Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jayne Eastwood: Toronto Mike'd #949

Episode Date: November 15, 2021

Mike chats with Jayne Eastwood about Goin' Down the Road, the early days of SCTV, and her legendary acting career.

Toronto Mic is brought to you by the Yes, We Are Open podcast, a Moneris podcast production, telling the stories of Canadian small businesses and their perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity. Subscribe to this podcast at yesweareopenpodcast.com. Welcome to episode 949 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.

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Learn more at realestatelove.ca. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is Jane Eastwood. Hello, Jane. Can you hear me? Yeah. How are you doing? Oh, great. Good.

Hi. What a pleasure. What a pleasure it is to meet you. Thank you so much. Thank you. I haven't been on Zoom in a while, actually. I felt like during COVID it was like nothing but Zoom. Got really sick of it.

I was going to say, lucky you. I wish I could escape Zoom for a little while. Yeah, I'll bet. Yeah, I know. It'd be nice just to be in the studio with you drinking coffee, you know? My good friend Mark Hebbshire. Right. And I co-host a podcast.

I also produce a podcast for him every Friday morning called Hebsey on Sports. And going way back before COVID, he's like, oh, Jane is the best. You got to get Jane on Toronto Mic'd. And of course, I was thinking, of course, like Jane Eastwood is the Mount Rushmore of like guests I want to have on Toronto Mic'd. But he goes, oh, he goes, Mike, she lives in Western Toronto. Not anymore. Right. At the time, right. And I said, oh, perfect.

Like this is going to be ideal. And then I reach out to you better late than never. And you've moved. Whereabouts do we find you today? Now I'm back in Hamilton. I'm in the north end of Hamilton. Sort of near the water and the mills,

you know, and the Bayfront park and the encampments. We got some serious encampment stuff going on here. It's very messy. Well, you said go going back. You used to live in Hamilton. I did. I lived in Dundas and Flamborough and Ancaster. I never actually lived in Hamilton. And then we moved. I'm from Toronto. I brought my kids up in Dundas because we couldn't afford a house in Toronto, even back in the eighties. Right.

And I have three kids and sorry, my phone just went off. And we moved around there a bit. And then we went back to, to Toronto and we were renting. And it was very nice. And then my husband passed away david flaherty you know he was a writer joe flaherty's brother oh my goodness of course i'm so sorry by the way my condolences that's okay thanks i think it's been five years now and then we just started talking about like what was going on real estate wise in hamilton i thought that's the only way i'm ever going to bill and make an investment again. So I just moved back here,

not thinking I would be here all the time. Like, cause I was still living in this rental house with my son and my roommate. That's another whole really long, weird story. So I was going back and forth. And then when COVID hit, right. My daughter, Alicia, who is in the West End, said, Mom, just stay in Hamilton. Just stay there. Ride it out in the hammer. I'm in the hammer. I love

the hammer. Now, I think your phone is blowing up because people are like, we hear you're making your Toronto Mike debut. People are very excited. Did you want to take a quick second to just turn off just maybe mute the phone or whatever? I did. I did. I'm so sorry. No, no. take a quick second to just uh turn off just maybe mute the phone or whatever just okay i did turn it off i'm so sorry no no my son it's exciting that uh there's activity that's that's always good

now jane uh off the top here i need to know uh do you handle compliments well not everybody does do you handle compliments well i do i do I do. I'm grateful for compliments. I am. Okay. Because I have, I opened up, you know, the FOTMs, the listenership. I said, if you have a question for Jane Eastwood, let me know. Because I have my own questions. But if people have questions.

So I'm going to start with some, you know, kind questions that will kind of warm you up here. One is by a gentleman named Rock Golf. And Rock Golf says, Jane is practically a one-woman history of Canadian television. A genuine legend. I'm looking forward to this. When you hear that, that's just the first of many

I'm going to share with you, but you're a one-woman history of Canadian TV. Do you realize, in fact, no, don't say a word, because I'll read Paul Hockyard's comment for you, and then we'll you realize in fact no don't say a word because i'll read paul hark i'll read paul hawkyard's uh comment for you and then we'll get your reaction but paul says does she realize the positive impact she's had on the canadian scene as a forefronter and legendary comedian and actress for other stars male or female he's got questions, but I'll leave that part there.

Do you kind of appreciate your role in this Canadian television and movie system? No. I do hear, well, I think the word icon can be thrown around a bit too loosely these days. So when I hear that, I don't take it very seriously. It's just that I have been around for a long time. And the thing is about the film business, as opposed to the theater, you forget that people are actually going to watch you.

The people are actually out there watching you. Like you do it for the other actors, the directors, like you've all got to hope the director likes me. Oh, yay. I got a laugh from the crew. And that's becomes your world. You know what I mean? And then if you're lucky enough to see it, I never, never really see anything that I'm in very much because it's either a teensy weensy part in a big American film or or or a Canadian series and those are the things that make me the happiest and of course I I see those it's just that I've been there from the beginning and I just feel incredibly lucky and grateful going back to King of Kensington and even before before that, I was on the Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour.

I don't know if you remember what that was. The Lorne is Lorne Michaels. That's Lorne Michaels, yeah. And he and Hart Pomerantz had a, it was kind of like a sketch comedy show. That's what it was in Toronto. And that was way before I did King of Kensington. I think.

I could be wrong. I'm getting really old and a little bit addled at times. God bless those people. They're just so kind. They're so kind. I will tell you a funny story, though. Yes, please. If you have a moment. I was at a Pittsburgh Pirate game in Pittsburgh. The Flaherty's, my in-laws, from Pittsburgh and my husband, David Flaherty, actually at one time was asked to train with the Pirates. He was that good of a baseball player, but he became a comedy writer instead. Poor guy. Anyway, so we're, and it's kind of near his end and he wanted his brothers to come up from LA. So we were having like a great

kind of Pittsburgh reunion and we were at a Pir LA. So we were having like a great kind of Pittsburgh reunion and we were at a pirate game and we were sitting beside a couple and our grandkids were running back and forth. They were nice. And I said, I'm sorry about the kids. And they said, oh, it's all right. We love kids.

And then he looked at me and he said, did anybody ever tell you you look a lot like Jane Eastwood? And I went, yeah, in Canada that happens. And I said, are you Canadian? And he said no no we're from milwaukee i went okay how do you know me he named every christmas movie i've ever been in oh my god of course every single hallmark christmas movie i've ever been in and the fact is they're all the same it's all the same script i don't know how he remembered. I don't know how he was able to differentiate. That brings up the point that we forget that people are

actually out there watching us. I'm more into the Canadian thing, actually. You never know which Jane Eastwood project somebody will latch on to. There's the one obvious which we'll dive deeper into in a moment. There's an obvious iconic movie.

We'll have to go deep into that one. But you never know. It might be a little television or little movie called The National Tree. Is that another Christmas movie? Yeah. That was a nice one. I was in Mark's house. Okay.

So that's why I'm bringing up The National Tree because Mark Hebbshire, who we've already brought up, that's twice, I've got to send him an invoice. Mark Hebbshire played the role of a television reporter in the National Tree, and he would like me to ask you about your role in the National Tree.

Did you not see it, Mark? Well, first of all, I was in your house in Dundas. Am I speaking too loudly, by the way? I have a very loud voice. Honestly, no, it's perfect. You sound perfect. Okay, great.

Okay. I played the grandmother, as usual. That's what I play now. I'm very happy to play that. Of the boy who was taking the tree across America. Not Canada. It was America. Right.

