Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Diego Fuentes, MuchMusic’s First VJ Search Winner: Toronto Mike'd #917

Episode Date: September 22, 2021

Mike chats with MuchMusic’s first ever VJ Search winner, Diego Fuentes, about hosting ClipTrip on MuchMoreMusic, his acting career, Mexico 2000 and his curling prowess.

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And Mike Majeski of remax specialists majeski group who are ripping up the gta real estate scene learn more at realestatelove.ca i'm mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is much music's first ever VJ search winner, Diego Fuentes. Welcome, Diego. Thank you, 917. So it took a while for you to find me, I'm guessing, yeah. Well, let me tell the origin story. How did I get introduced to you, Diego?

His name was Brother Bill. Nowadays, I think we're calling him Neil Morrison for some reason, but tell me like how, what's your, uh, like how far back do you go with the great brother bill? So when I won the, uh, BJsters contest, I just met brother bill at a bar and, uh, sounds about right. Yeah. We're, we're at, um, I can't remember the name of the place. It's behind the old Future Bakery. And we just started talking, and he's like, hey, what's going on?

And I'm, you know, nice to meet you, blah, blah, blah. And then I went to the Caspi Awards. Yes, a Canadian artist selected by you. Yeah. And I was there. I talked to him, and he said, hey, I'm going to introduce you guys to the next MuchMusicVJ, Diego Fuentes, and that was it. So since then, he'd call me, leave me a message.

He'd be like, hey, man. Like the first time he called me at work, he's like, hey, it's Brother Bill. Listen, that vest you're wearing today was awesome. Where did you buy that? And I was like, so who's the weirdest thing? So back then I was 25. I didn't know, you know, I, I, I've been an, I, you know,

I've been an actress since I was 19. But to, to be launched into stardom like that and. National presence. Yeah. But, but again, I mean, I listened to Brother Bill's for, so for a guy like that to say like, Hey, you're Diego Fuentes. I'm like, yeah, but you're Brother Bill. So that kind of, that kind of thing was always,

it was always weird to me. Being here is still weird to me because being recognized, I just tell people all the time, as an actor or TV host, it's just a job. It's just a job. Well, it's not just a job.

A job would be like the guy, the bricklayer who's working on the new home or whatever, but you've chosen a profession where you're in people's like living rooms and bedrooms and such like that's not just a job is it yeah i feel like you've been conscious decision to be to be recognized like if all goes well for you you're going to be recognized well i mean it's the thing is that you know that's why i say it's part of the job like you know you know, it's so funny because just last night, um, I had, uh, some friends over from the much music days, my producer, Morgan and Nigel, and, uh, one of the camera people,

Alison and my friend Siobhan. And we were all just talking about what, you know, being on TV was like, and what's about. And one thing they said is like, the one thing that they found funny about me, especially doing interviews is like, I never wanted to be on camera like i would i would say i would stand behind next to the camera person because it's you know i'm not going to speak for everyone but you know it's not about you it's about the music it's about the bands and i always had that i always had that you know we discussed the fact that some vgs in the past always wanted the cutaway of them like paying attention and looking.

It's like, no. No, you want it to be all about the artist. I wanted to be about the artist. I wanted to like, you know, I did a show called Clip Trip for, I mean, 15, almost 15 years. And it was about bringing music to the people and getting letters from people from the States and Canada

and just being stopped and saying, hey, by the way, thanks to you, you know, I know Angelica Joe and, you know, or Ricky Martin, we were in the first interview with Ricky Martin, but it's like, no, it's not thanks to me. I was just the guy that talked about the video. So. Look, I find it very humble listening to you talk there, but at the same time, I know for a fact that you are, you're an actor, so you're still going on auditions and stuff.

So you're actually actively trying to be seen on camera like this is sort of a contradiction right well i'm actually actively trying to fill my bank account you know you know because you know an actor is it's faster uh it's fast feast or famine sorry feast or famine yeah exactly what's right now feast or famine, sorry. Feast or famine. Yeah, exactly. What's right now? Feast or famine? Thankfully, a bit of feasting. Oh. Yeah. The pandemic hit. Many of us didn't work.

I was on CERB, but I've had three good jobs in the last few months. One of which, I don't know if I can really talk about it, except for the fact that- No one's listening. Yeah. But it's like a 10-part miniseries for Disney Channel. It's based on a book about a hospital in New Orleans and phenomenal cast. And the director is the guy who wrote 12 Years a Slave. So when you say Disney Channel, you mean Disney Plus, right? Only because my daughter was raised on Disney Channel.

You know, I'm good for you, but not great stuff. I'm just warning you. But Disney Channel, I mean, Disney Plus, you mean Disney Plus, right? Okay, only because my daughter was raised on Disney Channel. You know, I'm good for you, but not great stuff. I'm just warning you. But Disney Channel, I mean, Disney Plus, sorry. Good for you. Okay. Oh, man, we're going to get into the acting stuff. We're going to get back to the bunch music stuff. I'm just going to shine a light,

just going to say hello to Brother Bill, who I know is listening. And I feel like Brother Bill, one of the great unsung heroes. Now, I am doing my best to make him sung. I'm trying to sing And I feel like Brother Bill, one of the great unsung heroes. Now I am doing my best to make him like sung. I'm trying to sing the praises of Brother Bill. But I'm literally in discussions with Brother Bill right now

about doing something on Toronto Mic'd. He would guest for like, he'd guest host on Pandemic Friday episodes of Toronto Mic'd. And I just got all the time in the world for this guy. I think he loves his music. He knows his music and he's great on the air I just think he's underappreciated but also he's also someone

that again like you know he is well known loved but again just does it for the love of it and just loves the music and he's very humble he's you know he could be you know he's just a humble guy I agree with you i agree with you

i was gonna say humble's the guy who's on in the mornings yeah yeah yeah humble harvard you know i produced their show now uh humble and fred um they were one of the they were again you know going back you know you're bringing me back so many years but they were one of the first people i did uh i did i went on humble and fred when i became the vj much music and they were one of the first national one of the first live interviews I ever did. And it was neat meeting those guys. And every once in a while, I'd hear them. They were like, oh, yeah, you know, our friend Diego.

So, you know, stuff like that. Shout outs are always nice. Well, do you want to, honestly, I booked the show. Like, I can put you back. I can put you back on Humble and Fred to try to reminisce about these days. We can do that. Sure, of course. put you back on humble and fred to try to reminisce about these days we could do that sure of course and uh um uh fred's daughter was a producer of much music uh yeah yeah yeah now i

think she's at home with her two kids now but uh you're absolutely right melanie melanie yeah melanie patterson yeah so it's it's it's a small i mean like you know we're sitting here um about to crack open okay you do it now i know go ahead yeah uh and if you need more i can run up to the fridge i brought out for you so what do you got there i have the beautiful tango here uh i need my glasses it's okay yeah once the great diego fuentes is getting past 40 years old oh tart wheat ale cool dude i cleared 40 a long time ago no i've already cleared 50. You look great. You look like a guy who's gay.

I'm not quite there. Just, you know, talking to you, cracking open this beautiful Great Lakes beer, Great Lakes brewery. Oh, you got to do it in front of the mic. Oh, sorry. Too late. You can't undo that. But Diego has cracked open.

