Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Larry Fedoruk: Toronto Mike'd #694

Episode Date: July 27, 2020

Mike chats with Larry Fedoruk about why he's no longer on CKTB 610, his new podcast I Was 8, his Yuk Yuk's days with Jim Carrey and Ralph Benmergui and more.

Welcome to episode 694 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Garbage Day. Weekly reminders for garbage, recycling and yard waste pickup. Visit GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike to sign up now. StickerU.com. Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos and decals for your home and your business.

The Keitner Group. They love helping buyers find their dream home. Text Toronto Mike to 59559. CDN Technologies, your outsourced IT department. And Pumpkins After Dark, save 10% with the promo code Toronto Mike. I'm Mike from torontomike.com and joining me this week is the esteemed host of I Was Eight, Larry Fedorek. Hey, hey, Toronto Mike.

How are you, Mike? Welcome back, Larry. Thank you. Third visit. Third visit to the studio, but your first visit to the backyard studio. Yeah, it's nice. It's nice. Now, I was looking at the forecast,

so let's address some weather here. You used to do the weather hits on the radio? Is this giving you memories of tossing for weather? You never did the weather yourself. Yeah, I mean, as part of, you know, hey, I'm 17 later. Here's foreigner you know around 680 cftr i think i heard you say that yeah but other than that not a weather person not a weather person here uh it's funny i got a little clip i'm going to play shortly that features a former weather

person uh that was on a morning show with you and Tom Rivers. Oh, yeah? So that's coming soon. That's quite the teaser, quite the tie. But, okay, weather. So I looked at the forecast from Environment Canada, and it said there's a low chance of rain. But then I looked in the sky, and it was completely blue. And I said, Larry, I do like to live dangerously.

I said, Larry, let's try to get this in. So thanks for dropping by. No, it's great. It's great to be outdoors, be outside, looking at another person. Well, that's true. At a distance. Have you done any patioing or anything? No.

If they said tomorrow that everything is great, I would still be probably six months from a patio or anything like that. I'm going to be the last guy in the patio, the last one at the movies. I'm just, I'm a little too wary of the whole thing. Now, that's probably the safest approach, I feel, to be conservative on that end. It's better than being on the other end. My friend Peter Gross, who decides that he's sort of like immune to all such diseases and viruses.

So I think your approach is smarter. Yeah. The bleeding edge is not necessarily where you want to be with something like this. But have you been seeing your daughter? Is she in your pod? Like, have you seen Kelly? That's been recent. Yeah. I mean, we did... I i finally at the beginning

of this around april got a webcam i'd never had one don't know why uh did that we did some zoom chats as things progressed we decided that yeah she could be in in the sphere she's been working at home from day one literally her company i company, I think it was March 13th. Well, that was a Friday they sent them home, but yeah, the Monday would be the 15th. Her company said, you stay home. Everybody's working from home. They were one of the first ever to do this and recognize it quickly. Right.

So she's been pretty safe on that end, and, you know, it's been interesting. I have to get out. My mom's going to be 92 so she has to make medical appointments uh so i i i still don't trust cabs with her she's pretty healthy but you know immune system 92 so i i uh will drive her to a medical appointment and that's kind of strange being in medical facilities and I don't have to tell you but it's yeah it's it's um you know she's in the back we're masked it's all that everything everything is a procedure everything comes with a procedure right you know you mask up obviously uh you and your mom mask up

and uh you don't you try not to touch anything and then you and other than walks and you know the usual grocery runs and what have you, then that's it. That's it. So your daughter, I brought her up because just before this COVID hit, I don't, I want to say this was February. I'm sure she's listening right now saying, no, it was whatever. But I think it was February. I actually had the pleasure of meeting your daughter. I biked downtown and we had a face-to-face and a Starbucks and a good chat about things.

So that all seemed, yeah, that was just before things kind of went to hell. But, so say hi for me and I hope Kelly's listening. She's very bright and you should be very proud. Are you proud? For the record, Larry, are you proud of your daughter? Absolutely.

Absolutely amazing. One of my favorite people on the planet, you know, and just lucky that she's also my daughter. So, cool. Do you ever think, like, I can't believe I made this person? Like, do you ever have that moment? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every time I even, well, certainly when I talk to her, I'm like, wow.

That's, you know, amazing stuff. Yeah, I couldn't be prouder. Okay, good for you, man. I'm all into that mode because my daughter, my oldest daughter turned 16 this Monday? Okay, on Wednesday. I'm losing track of days. On Wednesday, my daughter turned 16. So I'm all like, yeah, feeling the pride. episode 254. So if somebody is listening to you right now and says, I want that Toronto Mike deep dive thing he does, like you get the

whole bio, we walked through the whole career. That's episode 254. And you set a record. So back then I didn't do, like I seem to be doing four or five episodes a week right now, which is nuts, but I think I was doing one or two back then. So you actually came back for episode 259

to kick out the jams. Right. Which was amazing. And that's your last visit to the TMDS studio, although your voice could be heard on the TMLX5 episode of Toronto Mic'd, which was recorded live at Palma's Kitchen. Right. That was great to go to.

I thoroughly enjoyed that. That was quite the collective. I was looking around at all these, uh, these legends in the room. I think, uh, Gene Valaitis and, uh, you know, the great, the great humble Howard and all these interesting people. And I was really, uh, like honored that you made the, made the trek. So thank you so much. Thank you so much. My pleasure. That was great. Great memory. Did you have a good time at Palmer's Kitchen? Because they have sent over a large lasagna for you to take home with you today. Oh, my God.

This is perfect timing because I ended up at Palmer's Kitchen after appearing on the show shopping, and so did my daughter was there, and we just took home a ton of stuff, and it was fantastic. And then a couple, well, sometime during COVID, I posted my own lasagna story that about eight Christmases ago, I bought a lasagna, a big one, just in case it was, you know, I had company suddenly, family, whatever. And I had to throw a meal together. What would I do? So a big lasagna is great, right? So I had this, and I noticed it was in the bottom of the freezer, and I had to throw a meal together, what would I do? So a big lasagna is great, right? So I had this and I noticed it was in the bottom of the freezer and I don't know when it was. It was like eight, maybe eight years ago. So I posted this thing about lasagna and

like, could I eat this thing? And the general consensus was no, even though it had been frozen solid for all this time. But here, I always have this conversation of my wife. Like, there's two things at play. There's the, I call it the health and safety department. Like, will this make me sick? And then there's the flavor police. Like, is this going to be, will it lose it? Will that be freezer burned?

Will it have any, like, bad taste? Yeah, I don't know. Because if it's the latter, I'll give it a go and see how it goes. So I just, I thought, and part of it was COVID too. And I thought, well, if I don't feel well for this, it's not now that it is the time

that I want to go somewhere and seek medical attention when everybody's trying to stay home and isolate. So I ended up throwing it away. The consensus was online and there was some evidence to throw it away. Anyway, I don't know why, but I've been craving lasagna ever since and I haven't

bought it. So anyway, long story short, I just came for the lasagna. Just don't bring that box because that's like an empty box for the camera. But in my freezer, make sure you don't leave without it. That's your job, Larry. Oh, well, terrific. Say, Mike, are you forgetting

something? Like when we're taking our photos, say, aren't you forgetting something? I have one in the freezer for you, and then I've got a new delivery coming because I've got a whole bunch of interesting people dropping by this week. But you also have a fresh beer. I picked all that up last week. It's fresh Great Lakes beer. You're taking that home with you, too.

So you're going to have to get Kelly over to help you drink the beer and eat the lasagna. What a great combo. Perfect. Absolutely. I'm going to have to get Kelly over to help you drink the beer and eat the lasagna. What a great combo. Perfect. Absolutely. I'm going to play. Okay. I don't need to know your age.