And I was just talking to him on the phone all the time. And it was a very sweet role. And don't ask me, please don't ask me the names of any other actors I've worked with because I barely even remember my name. But they were lovely actors. He was a bit of a star. I can't remember who it was. Mark will know. Oh yeah, all that matters is

you remember Hebsey, the rest is all just Can I remember? Now here's a name so okay, so you probably wonder why Mike, you've said the word FOTM a few times and you're kindly pretending you know what I'm talking about, but that means friend of Toronto Mike and Jane, you're now an FOTM, you're a

friend of Toronto Mike. Well thank you Congratulations. I'm privileged, thank you So you're now an FOTM. You're a friend of Toronto Mike. Well, thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. So Hebsey's an FOTM. We just talked about him. There's another FOTM who sent me a great email when he heard you were coming on because he's returning to the show. I think next week he comes on every year to kick out his 100 favorite songs

of the year, which is amazing. But this gentleman's name is Dave Hodge. Dave Hodge was on Hockey Night in Canada for many years. Of course. Of course, yes. You ready for your Dave Hodge question? Yeah.

Thank you, Dave. Ask her about being every guy's dream date at York Mills Collegiate. Oh, okay. Okay, that's really a weird, interesting question, Dave. Did you go to York Mills Collegiate? Did he go to York Mills Collegiate? Yes, he did. He was there.

He obviously wasn't. How old is Dave? I don't know his exact age, but I'm going to put him early to mid-70s. Okay, so that's how old I am. And I was not popular at York Mills Collegiate at all. I mean, that's why I'm an actress today is because of my unsuccessful childhood and early teenage hood. I was not attractive. I was not particularly well-dressed. I think, and this is really crazy because in grade nine, nobody spoke to me in the entire school. Wow. Nobody, nobody spoke to me in that entire school

in grade nine because I was short, unattractive, kind of dumpy. And then between, this is like a story that I tell all the time because teenagers need to know this. So between grade nine and 10 in that summer, I grew five inches and lost like 20 or 30 pounds or something. And I became much more attractive. And then all I cared about was being attractive and possibly getting a boyfriend so I failed grade 10 so then I really had to get out right and I said my parents they didn't know what to do with me I lived in like York Mills which was a very sort of affluent area and I said I I really think that I should go to northern and take the commercial art course there, because I knew one person who did that, and I did have one old friend at New York Mills, and he remembers the only time

I was happy was an art class, right, and my father said, well, that'd be fine if you could draw, and my mother said, she'll learn to draw, I mean, they were just desperate, they were just desperate to figure out what the hell to do with me, and I went to northern and my life began because there I was in the art course and pretty much everybody in my class and we all stayed together right like grade 10 11 and 12 we're all together as a little unit pretty much everyone was a reject from another snooty high school in Toronto because you wanted to be a painter right like you were a painter I I am. You are a painter. Current, present tense. Okay, amazing.

How do you get into acting though? Because if you're a painter and you get into acting, how does that happen? I remember we have a cottage up in Muskoka and it's like a family compound right now. It was up at my aunt Billy's cottage, which was up on the hill. And I ran down from Billy's cottage to my cottage, slammed in through

the screen door. I was seven. And I said to my mom, when I grow up, I'm either going to be an actress or an artist at the age of seven. So kids know, they know who they are. I think, I bet you, you knew that you were going to be doing this. Do you think? I bet you did. That you were going to be somehow in this kind of business. Here's the truth, Jane. I'm being honest with you.

I loved listening to the radio. And I knew very early on that I would never be doing this. I know you're going to do a spit take there. I knew that, and this is, of course, you have to, you know, hopefully one day I hit puberty and I can speak to this, but, you know, your voice will change hopefully at some point. But I was hearing Tom Rivers and I was hearing, you know, Mike Cooper and these guys on the radio,

and I knew I didn't sound like that, and I didn't even think it was an option. So basically, no, it's kind of amazing I'm actually talking to you now in a broadcast form. Oh, okay. So what did you think you were going to be? I didn't know, but I do distinctly remember out of high school, I had no idea. And I knew I had to do something.

And I just went to U of T for four years to figure it out. And then it turns out I ended up doing something that didn't exist when I was in university. Like the world I've been living in in for whatever the past 25 years did not exist. Like it's a digital marketing world and we just simply, yeah. Yeah.

So I needed like, I mean, that's my theory, you know, I know. I was thinking, I just knew, I was thinking like,

do I, I know that you're so good at, you're so good at like improv and comedy. And I'm thinking, this will bust up her bit. Like I have to roll with it. But then I'm like, I need to deliver the real talk here. So, but. I'm not that good at improv. That's, that's another story that we can get into. We will because when I, go ahead, please. The thing is when, where I grew up and when i grew up it was

like the 50s everything was very strict we i didn't even know an actor i'd never met an actor so i had no idea how i was going to become an actor and i remember i heard about some drama school in toronto and i begged my mother to send me and she she wouldn't she she didn't and i i tried to get into the play york mills and i didn't get in and then at northern i did two plays and then things just progressed and like yeah it was what i knew i needed to be anyway now i i want to bring you to a uh no there's a scene in toronto i often will hear for example i'll listen to maybe andrea marden talk about this and you kind of hear about this. I call it like this,

this, this God spell crew of which many go on and do set SCTV. And there's this whole like, and you can hear some of the names involved and you're like, Oh my God, the who's who of like comedy are involved. What's going on here. Can you just give us a taste of this,

this time in Toronto with sort of the Godspell crew and everything that was going on around that. Well, I'll tell you one thing. We're all still in touch because it was so crazily special to us. First of all, I'll list everybody who was in it. Marty Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Paul Schaefer was our musical director. Let's see, who else was really famous?

Well, Dave Thomas was in it. He came in later. Some people who weren't famous, but they were wonderful, Rudy Webb and Avril Chown, Valda Avix, who's now an opera singer in Europe. Have I missed any of the other fans? Oh, Victor Garbert was our Jesus wow

he was our first Jesus and then Don Scardino who became a very big director on Broadway was our second Jesus it was phenomenal I lost a very good boyfriend because of Godspell can you tell me that story I need that one

we were all just like in love with each other. It was just crazy. I mean, I've never, never been in a group like that in my life. We just made each other laugh constantly. We partied together constantly. Everybody wanted to be with us because we were sort of like the comedy Renaissance group of Toronto. We didn't know it. You know what I mean? We didn't know that people were going to be famous.

But I've never laughed that hard in my life, ever, ever. Oh, and then it just kept going with Second City, and then John Candy and Joe Flaherty, my brother-in-law, and Danny Aykroyd. It was just that group was, well, Catherine O'Hara and Robin Duke. And Robin Duke and I ended up doing a comedy show together for the last 15 years called Women Full and Clothed with Teresa Pavlenik and Kathy Greenwood, all Second City alumni. I mean, it was, it was the Godspell moving into Saturday Night Live,

moving into, you know, Second City and then SCTV, which was started by my brother-in-law, Joe Flaherty and Harold Ramis. And Brian Joel Murray was one of the ones who came up to start the stage show. He's Billy Murray's older brother. It just goes on and on. Jane, I'm just shaking my head because the names you're dropping, like in that moment. Yeah, Danny used to live with me. Danny was my roommate. John Candy was a very, very dear friend.

Joe, we used to call him Johnny Toronto because John just loved to swagger around Toronto. Just he enjoyed his, I've never seen anybody enjoy their fame as much as John did. because John just loved to swagger around Toronto. I've never seen anybody enjoy their fame as much as John did. He was just having so much fun all the time. He was taking limos before any of us had ever been in a limousine. And you've still got the popcorn going there, the notification. I don't know. Okay, that's on the computer, and I don't know what to do.

I'm just a stupid old... No, no. I don't know how to... Jane, it on the computer, and I don't know what to do. I'm just a stupid old stupid. No, no. I don't know how to. Jane, it's okay. You know what? Don't worry. You're Jane Eastwood, for goodness sakes. Okay, yeah.

