Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Dave Hill: Toronto Mike'd #1344

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

In this 1344th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with comedian, writer, musician, actor, radio host, and man-about-town Dave Hill about his music, comedy, and new book The Awesome Game: One Man's Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Pumpkins After Dark, Ridley Funeral Home, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Raymond James Canada and Moneris. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1344 of Toronto Mic'd, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees Free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

Pumpkins After Dark. Get your tickets now at pumpkinsafterdark.com. Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past the advantaged investor podcast from raymond james canada valuable perspective for canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable informed and focused on long-term success season five of yes we are open an award-winning podcast hosted by FOTM, Al Grego, and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto mic debut is Dave Hill.

Welcome, Dave. Thanks for having me. This is what I learned when I announced Dave Hill was coming on the program. Somebody inform me that you are only the third guest so this is episode 1344 you're only the third guest in the history of this program who has never lived in canada i haven't it's and i'm ashamed it's not too late i i may it may happen you know depending on uh how things go in the next election i know americans say this all the time but yeah maybe maybe coming north in 2024 well if you didn't make your way in 2016 i'm not hopeful that you'll make your way in 2024 i well i have i have

investigated it and i i am quarter actually three ace canadian well this is actually so the newest book and we will dive into it but i got to get to know you a little better first but it's called the awesome game one man's incredible globe crushing hockey odyssey i mean this is a book a love letter to hockey which makes me think you're part canadian right off the top but tell me how close to being canadian you actually are dave well my grandfather was from Clinton, Ontario. So I lived my whole life thinking I'm a quarter Canadian. And this is a spoiler of the last book, Parking the Moose,

which kind of explored my incredible Canadian roots. I learned through writing the book, researching and all that, that my great-grandfather, not related to the grandfather mentioned moments ago, he was also from Canada. I thought he was from Ireland, but I just took one email. I was like, oh, no, he's from Ontario. So I am three-eighths Canadian. But in 2020, right ahead of the 2020 election,

I talked to a few people, a Canadian lawyer, and they said, no, that's not going to get you anywhere. It's not enough. It's not enough. You need like a parent, right? Yeah, yeah. You gotta, yeah. So.

And your grandfather, because, you know, I was doing some research because I was thinking, who is this Dave Hill guy who's acting so Canadian? Who does he think he is? Yeah. You don't get my backup. And then your grandfather's name was Clarence Vincent Blake Senior. Yep. And he wasn't quiet about the fact that he was from Canada, right?

Like, as you put it, in your words, he wouldn't shut up about it. No, you know, because in America, I don't know if you know this, but... I'll tell you if I know it. In America, we're raised to believe that America is the greatest thing that's ever happened, and everywhere else is garbage. We're taught this in our schools. This is like manifest destiny or something like that. Yeah, exactly.

And I would argue that it's led to some problems, especially in recent years, this sort of thinking. But with my Canadian grandfather, i was being taught this in school or at least suggested to me in school as a kid and then every sunday at dinner my grandfather would be just saying how amazing he'd be canada's the greatest country in the world and just and so i grew up like everyone's wrong canada's the best i'm truly and uh and so I've just that's how I've lived my life so um finally to to be here and be more connected to it so you're you're essentially amazing you're as Canadian as you can get without actually being Canadian I think so yeah do you enjoy your maple syrup is it you believe you bleed maple syrup I do yeah I'm pro I'm pro, you know, I like a Caesar.

I like some Crown Royal. Poutine. I mean, I'll eat poutine, like, just in places you shouldn't. I had it in Calgary yesterday, which I know is offensive, you know, to people. I'm not offended by it, but the Quebecers might be. Yeah, yeah. But in their defense, it was awful relatively speaking it was amazing you know it's like pizza it's never even bad pizza somebody's doing you know pizza's like sex even when it's bad it's pretty good yeah yeah exactly that's like so you flew in when did you

get into the the big smoke here uh this morning well like two o'clock this morning oh wow yeah okay you're all you're all jazzed. And how long are you sticking around? Shout out the event you have on Thursday night. Do it now. I'll do it again at the end, but just let people know they can actually see you before you leave town. I'm going to be at the Monarch over there on Clinton Street

with my buddy Nick Flanagan. Okay. And a couple other acts. I apologize I don't have it in front of me. But I might have it in front of me. You might have it in front of me. But I might have it in front of me. You might have it in front of you. But I want to just say, you do realize the symbolism there that you're going to be on Clinton, right? You do understand that this is the town from which you're...

Exactly, yeah. That's not... That's fate, man. That's the world saying you are Canadian, Dave. I mean, it's maybe the beginning of further, just something magical, or maybe it's the end. Maybe it's, maybe. Full circle?

I may be, that may, I may, I may not survive the evening. I was going to say, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. If you want to see Dave die, that might happen on Clinton. Oh my gosh, what they can do with a corpse. I've heard.

I mean, if any, you know, God forbid anything go wrong, but to know that I'm in good hands with Ridley Funeral Home. You'll look 10 years younger. I just, I'm happy. I almost want it to happen, because gosh, what they can do. Really. If you gotta go, go Ridley. Like, is there any part of you that's upset that you won't be around to see

how good you look in that casket following your demise Thursday on Clinton? Well, you know, I'm a spiritual man. I believe in a way I'll see it. By the way, can I tell the... I'll hover above my corpse. I'll check in. I'll look down or look up wherever I go

so there's two opportunities if you're in Toronto, Ontario, Canada which is where I speak to you from right now there's two opportunities to see Dave Hill there is Thursday, October 19th, 2023 you're at the Monarch Tavern 12 Clinton Street that's here in Toronto

doors open at 8 o'clock see I do have this info you're doing a comedy show with Nick Flanagan, and you'll be signing copies of your new book. You have a new book, The Awesome Game, One Man's Incredible

Globetrotting Hockey Odyssey. You'll sign those after the show. Here's who else will be there. The Incredible Only God Forgives. Yes. And Tim Gilbert. Yes. It's only,

and I apologize to them both, it's only a sleep deprivation that I needed the assist there. Well, I'm here to bail you out. If I may use some hockey terminology, just staying on brand. But in Only God Forgives, they're going to back me up for part of my set because I play a little music during

the full experience. There'll be music and comedy. I'll rip some solos. I pulled some audio because you're kind of a renaissance man, Dave. You wrote a book, which is amazing because some people listening can't even read a book. I'm going to shout out your other talents

in addition to how you became an accidental comic. I have some music I'm going to pull that's going to blow some minds. First, I'm going to blow minds by telling people that I already shouted out that Dave was the third person in the history of Toronto Mike to be on the show but never having lived in Canada. So I'm going to now name the other two.

You ready, Dave? I think these are big names. I'm ready for it. One is Chuck D from Public Enemy. Whoa. I love Public Enemy. Me too, man. I met him once.

Okay. I saw, if Public Enemy. Me too, man. I met him once. Okay. I saw, if I can back it up, I saw, being a man of a certain age, I saw Public Enemy, Slick Rick, LL Cool J, and Big Daddy Kane in 1988, 89? Wow. At Cleveland Richfield Coliseum. Mine at Cleveland Richfield Coliseum. And Flava Flav amazingly was walking around. We had seats on the floor.

He's walking around with a giant pencil that was taller than him. And just with the clock and everything. I met Flava Flav when I was only six years old at the time. No, I was a bit older. We're similar vintage. And all those artists you named, I had them in my record collection. Loved all those artists. All great.