It's up to you how comfortable you are. But you're a little older than me. We will safely say that. Just a little older than me. And I'm going to play a song and then see if you have any memories of this gentleman. Okay. Okay. We'll be right back. entertainer, but ah, boy, Eddie's no clown. He couldn't be made any plainer. It's great

to have Eddie in town. Now, you were a prairie boy at this point. You're living in the prairies. We'll talk about that in a moment when we talk more about I Was Eight, but I guess back then, what, you had to be a Leaf fan or a Canadiens fan? Were you a Leaf fan? Pretty much. That was the choice, and I was a Leafs fan, definitely.

Do you have any, what are your memories of for me, who never got to see Eddie Shaq play? I only knew him as this larger-than-life storyteller, the entertainer, Eddie Shaq. Do you have any memories of Eddie Shaq? Yeah, I mean, a couple. I mean, this is kind of awkward for me because I wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of Eddie Shaq, and I just want to speak well of him. And as we all get older, we wish our lives to be celebrated and our positive, wonderful memories to live as long as possible.

So let's leave it there. No, but I mean, I sure remember the Leafs of the day and eventually Eddie Shaq among them. And when I was at the mix working with the Jerry Forbes, it was decided that we needed... The Leafs may have been struggling at some point during that time. Hard to imagine. But we decided that we wanted to get on tv somehow so we hired eddie shack and we went to um we went to dinner we took eddie out to dinner i think he got some cash as well

but we went to a lovely dinner and then we went to the leafs game and sat on either side of Eddie's shack with our Mix 99 shirts. And Eddie had a Leafs jersey and maybe even a helmet, even though he never really wore one in his day. But I think a helmet and a stick. And the whole premise was Eddie was ready to go in at any moment. If they called him out of the stands, he was ready to go in. Rewind Eddie, yeah. Yeah. Clear the track.

And the idea was, as a promotion for our morning show, that they would pan to the, you know, crowd and see Eddie, and we'd be on either side, Mix 99.9, and that was my evening with Eddie. See, you do have a great Eddie Schach story. I have an Eddie Schach story, yeah. I think that's a pretty cool story. And because it's Mix 99.9, I will now do Deductive Logic,

and I will guess this is early 90s? Yeah, that's when I was there. And so, yeah, right around there. I don't know. Probably, because I work with a lot of people there and Jerry left after a year or two. He and his brother left. So it would have been right around there, yeah.

I'm going to play a quick this is a nostalgia hit for those who can remember the late 70s. 30-second ad that our friend FOTM Ed Conroy from Retro Ontario dug up. Here we go. Clear the shop. I want some pop.

Look at all the flavors. Take what you want. Orange. Great. Plain soda. Gingew's rail. And soda. Can you thrill? And I'll have a plain soda water. Maybe I didn't go far in school, but there's one thing I've learned from my mom and dad.

Look after the nickels and dimes, and the dollars will look after themselves. Right? Right on! I've got big bottles, too. And I've got a nose for value. That's right. The nose for value. That's right. A nose for value. I remember that.

Plus, growing up in the prairies, Pop Shop was huge. Okay. Oh, massive. Where is it now? What happened to Pop Shop? I don't know. I seem to remember a story a couple of years ago where somebody was trying to resurrect it. You could still order it online.

Obviously, there were no physical Pop Shop places. But I know when we moved to the city in in saskatoon they had a store there was like a warehouse at the time it was one of the original kind of like warehouse big box stores probably and you'd go and it was so exciting because you were getting a ton of uh of pop and we loved all the flavors as a kid this is just as a kid talking right you loved all the flavors except for the cola. Like their cola, it's like, can't we get real Coke or Pepsi? Right, right, right, right.

But everything else, fantastic pop shop. Yeah, I remember RC Cola. This is the end. Royal Crown RC Cola. Yeah, right, right, right. And Cot. Hot beverages, yeah. It's a C-O-T-T?

Yeah. But maybe that was like the Oshawa Foods off-brand or something. Maybe I'm, okay, but yes, I do remember the- Well, we had them too out west. Okay, okay. So it must have been an offshoot of one of the grocers. Okay. You know, one of the big grocers.

Wow. I have a good memory. So when you were growing up, and this tie in nicely with, I was eight, uh, where, uh, like where would you do your shopping? Like, do you want to name drop the name of the chain or the grocery store that you remember from growing up? Uh, do you remember this? Well, in our small town, uh, I call the grocer, Mr. Scarlet, and I'm just going to stay with that name for now. But because it was like Scarlet's Grocery, and it may have been an OK Economy store that he ran. And across the street was a Red and White, which was a bit of a chain, I think, in the Prairies.

Okay. And then they had kind of a smaller, not a convenience store, but kind of a smaller grocer down the street and that was the town's grocers and then when we moved to the city it had to be Safeway. That was the big chain which I think still exists doesn't it? Not here anymore. Not here but I think. But we had

them. I grew up off of Safeway nearby at some point of my memory only because I was in this business for five years but Oshawa Foods bought it and then Sobeys bought Oshawa and only because i was in this business for five years but oshawa foods bought it and then sobeys bought oshawa foods and safeways in this market were all converted to like either um price chopper or fresh co's now anyway there's a whole chain of events but price choppers and fresh co's when we moved here from out west moved to toronto years ago we went out of our way to find a safeway because that was like home just our brands and home yeah yeah and then eventually it's like well what's

across the street let's just go there where it gets stuff dry you know driving around okay let me let me bring in some local news somewhat controversial that we had a great like me and my wife had a really long like passionate passionate discussion on this. And now I need you, I need your honest opinion on this. So I don't know if you know this, but Toronto, the city we live in has, we have a homeless problem. Like we need, they're actually, right now there's an emergency, especially with COVID, there's a need for a thousand new beds for homeless people in this city. And I think there was an idea, way back in the day, all these went downtown. And there's like this concerted effort to spread the homeless shelters around the city. So they're not all going to go downtown, they're going to be spread around.

And it was revealed that one of the locations that, not for all 1,000, but one of the spots that would become a homeless shelter is very close to this neighborhood. So it's a new Toronto location on Lakeshore. And so the great, and on Facebook anyways, and my wife was bringing me up to speed with some of the opinions of people in the neighborhood. There's, you know, there's a little bit of NIMBYism, like not in my backyard. I think some people, maybe they're not going to overtly say it, but I got the sense some people were very worried about their property values and the, you know, what their biggest investment being the home. And, uh, and I guess, and I was wondering aloud, like where exactly should a homeless

shelter go? Like, uh, like, like everybody's saying not in my backyard but where where where should they uh the city run a uh shelter for for homeless individuals considering we all acknowledge the need so this is a very big question here yeah but uh what are your thoughts on that like if you found out a homeless shelter was going to be i don't know let's say it was going to be a kilometer away from the home you lived in, would you be indifferent? Would this be something you'd want to call your city counselor and say, move it? It's a big topic, right? It's a big, it's a heavy one. And I find more and more every day, COVID teaches us nothing. We're just in a hurry to get back to where we were and back to normal. I know that is a separate discussion to an extent about when we get back to normal,

will it be a new normal? Will it be different? How will things change? And sometimes I'm really worried that we're not going to change. We're going to have the same attitudes, that we're not going to be more compassionate or more understanding of problems. Somehow, millions of Canadians are getting checks in the mail for money. Hey, we'll take care of you. And it's not only in Canada, but we're learning to take care of each other, and that's where the homelessness situation comes in. If it was my backyard, I guess I might write or call my counselor because