Tell your people I'm awfully sorry about that. I am my people, and I'm going to forgive you for this. So I'm going to forgive you for this. Now, a few things there. It's wild because you mentioned the name just from more recent history. I always get her last name wrong. Pavleneck? How do you say her last name?

Pavleneck. Teresa Pavleneck. Okay, so I'm haunted by an ad she did for Swiss Chalet. This is going back a bit. She did an ad for Swiss Chalet. I hope I have the right actress, but she delivers the line, chicken and stuffing and pie?

Oh, my. I didn't know. By the way, if I got the wrong actress, I'll never forgive myself, but I feel like we have the right actress here. This is a line. I still drop this line that she delivers in the Swiss Chalet ad. Chicken and stuffing and pie.

I'll tell her that. She'll love that. She'll absolutely love that. I do not remember the commercial, but I feel bad about that. That's okay. Don't feel bad love that. She'll absolutely love that. I do not remember the commercial, but I feel bad about that. Sorry. That's okay. Don't feel bad about that. Well, she did a great job. But this is the good old days when the Swiss Chalet festive meal had the Toblerone bar.

Oh, yeah. I love that Toblerone. I know. I think they still have it. No, they changed it to Lindor, like a different chocolate, a Lindt. Oh, balls. I know, I know. But speaking of early commercial work, because that's something, you know, you do these ads.

Guess, Jane, you do these ads because they give you money for doing these ads. This is how you do it. You were in these, and I'm hoping, I'm glad you spoke about John Candy, who's no longer with us. Because I'm hoping you'll spend a moment and just chat with us a little bit about Gilda Radner, who we lost far too early as well. But you would do these Molson Golden commercials with Gilda and Andrea Martin. Tell me about these. They were hysterical.

They were like just like little mini comedy shows. And we had nothing but fun. Yeah, I guess it was just andrea and gildan i um marv goldhar steve weston really great funny toronto actors like some of the names i don't remember but they were brilliant they were absolutely brilliant we had this director that we adored by the name of dougie cow. I don't remember the agency that it was for, but those were just fabulous fun. And they, I mean,

and you know, like good little exercises and sort of like sketch comedy, quite frankly. Yeah. And you're working with some heavyweight. I mean, think of that trio. If we just said,

okay, here's a Jane Eastwood, Gilda Radner and Andrea Martin. Like, wow. Like forget Toronto, like in the, in the world, you won't find, and Andrea Martin. Like, wow. Like, forget Toronto. Like, in the world, you won't find a better comedic trio. Come on.

Well, we didn't know that. It was just like, hey, yeah. That was when work was coming quite easily in those days. You know what I mean? I feel almost guilty saying that. But in the 70s, Toronto was a really fine place to be in for an actor who was kind of already in the business, you know? It was just, I think it was mostly offers.

I don't remember doing a million auditions. I think it was mostly offers. That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah. And what was it like being friends with Gilda Radner? Just give us a little. And what was it like being friends with Gilda Radner?

Just give us a little. You just, you knew that you were in the presence of comedy greatness when you were with Gilda. She was just adored by all of us. And I just wanted to hang out with her all the time. I mean, and she was so much fun. Oh my God.

She, she was amazing. And then, then she kind of disappeared out of my life when she went to do SCTV but I remember when we were in Godspell together she said Jane let's go down to let's go down to Yonge Street and buy some taps maybe buy some taps some jeans and taps and then she'd have like very expensive jeans on and she said don't you tell anybody what I paid for these jeans ever. Cause she came from a very wealthy family in Detroit and she didn't want

people to know. I think they owned hotels or something. And it was like her jeans cost $140. Oh, back then. Cause I don't want to pay that much for jeans today. I know. Maybe I'm exaggerating.

Maybe it was 80. I don't know. But well, she was know. But, um, well, she was, uh, and she, she, first she went out with Victor and then that didn't work out. And then she went out with Marty and that was a great relationship for quite a while. And then, and then she moved, she moved. But I remember once I said, Gilda tops were like main, main topic of conversation.

I said, Gilda, I love that top. So she took it off and gave it to me. She took it off and gave it to me. She gave it to me. Man, it's funny hearing you talk about going to Yonge Street and buying these tops. It sounds like a scene out of a certain movie, which we'll get to in just a moment here.

Yes, that's right. But yeah, Gilda was heaven. She was absolutely heaven. I mean, she was the most extraordinarily popular person I've ever met in my life on a show. Just beloved. Are you still friendly with Andrea Martin? in Hamilton and we have like we do um sort of a zoom thing when we're watching American Idol it's really fun it's really fun we've got some other people on it too so just like a constant like a messaging thing no I adore Andrea um I've never been to her apartment she says I'm welcome there anytime but then COVID would happen and I would would see her every once in a while.

Like she has a house in the West End of Toronto, but she's mostly in New York. And also she visits Marty Short up at his cottage on Lake Russell. So I see her then. Amazing. Okay, let's get into the movie that I'm dying to talk to you about. Sure. And more because, of of course you worked,

I don't know if you call that, fairly recently with Andrea Martin in a pretty big movie. We'll get into that in a moment. But let's, actually, so I'll frame it by, before we talk about the movie, and I pulled a couple of clips just because I think you're amazing in it. Oh, great.

I think the movie's amazing. But I'm going to finish Paul. So Paul Hockyard, who just wants to make sure you know the impact you've had on the Canadian scene, but he also wanted to know, what is your favorite role that you've ever had in your entire career? What is your favorite role? Playing the mother in this is wonderland.

It was written by George, George F. Walker, who was my son. He's really famous. You're going to have to dig into that for me. Yeah. Can't remember his name, but he was fabulous. Yeah, I love that because the writing was top drawer. It was incredible. Like even guests who would come on that show,

they would use that piece for their reel because it wasn't like a normal sort of guest spot. It was like brilliantly written. The guy's a brilliant writer. Okay, that's one of my favorites. Then there was another one I played on Haven. I played the coroner on Haven. Most of my favorites have been like Canadian series. Sure, and you've been in all of them.

No, not really. Well, a few, but yeah. I'd say those two really stand out for me. I don't know if Paul's seen them. This is Wonderland was really good. It was amazing. Awesome. And I'm probably forgetting another favorite of mine.

Sorry, Paul. I'll just like interrupt you later to tell you. Oh yes, that one. Well, it's funny because Michael Lang, his comment was for brevity, you might want to ask which shows Jane yes, that one. Well, it's funny because Michael Lang, his comment was, for brevity, you might want to ask which shows Jane hasn't been in, rather than everything she has been in. He goes,

some of my favorite shows from the 80s, he mentioned Seeing Things, Night Heat, Bizarre, you were in all these. Yeah, yeah, that was a good run. That was a very good run. Bizarre was crazy. That was a good run. That was a very good run. Bazaar was crazy. That was crazy.

There were quite a few of us in Bazaar. We were called the ugly funny girls. We were called the ugly girls by Dave, by Super Dave. Okay, because can I talk for a minute there on Super Dave, who passed away recently as Bob Einstein? I had Leona Boyd on this program. You're familiar with Leona. Yes, yes.

I had drinks with her in Vancouver. Oh, did you? Okay, Leona. We're in God's hand tonight. Yeah, sorry, go ahead. No, that's amazing. Everyone's connected. That's why I love doing this program.

But Leona had a story about Super Dave know, Super Dave in a hotel room. So, you know, it wasn't a great story for Dave, unfortunately. No, I'm no dear. I know. Do we want to share it on the air? Well, I'll just let people... Leona did share it because she said

she wouldn't share it while Bob was alive. But since he passed, she wanted to share it in the spirit of the Me Too movement. But I want to ask you about Bazaar here because it was Dave Biner, right? Got the right guy? John Biner. My apologies. Yes.

