Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Kire Paputts: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1683

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

In this 1683rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with award-winning filmmaker Kire Paputts about his career and his latest film Always Had A Nice Time, a vulnerable, painstaking portrayal of people whose stories don’t typically get mainstream attention. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Yes We Are Open, Nick Ainis and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

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Joining me today making his Toronto Mike debut, it's award winning filmmaker, Kirei Papouts. Kirei, how you doing buddy? Kirei Papouts Let's go Mike. Mike Did I nail Papouts? Kirei Papouts Paputs pretty close. Mike You know what, you know what, I, you told me this as we met outside and I said, oh, that's easy. I took it for granted. I was so worried about getting Kirei right. I forgot to focus on, say it one more time.

Pappits. Pappits. Okay, nice to meet you, man. You too. I'm going to just tell you off the top, we're going to get to know you better and we're going to talk about this most recent documentary that you have created. But I'll tell you, I can't remember who reached out to me, probably like a PR person or somebody said, hey hey watch this documentary they said it's

it's about people in Parkdale I was born at st. Joe's okay okay give me any points here I don't know shout out to st. Joe's the documentary is called always had a nice time and I'm watching this thing and I absolutely loved it so kudos to you man thanks man it touched me immensely yeah I think there's a lot going on there well there's a lot going on in this combo here we're gonna we're gonna find out a bit more about you and then talk a little bit more about always had a nice time the hat you're wearing right now says exhibition place he what's the significance of this is official grade.

This is like when I used to work there. This is like the cleaning staff got to wear these hats. And so I just I worked there one summer. It's like my first part time job maybe. I mean, I was probably like 13, 14. That's young. Yeah. Super young. I was 15 my first year I worked at the CNE. Yeah. Getting paid like what was a six, 14 hour back then or something crazy? I feel like I'm a lot older than you because I can tell you minimum

wage when I worked at the CNE was like $3.95 or something. Yeah, it was not low. But I know. I'm 50, okay? But I can tell you we were paid by Arto Godaro of Astro Zodiac's enterprise. Arto Godaro is now an FOTM. You're now an FOTM, Kirei, welcome to the club. Yep. But he paid us five bucks an hour and we felt like we were robbing a bank. Okay. And what were you getting paid? Six forty an hour maybe.

But I mean back then, I mean, it was like great. You were doing all right, man. You're doing all right. I'm Joe Cocker over here doing all right. Joe Cocker is going in the Hall of Fame Rock and Roll Hall of Fame about time Yeah, come on. He gave us the theme to the Wonder Years. It's true. Here's a lot of things I'm surprised you weren't already in it. I know geez, but you're feeling all right here. Okay, so key rate Why only one year at the CNE why not come back? Um, I think I got a job McDonald's which was closer

I got a make do I I went to see any to McDonald's, which was closer. I got a McDonald's. I went C&E to McDonald's. Did you? Were you in the back? Like a line? Yeah. I, uh, and weekends I would be there at six o'clock to open up for breakfast and I would do six to 12 and then six to two, I think or something Saturday, Sunday, and then pick up other shifts along the way. But, uh, I went C&E McDonald's and you did as well. Please tell me was your third gig a grocery store? Movie theater. Oh, I know. Get out of my basement. Actually, you know what? No, I lied. There was a grocery store. You know what? Yeah. No, I'm not. And I got fired. My body got. That's a whole other story.

See, I didn't get fired. I quit. But which grocery chain? It was a no frills. Okay, no frills. All right. So I'm going to just shut out the Galleria mall where I worked at the food city and then converted it to a price chopper. What a great mall. Yeah. Now it's big condo plexus going up there now. That's that's Toronto.

FOTM Shari Kazman did a great little art piece on the gallery mall because it was completely stuck in time. Like you should. I know it's too late now, but we need to go back and make a documentary about this uh mall that was just frozen and like frozen in the 70s. I'd say it was unbelievable. I man if it was still around I was allowed to shoot there. I'd make a whole film there. Be great. You know what? Let's go back. Work with me on a time machine. Sure. Let's do it. All right. How many people, what percentage of people mispronounce your first name? So your first name is print is spelled K I R E and it's pronounced key rate because of course I nailed that one But what would you say like of a hundred people who are calling you but only reading your name?

How many know it's key ray a hundred get it wrong. So over a hundred unless you're like from like Unless you're like Macedonian or from that region and you kind of know it. Right. Other than that, forget it. Yeah, it's always Kyre or Kyrie. Yeah. My initial thought was Kyrie. Yeah.

But it's Kyrie. So my friend, maybe help me out by giving me a little of your film making origin story. And we're going to kind of maybe talk about your bio on our way to always had a nice time. And then we're going to spend a nice time talking about always had a nice time since it touched me immensely. Yeah. Um, I mean, I was always messing around with a video camera ever since I was like, geez, I don't know, six or seven. We just had the, you know, the family camera and we just let us use it.

It was just like kung fu movies and just dumb stuff like that. Just kind of kept with it. I went to Ryerson, now TMU for film production. Outside of that, I made a few short films. My first short outside of university was called Animal Control. It did pretty well, printed out TIFF

and other festivals worldwide. Wait, so they filmed, they showed, what's the word I'm looking for? They screened. Screened, thank you. You're the filmmaker here, not me, but they screened Animal Control at TIFF. Yep, that was my first real, yeah, real thing. And then I can't be, if you have the shorts what was animal control about oh it's like a weird kind of drama slash horror film about a guy who works for animal services and he picks up roadkill all night basically and he the ones aren't as bad he takes them home and like basically stuffs them so he has like this kind of collage like it's a whole like basic collection of dead of like dead animals, because he doesn't have any like real people in his life.

So it's like him and his dead animals, kind of his family finds a dog, thinks he's dead, brings it home, dog doesn't quite die, and he forms a bond with this dog throughout the movie, with like a living thing finally. You know, that's my cup of tea. I feel like that's right up my alley. Yeah, it's pretty explicit in graphic. We had like an actual raccoon taxidermied in the movie. So that's so nice. You know, in the first five minutes, people are walking out because they can't really handle what is going on. Yes, I was a great friend that opened up a lot of doors in terms of, you know,

just trying to get some more funding for other things. Yeah, I did some other shorts and I did. The big thing was I started working on a documentary with Colin Brunton who had started it called The Last Pogo Jumps Again. Okay, let's slow down right there. So I was recently the moderator of a panel discussion in the Red Room at the concert hall at the Masonic Temple at 888 Yonge Street because Gary Topp put out a book.

