Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Dwayne Morgan: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1790

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

In this 1790th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with The Godfatherof Canadian Spoken Word Dwayne Morgan. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, Blue Sky Agency, Kindling and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

What's good, everyone. This is Dwayne Morgan, and you are tuned in and watching Toronto-Miked. Proudly brought to you by Retrofestive.ca, Canada's pop culture and Christmas store. Great Lakes Brewery. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees. From Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

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means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Redley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto Mike's debut is the godfather of Canadian spoken word, Dwayne Morgan. Nice to meet you, Dwayne. So happy to be here.

Thank you for this opportunity. How do you get a title like that? The Godfather of Canadian spoken word. Like, does that get bestowed upon you? Or do you just decide to start calling yourself the godfather? I have never called myself that at any point in my life. that, you know, other people just started saying it when they were introducing me and then it just kind of, you know, stuck with people. And I'm just like, all right, well, let me just

take that and roll with it. So I have never said that. I have never, you know, claimed to be that. But it was just something that as people were introducing me to things and people who knew, you know, what I've been doing over the years, they just started calling me the godfather of Canadian spoken word and it stuck. Well, listen, if some, this did happen. I just realized, I was on some podcast, and I wish I could remember whose podcast it was, but I was on a podcast, and they called me the godfather of Canadian podcasting, and I loved it so much. I threw it on my LinkedIn page. Like, I called myself, like, oh, the godfather of Canadian podcasters or something. So once somebody calls you the godfather, you run with it, right? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's official

once someone else who said it. I mean, if you started it, then that's a bit different, but once someone else says it, then it's, you know, it's legit. I feel like Howard Stern maybe anointed himself the King of all media. I wouldn't be surprised if that was true. But it's better when somebody else does it. Okay, so what a pleasure it is to meet you. It's funny because I don't normally record in the evening. So right now it's like I had to put food in the oven and my wife's coming home and all this

is going on. And then I was yelling at Morgan, my daughter. And you thought, because you were down here and I was getting you a Great Lakes beer, which we're going to pop in a moment, but you thought I was yelling at you because I just would call you Morgan because that's your last name. but I was yelling at my daughter and that was a fun little moment there. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

So totally cool to know that her name is Morgan. Shout out to the Morgans everywhere. Okay, let's pop our Great Lakes beer on the mic though. So let's go. Three, two. Okay, that's beautiful. There you go. We did it in sync here.

So what do you got? You got a logger there. Yep. So a premium logger, Great Lakes Brewery. I've got the fighting weight. This is the octopus wants to fight, fighting weight. Apparently it's like a lower calorie version of their IPA octopus wants

to fight. So that tells you how much Halloween candy I've consumed. Do you have any kids? I do have a daughter who's 18 right now. Okay, too old to bring you all the chocolate. I went and I bought chocolate for myself. Did you buy the discounted chocolate like the day after? I didn't do that, but I bought more than what I knew I was going to need and just said, well, now there's leftover, so this

must be mine. So that's how it worked. So I have a couple of kids that are too old to go trick-or-treating, but I have a couple of kids who are like primetime trick-or-treaters. And it's, I call it the dad tax. But I take a lot of the chocolate that they bring home. Like, I've been going at it hard. It's tough to stop once I get going at these little Halloween chocolates. Yeah, I mean, absolutely.

I think that's just comes with the territory. I think, you know, we keep them safe and we, you know, ensure that they're out there having a good time. So it's only right that we, you know, get a portion. So do you mind if we take a portion? So do you mind if we take them? take a stroll down memory lane dwayne do it i want to go back so actually before i do want to go back i want to go back to scarborough and i want to talk about like the media the influences

like who how you came to be the godfather of canadian spoken word but are you a blue jays fan i am a blue jays fan so i'm still going through it still you know in recovery from from the weekend but um you know it's sports right so anything can happen and unfortunately things didn't go our anything could happen and I think anything did happen like that Saturday night game 7 was just absolute bananas yeah I mean

it had everything you know the the bench is clearing it it had all the all the elements and unfortunately you know we just left too many players on base we just didn't get the runs that we needed so when the bases were loaded

I think one out bases loaded and Isaiah a kinder falafo was at third base and he was forced out at home but it was video review like it was like a centimeter or so if you see now if you look back and see the lead off he took in that situation like come on buddy like like how about a five more centimeters lead off and then we're the world series champs today yeah and I mean that's one of those things that you know you can always look back and be like what if this had happened what if that had happened there's so many you know what if moments but you know in the in the moment of

of what's going on, none of us knows what that actually feels like. You know, none of us know that thought process of actually being on the field and those kinds of things. So, you know, I try to give them a little bit of grace. You know, I've seen videos calling him out for that, calling him out for, you know, sliding feet first instead of head first, right? Apparently, it's faster to just run through the base. Yeah, either that or just dive at the base like, you know, Vladdy did, you know, a couple

games before. So, I mean, we can always look back. Second guessing. Yeah, it's just too painful to look back and think about the what-ifs because none of that is going to change the what-is. In April 2025, if I had met you, Dwayne and said, I need a prediction. How are the 2025 Blue Jays going to do?

Can you remember what you might have said to me? I never would have thought that they were going to be in the World Series. You know, at that point, you know, it's gotten to a point where it's just like, all right, they just keep getting close and they just keep getting kicked out. they're the wild card team and then they're out so no clue that they would have won you know had home field advantage that they would have had the best record like none of those were in the cards at at that point so i was totally surprised with how the how the season went and i would have been shocked and totally elated uh had they brought it all home yeah imagine we could go back and say

oh yeah you're going to lose in game seven of the world series at home to the los angeles dodgers we'd be like, where do I sign? Like, I think of all, and again, we're similar vintage. So that's why I'm looking forward to going back and getting into it with you, because I think we're very similar vintage. So we had the 92 Js, 93 Js, and we had the 2019 Raptors. All three were great teams that were able to climb the mountain. This team, I can't remember.

I mean, there isn't a precedent of a team in our lifetimes that came out of seemingly came out of nowhere and were this likable and this entertaining. So I got to say, I'm still kind of shocked that this actually happened. Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, and it's, you kind of see it coming, but nobody saw it coming. So it's like, you know, everybody was able to just get on the bandwagon at the same time because nobody knew that a bandwagon was even going to be necessary.

