Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Ed the Sock: Toronto Mike'd #1266

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

In this 1266th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Ed the Sock about his new gig doing overnights on The Rock, his maturation as a social commentator, the Muchmusic documentary, Fromage and more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, the Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1266 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

Season four of Yes, We Are Open, the award-winning podcast from Moneris, hosted by FOTM Al Grego. RecycleMyElectronics.ca Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Moment Lab. Brand marketing and strategy,

PR, advertising, and production. You need The Moment Lab and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, returning to Toronto Mic'd, is Ed the Sock. Ed, welcome back to Toronto Mic'd. Thank you very much, Mike. Been a long time. I missed you. You were actually episode 94

and now there's been what? Over 1100 episodes since then. Really? You've been doing this crap all that time? Stuck in this basement with that light that's supposed to simulate

sunlight so you don't feel like you're in some kind of Turkish prison? You've been doing it that long, huh? Oh man, it's been 11 years and I'm glad you're back. I'm just going to let the listenership know about your first appearance in case they want to go by and learn more about you,

and then we're going to catch up. There's so many subjects I want to discuss with you, Ed, so thanks for being here. All right, hit it. Episode 94 is where you want to go to hear Ed's first appearance on Toronto Mic'd and here's what I wrote at the time. Mike chats with Ed the Sock about

Gian Gomeschi and Ford Nation. Okay, well, I don't even know which variant of Ford Nation that was. Who knows? It might have been Rob. And Stephen Kersner, whoever he is about the storied career of ed the sock on canadian television we also had a pretty good dialogue

i see i wrote here we talked about triumph the insult comic dog have you encountered triumph since we uh chatted many years ago no and fewer and fewer people are encountering triumph are you gonna you've outlasted triumph you. You're going to have the last laugh. Well, I started a good 10 years before Triumph. I'm still going, and I guess it is too. I always preferred

the OG at this sock for what it's worth. Well, you know what? We don't even do the same thing, me and the dog puppet. I started out doing just insult stuff when I was like 87. I've evolved to talk about issues

and pop culture and stuff. He still does the shtick where he says, I poop on things, like whatever. He hasn't grown. He's not very clever. Right, right.

You've matured, Ed. Now, do you ever get any flack? Do people, because I'll tell you this. I don't know if socks can cycle, okay, like on a bicycle. I saw Kermit the Frog. You're not talking about a spin cycle, are you? You're not making a sock joke about laundry? Is that where you're going?

That's good. That's good. But because I bike a lot, occasionally somebody will like try to insult me, uh, by calling me like a lefty, like, uh, you're a left wing pinko or something because you're on a bike. Yeah. Because I bike,

this is actually true. Now my question that somehow cycling has been politicized, Ed. Okay. But when you're your persona, I got some specific questions about some big things happening in the zeitgeist, but I'm curious about the Ed, the sock political persona, which I'm curious about the Ed the Sock political persona,

which seems to be very progressive. Are you getting a lot of insult from convoy people calling you a bleeding hurt lefty or anything of that nature? Yeah, but who gives a shit? I don't care. If I'm not getting flack from those morons, it means I'm not doing anything right. I have always supported critical thinking, and these people have abandoned critical thinking.

If they ever adopted it, they have abandoned it. In fact, they consider critical thinking to be some kind of left-wing plot. So, yeah, I get these idiots, specifically on Twitter, and I argue with them, and I don't argue with them to change their mind because these people are just idiots. There's any fact you give them, they will give you a non-fact in response

that they claim is a fact. You know, I had one guy who was taking advice about COVID from a Twitter account that was 911ERdoc. No name, no what kind of doctor, but he's a doctor. It says so in his Twitter name. I was like, are you really? The hell is the matter with you? And that person said that the 911 ER doc knew better than me

because they're a doctor. Of what? You know, that's very, very credible. So what would account for this? Were they ever critical thinkers or is it just that now? No, I think critical thinking always bewitched them or drove them crazy. I think that they got tired of living in a world where they were always at a deficit uh because they because they were stupid and not critical

thinkers and i think they're glad to be in a world now where there's been a resurgence of people who say i know what's true i know you don't your gut feeling is not knowledge. There's belief and then there's knowledge. What are you going to choose? Are you going to continue to believe what you want to believe, irrespective of facts, or are you going to adopt knowledge where you take knowledge of facts? There's a lot you can do with facts. There's a lot of perspective you can put on facts. There's spin you can put on facts but just start with the facts they hate the facts because they don't like anything that boxes them in from being assholes do you try to enlighten them though like do you ever try to like just help them see the light or

they lost causes no i what when i argue with them it's so that i can give language uh to the people who think the same thing I do but don't have the vocabulary to come back at these people. So I'm showing them, here's how you can deal with these jackasses. So my argument with them is never to change these idiots' minds because it's not going to happen. It's more to let people know, here's how to handle them. Though, I will say that on my all-night radio show on 94.9 The Rock, I had somebody called in and made a comment about liberal trans bullshit.