Gary, I think one of their first employees, the Garys, I think it might've even predated Gary Cormier is Colin Brunton. And Colin Brunton came over here and we had a great chat and I had a lot of questions about The Last Pogo. He actually gifted me, I'll show you, Kyrie. He gifted me a copy. I don't have any way to play this DVD right now actually,

but I just like having it on display in my studio. But he gave me a copy of The Last Pogo. But we also talked about the last Pogo jumps again. So please in explicit detail, what was your role in The Last Pogo jumps again, punk's last waltz. So tying in Gary Taub, Gary Taub's the first person who, so I also made a talk about my family that was pretty personal and pretty raw. This was probably during like first year of university. Gary had seen it and liked it a lot and tried to help me get it out there.

And that's my first introduction to Gary was through that. He was talking to me with, he was talking to me with Colin Brun because Colin had just started doing the last public jumps again. Gary's like, you should talk to this kid. He knows what he's doing, he's eager. At that time, there was a bunch of like a bit of a punk

resurgence happening in the city. So like there were a lot of bands were reforming, playing shows at the horseshoe, et cetera. So I met Colin at one of those horseshoe shows. Colin would at first call like, well, can I interview you as a, my father was in the volatile tones. One of the more worse. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So that was my in. So Colin's like, let's talk to a kid who is a son of a volatile and see what that was like being, you know, brought up. And then we did this interview.

And after that, Collin's kind of needed help with stuff. He was like, because he was working full time on, I think at that point he was on Little Mosque on the Prairie or one of those kind of CBC shows. Yeah, I think you're exactly correct. Yeah. So he was like, you know, he's got time to go around and maybe Schitt's Creek. No, not quite. Yeah. Pre-Schitt's Creek 2013. OK, yeah. So he was doing that. He was like, I was like, you know, pretty young and just wanted to do stuff. And last year in university, so I kind of did like a co-op through Ryerson with Colin. I worked in the movie for about a half a year. And my job was kind of at first was just kind of like, track people down, researching, interviewing people when Colin couldn't do it. So we'd do interviews together. And then when I graduated from university, I needed a job. And Colin's like, would you want to edit the film?

I was like, absolutely. So I got pretty involved with that. And we I mean, we worked on this thing at least seven years, something crazy like that, you know. Amazing. That's that's fantastic. The the last Pogo jumps again. What if I told you the PR company that was telling me all about these wonderful film always had a nice time, which we'll talk about

in about 25 minutes or so, gives you credit for directing the last pogo made well before your birth. I felt like writing a correction. I think you mean last pogo jumps again. Yes, for sure. Details matter, right? Yeah. You're right. Come on. We're here to correct the public record here. But okay, that's a that's a cool fun fact. And then maybe shout out a few more things you made before always had a nice time. Yeah. So my first narrative feature was a film called Rainbow Kid that premiered at TIFF, played a bunch of other festivals, was released for a company called A71, that's no longer around or defunct, but that happened in 2000, no, 15, and then made a second feature called

The Last Porno Show, which premiered at TIFF in 2019. It was supposed to have a bit of a limited release in Canada and the States, but then of course COVID came along and basically ended all of that pretty quick. So pre-COVID though, The Last Porno Show premieres at the 2019 TIFF, right? Yeah. Yeah. How do you keep getting these films into, because The Rainbow Kid was at TIFF as well. I don't know if you mentioned at 2015. So how do you keep getting these films into TIFF? A couple of people who are in this basement

last week, Avi Fettergreen and Stu Stone were talking about how they had these aspirations to get their movies into TIFF and they didn't make the cut. How do you keep getting into TIFF? At the time, I think a lot of it is just like, who's programming, what are their sensibilities? I think at the time, Steve Gravestock was the main guy there. He just liked what I was doing. But that, yeah, changes, you know, people retire, people pass away, things change.

And then, you know, you're kind of at the mercy of the, I think, sensibilities and tastes of whoever takes over, right? So I think in that regard, I you're kind of at the mercy of the, I think sensibilities and tastes of whoever takes over. So I think in that regard, I just got kind of lucky because we didn't get, I mean, last porno show got zero press that year. Like no one would talk about it, no one would touch it. But Steve Gravestock, bless his heart, he thought, you know, he saw something in it

and it's like, this should be played here. And he did. And people who see it really like it, it was just kind of, you know, trying to convince. What's it about? Oh, the last porno show is about a young aspiring actor who inherits the last adult cinema from his estranged father in Toronto.

And basically what happens is he really wasn't raised by his father. He was taken away at a young age and he has a lot of resentment towards his dad and what happened. And so getting to kind of like take over this theater, he kind of learns about his father, who he was, and at the same time he lands this role in a movie that is kind of similar or pulls a lot from I think his father and who his father was. So he kind of, you know, where he kind of takes this method approach and kind of becomes his dad for this role while also running this adult movie theater. And it kind of, you know, where he kind of takes this method approach and kind of becomes his dad for this role while also running this adult movie theater.

And it kind of goes off the rails from there. Again, right up my alley. Yeah. And I think this is again, the first film I ever saw from you was this most recent effort, always had a nice time. And there's something raw about it, something genuine, like it feels authentic, like a real slice of Toronto life. And I think a lot of us are craving that, like in this world of like AI slop and overproduction

and smoking mirrors and bullshit baffling brains, I feel like this authentic slice of Toronto life, that's the sweet spot. That's what a lot of us are looking for. I hope so. It's tough. I mean, I, I, it's really hard to get out there and no one will touch the film. Um, so I'm, I, I'm happy that you enjoyed it. And I think when people want that, cause no one will touch the film except Toronto Mike. Yeah. I mean, people, it's funny. People who do see the movie really respond to it and they really get something out of it.

I think it's just trying to convince larger entities out there that this is worth gambling on or promoting. Well, so this is all excellent teaser because basically once we're going to get you to that film, I have a few more curiosity questions. Then I'm going to give you some gifts for being here and just make an announcement to the FOTM listening. And then we're going to talk in excruciating

detail about this movie because I like the deep dives here okay we're not doing the five to seven minute hits here so is the last porno show the last movie you made before always had a nice time yes it was basically I'd finished it played tiff played Torino a few other places. Again, it was supposed to come out limited theatrical in the states and Canada. That all got ruined basically with Covid. And then I spent about a year figuring out what the hell am I going to do? Because like things were kind of uncertain movie wise.

A lot of producers weren't taking a lot of new material because they had things that they couldn't get made from previous, you know, prior COVID. And I always just wasn't getting any funding wasn't getting any kind of traction or anything else I wanted to do. So I was like, well, what the hell can I do basically, on my own, with a camera? Right. And so that's how it started with always had a nice time.