I actually write and call my, or I write my counselor quite a bit. I just try and back it off a little bit so they're not, oh, it's him again. But I do, I find that the local government response, if you have a decent counselor, and I do, I have a good one actually, is there. It is your chance to take some control or have at least some voice in what goes on as opposed to provincially, federally, worldwide. I'm probably not going to speak at the United Nations, but my counselor will answer my email and my concerns about something in the neighborhood. So having said all that, I would write to him and say, there are a lot of different reasons for homelessness. And some of them, you know, some of these homeless people have a lot of other problems and issues, which is why they're homeless. Like addiction or mental

health issues. Those two big ones. What is going to be done about that? What are the concerns? Not so much that it's a kilometer from me or down the street from me, but how will we address those concerns? Because it's not just, I don't want that here. And I'm hoping people are more compassionate to that. Now, Finland has the model. How do we end homelessness? as the model how do we end homelessness the brilliant answer was we give them all a home that's first like a home not a shelter not like because this is like beds two meters apart

this is but you're a home you have an apartment of some sort uh pretty adequate nice place studio one bedroom i don't know but everybody gets a home. Right. And it's just so brilliant. And, of course, the argument is where's all that money coming from? Well, they found it. And they gave everybody a home. And then, because they felt that was the major issue

and that you're never going to solve your issues of mental wellness or addiction or anything if you you go to your counselor you go and then you're sleeping on a sidewalk or in a park the rest of the time right uh you need a home and i just think that's so brilliant and i wish everybody would follow the finnish model let's just give them a home so that means i guess if you're going to do that you can't put it all in one big tower downtown somewhere or wherever you're going to put that you spread this around right that i would that's right there's a yeah spread it around and then then in these uh shelters so to speak or homes these buildings in finland they will often have

um common areas and counselors and people available so that if one person freaks out and causes a problem for someone else, that person, they don't go to jail necessarily, but they will be called into a group and let's solve this issue. Why did you do, you know? It sounds compassionate. It sounds like that's sort of, you know, when you hear about a safe injection site

and you realize that there's, you know, there's counselors on site to help you if you need a methadone clinic or some help to get off of this addiction. There's new needles, like, so to make sure you're not reusing a needle or, you know, spreading disease, et cetera. Like, to me, it's a compassionate,

you can offer the resources and the services. You're right, because a lot of people who are homeless are suffering from a mental health crisis and they need mental health professionals to help them. Or addiction, of course, is a big one and they need help to kick the addiction. So I'm with you on the consultation. Just to clarify,

they are going to consult the community. this is a whole part of the plan that they will be answering all the questions and engaging the community this isn't just sort of dropped and open hello whatever uh but uh my problem is the people who want like like want it somewhere else like to me nimby i just have a distaste for not in my backyard NIMBYism because the bigger question I would ask my neighbors is where in the Southwest quadrant of the city should the homeless shelter be considering we acknowledge we need a homeless shelter for our fellow humans who are less, you know,

our need. So where should it be? If not at, you know, this particular part in need. So where should it be if not at, you know, this particular part of Lakeshore? Where should it be? We're trying to solve a social issue. If you want to build a big prison somewhere out of town with a fence around it, and let's just call that our homeless shelter,

then it doesn't make sense. It's home. There's all kinds of other connotation to home. It's not just a roof and a bed. It's being part of a community. It's, you There's all kinds of other connotation to home. It's not just a roof and a bed. It's being part of a community. Those of us lucky to have homes, we know what it's like to come home or be at home or stay at home for the last six months or what have you. It means a lot. And homes have to be where homes are, if that's too simple.

No, that should be the motto, I think. Homes need to be where home is. Home is where the heart is, as they say. But was there a homeless issue when you were growing up? And remind me, even though I just listened to it, Wawa, what is the name of this town? Waka. Waka.

I was so close. It's a palindrome. Oh, because it ends in a W. a k a w it's a cree word and i say in one of my episodes that's about as much as we acknowledged aboriginals and indigenous peoples back in the day we knew we knew it was a cree word and it meant crooked crooked okay so it's and because the lake was there first and the lake is a long almost looks like a river on a map um and it was long crooked so they called it waka lake crooked lake did you have any uh was there a homeless issue in waka no well not that i know of

a town of a thousand people no i don't think so and then i guess when we move to the city there i imagine there is one but was one is one i guess probably but i don't think so and then i guess when we move to the city there i imagine there is one but was one is one i guess probably but i don't know that in the day we were aware of it or often it is a big city thing because uh the people typically uh it's almost the homeless come to where the resources are and they're all in the big cities. So it's almost like a magnet to attract those who would be sleeping on the street. So, okay. So we're going to talk more about WACA and I was age,

your wonderful new podcast, but because your last appearance here, technically when you kicked out the jam, so I'm not going to count, I'm actually not counting the wonderful Larry Fedorik appearance at TMLX5 at Palmer's Kitchen. I'm going to just go treat it like that. That was a great appearance, but it might have got lost in the shuffle because there were many voices on there.

So last time you were on Toronto Mic Proper, you were hosting a talk show on CKTB 610. Yep. Was that St. Catharines? Yes. Serving the Niagara region. Serving the Niagara region, so in St. Catharines. You're no longer there, so what happened, Larry? Why are you no longer on 610?

So it was November 19th when they let me go for without cause. I think that's the legal phrase, without cause, which they can do. I looked that up and lawyers and everything, you look it up. Yeah, they can do it. Sure. They're allowed. So without cause, budgetary, the general manager from Toronto who, and this is not just Bell Media, it's all media, save money.

So why do we need a general manager at every radio station? Let's just have one general manager look after toronto and hamilton and and cktb in london maybe and whatever i don't know what her um what her uh fiefdom includes but anyway so she's she's there so she's in the building it's usually not good right so they call me upstairs and she said, um, because of profitability, your position has been eliminated. And, uh, Rachel here is from HR and she'll talk you through it. And she leaves the room, leaves the boardroom, and that's it. And they basically present your package and rush you out the door. It was interesting because there was a part where they offer you a management consulting services or a job hunting kind of headhunter service.

Sure, yes. They give you a free thing. It's nice. You know, it was nice. It was like free for four months. And she said, that person is also here. Would you like to talk to her after the meeting? And I was like, I was trying to be an adult and everything's smart, act smart instead of just, you know, give them the big Carlin FU. And I was like, okay, yes, I will see her, but you know what?

Yes, I will see her. But you know what? I really need to use the washroom for just like a minute. And I just want to do that. They panicked. This was a funny little story. They didn't know what to do. This wasn't on the list because I might run to the washroom and soil the walls or run through the building screaming or break glass.

I don't know what they, but it was like they panicked. They didn't know whether they should allow me to use the washroom, and I could see them staring at each other. Oh, they didn't want you out of their sight. Was there a security person, by the way, or was it just the, okay, no security person? No, there wasn't, and I know there are on some occasions, but there wasn't, but they were kind of trying to be security, kind of control my path throughout the building, escorted back downstairs to the studio, pick up your stuff,

don't steal anything, you know, escorted out the back door. You've already handed in your pass card, so now you can't get back in. And they've already disabled your email, so you can't blast the company. They actually didn't for about 36 hours. Well, maybe that's the fear. You got a smartphone, you go to the washroom, suddenly you're... I wished I had somehow taken advantage of that in a way because, yeah, so without cause. Budgetary.

Well, I guess when I would cover this, yeah, well, sorry. First of all, I'm sorry because through no fault of your your own you're a victim of what i call cost cutting like you know not not just bell media but be it uh bell media rogers chorus like there are numerous stories uh especially over the last few years of talented broadcasters like yourself that people love listening to who simply i don't know made made money like made too much money and uh or or i don't know I don't know what you were making, but maybe they deemed anything over $35,000 a year is excessive or something. I have no, I'm just speculating. But you were a victim of cost-cutting, which sucks.

Yeah. What was the line? If you make over $60,000 and you've been there more than $20,000 and you're over 40. Watch your back. Like a formula. Yeah. That's what somebody said to me.

Because if you ever try and find that formula, it's almost impossible. Nobody will. Nobody. And I asked my HR person. I'm like, so tell me the formula. Tell me. Tell me why it wasn't him or her and me. Right.

Because it's working in St. Catharines. Nobody's making a lot of money. Yeah. You're not making, you would make more money at 1010 for example, because it's a bigger market. Okay. So I want to know that formula where you don't pay me anymore and I,

or pay me benefits, uh, which they do anyway, which I mean, it's no secret. I don't mind saying I got a year. I got a year. Is that year up yet?

No, it's November 19th. I feel like November 20th, you might have more to say. I could be wrong. Should I book you for November 20th? No, no, no. I'll tell you something else. You get your regular pay for, I think it's three or four months, and your benefits and all that.

