Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Larry Fedoruk: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1894

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

In this 1894th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Larry Fedoruk about Michael Jackson, his eyes, Gordon Jump, Canada's national band, and more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, 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].

Hey, I'm Larry Fedorik, a part-time talk show host and full-time host of the podcast later that same life and big fan of Toronto Miked. And just very excited to be back with Toronto Mike. Welcome to episode 1,894 of Toronto Miked, 1894. An award-winning podcast proudly brought to you by Great Lakes, Rueary. Order online at Great Lakesbeer.com for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

Visit palma Pasta.com for more. Fusion Corpso, Nick Aienis. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline and Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club catch a game live at

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means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Redley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921.

Joining me today, returning to Toronto Mike. It's my friend Larry Fedorick. How you doing, Larry? I'm doing well. How are you? Good. I see you're wearing a Beatles

T-shirt there. Did you get that anywhere special? I'm curious if you, you know, I made a trip to London. I got that on Abbey Road or anything like that. I wish. I actually have on my fridge a cavern club fridge magnet that somebody got me in Liverpool as a gift. This T-shirt, however, Mark's Work Warehouse. It was a birthday gift.

And only a few years ago, somebody said, what do you want for birthday? And I said, you know, my entire life, I've never had a Beatles T-shirt. Can you believe this? A Beatles person like me. And I got one and it's, I only wear it on special occasions, which this is. Well, I'm honored to have you return. It's funny when I saw you in the Beatles T-shirt, my first thought was, oh, where's the Rundee-M-C Christmas sweater?

Because the last several times, well, many times I see you. It's at Palmer's Kitchen for a TMLX event when you come on the mic anyways. and you have that great Christmas sweater, but no Christmas sweater on this May 4th. No, but if you requested it, I would have warned it. You know, we might actually hit, I don't know if it could be true, but I heard it we might hit 20 degrees today.

Have you heard it? I looked at the forecast because, you know, I'm an old man, I have to wander outside. I have to know. And it was going to be 22 today, it said. Well, I don't know if you saw those, like snowflakes falling this past weekend. Like, it's like we're in May, and I literally was on a bike ride.

Saturday morning, I think it was. Could have been Sunday morning, but I saw like flakes falling from the sky. I went across the street and I was underjacketed and just froze, just across the street and back to the store, you know? It's crazy.

Crazy times here. Do you think we can do a little catch-up like on what's happening in my life and then we'll find out what's happening in your life and then we'll... It'll be the shorter segment. My life. Well, I listen.

I'm involved a very, minor role because you, you produce, you write, you record, and you produce every episode of later that same life. I do, yes. And I know you originally had a podcast called I was eight. Yeah. And then I'm guessing you decided, hey, I'm out of stories from when I was a kid. Like, it's time to just talk about whatever I want.

And then you launched later that same life. That's pretty much it. I, when I had an idea to do a podcast many years ago, and that was the, the first time I'd met you who sort of introduced me as to how this all works and how to get it out there, which you still do for me. But, and it was, by the way, I thought the first time we'd met, but I think one of the great stories about when we met, we'd found out that we lived in the same building.

We lived, so between marriages, I lived in the building you live in. Right. And how long were you there? I was a year or two? A couple years. Yeah. Yeah, a couple years. We were probably in the same building together, probably rode the elevator together.

you know, maybe nodded at each other at some point. And yet, it was so weird. If I had heard your voice, I might not have recognized you, to be honest. I'd have to remember those like Kiss, Kiss 92.5 TV ads and watch or whatever. But if I had heard your voice, I'm sure I would have recognized you. I should have said, what floor would you like? Could I put your floor for you? Oh, I'm listening to 680 CFTR.

That's what I would think there. So, yeah, so that was, I had this idea. and because I had all these stories from from when I was a kid and it was sort of stories you know I've said this before kind of like from six to 11 or something but I was just I just picked the media you know I said I was eight and I was eight was more of the excuse for the stupid stuff you did as a kid when somebody said boy that was dumb and you go well I was eight you know like what do you expect right and you're right I just ran out of stories I mean I actually did a season one extra season that I thought I didn't have where I just found, remembered other stories.

And once that was done, I was like, well, where do I go? Do I have enough grown-up stories or do I just kind of do what the talk show host in me did, which is kind of look at what people are talking about and try and tap into some of that every, in this case, every week, which is now what I do. Well, I love it. Like, legit. Like, again, like I said, you create this audio presentation on your own. So, like, you deliver this, like, MP3 file, which is complete or whatever.

And even though I get the MP3 file before it's in the public podcast feed, I won't listen to it until it's a live podcast. Oh, nice. And then I subscribe. So I subscribe, like, oh, like, the great unwashed, the normies out there. And then I subscribe. And then I listen on bike rides. And what I like about it, and I'm going to revisit this later with specifics.