Can I have one? Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm only taking one of yours because it's cold, but I'll replace it with a... No, no, that's fine. That's fine. That's fine.

But, you know, you're bringing me back. Small world here because Peter Bullitt, the owner of this wonderful, wonderful brewery. I went to high school with him. Cheers. Okay. Diego, this is blowing my mind right now because literally, I would say, six weeks ago, I was on the patio of great lakes brewery to have a conversation with peter bullet and mike lackey about their 30 years of friendship

which started at swansea public school yeah i mean they i came i i got what was your what was your grade school so i got to humberside in in uh. Okay. So it was 85. Okay. So you went to high school at Humberside Collegiate. Yeah. And do you remember Jeff Merrick there? Very well. Wow. Very well. Jeff Merrick, Bob Makowitz.

Yeah. Yeah. Bob Makowitz Jr. And you already mentioned Peter Bullitt and Mike Lackey. Mike Lackey's still working with Peter Bullitt at Great Lakes. Yeah. And there's actually a guy on the street named Andrew. His last name's like a Polish last name.

He tries to be Blish. I can't ever say it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Andrew Blishkosh? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like a few doors down. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. It's, yeah. And you know what's so funny? We recently had our 125th anniversary a couple years ago. Yes. And, you know, I was, you know, they did a little yearbook or. Yes. And, you know, I was, you know, they did a little yearbook

or a little book of, you know, I guess notables as they called it. And one of the people was Henry Cherney. And I did not know Henry Cherney

went to Humberside. And I did a movie with Henry Cherney years ago. Wow. And he was the nicest guy, but I wish I would have known because I would have said,

hey, Cherney, Chokirikoy, Chokirikoy. Did you, I was going to ask if you're in that book like of like notable graduates at Humberside Collegiate. You're in there. Okay, good, good, good. It's probably a lengthy list.

I think a lot of great, interesting Toronto people went to Humberside. And including two of my children have gone there. In fact, you mentioned that anniversary they had, like 125 years. I went to something to commemorate that uh because at the time i had two kids at humberside collegiate uh so small world man so shout out to great lakes brewery who sent over the fresh craft beer for you and it's amazing i'll let uh peter know that i had the great diego fuentes over long no 9 17 but this happened very quickly once uh brother bill reached out and do you know why Brother Bill reached out to tell me he knew Diego Fuentes?

I have no clue. Because I had Rick the Temp on the show. And Rick gets credit for being like the first VJ search winner or something. And we're going to clarify everything here today. Like what did he, did he win the same thing as you but later? No, so he had won the Tem temp contest they had done the year before. For that movie. There's a movie that was coming out called The Temp.

No, no, no, no. He was just, they, I mean, what do I know? Because, so I was in Japan for six months when, prior to coming back. And that's when I found out about VJ Search. Okay. And so I came back from Japan and I had this great like high eight camera at the time that was like just top notch. You couldn't get anywhere else.

And then my friend Bob Mackwitz says, hey, there's a VJ search coming on. Can you help me record something? I said, sure, why not? I'll record it for you if you record it for me. Because you know, Macko's been here. He's been on Toronto Mic'd. Oh, yeah.

I mean, he, you know, he's a great friend he's been on toronto mic oh yeah i mean he you know he's a great friend of mine i actually just spoke to him in the last week um very charismatic guy i remember you kind of get lost in his eyes and he's talking but he's also so smart and funny like you know well that's why strombo leans on him because the the man behind the curtain is bob macko yeah absolutely i mean the first so speaking of, you know, going on, on, on radio after becoming a VJ. So anyway, let me just say this. So, so Bob Mackwitz tells me about the VJ search contest. I had no idea about it. And I said, Hey, like, I'm going to submit a video too. So I helped him with his video. He helped me with my video. We put them together. my video we put them together so when the vj search happened it was seven participants all auditioning live for an hour and so we were literally just thrown in front of the my of the camera and i've never been as an actor you're told not to look in the camera right but seven of us uh were just thrown in there okay one of which of which was Rick, the temp. And then,

so four, one day, three, the next. And then I found out afterwards, I don't know how, but Bob Mack wits had made the top 10, but they only selected seven.

And so I was, I felt so bad because his tape was hysterical. So anyway, we did the VJ search. We were given an hour live, you know, that we were given, you know, a set list and we had to throw to music and what have you. And, um, at the end of it, I just, Denise Donlan, who was president at the time, just called me over and said, Hey, can I talk to you for a bit? And so we had a little bit of an interview and, uh, and then I

get, then I'm in, I was in Montreal attending an acting class with a guy named Warren Robertson and then I get a call we want you to be the VJ and I was like like just I mean life wow wow and this is 1995 yeah this is 95 yeah so what did Denise say to you can I talk to you for a second like what did she say I don't know because uh she just said she just asked me like did she give you a tip that you were a front runner or no she didn't she i if i recall she said hey i want you to interview me as if like you've never met me before and i did and we were sitting on queen street and on like in front of much music in front of city tv and then um someone came by and talked to her and i just remember looking as if the camera says and

and we're back and And she laughed at that. I think she just was comfort. Speaking of bright lights, Denise is a smart woman. Yeah. She would recognize talent, I think, very quickly. Well, I mean, again. She recognized it in Marie McLaughlin.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, it's, you know, my, I was never going to do this as a living it just sort of happened and you know the last 25 30 years have been a whirlwind right and the simple fact that i'm here speaking to you is like to me it's just so surreal it's like i'm just a dude that was once on tv and sort of once maybe kind of known yeah but you were on the inside so we can get all the you can spill all the tea we can find out what was going on in there.

So, okay, so when, what happened when Bob Macko Jr., when you tell him that you won the first ever VJ search for Much Music in 1995, what's his reaction? Is he happy for you? He's super happy, super happy. And it's super happy for me, you know you know like as friends are but around the time that i won the bj search he uh so bob mackwitz jeff merrick and george stromolopoulos they had a they had a radio show on the game the game on the fan 590 and it was so funny because they invited

me on as a guest right but because of the celebrity they got a 50 bonus at the time i thought that was hysterical but i went and you know that that show was on at fridays on as a guest right but because of the celebrity they got a 50 bonus at the time because you're a big name i thought that was hysterical but i went and you know that that show was on at fridays between like one and four in the morning that show's legendary it's it was hysterical and i was dating a girl jane at the time who said i hate you because you've turned me on to this game now i can't fall asleep until because they were so funny they were so creative and funny a very smart decision by the program director at the Fan 590.

Do you know who that program director was? I do not. Bob McElwitt Sr. Oh, okay. That's right. Honestly, that show spawned some big-time Canadian talent.

Like, when you think about the people who kind of cut their teeth on that show. I mean, look at Strombo today. Yeah. McEl, again, had the show on TSN with Matt cause but now he's doing all that work of with strombo and um heck jeff merrick is only what like a national like uh sportsnet uh hockey analyst or whatever so jeff always knew hockey

that's one thing because like jesslyn yeah yeah but jeff jeff was great uh you know all those guys and i was so lucky to go to uh to go to school with them and like i said i just talked to bob this past week um we're all still very good friends um and it was it was a great great time with them great school and and like i said meaning strong but like back then you could see that he was into it and then you know you know, then he came, then he came to new music. And so we were, we were coworkers. So. Yeah, of course he was.