And I stopped and I said, I have no problem with trans people. And I said, you know, let them live their lives. It's not your business and and then uh i went uh on the air and said people who think that i used to be some kind of crazy right winger uh you're not remembering correctly and i defended i didn't i don't like their gym defended i talked about uh my support for trans people and for them having the right to live their lives the way they want to live their lives and it's not our fucking business uh and then the guy responded in a text saying i'm sorry you're right oh uh and he became like a constant a constant fan of the radio

show he basically thought that that was my what my would be. And then when I told him, no, that's not it, he was like, okay, it's really not mine either. Well, it's good that he was open to reason. It's rare. It's rare, but it's good to hear. It gives me hope. It gives me hope. Okay, you mentioned 94.9 The Rock.

Great station. I've been to the studios by the airport. Give me some information Ed, on Your new overnight show there Just give me the nuts and bolts of it Like when we can hear you, how it came about All that good stuff

Well it came about because I was doing fill-ins With Rick Campanelli On another radio station FM station in the Toronto area Rick was the morning show co-host, and when his co-host would not be there, I would fill in with him. So I did a couple of fill-ins and then filled in for the entire month of December of 2022 and did the New Year's countdown with him as well. and I discovered that radio has much the same feel as much music used to. There's a greater sense of freedom.

There's a greater sense of community and connection. It just felt fun. It felt like, because I don't like TV now. I'm not interested in being in anything that is TV these days. It's just not my jam. But is it also fair to say that TV might not be interested in your jam anymore? Well, I had, there was some interest by a network, and I didn't follow it up because I'm just not interested.

It just seems like TV right now is so risk-averse, especially the basic, the over-the-air TV you're watching. just not interested. It just seems like TV right now is so risk-averse. Like, it's especially the basic, you know, the over-the-air TV you're watching. Sure, but you think about all of the reboots and revisits and stuff that have gone on, especially in the States, to great success.

There's, sometimes it seems like there's more being revisited and rebooted than there is being created. You're right. And I never wore out my welcome with fans. When I finished Ed and Red's night party, it was because of new ownership. We were still winning our time slot, and I quit Much Music when I was at my most popular.

That's true. You weren't fired from Much Music. You quit. I quit, yeah. I could see the iceberg coming. You could see the iceberg coming. You got in at the right time, out at the right time. By the way, I take it Much Music, Ed, is where you befriended

Rick the Temp, who you refer to as Rick Campanelli. Yes, that is where we both started the same year. And neither one of us has aged visibly. So I was doing that radio show with him, and I decided I really liked radio. So I put the word out there that I was interested, and I was contacted by Doug Elliott, the program director at 94.9 The Rock.

Who once gave me a Wii? He once gave you. Which sounds dirty. What was that? You mean the video game system? The Nintendo console, yes. Alright, yeah. Let's clarify that. I don't know, but there's a lot of

euphemisms in this world. So he contacted me and said, you know, I got something in the offing that I think you would like. And he was working on it, developing, and then he took me out to lunch with a guy named Steve McCall. He was the sales director there.

I know him, yeah, from East of the SCFNY. Yeah, and laid out this idea for an all-night show, and I immediately was on board because, first of all, I wasn't sleeping. I don't sleep at nights anyway. Interesting. And secondly, these are my people, these unsung heroes who are working all night so that the world can start again in the morning. And also, they're more eccentrics.

There's more personality. I remember the all-night shows on radio. Yeah, you're the best. Yeah, and my first regular radio gig was on an all-night radio show. It was a recurring guest. John Oakley's show. Back then it was CFRB. Sure. And so I have a real love for that kind of vibe.

Yeah. Like Venus Flytrap. I feel like that's a cool vibe, the all-night show. Yeah, really, I thought. And there was a time before David Letter cool vibe, the all-night show. Yeah, I really, I thought, and, you know, there was a time before David Letterman did his first late-night show when people thought there's no audience at 1230. And then they tried it, and like, wow, there's an audience there.

And I think there was people, you know, radio is not the moneymaker it used to be. So a lot of corporations are trimming their sales, and they don't do overnight shows and haven't for years they just run reruns they call the best of or they run george nori talking about how aliens built the parliament building or whatever the hell he talks about um and this was an opportunity there's an audience out there they're working and so you're live i'm live you could take calls live i do take the good old days yeah exactly i take calls live and i'm not just like it's not like call now caller 13 wins wins

tickets to some concert super champ if people can just call and they just call and talk so i could call do you know the number off by heart ed of course It's 855-432-7625, which coincidentally spells sock. Amazing. What is the hours that you're live on The Rock? Midnight till 5 a.m. Wow. Currently, it is Tuesday. Well, I enter the building Tuesday.

The show starts technically Wednesday at midnight. And I'm through technically Sunday at midnight. That may change to a Mondayay to friday kind of thing we're playing with it was still in the early days but uh midnight till 5 a.m and you would be surprised initially i was like well from 3 30 till 5 you'll probably get nothing no it's busy it the night picks up as time goes by. More and more people are getting in. Around 3 o'clock, it starts to become nutty as far as all the calls. And I would think, I would just imagine that as word of mouth travels, that at 3 in the morning, since you're not sleeping,

you can call this number and talk to Ed the Sock on the radio. That sounds pretty damn exciting to me. Do I need to get a life, Ed? What's going on here? Well, yeah, that's not news. There's a lot of people who've called up very excited because they haven't followed me on social media, so they're very

excited to hear. As far as they're concerned, I was dead, so they're excited to hear from me. Well, Socks go missing all the time oh boy uh we uh we play music like that i was gonna ask you so you're playing the rock because this is yeah and uh i have to tell you the other radio station where i was doing stuff i hated the music yeah it wasn't music but you're not saying that i can say it's Z-103. Yeah. The music wasn't my style. It wasn't music.