So, yeah, it was totally cool to see an experience. I mean, even, you know, 92, 93, they were so close and then, you know, they got over the, over the edge. but here it was just like watching the Leafs they would get close in the wild card and out so you know that we we kind of started to expect that

and now this year they've completely changed that script so now you know what to change for next year this magic thing called expectations right yeah yeah and that's that's the brutal part because now we expect them to you know to win the whole thing

and you know again it's sports so you know that some players will be here some won't be here. We got to see what all happens. You're a Scarborough guy. Yes. Take me back. What I'm really interested in,

and we're going to get into it here, is like the media in this city that shaped you, so we're on our way to you becoming a spoken word artist, and we'll talk about, you know, when brothers speak, and I see you wearing the hat there, and we have a lot to get into. But do you mind taking me back? Like, what kind of media in the city were you consuming

when you're growing up Scarborough that helped create the Dwayne Morgan I'm sitting with today. Yeah, I mean, back in those days, you know, it was Rhapsody and Extendamix on much music. Okay, we've got to slow down too. Like when you bring that up, we got to get into that even more granular. So I know Master T. Yes. He's been over here.

I love this guy, Master T. Yeah, he's awesome. And his brother Basil, longtime City TV camera guy. Yep, yep. You know the youngs. Yes, I do. Okay, so good. Now, who was your host of Rhapsody?

Do you remember? Man, I don't remember that there was a young guy. I don't remember what his name was. And then I know, did Michael Williams ever? Absolutely. Okay, all right. So Michael Williams, and then it moved to a younger guy. And I know Michael Williams also did.

I think it was Soul in the City, I think. Yes, he did. His other show was called. So I kind of grew up on that. That was my pulse for, you know, media that kind of look like me. You know, you could turn on City TV and there was JoJo Chinto, you know, on there. And that was kind of what I was looking at. There wasn't a whole lot of other stuff that really represented me.

The dial on the radio was able to pick up WBLK in Buffalo. So for music-wise, if you wanted to hear any kind of R&B stuff, that's what we try to. to listen to other than that it was like you know tarzan dan and um you know the the the soft rock and all that stuff that was on the radio let me throw a name at you dj ron nelson legend absolute legend um you know c iut uh stuff that he did c ln um and the um yeah just the stuff that he did to bring you know hip hop to the forefront in in toronto is is legendary i was actually there when he got his star on the Walk of Fame. So I was able to speak at that event there

and really give him his flowers for... When was that? Do you remember? Like, how far back are we going here? That was only a few years ago. He got his star in the Walk of Fame relatively recently, probably within the last three or four years. You know, in his home studio,

they recorded and now the legacy begins, the Dream Warriors. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. I'm going to drop some fun facts on you. All right. I appreciate that because there's probably a lot of them that I don't know, because oftentimes you're so engulfed in what you're doing

that you don't even know the stories of what everybody else is doing, right? So that's awesome. So that's fantastic voyage on C.K.L. And do you remember, like, do you remember the first time you heard, I don't know, a hip-hop artist from, like, your own backyard? You know, I think it might have been Mishie Me, maybe, was probably like, you know, one of the first ones that I heard. And it was so cool because, you know, she was mixing in this Jamaicanness.

And she was also, you know, getting love from, you know, people in New York and stuff. And it's like, you know, who is this? And it was so interesting because back in those days, there was always this thing of, you know, this all sounds Canadian. And sounding Canadian men, it didn't have the production value that, you know, you heard from the music coming from the state. So that was the beginning of our own unique kind of sound. But over time, that line blurred. And now you can't even tell, you know, the difference between any of that stuff. but, you know, listening to the Power Move show with, you know, DJX and stuff like that,

it's, you got all of this hip-hop influence and spoken word that I was doing kind of came up, you know, as an offshoot of that hip-hop. Well, that's exactly where I'm going. So I'm curious to your origin story. But so Mishimi, who, by the way, her birthday is November 1st. So Mishimi just had a birthday couple days ago. Awesome. Love that woman. And around that same time, I'm guessing, were you a Maestro fan?

Yeah. So Maestro actually went to the high school down the street from where I was at. So he was at a school called Lamarot. I was a couple blocks up at a school called Dr. Norman Bethune. And yeah, he's a couple years older than I am. But yeah, just through all of the stuff, him and I, you know, I've seen the whole rise of his career and stuff. So that was always really cool. We lost him to New Brunswick. we did we did but he's he's back here quite often and you know we try to stay in touch whenever we can so okay so to review here and i like all of these people very much like so dj ron nelson michael williams no cleveland no bowie shout out to michael williams uh tony young

master t from extendamix so we have these these television programs uh those those are actually national television programs then you have a local local radio k l n what makes you, Dwayne, decide that, you know, you're going to try, maybe even while you tell us your origin story, like doing spoken word, maybe even help us idiots understand the difference between spoken word and poetry. All right. I feel like I need a 101 here. All right. I'll keep it very simple. So, you know, most poetry is written to be read by people.

Spoken word is written to be said by the person who's writing. it. So it's actually written to be said out loud as opposed to written to be read. And so you get up on stage. Oftentimes you have it memorize and you actually get up there and say it. So it almost becomes like hip hop without the music in a sense. So that's the biggest thing between, you know, spoken word and someone who's just a poet. And then what was the first part of the question again? Well, so now we know the difference between spoken word and

poetry. So what basically made you decide to try this? Like what is your origin story? So it's very interesting because I'm an extreme introvert who would never have chosen to do anything on stage or in front of people. And I was organizing a talent show at my high school. And all of my friends at the time, you know, rappers, singers, dancers. And I was invited on to extend a mix by Master T to speak about this show. So it was my first time on. TV here I am this young kid in high school I'm putting on this talent show are you shy uh yeah yeah yeah and here I am on national you know TV with with the master tea I mean I thought I was being punked when I got a message from him seeing if I wanted to come on and then after that all the tickets

just started to sell so I'm like okay this show is going to sell out and now you know everybody saw me on on the TV and I'm like well how do I get into my own talent show without any talent because you know, everyone's going to be, you know, loving all the artists, the singers, the rappers, dancers. So I'm like, okay, maybe I could try to write a poem or something so at least I could perform something in this talent show. And I wrote a poem and everybody loved it and they're like, yo, you need to keep writing. And that was the origin story. I had never written anything before.