Did you play a role in the 2024 film Self Driver? I did. I was a producer on that. How come you didn't mention it when I said... Why, it comes after, it comes after I always had a nice time, I guess. Okay, well to me this is a 2025 release. Fair enough, fair enough. Yeah, so Self Driver is directed by, written by Michael Piero, who is a good friend who

I've known since my film school days. Mike has also edited The Rainbow Kid and the last porno show. He's also a director and before he did a bunch of shorts and he was like, hey man, I want to do this really low budget feature. Would you help me produce it? And I was like, absolutely. And so we set out to make that. That's a very Toronto movie actually, self-driver.

You know, I love the Toronto stuff. So budget and funding in these words I hear toss around. Again, full disclosure is I do produce a show for Avi Federer-Green called Unleashed. And he has guests on where they spend, you know, basically they spend 60 minutes talking about the Canadian, how do I, I don't want to put words in his mouth, but essentially

the system of filmmaking in this country is broken and they talk about how difficult it is to secure funding and get some of the great exposure you got at the Toronto International Film Festival, etc. How do you finance this film? When you make, always had a nice time, which in moments we'll go into for great detail about, like what is your budget for that and where does that budget come from? So in that particular case,

because it was just me and a camera, it cost nothing. I borrowed a camera for some friends. They weren't using it. And it was like, you know, they, I gave them like producer credits. So shout out to Silent Partner Pictures and of your productions, great friends of mine. They're like, take our camera for a bit.

And so it literally was just me, just my time. So it's your blood, sweat and tears. Exactly. And you borrow the gear, but it can't cost nothing, right? Um, so the only real cost came during post-production. So I edited the movie myself as well. So the money I did spend on it was like color correct, a sound mix, and basically music licensing and live scores. Those were the only real costs. You know what, welcome to my world except that I just skipped those

costs. Okay so what is that approximately? What are we talking like 20 grand, 100 grand? What are we talking here? 60k? So there you go. So not nothing though, okay. But so this 60,000, I am just curious how the sausage gets made here. Like you're not out of pocket the 60k, are you? No, maybe like 15. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. So it's a significant piece of coin there. But where does the rest come from? You pass around a hat at parties? In this case, well again, it was really hard to get funding for this doc I figured it's you know I've had three films at Primito Tiff I thought I get some money to make this very Toronto doc I thought it's very interesting and raw and like you said right but no one would touch it. I absolutely loved it like I'm not

I wouldn't even have had you on I actually went back to the person I watched the film I shared the top secret linked with although I shared it with the VP of sales listeners know who that is. He also loved it and I basically went back and said get me Kyrie in the basement and I'm here I want to talk about then you're here. I'm here. That's all I have to do just visualize it it happened. That's right manifest right? Manifest. That's all it's about. Manifest destiny over here. Yeah. So you were saying though about that missing. So you're putting in 15 you still got to come up like 45 or something like that. Yeah. So I was lucky, you know, out of all,

I mean, Ontario Arts Council, there are six juror members who thought this film was worth investing in. And that was for post-production. So I basically had shot it, edited it myself. I sent them a cut to say, Hey, I need money to finish this thing properly. And they awarded me 40 K to finish it. And I was kind of surprised a bit by that. Um, but also really happy that there's still, there is, you know, there, there is opportunity to get funding to make things that are really outside the norm. So it's, it's not, it's not a commercially like this, this film isn't going to be commercially successful.

No, it's too raw. It's too gritty, too raw, right? Yeah, yes and no, it's tough. I mean, I feel like this would be perfect CBC material. It's very Canadian, it's very local. I can understand maybe why they don't want, but it's Canadian voices that no one is sharing or listening to, right?

That's key again, we're gonna get into that. But yes, these are not the voices that are typically amplified in cinema. 100%, but that's always been, I think, that's one thing with my work is, a lot of times my work does center around outsiders, people on the fringes, yeah, those who don't really have a voice in the arts.

And this is kind of a continuation of that. But instead of narrative, it's just a documentary form. And I think that's why I found it so refreshing, because I bike. I was on King Street yesterday. I was going down. I was biking King Street yesterday. I bike these neighbourhoods every single day of the year, basically. I know these streets, and a lot of the characters I'd say on

these streets it's like you kind of bite by them and you see them and oh this is Toronto and you don't ever explore or shine a light on these human beings that are co-exist with us in this great city. Yeah, no again it's I it's or you know if you do something in this fashion it's usually handle with a kid gloves or it's I it's or you know if you do see something in this fashion it's usually handle with a kid gloves or it's it's not I feel like it's not a real genuine kind of raw approach you know and yeah for me it's just like I just wanted to talk to some interesting people you know I think you're interesting let's have a conversation see where this goes I think the best word for it is these people are underrepresented 100% yeah yeah but they should be. I think the best word for it is these people are underrepresented.

Oh 100% yeah yeah but they should be again I think you know uh you know CBC's mandate is to you know really be there for all Canadian voices and they should you know be paying attention to things like this. So you're mentioning one public broadcaster the CBC but there's another public broadcaster that should be interested in this and I'm thinking of TVO. Absolutely. Sure. Like it would fit right in. And now I'm gonna segue over to another FOTM who makes documentary films that I also adore.

And I think for similar reasons, and when I was watching yours, I was actually thinking about some of his movies I've enjoyed. Can I guess? Yeah. Is it because he's a Canadian, right? He's, yeah, he lives in Toronto.

Alan's Weg? Correct. Yeah, yeah. Good on you lives in Toronto Allen's wag correct. Yeah good on you So I was thinking of Allen. Yeah, and I'm you know, Allen's Allen's been over a couple of times and he came out to a TML X event in a moment. I'm gonna tell everybody about TML X 18, but Allen knows I enjoy his films and I find Your films are remind me of his, and I like yours as well. So obviously this is a taste I have. Is Allen Zweig an inspiration for you as a filmmaker? Yeah, Allen's made some great movies.

I didn't even... I met Allen for the first time at TIFF. So he had his film Hurt, which is a fantastic doc that's never been released for, I think, some legal reasons. It's too bad because it's amazing And I had the rainbow kid I met him just through that Tiff did that parties and kind of just hit it off Alice when the first people I showed a cut to of always had nice time and that's asking him some some stuff about that Okay, so what a small world right like so this is my as I'm watching I'm like this kind of my kind of like the guys like the guy in vinyl or whatever you kind of get to know this character in vinyl and then

and and then I'm thinking of you and there's another filmmaker and I could butcher his name Alan King to have the right oh yeah I don't think great other so there's a guy who whenever TVO would air an Alan King doc I was there for it and because I knew would be good there's a he made a talk about dying at grace. Oh, man, that movie is like I mean, it's that that was a yeah, that was like three and a half hours of watching will die of cancer.