And then after three or four months, the benefits stop. Health, dental, whatever. And then the rest of the nine months comes in a lump sum. So once that check cleared, so to speak, I'm like, okay. Yeah, you're not giving it back. You're assholes. Right? I don't have no problem with me.

Oh, man. I feel, I mean, I told you, I think that's wrong. I think it happens in every industry. Like, this is not a radio thing. It happens in every industry. But that formula you spilled out there sounds about right. And it's true. When you look at some of the radio personalities that are no longer on the radio they kind of fit that

mold be it for example like a bob mccowan or something like that like these are people who who i know bob made a lot more than 60 000 a year but uh these are people been there a long time over a certain age that were making real money or whatever they deem real money and then therefore had a target on their back i suppose it's almost like that it's it's the accountants took over and it's a shame and it's uh i'm i also know that i am fortunate uh i was not out in the street with two weeks pay and a cardboard box full of my personal items i mean it was in a lot of ways it's done better i i got a decent deal. Could it have been a better one? Sure. Should have probably been a better one considering my time. Well, did you,

did you consult a lawyer? Briefly. And the lawyer's line is I can probably get you more money, but that'll pretty much just cover my fees. Okay. And how many years were you at Bell Media? 20. 20. And again, I'm not from radio, but where I came from, typically it was a month per year of service. I know, that sounds like it would be 20 months. Yeah. And you got 12 months,

but if a lawyer told you that it was a fair shake and you took it and you just moved on, I suppose. There's things they do now that have gone through legal, and it's down to three weeks, by the way, three weeks a year. It keeps going down. What's going on here? That's why I work for myself now. You can get away with three weeks for every year and maybe even a little less.

I guess it depends on where you are in the org structure. And you can get away with the without cause. But I always knew that. That's all about severance. If there's cause, they don't need to sever you. If there's no cause, they need to do what they did, which is give you a year to go away. And you no longer have to sign anything on the spot.

You don't have to accept anything. You don't have to sign anything on the spot. Uh, you know, you don't have to accept anything. You don't have to say anything. You can, uh, as much, I think it was, was it three or four weeks? It was three or four weeks at least before they needed a response to this package they were offering you. I agree to terms or here's my lawyer. They, they needed that response. And, and because that was always before people would sign off and then i was under duress which is true right and um so they legally they they pretty much know how to cover their uh behinds but i'll say this yes and i heard this line uh from someone human resources is a resource for them not you yeah the human resources works for the uh

the executives the the board the uh the owner it's a resource for the company not you to protect their ass cover their ass right and i guess i never really dawned on me till i till i met this human resources person from bell media who was just terrible wow wow but anyway oh that's so real talk larry like uh man your age you're a gifted uh talk radio host uh i i can say that as somebody who has heard you do your thing uh can you can you ever get another gig in mainstream media? I don't know. I mean, I don't know that I even want to, but could I? I don't, probably not. Like, straight up, let's, and I don't know, again, let's say, I don't know, let's just say you're over the age of 50, okay?

You're over the age of 50. Yeah, yeah. I am, I'm over 60. Okay, so you're over the age of 60 and you look great by the way for your age uh and you got your hair i'm looking at the covid hair like that's like my hair oh wait till it explodes it's it's kind of still stuck well for the picture uh yeah we'll we'll puff it up let it fly we'll get the hairspray in the uh and we'll blow that up okay so if uh is is there like i have this chat with Peter Gross all the time.

Like is a terrestrial radio station in this country going to hire a man over the age of 60? And the station is not Zoomer? Probably not. Would Zoomer hire someone over the age of 60? Sure. Okay. There's all kinds of. Would Zoomer hire someone over the age of 60? Sure. Okay. There's all kinds of people in Zoomer. There's just, Zoomer to me, well, I have a lot to say about Zoomer, but.

Well, say it. This is the place. But I have friends there and it's, it seems great. I think they could be a lot better. That's all I'll say about that. they could be a lot better that's all i'll say about that but i just i talked to somebody there in february mid-feb because it was jan feb and i was like okay so i had my little fun there i was fired and i was i don't have to do anything checks are coming in let's go out and and find something and the guy was like you wouldn't believe i i am swamped right now i need like a month

can you just call me in a month and then that was like march 15th so yeah it was like okay well there's a lot of great a lot of great plans uh best laid plans of mice and men have been paused by covid that's for sure back to your original question i don't know i don't think so i don't think so you'd have to go and and and i don't know that i would do this or would not do this but you'd have to probably go to some really kind of small market where there's a radio station somewhere and they're just happy to have somebody around who lives in town who's a professional but i don't know that i want to do that either so um i'm going to, I've got some, I'm creating product. I'm writing.

I'm trying to sell that. I've got time to do that. I don't have infinite time, but I have time. I am a big fan of your podcast, I Was Eight. And we're going to talk about it. And I'm actually going to do something. I've never done this before, but because your episodes are what i call bite size they're they're like 15 minutes long right you know unlike a episode of trotter mic'd where you need to you know invest several hours in listening to it 15 minutes like it's like yeah it's like a good good you know a good like a good spoonful here love and spoonful if you will uh

because i'm gonna play the pilot now you said you've got you've got better episodes in the pilot i think the pilot is a good place to start like so i'm actually going to play the pilot. Now you said you've got, you've got better episodes in the pilot. I think the pilot is a good place to start. Like, so I'm actually going to play in this podcast. I'm going to embed, uh, the 15 minute pilot for the one. So, so what episode just dropped for Thursday morning? What number was that? Do you remember 50?

What was it? The, from last Thursday was 28. Okay. I put you in the fifties there. Why am I doing that? last Thursday was 28. Okay, I put you in the 50s there. Why am I doing that? Okay, so 28. So you've got 28 episodes, and this is season three of I Was Eight. So give us a little background on when you wrote these episodes, how you put them together, the premise.

Talk to me about I Was Eight. In fact, this is a good time, if you're listening to the podcast, pause the podcast, and however you're subscribed to Toronto Mike, search for, I was eight by Larry Fedorek and subscribe to that and get that in your feed and then come back. So now you're hearing me after you subscribe to, I was eight and Larry's going to talk to us about this charming as AF. Uh,

this is a wonderful podcast. Please continue, Larry. Thank you. I guess I definitely started at the end of 2018 when my mom had moved here from Saskatchewan, and I mentioned she's going to be 92. And that was a shock to my brother and I because we thought she'd never leave there,

her home where she grew up, my homestead and all that kind of stuff. So professional woman who traveled and all that, but that was her home. So why would she move? She did. Right. So it was more visits and more remember whens with your mother. Remember when I was a kid and we had that car and we were, I was in the back and stories. Right. And I started to think, I wonder if I have enough stories. Boy, some of these stories are actually kind of cool, little funny stories. So I started a project in 2019. Every Sunday morning, I'm going to sit down

and write a story. And I actually made a list of how many I, and before I knew it, I had a list of like 40 stories, just like that, just thinking of, remember the Boy Scouts, remember the time you ruined the tent, remember the, and I thought if just a short little story, a book of essays, that's what I'll try and write, and about halfway through them, I would just write it, proofread it, and put it away. One a week, because I was working. That's all I had time for. I was going to then, the following year, go back, rewrite them, and pitch this as a book of Canadiana essays, something funny. Halfway through the year, as I'm writing these, I read them out loud,

which is a broadcaster trick for spellcheck, because you recognize mistakes in script when you're reading them out loud, which is a broadcaster trick for spellcheck. Because you recognize mistakes in script when you're reading them out loud. And you wanted to hear them back in your wonderful voice. Yes, of course. So as I'm reading this back, about halfway through, I went, it sounds like a podcast to me. You know what? Maybe this should be a podcast because a podcast I can just do and put out there. I don't have to, I'm not at the

whim of a publisher who doesn't think this is very good. So that was the plan to sometime in 2020 start a podcast. And then, um, I was let go and I had time and I didn't know how you would do a podcast, but my friend Toronto Mike does. So you were helpful in that. And I just thought, okay, let's just start. Let's buy some equipment, which is actually fairly inexpensive, all things considered. And I subscribed to a music sound effect service because I didn't want to take any chances about licensing or anything like that.