But I like the idea that you take timely things. and you really succinctly put them in a little package and present them and explain them to idiots like me. Like, I really think you do a great job at that, but also you'll do these, you do the non-sequiters, but beyond that, you'll do these like trivia things

and you'll do these like explain, I'm going to get into this later, but I'm here to tell you, I legitimately love later that same life, and I feel like every listener of Toronto Mike should subscribe and listen to later that same life because it's, Thank you.

It's like these episodes are not particularly lengthy. Like it's every week you get, how would you say 15 to 20 minutes? 20 minutes is the average. Yeah. And so subscribe 20 minutes of Larry Fedorick. You know, you do a great job. So I want to say props to you for later that same life.

Well, I, what you said is what I do to myself. I try and explain things to myself. I heard a great line the other day that I'm, I'm probably going to rip off now for a future podcast, but it's called the illusion of complexity. And that's what a lot of people at high levels of politics and education and finance and everything, not that they aren't smart people and not that some things aren't complex, but they put out this illusion of complexity, whereas you couldn't possibly understand what I do and what I know and what we're going through here.

And I'm like, yeah, you've got to, if you just break it down to the simplest forms and ask, the simplest questions, which I do to myself and I research it, and then I try and tell that story. Is that a little, Larry, is that a little bit like bullshit baffles brains? Yes, it's exactly that probably. It's a nicer way of, it's a more complex way of saying that. Yeah. You know, bullshit baffles brains. And it's never been more true than it is in 2026, I'd say.

Oh, yeah. It really is. So we'll get into it. Some updates, though, because a Friday night, excuse me, Friday night, I took my youngest to Hamilton and it was worth the drive to Hamilton. We went to the theater Aquarius and I caught this new, I don't know what to call it. I guess it's a musical. Like, I guess this is like a musical theater, I suppose.

It's called It's a Good Life if you don't weaken. And it's a really cool story. And then accentuating the story is songs you know and love by the tragically hip. So I made the track to Hamilton to take in this. And I wasn't sure what to expect. Larry, I don't know what, what are your thoughts on music? theater. I never understood it or liked it until I saw it, until I saw one.

And then I went, oh, okay. Which one did you see? Do you remember? Oh, gosh, I don't know, but it was in the heydays of 680 CFTR and the Mervishes would invite you to everything that they were doing. So I saw plays and musicals. And I do, this isn't the first one by any stretch. Oh, what was the, oh, the Lion King?

No, the bohemian, the rent. Oh, rent. Yeah, Rent was a huge one. And that was, I think, one of the first ones I saw. And I took my kids and they were like, oh, Dad's Reckon's Theater and music and they were just blown away and just the entertainment, the spectacle, the, and I tried to read Lord of the Rings. I tried to go to the movie, hated it, still do, sorry for all the fans.

I went to see the musical. I loved it. It was great. So I'm similar to you is that I think I don't like musical theater until I'm at one. And then I'm like, oh yeah, this is good. Yeah. Yeah. And I'd heard about the tragically hip one. I've seen the ad. So I'm really curious. I'm glad to see, meet someone that saw it. Because when I, I've, I tried to close my eyes because I got, I'll admit, I got comped these tickets, okay, because I'm in the no, Larry. A very important influencer here. And I don't know who's behind that, but I was honored to get a couple of tickets. And I took my

youngest, who's really got into musical theater lately. And she's starring in a high school musical. and every Saturday I take her to rehearsals and she's kind of big on this. So I took her to Hamilton for this and I'll admit like when I close my eyes and pictured I thought, is it going to be cheesy? Like I envision like this cast they'd be like, oh no, it's dangerous out there.

I'm worried about you. And then all of a sudden one of them just says, courage couldn't come at a worse time. Like you know what I mean? Like I was envisioning this cringy kind of cheesy thing. And then I saw it and the story's great. But somehow, I don't know. know how they pull it off, maybe because talented people are behind it.

But, because I think the guy from, come from away, did you ever see this? I never did see that. No. So I think he's behind creating this thing based on this pretty cool book in this story. But the way they weave in these hip songs, really remarkable how they pull it off. Like, it's not cheesy at all. Like, I would have imagined this is going to be cheesy. And so many hip songs, I'm a big hip guy.

I don't know what you think of a tragically hip. What's your hot take on the tragically hip? Just generally speaking, I always loved them. Just that, I mean, that's it. I can't give you discographies and anything. I'm not a fan to that level, but always loved. And Gordowney, just a great poet and a great voice. I always loved his voice.