It was people on laptops making noises. That was what passed as music. I understand there's a lot of people like that. It wasn't my feel. Whereas this rock stuff, we're talking classic rock and current rock. I enjoy

listening to the music. I can keep the speaker up instead of turning it all the way down. I'm with you. You want to hear something like Monster Truck or Sheepdogs or whatever. But this is one thing I've noticed that now you have these prominent DJs

that actually do gigs. So we used to go see a gig or whatever. It was like a rock band or whatever. Everyone playing their instruments, singing live. And now if you go see a DJ live, I've noticed they've got their MacBook and they're on the stage with their MacBook.

They're literally just pressing play on their MacBook. I know. I understand there must be some art to it because some are better than others. Well, you had to make that, but you made it before the concert and then you just played it from your laptop. Yeah, I don't get it.

I mean, they are people involved in the music business. They are not musicians.'re technicians right um and granted you have to know when to blend one song into the other and which ones go together nicely like you know pairing wine with with food it's kind of like that i'm sure that there is a skill there but uh it's not a skill that uh appeals to me it's uh and again i'm of a certain vintage uh but then again there's a lot of people my age who like that kind of crap uh so you know what good let it let there be places for them to have that not a problem uh i'm not i haven't bought into the modern uh uh theory that uh things that aren't things that I love should be stomped out of existence. Please turn the channel.

I remember the thing I love about radio. You learned growing up with radio, you would have to listen to a song that was okay, a song you hated, idiot DJs, commercials, until they got to A song you hated. Idiot DJs. Commercials. Until they got to the song you loved. So you realized you live in a world where other people exist. And you have to be respectful of their interests and likes and needs. In order to, you know, till yours get dealt with. You understood that't weren't able to sort of customize your entire freaking life like you can do now and you'd be exposed to music

that you wouldn't have thought you liked because you had to listen until they got to your song right and so people were they understood compromise in in the sense of civilization. Whereas now it's like, you know, if I don't like it, it must not exist. Stomp it out. Burn it with fire. You're 100% right. Young people today don't know what it's like to hear anything that they didn't purposefully seek out to play. Like everything's on demand.

I want to hear this new Nas X, little Nas X song. And you play it and you hear it. Where we, you know, yeah, we didn't get to choose what to hear and we got a whole bunch of stuff and we liked some of it, we hated some of it, but we persevered, okay? We persevered and we were introduced

to a whole bunch of different genres and songs that weren't purposefully sought out. Well, everything now, you know, your music is curated by algorithms. Right. By computers who are like, if you like this, here's another song, almost exactly like that one. So you're not going to be introduced to something that's a departure

that you might like and not realize you would like, because it's just a computer spitting it. Like, you know, I watched a funny video about some people who took Steven Seagal and put him in a John Wick trailer that they called John Thicke. And it was hilarious because Steven Seagal now is too out of shape to stand up to fight, so he actually fights in a chair. The bad guys come up to him in a chair, and he fights them in a chair.

So I watched that, thought it was funny, and the algorithm decided I like Steven Seagal. So now I just keep getting over and over stuff about Steven Seagal. That is the thing about algorithms. They're not smart. Right, no, they're not smart. Now, Rick the Temp, just one more thing.

It's all about Rick the Temp, didn't you know that? I just had Rick the Temp over here to kick out the jams and we were catching up, and he revealed to me that he is working with a PR company called The Moment Lab. So I just want to let you know, Ed, that The Moment Lab is there for you. They specialize in public relations. They have a team of experienced professionals who know how to craft stories that resonate with your audience and generate positive media coverage for a change, Ed. So they've got you covered, and I would be happy to introduce you to Matt and Jared at The Moment Lab. Again, they're working with

Rick the Temp. Well, that almost sounded like you wrote it and read it off a screen. The algorithm wrote that. Yeah, an algorithm. Was that a chat AI that did that? Well, it's interesting because every time I try to deal with one of these companies that

connect you with brands and so on, they stink. I've dealt with a couple and they talk and they deliver nothing. And how can you not connect me with brands? I am as Canadian as beer. Is it because you smoke? I don't know. I mean,

no. It's because they're lame. I mean, I am called a Canadian icon. I am't know. I mean, no, it's because they're, they're lame. I mean, I am called a Canadian icon. I am motherhood. I am Canada. How can you not connect me with brands that want to be connected with that? It's because they're fricking lazy and stupid. Cause anyone can put out a shingle and say, I connect influencers and I brand marketing yeah uh show me who you who you've had success with and they give you names and now i'm starting to say well i i want to contact them and ask them how the experience has been because right now rick has been very successful with this right um so maybe i'll call these uh yeah the moment lab i'm telling you uh there was it mick