Which is smart. And I just started. Smarter than me. And I just started. And glad you're bringing this up because when I produce somebody's podcast, the word produce is different for every client, okay? So there are some clients where I'm the editing guy

and I'm putting in the music and I'm doing all that. And there are some, like yourself, just to make sure people know, you're creating the audio file independently. Like you, Larry, in your own home are editing the file and putting in the music and recording your voice in your place. So literally, like my job is easy if I was eight. Like you're delivering the MP3 file. The finished product.

Right. The way you'll hear it. Yeah. So you're putting this together. Yeah, because I'm a megalomaniac. I have to do it all. Yeah. A control freak.

Yeah, absolutely. And Larry, if you don't know Larry Fedorick, he is a control freak. But you know, you have the time, you have the gear, and you have the many years of radio experience that make sense.

And it's a passion project for you. Now, we're going to play the first episode in a moment. So you and I will have this awkward 15 minutes where we, like, I don't know, I could always mute the mics or we could just sit here and listen. Maybe we can, we'll figure that out. I've never done this before because i'm not inserting this in post because i want the people watching on live uh on periscope to hear it so it's going to actually be 15 minutes in in the show but um uh is there a plan now now that you've got 20 whatever episodes uh under your belt and

we drop a new one every thursday morning by the way. So subscribe to I Was Eight and you get this wonderful every Thursday morning you get another whatever, 15 minutes or so of Larry. And also bonus episodes which are really cool. Like you do like behind the scenes bonus episodes. I've done two of those at the end of, and we, because you write one a week, you have

52 scripts. So 52 potential episodes. So why not just break them up into blocks of 13, almost like they do on TV almost, and call it a season, and just another way to package or present it, so did that, and there will be 52,

and like I said, I have all the scripts, and they do get rewritten now, which is part of the process of putting one together. But I'm wondering, you know, I listened to that ad, that Eddie Shaq ad for the pop shop, right? And now I'm just going to speak aloud. If there's any, like I always,

someone asked me to describe it and I said it was like catnip for baby boomers was what I was thinking of when I was eight. But it's, I mean, I'm not a baby boomer and it appeals to me. So it's like watching the wonder years you know what i mean like it's that charm i i when when i was uh when i decided this is going to be a podcast i went what's the voice like what's the sound what's the voice what's the feel i had to find that voice in me and we say well why don't you just tell the story? You tell stories. I'm like, yeah, I know,

but there has to be a voice. It has to have a tone. And I needed to search for that. And I made a list which included the wonder years and stand by me and to kill a mockingbird, the movie, not the book. Right. Um,

I'm trying to think of what else is on that list. There was like a touch of Forrest Gump, which is the part of, there's no way one person, this all happened. There had to be a tone and a touch of a little of all of this and a few others that I'm not thinking of right now. And the result is it's charming,

and to keep it clean for this sweet episode, charming AF, you can ask your daughter what that stands for. I think I know. I think I know. Before I dive in, I was just a call. Like if there's a brand or a service or something that,

you know, appeals to the subscribers that I was eight has and will have in the future, like you would be open to a title sponsor for the program to help finance this operation. That would be wonderful if that happened. And of course it, it popped in January and, and you and I talked at that time that it's going to take a while for it to establish or find it's some sort of audience. And,

and as soon as maybe it was doing, the economy just shut down, which I talked about in one of my specials. So it's, I get that. Bad timing, bad timing. But I will say people who do give it a go, all to a T, they all like thank me and they all love it. So it's one of those things where here,

I'm going to give you the first episode. It's going to be a little 15 minutes in a moment here. And you're going to want more like it's it's just wonderfully written and you you do a great job with the voicing and the editing and i just think it's a wonderful podcast and i would love to to see a brand uh jump on board and help uh help keep this going there um there uh is uh in in in all of this and i said it in one of my specials um nostalgia feel of of now i think is perfect timing because nostalgia is the new normal as david barry said in an article recently uh people people want it and i call nostalgia a tourist town um i i definitely don't want to live there, but some people do.

But it's great to go. It's great to go. It's fun to visit, yeah. And, yeah, I'm a big guy. A lot of Toronto Mike is nostalgia. So without a doubt, it's very hot right now. Very, very, very, very. And just to let the listeners know, we'll do the 15 minutes here of I Was 8.

But then, on the other end uh stick around because uh i want to play a clip for you larry of jim carrey and i have some questions about like yuck yucks back in the day all right and also i'm going to play this ad i teased where i have a just a mix 99.9 ad with you and i mentioned former weather person, that would be Carla Collins. She was on the Weather Network. And the guy I would wake up, before I went to school, I would wake up to Tom Rivers on 680, all hits 680 CFTR. So all that is coming up on the other side. Just before I start episode one, season one of I Was Eight, I just want to thank some of the great sponsors on board. If you have any computer or network issues or questions, I highly recommend you look at

outsourcing your IT to your IT department to CDN Technologies. CDN Technologies can be reached, well, cdntechnologies.com is there 24-7. But you can call Barb Paluskiewicz at 905-542-9759. You can do that right now and chat with Barb about that. Larry, tell all your friends, garbageday.com slash Toronto Mike is where you download the Garbage Day app. Or you can just sign up for the text notifications or email notifications. It's free. You don't have to wonder what to put to the curb.

It's fun. It makes you a good FOTM. So thank you, Garbage Day. There's a Toronto Mike sticker there. Oh yeah, on the empty Pommel Pots box. So you take that home. I know you're collecting Toronto Mike stickers. That quality sticker was produced by StickerU.com. As I said off the top, stickers, decals, temporary tattoos, badges. That's been a great partnership with stickeru and I really thank them for fueling the real talk.

or sell in the next six months. I can't imagine a wiser decision than contacting Austin Keitner from the Keitner Group. Just text Toronto Mike to 59559. Chat up Austin. He'll take care of you. Just great organization. They're doing some wonderful work

with the Franklin Horner Community Centre here. And just really, really proud to be in partnership with the Keitner Group. And last but not least, Halloween is coming, Larry. Pumpkins After Dark is back. It's a drive-through event this year because of that damn COVID. But there's a promo code that will save you money on your carload.

And this is going to be amazing. And it's going to save, I think it's going to save Halloween for families. Use the promo code TorontoMike when you go to pumpkinsafterdark.com and pick up tickets. Toronto Mike, that'll save you some money. It'll let them know you learned about this on Toronto Mike, the podcast. I had to put the D at the end. So yeah, do that. Save money, enjoy. And again, you got your pasta, you got your beer from Great Lakes. And here we go. Without further ado, episode one, season one of I Was Eight by Larry Fedorek. This episode is called Hooch. I'm Larry Fedorek.

This is my podcast. I Was Eight, a weekly series. I Was Eight, a weekly series. I grew up in the middle of the Great Canadian Prairie, in a small town called Waukaw, Saskatchewan. It is the town of my childhood, and these are the stories of when I was eight. Timelines bend a little, and some of the names have been changed, but all of these stories mostly happened as told. I was eight. Chapter One, Hooch. Most trips, where it was just me and my dad, began with the phrase,

don't tell your mother. Then dad would outline the day's itinerary, which involved him visiting friends my mother didn't like, doing things my mother didn't approve of, or going places where, according to my mother, were on the road to nowhere. It's funny because these days I'd love to be on the road to nowhere. Imagine, no schedule, no time limits. But back then, when I was eight, I had love to be on the road to nowhere. Imagine, no schedule, no time limits. But back

then, when I was eight, I had to agree with mom. None of this seemed very productive, or fun for me, for that matter. My job, of course, on those days was not to approve or disapprove. On the day dad was stuck with the kid, my function, as far as I could tell, was to show up, keep up, and shut up. Especially that last one. And not just during the adventure, but of course later. Don't tell your mother. Can you imagine afterward being grilled? What did you guys do today?