I had no desire to be an artist. I just wrote something to be on stage with the rest of my friends and people loved it. It was the first time people told me I was good at something and I just took it and ran with it. Okay, so you're writing, obviously you're writing your own prose and then you're reading it. But in a moment ago, you just described it as hip-hop without the music. Yes. So this begs the question, why not add music and be a hip-hop artist? Because when you add music, now you're constrained to the beat.

So everything that you write has to fit into, you know, whether it's four-four time or, you know, whatever the case may be. So all of your rhymes and your rhyme schemes now have to be more constrained, whereas you If you take away the music, you can just have a conversation. You can just, you know, talk and let it flow however it chooses to come out. So, you know, even when I do a lot of live shows, I'll work with musicians because, you know, musicians can improvise and play around. It's not set to a same, you know, beat structure and that sort of thing. So it's much like, you know, improv jazz and different things where you can just go

anywhere that you really want to go with it. Okay. I have a curious, like, I'm assuming because I'm going to play something in a bit just to give the listenership a taste of things, but you may have a spoken word piece where maybe in post or something, they'll add music. Like, so,

so like you might go the other, and tell me if I'm wrong, but so as opposed to writing for a beat, you may write something and then read something and then have a beat applied to it afterwards, possibly. Yeah, I mean, that has happened. That happens quite rare. Usually I just write things.

And, you know, if people want to record it, then we just try to figure that out. So I'm leaving the old chronological flow here because I'm jumping a bit ahead here, but there is a piece I was listening to earlier today called The Sum of Her Parts. Yes. And it's got a beat to it.

So is that an example where you would have a piece of spoken word, art that you would read, and then a beat would be applied afterwards? Like maybe tell me the story of that because I thought maybe while we enjoy our Great Lakes beer, we should listen to that and just let people know, hey, here's some of Dwayne's art. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, there's so many different versions of that particular track. Is it the one with the woman singing on it? Yes, it's like four minutes and 50 seconds. And yes. Right. So for that one, she was creating an EP and wanted, you know, to do something with me on that. And she really loved that poem. So we said, all right, let's do a recording of that poem.

that'll be for your EP. So I recorded it, and then she put some vocals around it. And there's a pretty... Kate Bowen. And there's a producer, a pianist that I do a lot of work with, and he was doing the production. So then he put all the other pieces around. So the three of us kind of just sat in the studio

and tried to figure out what we thought would sound best sonically. Well, it's a beautiful piece. So I'm going to play... It's my show, Dwayne. I'm going to play this. All right. Go for it. Not me. But to give it a little more context here, how long ago was this recorded approximately?

That would definitely have been at least 15 years ago that we've recorded that, yeah. All right. So this is a chance for us to enjoy our Great Lakes and enjoy some Dwayne Morgan, the sum of her parts. And then we'll pick it up on the other side. It's going to go almost five minutes. So here we go. As men, many of us tend not to see women as complete human beings. So instead we break them down into parts, using Barbie doll images to determine who and what women really are. And we've gone so far that we've made some women hate themselves. cells, dark skin still isn't right. There are products on store shelves to make dark

skin light. For the closer it gets to white, the greater the chance that she might get a bligh, and instead of fixating on her skin color, she can worry about her cup size. Because as men, we have some women staring at their chest, not satisfied with the size of their breath. Taking matters into their own hands, resorting to surgical implants, watching as their cup size grows. Young children are being born fed on, hormones, laced with silicone, as our misogyny condones us being anti-women because we don't love women. We just love some parts of women. But the sum of her parts is her beauty.

as men continue to compartmentalize her into thick thighs and booty because you know it is our duty to find the woman with the nicest ass and to compensate for those who don't have stores are now selling underwear with pads but those with too much are taking fat from the back and are putting it in their lips and we wonder why some women speak so much Shit doing just about anything to be shaped like an hourglass. Skinny girls have eating disorders thinking that they're fat, while big girls are on diets trying to look like that.

And it would appear to me as though women have gone mad, trying to live up to these standards that we as men set but could never pass. So she tries to pass by introducing him to her soul. But his sole thought is that her soul is just a whole. So he loves her for her whole, and he thinks she's just a whole. He forgets about her soul and judges her by her whole. But men, we have got to love her as a whole we've got to love her wholeheartedly we've got to love her holistically we've got to love she who holds the mystery

to carry weed to life we've got to love her not by our standard but by god's standard of perfection respect and affection as is. The gods made no mistakes when they created their kids, so we've got to recognize that every woman is a star who needs to be loved for who she is, and for the son of all her parts. I won't keep acting like this doesn't bother me. Because I'm loving me for me.

No matter what you see. this is all I am and that's all right with me because I'm all right with me yeah I'm in love with me ladies if you're feeling me say I love me

love me yeah because this is who I am Dwayne, amazing. When you listen to that in the headphones right now, what are you thinking? I'm just really proud of it. Like, I haven't heard that in such a long time. So to, you know, to sit here and listen back to it, I'm like, wow, we really did a great job, you know, with that piece, with the messaging, with, you know, how her vocals were layered to create the ambiance behind it. So, yeah, it was totally awesome. And it just reminded me that I've, you know, I've created so much stuff that it's like you don't even get to appreciate a lot of it until you have these moments where you can listen to it again, right? So it was awesome.

Well, this is your chance to reflect back on some of the great moments in the past here because we're still going back. Like, so when were you inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame? So I was inducted to the Scarborough Walk of Fame back in 2013. Okay. So what was that like? Like, I mean, I've been inducted into zero. you know, walk of fames or Hall of Fames. Like, what is it like?

I mean, it was pretty surreal because, you know, when I started doing the things that I was doing and putting on these talent shows in Scarborough, because after that first one, there, you know, in Scarborough, there's just no outlets, you know, there was no performing places or whatever. So it's amazing how many artists

have come out of Scarborough given the fact that Scarborough had no arts, right? So I had to start, you know, putting on these talent shows for people to get on on stage. And, you know, those people who came out back in the day know, like the first venue I could get was a fit for life gym. And, you know, we would have to the left all of these artists performing and then to the right, there were people on treadmills and elliptical machines. And that's what we could get. And that's how we, you know, we started doing these shows. So to be inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame for what I contribute.

to the culture in in scarborough was a really you know surreal and humbling uh experience for me because i was just doing those things out of necessity and i didn't know that anybody was watching or paying attention or that you know it had any kind of greater meaning so you know when my when my daughter sends me pictures of of her feet by the star you know uh or she brings her friends and is like yo that's my dad um it it just really means that you know i've i've done something that, you know, people recognize and notice. Well, not just the Scarborough. This is the pump your tires portion of the Toronto Mike episode,

but not just Scarborough Walk of Fame, but you've got the African Canadian Achievement Award and the Harry Jerome Award for Excellence in the Arts. Yeah, so, I mean, you know, those ones are also really important because those are, you know, from my community. And it was really awesome to get that kind of recognition. And then the difference was that, you know, the Scarborough Walk of Fame now was outside of my community.

