simon and Garfunkel.

Let us be lovers. We'll marry our fortunes together. America. Jam, Simon and Garfunkel, America, So we bought a pack of cigarettes. Start jam. What about this one? I got to tell you, I never got into Simon and Garfunkel. Some of your older demographic might not like that, but this is a miss for me. Your jams are your jams, buddy.

I want honesty from you. That's okay. Simon and Garfunkel. Take that, Dark Garfunkel. That's a classic Simon and Garfunkel jam. That's okay. No disrespect to the legends that they are. It's okay. So Dave Matthews Band.

People love the Dave Matthews Band. I don't like them. Yeah. I don't. Sorry. Subjective. Music subjective. Exactly.

And you don't like the Simon and Garfunkel. That's fine. How about this guy? Takes a while to warm up, but this is a dark jam. There's a reference to cigarettes in this jam. There's a reference to cigarettes in this jam. He's maybe the greatest Canadian singer-songwriter of all time, in my humble opinion, maybe.

And he'll sing any moment here. By the way, are you craving a dart right now? Like right now are you... No, I'm good. You're okay? Okay. We're almost done here. When I go out, I'll light one. Can you have a dart when we take our picture together? I take a picture of every guest outside.

I can do that for you. Okay, let's do that. We'll have a picture after you light your dart. Now it's a long jam and I can't remember when the cigarettes come in. But that's okay. Though you're thinking that you're leaving there too soon Now it's a long jam, and I can't remember when the cigarettes come in. But Sugar Mountain by Neil Young. Is that a hit or a miss? That's a hit.

Because you're worried we'll take your passport away if you say you're not a Neil Young fan. I'm a huge Neil Young fan. So I'll put him, for myself, I will put him number two under Gord Downie. I love Gord. Well, Gord Downey. I love Gord. Well, Gord's on my wall right now. But early in the morning, rising to speed. Sing it, dark guy. Light me up that cigarette, and I strap shoes on my feet.

Got to find the reason, reason things went wrong. Got to find the reason why my money's all gone. Only uncensored versions on this show. I'm okay with that. I love this song. I'm okay with that. I love this song. It's fantastic. Definite dart jam. That's a huge hit for the Dart Jams. Did you name your fur baby Lou Dog?

Dart Dog. Is that true? No. His name's Finley. Finley. But when I put pictures up on social media, he gets the hashtag Dart Dog. That's funny. So, Blunt Bear, there's a guy who left us too soon, man. What's his name? Bradley Knowles. Yeah. He gets the hashtag dart dog. That's funny. There's a guy who left us too soon,

man. What's his name? Bradley Knowles. Yeah. He was way too young. Too many too young in the music industry for sure. Brings us back to my piece of advice I gave you, young man. Don't start heroin. That's what I told you. Don't start heroin. Cry when my dog runs away.

I don't get angry at the bills I have to pay. I don't get angry at the bills I have to pay. My mom smokes pot. Hits the bottle and goes right to the rock. Fuck it, right in. Not going to lie, this will probably be played around the campfire multiple times this weekend. Where should I be and when? Camp Klahani, just 40 minutes east of Parry Sound.

I'll find it. See, I wasn't going to mention it considering one of your show sponsors was a campground, but we're different. Different, different. That's a different kind of campground. Yeah, it's a different kind of campground. We take in trailers, seasonal trailers.

And that's like sending your kids to summer camp. That's a very different kind of camp. That's why I wasn't going to mention it, but I'm like, ah, it's a whole different thing. Are they teaching French to children? No, we are not teaching French to children. Then it's alright.

Although after too many pops, a lot of people sound like they're speaking French. Oh, that's funny, man. I could hear the sublime coming out. So, of course, if sublime comes out. So here's, let me ask you this. Let's talk about after October 17, 2018, when it is completely legal for you to enjoy a jazz cigarette?

As the old people call it. A lefty? Would you partake when it's legal for you to do so? So I used to smoke and about over a decade ago, I quit. And for whatever reason, I haven't had a major desire to go back into it.

So who knows if I'm sitting around a campfire and it's there, maybe. So if someone passes the duchy on the left hand side. Somebody passes the duchy to the left hand side, maybe. But no, I used to smoke and I quit and I never looked back. All right, my brother. Too bad I couldn't do that with the darts too. That's more addictive, right? There's nicotine in it. All right, let's. Too bad I couldn't do that with the darts, too. That's more addictive, right? There's nicotine in there.

All right, let's kick out your jam now. So I asked you, this was a difficult question for you to answer, your favorite jam of all time. In fact, you gave me several songs to choose from, and you're going to hear it now. Dark Guys Jam. guitar solo It gets so sticky down here Better butter your cute finger up It's the start of another new year

Better call the newspaper up Two fifty for a hot bar And a buck and a half for a beer. Happy hour, happy hour, happy hours here. Oh, man, my favorite band of all time. Nicely done. My favorite band of all time, too. It was easy to come up with a favorite band of all time.