Lovely guy. He was a lovely guy. And this is all shot in Agincourt, right? This is like... Yeah, up at the CFTO studio. Right. That's Agincourt, right? I don't even know how...

Yeah, that is Agincourt. That's Agincourt. But it's funny because I have... I always love talking to people from the old city tv uh and one of the people i love having on the show is ziggy ziggy lawrence who of course and ziggy was one of those like she would be one of those like models who would come on bizarre i guess and wear a tight t-shirt or whatever like this they were the pretty girls we were the ugly girls but we were funny so that's what we were hired for wild okay let's it was fun well we knew that we knew that bob was a piece of

work like he wasn't kind he was not kind but then he would i mean i remember barbara hamilton remember barbara hamilton barbara hamilton was a bit of a comedic legend in Canada way, so way, way back, like before I was in the business. Gotcha. And she had this, you know, she sort of talked like this, and she had quite the chin, and she was very funny and considered one of the top comedians in Canada, right? And I remember when I was sitting in a room with her,

I thought, oh my God, I'm sitting with Barbara Hamilton. Like my mother and I used to go and see her at the Crest Theater, you know, like she was a big deal. She was invited on Bazaar and she was given like a, you know, a script to read. And she sort of, she was kind like a you know a script to read and she sort of she was kind of like an old-fashioned comic you know what i mean sort of like but i'm thump that kind of comic right and she read it and it was too big and bob said that's the worst thing i've ever heard i mean he was just so mean to her i said oh my god that's fucking barbara hamilton you're talking to. But he was very loyal to our little team. So he wasn't all bad. He was actually a pretty nice guy.

John was great and brilliant. Glad to hear it. Love these bizarre stories. Now we're going to go back a little further. We're going to go back in time to, let me give this question to, who will I pick because many people had the same question. Rick A.

Rick A. says, would love to hear her thoughts on the original Going Down the Road. We're Going Down the road with Jane Eastwood. Loving it. And I'm loving what Mike Majewski is up to. He's reserved 200 beautiful full-size Christmas trees, and you can get one in exchange for a donation to the Daily Bread Food Bank. Register for this by emailing mike at realestatelove.ca and put

Christmas tree in the subject line. Just let them know what date you want to pick up your tree in Mimico. You got November 27th and 28th from 9 to 1 p.m. and you have December 4th and 5th from 9 to 1 p.m. Great job, Mike. You know what else is great? The Fresh Craft Beer you get at Great Lakes Brewery. It's delicious. It's brewed right here in southern Etobicoke. Much love to Great Lakes Brewery. And Palma Pasta, authentic Italian food that'll leave you wondering why you waited so long to give it a try. Visit palmapasta.com.

StickerU.com is where I go for stickers and such. That partnership with StickerU.com is where I go for stickers and such. That partnership with StickerU.com has been most excellent. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at 3080 Lakeshore at 14th Street. Brad Jones has been a tremendous FOTM. You can pay tribute without paying a fortune. You can learn more at RidleyFuneralHome.com. If you're looking for a good podcast, I recommend the CEO Edge podcast from McKay's CEO Forums. Fireside chats with inspiring CEOs

and thought leaders. I post a new episode on torontomike.com every single week. I wish Jane were in studio because I could give her a wireless speaker from Moneris. The Yes We Are Open podcast, hosted by FOTM Al Grego, is also inspiring, particularly if you're a small business owner or entrepreneur like myself. He interviews small Canadian businesses and tells their story, the story of their origin, struggles, and future outlook. Subscribe at YesWeAreopenpodcast.com Here is an incredible deal for all FOTMs listening. This is from ChefDrop. You go to chefdrop.ca. You choose one of their fantastic meal kits

from these wonderful chefs and restaurants in southern Ontario. Use the promo code FOTM50. That's FOTM50. And you get 50 bucks off your order. You just got to spend $100 and $50 comes off the price at checkout. Try it. Support ChefDrop. They support the real talk. Now back to Jane. So let me preface this by saying I absolutely adore this movie I would catch it on late great movies on City TV and I would just be mesmerized by this film and I've seen it pretty recently

there's only really like three actors in this movie there's other little characters but there's mainly three actors one of them is you you played Betty in Going Down the Road so please I will be quiet here and we'll listen to Jane Eastwood tell us how you got the role and then we'll Betty in Going Down the Road. So please, I will be quiet here and we'll listen to Jane Eastwood. Tell us how you got the role and then we'll get into Going Down the Road.

All right. Yeah. No, I Adored It Too is probably the best movie that I've ever been in. And that was way back in 1970, 69, 70. I think it came out in 70 anyway. 70. So there was a small group of us. We were in an acting workshop led by Eli Rill,

who had come up from the actor's studio in New York and decided to open his own studio. And I was lucky enough to be one of his students. So we had heard about an open audition. I felt like it was on a sidewalk or something, this audition. It might've been literally out in the open. And I remember Kale Chernin and myself and, you know, Doug and Paul at all auditioned for it. And we, we got it.

It was like, wow. Yeah, this is cool. We're going to be in a movie. We'd never been in a movie before. I think they were paid, the boys were paid $1,000 each. I was paid $600. And I think Cale got about like maybe $400 or $300. It took us six months to shoot it. It took us six months to shoot it. So it was basically, Don Shabib had sold his house and his beloved Morgan car that he absolutely adored to make this frigging movie.

He made it for a hundred thousand dollars. And so we would just, you know, it would be like, we'd go and do stuff and they'd say, okay guys, that was great. And then maybe three weeks later you say, okay guys, can you meet me here? Like, we'll just do, we'll do this. It was literally just a, okay okay let's go you know it's kind of guerrilla shooting and the person that he was extremely lucky to get was a cameraman by the name of Richard Leiterman who was at the time actually a very well-renowned documentary filmmaker uh DOP I think Norman Mailer even wrote something about Richard Legerman in his book. So that was a huge aid for, for,

for Dawn and it was just pure love. It was only us. I mean, you think there were a few actors on the screen. You should have seen behind the screen. Nobody was just us. I think we were pulling cables and you know what I mean? It was like, it was like, it felt like a student film and we were pulling cables and you know what I mean? It was like, it was like, it felt like a student film and we were just so happy. And then when I went to the premiere and saw it, I thought, Oh my God, I can't believe I'm in this thing. It was incredible. It was a stunning,

of course I hated myself. I couldn't, I was nauseous when I saw myself, but I thought the movie was fabulous and it holds up today it does it actually holds up so it got amazing reviews um in New York um Pauline Kael said it was brilliant and this movie came out before Midnight Cowboy right and it kind of had that sort of that sort of feel to it and I had my best friend was in Germany and she read in time magazine about it. Cause I think she had an extra like spot in it. So it was really like gaining huge popularity. I don't think it ever went to Hollywood,

but people who really knew about film really loved it. And to carry that on a little bit, you know, I said, I do a lot of, I did a lot of spots in like American movies, right? Because they came to us. So the typical first day that you go on an American set, nobody knows who you are. Like the director doesn't know who you are. They're polite. The American actors don't know who you are. They're polite, but they're distant.

And so unfortunately you have the Canadian crew who kind of knows who you are so I had this first day on a movie of course I can't remember what it was it was pleasant the director was very pleasant then the second day he came and said okay so they just told me who you are and what movie you did going down the road. He said, I was directing in New York and my entire cast had gone to see this movie and they came running back and said, you have got to see this film. This will blow you away.

Isn't that fun? Oh. It was nice. I don't know if I ever was able to tell Donny Pibb that. Well, it's not too late because just this past summer, you're familiar with Peter Gross. He was on City TV. And anyways, Peter Gross is a local.