It was, oh, other people have been, you know, recognizing the work that I've done. So it, you know, just added another layer to things. And I mean, the Walk of Fame exists inside of the Scarborough Town Center shopping mall. There's so many people who go through that mall every single day. And they're just, you know, seeing this name there that will outlive me. Okay. And I don't want to bury the lead here.

but Order of Ontario recipient. Yes. When did that happen? So I actually physically got that this year. So I was appointed in 20, 23, but you don't officially get the ceremony unless you can be there in person and you don't get all of the little things that they give to you. And I was traveling every time that they were doing it. So this year was the first year that I was actually able to attend and officially be appointed to the Order of Ontario,

which, you know, takes the Scarborough Walk of Fame up a notch. Sure, yeah. Well, you go Scarborough, then, well, is there a Toronto thing? Did we skip a step? Yeah, I don't know. I don't even know if there's a, you know, a mega city metal. Yeah, yeah, I don't know about that one. But yeah, I just went from Scarborough right to the, right to the province.

I know what you're gunning for, Order of Canada. Well, I mean, that's got to be next, right? But I got some more work I have to do before. Your young man. Yeah, you know, that's, that's relative. But, you know, I just, you know, I just, you know, I don't work for the accolades, but I loved that people recognize and people are like, oh, you should go for this because I didn't even know that it was a thing.

And people were like, no, you should throw your hat in the ring for it. And it worked out. So, yeah, that's totally cool. I have some, you know, little fancy lapel pins and stuff to wear to certain events. I was going to ask you, like, it's a pin, right? So similar, because the order of Canada is a pin. Yes. So it's a pin, but you're not wearing it for me today.

Yeah, they give you a 28-page booklet of how to wear it, when to wear it. What happens if you violate those rules? Do they take it away? I don't know what happens if you violate it. If you violate it, but it's like this big, thick PDF that they send you of when, how, you know, all that kind of stuff. I would love you to just violate one or two of those rules and just to see if there's any teeth to these rules. You know what I mean? Yeah, I suppose.

I just don't want to risk them, you know, taking it back or anything. I think that's the story. You know, Dwayne Morgan, a two-time Canadian National Poetry Slam champion, we're about to talk about that, has his order of Ontario ripped from his, you know, chest because I don't know, he wore it with like a, I don't know, he wore it with a hoodie or something. I don't know what the rules are. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, that's something that that can be explored, I suppose. Canadian, firstly, I have so much to learn, like, just even reading about your career, you're living this life Canadian spoken word artists, but, you're a two-time Canadian National Poetry Slam champion. So when did you win this and like how many times did you compete? Like just give us a little context.

Like what does that mean? That sounds impressive, but what do I know? Yeah, so COVID ended it, but we used to have a national team competition where groups of four or five poets from cities right across to Canada would congregate in a different city every year. just compete based on, you know, their written work and their performance. And so I probably was in that at least, at least 10 times, won it twice, runner up about five or six times, and only once didn't place in the top three.

So I think that also led to, you know, the Godfather title because every team that I brought to the competition always was in the top three. So, you know, people couldn't understand, well, how does this guy do this, you know, every single year? No matter who's on his team, somehow they make it, you know, to the top three. So, yeah, that was it. So it was really just a national competition

where poets from across the country would come together and compete. And, yeah, we won the last one in 2019. And then COVID happened and that whole thing fell apart and has not been. resuscitated. Well, aren't you the man to bring this back? I suppose, but I was also one of the people who originally started it way back in the day. So I'm just like, hey, that's, that's, that's, you've done your part time for the younger people to, if it, if they really want it, the younger people got to take it and, and do the work because, you know, my generation, we all got together with,

you know, other people across the country and said, hey, let's plan and do this thing. And then, um, yeah, then we left it in the hands of, of the younger folks. And yeah, if they want it back, that's up to them to... But if you leave it, and I love what you're saying there, it's your turn. It reminds me of this on frozen pond thing I used to see where the old guys, like Mary Lemieux

and Wayne Gretzky, who else was in that group? Maybe it was Gordy Howe, but these old timers, like, they were going to play a game of pond hockey and then they said, no, it's your turn now, and then Paul Korea comes out and Eric Lindross. I'm trying to remember, Yarmier Yager, I think. It's like this moment of like

passing the torch. That's such a crazy like, you know, octopus wants to fight fueled flashback I just had of this, like on Frozen Pond. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. But sometimes when it's like, okay, it's your turn now. You know, it's your turn, youngsters. What if they don't do anything? Like, what if it's complete apathy and then nothing ever happens?

It's like the old timers got to step in and show them how to do it again. I mean, that's one way to look at it or it just means. It's a very negative way to look at it. Yeah. I mean, it just means that there's, it's maybe not necessary right now because if, if the old timers go back in and recreate it at some point we're not going to be here anymore and then what happens to it so i mean if you don't have the the zest to to do it and put your youthful energy into it because if i'm going to do it i'm going to do it my way and my way

isn't necessarily the way that young people are are moving right now right so there's there's that whole you know gap in in age and time and and you know vibrations and these kinds of things so it's like i got other things to do i've i've done my part with with that and now you know it's up to them okay so what are you more proud of being uh you know a national poetry slam champion and uh you know the godfather of canadian spoken word art or what you're doing with and i hope i have the right right handle here but from the roots entertainment is up up from the roots entertainment my apologies and and that's helping fellow artists so what brings you more joy like you know, writing and performing your art or helping your fellow artists rise up?

I think more joy comes from helping other people, and I think that's what led to the Scarborough Walk of Fame, and that's what led to the Order of Ontario, because I think for a lot of artists, you know, we're competing for resources, we're competing for, you know, interviews, seats on podcasts, like all of these kinds of things and I've built a career out of who can I help? Who can I put on stage? Who can I create an opportunity for? So it's never just been about, oh, me, me, me. I'm trying to do all of these things.