All great. What do you think of modern day hip hop? Because I got kids who are talking about all these modern hip hop stars and they're playing for me. And I'm always like, oh, you need to go back and listen to It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. To me, I'm like become that guy who's like shouting out his hip-hop and saying it's better than yours I I agree with you and this is the thing I always say like I was doing a show somewhere and somehow the topic of Kanye West uh came up and I I said why would you listen to Kanye West

when there's a Chuck D still walking the earth? And I was met with just stares. Like, not like, oh, you're wrong. They were just like, who is that? And I got out of there. I said, pay me. Give me my money, I'm leaving. That's it for Dave.

But no, I'm the same. You know, there is something, I kind of have a cutoff. But I think the beats have changed, obviously. And there's a buoyancy to the 80s, 90s hip-hop and NWA and stuff. And those are my... I don't know. Gosh, now I'm getting into R&B. I mean, don't get me started on TLC.

That's not hip-hop, I know. Even though Left Eye had some nice raps. Lisa Lopez, rest in peace. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. She definitely had some good flow. Yeah, absolutely. I saw TLC. I mean, I could talk about TLC for several, if you want to do several episodes.

I would do 90 minutes on TLC. I saw them. Let me just back it up. I love TLC. Chili is my all-time biggest celebrity crush of all time. Wow. Which, if you know who I'm talking about. I do.

You know why I say that. So, out of the blue, I got am from chile from tlc in 2019 i thought it was a prank we was messaging platonic not no funny business even though i would have married any i would do her bidding i would i would i would hide a body and make it so we didn't need to call ridley feeling feeling home how we're working some other brands, some other sponsors. So she invited me. They were playing in town and I went and it was her

and T-Boz. But every time that left eye there would be a rap, she would show up on a big circular video screen and do the rap from the video and it was amazing. And they just played T-Bball with the hits over boom, boom,

waterfalls, no scrubs. Like, Oh my gosh. I mean, even when my youngest was three, she would go up to me and go, I seen a rainbow yesterday.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. All right. But I want to share with the second person. So you're the third person never lived in Canada. Here you are in Toronto, Mike. I don't know how you found your way in here.

You had to write a book about hockey to get in here. Whatever it takes. It tricked me. It tricked me. I don't know how you found your way in here. You had to write a book about hockey to get in here. Whatever it takes. It tricked me. It tricked me. I thought you were Canadian. And by the way, we will shout out another sponsor when we talk about Cleveland. Cleveland Rocks. You're from Cleveland.

Cleveland has a Great Lakes brewery. We'll talk about that in a minute. But the second person after Chuck D, who was on the program but never lived in this country, Vernon Reed from Living Color. Yes. I'm a big fan of his too. I've never met him, but we both live in New York. Right.

I think he lives on Staten Island. And somehow I've never crossed paths, but I'm a big fan. Yeah, he's fantastic. That man can shred. Okay. Yeah, he rips some solos. So before we play a little music and talk more music and then get, I have questions about the awesome game.

Can I just back it up? Anything you want. Have they both been in this? They came to they came to okay so here's how it worked actually okay so vernon reed actually was a remote okay an exception for vernon sometimes i'll do that sure but chuck d his people were like we were negotiating this whole thing and because chuck d and i'm a huge public enemy this is like you know if you're somebody saying oh i'm gonna have a chat in person with paul mccartney okay this is how excited i was i got chuck d on the program they said uh chuck can't make it to south etobicoke to sit in your basement but you have so if you can bring your studio there was a backstage area uh at the cne bandshell and i so i literally put my studio in a trailer attached it to my bike biked and, these references will mean something to the locals,

but biked to the C&E grounds, and I set up in a room behind the C&E bandshell, and we did it there. So we're in person, on my gear, but not in the basement. So I guess that makes you the first person in the basement who has never lived in Canada. Congratulations, Dave Bell. Take that, Chuck and Vernon, I guess.

Take that. Okay, what wonderful company you're in. But before I get to the music, and before we talk about the book, Mark Weisblatt wants me to drill you for information. So you are actually the first guest who was a regular host on WFMU. There was a gentleman who tried out

and didn't get it. He's an FOTM. FOTM means Friend of Toronto, Mike. You're now an FOTM, Dave. Oh, thank you. I'm hon'm honored you should be uh dave yes of course you're honored david cooper tried out didn't make it david cooper there's an episode with him it was great but this is mark weisblatt he says no and i don't know if you're gonna tell me he says no unpaid this is mark weisblatt's words no unpaid media gig seems coveted more. Perhaps Dave can explain. So can you just talk about what that means? Like some people listening are like, oh, WFMU, what is that?

Why is it a big deal? Talk about this part of your eclectic professional life. It's an amazing station. It's just beyond eclectic. It's really anything goes. goes i mean some amazing music but also just like the show before mine i i did a show called the goddamn dave hill show regrettably because my dad was really upset that i swore but um the show what this dj william burger had like this show that was there was like his show and

another show that were like no this other show is like noise sounded like the transmitter was broken and like in an early episode that you know i didn't know i never done a radio show and i didn't know how to work the board they show me how to work the board and you can i don't know so many buttons and someone had like hit some button that made it so whatever i was i was a friend of mine had died like a couple days or like tragic death and so i was like i'm gonna play a block of his favorite bands this episode is dedicated to him this he is a friend from Cleveland, and a bunch of friends from Cleveland were like, we're all at this bar, we have this station on, we're going to listen in.

And my buddy Sean Kilbane, who passed away, I was like, Sean, this is for you. I hit play on his favorite bands, nothing. And I'm freaking out on the air, like, what's going on? And we had to call the station manager ken freeman on the air and get into what like walk us through and i was like that's it they're gonna they're taking my keys away i'm not allowed to ever come back here and he's like that was an amazing episode so it's the kind of place where things can go horribly wrong and it's horribly right but it sounds it sounds like it's got the podcasting ethos.

That seems to be cut from the podcasting cloth, WFMU. Absolutely, yeah. I did a show there for five years and then I just rode off into the radio sunset. Okay, radio, but not the podcasting sunset. Then I podcasted a bit and then I'm taking a little break from podcasting sunset so then i you know i podcasted a bit and then i'm taking a little break from podcasting you know just to give other people a chance well i appreciate that actually because there's only so many hours in a day for somebody to consume

audio content yes so thank you yeah this is the least i can do okay so lots of stuff here uh in fact i know i think we i said we chat hour. I'm changing that to three hours, just so you know. But Lisa Pearl, I have no questions. Come on, Lisa, you don't have a single question for Dave Hill.

I have no questions, but make sure to talk to him. This sounds like a question, by the way. I think Lisa found a loophole because she says, make sure to talk to him about his So Your Canadian podcast.

Okay, maybe I do have a question. Oh, I should have read it first. How did he pick his guests i suggested brent butt and then he had him on and i'd like to take credit for that i'll give her credit for that but no pun intended at the time i did that podcast i believe i was banned from twitter so i was not used i think i i got questions about that too and so it couldn't if she tweeted it i didn't get if she did tell me she must have

emailed me because i was maybe it was a coincidence but i just had i just had a beer and poutine with brent i i had poutine he had chips and guac but and i had beer and he had with Brent. I had poutine. He had chips and guac. I had beer and he had rye, actually. I'm just being very specific. I like the details. Just a couple nights ago in Calgary. We had never met in person.