So you're watching this thing and the many songs, I don't know, there's dozens, I don't know, at least 20 hip songs, I feel like I hear throughout the thing. And the way it's weaved in is just seems to work. It's wild. Like, it's not, there's nothing about. the tragically hip. The closest you get is that this Iraqi

I think he was a refugee but he was exiled from Iraq because of comments he made and then he I guess it was about Saddam Hussein and they didn't say some dictator I'm guessing it was Hussein but he ends up in Kingston

Ontario and that's like the only nod to the tragically hip is that he's in Kingston Ontario but otherwise there's no allusions to the hip and I was sitting beside my 10 year old daughter and they would be like, they shot a movie once, and then she looks at me because periodically I would just belt out hip songs, apparently,

like, and she knows these songs because I would just break into, you know, blow it high dough or whatever. So it was an amazing night. That's great to hear. I kind of felt that way watching the ads and knowing that this was on,

and I'm like, oh, man, is this going to, what's this going to be like? Is this going to do, you know, harm to the, the hip legacy and legend and whatever. And so that's good to hear. I'm glad to hear that, man. Now, on that front, it's funny you mentioned that

because of the legacy of the tragically hip. So managing this right now is Jay Gold, who was the manager, and then he wasn't the manager, and he's currently managing the hip stuff now. And in a different matter, a completely different matter, I was actually on a Zoom of Jay Gold on Friday.

Before I saw him at this, you know, opening night in Hamilton. So it's kind of a weird confluence. But I can tell you that Jay Gold, protects that legacy, like, before he'll bring anything to the surviving members of the tragically hip, he makes sure it's right on brand and it's going to be quality. Like they're not going to, it's not like Krusty the Clown, right? Right.

So great reference. Exactly. Yeah. There's absolutely, it's got to be, it's got to fit the brand and it's got to be quality before the hip will stamp this thing. And that's what this is. So I urge people if you can check it out in Hamilton. And I think this is good enough that it'll definitely.

definitely like start in Hamilton and I hope one day it plays here in Toronto. That would be great and you don't get a national tour group going. Just get, you know, keep the music out there. Oh, and there's an FOTM in a major role. So I want to shout out Talia Schlanger. So Talia Schlanger, who was a radio person and then she sort of left radio to focus on music. It was quite a story. She came over and talked about it.

But she's got a major role and she is excellent in this thing. So much love to Talia Schlinger. Without giving anything away, what is the general storyline? Or can you... Well, it's okay. So you have a journalist in Iraq who is exiled and we see him. He comes to Canada as a refugee. Okay, so it's his story.

It's his story. Yeah, absolutely. It's his story. And he ends up in Kingston, Ontario. We have a bunch of, you know, people born and raised in Kingston, Ontario. And it's very interesting to see the different cultures. And then there's a music shop. and this is where Talia Schlanger and her brother are running this because it was their mom shop and their mom passed away.

So you have all these different conflicts and you watch this gentleman from Iraq try to get a job. And then, you know, he ends up working for the Whig Standard in Kingston where my friend Gerr Joyce now currently works. And it's just kind of a neat story about this Iraqi political exile living in Kingston, Ontario. And I won't, yeah, I won't give anything away except it's a really neat story. and the music just makes it better. And these are songs you already know, but the way it's interwoven. And I just, I was like, oh,

I don't feel like this had any right to be this good. You know what I mean? Like, how dare this thing be this good? Like, I was all, I was honestly ready to hate on it. Right. And I can't hate on the damn thing. It's always good to go in expecting the worst. It's fun to hate on stuff, right, Larry?

That's it. That's it. So that was my Friday night, but go ahead. Speaking of musicals, has the musical Hamilton ever played in Hamilton? Oh, good question. Have you seen Hamilton? No, I haven't seen that either. I feel like, I feel like COVID messed with our run of Hamilton.

Why do I, I think, because I think my mom had tickets. Like, these are expensive tickets, too. And I think she had tickets to see Hamilton. And then COVID hit, and I don't think it ever happened. I feel COVID disrupted the Canadian performances of Hamilton. The Canadian band. is tragically hip or blue rodeo? Oh, tragically hip.

Yeah. See? But you can't see the hip anymore. You can still see Blue Rodeo. I had Colin Cripps over last week. I have this discussion with music people all the time, and they want to throw in nostalgic bands like Guess Who? And then there's Rush.

Yeah. I'm not a fan. Well, the only woman in the audience is going to be the drummer. Rush is a very male-centric audience. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Right. I forgot about that. But it's an interesting discussion because I love them both.

And to me, tragically hip and Blue Rodeo are great stories because they are so huge, so talented, such a great body of work. And basically in Canada, not that they're not known other places. They do tour and they have fan bases elsewhere. But let's face it. But they made it in Canada, stayed in Canada. That's the story. So that's the two bands, in my opinion, for that question. But I would guess.

And they're one in one eight to me. I can never read. I love this chat, Larry. I love it. You never know where it's going to go. But in my opinion, if you look, for example, let's say, because we're talking about an era when people could sell albums, right? Like, if you look at album sales, I don't think it's close.