But everything that I do, I'm trying to bring other people with me. I'm trying to build some kind of infrastructure that other people will benefit from. So I think a big part of my story and my legacy is, the number of artists that that I've helped that I've hired you know there's you know every January I do a singer-songwriter competition where I give away a thousand dollars of my own money to an up-and-coming singer I used to do the same thing with with poetry and just give away you know money so you know there's so much money that I've put into the pockets of of artists either through prize money through paying them to be on stages and I think that's the stuff

that I'm most proud of that, you know, I didn't just solely focus on what I wanted, but really tried to help as many other artists as possible. Your own money, eh? Yeah. Yeah. Now I don't, I was going to say, I'm going to give you some gifts, but it's not, I mean, I didn't buy these gifts. These gifts are coming from the people who made them.

So I'm going to give you a gift in a moment. But first, so it sounds like, I mean, from what we've already learned, that, you know, you're going across this wonderful country of Canada with your, you're doing your spoken word, art, et cetera. But you've been all around this world. Like, all the, I feel like I'm going to shut out Kish here. Like, you rhyme the world in 80 days, right? Like, you've been around.

Yeah, absolutely. And I feel so blessed and lucky to have had the opportunity to do poetry. And it has taken me, you know, across Europe and to Africa and all of these different places. And, like, who would have seen, you know, this coming? But I think one of the advantages for me was that, you know, when YouTube just started, I would just post a bunch of my poems on YouTube and people are like, hey, that's cool. Can you come do that in Munich? I'm like, sure, no problem. And, you know, lo and behold, here I am now traveling around Europe doing these tours and stuff. And just because everybody

thought that it was cool and I tried to jump on the technology. And I think that's another thing for me is that I've always tried to embrace the technology that's, that's, you know, at my disposal. So I think one of the great talking points was that when Interact, that technology started, I was the first artist that people saw that had his own Interact machine. And every gig that I went to, I had this Interact machine. I'm like, hey, I got books. I got CDs. If you don't have cash, I got you. And I was making so much money just selling stuff using this Interact machine.

And it was a huge machine, you know, like when they first came out and stuff. but everybody was like this guy is not being serious he has a cash machine and you know when they would come over to my table I'm like yeah here it is and you know people would just buy it just to be able to be like yo I bought this book with this guy using this interact machine so you know I've always tried to embrace the technology don't fight the tech right use it harness it so you're you're on TikTok yeah I'm on my daughter forced me to to be on there so yeah it does TikTok know how old you are I feel like I don't feel like I don't feel like I'm welcome there. You know, it's funny. My daughter's calling now, I feel I should take it. My 21-year-old daughter, who essentially told me, you're not allowed on TikTok.

Like, it's like, yeah. Well, you know what? I think it's, if you're doing things that are cool, why not, right? No, I'm with you. It's another platform to just reach some different audience. But you said it there, Dwayne, if you're doing something cool, that's why I'm not allowed on TikTok, okay?

But, you know, I just dropped the name Kish, okay? Andrew Kishno. And he had an album. Did you own Order from Chaos? Do you remember this album? Like maybe early 90s? It was like a Toronto hip-hop album by Kish. Yeah, I mean, I know Kish.

I just can't remember if I fully took in that album. So I'm chatting him up a while ago because he moved to California and became a voiceover actor. And the reasons will become very clear when I tell you. So I'm like, you know, how much scratch did you? Like, how much money did you make from this album? I bought the CD at H&P, okay? Order from Chaos.

And I can't remember the exact figure, but it was something like $43.97. Okay? Like, just the artist in this country, like one of our great shames is how we rob our artists blind. Like, I mean, I don't know, you're giving away $1,000 to help out the other. I'm like, can't, I don't know,

you're doing all this interact where can't Maneris or maybe the MasterCard step up and maybe cover that for you? I mean, I suppose they could. Or maybe even if I asked them, too but I think you know it's it's again I feel so lucky to to be at my age to have never had a full-time job to be able to live off of my art and you know you know it's been 32 years of just being an artist so I think was it 32 yeah same number of years since the blue jays won a world theory yep and um I think you know when I take my own money and I and I

give it away to another artist, I always feel like that's going to come back to me in some other kind of way. So, you know, I don't, I don't sweat it that much. I think it's just really and I've actually had, you know, for when I used to do it with poets and give away money, I ended up finding some, you know, angel people who were just like, oh, I want to add to that, but don't mention my name. Just take this money and add it to the, you know, to the prize money. So, yeah, I mean, you know, people have jumped on. and chipped in in that kind of way. But I think it's, for me, it's my way of giving back.

Well, I feel what you should do is you give them the $1,000 and then you whip out the interact machine. And you say, it's time for you to give me my money back and buy some books, right? Yeah, I mean, that's another way. I could approach it that way as well, yes. All right. So I'm going to cover just some of the fascinating people that you've performed for. and then I'm going to give you gifts

and then we're going to talk about what I mean we're talking on November 3rd we have some performances coming up one of which is November 5th so we're talking about Wednesday well we actually change the date so we have a bit more time so the November 5th one has moved to the 14th

so see that's because these World Series games kept going 18 innings you're like I need more time to focus on my stuff so we'll get to that we'll definitely be diving into that but I mean some of these names of Barack Obama yes so you perform for Barack Obama yeah so I have this this awesome portrait in my living room of Barack and Obama and I together and you know right before COVID happened he was in

Toronto at the Metro Convention Center for a speaking engagement and I just ended up I got this real cryptic you know DM on Instagram and they're like are you available on this date I'm like are you going to tell me for what? And they're like, no, are you available on this date? I'm like, uh, yeah, okay. And they're like, all right, Barack Obama's coming. We want you to do something. Like, why didn't you just start with that? Right. You're bearing the lead. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, so that was awesome. No, I have a dentist appointment. Oh, too bad. We're moving on. Maybe Toronto Mike will say something for Obama. Yeah, it could have happened that way. So, yeah, so it was totally, totally awesome, a great opportunity to, to meet him and to, to be on that stage, uh,

as well. So definitely a career highlight. All right. Was it a highlight to open for Alicia Keys? Did that happen? That did happen. That was for a World AIDS Day concert. She was in town for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. And yeah, so I was the last artist to perform before she came out and closed things off. And it was a big fundraiser and awareness campaign.