I love Peter. Yeah. I think Peter was in Eli's workshop. He was, Peter was one of the, he was. Okay. I remember that. This will all make sense. This will all make sense.

You carved a very interesting career. I'm sorry. Yeah. So, okay. So I. He carved a very interesting career for himself. Right. Yeah. And Peter, well, was one of the stars. I don okay. So I, I pretty much, right. And Peter's,

well, was one of the stars. I don't know if you call him the star, but he was one of the players in the followup to going down the road that Donald Shabib made, which is called rip off. So the, the movie.

Yes. Yes. And Peter's in that. So we actually, we had Donald Shabib and Peter Gross. Well, Peter Gross was in my backyard and Peter Gross recorded his phone call with Donald Shabib and Peter Gross. Well, Peter Gross was in my backyard, and Peter Gross recorded his phone call with Donald Shabib

just to dive deep into ripoff. So I did an entire episode on ripoff, okay? Now, nobody really saw ripoff. I didn't see ripoff. I feel terrible about that. You're not alone. So go ahead. Sorry. It was not a success.

You were in the good one, as they say. But it's just interesting. So this experience with hearing Shabib, because Shabib's not even proud of Ripoff. But Going Down the Road is the first Donald Shabib movie. And when you watch it again and you hear even Bruce Colburn being all over that soundtrack, what a find that was. Because nobody knew Bruce at that time.

And he's all over the soundtrack and it sounds amazing. Just an amazing film. For a movie to be a success, all the magic has to come together. In that one, it did. It was magical. It was actually a magical thing. And then, I mean, then our careers just blew up after that. We were just offered, offered shows at the CBC. And they were, the CBC at that time, they were doing like some very interesting work.

Oh, God. Sorry. That's okay. That's okay. Yeah. Things buzz. oh god sorry that's okay yeah things buzz that's okay you know what it's okay this is going great and I'm having a great time that's all that matters Jane is I'm having a great time

so anyway CBC at that time they were doing almost a playhouse 90 almost every week or maybe every three weeks so they have like new directors new new new writers new actors so they were doing incredible work I don't know whatever happened to CBC I mean once they built that freaking building on Front Street all production stopped. That's that building is empty.

And when we were actually doing stuff, they just had these weird little studios just kind of sprinkled around Toronto. And there were maybe no dressing rooms. There might've been a makeup room. It was pretty, pretty bare bones, but like really good work was being done.

And then it just stopped. But anyway, that, that sort of became my life after going down the road was doing these extraordinary sort of new Canadian films, which were all very depressing, extremely depressing. We have this joke in women fully clothed about what Canadian films were like. And I said, yes,

the new Canadian film called My Long, Slow, Snowy Walk to Death. Well, going down the road is very depressing. Like that is a... Yeah, but it had some laughs. Oh, yes. Because of Paul Bradley. Because of Paul Bradley.

Right, right. So, yeah. So you got, yes. And just to reiterate, I know you mentioned them, but of course, Doug McGrath and Paul Bradley, they play a couple of Cape Breton, I guess they're from Nova Scotia, and they're basically going to Toronto,

where all the jobs are and where all the ladies are and all the fun life is on Yonge Street in Toronto, and they make their way. And, well, I won't spoil it. If you haven't seen it yet, see it. See this thing. I got more questions about going down the road, but I want to play a little bit of Betty.

So you're Betty and going down the road. You said it was difficult for you to watch yourself. Is it also difficult for you to hear yourself as Betty? No, and I'm totally into watching myself now. It was just then. Back then. Now I'm fine, yeah. I hear you.

All right, so I pulled a couple of clips. They're each about a minute long, but here, let's hear a little Jane Eastwood as Betty and going down the road. Hi. Hi. All right. How's the bride? All right.

Come on in. It's about time. I told Joey to have you over for dinner two weeks ago. Oh, yeah, he mentioned it to me, but I figured you'd still be getting settled in and everything. No, not really. Come on in. See the place.

What do you think? Oh, it's nice. Real nice. You like it? Yeah. Well, you know, there's still a few things to move around. We got some things to come yet, but we're getting there. Go on, sit.

Hi, Ben. Where's Joey? He's out getting beer. Be back in a minute. Sally says she ain't seen you since the wedding. Oh, yeah, well, you know, I've been kind of busy. I love it. Like, is there a more Canadian film? He's out getting beer and you're going to make some craft dinner.

That is as Canadian as it gets. Yeah. It's a little cliche. And I got to say, I sounded so boring there. Oh, I pulled. Okay.

Well, I kind of liked the feel of, it all felt very raw. You mentioned how you filmed it, like just a very like skeleton crew and it would be like show up at the park and we're doing this, whatever. That's kind of the, the feel I get,

which I dig. It's almost like a, like you're watching a documentary or we're doing this, whatever. That's kind of the feel I get, which I dig. It's almost like you're watching a documentary or something. Yeah, because that's what Don had done before with documentaries. So that's the style that he did. But that was basically my first gig. Right, right, right. I don't think I was a very good actress yet.

Okay, I'll play another clip because that one, I wanted that clip because of the Kraft Dinner and I just thought it was so... I know, the Kraft Dinner's great, yeah. Oh, God. Shout out to the Barenaked Ladies, who, by the way, so the Barenaked Ladies used to have Kraft Dinner thrown at them because they dropped Kraft Dinner in their, if I had a million dollars.

A million dollars, yeah. The drummer here is going to come full circle, so get ready for your mind blown, Jane. But the drummer in Barenaked Ladies is a gentleman named Tyler Stewart, who is probably listening right now. Hello to Tyler. And one of Tyler's first jobs was basically driving Super Dave around while he was in town filming the Super Dave Osborne show in Agincourt.

Oh, my God. That's amazing. That's a true story. That's amazing. That's amazing. I bet you've got some stories. Oh yeah. I've captured them. Now, we're going to play one more clip. It's about a minute. There's more Betty in this one and then I've got a few

more questions about going down the road and then we'll get you to talk about some SCTV stuff and everything. But here's another Betty clip from going down the road. What am I going to tell Betty, Pete? You shouldn't have told them off. The hell with it. Come on. Oh, yeah, that's okay for you to say, but I got a face there, you know.

Bastards. Oh, Joey, not your job. Well, now listen, now, we didn't get fired. I mean, they'll probably call us back in a couple weeks. Joey, we can't afford to have you off work for a couple of weeks. Honey, what are we going to do? Now, listen, don't worry, babe. Now, I'll get something.

Well, you're going to have to, Joey, because I can't go on working much longer, you know. Now, don't... I mean it. I know, I know. Now, you're going to have to, Joey, because I can't go on working much longer, you know. I mean it. Oh, no, I know. Now, don't you worry. Oh, me and Pete, we always think of today. Who might even go into business by herself? What kind of business could you guys go into? What kind of business? Hell, there's lots. I was just looking here at this one here. Look. Plastic laminating. $12 an hour. Earn up to $100 a week selling shoes in your own neighborhood. I can do that.

And you can help, hon. You could be a secretary. Right. Oh, that's so ridiculous. It just sounds so ridiculous without the visual, though, doesn't it? And it doesn't help much that the quality of my audio is so bad because all I could find was a bad rip on YouTube. So you get a lot of background noise. Oh, that's hilarious.

Oh, God. Okay. Yes, please. Earlier. That was my very first job. Oh, no. I'm here to praise you, not judge you. I think that's amazing.