Slowly, it's like I couldn't couldn't look away and I found it so compelling and hard and real. And then, oh, yeah. So I this is the taste I have, which I guess is why you're in the basement right now. But so those are some filmmakers, some some Canadians that you'd see on TVO.

So I feel like your film, Always Had a Nice Time, would be appropriate for a screening on TVO. Yeah, I agree. I think, you know, I think me and Alan, I think we do have different approaches to film, because Alan's very much a part of his own movies. I try not to be, but I think- Like a Michael Moore style.

Yeah, but I think it's Alan, like I think we're interested in the same worlds, same kind of people. Right. Like, you know, I think that's what that means. Some fantastic movies and I've all. Yeah, I remember watching hurt at TIFF and knowing what I was watching. And it's like, this is fantastic. So, yeah, and Alan's been a real strong supporter of this film and my other work. So any other inspirations, you know, as you're talking about a kid with a video camera, I'm thinking, like, I'm thinking,

oh, that's like the Spielberg story. Right. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think I was at the age, you know, when Tarantino came out, I think when I was 11 or 12, that's who I wanted to be. Right. It's mimicking reservoir dogs or Paul fiction. I think a lot of us lucky, a lot of my film taste came from my dad who had, I think, really good taste. I was watching things at a very, very young age that may be too young to watch, but definitely left an impression on me.

You're like eight years old watching like Straw Dogs or whatever. Yeah. Or like, you know, Pink Flamingos or something crazy. Like really, yeah. Right. It's kind of like really raw out there, you know, trash cinema. And like that had a huge impact on me growing up. So do you want to shout out just before we segue over to the always had a nice time deep dive any other filmmaker inspirations that kind of shaped Kyrie?

So many. I mean, Tim Burton's early stuff was a huge influence on me. I would say someone I mean, like Scorsese, like more like the heavy, heavy hitters. Well, your name and the big ones, right? I mean, Scorsese, Tarantino, like hook it all to my veins. Let's go. I mean, and Burton. I loved the big Peabody's Big Adventure.

That's my favorite film. You know, I re-watched it because I have two younger kids and we just watched it together and it's fucking great. Best movie ever, man. Okay. You can't top it. And we're going to cancel the deep dive on Always Had a Nice Time and talk about Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Pee Gee Mr. Herman. So like the thing like that or like, you know, like Harmony Crinn came out when I was pretty young. So like something like Gummo was a huge, you know, to see that kind of cinema being like, oh, okay, you know, like Harmony Crane came out when I was pretty young. So like something like GUMMO was a huge, you know, to see that kind of cinema being like, oh, okay.

There's movies outside of just like, you know, larger Hollywood system, right? That kind of irreverent stuff. Like, yeah, outsider stuff. Geez, now I'm going to let you know there is no basement at the Alamo. Okay. Right. Despite what you might have heard here. So, you know, he was Dear Friends, Paul Rubin's was dear friends with Elvira His real name is like Cassandra Wilson. I'm gonna go with that because I could kind of see it Cassandra's right I'm not sure what the last name though. Okay, Cassandra Wilson could be it but what I didn't realize till this reviewing with the kids is in the The the biker with the biker. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's her Yeah, for some reason I guess you know, you see it it sometimes on mainly as a younger person and then you don't connect these dots. But yeah, that's Cassandra.

Well, there's no makeup. There's no, you know, while you talk, by the way, because I in my mind is Cassandra Wilson, but it might not be Cassandra Wilson. And I feel like we need to get this exactly right. Yeah, we should get it right. Okay. She deserves it. Yeah. It's Cassandra Peterson. Okay. So I don't know who Cassandra Wilson is. But yeah, Cassandra Peterson here. And then also, this is funny. I was on a like a Plex server or whatever, just watching some old news radio episodes like just to just to pass the time. Like from kids in the hall, but I liked Phil Hartman and he's in that click too that that He's a big part of the early peewee. He co-wrote the script. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's at the little cameo at the very end

Yeah Yeah, he's great. Phil was great. Great guy gone too soon Yeah, Canadian and it's funny to see him and Dave Foley in this in news radio a couple of Canucks And it's funny to see him and Dave Foley in this in news radio, a couple of Canucks going at it. Big Americans that come. Okay. So here's the deal. You taking notes here.

He raised so the Toronto Mike listener experience 18 aka TML X 18 is happening May 11th. That's coming up. That's a two Sundays from now. Everyone is invited. We're going to collect beyond the left field fence at Christie Pits for one thirty p.m.. So take notes, everybody. Sunday, May 11th, one thirty. We're going to witness history. There's a Japanese woman named Sato who's going to pitch for the Toronto Maple

Leaves baseball team. This is the first time in Canada a woman has played professional men's baseball. So it's going to be a big deal. It's going to be a great afternoon. Everyone is invited. I have a gift for you, Kire. This book, courtesy of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball, that's the history of Toronto Maple Leafs.

There's a lot of great Toronto history there. They used to play on the island. Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run there. Then they moved where that Tip Top Taylor condo building is there, Stadium Road. They had a wonderful stadium there, Maple Leaf Stadium. And now they're at Christie Pitts and everybody's invited May 11th. Awesome. Pausing for applause, Kirei. Okay, so also I'm gonna give you fresh craft beer from our local brewery, Great Lakes Brewery. You'll love that. They brew that in Southern Etobicoke. I have in my freezer

a large lasagna courtesy of Palma Pasta. Palma Pasta will feed us at TMLX 19. That is at Great Lakes Brewery here in Southern Etobicoke on June 26 from six to nine. So again, remember Christie Pitts on May 11 for 18 and then 19 is June 26 at Great Lakes Brewery. Get it, got it. Good. You'll love the lasagna. I have a measuring tape from Ridley Funeral Home. Might be the last. I believe it to be the last Toronto funeral home where the owner and his family or their family lives on site at the same okay I don't think that exists it's like six feet under style I don't think it exists in Toronto except at Ridley Funeral Home there's a measuring tape for you beautiful measure what you wish right

shout out to Nick Ienies his podcast is called building Toronto skyline. He also has a podcast called building success. We're recording a new episode on Friday. Don't miss it. Nick Ainii's is a great supporter of this podcast. We love Nick Ainii's recycle my electronics dot ca I can imagine as a filmmaker you might have a room or a closet or a drawer or who knows full of like old tech, old electronics that don't function. Is that possible? Absolutely. Or cables even old cables that haven't worked since 1997 or something like that. That stuff doesn't go in the garbage because the chemicals end up in our landfill. That goes into, uh, you go to your web web browser you go to recycle my electronics dot ca you put in your

postal code and find out where you can drop it off to be properly recycled you got a key ray got it okay and last but not least I'll give you some new tech so this stuff doesn't need to be recycled but this is a wireless speaker who it is courtesy of minaris what What are you going to do with that speaker? I'm going to give you a little info on what you can do with that speaker. You can subscribe and listen to Yes We Are Open, which is an award-winning podcast from Monaris hosted by Al Grego. Al went to Regina, Saskatchewan. Have you, Kyrae, ever been to Regina, Saskatchewan? Not yet.