And it was so interesting because that was, I believe, in December. first or second 2005 and um abry graham was in the audience digrassy's own degrassy's own obri graham was in the audience and he's like yo that guy i like i like that dude and the person he was with was like oh i know that guy so the person he was with so because o five is the early days for abry graham very he's just a jimmy in a wheelchair yeah absolutely so my friend hits me up and is like hey i have this guy who saw you at the alicia keys he wants to know if he can have your number or whatever i'm like yeah whatever because i'm always helping you know young people or whatever so then yeah i get a i get a call from him he's like hey i want you to listen to some of my

stuff blah blah blah i go down to the studio i'm just like yo aren't you the dude from digassy or whatever jimmy brooks yeah we do we do some stuff and then next thing you know the dude blows up and now everyone knows him is drake so i'm just like all right were you were you uh performing for uh like like was noah uh shabib there uh 40 was he involved um you know what i I don't even know who else was in the studio with, I don't even remember because, you know, that's early days. Yeah, at that time, I'm just like, all right, you know, I'm just doing this thing with this young guy or whatever. I'm listening to some of his stuff.

Who knew that this guy would end up being, you know, one of the biggest musical artists on the planet? How close were you to get in any of your work on a Drake album? That would be a nice little, you wouldn't have a problem coughing up the $1,000. Well, absolutely. I mean, I was pretty close. We, I wrote some interludes. Not really, because, I mean, it's just all. part of the process, right? I wrote some interludes for some tracks that he was working on for his

mixtape and stuff that those songs he never ended up putting, putting on. But if he did put them on, maybe I would have been on there. And who knows? But at some point, he's going to put out everything in the vault at some point. Well, you know, yeah, who knows, who knows. I'm sure that that stuff is recorded somewhere, right? So it's got to be on a hard drive somewhere. Wow. Okay. Now, I got to ask you about Super Bowl 46. You performed at Super Bowl 46? I did. So, you know, what a lot of people See, I'm saying it like, I don't believe you, but I'm reading it in your bio. So Super Bowl 46 was in Indianapolis, Indiana, and everyone always focuses on the big game,

but there's actually two weeks of lead-up to the Super Bowl and all sorts of different events that they have to, you know, start generating excitement and that sort of thing. So in Indianapolis, they did a like an international poetry showcase for the Super Bowl, and I was invited down to represent Toronto and Canada. And yeah, so I did that. You really are the godfather. You know, I mean, apparently I live up to the name that others have called me. All right.

So I'm going to give you some gifts because, Duane, you came at the right time. You're actually the first guest of Toronto Mike to get this gift I'm going to give you right off the top. Okay. Because there is a brand new sponsor of Toronto Mikeed. This is always, you know what it's like, right? This is always exciting. So there's a new sponsor of Toronto Miked, and let me read a Google review for RetroFestive just to start us off.

Okay, this is a real one. I just copied this. Okay. No phony baloney. Not going on here, okay? I've loved this store ever since I saw them on Dragon's Den. Such cool and nostalgic decorations for our family stockings. Retrofestive.com.

This is now me talking, not that David Chap, who put that on Google reviews. Okay. Retrofestive.ca is Canada's pop culture and Christmas store. You can feel like a kid again in their retro emporium of pop culture toys, kitsy Christmas gifts. That's right. We're in November now, tis the season. And so much more. Their Oakville store is now open every day until Christmas,

and they're going to be a sponsor of Toronto Mike throughout the rest of 2025. You can save 10% when you shop online using the coupon code. I was going to say promo code, but we're calling this a coupon code. FOTM, so the FOTM, that's your, I'm going to call it a promo code anyways. What's he going to do? Ty's going to come and punch me in the nose. FOTM will save you 10% at retrofestive.ca.

My gift for you, Dwayne, I'm really building this up. I'm very excited. A moose mug from Christmas vacation. That's yours, buddy. Awesome. Thank you so much. A moose mug. Every guest, I hope so.

Ty, are you listening? I want every guest throughout the rest of 2025, at least, if they're in person, to get a moose mug. So you got a moose mug. So welcome aboard retrofestive.ca. Awesome. I will put it to good use. I grew up on the Griswold's, so yeah, this is awesome.

There you go. You can pour into that moose mug, fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. Makes sense. You're getting some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes. By the way, this is important, Dway. You said your daughter's like 19? Yep.

Okay. November 29th. I don't know if this will conflict of all these. these events we're going to talk about. Okay, that's a Saturday. At noon, I am recording live from Palma's Kitchen in Mississauga, so I'll be there recording from noon to three,

and everybody who shows up gets a free Palma pasta Italian meal, so it's hot and fresh. They make it there, for goodness sake. So free food from Palma Pasta, I'll bring cold, fresh beer from Great Lakes Brewery, and Retro Festive will give everybody a gift. You're invited, Dwayne.

You can bring your daughter, you can bring your friends, your family. Bring them all out. I'll feed them all. Sounds great. All right. Come hungry, darling. Is that taken?

Can I use that one? Come hungry, darling. Okay. So thank you to Palma Pasta. I have in my freezer upstairs, Dwayne, a frozen lasagna for you from Palma pasta. Awesome. That sounds great.

And I have a measuring tape for you for Midley Funeral Home. So let's recap, okay? You got a moose mug? Yes. I feel like Monty Hall. You got a moose mug? Got it. You got fresh craft to be.

Got it. From Great Lakes, you got a lasagna that's in my freezer right now. Awesome. And you got a measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home. Did you know you, this is like better than the order of Ontario. It actually is. It actually is because that, you know, it was over in about 30 seconds and this gift stuff has lasted about. Well, you can't eat a pen.

You know what I mean? Well, that is true. That is true. All right. Shout out to Recycle MyElectronics.ca. Because, Dwayne, if you have any old electronics or old cables or old devices, or old devices, is don't throw that in the garbage because those chemicals end up

in our landfill. Go to Recycle Myelectronics.ca. And if you or your daughter or your loved ones enjoy cannabis products, you can go to shopkindling.ca and you can order some cannabis products

and it will be delivered to you in under an hour. Like you order it online, shopkinling.com.ca. And the delivery is free and it's going to be in your hands in less than an hour and you can track it. It's discreet. Welcome to 2025. You embrace technology. Yeah, that's awesome. Think about that. I think that's wild. And the delivery

people go from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. So you can order any time, but that one hour thing is 9 to 11, which is pretty damn awesome. Okay. And last but not least, I just recorded an episode of Nick Iieny's. His podcast is called Building Success, and his guest today was FOTM, Steve Paken. Have you ever talked? Has Steve Paken ever had you on his, it's no longer his show, actually, but the agenda on TVO, did he ever get you on to talk about being the godfather of spoken word? I have been on the agenda with Steve Paken. What was that experience like for you?