So, so, okay. Much music. How many, how many years were you at the two 99 queen street there? Oh God. I started in 95 and I can't remember the year they shut down much more music. I got a call from my producer saying, hey man, no, I got a text saying, hey man, come in, we've all been fired.

I was like, what? You're kidding. And that was probably 10 years ago. So I was there for at least 15 years. Oh, wow. Okay, that's a good run. And much more music, of course, was the like the VH1 style show for like the older people.

Right, yeah yeah where you could kind of get like some vintage stuff okay i used to watch so much more music myself so i have a question though you mentioned rick the temp so if rick the temp was trying out for this vj search in 95 he did not get it and then he came back for another contest yeah he didn't win it officially and then i came on and i worked for three or four months. And then, um, it was either, I mean, I, I don't know why, I don't know, but they just said basically, Hey, uh, we want you to just host a show called Clip Trip. It's a world music show. And can we just move you to there? And I said, sure, why not? And for me, it was fine because, you know, it allowed me to still do the

acting stuff. I wasn't committed to working four or five days a week on live television and back then and still, you know, obviously the acting thing was always more important to me. I got a little bit of a jam here while we dive deeper into Clip Trip and your time at Much Music There. Here it is. Let's see if anybody recognizes this song. It's a trippier number than I remember. Oh, yeah. Maybe when you hear it floating like this, but okay. So what song is this? That was just the intro to the show.

Who composed that? Do we have any idea? Yeah. His name's Michael. It'll come to you later. Okay. Yeah, it'll come to me later. Much always had kind of cool theme songs when they didn't just rip them off.

Like, just take a song. Like, I'm still standing or something. Yeah. That was mainly, I guess, City TV. Yeah, the yeah the city tv like for example uh fashion television yeah and emotion no but that that was a that that the clip trip was an original composition by uh oh god miguel i used to call him miguel and his name is michael it just it um there's a lot of michaels yeah yeah so they you when you win this contest isn't if the contest is to be a vj like how do you end up hosting clip trip like what happens they because

that's not necessarily like a vj was somebody who would like introduce the music how much music yeah yeah i mean again i don't know what i mean they they gave me a three-month trial they they extended it to four months and I don't know, either they didn't like what I was doing or who knows. I mean, I, I don't know. I mean,

they didn't fire you. They just, they just moved you to the sister stage. Yeah, exactly. They moved me to the, and I was fine with that. Like I said,

because I was able to still, you know, pursue my acting. And, uh, I remember the first time I actually said to Denise Donnelly, I said, Oh,

I got a film. I'm shooting it in, in, in Regina. And she said, are you? I'm like, yes, like I'm, this is what I do. So, but again, I, you know, I, I was, I'm, I'm one of the few people that cause I've, I've talked to actors and I've talked to hosts and there's a lot of hosts that cannot act. And there's a lot of actors who would not host. And so I'm very proud of the fact that I could do, I could do both and I have done both. And so, yeah. You know, it's two,

they're two different things. So when you're hosting a clip trip, like, like, is that just like you go in one day a week or something to record everything? Oh yeah. It was, it was the best gig in the world. Like I would walk, I seriously, I'd work an hour, an hour a week. We'd come in, we'd do five throws. We'd usually shoot in Kensington market in Toronto. Um, because it, you know, it was a very vibrant multicultural area of, of, of, of Toronto.

Um, but the best part was just uh you know i was interviewing artists from around the world that you know not not everyone knew but they were just so fat like uh you know like i said we we didn't introduce ricky martin to the world but he was one of the he was we were one of the first people to speak to him in canada so he was in menudo yep and then he had the of course live in la vida loca i guess is the big breakout hit but uh so you had him on early in the living la vida loca we had him yeah just before that album broke wow yeah yeah yeah and uh he's a good actor too by the way yes yes he is like whatever the versace movie i don't know there's a versace mini series about johnny versace and uh

but he was also on uh he was also on les mis in on broadway okay see i didn't yeah okay good yeah he's so he's got the chops too okay yeah so i guess now i'm looking for as many details as you can share about your time at much music like i'm curious in 1995 when you get there do you remember off the top of your head like who were the vjs at that time so i had um steve anthony had just left and i think that's who they were sort of trying to uh replace but by the time i got there he was already gone uh sikkin lee was there sure uh craig halkett yes i was there um ed the sock was there right uh master t beautiful people yes and i i i'm trying to think but i'm

trying to what i can't remember if simon evans had already stopped being a bj there but because you know simon was a simon was a producer and he was very reluctant to bj because he just knew music but he just didn't want to be on air interesting Interesting. See, that's the detail I love hearing. Was Bill Lichka, was he there? Bill Lichka was there, yeah. And Larissa Galka was a videographer. I can still see like a reflection in a window of her holding a camera. Jay Maris was also, he was a videographer as well.

Lance Chilton, he was a videographer as well. Lance Chilton, he was a host. He was the host of Facts with Monica Diol, I believe. I mean, we're going back many years. These are big names.

I mean, there's, here, let me show you. Since you're here in the Toronto Mike studio here. I can't open it because it's all skunky.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just saw that the other day. Yeah, so Great Lakes put out a beer called the Toronto Mike studio here. I can't open it because it's all skunky and old now. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just saw that the other day. Yeah, so Great Lakes put out a beer called the Electric Circus Beer. Yeah. That's the cowboy dancer from the OG. You might know this fact, but I need to share it.

I'm obligated to tell you that's Dalton Pompey's father. So Dalton Pompey played for the Toronto Blue Jays. Oh, okay. So the cowboy, k pompey there now he uh electric circus of course that was uh george lagagiannis yeah who's still on cp24 yeah and monica deal of course uh at least that she was the original host uh are you able to speak to uh like the quality of these people you worked with like were you a you a Monica Duell fan? Was she nice to you? Yeah, I mean, you know, anybody we,

I think there was a real respect amongst on-air people. We sort of just, you know, were very kind to each other. Monica, we didn't really talk. Lager Janus, he was cool. They did, we also did a, there was one episode that was done, the electric cocktail show where James B. We did a, like, it was instead of electronic music, it was all lounge music. And so I showed up on that wearing this like really cool, like.

Here's my James B. Oh, there we go. Yeah, like. There's my James. Oh, there we go. Yeah. We often debate on this program, whether James B is famous or not. I argue he is famous. He is. I think so. Yeah.

He's famous. I remember that. That was, that was a, there's a big lounge. Yeah. Yeah. It was electric lounge circus,

something like that. Your cocktail. And I think swingers was a big part of this revival maybe. Yeah. Like, but, but the Zeit guys suddenly swing and lounge stuff. I showed up with this big bun in my hair because I still had the long hair at the time.

And this loud, this really nice silver coat. And I called myself Pimento Fuentes. And so I did the whole accent thing and we just spoke. It was just, again, live improv. I think he's a very fascinating guy, but he's also just a very likable character in this city, James B. Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's a fucking man. So all you haters out there who say he's not famous can bite me. I think he's a big fucking deal. Yeah. Okay, so everybody was nice. So, and let me see.

So when does, no, Strongbow doesn't get there for several years. Like, when does Strongbow get to much? Strongbow got there probably, let's see, I started in 95. Is he there at the end of the decade? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, because I just know he goes to 102.1. So, like, he does a fan 590 to 102.1 thing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Because I just know he goes to 102.1. So, like, he does a Fan 590 to 102.1 thing. Yeah.