Have you been to Saskatchewan? Not yet. So we have this in common too. I've also not been to Saskatchewan? Not yet. Have you been to Saskatchewan? Not yet. So we have this in common too. I've also not been to Saskatchewan one day. But Al went, I think it was his first visit out there. He visited Tracy Bosch, the owner of Zippity Zoom Toys in Regina. And Tracy shared her inspiring story of how she started the toy store in 2009, juggling a newborn and a new business. And she talked about the evolution of the store, her background in retail and her passion for toys. So you'll be inspired by these small business owners who talked to Al, the cuddly one. Al's confirmed for TMLX 19. I just have to confirm he'll be at TMLX 18. And I believe you can get

a hug with Al free of charge. Great. If you're interested, it's optional. All right. Now let's talk about Always Had a Nice Time. What you kind of alluded to this earlier when you talked about having some time during the pandemic, but what was the impetus for making a film

about these underrepresented people in Parkdale? So again, yeah, I had finished this other movie, Last Porno Show, basically died during COVID. I was getting antsy and squirrely, wasn't getting any funding for anything else I wanted to do. So I could just keep waiting around and hopefully get funding, you know, sometime. I was like, well, I'll just go make something myself.

I had done something similar in the past around 2000 and. Geez, maybe 14. I did a short doc series on Gerard's trade East where I grew up, like Little India, basically. Right. And so I did that. Bell Media played it. And I did, it was like, you know, it was like two seasons, like 12 short episodes of just

different people and things, places, businesses in my neighborhood where I grew up. Right. And at first I was like, well, maybe I'll do something like that with Parkdale. I'll just do the Parkdale version of Druarch Treaties. I'll just do like 12 mini docs or six

mini docs of people in businesses and kind of string it together and try to sell it So I started out I knew Jack who lived down there already and I knew Kingi. So there was two people I knew I wanted to at least talk to and Jack a gay man who feels he does not fit into the stereotypical queer community and he's kind of working to strike out on move with a movement of his own. Yeah so Jack is an artist he has he started a art movement called spiritual depressionism which is like his huge kind of like more sculptured pieces that are great but I

had met Candy first we'll get to later through because candy's clothes of Candy maybe yeah candy's also with Candy maybe. Candy's also fascinating. She's amazing. Candy is in last porno show, so that's how I got that connection. Went down there and as I was filming stuff and meeting other people, I met like Ronnie and Phil just by through Jack or my friend Mike Dent, who lives down there, introduced some people, he helped me out with some stuff. So I was just kind of meeting people as I hung around. And so as your name drop, I'll just fill in a little crack. So Ronnie and Phil, these are like these two best friends, they're panhandlers and they're they're suffering through alcoholism

and poverty kind of together. Yeah, yeah. They're guys who just town street and they like have a good time and like to bring small people's faces and raise a few bucks just to keep the you know, just keep going right um and i met grizz who's living in an encampment um at the corner of dufferin and queen uh he's an artist as well i remember walking by he had all this art it was a nice sunny day i was like it's like like just so many crazy like so many pieces i was like who is this and talked to him for a bit and kind of formed relationships with him and so you know i met all these people pretty early on.

I was just filming them. And then again, I was still thinking like maybe it is like a short doc series. And then I was thinking, well, maybe it's not maybe it's maybe I can find some common thread and make it a feature. And Alan's wag, who I cut together like a small teaser, kind of real, just like some of the best things I was getting. And I was like, Alan, I was thinking of, you know, do you think this should be a feature or, you know, or short doctors?

And I was like, no, I should do a feature. And so he was also kind of like, you know, thought that and encouraged that. And so I kind of pivoted from doing the short doc thing to now making it a full length, you know, I had just so the listenership knows I actually had zero idea Alan played any role at all in this project. So it's just interesting that I had, like I was always going to ask you about Alan just because your work reminded me of his and uh, but I had no idea he played such a significant role in the like how this came to be.

Yeah, he was just again, he was just like, you know, Alan's always been very supportive and like for feedback. And so he encouraged me to keep going with stuff. Um, and then again, he was kind of also on the side of make it a feature film, you know, make a 90 minute film about these people. And so that's kind of where it started. And once I realized it was a feature, I started cutting things together.

I was cutting the film for like over a year, you know, I was trying to find threads and how does this thing whole come together? Cause the people in the movie, like they're pretty different. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's all trying to find what for me It's the heart that was kind of finding what's the comic what's that? Kind of common factor in all these people's lives that I can look at and so once I kind of

Realized it was more about people doing what makes them happy Outside of like, you know, I guess what we think of that, you know societal norms and what that looks like I realized that was kind of the backbone of the film and once I had that in place I kind of just started putting it all together and yeah it took a while but um it's finally done and just okay because we're gonna close with candy but a little more about so Grizz so Grizz is a the underhoused indigenous painter yep so he yeah, yeah, so Grizz is someone I just met him. He was just living in an encampment.