I was pretty cool. You know, he was a cool, yeah, cool guy, great conversation. And it was, I was shocked by how many people actually watch, you know, because, you know, I, you know, growing up, yeah, TVO and then you get it to a certain age and it's just like, who watches TVO? And then you go on it and everyone's like, oh, I saw you on TV. I'm like, who, I didn't even know. So, you know, I know, you know, Namagany has been doing a lot of episodes and I knew her from, you know, much music. Of course. So, yeah, so those connections are, you know, still there. So, yeah, so it's been, it was cool.

And much like yourself, NAM is an FOTM. And yeah, so Pagan is not only an FOTM, but a friend of Nikainis. What does that make him, an F-O-N-A. So he's on the latest episode of Building Success with Nick Aini. So give that a spin. Okay, tell me about now my dates are out of date. Yes. Ironically enough here.

But, I mean, I've got kind of the details, but tell us about these performances that are happening in starting in November. All right. So we have to change some of the dates from what you have, because the venue that we're using, the gentleman who owns the venue, his mother passed away, so he had to go to Jamaica, and then now there's the hurricane and all these kinds of things.

So we had to move the alter the date. So the first show is going to happen on November 14th. So I've planned five shows to celebrate my 32-year anniversary. There's three shows, November 14, 28, and December 5th that are called Poems in the Key of Life. and that was kind of taken from, you know, Stevie Wonder. And what it is is each night I'm working with a different pianist.

And so it's a night of piano and poetry. And we're looking at how each different pianist brings out something different, you know, in the poetry and in the performance. So every night it's going to be a, you know, a different set. They're going to be, they're improvising and playing, you know, different music, you know, behind the poem. So it's interesting to, to, to, to, to, work with, because they all have, you know, different orientations to, to music. So to see how each

show is coming together very differently is exactly what I wanted. Do we name the venue? It's a place called Context, which is at Lansdowne and College. It's a real small, intimate spot. It's almost like performing in a living room, you know, so it's very, everyone is performing in this studio here. Absolutely. It's, it's this kind of cozy, warm kind of, you know, kind of vibe. And, Yeah, on the 21st, there's a show called Backchat, and that is a spoken word show where I have a bunch of up-and-coming artists who are performing, and after each artist performs, they're going to do a Q&A with the audience, which is something that rarely ever happens. No one ever asked these poets anything, and they never really get to engage with the audience. So we're just trying to, you know, give the audience an opportunity to actually, you know, speak and question and find out about their process and, you know, why they do this, say that. that sort of thing.

Cool. And then the biggest one is on November 22nd. It's called When Brothers Speak. That is the largest and longest running spoken word show of its kind in North America. It features all black male performers. We have people from Illinois, from New Jersey. We have the former Ontario Poet Laureate. We have the current Ontario Poet Laureate, all performing.

And it happens, this one happens at the St. Lawrence Center for the Arts. So it's, you know, it's a big theater. People get all dolled up and fancy and come out for a night of awesome poetry. That is not the poetry that you hear in school, and not this poetry that you learn in school. It is a roller coaster ride of emotions and experiences that we invite people out to every year. In that show, I've been running. I started it in 1999. I had no clue that it would still be going and it's still going.

Still going. founded, as you said, in 1999. You're wearing the hat right now. That's When Brothers Speak 2025. So for that one, go to Ticketmaster. Yeah, that one, you have to go to Ticketmaster to get the tickets. The other shows, you could just go to my website, Duane Morgan.ca, and just go to the event section,

and you can get all the details and tickets. And there's Poems in the Key of Life three, right? Yeah, so there's part one is November 14th, part two is November 28th, and part three is December 5th. Okay, very cool. So this is all happening, happening soon. So we got the poems in the key of life, one, two, and three. You got the back chat when brothers speak 2025.

That's a bigger thing. You could go to Ticketmaster for that one. For everything else, go to Dwayne Morgan.ca slash events. You're not even considering slowing down, are you? You're just picking up speed here. You know what? I don't really know how to slow down. It's just not in my DNA.

And I think, you know, again, saying that, you know, we're probably around the same age. It's like I grew up without social media. I grew up where I had to call people on the phone and tell them there's an event coming up. I had to put letters in the mail and send them to people's houses and say, there's an event coming up. Like I only know how to hustle and how to do things.

And the only way I've been able to be here for 32 years as a poet is to hustle. So, you know, there's definitely no slowing down, but I am definitely trying to enjoy. life a lot more and you know do a lot more leisure travel and and you know enjoy the fruits of my labor a bit more a question came in for you this chap on blue sky calls himself toronto boris i feel like i inspired that handle i'm just throwing that out i'm not i'm not calling lord honickman okay i'm not going to file a suit here but and i do have a memory of meeting toronto boris at christie pitts during a maple leaves baseball game so shout out to toronto on Blue Sky, Toronto Boris wrote in and said,

Ask him if he's willing to give politics another go. So before you answer that big question from Toronto Boris, we need a little context. Can you maybe share with the listenership of what happened in the 2018 Ontario general election as so far as it pertains to you? Yeah, for sure. So oddly enough, I got convinced to be, to put my name on the ballot for the 2018 election and here I am as someone who has only ever done art and you know

they were just like hey if you want to help more people this is one way that you can help you know that's true uh more people with a seat at the table and whatever and I was just like you know what at first I told them no and they they just kept on persisting and then I had to ask myself why I said no and I realized that you know there are some things that you just think are for other people and it's not for you. And then I had to ask myself, well, why isn't it for me? So I was just like, you know what? Let me just take a shot and see. And yeah, I had no experience. I ended up coming in second place. And yeah, it was a very interesting experience. Since then, I went, you know, full-fledged back into, you know, my arts practice and, you know, working with schools and kids and

all these kinds of things. So I can't rule it out as something that will never happen again. But right now, I kind of love where life is and where life is taking me and what's going on. So right now it's definitely not a priority, but it is possibly something that I would consider again. Never say never. Absolutely. So definitely not closing that door and not saying never. And it's also just worth noting that the winner of that election was the incumbent.