Is this like a cross-Canada tour for you? Did you start in BC? I wish. I blame the pandemic for this, but a tour for you like did you start in bc i wish it's just you know there's so many this i blame the pandemic for this but now you can do stuff people have figured out through monitor technology you can do stuff remotely so sadly i did not go to bc um and i'm not going to be going to montreal this invasion but uh i do love those places um but yeah i'm just hitting uh calgary and toronto and this this but it is a it is a national i will uh pester everybody

because i mean pound for pound you won't find a country on this planet with more hockey fanatics like if you're marketing a book called the awesome game one man's incredible globe crushing hockey odyssey this is a good country to do that i mean yeah it's it's pretty much the one i mean there's finland finland's a good one to do there's russia but you know not anymore also no no don't go to russia but finland i mean you went to finland i read the book you've been to finland so yes so we're gonna get to the book but think, oh, he's got a podcast called So You're Canadian. And Brent Butt was on it because Brent Butt's also on FOTM. So I thought it'd be fun to look at all your guests and then document all the guests we share. Oh, I love this.

This is fun. One, two, three, four, five. There's only five. But it's not like you have 1,344 episodes. I didn't do that many episodes of the book. I mean, of the podcast. because i sort of did it i did the reveal by my mistake but i sort of did it as a way to uh sort of in tandem with the book um to really just i didn't want to let go of canada so i was like how can i keep this going i think you'll end up living here now hopefully it doesn't

happen thursday the end of your wonderful life. But I hope that your final years will be here. No, but again, Ridley Funeral Home, if you're going to die, make it a Ridley death. And if they want to use that, that's fine. They might just cut it out. Yeah, that might be like when you phone them, that might be the message

you get would be Dave Hill saying that. Okay. So here are the guests that you and I shared. Brent Butt, we've already established. There's four more. And maybe you can say a sentence about each one. get would be dave hill saying that okay so here are the guests that you and i shared brent but we've already established there's four more and maybe you can say a sentence about each one uh because they're fotms brent but yeah um ron james ron james love ron james i'll probably just say i love everybody well that'll tell me that you don't quite remember them. So, no, I'm just kidding. Paul Myers. Well, Paul Myers, we're buds. Ron James, I do.

But that was remote. I didn't meet him in person, but an absolute delight. Well, talk about Paul Myers then. Paul Myers was in a band, a Toronto band called The Gravel Berries. And when he was on the show, we played their big hit that you heard on CFNY 102.1. But Paul, whose brother Peter listens to the program so hello to peter yeah peter hello yeah but and then the other myers uh we won't forget this some some schlub named mike myers he's done a few things too yeah he's uh i i you know with all due respect to mike myers i do think of him as the the lesser

or least myers because at being a Paul distant third, I go, I go Paul, Peter, Mike on this one. No, no. And I think I've met Peter maybe briefly,

Peter, I'm sorry. I put you in the middle. You're all equal. You're all great. But Paul is, you know, like we'll text sometimes we'll hang out in New York or San Francisco where he

lives. And yeah, he's, he's a great guy and great musician, great songwriter, handsome fellow, and I mean, this is stating the obvious, looks a lot like Mike Myers. You're right.

And much like Mike Myers, left the country. So, shout out to Peter, my favorite Myers, because he lives in Toronto. He's here. Yeah, he stayed in paradise. would and again god forbid peter should leave us anytime soon but if he does i got ridley thank god ridley funeral is is here to cart him away did you ever watch the wire i've seen a few episodes my girlfriend just watched all of it i love it it's my favorite show but there's a line where this guy bode's and he's driving he's he's from baltimore and he's lived his whole life in baltimore he's actually never left baltimore and he's got to drive to new york for this thing that his boss wants him to do and he can't suddenly the radio station he's

listened to his whole life he can't get it anymore in the frequency and he's like and he's like this is a new phenomenon to him like oh like i can't get my he's never left baltimore and at some point he says this line i it sticks with me. He goes, why would anyone ever want to leave Baltimore? Like, this is the line. And I always think it like when I hear the Myers have all left the country. Why would anyone want to leave Toronto, Ontario, Canada? Like, like who are these people?

But Peter stuck around. I've asked Paul that, especially given America, what. Climate, right? He says climate. Oh, is that what he's i mean i don't know it's my guess i always think oh well of course they don't want to have it the you know like uh randy backman recent fotm randy backman says uh portage main 15 below nobody wants minus 20 in windshield oh i say bring it on and i've stood at that intersection, albeit in summer. Wow. But still delightful. Randy Bachman, I have to say, I live in the West Village in Manhattan in New York. And my friend Curtis Steiger is friends with Randy, though now I could have had you do this. Because we're friends, and we don't need Curtis now. Right.

need curtis now um right there's a van in my neighborhood with a math a massive bachman turner overdrive logo on each door and on the hood of the car and the rest of it is painted flat black and i'm just trying to find who the owner of this van is that loves bTO so much that's just like, yeah, I'm going to. And they look like he made the logos. Like he did color coffees and then shellacked them or something. And I don't know what my point is, but I'm just saying the world is a magical place. I love BTO. And I know that because I watch a lot of Simpsons. And BTO played live on the Simpsons.

And also because I was just the other day just just watching an episode of King of the Hill, because I'm a big King of the Hill fan. Sure. And I see that Bill, the next door neighbor is just singing to, he's singing, taking care of business as he mows his lawn. Like this is a scene in King of the Hill.

It's a great song. And don't get me started. I go, Hey you, that's my favorite BTO song. Sure. It's underrated. Shout out to BTO. Shout out to bto shout out to randy

backman apparently americans can call him randy bachman but canadians are supposed to call him randy backman there's a whole story in that episode you can hear but uh i know i realize now that you're actually too easy to talk to and you have your life is too interesting for an hour so i am going to burn through the rest of the questions and then we're going to get into this thing because these are important questions. You mentioned the Twitter ban. Andrew says, I have two questions for him. What was his initial reaction to getting banned from Twitter

and what was it like finding out it had been reversed? It wasn't a short ban. It was a few years. What the hell happened here, Dave? Well, you know, you've heard of donald donald trump um he was on twitter uh and i'm i'm just just put it mildly i'm not i'm not i don't like him and so i i did this thing not i say i set it up like i did something brilliant actually it was um i would just respond to his tweets with

some negative comment or another which invariably would cause his supporters to attack me and then i in return would suggest using the language of about a 12 year old i would suggest that i was having a consensual intimate relationship with their mother they would invariably come back looking at my avatar you know and you know the way i dress which is amazing um and they would be like you look like you're more into dudes and i would say well make no mistake i also porked your dad and then and took me and your mom out for pizza. And anyway, my point of it, and this is the thing, like the big kids were laughing sort of thing, so I kept doing it. But like literally like names I won't mention, like famous people were DMing me being like, thank you.