and joey jared and matt at the moment lab good people by the way you mentioned earlier you Yeah, the Moment Lab. I'm telling you. Was it Mick and Joey? Jared and Matt at the Moment Lab. Good people. By the way, you mentioned earlier, you mentioned pairing wine with food with these DJs. And I'll just let you know, Ed, I think you are a Canadian institution, and I think you deserve the order of Canada. And I know you love your beer,

so I'm going to send you home with some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. And, Ed, because you love lasagna, I've got some lasagna for you from Palma Pasta. I think you're confusing me with Garfield. He did love his lasagna, and he hated Mondays. What do you think about Mondays, Ed? Currently, Mondays are my day off. You love Mondays.

Okay, so The Rock 94.9 is where we can now hear you overnights, and it sounds like your experience with Rick Campanelli on Z103 is what made you want to get into radio. I got to tell you something. Yeah. 94.9 is making me nervous because I've not dealt with a place that is that professional in years, where management is actually professional

and understands how to make programming. I'm they're, they're lulling me into a false sense of security. They got it. Cause all I've dealt with for years are assholes who make everything adversarial. Everything's adversarial and they're not supportive. You know,

over the years, who are these assholes? Are you naming names or no, it's in your book. Yeah, it's out there. I started writing a book, but it didn't get anywhere. So, you know, I always had to start doing things myself, like my own publicity, my own promos and stuff,

because the stations either didn't do it or did crap. These guys are on the ball. They're like, no, no, we got... They got a billboard up for me. You know why? Because it's not a big cable company that owns that place. You're now dealing with a company that gives a shit about radio. If you're dealing

with, and this is me talking, who never worked for any mainstream media company, but if Bell Media or Rogers owns this station, really, where is their bread buttered? It's not radio. They just want to keep on to these licenses for some reason, but they don't actually care about the content. Well, no, I mean, well, yeah, they do care because they care.

I mean, they take great care as to who they put into their morning shows and stuff. But if you look at their morning shows of the big companies, it's here. OK, you got the guy who's sort of the the fathery type figure you got the woman who's smarter than than the guy uh and then you've got the joker character okay and let that there's your there's your morning show your tropes your morning zoo uh coast to coast on corporate radio recently a corporation did a big thing about how they were changing three of their station's morning shows. And if you looked, it was just

like musical chairs. Yeah, well, they had a hiring freeze. Well, it's like, okay, we're moving from here to here. This person from here to here, and this person from here to here. But you look at the package, and it's the same thing. The fatherly type, you know, the authoritative guy, the idiot, you know, the joker,

and then the woman who's smarter than both of them. Right, no, you're 100% right. And the other move that is seeped into radio is the, we're just going to have this morning's show in another market. That's the big move now. And you might have a show in like 10 markets across the country. Oh, yeah. I mean, now when we launched the all-night show, the first caller was from L.A.

Wow. We get calls regularly from across the U.S., across Canada, and Australia. So there's people listening. It's not an all-night show in Australia. You know, it's like a morning show. And in L.A., we're on in prime time because, you know, it's midnight is 9 p.m. there. But we got people all over the globe practically, but definitely across Canada and the U.S. And so it's not just a Toronto GTA phenomenon. There's nobody there's nobody speaking to these people. There's nobody there treating them like they deserve to have the same kind of live interaction

that people get during the day. Fascinating. Okay, I want to get back to the show on The Rock because that's what's happening now. I do want to go back and ask you about something that's kind of been in the zeitgeist lately because I had on this very program, I had on a gentleman named Sean Menard.

Have you heard of this gentleman? Yeah, fuck that guy. Okay. Well, you can obviously say what you will, but he directed a documentary called 299 Queen Street, but I follow you, Ed, on social media, and I know you're not tickled pink about all this. Why don't you express for us all,

like what is it, what's concerned you about the documentary 299 and why were you not asked to participate in this love letter to Much Music? Well, you just, with your second question, you've answered the first part. It's not that my ego needs to be stroked, alright?

It's just that I am so associated with the heydays of Much Music. Like, I may as well have been the avatar for Much Music. I was there for 14 years. People grew up watching me. People associate me with Much Music. How do you do a freaking documentary about Much Music where you talk to on-air people,

you talk to some of the VJs. Like Rick. Rick and Bill and some others, but you don't talk to uh on-air people you talk to some of the vjs like rick rick and bill and some others but you don't talk to me like how do you not talk to me it's a deliberate step you have to definitely say i will not talk to ed because i was so prominent that had to be a decision and the thing is when i first heard about this documentary yeah i sent this person a uh email saying hey this sounds like a great idea uh i'd love uh if you if you need anything i've got lots of footage that much doesn't have um and uh you know i'd like to like to participate and no answer whatsoever not even a courtesy

not even a courtesy nothing when i did hear from him was after i went on online and said screw this guy and screw this documentary uh like people can see it if they want i'm not telling people not to see it but uh when i went on social media and people were like this is bullshit how can you do this documentary and not have ed's input on the whole thing then i get this email from the joker um and in the in the email first of all is my original email in this email chain my original email then one of his assistants on the day that i sent it sending it to him saying uh please respond to this and he didn't and then in his email he made it he indicated that he had contacted other vjs who were not asked to, to comment, um, proactively, but didn't contact me.