And then he's doing, like, the punk show, and then he does some live in Toronto and stuff. I think that's Brother Bill's was on live in Toronto as well. Yeah. At 102.1. And then at some point, television is calling George's name. Yeah. So, George replaced Byron Wong,

who was the host of The New Music for a while. Right. You know? And yeah, The New Music, that was a great show. That was some great television. Well, that was like the, wasn't that the precursor to Much Music, The New Music, or am I confusing it?

It could be. Toronto Rocks was probably the precursor to Much Music. That was the very first thing on City TV. Sure, with J.D. Roberts. With J.D. Roberts. John Major. Yeah, John Major. And Brad Giffen.

Brad Giffen, I think. No, I don't remember. But it's Christopher Ward. I feel like he might have subbed one or two times, but I feel like Christopher Ward was on City Limits. And then I think City Limits might have been the precursor to Much Music. And Christopher Ward is the first VJ, him and J.D. Roberts.

But I'm not sure he did a lot of Toronto Rock stuff, actually. But it's funny that J.D. Roberts was on that show and now he's like this Fox news. Yeah, John Roberts. Yeah, John Roberts. So who do you think, I'm just curious,

post Much Music, who do you think had the most successful career? Like do you give that title to Strombo? Yeah, for sure. I would say Angela Dorm also had a, you know, she was on Seinfeld. She went on to acting. Amanda Walsh did some work in the States. But I think Strombo's for sure, like, you know, he had a show on CNN for a while I think Strom was for sure, like, you know,

he had a show on CNN for a while. I mean, come on, like, you know. And, you know, when George took over Hockenheim Canada, it was such bad timing for him because, like, you know, people forgot, like, he started in sports. Like, that was his thing. He knew music and knows music and loves it. But I think he was given a raw deal with the Hockenheim Canada Like that was his thing. He knew, he knew music and knows music and loves it. But that the,

he, I think he, I think he was given a raw deal with the Hockenheim Canada when he became the host. For sure. He got a raw deal for sure. For sure. And people were still kind of like missing the old guard of Ron McLean

hosting the show. And, but, but Ron wasn't gone. He was just somewhere else. So like, he was still close enough that people are like, Hey,

like, why is this change even happening? I think there was a lot of that. Yeah. Hate of change for change sake. And then, and also George is a Habs fan for some reason. Did you have any idea where that comes from?

I mean, he's from Rexdale. No, I have no idea, but we always, we always feed it about that. So yeah, that's bullshit there.

Okay. So you're on much more music hosting a clip trip. Meanwhile, you are acting. Do you want to shout out some of your most notable roles and stuff? I did take a note on a few, but I figure, hey, I got the man with me here. Yeah. Well, I think the most fun was The Ladies' Man with Tim Meadows.

Yes. And Will Ferrell. Will Ferrell was just a genius hysterical. Shout out to Canadian Sean Majumder, who was also in that. And David Huban, another Canadian actor who was very famous for being in some of the Police Academy movies. You know, they filmed the original Police Academy. It's like a stone's throw from where you are right now. I know.

I know exactly. I do. I do. I do. Yeah. You didn't get a cameo in that one though no no no no you know there's a lot of stuff there's a lot of stuff that i didn't do like like i've never done degrassi ever and so no none of the flavors of degrassi uh no no no

is that you know okay because your excuse for not i don't know if this excuse or not but are you do you have to do union shows although now that's a union show because i was asking my buddy stew stone who was a child actor and appeared in all this stuff and like why were you never on degrassi and he said he wasn't allowed to do it because it wasn't a union show or something oh i'm sure it's union now i'm sure now now it is what bell media is now yeah the new generations are union shops but the original degrassi with uh caitlin and uh and snake and joey jeremiah listen when it comes to casting i you know i don't know anything because Cassie with Caitlin and Snake and Joey Jeremiah. Listen, when it comes to casting, I don't know anything because I've been called in to play,

I mean, I've been called in to read for Officer O'Malley and I get the part and then they just say, no, it's Officer Gonzalez, which is great, which is great as an actor because you got the part, you get to do it. But at the same time, there was a show in the day uh that you might remember called top cops i feel like it's ringing a bell but i'm not sure it was a recreation show about cops and like i think i was the only latino actor in toronto that never got oh a part in that i had friends i had

latino friends black friends and asian friends who had done five, six episodes. So I was like, yeah, you never know. Hey, what is your background? I was born in Chile. Okay, okay. Okay, now do you find when you're cast, can you play other ethnicities? Like my wife is Filipino, but I feel like she could play a variety.

She could play a Latino woman. Maybe she could play an indigenous woman. There's a different... I once played black okay i played mariano duncan in the joe torre story and mariano duncan is a dark he's he's you know he's uh shall we say a black uh he's black i think he just has to say he's black yeah so anyway i i played him in a movie um but you know it's i love the fact you know, now representation is so important that when I, when I got into acting, there were a lot of guys that were Latino that were playing native parts.

And then they, the community spoke up and said, well, why are you, you know, it's like, let's let native actors play native parts. Right. And so could I, I mean, I've played Mexican, I've played Colombian, you know, like. So any variety of like Spanish. Yeah, exactly. Anything south of Mexico. Right.

I can, I've played. Can you play Brazilian? Because that's Portuguese. I have, actually my very first acting job was on a show called E&G back in the day. I remember E&G. And I played a Brazilian patient who was, uh was yeah that was my so i had to speak portuguese so i i've done that even so yeah wow wow okay so eng now you're dropping these big

canadian staples yeah you ever name any more of these big canadian franchises that you did any guest appearances on uh franchises not i'm trying to think like were you ever uh did you ever make an appearance on street legal no but i did i did i've i've done both i've done two incarcerations of the hardy boys wow the original one back in the day and then there's one that just that just uh aired now on on ytv there's a guy he was we're actually too young to remember him there but uh he used to be the host on hockey night Night in Canada. Brian McFarlane, his name is. And I had him on the show like recently, like last year.

He was 89 years old, by the way, but it was amazing. And his dad wrote like all the Hardy Boys books. Oh, really? Yeah. So there's a Canadian connection to these Hardy Boys. Yeah. I always thought it was based in Canada, to be honest. Oh, okay.

I always thought it was American. And then I found out this Canadian guy was writing them all. And I was like, oh my goodness. I just thought Hardy Boys was American. Yeah. No. What else? I mean, like, I've done an episode of Flashpoint.

I've done an episode. There you go. Yeah. And I was very lucky recently to be in a show called Remedy, which aired five years ago. It was a medical drama on Global TV with Enrico Colantoni. You were Bruno Diaz. Bruno Diaz, yes.