He was just for a guy living in an encampment. I remember he was how positive and how fun he was. And like it was he I was like, wow, I think I'd be a little more miserable in this situation. He had a lot of heart. I mean, he, you know, he talked about

losing two of his daughters and his granddaughter. Right. He was like dealing with grief. And he was kind of using, I think a lot of his painting to deal with that and kind of You know use it as almost like therapy, right? What I liked I like many things about this movie but what I really liked is how you humanize these people that I think were kind of conditioned to Walk by like we just kind of what they're there. We walk right by him or

in my case, I I bike right by them. But like Ronnie and Phil, you know, these are human beings. You completely humanize them and we can get here their story. And then Grizz you're talking about and Jack, of course, and we'll close with candy. But you mentioned King. Is it King? King? A carpenter? Yeah, a carpenter. A little bit different. You know King, is it Kingy? Kingy Carpenter, yeah. Kingy Carpenter. A little bit different, you know, this is an iconic Queen Street West business woman who it's Peach Berserk, right, is her long running brand. She's still there as Queen West gentrifies. Yeah, and Kingy was great and like, and Kingy, again, was also like, you know, she's someone who is not necessarily like a normal person,

not that's wrong with that. Like I think, you know, when I say the word character, I think that's like the highest kind of, you know, what you can aspire to be a character. I think, you know, why, why, why be normal? You know, so Kingi, yeah, I mean, she's iconic in terms of Toronto fashion, what she's done with Peach Berserk and screen printing, but she also has like the largest collection of paint by numbers, at least in Canada. It's insane, like thousands. Wow.

And I was like, that's not a normal thing to do. And I was interested in like, what drives someone to do this? And someone who's, you know, she's I think in her 50s now, and someone who is still grinding it out. You know, it's someone who's doing what she loves and not just kind of giving into what,

you know, people expect from a 50-year-old or 60-year-old woman, you know what I mean? So these people we meet, so Ronnie and Phil, Jack, Kingy and Grizz, okay, all wonderful to learn more about these underrepresented people in our community living in Parkdale. But again, we heard a little bit moments ago of how you met Candy, but I do I think watch the film Candy's the star of this show. Yeah, yeah, she's I mean, she's so memorable. There's so there's so many moments with her and I remember when the first things I filmed was the Jack kind of transforming into Candy had to go out and it was that scene I realized I had something pretty special I was like okay this is actually really interesting and

I was like got really excited because like at first when I started making this doc the first two days went to Parkdale I got nothing interesting I was like kind of running around I was like having second doubts. Maybe I shouldn't do this doc and then You know it only takes one thing to be like no actually, you know, I'm on the right track you know and that was that for me and Yeah, I mean candy has opened up my eyes and Jack in particular both of them just To you know what it means to live your life to its fullest and do what you want to do You know and without without worrying about repercussions

Well, you know for better or worse and sadly in 2025 often it's for worse, but there's a lot of discourse and conversation about Trans people like you feel like there's a great Percentage of the populace Who don't know a trans person, they maybe don't understand trans people, especially in the United States, unless so thankfully up here, but in the United States,

we literally hear rhetoric from the president about, the gender you're assigned at birth is what we want on the passports and the washroom you can use and all this bullshit, which just sickens me here. And then we meet candy who doesn't really fit like like candy is trans trans woman but and Candy's just like a like a superstar and waiting like this just this wonderful personality this wonderful woman and we get to really explore candy What makes her tick but she doesn't really fit into like the typical discourse or whatnot of what a trans person should be and

it's to me this was the the heart of the movie and it can truly truly a new appreciation and understanding and I wish We'll talk before we say goodbye. We'll talk more about how do you get eyeballs on this and how do you get it in theaters when? it's so So real and raw and different? And I could see some people being, oh, Candy, and then there's a scene at the end I won't talk about, but maybe a little more,

if you don't mind, about Candy and how she breaks the mold and how she helps people maybe understand better the underrepresented people in our community like Candy. Yeah, I can't think with Candy is like Candy for me is one of the most interesting people I've ever met in my life. But unfortunately, that terrifies a lot of people. Like Candy definitely people told me she they're they're terrified of Candy. And some of that could be transphobia, some of it just could be also I think the idea of what candy represents is someone who is not afraid to kind of do whatever they want to do in life their way. I think so many people are stuck in their lives, maybe they want to do things differently

or afraid to kind of take a chance or you know do certain things and they see candy as someone who's you know all cautions thrown in the wind and And maybe that terrifies them to someone who's like that free and liberating in some ways. You know what I mean? I mean, it's yeah, for me, I mean, filming with candy at first was kind of, for me, it pushed my limits and like, okay, am I actually going to film all this stuff? Like what's going to happen? Then like, you know, it took me just to, you know, a bit to be like, no, it's,

it's, it's fine. Everybody here is consenting. Everybody here is having a great time. There's nothing out, you know, it took me just a, you know, a bit to be like, no, it's, it's, it's fine. Everybody here is consenting. Everybody here is having a great time. There's nothing out, you know, it's, it's fine. It's like, I'm not going to spoil anything except, I mean, I'll just say it's, it's, it's as raw as you can imagine, right? This is, there's, yeah, you know, it's been a time, but, and it's almost like, oh, like I'm watching this.

You almost feel like you're intruding. Like it's, oh,, I'm watching this you almost feel like you're intruding like it's uh, oh should I be watching? This is a very private moment. But like you said, these are consenting adults and you're showing an underrepresented Community yeah, and I think you know, I grew so much as a person just by doing this film and working with candy I mean like yeah, I never thought I'd be filming half this stuff. And then what do you do? I mean, like the thing with documentary is like, I think if you want to do a real documentary and be honest, you have to go wherever the content takes you, even if it means kind of pushing you outside of your own comfort zone.

Right. And that's what for me, it was at first. And now by the last scene in the movie, like I was pretty desensitized by most of the stuff. So I was kind of like, yeah, this is another day of Candice, right? And but it definitely took some time to get there for even for myself, you know. Yeah, I think Candice is a superstar, like it's a superstar. And you're here to let us know about this superstar. Yeah, I know one superstar.

She's, you know, she's self-proclaimed, you know, she's, you know, the countless biggest whore. And she that's what she wants to be known as and what she wants to do. I'm like, if I can help make her that or get her closer to that, I mean, I know then I'm happy to do that, right? Yeah, I mean like whore literally I'm trying to remember now. Is it a necklace like a whore necklace? I'm trying to remember there's the she oh, it's like a sticker. Oh It's yeah, I'm trying to remember here. the... Oh it's like a sticker. Oh yeah, I'm trying to remember here. But okay, so we meet basically in the Parkdale community in Toronto. I mean this is Toronto-miked so we kind of talk like everybody knows Toronto, but basically it's a community.