It was very difficult to pick one of their songs. Yep, I agree. It's funny, you know, you and I have the same favorite hockey team of all time, the same favorite band. We only share that with 5 million people. You know what? This was destiny for me to be here today, it appears. Absolutely, man.

So this is, of course, Little Bones from Road Apples. Yes. An underappreciated hip Dist, Road Apples, I go to it all the time Absolutely, you know what There's a couple You know what, I don't know how to say This delicately, like hip fans

There's some of them that just resonate to Day for night Fully completely, for sure They want to hear Courage again And it's like Those are the three And it's like Maybe as far as

Trouble at the Hen House But it's like That's kind of where they stop And I'm like Have you not listened To World Container? Yeah Oh yeah

Brooks is great They are all Or even in Violet Light In Violet Light Like that song It's a good life If you don't weaken That's a classic hip jam

So that's one of my favorites Three of my I can't pick one good life If you don't weekend That's a classic hip jam So that's one of my favorites Three of my I can't pick one Good life if you don't weekend Silver Jet I think off that album Is one of the most Underappreciated

Tragically hip songs Of all time And great live I don't think I've been to a show Where they didn't play Silver Jet Like that Oh since it came out anyway Yeah

That's about a map Off of Now for Plan A. Right. That song, I don't even know how many hip fans really know that song. I know the diehards obviously do. No, there's a lot of hip fans who don't listen to the last few albums. And they're missing out.

One day they'll come around and they'll wonder why they hadn't been listening to it. But about this map on that album, it's just a whole song. The whole song is about your journey in life and where you are and how you got there and where you're going. And it's just, I don't know, it's an amazing song. Well, you're a big, in addition to being a big hip fan, you're a big Gord Downie fan.

So, I mean, recently Stephen Brunt came on to kick out the jams and Stephen Brunt was raving about Coke Machine Glow. Yep. And the solo efforts by Gordon. I mean, how many hip fans out there have never dove into, have never dived into Coke Machine Glow? You know what?

I mean, what's he got? Six solo albums he went out on? Or seven? So, you know, if you're missing Gord like the rest of us are, and you aren't familiar with it, you can get into that and check it out. There's some fantastic stuff there. But this Little Bones, man, that's a great jam.

That's just full throttle. Let's go. You're going to play this at the campfire? Oh, that's a given. It'll probably be tragically hip from the time I leave here to the time I get up there. A little sublime.

Tragically hip and a little sublime. No, man, I'm there, man. Just leave me that map. Speaking of maps, you leave me that map before you go. I'll see you this week. I've got to bring the two-year-old, though, because my wife and the four-year-old are going to Muskoka for something or other, and I'm stuck here with the teenagers

and the two-year-old. Is that okay? Can I bring the two-year-old to the camp? Yeah, you can, but I don't know how much you enjoy a cold beverage around a fire, but you might want to do something. Well, I won't give her any. No, you might want to look for some daycare or something. Hey, man, I'll bring the Great Lakes.

You got your six-pack. That won't make it through the night. I'll get you some more Great Lakes, man. We'll do it up. Sounds good to me. Buddy, I got to tell you, I wasn't sure what am I going to get here of Dark Eye. I'm like, what am I going to get? Am I going to enjoy it?

I'm used to enjoying these things. I love this. I appreciate that. It was a great time on my end too. Mike, your podcast is becoming, if not already become, a staple of Toronto radio media. Slow down. Say that slower. So you told me when you first came in, you've been to a lot of studios over the last 14 months

because you've recorded lots of interviews. Yeah, I've done a lot of podcasts. How does this one rank? I'll tell you, this is easily the nicest home studio I've seen yet. That makes me feel good. Very professional. Very professional. Thank you.

It's a great setup you got here, and I I'm so honored that we were able to make this happen and you wanted to have me down here. Enjoy the beer and take the pint glass and enjoy the camping trip. It sounds like it's going to be a great time and I can't wait to get a picture of you smoking the dirt. I do want you to quit, but after today, not today. After the picture? Okay, that's a deal. I do want you to quit, but after today, not today. After the picture? Okay, that's a deal. And that brings us to the end of our 353rd show. You can follow me on Twitter.

I'm at Toronto Mike. Dark Guy is at LeafsMaz20. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Propertyinthe6.com is at Raptors Devotee. And PayTM is at PayTM Canada. And Camp Turnasol is at Camp Turnasol. See you all next week. And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is

Rosy and green Well you've been under my skin For more than a year