And I will just say that you mentioned earlier you're not very good at improv. And my question is how much of the dialogue that we hear in Going Down the Road was scripted versus improvised? Because it sounds and feels very improvised. It was scripted. From what I remember, it was scripted. But I know I would riff on it a little bit. Because in Eli's class, we did nothing but improvise that's all we did we were just and we learned a lot about um you know like just being real we learned a lot about

being real as a matter of fact there were some sort of Stratford actors I think who had audition for going down the road and the fact that these three unknowns got it really pissed them off. It really pissed them off. And I remember one gal saying, yeah, they just got like kids off the street to do this, but we were actors, you know what I mean? I think I'd maybe done one player, but we, we really worked on like not hanging signs out. You know what I mean? Don't, don't look angry, be angry, that kind of just sort of making it, you know,

from the gut, which is the way everybody works now. But there was a time. I'd say in Canada when acting was a little bit different, I'm not saying it was, uh, it's hard to, I'm not sure how to put it. It had a different feel it just seemed to be a little um i'm not going to say fake because it wasn't just a little bit more octory canadians when canadians would do movies instead of americans americans you could barely hear they were just like this up really close, just like talking really naturally. And the Canadian actors were just, we were out there.

We were really doing some acting, you know. So, yeah, I think we were all guilty of it. Yeah, today we call that overacting, I think. Yeah, that's what it would be. But I didn't really want to say that. That's my job. I overact. I overact all the time because i'm so damn loud i'm a terrible overactor like quite often you know i'll i'll meet a director and i say look

i'm going to start out really big so just don't be just bring it down just bring it in bring it in dial that down yeah dial it down but i do a lot of kid shows and that's heavenly because no director of a kid shows ever had to say jane could you bring it down. But I do a lot of kid shows, and that's heavenly because no director of a kid show has ever had to say, Jane, could you bring it down a little? Well, I've got a couple of younger kids, and we'll be watching something like, I forget the name now, Dinosaur Dan or Dana, anyway. Yeah, Dino Dan. Right.

I'm on that. Yeah, and there's Jane Eastwood, and I'll be like, it's Betty from Going Down the Road. I know. I know. Those shows are heavenly for me to do. That's produced by a guy by the name of J.J. Johnson

who has this massive, massive studio now called Sinking Ship. He's doing stuff for Disney and Apple and he won the Emmy for Dino Dan over Sesame Street and nobody's won over Sesame Street in 29 years.

Oh my gosh. And he's a very, very funny guy. Dino Dan, for those who haven't seen it, if you don't have kids or whatever, it's pretty good CGI or whatever. You'll be watching, suddenly there's a dinosaur in the streets of Toronto or whatever. It's pretty cool.

Oh yeah, he's like about 40 animators. Right. Yeah. No, he's a big deal. He's a very big deal. His kid shows are just fantastic. And he uses me in every one of them. Oh, then bless his heart.

I think there's one that I haven't been in. Pardon me? I was going to say bless his heart then if he's using. Yeah, bless his dear fun heart. Yeah. Okay, back to going down the road because we can't quite leave quite yet. We're almost done here.

Didn't you know this was a six-hour deep dive into going down the road? That's okay. I got nowhere to go. I'm not working. Can we talk about the nude scene? Just, you know, the fact is... Yes.

Because, you know, I watch it many times. You get naked in this movie. I can see Jane Eastwood. I didn't know that was coming. I did not know that was coming. And this is way before the, you know, people actually had rights on film sets. Yeah. Okay. Jane, you have to be nude here. What? No, I'm no, I'm not going to do that. And so everything came to a halt. And I said, you did not tell me that I had to take my clothes off. I was completely freaking out. I knew it wasn't going to be pornographic, but it just had to be in the nude. And everybody

was saying, oh, come on, Jane, it's not a big deal. especially Paul Bradley. He said, oh, come on, Jane. Just don't worry about it. It's film. Who cares? And then finally Richard Leiterman, who was sort of like the god on this, said, Jane, just take your clothes off and let's get on with it, okay? Okay, so okay, fine, fine. We'll do it. And then so I took my clothes off and then Paul Bradley had to take his clothes off. And then when Don Shabib finally said cut, Paul pulled his underwear up so fast, it just kind of rolled up into a little rope,

just barely covering his private parts. It was hysterical. Because he was unbelievably embarrassed too. Well, I can tell you, I don't think we see Paul's bum in this movie. Like, I don't think... I know, you know, he'd see mine. Oh, God. Oh, bums aren't so... I know, you only see mine. Oh, good.

Bums are nothing now, right? I was curious because you only made the $600 and it sounds like it was $600. Is that right? For like six months of work? I made $600. That's unbelievable. And you'd think if you're

going to do a nude scene, I don't know, $600. You clearly had no rights. I know. I had no rights, but I gained a career out of that movie. That movie started my entire career in Canada. That was priceless.

So I've got no complaints at all. No. Yeah, and people are still talking about it. So that's amazing. I mean, I'm going to just give a few facts here. The TIFF, so the Toronto International Film Festival, they periodically, they publish like a list of the top 10 Canadian films of all time.

They last did it in 2015, but they previously did it in 2004, 1993, and in 1984. And every single time that they publish a list of the top 10 Canadian films of all time, Going Down the Road appears in the rankings. So that's how important this movie is to Canadian cinema. Yeah. That's great.

I mean, it's in the film schools. You know, like, film students study it. Yeah, so it was a pretty wonderful thing to happen to me. Talk about luck. You know, amazing luck. I mean, I probably would have eventually made it into the business sooner or later, but that catapulted me into the business, which was fantastic.

Gare Joyce, another fellow FOTM, Gare Joyce points out that you're the only actor in Going Down the Road that also appears in the fantastic, I added fantastic, but I'm sure he'd say it too, SCTV spoof of Going Down the Road. He says they're both classics. So here, let me play a little bit of a song just to give you a little chance to catch your breath. A little bit of a stomp. Written by my brother-in-law.

I'll tell you later. Oh, wait, because I'm going to play a bit of Stompin' Tom here. Just a little Stompin' Tom here. Just a little Stompin' Tom, and then we're going to talk about this. Okay. There's a rainbow in Toronto, where the maritimers are bold. They always get a pot full, but they never get a pot of gold. But they're to it and at it, and at it and to it. You got to tune your attitude in. If you don't get at it, when you get to it, you won't get to it to get at it again. You won't get you don't get at it when you get to it you won't get to it

to get at it again you won't get to it to get at it again a guy from old new brunswick he couldn't all right thank you stomp and tom that's of course uh yeah that jam of course. Now, tell me everything you can about the SCTV parody of Going Down the Road. Well, that was written by my two brothers-in-law, basically, Joe Flaherty and Paul Flaherty. My husband, David, wasn't... I don't think he was writing for SCTV just yet then. They knew me, obviously, very well, and they just loved the whole

going down the road thing, and they, that was part of a whole, they did a Canadian week, like a thing about, like, Canadian television. So they wrote it, and it was hysterical because Joe Flaherty's absolutely brilliant.

Brilliantly funny writer. Like, brilliant. The guy funny writer. Like, brilliant. The guy was extraordinary. He's also the best improviser I've ever seen in my entire life. And then, no, they just wrote it, and it was hysterical, and I was lucky enough to be in it. We laughed through the whole thing. John was just going, look, he did balconies and stuff.

Oh, my God. It was just fabulous. And Don Chabib adored it and yeah it became incredibly famous that scene it's a very it's a very good spoof it's it's it's it's classic it's classic in fact i'm actually really disappointed maybe you can make a call and help me out but i think only half of it is on youtube the other half is missing in action and i just think uh anyway oh really yeah that's Yeah. We gotta, we gotta unite these parts and get shared universe. Now, can you keep like you, you weren't on, like, I know you make appearances.

There's an example you're in that, but like, how often would you appear on SCTV? The show? Not very often because they had their main cast. And by that time I had, I had left second city. They stayed. I was in the original theater Second City company established by Joe Flaherty. And Bernie Solins, the owner of the Chicago one, and Brian Dolan-Murray. And they hired us all.