This is so entertaining. So I was like, oh, I better keep doing it because blah, blah, blah likes it. And so then I was I was like, Oh, I better keep doing it. Cause blah, blah, blah. Like sit. Right. And then, and, and so then I was suspended for like a week. And then I was like, I better not do this. And then Memorial day came around and just to celebrate Memorial day,

I just did it for 24 hours. And then the next day I logged on and I, my account was anyway. So then, and I'll finish this with my favorite thing, which is name dropping. I love name. I live in, if I can bring up a canadian yeah malcolm gladwell yeah live and we live right by each other and i always see him in the coffee shop and uh and the fact that i had been banned

from twitter came up and and uh and and uh so he's like yeah i heard about that and uh he didn't even look up from his laptop because he just goes mother jokes huh okay so malcolm gladwell uh you know quite a famous uh canadian he uh wrote a lovely blurb about your new book yeah the awesome game so he's on the the back cover so awesome okay so we're gonna get more we are gonna get to the book but oh but to answer the question question and then what did i feel i was i was freaking out because i thought like i'm a comedian i have to be on twitter i have to be on it and and then very quickly i was like this is the best thing that's ever happened to me like i felt free yeah i felt free of the shackles

of twitter and and i wasn't waking up first thing in the morning grabbing my phone while still in bed and being like how can i start the day you know the worst way possible by looking at twitter that ended and then so when i was reinstated, I was like, okay. But I had already, like, you know, the muscle of, or the horrible habit of just constantly looking at Twitter and constantly putting every thought out there. I just sort of gotten rid of that. And then getting back on Twitter was like going to meet your friends at a bar that you like enough to go meet them at and then you get there and you you realize they're like hey we ended up going someplace else they're having a dj night tonight and there's an awful dj playing and uh and it's horrible and you want to leave. That's what it's like being reinstated. Only, are there language things on this show? No, you can swear.

The place is covered in semen and feces. That's what it's like. Those aren't even swear words. You can say those on CBC. There's jizz and shit and piss everywhere when you show up to the bar and your friends are gone. That's what it's like being reinstated. Wow.

So I am reinstated, but I don't really look at it too often. No, but Mr. Dave Hill on Twitter. I'll drop that at the end of the show. Yeah, you can still find me there. You can still find Mr. Dave Hill here. I'm sorry for saying those words. By the way, my producers in my ear are telling me that I... You can say bad words.

I won't. My producers... Go ahead. Piss. Ass. It feels good. My producer, go ahead. Piss ass. It feels good. Sometimes they need to drop an F-bomb or two. It is. I've just run into this TV where I couldn't say shit and cock and stuff.

And so it's nice to be here. Another plus one here for podcasting is you can say whatever the fuck you want. But my producer is in my ear right now telling my, I only shouted out three of the five guests we shared. So I wrap it up uh yeah danko jones oh i love danko jones i'm hoping he comes to the show thursday he's another guy i i've not met in person but i feel like we might be best friends might be best friend he rocks we're both rockers hold on a little music here before i shout out the fifth one and get to the finish of the question to get back to the book here. But here's a little song people might recognize. My heart, my soul, I'm begging you for more

I'm on my knees, baby, please Can I drink from your loving cup? I'm too scared to say that I love you But I know I gotta see you tonight Do you got a little love in your heart? Dave, are you familiar with the great power pop of Valley Lodge? Oh, you know I might be. It was my idea. Tell me everything, because this is a first mind,

well, many mind blows in this episode, but this song, Go, from Valley Lodge, not only kicks, but it's the theme song to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. And what do you mean it was your idea? As I said it, I realized it wasn't my idea. The song, I wrote the song, but I did start that band with my friend. You wrote this song, Go.

I wrote it, yeah. But the band was started with me and my buddy, John Kimbrough, and so it was his idea as well. But yeah yeah this song I wrote we had toured Japan and I had horrible jet lag and

I woke up in the middle of the night with this song in my head and I mumbled it into my phone and and then now it's the theme to one of the best shows on tv it is one of the best shows on tv uh you get hbo you get it here on crave and i think this is i think you know people think that i'm having on this author dave hill who's also like an accidental comedian we'll get

to that in a minute this cleveland guy we'll get to that in a minute but like you're playing guitar in this uh power pop band you're you're the guitarist yeah there's two guitar players but yeah i play the guitar and i hog all the solos john and i used john kimmerer i used to share them but then he left moved to la and and now i rip all the solos. So watch out Danko Jones. And by the way, the fifth and final guest we share is Davinette Doyle. Oh, I love her. Oh my gosh. Can you spell Davinette?

It is like D-A-M-N-H-A-I-T. You know, that might be right. It's close. There's an H in there. That's the trip. So close. Wow. But yeah, she's an H in there. That's the trip. I don't know if there's an H in there. So close. Wow.

But yeah, she's married to my friend Greg Boggs. Okay. And hopefully, I know I'm going to see Greg. Hopefully, I'll see her too. Any relation to Wade Boggs? I choose to believe so. The Wade Boggs, I mean, you know, the guy was always hitting like 350 or something. Yeah, good at baseball.

The chicken wing story. I don't know that. Yeah. Like apparently like before every game he had to eat like chicken wings. And it was a story. I'm as a big Jays fan, but you know, we play a lot of red socks and,

uh, yeah, I don't know. The J I have to say, this is in my last book, parking the moose, which you should read next after the awesome game, parking the moose.

And then, but I went to a Blue Jays game and everyone had this shirt, I love BJs, which I was like, how did I not think of that? It was hiding in plain sight my whole life. And I was like, I have to get one of these shirts. It's because my inner 15 year old, which is really my mental state all the time but

and I went to the souvenir stand this poor woman was working there and I was like where are the I love BJ's shirts and she's like we don't sell those. They're unsanctioned. Well the better one that is also unsanctioned is the one BJ is better than nine

Yanks whenever the Yankees come to town one BJ is better than nine Yanks whenever the Yankees come to town. One BJ is better than nine Yanks. That crosses a line. Though I also want that shirt. Speaking of shirts, Paul Michael Sagan, that man has two first names, says,

You're the man, you Dave Hill, are the man with the greatest T-shirt of all time. Which one is that? I don't know. He didn't say it. I was hoping you could talk about maybe talk about t-shirts i don't know like i mean you're at your a lot of people associate you with t-shirts

that's weird oh well i mean i designed t-shirts my merch i designed okay almost most of my merch and um i don't know if he's talking about that but i do have i do have a lot of other t-shirts i probably have my girlfriend went through all my t-shirts one day and folded them. She's just amazing. And it was really, she was just tired of them being all over the place. And I have like 300. I'm guessing, probably it was maybe my Merciful Fate shirt that says the Satan Tour. Okay.

That might be the best one. So how many did you say you have i think 300 but every once in a while i like to have a couple of beers and and then throw stuff out did you say beer beer so you're from cleveland i'm from cleveland and cleveland has a they've got a great lakes brewery in cleveland yeah but you know what as i realized when you were um mentioning your sponsors not limited to but primarily including weirdly funeral home uh i realized as you said it in the cleveland one is called great lakes brewing company but close enough to confuse people and it confused me when i walked in here and they're they're

they're completely like independent there's no correlation but they're friendly i know i've talked because i've talked to the because i don't know in the google search i guess it depends where you are which one you get first but uh so if you're googling from toronto or ontario you're probably going to get the uh great lakes brewery that's in southern etobicoke now i don't know like where you're off to or whatever but i do have uh some fresh craft beer for you from Great Lakes Brewery. Oh, amazing.

I probably shouldn't have any now. Well, no, I didn't think you would. I mean, maybe you will. But I will. No, just kidding. But bring it with you and have it after your show. Oh, thank you. I'm thrilled.