It was a Colombian doctor who couldn't practice in Canada, but he was a doctor. And I played a porter, which is great because that's pretty much my dad. My dad was a doctor. He came to Canada. And when he and a lot of his colleagues got here, they had to do everything over again so when i auditioned for the part of bruno i uh there was something in his character because he was very kind to he was very kind to a little a patient that was the scene we were doing and when they they said do you have any questions i

said uh is this guy a doctor and they go yeah how do you know i said well just like you know just the demeanor and and i told them that this is my dad this is my dad and so many of our friends who came to canada with you know had degrees and i mean again i'm not the greatest actor in the world but i can act but i think the fact that i was able to tell him the story that says you know my dad did this and you know we had a we had a colleague who actually, I mean, he had a colleague who worked at a hospital. I mean, he might've worked at Toronto general and he got a job as a janitor. And one day he's pushing the mop and bucket down the hallway and he sees an

x-ray and he goes to look at it. And, and, you know, this is 1974, 1975. And, and this doctor jokingly says, so what do you think about this? And he said, well, I think this is guy, pulmonary, blah, blah, blah, all these things. And the doctor's like, what? He goes, how do you know this? You're a janitor. He goes, well, I'm a doctor back in Chile.

And anyway, so when I was told that story that I know this character, I think that's what helped me land the job more than just my acting inability. And I mean, people, people really enjoyed remedy, but of course it didn't last too long. Is that because like when these shows pop up on global,

is it like to sell to an American network? Is that the, that the goal? Like, I'm always wondering like what, what is success to a Canadian show? I know again, as an actor,

I have no idea. Like I, I literally like, like you know it's one of those things that i don't try to because the thing about acting is like you can really really lose yourself and get like like you know messed up like you know my my mom's would ask me you know how do you did you get the part i'm like i don't know right and then they say when you know you know when you see yourself on screen right Right. Because sometimes I've done things where you just end up on the cutting room floor. Like you're not even.

Right. You can't even tell. Oh, yeah. I'm in this episode. Yeah. Then it's like. Whatever. And you're just gone.

Exactly. So I've always just tried. Again, as I said, it's a job. And I see it that way because I don't want like, I don't want to worry about it. Uh, I don't, I don't care about the politics behind it. I mean,

you know, I think what happened at the time global was like, uh, I think that's when big brother Canada was coming on. So it became easier for them to, well, it's probably a lot cheaper, a lot cheaper.

So again, but I don't know. And, and it's funny because, uh, I have a cousin in Mexico who has sent me clips of my character on Mexican television playing Bruno in Spanish.

So I mean, like, you know, global distribution is a huge thing, but who knows where it goes. But, you know, like, you know, I know I've had many friends say that they've been traveling around the world and they've seen me on TV. And, you know, so that's great.

And Canadian television is really good. it's really really good it's it's it's been so good in the last like five ten years that I just want such success for uh so many Canadian actors and so many producers that you know I can only be thankful that I'm a part of it let me ask you about uh Hollywoodland oh Hollywoodland was great Hollywoodland. Oh, Hollywoodland was great. Hollywoodland was, again, I played a real life character. So Hollywoodland's about George Reeves, the first Superman on TV. And he was played by Ben Affleck and also the lovely Diane Lane. She was just so wonderful. And so, just so wonderful um and uh so yeah i mean i got to work with with uh with with ben affleck it was it was the coolest thing it's and it's so funny because like after i auditioned for hollywood land a couple days later i i went to bed and i sort of woke up with the tv on and what movie comes

on is jersey girl and it's like with ben affleck and i'm like this could be a sign and then sure enough they said you got it and uh it's you know i'veleck. And I'm like, this could be a sign. And then sure enough, they said, you got it. And, you know, I've worked with Jamie Foxx. I've worked with, you know, my reel's great. But again, like. But you said you're in a feast period here. So just keep rocking, right? Oh, yeah. But again, you know, I've known actors that have won former Junos and Genies, now the CSAs, who don't work for a year.

Like it's... So, okay. So, Corner Gas. Yes. Right. Ran a long time. That's as successful as like a sitcom gets in Canada. Absolutely.

And it was brilliant. The woman who plays the police officer and her name is... It'll come to me in a minute. Tara Nairn. Yes. Tara Spencer Nairn. There you go. Thank you for doing that. Okay. the woman who plays the police officer and her name is freaking, it'll come to me in a minute, but the, Tara Nairn. Yeah. Tara Spencer Nairn. There you go.

Thank you for doing that. Okay. So Tara, I booked her on Humble and Fred because they were promoting the animated series. She does the animated series of Corner Gas. And I heard in this interview, she said that like she had this character on Corner Gas when they stopped

Corner Gas, there's a period of time where there is no Corner Gas. I guess they did a movie or something, but then she said she couldn on Corner Gas. When they stopped Corner Gas, there was a period of time where there is no Corner Gas. I guess they did a movie or something, but then she said she couldn't get work. But this is like a high profile act who did a fine job in a very big, as big a sitcom as we get. I mean, that's as big as it gets in this country,

Schitt's Creek. Oh no, did I say that? Schitt's Creek might be as big as it gets. Yeah, I know. I mean, for sure. They swept the Emmys for good. Right, okay. So I say that? Yeah. Schitt's Creek might be as big as it gets. Yeah, I know. I mean, for sure. They swept the Emmys for sure. Right. Okay.

So back to Corner Gas. I'm thinking Schitt's Creek is big. But Corner Gas, they were the first. So don't you find that's worrisome to me to hear this, that she didn't work for over a year, and then the next gig she got was playing that same character. And only voice. Right.

Right. Because you don't get paid as much doing voice work as you do as an actor. Is that why it's animated now? I can only assume. Again, I don't really try to get into it, but,

you know, voice, voice paychecks are a little bit less than live action paychecks. And she's happy. It sounded like she'd be happy for a paycheck because she just went over a year with no gigs. Like, uh, and I was thinking like, well, like, like how can she not get a gig? Like that just speaks, I think to the, uh, the industry you've chosen. It's like you said,

feast or famine. Yeah. It's, it's, again, it's, there's, I, it's one of the reasons I try not to question it because if I did, I could really just go nuts because you know, you... Right. I literally, this is what I do. When I have an audition, it's different now because most of our auditions now are all on Zoom or on video. Right. But back in the day when I auditioned live in person, I would grab my sides, which is the script, right?

Two, three pages. I'd walk in the room and say, hi, I'm Diego Fuentes. Nice to meet you all. I'd do my part. And then I would leave the room and I would I'd walk in the room. I'd say, hi, I'm Diego Fuentes. Nice to meet you all. I'd do my part. And then I would leave the room and I would throw the sides in the garbage. Because that's it.

On to the next edition. It's done. Yeah. It's done. And I can't think about it. As an actor, if you do, you'll drive yourself nuts. And, you know, I've, like I said,

I've been acting professionally for over 30 years. And I've taken a lot of acting classes and i've taken class with people who i now run into the streets and they're you know they're they're they're doing other things because the one and i i used to i used to teach i my brother was a teacher and so was his wife and i know a lot of teachers and so they would they would bring me into career day to talk about being an entertainer. Right. And I would say to them, listen, here's the thing about acting. I have many friends

who have gone to theater school, national theater school and the one thing they don't teach you is the rejection of it because every audition is a job interview and you can have five in a week and you can have none in a year but if you have five, six, ten auditions

and interviews, like you have to leave it at the door because they the one thing theater school doesn't teach you and again i'm not knocking it because i wish i would have gone to theater school but they don't teach you like the realities of rejection because it's really hard to take and a lot i've known a lot of actors that just couldn't take it and they had to they had to leave and these are really talented people wow wow man uh tough tough tough business but absolutely but uh and i'm gonna get back to i'm gonna give you some gifts here because you you've come out all this way so obviously great lakes brewery uh provided some fresh craft beer for you

but also and it's funny when i first saw your shirt and we'll take a photo together by the way are you parked in the driveway? No. Oh, I heard the footsteps upstairs and I realized, Oh, someone has to get out. Okay.