I don't know. You know, I don't know. Only went so far before I broke down and spilled the beans. It was quality time. I know that sounds sarcastic, but it's taken me until recently to understand that it was quality time, a window into my father, moments I now cherish. Back then, different story. For example, my duty on many occasions was to watch for cops. You know, today people of an age are fond of reminiscing about how did we live? How did we live with smoking, no seatbelts, chewing on toys coated with lead paint?

Of course, the truth is many of us didn't live. And that's why we try and change things for the better. But for those of us who did, you know, the survivors, we think lead paint and toxic home insulation was just part of growing up. So this is one of those things that you might ask, how was that allowed? But you know, it was. Not by my mother, but it was done. done. So my father, one of his brothers, Uncle Eddie, and my Uncle Joe, married to my dad's sister, made homebrew out at my Uncle Joe's farm. By the way, he is not to be confused with my mom's brother Joe, also obviously my uncle. That Joe was a pious man, wonderful guy, defined the term avuncular.

Even then, I realized that I had a good Uncle Joe and an evil Uncle Joe. Evil Uncle Joe was whom my dad preferred. He had these tiny little teeth, a witch's wart on his cheek in an evil laugh. Evil Uncle Joe. Homebrew was, of course, moonshine, illegal whiskey, hooch at its finest. They made it for profit, but also for status. You know, on the prairies, when you say married off a daughter, your wedding would have beer and wine, but you also had to serve hooch. There was a famous story I heard as a kid of a young bridesmaid who had a small glass of hooch next to her on a bench, and when it spilled, it burnt a hole through her dress. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. You know, years later, I would learn of the deep U.S. South and white lightning, revenuers, and the origins

of stock car racing. Obviously, I didn't grow up there, but I always felt like I lived a little part of that history myself, only a few hundred miles north, that's all. Legal booze was around. I mean, it wasn't prohibition. I'm not that old. It was available for purchase all days but Sundays. Even at licensed dining establishments on Sundays, you could not buy booze unless it accompanied a meal. I believe the intent was that reasonable adults could have a glass of wine with dinner, you know, not six high bowls and a veal cutlet. But where was the line? Later, as we came close to passing for legal age, discussions would ensue as to what constituted a meal. Could I buy a beer if I ordered a plate of fries?

The proprietor's answer was usually no. What if the fries included gravy? Still no. What about hamburger and fries? Yes. Well, what about just the hamburger then? Well, you can see how this whole discussion became quite ridiculous. So homebrew was distilled for a number of reasons. You know, there was that ridiculous partial Sunday prohibition. You could profit from it. There was status, alcohol, self-reliance, and it was also a hell of a drunk. As soon as the car turned onto the road toward Evil Uncle Joe's, I knew what was on tap for the day before my dad even tried to explain it. Yeah, we're going to Joe's to do some work in the back.

Yeah, sure, why not? Joe's Farm Homestead was at the bottom of a small valley, a dale I guess, with a long dirt driveway up to the municipal road. From his front steps, the road formed a line across the horizon. And as the men worked out back, my job was to stand on the front steps and watch for the trails of dust churned up by passing cars. Watch for the trails of dust churned up by passing cars. Watch for the cops. I was sentinel, scout, lookout man.

I was eight. If I ever wandered through the house to the back because I was hungry or thirsty or needed a bathroom break, Dad got right pissed. Not because I could clearly see they were working on a still, but because I was neglecting my duty. Often a stern reminder and a bag of potato chips, and I was back at my post. Every time the slightest trail of dust appeared on the horizon,

I dutifully reported it to Command Central. Eddie or Joe or Dad would come to the front with me and check it out. This of course slowed down production, so they taught me a few things. The nuance of watching for the cops. Here's what I learned. First of all, if the vehicle was not slowing down at all as it approached the homestead, no need to report. It was just a passerby. Secondly, if the vehicle was anything other than a car, no need to report. Apparently, cops weren't smart enough to drive pickup trucks or anything other than their marked cruisers back then. You know, just let them pass. By the way, the cops were the local RCMP detachment. Thirdly, vehicles passing from left to right were irrelevant. Cops just wouldn't

come that way. They would come from town, which was from right to left. I knew my right from my left. I was eight. I was no slouch. I was also quizzed on the various vehicles that belonged to family members, mostly dad's other brothers. He would say their name and I would shout out the car, Blue Mercury, Green Pontiac, you know, until I had them all. That was easy. I loved cars. If any of those cars appeared, there was no need to report them. to report them. And may I say that in the season or two that I was a bona fide member of the gang, part of the Fedora crime family, we were never busted. I say that proudly and unequivocally. I did my job. Actually, the cops never even came out, but if they had, I would have spotted them a mile away, or at the least,

turning into Evil Uncle Joe's driveway. Actually, neither Dad nor any member of the dark side of the family were ever busted. At least not for homebrew. The cops did bust a few stills in the area. It was actually pretty easy. The RCMP noticed that on consecutive Sundays there was a number of older teens that were around town and pretty drunk. Discounting that these teens were stealing booze from their fine upstanding families or that they had the foresight to stock up during the week,

the cops deduced they were buying homebrew somewhere. Sunday mornings, the cops simply followed them out to their source. Apparently, neither the teens nor their source had a lookout man. Smart man, my father. Watching TV as a kid, I cheered for the cops, the TV ones. I loved how they busted the criminals and kept us safe. But in real life, it was different. This was family. As I got older, and cops got smarter apparently, my father taught me how to spot an unmarked cruiser or a plainclothes policeman. And apparently, women could also become cops now. How diabolical and underhanded. I also learned the spots where they like to park their cruisers partially obscured

to nab unsuspecting speeders or whiskey smugglers. You know, it's interesting because I never really played hockey or was interested in any of my dad's hobbies like carpentry or none of this stuff. But this I was good at. Oh, sure. Occasionally I told my mother. But you know what? So did he. Because that was some intense cross-examination.

When I buckled, dad understood. He'd been there too. By the time my own teenage drinking began, I had learned how to use the don't tell your mother to my advantage. The homebrew dad made now was mostly for his own personal consumption, you know, maybe close family and some cronies, you know, the same ones mom didn't approve of. Ergo, I came to learn where dad hid the hooch from mother in the garage. Old bookcase, bottom shelf, behind the oil cans. By the way, Dad's recipe was so potent at this point, he'd cut it in half with cheap store-bought brandy. This he did with heated pots on the kitchen stove while my mother was at work. The house would reek of booze. Dad took to leaving all the windows and doors open, even in the winter. Gotta get some fresh air into this place, he would say,

when I would come home and find him standing over the stove in his parka. He fooled no one. I only told my friend Richard about the stash. If we thought getting drunk was the thing to do on a weekend, he was my lookout man. Outside the garage, while I took a little from each bottle of homebrew brandy mixture into my own bottle, Richard stood guard. And even if Dad realized, and he did, that some of his booze was missing, what could he do? I mean, he'd give me a look or a quick word, but he couldn't punish

me beyond that. Why is the boy grounded, Mother would ask, and it wouldn't do any good for her to know the truth. So I had a supply. I don't know that this new concoction would burn a hole in a bridesmaid's dress, but it sure left us on our hands and knees at 2 a.m. throwing up on the football field. Ah, good times. So when I was eight, I learned about the hooch, I learned how to watch for cops, So when I was eight, I learned about the hooch. I learned how to watch for cops.

And I learned don't tell your mother. And you know, of all the dozens of things that are wrong with this story, things that would have today's parents sending their kids to counseling full time, my only regret about this entire episode is that I never learned the hooch recipe. What does that say? I Was Eight is a weekly series written, produced, and voiced by Larry Fedorek. A new episode every Thursday. Share your stories with Larry.