Yeah, because I do like beer and craft beer. It's delicious. And you know, I always say, you know, I was just saying this before we started recording. If you're going to have a craft beer. It's delicious. You're going to live in Cleveland. I was just saying this before we started recording. If you're going to have a craft beer, make it a Great Lakes brewery. If you're going to drink yourself silly. No, don't do that.

Well, if you're not driving or operating heavy machinery, I say you can do that. We're all adults here. Don't drink yourself silly if you've got to get behind the wheel. No, no, no. Don't do that. No. Like, we're all adults here. Like, you know, don't drink so silly if you've got to get behind the wheel. No, no, no. Don't do that. But I'm saying, say you have a bit too much. You accidentally tripped on a flight of stairs.

Oh, right. It's all over. Be responsible. Don't worry about it. You're in good hands with Ridley Funeral Home. But you know what? Before, God forbid, again, if you're going to have a, you know, sometimes i'll have some delicious palma palma's kitchen well that's it so so food and i'll rinse it down with one of those great pasta makes

authentic italian food they're in mississauga and oakville which is just to the west of us here in toronto and that's our food of choice here on toronto mike so yeah there's a there's lasagna from palma there's beer from great lakes but I do want to give you something real quick here because I got a great question from Matt Lewin about music here. But this is a wireless speaker. You can connect via Bluetooth. And with that wireless speaker, that's from Moneris, and they want you to listen to Season 5 of Yes, We Are Open,

which is an award-winning and inspiring podcast from FOTM Al Grego who travels the country, collects these stories from small business owners, and then he shares it with us. So that's yours, buddy. This is mine? Thank you. You take that with you. You know that Yes, We Are Open show,

they won one of those Canadian podcast awards. Wow. You know your shit. That's because you're a podcaster. They're one of the greats. And I think the next award is probably... Not to interrupt you. Yeah.

When I think Yes, We Are Open, I think of it as the Ridley Funeral Home of podcasts. I really do. Wow, you've got to come back, man. I think you should move here. Just be my regular co-host. I'm ready. If you can handle it, I'm ready. I can handle it.

I may be annoying. Well, I'll be the judge of that. Maybe that's why I can do an hour or whatever. You know that after 90 minutes, you might start to get it. Yeah, you may. Well, I'll be the judge of that. You'll let me know. Maybe that's why you're like, I can do an hour or whatever. It's like, because you know that after 90 minutes you might start to get it. Well, we are just about out of time. And I'm still, I'm just telling, because we're not alone in this room. I feel like I need to disclose

that. But there's a gentleman here, Scott. I'm just telling you, Scott, we started 10 minutes early, so I might take 70 minutes. You can, you know, okay. He gave me the thumbs up, everybody. I did that for Bachman. Bachman was like, okay, you got half an hour. And I stole 10 minutes. You can, you know, okay. He gave me the thumbs up, everybody. I did that for Bachman. Bachman was like, okay, you got half an hour and I stole 10 minutes. That's my move now. I just steal 10 minutes. I call, I think of it as the Bachman treatment here on the show. Love it. I

want to show one more podcast and then I got a great question for you about music from Matt Lewin, but learn how to plan, invest, and live smarter with the Raymond James podcast, The Advantaged Investor. Whether you already work with a trusted financial advisor or currently manage your own investment plans, The Advantaged Investor provides the engaging wealth management information you value as you pursue your most important goals, Dave. I couldn't agree more. Yeah, invest. I couldn't agree more. Yeah, invest.

And when you leave, you know, you have some money to leave behind for your loved ones. And you can splurge on a nice casket there at Ridley Funeral Home. Matt Lewin says, does he really think black metal is better than death metal? Yes, I do. I mean, I don't even have to think about that. Though I will say there are some great death metal bands, of course, Autopsy, Blood Incantation.

But, well, this is the thing. Probably more death metal, like you could just put it on and be like, okay, cool, that's death metal. And most black metal you don't want to listen to. But when they get it right the band said get a dark throne mayhem and you know a handful of others that really get it right it's it's amazing and i think it transcends metal into like you're just like i'm alone in the woods there may be an animal attack and i don't even care that's that's the way to do it

black metal the book the awesome game which people can buy it right i have a copy i've been reading this past week so this is something we can literally like a listener could buy it right now as well they should and if they don't i'll be be really upset. I mean, you never know. We cherish every moment. I could die tomorrow. Well, you're going to do it Thursday night on Clinton Street. Yeah, I could die Thursday night after the show. I'd be in good hands.

Your book's value goes up if you die. I think that, is that true? It's true for art. You know, here's to finding out. Yeah, I think so. The book is out tomorrow. It's available in all formats and it would be weird not to buy it, I think so. The book is out tomorrow. It's available in all formats. And it would be weird not to buy it, I think.

I think it's for everybody. It's not just for hockey lovers. It's for hockey haters. It's that good. Well, here. So I got questions about the book. And then I'll get to the... Because I also then I want to ask you about...

You're like a king of all media. Like, watch out Howard Stern. I mean, I have a clip of you on a TV show. I mean, we talked about your musician musician uh being a musician there's so much stuff here but being an accidental comedian i actually want to hear about that but the book so one thing i'm going to share a fun fact is that on the very cover of this book there's a quote from sean avery and a fun fact is that sean avery uh slid into my Instagram DMs and threatened me. Really?

I'm sort of tickled to hear that. Why? Why did he threaten you? He thought I was threatening his friend, a former Toronto Maple Leaf, Mike Zigomanis, who we called Ziggy. When I told, Ziggy was spouting some anti-vax rhetoric on Twitter, and another FOTM was replying to him, like reasoning with him. And I replied to that FOTM and I said,

stop giving him oxygen. And then Ziggy screencapped it and went on Instagram and said, I want him to die because I don't want him to breathe oxygen. And then I got Sean Avery in my DMs. There you go. Wow. Well, I'm on your side with this one thank you uh but it's great sean

avery gave you a great quote and it's on the cover of your book so and more reason to buy i know i love sean let me be clear let me be clear but uh the ziggy but i'll dm him and. And Avery says, Dave is a grinder. He goes to the hard to score area and sacrifices his body for the American, sorry, for the awesome game. I almost called it the American game. Give me my glasses. No, I mean. You're trying to make it the American game.

Yeah, that's the hope. So a couple of other notes about the book is you talked to some FOTMs and I know we talked about you going to Finland, but Stephen Brunt. So tell me how you connected with a great fotm steven brunt and he's he's all over this book we are in the same fantasy football league no um i was uh i wish i wish i had a you know like a story uh maybe even better than that fantasy football league joke but uh through through proper channels.

There's Scott here, actually, I think. But if you're looking for a Canadian... But I was a fan, let me be clear, already knowledgeable and a fan of Stephen Brunt. Oh, I hope so. A lot of people call me the Stephen Brunt completist of America. That's my... Stephen Brunt is the Ridley Funeral Home of Canadian Sports Journal.

My friends don't even call me Dave. They're like, hey, we're going to get together later. Did you talk to the Stephen Brunt completest of America? Is he coming? So even listeners who loves, because I will say he's a beloved,

beloved figure in this country. Oh yeah. And in my, in my heart. And in your book, in your book. And another gentleman too, I want to shout out, Stephen Brackson. Oh, yeah, and in my heart. And in your book. And another gentleman, too, I want to shout out, Brian Trottier. Yes, don't even get me started. Well, let's start.