We're good. Thanks for doing it. Okay. So where was I? Oh yeah. So I saw your shirt in the first line says vegetarian. This was a gift that was given to me by a friend. And the rest,

do you want to read the rest? I can't read it. Okay. Ancient tribal saying for the village idiot who can't hunt fish or light fires but i only read the first line because this is speaking of my wife whose footsteps i just heard apparently this is a great character flaw i have where you send me like a diatribe of text i read the first line and then i tap out and then i go off on that or whatever and it's like oh you didn't read the rest i'm like oh you're right

okay so i read it vegetarian and i thought to myself oh mike you you screwed up because i have a frozen meat lasagna for you in the freezer you're not going home without it courtesy of palma pasta beautiful but you are not a vegetarian i am not a vegetarian so you're gonna enjoy this meat lasagna i don't condemn or condone it. I just, I personally, I've always thought that human beings are meant to eat meat because, you know, the argument I have with vegetarians is we cannot digest plant cell walls. Okay. I'm listening. And so they say yes again. I'm like, oh, really?

What happened the last time you ate some corn? Right? It's there. You can see it so that's that's been my argument now i'm i'm i'm all for animal uh kindness and anti-cruelty and i just think but you don't mind you don't mind eating one now and then no and and again i just i don't preach and i just think everyone's different everyone has their own way of being. If you are a vegetarian, that's great. I kind of wish I could be because of what I know.

Right. But it's hard. And being a vegan would be even worse because then there'd be no cheese in the world. Okay, yeah. Being a vegan, I feel is not currently an option for me. But vegetarian,

I could totally go that way. And there are some fantastic vegetarian lasagnas at Palma Pasta. But you do get a meat one before you go. Beautiful. Thank you, Palma Pasta for But you do get a meat one before you go. Beautiful. Thank you, Palma Pasta, for that. And so you got the beer, pasta. There's a sticker right here.

Okay. Toronto Mike sticker for you, courtesy of stickeru.com. That's where you get your decals, your stickers and everything. They're wonderful partners. Thank you, stickeru. This is exciting, Diego, because I take it you like to eat. I do. So you enjoy a good meal. Okay, this is going to be good stuff for you. This is exciting, Diego, because I take it you like to eat, so you enjoy a good meal. Okay,

this is going to be good stuff for you. ChefDrop. If you go to chefdrop.ca, you can place an order. There's these pre-prepared meal kits from great restaurants you know and love, fantastic chefs that you know and are famous chefs. And if, well, let me first tell you what you get. You get a $75 gift card just for appearing on Toronto Mike. You can spend 75 bucks there. That'll get you a fantastic meal at chefdrop.ca. So that's another meal. Thank you.

That's fantastic. So you got, that's two meals. You got beer. Holy smokes. I wish I was in your seat there. Everyone listening though can try Chef Drop. You get 20% off your first order of 50 bucks or more if you use the promo code FOTM20.

So please do this because I want you to try ChefDrop and I want ChefDrop to know you're listening to Toronto Mic'd and it makes sense to partner with Toronto Mic'd on these wonderful things. So thank you very much ChefDrop for that. And where will I go next here? Let me give some love to Ridley Funeral Home. They're pillars of this community.

You can go to ridleyfuneralhome.com to learn more. Shout out to FOTM Brad Jones there. And Mike Majeski, he's of Remax Specialists Majeski Group. I'm still, I'm not an actor like you, Diego. I'm still working on how to say Remax Specialists Majeski Group, but they have a fantastic Instagram account. So if you follow Majeski Group Homes on Instagram, there's at least fun, like zany videos that Mike puts out when new homes are listed and stuff. And it's just, it's worth the follow. So Majeski Group Homes on Instagram homes on instagram okay my friend so there's a couple of fun facts i learned about you so i wanted to talk about much music i was gonna

feel you out to see how much um you wanted dirt only thing well again i'm being very careful here because i know more than you know i i talked to the great brother bill about some things so i know a lot so i'm gonna let you determine what you say because that's the gentleman I am. No, I had, you know, my time at Munch Music was fantastic. I really can't say enough about the people. He's reading that script. No, I'm just kidding.

But yeah, it's, you know, again, it was very life-changing. And, you know, I got to thank Denise Donlan for, you know, I'm a very lucky person in life I've always been very lucky I've won a lot of things in life and I'm like I just tell people like I won my job you know so it's like you went on a game show and you won a

career or whatever when you do these because I actually helped my friend Peter Gross audition for an ad like last week so I don't I don't audition for anything it was on zoom and he was having trouble with his zoom. So he sat there, I put the camera on him, we did the zoom thing and I kind of got to witness this process. And he reads the line and then just put nice and zoom, whatever. Do you ever get recognized as a, you know, a much music, much more music host on these auditions? No, I don't think so.

I think it's been so long that, you know, I don't like, I'm, you know, I was recognized when I was on the air. Like I remember one time when I, again, just first started and I was helping this lady move her car cause it was stuck in the ice and i helped push her and she just you know she thank you and i said no problem then she goes much music i said yeah so right so again again i've always just taken the it's like you know like of course i'm gonna help you because i'm canadian and right uh but not because i'm on tv but she's like like it was almost like wow like you're an on-air person.

Are you, you held my car? And I'm sure she told people that story, right? Like. That's a great story to have told about you though. It makes you sound really good there. So speaking of cars, uh, the, the Ford cars, uh, you had the drive one series of commercials and what's the catchphrase again? Uh, well, the, the catchphrase.

So you're probably going off a wikipedia thing that my friends wrote uh who wants to stop for gas not me right yeah it says who wants to stop for gas i don't i don't yeah that's it is that so is that the catchphrase from this series uh it was a whole different things it was like there was like eight to maybe 10 people in the commercial but uh you know i i have a I have a very funny group of friends who one day I found out they made a Wikipedia page about me. So I shout out to a very fantastic music festival

in London, Ontario called Sunfest. It is Canada's largest, uh, world music festival. It's four days of free concerts with four different stages. And I've been the host there for years. They invited me one year and, uh, and, and I said, you know, I'll be here as long as you want me. And so they always had a booklet, uh, booklet with information about the artists. And there was always a little blurb about our guest hosts. And so one day I'm reading mine and it says, you know, he's in a board commercial. He's, you know, he's an advocate for water conservation. Oh, yeah.