And he's like, I don't want to have to type at all. Uh, call me and we'll have a conversation. Like, yeah, sure. So that you can make out, I said, whatever you want to say that I made, I said, as opposed to, uh, committing it to text. Uh, So I never bothered responding to the guy. And I know somebody who saw the documentary and said that it's not very good, that it's not really indicative of, fully indicative of the Much Music experience or what Much Music was, that it's not the greatest.

Now, this is one person's review. I don't know. If you see it... Would you see it? Like, when the stream's on the service, maybe you already pay for, would you, Ed DeSoc, would you watch this? No.

I mean, just so you could have an informed opinion. No. What can he tell me about MuchMusic that I don't already know? What can I learn from this documentary that I lived and already know? What can I learn from this documentary that I lived and breathed that place? How can he tell me, how can he

illuminate it for me? It's not possible. 14 years I was there. What is he going to tell me in his little documentary that I don't already know? Now, I'm sorry they didn't ask you to participate. I wish you were a part of this. But there are a couple of big names, I will just shout out,

who are also not involved in the documentary that I found were glaring omissions. Because, you know, I actually am one of the last people who might give a shit about all this. So my perspective's important here, Ed. But the two guys who were not a part of this documentary... Nardwur and Master T. Oh, Master T is one.

So Master T, Tony Young, who's also an FOTM, not part of this. But Terry David Mulligan's not a part of this. And I was chatting with him about it, and he's like, they never fucking care about the West Coast. Like, it's all Toronto, Toronto, Toronto. But then again, Ed DeSoc, you are Toronto, 299 Queen, and you're not a part of it. So I don't know.

I'm not here to make a... It's a crime, by the way, that Master T isn't part of it. Master T played a huge role in bringing urban music, black artists, to attention in Canada. He broke down doors and brought in, you know, hip-hop dominates now. He was the one who kept knocking on, saying, you got to play this music, you got to play this music. And the white people were like, no, no, no, we're not going to play that music.

But he kept pushing, and he introduced a lot of artists on his shows, Extend-a-Mix and Da-Mix, and through his DJ stuff, he introduced a lot of black artists and gave them a platform when no one else would. And the fact that somebody that consequential to the Canadian music scene wasn't asked to comment, what the hell kind of documentary is this? Well said, Ed. No, well said. When this does, I'm not going to go buy tickets

to Roy Thompson Hall to see this thing. Well, that's the other thing. Shouldn't he be offering VJs and stuff free tickets to this thing? Well, that's the other thing. Shouldn't he be offering VJs and stuff free tickets to this thing? Well, probably he might have done it, but then you told him to fuck off, and then he probably said, I'm not giving this sock a ticket.

I don't know. I got contacted by people saying, are you going? Because I'm not going. I can't afford to pay that kind of price. It's expensive, right? Like, I will say... 200 bucks to see a movie?

Are you crazy? Especially because your review, your friend or person who... That's just one person's review. Yeah, one person's review. 200 bucks to see a movie? Are you crazy? Especially because your review, your friend or person who... That's just one person's review. Somebody might see it and love it. I should say, I haven't seen it, and I'm just here to capture the... And if you're just a person

who never worked in much music, you'll not notice the deficits. You'll not notice what's missing. So another reason why I'm not going to watch it. I don't need to watch it. It was my life. You lived it. Yeah.

You can just close your eyes at night, Ed, and you can revisit Much Music. Sometimes I do, and it's a nightmare. So you have no regrets when you quit because you said you saw the writing on the wall and you knew it was coming. You have no regrets that you left Much Music? Well, no.

The thing is, when I left, it was supposed to be more of a sabbatical because there was somebody there who I thought was a stupid and evil person who I had to deal with, and I received indications that that person would be replaced because there were many complaints about the stupid and evil person. And then I would come back when stupid and evil person wasn't there anymore. But then the company went up for sale. And when the company is going for sale, don't replace senior management because it doesn't look good to the street.

So that person never left and I never came back. They did try to bring me back. I almost went back. Years later, I was contacted. They said, you know, we need what you bring to the channel. And it was very close to happening. And then they flipped formats to this comedy thing. And, you know, I had a meeting and I said, you know, having Ed there when you're doing this flip will give it a sort of stamp of approval for people who were upset about the change.