Or if you like, share Larry's stories with a friend. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Larry Fedoruk, that's F-E-D-O-R-U-K, can be reached at LarryFedoruk37 at gmail.com. Good job, Larry. Thank you. Thank you. That's weird. I haven't heard the first one for 30 weeks probably. You know, in the pre-on-demand internet era which you and i both remember i always liked it when you watch a show in syndication let's say you'd watch wkrp in

cincinnati or something speak at a radio and it was always exciting when they'd air like they'd air the pilot and you're like oh the pilot like it's like it was you had to kind of stumble upon the pilot because if you were watching you know shows, you never saw the pilot because they only ever reran shows from that season, right? Like if you're watching whatever, I don't know, what the hell, L.A. Law or something like that. But it's kind of neat when you follow a series to go back and hear the pilot episode.

Yeah, yeah. What I find, though, when I see a lot of those early episodes, I just watched a Zoom chat between Julie Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander. And one of their premises was they had to each watch an early episode of the show, Seinfeld, before they talked. And they were going to make comments about it. And they watched it with great discomfort because they hadn't really found the characters yet and it was awkward. Yeah, it was a bit of a mess in the beginning, yeah.

And I find a lot of pilots are like that too where you go back and you go, all right, that's Johnny Fever, but not quite. Right. And you're like, oh yeah, back then the writers had this idea for that character and then they realized they're better like this and they kind of evolved the character.

And the actor is a great, helps the evolution to such a great extent as well you know you can you can write genius stuff but if so i was i was hoping that i wasn't going to be overly embarrassed about episode one no it was great and it's funny you mentioned seinfeld because i'm pretty sure the seinfeld chronicles as it was known then the pilot does not feature jul Louise Dreyfuss. That character's not in the pilot. We don't have a female friend on this show. I can't remember the actress's name,

but she was a female waitress, I guess. A woman. But she was a waitress, and she was supposed to be sort of their friend who's the waitress, and she was the female content, and the network said, we have to have something stronger than that.

Right. And they brought her on as Jerry's ex. I believe Larry worked with her on Saturday Night Live, I believe. I mean, she's amazing. As you know, how many, other than, I'm thinking maybe Lucy, I'm trying to think of what actresses

are great in multiple sitcoms, like more than one, like great in multiple sitcoms, like more than one, like long-running sitcoms. Like Julia Louis-Dreyfus is top of the heap, I'd say, when it comes to the comedic acting. I mean, how many? She did two or three. Well, she did the one. I never watched this one about the, I can't remember the name of it,

but between Veep and Seinfeld, she had a long-running series that I just didn't watch. New Christine? Yes. That was something like that. The Adventures of New Christine. I don't know. And I watched a bit of it. Some friends of mine were huge fans,

and I just heard great things about it. And then Veep, and yeah, she's amazing. I mean, I watched this. It's funny because you're watching a Zoom chat chat and I actually didn't even watch it live. I was watching a YouTube thing of it. Right. Uh, cause I'm a fan and I was like,

Oh, I wonder if it'd be interesting. And it was just the two of them, but it was like, I was their friend, part of the zoom chat. I just didn't have anything to say. So I just watched the two of them.

They talked about Se seinfeld and all that stuff it was but it was really interesting and it felt intimate and of course just who doesn't love her is is and he's pretty great too uh he was really but he had unlike julia louise dreyfus he was unable to like find a second run like people just saw him as george where she seemed to be able to become other characters and uh yeah where where he was like, no, we want George, get out of here. Okay, so remind me, you had a stand-up history with Yuck Yucks and such. So what era are we talking about

when you would be doing stand-up? I moved to Toronto from Winnipeg to be a stand-up comedian. I had already been on radio. I had a morning show, a bunch of stuff in Saskatoon and Winnipeg and wanted to be a stand-up comedian and came here to do that. Like when? 79, 80.

79, 80. Okay. Right at the end of the 70s. Okay. So I did that and I actually had a really my first sort of tryout amateur night and at that time yuck yucks had amateur night like on a tuesday after the feature so they'd have a whole night of comedians then the feature act and then the club would clear out and a couple of your friends who were there to support you and a couple people

wandered in off the street where your audience at midnight and you did your act and if you passed amateur night you could start booking other slots and i actually got lucky i passed my first amateur night but then within within a few months i was shocked that the tonight show was not calling me and and and it wasn't there wasn't any income in this stand-up right because they were calling months, I was shocked that The Tonight Show was not calling me. And there wasn't any income in this stand-up thing. Because they were calling Jerry Seinfeld. And maybe I should get a job, and what

do I know how to do? I know how to do radio, so I got back into radio with really no regrets. But that was sort of not even keeping the day job. That was just, let's get a day job back, because apparently you're not that funny. But I still continued with the stand-up That was just, let's get a day job back because apparently you're not that funny. So, but I still continued with the standup for about five, six years.

Okay, so during that period of time, there's a couple of names I want to ask you about. Did you cross paths with aspiring young standup, Ralph Ben-Murgy? Yes. Yes, absolutely. Would you ever be on the same stage at the same night? Yeah, oh, absolutely.

I remember, and we used to go, with comics we liked, we'd go stand at the back of the club instead of stand, because Yuck Yucks in Yorkville at the time, at Bay and Yorkville, were in the little kind of basement of this little place. Right. And you had to go in a separate entrance down the back hall, so to speak, to get onto the stage.

So a lot of times we just hung up and down that back hall. But if somebody good was on, like Ralph, you'd go to the back of the club and watch his act. So I remember Ralph really well, really funny. What about a name like Simon Rakoff? I still keep in touch with Simon on Facebook on a regular basis. One of the funniest people ever. One of the best writers ever. Simon Rakoff joke. My girlfriend just broke up with me. I said to her, but I thought you said I was Mr. Right. She goes, yeah, but I'm holding out for Dr. Right. That was like from the day. And it's still a brilliant joke.

Right. Because I'm building something here. One more name. I just want to know if you ever saw him perform at Yugg Yuggs. Jim Carrey. Absolutely. I was part of that. When I started, Howie Mandel was just starting to break. He was starting to

happen. Right. During that time, I think fairly early, articles on the front page of the entertainment section, all Howie Mandel. He was hot as you could get. Was he on St. Elsewhere yet? No.

And just as a result of that, he made the trip to LA and got an LA agent, which is another story I could tell for another time. Well, you'll be back for sure. He got that. And then slowly he started showing up on little, you know, big shows like Tonight Show or whatever. And then he got St. Elsewhere, which was kind of interesting.

So that was, and then right after he left, Jim Carrey started to catch fire. And I remember Jim well because Jim was underage. So I guess he could still play the club because Yuck Yucks was licensed. I don't know how that worked. But if we went out for beers afterwards, Jim would come,

but Jim's dad came with us. Interesting. Sort of to keep an eye on Jim and so that Jim wouldn't be influenced by us degenerate comedians. And so I remember Jim's dad always being there. And then I remember also a couple of gigs. We used to play a gig up north, north end somewhere in an industrial park it was called the laugh stop okay and it was just the weirdest scariest bar to ever play true story they used to have um uh like it was industrial there so no nobody was there till five o'clock and then all these kind of like tough blue-collar guys were there and some motorcycle guys there at 5 o'clock.

And there'd be a stripper apparently until about 7. And then they'd turn on the hockey game on a big TV set on the stage. And then they decided they wanted comedy. At 9 o'clock, the owner would come on the stage unplug the tv it didn't matter you could be on a breakaway he's about to dive again plug he'd pull out the plug and he'd go okay it's time for comedy please welcome larry fedorik and you had to go up there and go hey funny thing uh my my my daughter said a funny thing today uh And they didn't give a shit. Right. But nevertheless, Jim Carrey did a couple of those gigs. Wow.

And then, so you go and do your stupid observations. It's a silence. They actually, at that club, demanded all the darts from the dartboard be turned in. Oh. Before the comedians came on. Because they might throw it at you? That's funny. So you have to dodge if they threw a beer at you or whatever, but darts, I guess,

were a little too scary, so they took them away. And Jim would come on and kill. He would just come on and kill. I was going to ask, because when Mark Breslin was on this program, I think he was underwhelmed by Jim Carrey as a stand-up at Yuck Yucks. He did not see it coming.