Well, I grew up, my cousins grew up on Long Island, and so their team was the Islanders. So being in Cleveland, where we didn't have a team, my team, I mean, I had a few favorite teams because this was like the 80s. So I love the Oilers. I basically loved teams that were good because that's, you know, why not?

I love those Oilers teams too because my Leafs sucked and those Oilers were so fun with Gretzky and Massey and everybody. Yeah, yeah. And I got all those guys autographed when I was a little kid. My dad took

me to pittsburgh i i had somewhere there's a program yari curry gretzky messier and paul coffee wow yeah that's the big one and then my cousins brian trotty lived down the street or trotty which do you guys go trotty i sayier. Yeah, that's what I need to get it. The American pronunciation is trottier. We're pathetic. Yeah, like when you go to that part of a house in like the hallway part, do you call it a foyer or do you call it a foyer?

I just don't even do it. I just don't even attempt it. It's too fancy. It's pretension. I say foyer, I think usually. But unless I'm talking to a fellow American, and then I say the front hall thing. But yeah, he lived down the street from my cousins on Long Island.

And one summer, I was visiting them. And I was like, can we go meet him? And none of my cousins wanted to indulge him, except for my cousin Mollylly who was young enough to be like yeah we should go stand on his front lawn until he comes outside so we did and lo and behold he came outside and i met him and it was amazing and then all these years later we were reconnected one of us was really excited about it um But he wasn't, it was, the recording of that interview, I'd sound like a child.

And like Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney, I'm just completely. You like stuff? Absolutely terrified of this man. Just out of, just love and respect. Well, you have a lot in common,

you and Brian Trottier, because you're both great musicians. That's what I was going to say. We have a lot in common. I'm stealing yourottier, because you're both great musicians. That's what I was going to say. We have a lot in common. I'm stealing your lines there. I should have read the teleprompter over here, but go ahead. Yeah, we're both musicians. Which I learned through his amazing book, All Roads Home,

which he talks about. So that was something I was excited to learn about him. So, if I may connect you to my amazing book, The Awesome Game, but I love,

you know, I love the things surrounding hockey and learning about things around the game and the players and stuff that maybe isn't,

you know, the ice and strategy and stats and stuff. So learning that about Brian, like his love for music and stuff and it was really cool.

In your humble opinion as an American, because you're from Cleveland, and they haven't had an NHL team since 1978, is that right? Is that... Yeah, there's two seasons, the Cleveland Barons, and then they shuffled off to became the Minnesota North Stars.

And we briefly had WHA team, the Cleveland Crusaders and yeah for whatever reason no NHL team, Columbus has had an NHL team and people are always like

oh you must like Columbus I'm like no, I hate Columbus because they got Ohio is a place where the cities, we don't like each other at all. It's not like, hey, we're all Ohioans. We have that. It's like, no.

I hate you. I think you hate them more, right? I hate them more. Like Calgary and Edmonton. Those two fan bases despise each other, but they're all in the same province. I know. Yeah. Same deal.

Yeah, I don't know. But yeah, even more so in Ohio. I hate. Plus, I talk about this in in in my book the awesome game um the jerseys for columbus blue jackets it looks like it looks like a logo for a bank or something it's horrible i like that part of the book there's a part of the book where you kind of yeah because um i enjoyed the was it the chlorophyll uh commentary about well because i'm like my big thing with jerseys of a good hockey logo if well first of all if you're if your mascot is an animal then then it's easy you just have a really irritated looking animal

on the and you're halfway there but add blood add fire Flames, very easy, but great jersey. But yeah, Toronto, the Leafs, I mean, I love all the original six logos and the Leafs, you know, yeah, you can't, it would be, you would have chlorophyll, not blood in there. Right, right, right. Which would be cool.

I'd like to see it. Quick note about mascots. So in Toronto, our mascot is a polar bear. His name is Carlton because Maple Leaf Gardens used to be on Carlton Street. But I was watching the Oilers game after the Leaf game and their mascot legitimately scares me. It's a lynx.

But it's a scary looking angry cat thing and I find it really spooky. Ours is this cuddly, likable polar bear and this links it looks vicious like it scares me i'm kind of in favor of of it i like uh i think most stuff surrounding the game of hockey should be scary it's a missed opportunity to not it's yeah why this is what i don't like about going to nhl games is it's constantly pandering to kids

and families they're letting the kids ride the zamboni the have like the tots come out in between periods yes get get them out of there and let me get out there i want to go out there put me on the jump not some dumb kid. Why is it that you think Americans have been hesitant to embrace the game of hockey the way Canadians have? It just seems like we try, and in some markets, obviously in Chicago and some markets, Boston, the NHL teams sell out and are very popular. But generally speaking, Americans seem kind of meh

on the whole hockey thing. I hate to say it, I just think we're just lesser people. Not me, personally. But generally speaking, Americans seem kind of meh on the whole hockey thing. We're just, I hate to say it, I just think we're just lesser people. Not me personally, but, you know, the rest of them. I don't know why, because, I mean, I truly love hockey and I truly believe it's the best sport. Football depresses me. Like the sound of it, I'm just like, oh gosh, I have to go to school tomorrow and everyone's

telling me to shut up because they're trying to watch the game and also 11 guys you guys have 12 guys on the field up here right in the canadian yeah i think so version i'm gonna pretend i know which is just adding to the like what are what are they doing only like a couple guys are even doing anything the rest of them are just running around in hot pants that's a good point by the way i'm a terrible host because i had audio thank you uh that means a lot it's like praise from caesar but i have a clip i was gonna play before we dove into the awesome game and now we've already started talking but i'm gonna play it now because i loaded it up and if i take all that effort to load it up i'm gonna play it but let's listen for just a couple

minutes here. The Awesome Game is my book about hockey. And if you like hockey, I know that you will love it. And even if you don't like hockey, you'll love it. Even if you don't like sports, I still think that you should read it, of course. It's a literary classic, so put it in your basket at your local bookstore. It's available in all formats, even one I never heard of. Thank you. Dave, I didn't need you at all. I could have just played this. You're giving us the whole 101 here. You went from Poland to L.A. to Kenya,

searching for the very soul of hockey it's all in this song yeah it's a pretty three out of four of my books that i've written songs with an accompanying music video which is not many authors do i think it gives me the edge i mean we all... Stephen King doesn't do it. Stephen King, though he is a musician. I mean, Hemingway did it. F. Scott Fitzgerald did it. But like the technology in getting it out there, no one's ever heard this.

Right. And if you're looking for a holiday gift this December, pick it up now because this is a perfect gift for the hockey fan. It's the perfect gift. I mean, the cover, it's the covers like this velvety mat. It's just a sexy finish. And it's, you know, anyone can enjoy this book. It has something for everyone.

There's a baboon attack in this. We didn't talk about that. There's a baboon attack in the book. Like we buried the lead. If you can find me literally any hockey book ever that has a baboon attack in it, I'll head over to Ridley Funeral Home and I'll bite on some cyanide. Speaking of clips I loaded on the front lawn. And we'll take a photo while you do that.

Okay, I'm going to play one because I loaded up these clips. I'm going to play this one because I got to find out what this is. Kids of Miami, only on Mojo. We'll just play about a minute here and then get a taste of it. Miami. Glamour. Nightlife. Really tan people.