And Ed does comedy. So it works. And, you know, their attitude was no, because they'll see you and all they'll think about is how much better Much Music used to be. And they're not wrong. Unlike the people in Canadian television back in the day after I left Much and City, who said, yeah, we know you're really popular, but when people see you, they're going to think about City TV or Much Music and they're going to change the channel. I'm like, what fucking world do you live on

where that ever happens? You see in the States, they will grab a person who was popular on one show. Like David Letterman, right? You didn't see him go, I'm going to NBC. 9-1-1, a big hit on Fox, is going over to ABC. ABC doesn't say,

well, people are going to think about Fox, so we can't change it. No, idiot. They're tuning in to watch me. They're not going to go to the channel where I am not. This is part of the problem with Canadian broadcasting. No fucking idea how broadcasting works. I will say, when I would see you on City TV,

I instantly went back to Cable 10, because that's where I saw you. That's right, that's where you first saw me. Like, this is not, do you not understand how audiences work? Now, these people who I dealt with, they're many generations of management ago. So this doesn't apply. I've not had this experience

with people who are currently in charge of this stuff. Right. So they get, you know, they're off the hook from my criticism for that. And let's face it, the business has changed, and the ability to spend money on smaller projects that feel more personal, it's very difficult. They put their money into shows that they can sell internationally,

otherwise they can't really afford to make the shows. And I get that. I get those economics, and I understand that. can sell internationally. Otherwise, they can't really afford to make the shows. And I get that. I get those economics. And I understand that. That makes sense. Nonetheless. Yeah. Oh, I guess, wait.

Nonetheless. I see. That's the end of the sentence. Oh, my goodness. Okay. That's why I'm not an award-winning host like Al Grego, who hosts Yes, We Are Open. I have a wireless speaker for you, Ed, courtesy of Moneris, where you can listen to season four of Yes, We Are Open, hosted by Al Grego, who hosts Yes, We Are Open. I have a wireless speaker for you, Ed,

courtesy of Moneris, where you can listen to season four of Yes, We Are Open, hosted by Al Grego. And he will inspire you because he's collecting stories from small business owners across the country for entrepreneurs like yourself, Ed. So that's-

What's it called? The speaker is called Yes, We Are Open. It's season four. And where can I find it? Wherever you find your podcast yes we're open did i help out there you've earned you've earned my wireless speaker and you've earned the ridley funeral home flashlight because i don't want you tripping in the dark okay i understand the connection to with the podcast and the speaker what What is the connection with the funeral home and the flashlight?

Is this in case I'm mistakenly pronounced dead and I'm stuck in a coffin, in a dark coffin? I'll have a flashlight as my oxygen runs out? Is that what this is about? Now I'm envisioning the world's smallest coffin. And I hope you live forever. I have no sense of your age. You mentioned that you and Rick have not aged a day

since you guys were on much music is this a seek am i allowed to ask how old is ed the sock you can ask i just did yeah you can ask how old is ed the sock you can ask great question i am eternal you're eternal i love i am like a vampire okay i am the alpha and the omega i think you're great uh That's why you're here for your third, well, no, Ed's second appearance. This is your second appearance. I don't want to get ahead of myself. This is my second? Okay. There's a guy named Steve who's been here a few times,

but this is the second appearance for Ed. Jason from Sudbury heard you were coming back to Toronto, Mike, and he says, you need to ask Ed about the time that some band was going to sue him or much because they were offended by what Ed said about them. That never happened.

Really? No. Jason, come on. That never happened. I mean, okay, tall tales. Maybe a fromage or something? No, no. I mean, fromage, the artists would thank us for putting them in it.

It was not a problem. All of them? There wasn't any artist, any band. There was a very attractive red-headed individual. She hinted at, and this is not related to the Jason story, or maybe it is, but that there might have been a band that you

criticized during a Fromage episode for being cheesy, and maybe the PR people or the representative of this band did not take kindly to this, and maybe they went to Much Music and complained on some level. Is that anything that might be real? I'm not sure.

That was a blur the whole 14 years. It's hard to remember. Oh, the band was Blur. Is that what you're saying? No. There were complaints. Not about Formage though. There were complaints. Snow, you know, the rapper Snow. I was in a movie

theater with Snow less than a year ago. Not doing anything like... What was this? The Rex Theater? Okay, shout out to Bandits, which was directed by Stu Stone, who had a Cable 10 show with Cam Gordon. I know Stu Stone.

He had his Cable 10 show at the same station where I started my Cable 10 show with Cam Gordon. I know Stu Stone. He had his Cable 10 show at the same station where I started my Cable 10 show, which is the same station. Is that Newtonbrook? Newton. Newton. Why do I think it's Newtonbrook? Because Newtonbrook is a school in the neighborhood.

Newton, okay. Newton Cable and the same place. Is this where Mike Wilner started too? Mike Wilner started there. He was there around the same time as me. And before me was Steve Paikin and Mike Landsberg. Oh, my goodness. We all came from this one tiny butthole of a cable station,

and find me people who came from other bigger cable stations who went on to do anything other than Richard Krause. Shout out to Richard Krause. He's also a good FOTM. Love that guy. But that is quite the list, right? Michael Landsberg, I don't know, 25 years on TSN. Now he's with Sick Not Weak and helping people.