Really? Yeah. So I thought that was interesting. I never heard that. I never heard that. Not that I talk to Mark a lot, but I never heard him say that. I guess I didn't hear that show. I'm hurt, Larry.

Oh, my goodness. I'll go back. But he's he. I mean, he Jim just went on stage and lost his mind. Right. Like like that was his act. I don't know that he was. Why? That's a good joke.

That's an interesting joke. It was none of that. It was just he was funny. That's it. Well, he did a lot of improv impersonations back then. Right. That was like part of his act back then he did a lot of impersonations back then, right? That was like part of his act back then was doing a lot of

impersonations. Well, and a lot of, at the time, I don't know if it still exists, but the, what sort I'm looking for, the echelon, and comedians hated impressionists because... Like Rich Little? They didn't like the Rich Little thing?

Because you didn't... I'm busting my hump trying to write jokes and clever observations and stuff. And you just get up there and go... Yeah, above hope. Oh, Pilgrim. Yeah, right. If you're doing John Wayne, you don't have any jokes. That was the thing. There was a real... We kind of looked down on him.

Right. So if you just... Like, there was a couple of, I'm trying to think, there was an impressionist who actually had material along with the voices instead of just doing the voices.

Maybe that was Jim Carrey. So the, I'm going to play, I'm building up to, you know, the CBC show Q. Right. And it's hosted

by Tom Power now. And Tom did a Zoom with Jim Carrey recently for Q. And at the very end, Jim drops Ralph... I'm going to play. It's about 28 seconds. I'm going to play the entire exchange.

And then I have a couple of questions. So listen closely, Larry. Here is Jim Carrey on Q. This is... I really enjoyed the book. He's up on Ben Mergey, man. Seriously. I have never met Ralph Ben Mergey in my entire life.

I have never met Ralph Ben Mergey. I just grew up with some insane characters at Yuck Yucks with Mark Breslin and Simon Rakoff, which is not only a name, but it's a verb. Lawrence Morgenstern and wonderful, wonderful comedians and

characters like that so i always remember it super fondly anyway so i thought that was fun that just recently uh jim carrey kind of shouted out ben murgy and simon rakhov and breslin and the old yuck yuck laurence morgan stern another brilliant writer good i mean great stand-up but i'm just saying great writer too. Very interesting. So what I'm going to dissect later this week with Mark Weisblatt from 1236 is that part where he goes, ease up on Ben Mergey. I'm not too sure what that is referencing. And the response from Tom Power, which is, I've never met Ben Mergey.

It just seems kind of like Ben Mergey's... I was trying to figure out, is this because Ben Mergey is a bit of a, a punchline from failed late night TV host? I don't know. It's kind of shorthand for that. I was just curious. He had a show. He had the show.

Yeah. He had an actual late night network show with his name on it. Right. Friday night with Ralph Ben Mergey. So it didn't last forever. So what? so it didn't last forever so what or it didn't last long enough for so i mean i don't know i mean you know every comic would have given us right nut for that you know what i mean to have a show like that and uh i'm trying to think i just saw him online recently somewhere and the name is gonna not come back to me now but

uh a lot of people that I remember from Yuck Yucks who worked on that show, or at least a couple did, and I thought it was fantastic. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, yeah, it didn't work out for a number of reasons, but maybe I'm being too defensive because I've become a good friend of Ralph Ben-Murgy's, so stop using Ben-Murgy as a punchline.

I wonder what that is. I don't know what that is. Yeah, I know. It's interesting, right? Like, I'm going to, we're going to discuss further, but I was, yeah, I'm going to play it for everybody

and get opinions. Like, what I have to do is get Tom Power on Toronto Mic'd and play that and ask him. But Jim Carrey on Toronto Mic'd as well while I'm there. So I did tease this. I want to play this

just to wrap things up because I first heard your voice on 680 CFTR. This is a Mix 99 and regrettably I never listened to 99.9 Larry so I missed out on that part but I'm going to play a

short ad for the morning show on Mix 99.9. Mix 99.9 First, we brought you Toronto's Variety Station. And now, incredible vacations for two in places like... Puerto Vallarta. Manzanillo. And more.

Plus $1,000. On a Scotiabank value Visa card. To spend any way you want. Just listen to The Mix, 99.9. Each morning between 7 and 7.15. If we call out your Mix lucky number... And you call us within 30 minutes... You win! 56 days, 56 trips, $56,000. 7 and 715. If we call out your Mix lucky number and you call us within 30 minutes, you win.

56 days, 56 trips, $56,000. Mix, 99.9. So there you go. Shot that in Chicago. Oh. I don't know why. Can't remember why. You think it'd be cheaper to just do it here.

Yeah. I don't know. There was some production company or something that was, I don't know, deal. I have no idea. Okay, interesting. I or something that was, I don't know, deal. I have no idea. Okay, interesting. I just remember that was my first time in Chicago. Carla sounded different there.

A bit, yeah. She changed her presentation style. Yeah, and even you sounded different. But yeah, Tom Rivers. So just a little more nostalgia on a nostalgic episode of Toronto Mic'd. The voiceover guy was our boss and program director. And in his day, a radio personality of his own named Pat Holliday.

Yes, I know this name. I recently decided to just unfollow on Facebook. Unfriend, I mean. I need to know why. Because this is also a topic of conversation. Can't without a lawyer. Okay, you won't, but I will say I do have friends who have started, and I have nobody on my Facebook. I'm careful who I follow on Facebook.

Nobody on my Facebook feed is anti-mask. So I'm just saying I have friends, though, who follow people or friends on Facebook. It's not that they're not pro-mask. So I'm just saying, I have friends, though, who follow people or friends on Facebook who are, like, not that they're not, it's not that they're not pro-mask. They're actually anti-mask, if you can imagine. Yeah, I don't know what that is. So they've started to unfriend those people. I think there's, I used to think, like, people like, you know,

Trump would break up a lot of, like, Facebook relationships, but it seems like COVID-19 is also doing that. Get that wasp out of your face larry it's um uh yeah it was weird on camera if you can't see it kk used to do from hits used to do the bit about the b dance where you see somebody and they're just and you don't know why but of course they're chasing a b right the b dance so if you see somebody i just did the bee dance. I thought it was, yeah, Michael Stipe from REM. He does a movie like that.

Right, right. But at the beginning, and it's still to an extent, when if you're even, this is going to sound terrible, but even somewhat a public person, Facebook is great because you just friend everybody and you accept everything. And you promote your stuff. Yeah, and then you have a following,

and it's a social media following, and not that I'm an influencer, but, you know, you're always trying to build. So I have all kinds of people, and it takes me really something to unfriend, because if somebody said, you know, masks are stupid, COVID is a hoax, I'll just scroll past. I won't go through the process of unfriending you. It's just, I don't necessarily want to surround myself with like minded people. And if I, if I want to take you on, if I want to, you know, light that little fire,

then I will, then I'll say, well, you're an idiot. I'll type, you know, uh, but I, but I usually don't do that because there's people there and there's people who provide content on Facebook and there's others who just kind of use the content and snipe. Right. And there's combinations of it, of course. But so I try and be more of the content provider because that's what I've done all my life is provide content as opposed to somebody else. But occasionally you have to unfriend somebody just for because. Well, you're not allowed to unfriend me, Larry. No, no, never.

Why would I do that? Your third visit, another great conversation. Thank you. I Was 8 is dropping new episodes every Thursday so if you haven't got the message yet, subscribe, give it a whirl and I'm going to... Are you going to wear the message yet, subscribe, give it a whirl. And I'm going to,

are you going to wear the mask for the photo? I think I should. Yeah. Mess up the hair and wear the mask. It'll be a, just remember this moment in time. COVID mask, COVID hair. And that brings us to the end of our 694th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Larry is at Larry Fedorek. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. The Keitner Group are at The Keitner Group. CDN Technologies are at CDN Technologies. Pumpkins After Dark are at Pumpkins Dark. And Garbage Day are at GarbageDay.com slash Toronto Mike. See you all next week.

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