Again, the hospital I was born at is in Parkdale, but I wasn't raised in Parkdale. I was raised in York, not York region, but the borough of York. So but I spent a lot of time in Parkdale, I was raised in York, not York region, but the borough of York. But I spent a lot of time in Parkdale, love Parkdale. But we meet Candy, Ronnie and Phil, we meet Jack, Kingy, Grizz, and then in like over like 90 minutes or whatever, we spend time and it just feels very raw and it's an underrepresented group that you get to explore and appreciate and all in all I left this film just wanting to share it like I just wanted other people to see this like this exists and again I said this off the top but kudos to you because

I don't know where I don't know where it airs like we just talked about CBC jam or whatever and TVO but it's not exactly I guess not Disney here right you didn't you didn't Disney find this story so but I also feel like I will say I I feel like what I'm showing is no less upsetting than watching six o'clock news honestly there's so I mean you turn on like the national and it's like there's so many things happening in the world that are way crazier than what I'm showing. But for some reason, because I think, again, I think a lot to do with sex,

I think, as Canadians, we think, I think, we pride ourselves on being pretty progressive, but I don't know if we're as progressive as we think we are. Or not quite there yet, in some ways. Especially when it comes to sex. And Interesting, right? Because this is a transgender woman. So is it is it just doesn't fit our norms or whatever? It's what it is. Because I think people, you know, they think of trans and they think of like that show sort of, you

know, that was, again, more kind of a standardized version, like what we normally see in candy is like, basically takes a trans mold and just like destroys it. It's something totally not going about what we're used to. Is I think that again for people is just not something that maybe they're uncomfortable

with how they should react to this. Like what, what am I watching? How should I respond? Should I, you know, it's like be sad by this? Should I laugh at certain moments? Cause I think there's a lot of humor in this movie. Yeah.

And I'm always, for me it's always fun. Like, you know, it's almost like, let's see who's willing to like go along with the humor and, you know, and just give into it and not get too uptight about should I laugh or not? You know, because I think we're never laughing at the people in the movie. We're kind of laughing with them. Right. 100 percent. Yeah. No. And that's they're not the butt of the joke.

No, absolutely not. Now, please tell the listenership who now want to know what the heck Mike is all in love with here. How does one watch? Always had a nice time. Um, so at the moment the only way you can watch it is by signing up for my mailing list So www.madebyotherpeople.com Which is my production company if you sign up for a mailing list, you'll be sent a link to the movie and you can watch it for free. I like how you added the WWW.

Like I feel like you're too young for that. You know, I think about my dad who can barely use a computer. So I'm trying to make it easy for like the old generation who might not quite have, you know, have that experience. Well, shout out to the Vile Tones. Okay, so that address again is what was that address again?

Www. You did that again. Yeah. Dot made by other people made by other people dot com. So you go there, you sign up for the mailing list, you'll get an email with a link to watch. Always had a nice time. And then talk to me like I went on Blue Sky. So I watched it. And again, I went on Blue Sky right away

and I was like, I just watched this film. I said, I couldn't believe it. Like I was just like, this is what I'm hungry for. Like I don't need Disney-fied version of this and that and you know, polish this and glamor that. Like this was so raw, real and authentic. And I absolutely and it's such a slice of Toronto that is underrepresented. So I was really appreciative that you made this movie. Thanks.

I honestly have all things I've done. This is I had the most fun making this film, just me and a camera and talking to people. It was the most fun I've ever had making any kind of project. So when did it wrap like when when was it? So when did it wrap and have you talked to Candy since? Oh, I saw Candy, I saw Jack a few last week maybe. It wrapped up again because I didn't really have a deadline. I was trying to get this, like no festival would play this film.

So I was trying to get the festival. I kind of want to talk about that at the same time. So maybe you'll let me multiverse here. But maybe share any frustrations because I mean you're giving away this movie just so people can see it because you're proud of it. I'll touch it right so that's where I'm going like why why won't anyone touch? Is it just it's just because is it is it possibly that that they find that scene is too controversial?

These consenting adults, it's still too controversial on some level for mainstream media. I just think they're cowards. Honestly, it's like, distributor, I can understand, yeah, they're not going to make a sale to CBC, they're not going to make a sale to Bell with this, unfortunately, but they should get it. I feel like if CBC, you know, wants to put their money where their mouth is and actually be representing all Canadian voices, this is definitely something that is unlike anything else. So, but you know, it's not going to happen. So I think I can understand from a money perspective why maybe a distributor wouldn't want to touch it.

Festivals though, I feel like festivals, it's their job to kind of go, you know, to want to champion, you know, stories and films that are trying to go outside the norm. Again, I mean, the programmers at TIFF who I liked my work are either retired or passed away. So when I submitted this film, they just said no. So again, I don't know, you know, what their tastes are or what it is, but they don't give a reason, right? They just know I could have asked. But at that point, I don't care. You want to play it, don't play it. Then I'll find other another avenue.

But literally every festival, whether it be big, or even the smallest home festivals, no one would touch it. And I was disappointed, not totally surprised in some ways, but just a little disappointed. I feel like someone should have saw something in this and go, you know, this resonated with me. I think audience will resonate with them as well.

So I don't know. It's we're in a weird time. I don't know. I don't know. Well, they're getting it. They're wrong on this one. OK, I'm here to tell you the mainstream, the mainstream places that would would air such a film are getting it very wrong this time.

They're wrong. They are wrong. They're wrong. OK, so we agree on that here. OK, so now you just so it's people sign up for the mailing list. They get the link they get to they get to consume it Who is there any plan down the road or do you you're moving on to the next project now? What's going on? I mean, I feel like a lot of my work is one of those things I hope at this point like eventually kind of find more of an audience and get you just get more, you know

Just notice that way. I think this film, you know The more I I build my mailing list more people will get out there and hear about it I just hope it'll spread like I wouldn't I was out in Parkdale two weeks ago like putting like, you know flyers on You know billboards you're not pulling to get telephone poles, you know It's like scan this QR code and watch them move for free. And so that got some traction So I'm trying things like that. Um But yeah, I feel like the film, you know, it'll live there. And part of me also, at first I was trying to take more of a traditional route with distribution, but that's also kind of broken in Canada in terms of how that works.

That's a whole other, you know, podcast. But that might be, that might be, and again, I produced this show for Avi Federigreen, but would you return to this very basement for an hour chat with Avi Federgreen? 100% and talk about this. Yeah, because I'm going to send a note later today. Avi, you got to talk to Kyrie. And I think that you guys would have the most amazing conversation. And again, I'm speaking as a complete outsider, but I feel like both of you guys on the inside,

it would be compelling. Yeah, no, for sure. But so I felt like, again, it wasn't any traction, regular distribution wise. So I felt like and also I felt like making money off this movie kind of felt weird. Those people's stories, I felt like, well, you know what? It's more important that people just hear these people's stories.

So I didn't really care. But again, I didn't spend any money really. It was, you know, it's not much. 15,000 is not nothing. It was honestly I had so much fun making it. It was worth every penny. So I was like, put it out for free. People can just watch it and spread, you know, and just kind of get to know the community, get to know these people.