Paykin hosting the agenda on TVO. We get to see his salary on the Sunshine List every year. Mike Wilner now with the Toronto Star who is calling Jay's games and working for Rogers for many, for many many many years the great Stu Stone directing movies with his brother in law Adam Rodness

whatever happened to Cam Gordon I'll never know but these are big names and I'm going to ask you so you're talking about Cable 10 I had Mark Wiseblood here yesterday and we go over like media zeitgeist Mark's still alive awesome I haven't heard that name in ages

Mark is a very interesting individual that's exactly how I describe him I say that in a positive way yeah I called him a unicorn

I think that's meant to call him a eunuch so he and I were just talking about how there's a not that anyone gives a shit

but there's a change at virgin 99.9 in the mornings and being poached from kiss 92.5 and I were just talking about how there's a, not that anyone gives a shit, but there's a change at Virgin 99.9 in the mornings and being poached from Kiss 92.5. None of these stations are as cool as The Rock, okay, but being poached from 92.5 is a guy named Darren Jones. Oh, Darren Jones. He came

from the same cable station. There you go. So he and Mr. Mo had a show called Buzz. Yeah. And I know this might be again ed you're uh you're a big boy but if it's a sore point you can move on but i feel like there was some uh negativity in the air surrounding you and buzz am i uh out to lunch it wasn't me but it was my manager okay uh kersner who created that show and discovered darren jones you like that guy kersner, who created that show and discovered Darren Jones. Do you like that guy, Kersner?

He's fine. Okay. We don't talk much. Discovered Darren Jones at a comedy club when he was like 16. Yeah. And brought Darren Jones into that show. And then he let them continue to do the show after he left Rogers. And then they tried to screw him when they took it to the Comedy Network.

Interesting. See, it's all like such a small world. I don't care that Darren's doing well. Actually, that's a lie. Yeah, I don't want him to do well. What do you want to do worse? Do you want the 299 Queen Street dock to tank more or for Darren Jones to have less success on the radio?

I don't wish either of those things, quite frankly, because I'm not the kind of person that says, in order for me to win, everyone must lose. If that documentary does well and people enjoy it, fine. Darren is finding his success in radio good for him. Listen, Darren was always a talent, quick-witted guy. So I don't wish bad things on most people. I was going to say anybody,

but I don't wish bad things on most people. Okay, so we're winding down now. I want to get back to The Rock 94.9. But do you have an update on the... The lot of noise that you made, Ed, about a MuchMusic alternative on YouTube. I know MuchMusic itself has created some MuchMusic alternative on TikTok.

I'm too old to know anything more about that. But is there an update on your alternative? Yeah, it was New Music Nation. Right. And really got walloped by the pandemic because the idea was to do stuff on the street with people and you know go in to places and you couldn't do that during the pandemic and also a lot of people who said they were gonna they were keen um didn't wind up delivering uh so it kind of is right now it's in a chrysalis state

and will be coming back as new music now and it just started a Roku channel for new music now as well. So that'll be back. You know, it has the feel of much music but it focuses on independent artists

and their videos because there's so many great videos and great artists out there that nobody ever hears from. And there's actually, I've had a conversation with some notable documentary makers about doing a documentary about me. Stu Stone? No, I haven't.

No, it's not Stu. Is he a documentarian now? He made one called Jack of All Trades. His dad ran Sluggers. Do you remember this North York's memorabilia site? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The sports memorabilia place. So he did a documentary about Sluggers and baseball trading cards that had this apex

in like the early 90s, late 80s or whatever. And it's quite a good doc. It ran on Netflix for a while. Listen, I sent Stu Stone an email and he didn't get back to me. Bullshit. He didn't get back to me. I'll fix that.

So screw him. But he gets a screw him and the other guy gets a fuck him. There's a big difference. There's a big difference. I have a soft spot for Stu. Oh, maybe the thing Leanna was talking about, maybe, was U2 with Bono.

Okay. Because we did a special called Smartass, the sock report. Yeah. And part of what we did was a segment, Leanna researched this one really well, showing a correlation between Bono's very noisy advocacy for the third world correlating with him releasing a product. Ah, interesting. Yeah, that there was a correlation.

So he got a lot of free media for his carping to, you know, he carped to governments about giving more of their tax dollars to the third world. And then when Ireland changed its tax laws so that artists had to pay taxes, he moved his stuff out of Ireland. So he didn't have to pay taxes. So, you know, shut up. But we did this thing and it was fairly persuasive. And that was pretty much the final straw for why we left MuchMusic. Okay, I'm glad you remembered, Ed, because that was going to eat at me there.

By the way, are you willing to name the stupid and evil person? No. The name would mean nothing to most people, and the people to whom it would mean something already know who I'm talking about. Gotcha, gotcha. I will say it was not Denise Donlan. Good, because she's an FOTM. And it's not.

It wasn't Dave Kynes. Who's also an FOTM. He actually sent me a box of stuff from Much Music. Yeah, he's been clearing out his place. In fact, around the corner on your way to the washroom, you're going to see a Much Music, a Punch Much poster, that picture that came from... Never sent me anything.