And the minute I got in there, I knew I was out of my depth. minute I got in there I knew I was out of my depth I was not the improviser that Danny Aykroyd Gilder Radner Joe Flaherty uh Eugene was brilliant and Marty had not joined yet and Brian Dahl Murray like Brian and Joe had been in Chicago for already for three years I I was out of my depth it was just not I just wasn't good enough. I wasn't good enough. That was my one big tough, really tough time in show business. And we lasted for seven months. I hung in there.

I was good in the book show because I can do sketch comedy. Like I know I can be funny, but I just, if you had ever been on stage with Danny Aykroyd, you'd know what I'm talking about. He did hold the door for me once. So he held the door for me on Avenue Road. There was a restaurant I was lucky to be a guest at because I couldn't afford it on my own actually. But he did hold the door, which I thought was kind of amazing. This is going back, but there's my Dan Aykroyd story that nobody cares about.

He was a of amazing. This is going back, but there's my Dan Aykroyd story that nobody cares about. He's a sweet, he was a sweet guy. Like he lived in my apartment. We were roommates. I, I, I've never, his, his brilliance was just extraordinary. And I was basically backstage going, yeah, okay, I'll play the wife. I mean, I just could, I really could barely hold my own. So we got closed down. It was very successful, but we didn't have a liquor license. So we got closed down. That was on Adelaide street in seven months. And I was like, Oh, thank God I'm out of here. And I just carried on with my career in other ways. We're still all like really good friends.

And then they reopened on Lombard and became a Canadian North American sensation. I remember Stephen Colbert interviewing Marty and cause Stephen was in the Chicago company. He said, yeah, he used to say that's Toronto's where all the cool guys are, you know? I mean, that cast was nuts. It's really unbelievable, Jane, cause we've talked a lot about, you know, at these, these people at SCF, I mean, Harold Ramis, you know, you mentioned John Candy, Marty Shore, at least. And of course your brother-in-law, Joe Flaherty, like, like, Jane, because we've talked a lot about, you know, these people at SCF, Harold Ramis, you know, you mentioned John Candy, Marty Shore, and of course your brother-in-law,

Joe Flaherty, like, this is amazing, and then you realize, I think off the top of this conversation, you mentioned, what's the name of the troupe again? Hart and Lorne? What was the name of the... Yeah, the Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour. I mean, what, in 1975, in 1975, Lorne Michaels, in 1975, Lauren Michaels, uh, you know, SCT,

sorry. Why did I say that? Saturday night live debuts and look at the cast members that overlap and come over and what they're still doing that show. Like it's just an unbelievable happenstance. Yeah. That shows a beast. I mean,

that's just on no show should last that long. That's extraordinary that he was able to do that. It's fantastic. I mean, it's beyond brilliant. You know, he did ask me to come down and audition for the show after Robin Duke left. Right. But I already had two little girls.

And I said, that's not a job for a mom, but it just isn't. I mean, I would have been fine doing the sketch, but that was, I remember Gilda said to me, Jane, if you thought it was rough backstage at Second City, you would have put a gun to your head backstage at Saturday Night Live. She said the competition was really fierce. It was crazy. And people were, people were drunk and just doing drugs and just doing anything to get, to get through it, you know, and it was a massive success, of course, but even Gilda, she, I mean, she felt the pressure big time, big time there. You're like trying to hustle writers to write stuff for you, to make you a star, you know, I would have lasted a half a nanosecond

there. There's no shame in choosing motherhood over fame. I have three kids. Boy, am I ever glad I have them. They're amazing. They're all really funny. They're amazing. They're just extraordinary people. Everybody says that about their own kids.

Mine really are. I do the same preface. If I'm talking about something great about one of my kids or whatever, I always have to preface it by saying, no, I realize everyone thinks their kid is great, but my kid really is great, and here's why. I know. Too funny.

Now, okay, I'm going to touch on a few things. One is an interesting, I think, a small world story that a very good FOTM who's been on this show many times is named Stu Stone. And Stu Stone was a, like a child actor who would show up in lots of things. I'll bet if we cross reference you guys, you probably don't even know it,

but one of the kids you were working with was probably Stu Stone, but Stu Stone does one of the voices in my pet monster. Ah, yes. You're a, I think I've done that. Yeah. So, I i mean there's one i just want to let the fotms know that you and stew stone were both voices in my pet monster that's awesome but you

know the thing about voice work i'm man i love voice work is that you're usually working alone every once in a while like they they would decide to put uh the actors in a studio together and it was so much fun but most of the time you're just doing um yeah so i heard he jumped over that fence right like yes and you know what i mean so you just uh it's just you're just like doing it in isolation it's still great but if you get so i stew and i probably never actually work together oh yeah that is that's an interesting fact it's true i'm very big fan of the simpsons and you'll hear about how they used to you know you know you can tell when two people are improvising together of the script or whatever they're and they're actually in the same space so that they can kind

of you know castellaneta and kavner can kind of bounce off each other and then it's got to be you know it's can't be very easy to do it all alone like that you need that that it's tough and it's i because i mostly do kid shows for animation but i remember there were some maybe a couple of adult shows where yeah they put us in together this unbelievable voice actor by the name of John Stalker. I don't know if you ever met John Stalker. He was hilarious. That guy had a beeper because he was doing about eight spots a day. That's how popular he was.

He was hysterical. So I think we were in the studio together sometimes. Anyway, it's great work. It's a great club to be in. I haven't done it in a while, but that's alright. We're going to hit a few hot spots on our way out here. One is that I'm thinking of the big movies you've been

in. Of course, Going Down the Road is one of the best Canadian movies of all time, and that's how you started, which is an unbelievable beginning. But you also appeared in The Santa Claus with Tim Allen. I still get residuals from that movie. Well, you know, there's a whole thing about the Canadian buyout, right?

You know about that, don't you? Tell me. We do. Canadians, ACTRA, our blessed union, made a deal with the Americans when they were coming up here and giving us work, which I'm extremely grateful for, and giving us work, which I'm extremely grateful for, that we would not get residuals until five years after the release of the TV show or the movie. Now, the biggest residuals come in the first year, obviously.

So we missed out on those. So what we would get is double our scale salary. So, I mean, I think scale is about $780 a day. So we would end up getting like 1500 a day and no residuals until five years later. But I was lucky enough to be in a couple of classics that just kept going. And the Santa Claus was one of them. So I got some like nice, nothing huge, but some nice tidy little Christmas presents every year from the Santa Claus. Tim Allen was a doll. He was a lovely, lovely guy. I was there for like

a half a day. I was there a half a day. It's the gift that keeps giving because we're, what are we now, mid-November here. This is about the time, I guess, when people start watching the Santa Claus. I said to Tim,

so many of these great people I've met are just, they really are great. And I said to Tim, what should I call you? He said, well, you can call me old great one, if you like. It's okay, old great one. And then that established the laughs right away. He's a sweetheart of a guy. Okay, because tell him that's taken by Wayne Gretzky.

He's in the wrong country. Yes, exactly. Here's another one. We already talked about your relationship with Andrea Martin. And of course, you're in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Yeah, that was fun. That was really fun.

And it's kind of doubly fun because Catherine Greenwood, who's a comic genius, who's in the comedy group that I'm in, I don't know if we're going to get back together, but we had 15 fabulous years together. Nia Verdales is her best friend. And Nia was in Second City.

Nia actually used to be my brother Tony's secretary when he was an agent. He had like an agency on Yorkville, Tony Eastwood Talent. And Nia was his, like, secretary. Isn't that funny? That's wild. Yeah. So Nia was great. And that's funny that's wild yeah so nia was great and it was a lovely part to be in and i i enjoyed it a lot and then i got to be in the second one and i got to then i was with andrea in the second one right it was fabulous and that one i mean that

was an unexpected hit right like this was a big, but you couldn't have known it was going to be that big when you're filming it. I know. No, you never do. I was just grateful to be in it. And Andrea in it is beyond hysterical. Right. She is unbelievable in it.