And that for me was like enough. So I'm happy with kind of having it out there for free for everybody to watch and enjoy. And it can't hurt that. I mean, we're now having an hour conversation about this and who knows who will hear it? Because I can tell you when Steve Pagan hears this, he'll probably send a note to TVO and say, hey, let's get our shit together and get this I'm going. Yeah, let's get I feel like it would fit right just fit perfectly on TVO I've seen movies similar similar to this as raw as this on TVO. I agree and I can happen pre-internet I gotta say pre-internet. Well, yeah, I'll say pre-internet a lot of these films that I'd see on like TVO docs

They really helped shape me. This is, these are not typical films you'd find here and there, but it was something real. Another film I wanna just shout out now because it just crossed my mind and I saw it at the Carlton Cinema, so this one I did see at an actual theater, but Crumb. Great movie.

Fucking great, right? Yeah, another great character study, for sure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, now I'm just on the way out here, I'm just shouting out great docs really, but I loved Crumb. It's, I love it too. Yeah, absolutely. And a great biopic.

Shout out to Harvey Piker and the American Splendor. Jeez, that was good too. Goodness gracious, that's a biopic though. Okay, my friend, so can you give us a clue what's next for you? Obviously, people are going to go to that website with the www and they're going to sign up to get the link so they can watch this. And then they're going to let mike at torontomike.com. Mike at torontomike.com, that's correct.

Let me know what you thought and we can have a little chat about this. Candy, Ronnie and Phil, Jack Jack Kingy and Grizz I don't know if I would have learned about these people I bike by on the reg if you didn't take the time to to film and share so you did that I watched I think that's half the battle because I didn't I wasn't thinking Kyrie until I watched the film and then I went back and said how do I get Kyrie in the basement that's how it went for me So somebody hearing us chat right now might do the exact same thing. Watch the doc and then be like, I want to talk to key ray. Absolutely. So can you give us a clue what's next? Yeah. So I'm in post production right now with a new feature film. It's a it's a fiction. So something I wrote,

we shot it last June and I'm in Hamilton now. So filming in Hamilton is called junkie run. Did you come here from Hamilton? Yeah, I didn't know that. I almost feel guilty now. Am I sending you home in rush hour? Absolutely. But you are. That's good. You will take the lasagna. I'll eat it on the way home.

It's frozen. You're gonna break your teeth. Okay, Hamilton, I had a former CHFI, my most recent guest came in from Niagara-on-the-Lake. Like he drove from Niagara-on-the-Lake to be here. And I had a moment of like, oh, don't do that. But he really enjoyed his time and he was glad to do it. And he did get the lake. Like he drove from Niagara Lake to be here. And I had a moment of like, oh, don't do that. But he like he really enjoyed his time and he was glad to do it. And he did get the swag. You don't get that on every podcast. I'm just warning you right now, Kyrie. But you

driving in from Hamilton, it's the same kind of deal. I shouldn't feel guilty because you get the lasagna, you get the beer, you get the speaker, and you got the book from Toronto Maple Leaf baseball and the measuring tape. I shouldn't feel guilty. Don't feel guilty. Okay, did I interrupt you? You're still talking about- Junkie Run. Junkie Run, and what's that about? It's a chase film set in Hamilton.

So- But is it a fictional? It's fiction, so it's a script I wrote. So think basically like something like Cannonball Run, or it's a mad, mad, mad world, but with characters from like a Bukowski novel. So it all takes place in kind of this like this dive bar in Hamilton about the, you know, they kind of get word one of their own, came into a little bit of money.

So they all try to find them first and take it and take their money. And it says it gets kind of this kind of like chaos ensues. Are there any cameos like will I see a cameo with Tom Wilson from Junkhouse, for example? No, you will see- Not your style? I feel like that would be cool, like to put some Easter egg cameos in there. You will see Mickey DeSantis-

Ralph and Murgy's at a bar or something. And you will see Chris Houston from Forgotten Rebels, they're in it. Hey, but yeah, that's a Hamilton. Yeah. Yeah, well, these, so I was, I don't know, I didn't, so I typically, sometimes I pick these up, just have something in my hand.

These are drumsticks from Teenage Head. Gene Champagne gave these Jean champagne. We're using Disgusting in the film. It's in the you know, not the great Hamilton band Dude I love this key rate you're now an FOTM and If I'm lucky You'll be at TML X 18 on May 11th at Christie Pitts and even more importantly You'll be at TML X 19 June 26th at Great Lakes Brewery in Southern Etobicoke. I would love to see you there but I'm just happy to meet you man.

Thanks man, great. I hope Zwag enjoyed this, he's listening right now. Zwag hello. Zwag he's sort of cryptic. Hi Alan. He has a new thing out and he doesn't really want to talk about it. Like what? His new film? Yeah I like oh you got a new movie coming in. Like, I got a new thing out.

Like he sort of like humble about it. Like, ah, this thing, whatever. But have you seen the new movie? I haven't seen it. I know a bit about it, but I haven't seen it yet. I'm sure it'll be out this fall. Oh, I thought it was out now. Maybe.

Oh, is it? Maybe it is. I don't know. No, you know, you know more than I do, but you know more than I do. Thanks for doing this. I'm going to, again, again, without the W's, what is that URL again? Made by other people dot com. Made by other people dot com. Go there, sign up for the newsletter, get the link, watch Always Had

a Nice Time and let me know what you thought. And that brings us to the end of our 1683rd show. Go to torontomike.com, no W's required. Go to torontomike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Much love to all who made this possible. That is, again, that's Great Lakes Brewery. They were over today to record a new episode of Between Two Fermenters. So that'll be dropping next Tuesday. Palma Pasta.

They're going to feed us at TMLX 19. Menaris. Remember to subscribe to Yes We Are Open. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Welcome back Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. We'll be seeing you May 11th when Saito makes her first start for the Leafs. Speaking of Leafs, are you a hockey fan? No. Then I won't ask you what's going to happen tonight.

I know what's going to happen tonight. I'm pretty sure. So you're saying get ready for game seven on Saturday night. Pretty much. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Building Toronto Skyline and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow. This is exciting. This is a very, very exciting. The next two guests are musicians you'll be interested in hearing from Brendan

Canning, founder of Broken Social Scene, co-founder anyway, will be here in the basement tomorrow, Brendan Canning. And then Monday, the informer himself, Snow, is visiting. Snow is going to be sitting there. Can you imagine? You want to come back for that one? See you all then. Music