No, I sound like this is I thought it was the Rick the Temp show. It's actually the Stu Stone show because David Kynes works at Hollywood Suites and Hollywood Suites financed. Hollywood Suite. Hollywood Suites sounds like it's a hotel. They financed, regardless,

they financed the movie that I was watching when Snow was there. By the way, did you finish the Snow story? No. Okay, finish the Snow story, and then we're going to get you back to The Rock, and then we're going to take a picture by the tree. All right, so Snow, I made some kind of joke about him having been a prison bitch in jail,

when he was in jail. I mean, it was a long time ago. Not necessarily a joke I'd make today, but you raise your awareness over the years. And prison rape jokes used to be hilarious, and now you realize, no, it's actually rape. It's not actually funny. But apparently his mother was watching

and misheard what I said and got very upset and started crying. heard what I said and got very upset and started crying. So Snow was coming down to the station to beat me up. And he told his manager. And his manager called Much Music, who warned me that it was happening. And his manager went down to Much to intercept him, to stop him from coming in. I didn't know about this a long time afterwards.

So it never happened. He didn't know about this a long time afterwards, so it never happened. He didn't lick my boom-boom down. And the other one time I made fun of Mariah Carey on the air, and the record company, her management, or somebody complained, and then we got

Denise Donlan, I think it was, got a phone call from Tommy Mottola, who was divorced from her at this time, and he think it was, got a phone call from Tommy Mottola. Right, who was married to her. Who was divorced from her at this time. And he said it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. And he wanted a copy of it. And then there was the time, I believe it was Mariah Carey or J-Lo,

where I made a comment about how big the entourage they were bringing in was. And I said that they needed to have every square inch of their ass kissed at the same time. And they threatened not to come into Much unless I apologized. But I didn't apologize. And they came into Much because in those days, Much was the only game in town.

Oh my God. Okay, this kind of reminds me of when Jarvis Cocker from Pulp stormed the stage when Michael Jackson was giving one of his pretentious Christ-like productions or whatever that he would do. It's just these artists, these musicians, these artists who take themselves.

Oh, so seriously, like we need an Ed, the sock to, uh, satirize this and knock them down and, and help us realize how, uh,

how much, uh, stinking bullshit this all is. The thing is that the music scene now is it's so cartoonish on its own. Like, how do you satirize Nicki Minaj when she's already satirizing

so many things in her video? Her videos are aware of what they are, so how do you make fun of that? You ever see the HBO show Veep with Julia Louis- I watched it for a couple seasons

until I grated on my nerves. Okay. So I thought it was a pretty good show, but what happened was Donald Trump got elected president and all of a sudden you couldn't do

what Veep was doing, which is sending up the ridiculous White House stuff because reality was more ridiculous. So what do you do? It's the same story there with well it's true i mean it's very difficult for comedians these days who do topical stuff

because how do you the idea is you take things that people don't think about and you point out the absurdity that we we skip over all the time the problem is reality, news today is so absurd on its own that how do you make the absurd absurd? Right. All you can do really is point out the obvious. Right. And that's just pointing out the obvious, and that's not the soul of comedy.

What I think is obvious, Ed, is that you're a talented mofo, a sharp as a tack sock, and I can't wait to listen to you doing these overnights on the rock 94. By the way, I also, I also got a podcast. Oh, tell me everything you got.

And then we'll finish up with the podcast with Leanna K. Okay. Okay. You can find that online. Ed and Red's podcast. And, uh, maybe doing a podcast coming up called the late great Ed,

the sock, or I try to reconnect with some of the artists I talked to in the past. Um, and, uh, I'm on Twitter at Ed, the sock, uh, sock or i try to reconnect with some of the artists i talked to in the past um and uh i'm on twitter at ed the sock uh ed the sock dot official on facebook ed underscore the underscore sock on instagram and tiktok but screw tiktok i think i'm gonna just i i think i i don't i don't think that's my neighborhood i'm with you uh i feel too old to even uh install tiktok on my phone so well it's it's a massive security risk i understand so don't um you talked me into it so but but this new overnight show on the rock

94.9 why doesn't the marketing department and maybe this is steve mccauley's department or somebody there but why don't they uh rebrand it overnights as the sock 94.9? Who knows? Maybe they will. We've only been on the air a few weeks at this point, and these guys are on it. They're not sitting back. There are thoughts. There's planning going on. Like I said, they got me a billboard.

First billboard my entire career. I've had bus ads, bus shelter ads. First billboard I ever had. And like I said, these people are on it. They're sharp. And I'm just waiting for it all to turn to shit. Hope that never happens. Ed, thanks for returning to Toronto, Mike.

This won't be your last appearance. All night show, 92.9. No, 94.9. 94.9. What is it, 92? That's another show completely. All night show, 94.9 94.9 what is it 92 that's another show completely all uh all night show 94.9 the rock uh uh tuesdays through saturdays aka wednesday through sunday because it's midnight uh you can call 855-432-7625 which is sock uh or text just we i have relationships now with these people

who are just lonely at night and they need someone to talk to and get to know these people who are doing certain jobs, like it's quite rewarding And that brings us to the end of our 1266th

show You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Ed is at Ed the Sock. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Moneris is at Moneris.

Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. The Moment Lab are at The Moment Lab. And Ridley Funeral Home are at EPRA underscore Canada. The moment lab are at the moment lab and Ridley funeral home are at Ridley FH. See you all tomorrow. When my special guest is Rita DeMontis, who left the Toronto sun after 47 years. Cause my UI check has just come in Ah, where you been? Because everything is kind of rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the snow wants me today

And your smile is fine and it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green.