That's in your Wikipedia. Yeah. And so I went, at the end of it i called my friends like guys what did you do what what'd you do they go nothing so i went to the guy the programmer who writes the book i said where'd you get this information from and they said your wikipedia page i said i don't have wikipedia page he said yes you do and so my friends just did a wikipedia page for me and so okay i have that line so you can just you know give us the real goods here like the real talk here fuentes is a known advocate for consumer no customer rights in fast food restaurants and taxi services in the greater

toronto area as well as a staunch supporter of water conservation are you telling me that's your friends like that's bullshit no no it's not bullshit it's just it's just it's so the whole the whole uh consumer rights thing is i'm i'm always very like watch it buddy no it's not about that it's like i it's not about you know it's about being polite right so if i go up to if i go up to a restaurant yeah and i say hey and they say oh can i help you i'm like hi how are you and then they say can i help you i'm like hi how are you like i'm asking you a question so at least address me i was sort of where that first came from because i i had a conversation this was a discussion i had with them about the thing uh the cab thing is like i've had my i've had a number of running with cabbies where like i just you know especially like get off the phone you know and they're like oh i have

bluetooth i'm like i don't care. I'm hiring you to drive me. So I've had a lot of issues with the cab driver. One pulled over, one for like 20 minutes, and he said, I'm going to call the police. Call the police. Because a cab driver cannot ask you where you're going until they sit in the car. And so what happened with those kids

that got shot after the Drake concert is because a lot of cabbies were saying, where are you going? Where are you going? Right, they want the longer. They want the longer or the fact that, or they don't want the long one. They want the short one. that got shot after the Drake concert is because a lot of cabbies were saying, where are you going? Where are you going? Right. They want the longer. They want the longer or the fact that,

or they don't want the long one. They want the short one so they can come back and do more fairs. Oh, right. Right? So I fight for things like that and the water conservation one comes from the fact that

when, this is going to be really stupid and I'm, you know, I can't believe I admit this, but I told some of my friends, it's like whenever I can, I pee outdoors so i don't have to flush the toilet you know because i'm a big fan of the peeing outdoors too yeah because you know we we flush i mean our our

toilets are flush with drinking water and it's something that we take so much for granted in this in this country and there's people in the world that have to buy it on a daily basis so i i choose not i i try not to waste water as often as i can okay okay great that's great and there's another so speaking of like advocacy and public service i got to get the real goods on this one too uh throughout 2015 diego championed a campaign to feed the homeless and clean up Toronto city streets known as Mexico's children. That's in quotes. In early December, there was an incident outside a Toronto coffee time where he was reportedly spit on after offering a woman a bagel with cream cheese. The police were called, but no charges or arrests were made. This is on your wiki right now.

Yeah. Okay. Is all that true? Yeah, that is true. That is true. I was just, you know, when people ask for money, I don't believe in giving them necessarily money. But when they say they're hungry, sure, I'll buy you something. So this was at a coffee time on Bloor West.

And I came out and I offered this girl a bagel with butter. And she got really pissed off because I didn't give her money and gave her food instead. And she, yeah, she, she just basically kicked me and she kicked me and spit on me and I was like, okay. And so that was it. But it actually happened. Well, this might be a good time to explain Mexico's children because people are going to hear that and they'll be like, oh, this is Toronto, not Mexico City. coast children because people are going to hear that and they'll be like oh this is toronto not so again my my wonderful group of friends that created this wikipedia page um here i'll show you this to the camera mexico 2000 mexico 2000 so my friends and i used to dj for fun at a place called

the queen's head at queen and bathurst and um just, that's the name they gave me because the whole point was like, you know, I'd be like, dude, you're Mexican. I'm like, no, I'm Chilean. Like, oh, you're Mexican. They were just joking the fact that every Latino is a Mexican. Right. And so then they, in the Wikipedia page, they said, you know,

like, you know, we started working Terrible Tuesdays at Queen's Head and to the delight of fans, he changed his name to Mexico 2000. So the whole Mexican children thing, it's just, it's just my friends. This, this Wikipedia page is being run by morons and I love them to death, but I,

there's nothing I can do about it. There is a, uh, Wikipedia editor known as, um, uh, what is the moniker? Hold on.

And this'll come to me. Uh, Rosie gray TO, I think is the moniker? Hold on. This will come to me. Rosie Gray Teo, I think, is the moniker used. And Rosie Gray Teo listens to Toronto Mic'd episodes and then gets the real deal from the horse's mouth, if you will. Right. And then updates Wikipedia page. There's been some blatant false stuff. Like, who was on?

Christine Simpson, who works with Jeffff merrick at sportsnet christine simpson's wikipedia page said she had appeared on an episode of friends so this is like obviously when you're looking at her wikipedia oh oh my goodness like christine simpson was on an episode of friends that's uh that's uh even bigger than uh corner gas friends like wow and then you ask her about it and she said it's complete fiction like this never happened and then there's edits for rosy gray to so this episode rosy gray to can you know maybe just uh you know make sure that wikipedia is accurate but here's okay since we're talking about the wikipedia i hope this is true you're a highly skilled curler i am okay good i

am i'm worried to find out this isn't true. No, that's true. I was the skip for the Humberside curling team, and we won the city championships back in 1989. And that was Ofsa. And we went to Ofsa. So we didn't win Ofsa. But we won the city championships.

Wow. Yeah. And for many years I stopped curling, but I now curl again at the Hyde Park Curling Club. And I've been a skip there. And we actually one year, with one of my more on friends that writes the Wikipedia page, Armand Cousineau, shout out.

We won the mixed social league. So we won the Saturday night social league. We won the championship basically. We were the number one team. So yeah. Okay. So the Wikipedia page is reporting, we won, we won the championship. Basically we were the number one team. So yeah. Okay. So the Wikipedia page is reporting that you won off. So no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, congratulations. Uh, Mike Gregotsky. Does that name? Okay. So Gregotsky. Yeah. I actually produce a podcast for where Gregotsky works. It's full-time job. I produce their podcast. Mike was my skip one time. Yeah. And I was his vice. Cause I don't,

you know, I don't know a lot of curlers, so I feel like you all know each other. Yeah. And I know he's a, in that hood. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

If you will. So Mike Gregotsky, uh, Diego Fuentes, uh, you guys are great, great curling team here wow wow yeah uh shout out to the esri geography corner that we uh sometimes have with and uh ragotsky and you know another shout out to jeff merrick jeff merrick was once the bartender at

the high bar curling club okay that's wild yep you know he also worked for a short period of time at great lakes brewery i didn't know yeah like apparently a couple of months oh there was i mean there was a lot of humbersiders that worked at i mean at great lakes in fact it's so funny because like you know great lakes has been around for almost 30 years now but yeah more than 30 32 years or something but i remember the day this is very funny so peter bullet and i are in swim class in gym and we're sitting at the edge of the pool and we're doing what's called donuts with our belly like our little belly buttons and he told me that's when he said my dad just bought great

lakes brewery so i remember the 87 or something something like yeah it would have been yeah about 87 88 and uh and so i've always remembered that and i've always supported this great brewery. I've tell everyone about it. Um, but yeah, like I said, I remember the day he told me, yeah, my dad bought. It's too bad we just met now because,

uh, there was just, I think it was August 27th. We had a TMLX eight. That's the Toronto Mike listener experience. We had it on the patio of great lakes and we all got to eat, you know, on the house.

We ate some palm of pasta. We had, uh, great lakes brought everybody their first beer. And then Mike Majewski came in and bought 40 more beers for everybody. It was really just a great time. You're going to be at the next TMLX that's at the Great Lakes brewery. I have – so for my 50th, I bought myself a keg fridge.