And the second one too. The second one didn't do as well, sadly. Well, I was going to ask you about another sequel that doesn't make the top 10 list. Well, I was going to ask you about another sequel that, you know, doesn't make the top 10 list, like Going Down the Road. But, you know, Donald Shabib, there is a sequel to Going Down the Road. Yeah.

That was not too long ago, right, that you guys, what was it called? Still Going Down the Road? What's it called? It's called Down the Road Again. Right, okay. Actually, it's a pretty good script. it's actually a pretty good little script it was uh um you know pete was to bring joey's ashes across the country and then and he gets to nova scotia and finds out a whole bunch of shit about himself and it was actually pretty pretty cool um i don't know why i mean

people liked it but didn't of course it didn't have the same impact as the original one. And he only had 18 days to make it, as opposed to six months. And you really can't capture that. You captured lightning in a bottle there with all these, like this perfect storm. You can't duplicate that again, right? No, you can't. I've always thought sequels, you're very lucky if a sequel does well, in my opinion.

You're very fortunate. I don't know what kind of, I guess action movie sequels are both the only thing. Well, here's an interesting thing. So upcoming soon to Toronto Mic'd is a comic named Jeremy Hotz, who you might know. But Jeremy Hotz, he got a pretty juicy role in Speed 2. Okay, so Speed 1 was his monster success, as you know. But Keanu Reeves did not want to return to Speed 2. And

Speed 2 was kind of a huge bust because there was no Keanu and nobody had an interest or whatever. But it's interesting when you take a role, I was going to ask you, was there ever a movie you appeared in where you thought oh this is a can't lose like this is gonna be a monster hit and then it fizzled like was there ever that like i'm sure there was a movie um i'm trying to sure no no i never i mean you know possibly i just don't really remember sure um i know there. Sure. I know there was, I like, I know there was,

you just feel like, Oh, it's all coming together. It's going to be brilliant. The cast is brilliant. We all adore each other. And then that was, then it's just a nothing,

just a puddle. Yeah. I'm sure that's happening. Here's the last movie I want to ask you about, of course, unless you want to talk about anything else. I just love your voice, by the way.

So you could read the phone book. I'd probably enjoy it. You were in Gene Hackman's last movie before he retired. Gene Hackman has been retired. He just stopped working, but the last movie he did was called Welcome to Mooseport.

Yeah. And you're in that. I'll tell you what, I'm already laughing. I'm already laughing, and this was Joe Flaherty's favorite story about me. So this movie and Gene Hackman is on stage talking to us in the audience. And he probably thought I was BG. He probably thought I was background in the movie. I actually had a part, but I was supposed to be watching him and applauding. And I was kind of with another really funny actor. And I really was kind of overdoing it. I was just like, really overdoing it. And I saw Hackman look at me. And then he said something to the director, who was a very nice guy.

And the director just, he looked at me and said, he just waved his hands down. Just wave, just bring it down a little bit. Hackman hated my guts. He hated, I can tell you that. He hated me. And I've always been a huge fan of his, just because of that one time. You know?

No, I know what he said. Apparently he said, could you tell the girl in the kilt to bring it down a little bit? So I told Flaherty that he still brings it up. Still brings it up. You know why? Because Joe probably knows you're the reason

he retired from acting. Yeah. Probably. It's all your fault. He's been acting every year fault I do apologize I was just yeah and I really liked him so much oh well never mind

not a good experience and I guess I'll close with the the role that kids across this globe probably might know you best from if they hear your voice. But you did

appear in Paw Patrol. I did? How did you know that? Oh, it's on your IMDB page, Jane Eastwood. I did some crack research. Paw Patrol's a big deal. No, it's a huge deal.

It's a billion dollar enterprise. It's a monster. Yeah. You know what? I think I was up at the cottage auditioning. I think I had to submit three auditions to get that part of Helma Humdinger, Mayor Humdinger's mother. And it was fabulous.

I loved it. I don't know if they've invited me back. I don't know what I did to offend them. I'm sure they will invite me back. Maybe I did one more spot with them, but yeah. And then I didn't know it was Canadian for one thing. Shame on me.

I think they, didn't they sell it? I think they sold it for like a billion dollars. It was like E-Now or something like that. I can't remember. Spin cycle, maybe spins anyway. Maybe. But they should bring you back, but they're too busy counting their money to.

I may have done it twice. I don't remember, but it was quite, yeah, I was astonished at what a big deal it was. Jane, this has been like, what a thrill.

I wanted to do this in person, of course, but I'll take a zoom with Jane over No Jane every day of the week and twice on Sundays. But maybe next time, if it all works out at some point, we can actually do a sequel in person. It would be a delight to meet you. Let's do it in person.

It was great, Mike. Thank you. I love talking to you. I'm going to go to Beverly Tire now. Get some tires done. You know, that's my life now in Hamilton. Although I have been very busy, I must say, just in closing. I've been very, very busy during COVID.

Well, I was going to ask you, though, because you made a joke earlier that you're not working right now, but how are things going? Extremely well. I'm just a typical actor. that you're not working right now, but how are things going? Like, just how are things today? Extremely well. Extremely well. I'm just a typical actor. I haven't had a job in three weeks,

so I'm sure I'll never work again. So that's it, obviously. That's it. I'm done, I'm sure. That's the way my mind rolls. But no, I've been extremely lucky. I've been doing all sorts of movies and all sorts of stuff.

Yeah. Yeah. So thank you. That's good news. That's good news. Thank you, Mike. Again, a true pleasure. Now I'm going to pose. I'm going to ask you to pose for a photo, believe it or not. Even though we're on the Zoom here, I'm going to take a screen cap.

How do I look? How do I look? Let me get the light in front of me. Because you look amazing, but I'll give you a countdown. Okay, so. All right, Jane, I'm going to take this picture in three, two, beautiful. Okay, amazing.

I mean, are you active on Twitter? No. Not at all. Because there's a Jane Eastwood TO that I tag in everything, and I have no idea if there's anyone home there, like if you're even aware that that exists. Yeah. My daughter sort of got me on it.

I'll start. No pressure. I'm just curious because I'm going to let people know to follow you at janeeastwood.to and otherwise, no, this is great. It'll be Toronto Mic'd. It'll be live and like I'm going to have it live in like 15 minutes so people will be...

How do I listen to you, Mike? Remember I'm 75. Okay, so the path of least resistance is if you go to torontomic.com in like a half an hour. Go there in a half an hour. Okay. And there's going to be like a play button. torontomike.com

Email me. I will. Email me or text me if there's any problems with that. But go to torontomike.com in like 30 minutes and then it's just going to be waiting for you. You can check it out. Okay. Thanks for this. I don't want to listen to myself though. But I love you, Mike. Listen, this is all killer, no filler. You're going to want to share this with your loved ones.

Peace and love to you, Jane Eastwood. Talk to you later. You too, honey. Take care. Bye. Oh, I hate to leave. And then leave. And that brings us to the end of our 949th show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Jane is at Jane Eastwood, T-O. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery, they're at Great Lakes Beer. Chef Drop is at Get Chef Drop. Moneris is at Moneris. McKay CEO Forums are at McKay CEO Forums.

Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. And Mike Majeski of Remax Specialists Majeski Group, they're on Instagram at Majeski Group Homes. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls.

Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started. For me and you But I'm a much better man For having known you Oh, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Won't stay today And your smile is fine

And it's just like mine And it won't go away. Cause everything is rosy and gray. Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day.