This place has got everything. Man, I've only been here like a few days or something, but it's like I'm practically local already or something. I'm blending in so much that it's not even f***ing funny. Anyway, now that I'm really digging in down here in Miami, I figured it was time I really tried to touch people. Not in a creepy way or anything. I just mean I want to get out and meet some folks.

I mean, hey, why not? The King of Miami. What the hell is this, Dave? And where the hell can I see The King of Miami? That is a TV show that I had. It came on 2007 on this channel, The Mojo Network, which is no longer with us. And I had just started comedy a couple years earlier,

and I think the second, I was really lucky got was got a tv show really early on after starting comedy and i was like oh my gosh comedy is so easy they give you a tv show right so i know i still have no idea what i'm doing but i really didn't know what i was doing then and uh yeah this is this show where we went down i went went to Miami and just tried to blend in with the locals. And I thought, oh, this will be, I wish I would say, oh, this is my first TV show. But one look at my IMDb page will tell you I've been on many television shows and movies. But that's my only TV show that I've ever had that was my show. So you're the star of that show.

You've appeared on shows like The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. You've been on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Another Canadian. Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, you've done a lot of stuff. The Tick, Inside Amy Schumer, there's a big one. She's not Canadian, but she should be. Sure.

Yeah, you've done a lot of great stuff, but I want to know what you mean by, like, you know, you fell into comedy. So here we are. We've established you're a great musician. We've established you're a great writer. You're a radio host. We talked about you being a radio host. So we've said, on this show, if you only know Dave Hill from this episode

of Toronto Mike, you know this guy's a radio host. He's written many of these great books. Often he pretends to be, like, he wants to be Canadian. These are great books for Canadians. The music aspect of Toronto Mike, you know, this guy's a radio host. He's written many of these great books. Often he pretends to be, like, he wants to be Canadian. These are great books for Canadians. The music aspect of your life, but how the heck do you end up being a comedian? Like, you seem like an accidental comedian. Yeah, I never planned to

go into comedy. And, you know, there's always going to be people that would argue that I'm not a comedian. And those people are mean but i i was playing in bands and and i really enjoyed talking in between songs and and i was started writing i started as a journalist but i didn't really care about reporting and facts things you know that well used to be important in journalism but um and but i like to just slip

jokes into the articles that i wrote for for papers and magazines and stuff and then and i yeah i'd like to talk in between songs and then one thing led to another and uh i started writing for tv and then out of that you know a friend my friend tony carnivali, I was in New York and he's like, Oh, I run this show in the back of a bar in the Lower East Side. I did it. No one threw anything at my head. I came back and it kind of grew from there. But yeah, I never planned to go into comedy and I really don't recommend it. Yeah. Now, so you're a comedian, you're a a musician you're a radio host you are an actor as we've established you uh you're uh you're uh what else are you you're a writer we've guess we've covered that but i want to ask you about podcasts specifically but very very quickly i'm going to shout out two websites one is pumpkinsafterdark.com because that's where you would go right now to get your tickets to the award-winning show in Milton.

It's a Halloween extravaganza. Giant lit up pumpkins in the night sky. It's really something you got to check it out. Milton, by the way, not too far from Toronto here. But if you go to pumpkinsafterdark.com, you can buy your tickets now because it's the Halloween season. This is a big deal.

The other website, though, I want to quickly tell you about, Dave, is recyclemyelectronics.ca. I don't think this will work for you in New York City where you're currently residing. But here in Canada, if you need to get rid of your old electronics, your old devices or technology that doesn't work anymore, you don't throw it in the garbage because the chemicals end up in the landfill

and that's bad for everybody. You go to recyclemyyelectronics.ca and you can find out a place to safely drop off your old electronics. Well, I'll tell you some electronics that I'll never have to recycle. That's the Boxan wireless speaker from Moneris. Moneris.

Because that thing's going to last long after I've been carted off by Ridley Funeral Home. I'm really excited. But yeah, if God forbid anything went wrong with it, I would take it to that place you just mentioned. Absolutely. Recycle my electronics. Yes.

I teed you up. You teed me up. So Thursday, we're recording on a Monday. This drops two minutes after you say goodbye, by the way, because it's unedited. It's all live to tape. I love it. And that's the way I rock.

You are going to be at the Monarch Tavern live to tape and uh that's the way i rock you are going to be at the monarch tavern torontonians know that's 12 clinton street clinton being very symbolic in your life you're oh yeah and that's uh thursday night doors open at eight o'clock we mentioned nick flanagan is only god forgives and tim gilbert see right it's on my brain very good that's where people listening can actually see you and you'll sign your book afterwards. Yeah, I'm going to sign. The book's going to be available. You can buy it.

I'll sign it. I'll rub up on it. I'll do weird things if you want on request. So we're winding down now because I said I'd steal 10 minutes. Is it that thing about saying I rubbed up on the books? That's what did it. You just crossed the line, okay?

I have standards. Wait, I want to talk about... No. I want i want to talk well we can talk about anything you want before i play us out with some uh toronto uh toronto band called lowest at the low but you've got so many great toronto bands by the way what's your favorite toronto band and why is it rush why is it rush i mean i do love uh getty lee picked me up from the airport, actually. That's not true. Shout out to Geddy Lee. Because he wrote the song, YYZ. Yeah, exactly. If you're going to fly into YYZ, do it right and have Geddy Lee pick... No, I'm just kidding.

Mike Levine from Triumph picked me up. Rick Emmett? Oh, Rick Emmett. No, they got in a fight and Mike ended up doing it. Mike's a cool guy. He's... Has he still got the big mustache didn't he have the big mustache yeah mustache hockey jerseys on stage yeah he was

doing it right that's the second greatest trio from toronto right after rush you got triumph right there but what about bare naked ladies any love for bare naked ladies yeah i'm i'm pro bare naked ladies i've met a couple of those guys i just met ed from i met him pretty recently nice fellow my next guest is the guy who produced the song that was the theme for big bang theory that uh ed wrote i think i met that guy too is he the drummer no that's okay he's an fot i'm the drummer uh tyler stewart i apologize i couldn't remember his name but i had dinner with him once and i didn't know hockey fan i didn't know who he was and he was talking about being a musician. And I was like, go ahead, tell me about your dumb band.

Who is it? And then he's like, a little band? No, he was like, it's been one week since you looked at me. Oh, wait, I know Steven Page too. Yeah, he's amazing. Yeah, I love him. He's an FOTM too. Yeah, I would say, I don't know why.

Well, because he's not in the band anymore. No, they are no longer together. That's my brain did that but i i've actually he lives in the states now too like you and he lives in syracuse uh and him both moved to the states yeah yeah and i know craig northey who plays the odds and i mean just gonna i know i know a lot of canadian rock mike belitsky from the sadies i love the sad Sadies. I wasn't familiar with Mike's name exactly. You know, I could probably get him on the show. Get him on the show because I make that person an FOTM because Craig Northey is an FOTM.

Any more name drops before I ask you about, I want you to compare your experience here on Toronto Mic'd with, Okay. Because you have appeared on so many podcasts. Brendan Canning from Broken Socials. Wow. I was texting with him the other day. That's a big deal.