And they know me at Great Lakes on a weekly to semi-weekly basis what's your go-to beer at great lakes uh the um haze mama oh yeah you know what i like it but i have to be careful with it because uh like i'll in the summer for example if i'm having two or three in a row i switch to the sunny side ipa because Hayes Mama, after a few of those, it's like, I just, it hits me. It's a, it's a good one. When you have a keg fridge, you have to commit, right? So I buy a 30 liter and I, you know, yeah. So unfortunately the fridge kind of broke down recently, so it's been a while, you know, but no, Great Lakes is fantastic.

I sing their praises all the time. Dude, you're fantastic. I'm just praises all the time. Dude, you're fantastic. I'm just trying, while I have you here, is it okay if I go back to Much Music just for a moment here? Yeah, sure. Yeah. Okay. Was there ever an opportunity to do more with the,

and at the time, you tell me, at the time it was Much City? Is that the, was that the? Yeah, it was, yeah. It was, when I started, it was City Much Music, like 299 Queen Street West. Right, so Moses is still in charge when you start. Moses is still in charge, yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Okay, because at some point they oust him and then, of course, at some point Rogers, thereafter, Rogers takes over, but this is all well before all that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Was there ever an opportunity? I don't know, because they've got... You know, especially for a while, they had all these like specialty stations, right?

Like, you know, more than just much more music, which you're on. They had a space. They had space. There's a reading one, right? Like books or something.

I think there was, there was QTV. There was a queer television show. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and the entertainment one was, uh,

it's not E, what was it? It was called, um, uh, Sandra, Sandra Pugliese from city TV. She, she was part of that and husman davi who's also host anyway there was there was a yeah there was because there was a time when just television

channels weren't they were just giving away specialty stations and moses grabbed a bunch of them yeah like just pounced on it so i'm just is there any opportunity to do more than just uh clip trips on much more music uh no not really and i don't think i really wanted it like i said because you know my my focus has been to be an actor and it's always been that and so i didn't want to like do more things that would take me away from right you know because when you commit to something like you know you know, you have to do it. Okay, what about Mexico 2000? So Mexico, again, for those, why am I calling it Mexico 2000? It's because that's his moniker when you were doing the Queenshead Pub.

Yeah. Terrible Tuesdays. You were a DJ. Like, did you ever consider doing anything more as Mexico 2000? No, no. Again, so Terrible Tuesdays just happened. There was a place, you know, Queenshead Pub, and

they had turntables. And so they would just say, hey, if anyone wants to play records, come on in. We'll give you 10% of the bar. So I just got in on that with my friends. And some nights, I mean, Tuesdays were fine. But

every once in a while, we'd get a weekend, like a Friday or Saturday night. And we would like bring in hundreds of people. And it was great. It was so much fun. Again, it was just fun, just playing music. And I would play a lot of world music stuff that people didn't know. And the funniest thing was Saul Guy, who was a manager of, he used to manage K-Non. What K-Non?

who is a manager of, he used to manage K-Non. Right? K-Non. So I'm playing K-Non on, on the, on like, you know,

in, in, in the bar. Right. And their speakers are outside and Salgat comes in and goes, who's playing K-Non? He's like,

oh, it's you. So, yeah. So I would, I would play a lot of World of Music stuff and it was great. No,

fantastic here. Speaking of fantastic, the CEO Edge podcast is a podcast from mckay ceo forums it's fireside chats with inspiring ceos and thought leaders i literally just posted the most recent episode on toronto mic.com just before uh diego uh dropped in so i urge you fotms to subscribe and download the ceo podcast. Give it a listen. And here's hoping it inspires you. Do you think it's ever going to stop raining, Diego?

Because we're actually recording inside today. We're both fully vaxxed. Yep. And I would have done this outside where it's, I prefer it outdoors, all things being equal. But it was raining cats and dogs all day. Is this ever going to end or do we need to build an arc or something? It's going to rain for three more days, I think. That's, although I did get in a 25K ride today, but it was a soaking wet ride.

That's how crazy I am. And please get vaxxed. Whoever's listening, please get vaxxed. I feel like, and I don't have any evidence of this, this is all anecdotal, but I feel like a very large percentage, a very high percentage of FOTMs, Friends of Toronto Mike, are fully vaxxed. Like I feel like in the Venn diagram,

I feel like the overwhelming majority of the listenership is fully vaxxed. Why are people just, I know this is all going to be speculative and stuff but when you when you hear about somebody who's not vaxxed uh like are they simply like brainwashed to believe some conspiracy theory about it is it simple as that like they've been led down the wrong path and they can't seem to shake that belief system my my personal belief is that they they politicized a health issue and that's the problem.

And the argument I have for people that, because I was on set on the show I was doing, and there was a young stunt guy who was saying, well, you think it's okay for the government to tell me to get stabbed? I'm like, yes. Because I said to him, do you want to know why you don't have polio? Because we all got vaccinated, and it eradicated.

You want to know why you don't have smallpox? Because we all get vaccinated and eradicated. You want to know why you don't have smallpox? Same thing. And when they say it's my civil liberties, I say this. Listen, I like to drink. I really do. And I'll have some wine. But when I run out of that wine, or Great Lakes beer, right? But when I run out of Great Lakes beer and I want to go get some more,

I can't get in my car to get some. But when I ran out of Great Lakes beer and I want to go get some more, I can't get in my car to get some. Right. Because drinking and driving is a potential cause of death to others. Right. So I can say, no, no, no. I'm not going to say I should be able to drink and drive. You can't go into a store without shoes and a shirt.

You can't run red lights. I always think of the smoking law. Exactly. You can't smoke in the Tim Hortons. Yeah. You can't run red lights. I always think of the smoking law. Exactly. You can't smoke in the Tim Hortons. Yeah.

Is that your civil liberties being stripped from you because you can't smoke a cigarette in a Tim Hortons? Exactly. And again, that goes to the health of others. So here, Diego's got his PSA, if you will, to all those. If there's anyone listening who's not fully vaxxed right now. Yeah, the kids are home from school now, so it's make sure, remember, you're getting the frozen lasagna

out of the freezer before you go because sometimes I forget, we're not going to forget, we're going to get you the frozen lasagna from Palmapasa, and because it's raining and we did this indoors, I got to remember, we got to go to the magic tree and take a selfie together, this is essential stuff, Diego I'm so glad brother Bill put us

together, I know you love your world music and your Mexico 2000 so at some point you're going to have to kick out the jams with me man we play your 10

favorite songs of all time and talk about it absolutely in fact tomorrow's episode is Tim Thompson coming back to

kick out the jams and I was talking about the rain do we do it indoors he's fully vaxxed as well but he says rain or shine he wants to do it on the backyard because he wants to be out with the water because he's got a bunch of music

that are a bunch of music that's water themed so rain or shine we're in the backyard tomorrow afternoon Diego thanks so much for doing this buddy this was fantastic thanks for having me and that brings us to the end of our 917th show you can follow me on Twitter I'm at Toronto Mike Diego what's your Twitter handle buddy And that brings us to the end of our 917th show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Diego, what's your Twitter handle, buddy? I believe it's L Original Diego. Yeah, it is. It's L Original Diego. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer.

Shout out to Peter Bullitt. Chef Drop is at GetChefDrop. Save your 20% with FOTM20 as your promo code. McKay's CEO Forums, they're at McKay's CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. and Mike Majeski of Remax Specialists Majeski Group is at Majeski Group Homes on Instagram. See you all tomorrow. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone. Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls.

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