It's difficult to defeat these incumbents. And he has been there for a very long time and he's still there. He has been in power in different forms in that writing for at least 20-something 30 years. And this is Scarborough North and they kind of vote conservative up there. Which is odd considering. Well, they vote conservative in northern Etobico as well. Yeah, given the demographics, it is odd. But I don't even know if it's necessarily them voting conservative or just kind of because this guy has just always been there.

so it's like name recognition they just know and everyone knows if his name is on the ballot just don't even bother because like the name recognition is there and everyone just votes votes for him right so um yeah it's it's it's very interesting because it wouldn't seem like the kind of demographics that would vote conservative but uh yeah it was it was a interesting learning experience i i encourage as many people as possible to to try to to you know put your name on the valid and see what that's like because you learn a lot about the process and how things work and you know who gets priority for certain things so I mean it was definitely a great learning experience and you were representing the NDP yes was it a stringent process to like vet you

like was it how difficult was it to become the candidate for the NDP in Skowbro North yeah I mean there was a whole process that you have to go through and then they had to, you know, wipe the internet of, you know, all of like my, my sexy poems and all of that kind of stuff. I was going to ask, do they listen to every single piece? Because you've got thousands of pieces and they're not all going to be PG. Right. So they had to go through and then they sent me like a whole thing. And they're just like, all right, can you get rid of these ones? Because these ones are probably going to be problematic or they might be used against you or, you know, all these kinds of things. So, you know, it kind of sucked because, you know,

there's, there's parts of my work that I'm just like, well, these are parts of me, but for this process, you know, you know, yeah, I had to, you know, get rid of, you know, some of these things and take them off of the, off of the internet. But I mean, yeah, some of my work was definitely used against me, or people tried to use it, you know, against me, but, you know, I stand by the things that, that I say and I create. So, yeah, so I mean, it was, it was, yeah, definitely a process because they went through like you know twitter they went from my first tweet all the way back to to look at everything that i'd ever said everything that i'd ever posted um and you know to delete different things and to create you know this this image right so uh again it it allows

you to kind of see how this whole thing works i think it's fascinating you know somebody's going to go through everything and say okay these are problematic so our fix here is is to not to get another nominee, but like just unlist this on YouTube or something. It's like it's just remove this from the internet and it is as if it never happened. Yeah, I suppose, but they wanted to make sure that it wasn't there so it couldn't be found in any way. No one can just do a tweet and link to your YouTube video and say, listen for his thoughts on, I don't know, you name it. I won't even speculate. Okay, so, but that alone, I would find it.

I would think for any interesting artist, part of creating an interesting art, as if I would know, right? But part of creating an interesting art is you're going to probably have something out there that isn't particular. It's not all going to be, you know, rosy and, you know, motherhood apple pie-ish. You're going to say some things. So, okay. So, but you would, you never say never. There may be a day where you reenter the political arena. Absolutely.

And maybe you're running for mayor of Toronto in 2026. Is that what I hear, Dwayne? I'm not saying that, you know, either. Right now, like you said, I'm just trying to, you know, enjoy the journey of, you know, what's happening in life. I'm trying to, you know, travel and see some things and just, you know, enjoy this time. Enjoy every lasagna. That's what I'm planning on doing after this. And I would, I need a photo of you drinking your great legs out of the moose mug. I can't believe you're the first recipient of the moose mug. We can make that happen.

Absolutely. Everybody should know about Duane Morgan.ca. That's literally where you go for all your Dwayne Morgan needs, including tickets for all of these poems in the Key of Life performances that are coming up

and the back chat. And you can find the link to the When Brothers Speak 2025. Everything there. What is your favorite genre of music, Dwayne Morgan? Definitely reggae. So do you have a favorite artist?

Probably Barris Hammond. Okay, and he's Jamaican, right? Yes. Okay. I do a show for Donovan Bailey that's co-hosted by Jason Portwondo. And they often will sit right where you are. You sit here and I sit here. And before we press record, they'll talk about reggae.

It's like their favorite genre too. And that's a name I've heard them discuss. Well, yeah, Barris Hammond is a legend. And, yeah, Donovan and I were together almost every single. Christmas. Really? Yeah, yeah. I didn't know this.

Yeah, so his family and my family are very good family friends. So usually they have something on like Christmas Eve and we catch up and do things. So we've talked about, you know, possibly, you know, doing some joint speaking engagements and stuff where like I perform as his opening act and then he does his thing or whatever. So yeah, there might be more stuff with Donovan and I at some point. So I'm wearing shoes that are far too. cool for me. They're these red shoes. You're going to see him in a minute because now that I pointed them out, you're going to say, oh yeah, he is wearing these red shoes. About two weeks ago, Donovan drops off, just drops off a couple of pairs of shoes. They're called biopods.

So I guess he's doing work with biopods and he had a couple of pairs of shoes for me, but they're both red. And I really had a moment of like, can I wear red shoes? Like I had a moment. I'm wearing them. But thank you, Donovan, for the shoes. And I think it'd be totally rad if you did something with a two-time gold medalist, one-time, fastest man in the world, Donovan Bailey. That's funny. It's a small world, right? Absolutely. We're going to keep talking about it.

Okay, man. You know, you will be, you will keep talking because you're a spoken word artist. Absolutely. So keep doing what you're doing. I really enjoyed this chat and getting to know you better, Dwayne. This was cool. Oh, thank you so much for having me on. And thank you to everyone who tunes in and listens.

It's a great opportunity. we're going to take a photo by the tree but so I mentioned it's a 6.30 start for us and the first thing I said to you was damn it's dark outside the clocks just went back and it's pitch dark at 630 so we're going to take a very dark

photo by the Toronto tree now so you might have to use your like use a flashlight on you like it's what was that the horror movie called the flashlight? What was that? And everybody the Blair Witch Project we might have to do a Blair Witch project

And that brings us to the end of our 1,790th show, 1790. Go to TorontoMike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Much love to all who made this possible. That's retro festive. Welcome aboard. Tie the Christmas Guy and Retro Festive. Great Lakes Brewery. Palma Pasta.

I've got the lasagna for you. Nick Aienis. Check out that bacon episode. Kindling, go to shopkinling.ca, recycle my electronics.ca.C.A. Blue Sky Agency. Much love to Blue Sky Agency. Write Doug. He's Doug at bluesky agency.com for creative work environments and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow morning when Karen Bliss is my special guest. We'll talk with Karen tomorrow.