The guys from Exciter the original Voivod now I'm just naming Canadian bands let's go back yeah

stick to Toronto I know but I love Voivod I try to bring them up what about Anvil are you familiar with Anvil I am familiar

with Anvil I like I enjoyed that documentary quite a bit very good documentary yeah yeah absolutely and they seem like nice guys yeah which is what i think is job one in life what about blue rodeo any uh any love for blue rodeo more of a a bit of a bit more of a country vibe maybe but i gotta go cowboy junkies on this one yeah okay good okay, good Toronto band. I like Blue Rodeo. Tragically Hip. Kingston, but amazing.

I know, now I'm just naming Canadians. The Wheels Are Off. Tea Party? Oh yeah, they kind of sounded like... My first band... I had a band I formed as a teenager, which is why we had a bad band name called Sons of Elvis. But we got like a record deal and we're on the radio.

We were on MTV and all that. Wow. And we played, I don't know if they do this anymore. They must. But in the 90s, there would always be these radio festivals where you'd be on, which is where I met. Like Edge Fest. Yeah, yeah.

All this. That's where I met Brendan. Brendan Canning was in a band called head with two h's okay yeah uh noah mince and brendan canning were from head and noah mince is an fotm and this brings us back to a recent episode with hayden desser hayden who was high school buds with noah mince and uh his big music new music search single take was actually performed by noah mince because uh hayden didn't think he had a good voice it turns out he actually has a great voice but head is brought up early and

often on toronto mic because they had two h's in head yeah absolutely happy is a big single by head yeah yeah and oh but my point the tea party we played a festival with them once the drummer much like uh tyler stewart the drummer jeff burrows, is an FOTM. Okay, so, because here, I know I'm running out of time here. Who's the other band? Big... Big Wreck? Big Wreck. That's the other. They sound like Led Zeppelin. Yeah, well, yes. You're right, they do. And another great band.

Yeah, I love this game. We could just shout out Canadian bands. Just random. But I'm losing, you know. What about The Band? The Band. I mean, if you're going to go, Canadian band. Although the singer was? The band. I mean, if you're going to go Canadian band. Although the singer was American. Yeah. Levon Helm.

Yeah. Flawed lineup. Not Canadian enough for my taste. Four out of five ain't bad. Okay. Yeah. Shout out to Meatloaf. Listen, this is important.

Oh, the late great. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Okay. You have been on WTF with Marc Maron, the Adam Carolla show, the Nerdist. These are huge, massive American podcasts. How did those experiences rank with your experience here in Toronto Mike's basement for Toronto Mike?

I want to say I had an amazing time on those shows, but compared to this show, those shows were compared to this show those shows were shit fucking nightmares no i had i well the the what are the what and and i hope this is not the case with this show what what do those three shows have in common i don't think any of them would book me again because they no no hopefully they went in early you got i got in early i mean the nerdist was already pretty mad no adam they were all pretty massive when i was on those guys but no i say that just you know this is my insecurity uh coming out but like once you have barack obama

on your podcast i feel like my email may go unreturned. Well, listen, let's put it this way. I've had Chuck D on the podcast, and I still wanted to talk to Dave Hill. That's amazing. I mean, really what you're getting is my low self-esteem coming out in the last few minutes of the show, and I realize you don't edit stuff out, so I'm not going to ask you to do that.

But I would like to talk about the Middle East. You can ask. I just want to do it. No, just kidding. I do have a quick hawk on our way out because of course uh you're here because the awesome games i always have to read this i know the awesome game part but i haven't memorized the rest of it the awesome game one man's incredible globe crushing hockey odyssey it's fantastic read i love hockey and i loved reading your take on hockey you're a funny guy thank you fucking i loved your song about the book.

That's how much I love it all. That's half the battle. You gotta have the right song for the book. Not enough authors do that. But you know, you talked about growing up in Cleveland. I don't know if we did enough Cleveland talk. You'll have to come back. But Cleveland, I hear Cleveland rocks.

But Cleveland, you talked about the Barons leaving in 78 and they left for Minnesota, became the North Stars, right? Yep. So then they left Minnesota for Dallas. So I have two questions. One is, did you have any schodenfreude when Minnesota lost their teams the way you lost your team? And you're like, yeah, you know how I feel now.

You took my team. Now how do you feel, Minnesota? Any schodenfreude there? I didn't because I was just mad even though I want hockey to spread everywhere there's still a part of me that gets irritated when

hockey is played in places that don't have naturally occurring snow and ice and I know that's a flaw because I'm not serving the game feeling that way but I do have this sort of knee-jerk reaction to it. And also the Dallas jerseys, not nearly as cool as the North Star jerseys. Well, that's actually where I'm going with this.

So you've introduced a new topic, though, which is the greatest Maple Leaf, the current greatest Toronto Maple Leaf, is a guy from Phoenix, Arizona. So there's a guy who kind of, you know, grew up in a place that doesn't, you can't play pond hockey in Phoenix. No, there's many great players

who have come from non-pond hockey. It's just my romanticizing. You know, if I may bring it back to the greatest country on earth, Canada, as I was taught by my grandfather. I grew up loving hockey as a kid. And so for me, it's Flin Flon, Manitoba, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Those are the magical places. Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Peterborough. These are my hockey towns. So when someone's from Houston, it's a speed bump in my brain. I hear that. I hear that. Does any part of you root for the Dallas Stars, knowing that the DNA from your beloved Cleveland Barons are still in there? That is the same franchise.

Yeah, for sure. And also, they're my friend Rhett Miller from old 97s, if I may name drop, that's his team and I love Rhett. So I want him to be happy and he's happier when, you know, a big thing with sports is like you want your friends teams to win because then they're in a better mood and you want your friends to be happy. So in that way, I do root for Dallas Stars. Dave, this was awesome, man. I really enjoyed this chat and I'm glad you paid a visit. Thanks for doing this, man. Thanks for having me. And I can really keep this beer? Yeah, you think I'm going to take it away from you now?

Oh my gosh, this is so cool. It's yours, man. It's yours. Oh man. And that brings us to the end of our 1,344th show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky, because I keep waiting for Elon to, like, charge you money, and then I'm going to say peace out.

Are you on Threads? You know what? I didn't like it, so I'm on it. Threads, you've got to thread it up. It's not as gratifying because you're just like, I just said something incredible, and I got seven likes. Well, that's what it's like on Blue Sky. There's not as gratifying because you're just like, I just said something incredible and I got seven likes. Well, that's what it's like on Blue Sky. There's no one there. I'm on

Blue Sky, but yeah, I haven't used it. I maybe did once or twice. But you are the, sorry, you are Mr. MR, Mr. Dave Hill on Twitter. Is that, so we can find you on Twitter, Instagram, which is probably where I spend

most of my social media type behavior. TikTok, Threads, and I think Blue Sky too. It's that, though I'd have to double check. But I'll, you know. You'll find them. I'm changing them all

to Dave Hill Ridley Funeral Home home that's my give me my news and much love to those who helped make this all possible not only ridley funeral home but great lakes brewery palma pasta raymond james canada maneras recycle my electronics and pumpkins after Paris, Recycle My Electronics, and Pumpkins After Dark. Joining me, I got to check the calendar really quick here, Dave. Hold on. Joining me Thursday is producer, I mean, when you look at the Canadian albums this gentleman has produced, you won't believe it. Michael Voya Veda. I have to say the name like phonetically here because you don't pronounce the W's, they're V's and the J is silent,

but voya, voda, see you all then.