Like, I think the hips sold way more albums than the, sorry, yeah, the tragically hips sold way more albums than Blue Rodeo. Really? I would have no idea about that. I have no idea either. Just like anecdotally having lived through the eras of both bands, I don't think it's close. that would surprise me

that they wouldn't be very close well if I get you going on another topic I might go Google this thing apparently you can learn these figures and facts but so here's it really quickly when something like this comes up or something like that my latest exercise is

how long can I go before I Google it like I want my brain to work on its own and find it and if like sometimes when you're writing or you need to know something right away I just Google it or whatever. Like if you're in a live podcast, you don't do live podcast. No,

you pre-record, but if you're in a live podcast, I'll have to Google it because if I wait for it to come ahead, it's like a lot of dead air and the listeners are like, what are you doing, Mike? But I'm with you. Give it some time to find it in that cranium, like dig it up out of the drawer in your brain or whatever.

Just to, yeah, before you Google it, because Googling it, I feel like you're right. You're not exercising your, your mental capacity. Exactly that. And so just for that very reason, I started doing that. I've been doing that for a year or so and love it. Sometimes if it's really important that I think of it,

I'll go for a day or two. Like, oh, no, no. What was Elizabeth Montgomery. That's who it was. Yes, fine. Okay, I have a, you want to know what the Google machine is telling me about the hip versus blue rodeo in terms of album sales? Okay, sure.

And what are we saying? This is right up to CDs, say. Well, it's forever, you know? I guess, yeah. bands don't sell albums anymore. You have to be Taylor Swift or maybe Adel to sell albums now. Like there is, there's just no album sales anymore because everything's streaming. But okay, so the tragically hip have sold about 8 million albums worldwide.

Blue Rodeo did very well. They exceed four million. So we're almost a two to one ratio here. The hip are like two to one over the blue one. But that's what I would expect. I think the hip had a bunch of big albums. Now, did you know? know that and you were just setting me up.

No, I mean, I just, yeah, I don't know. So I am a big blue rodeo fan. Like I said, last week, Colin Cripps was here. I've had, you know, Keeler's been on. I went to the Woodshed to interview Jim Cuddy. Mike Boguski's been on multiple times. Like, I love, I love Blue Rodeo. At my wedding, my mom and I dance to try from outskirts, okay?

Still hits that note, man. I saw the documentary. Yep, yep. And there was a recent performance of, of try and does he still hit that note or what it's beautiful and jim cutty was was a semi uh friend not that i could call him up today or anything but we we knew each other in the day where number one they were when they had an ep out remember eps there was the first ever recording of anything three or four songs they would always they were one of the few bands that would come on switchback which was

cbc which i worked on in toronto and they would they would show up on a a Sunday morning to play live, like ridiculous, right, for a band? Okay, for some historical context. So the full-length debut of the band Blue Rodeo is Outskirts, right? And that's the second single. This is a fun fact when I talked to the guys is that

the first, I got to dig up what the first single was, but the first single did not do well. Like radio didn't play it. It wasn't popular. There was no much music exposure. It was the second single, which was Try, that makes that band. Right.

Like they were in trouble and then try was all over much music, all over your station, 680 CFDR? I think, and if I remember correctly from the documentary, it was actually much music that helped make that band. It was because Jim was a good-looking guy, and the band was great and all that kind of stuff, and it was a great song. And so even though the radio didn't get on it,

much music got on it. It's almost like the first sign, first inkling, like, hey, we don't need radio. And to make it. But so through that, And also they were big friends of Kiss when I was at Kiss. Because we got to play Blue Rodeo on Kiss. Yeah, because there's a country aspect of Blue Rodeo, of course.

Very much so, yeah. We didn't play all their songs, but a good number of them. So he would do interviews and I'd get to talk to him a lot. And I know he was just a wonderful, didn't get to know Keeler or anybody else, but certainly Jim Cuddy and was always a great interview and a good guy to know. Yeah, he seems like a good guy. I know he played a lot of hockey. there's like a, I don't know if you know this,

there's like a Canadian rock hockey thing that happens in Toronto and you can find out. I'm aware of that. Dave Bidini and I know, I think Gordowny was a goaltender, the late great Gordowny, speaking of the tragically hip.

But one quick, just to tie this up, is on the show a couple times is a woman named Michelle McAdory, niece of Bob McAdory, okay? Michelle McAdory was in a band called Crash Vegas. Right.

I love Crash Vegas. Yeah, they had a big hit on the radio called Inside Out, which I'm sure you played. And Michelle McIndorre, in this band was started with Greg Keeler because Michelle McIndory was dating Greg Keeler, but also in this band was the aforementioned Colin Cripps, who was here last week to kick out the jams. Wow.

And just to bring it back to my Friday night, Colin Cripps would go on to play in Junkhouse, which is a great Hamilton band fronted by, Tom Wilson and I had a very long and amazing discussion with Tom Wilson at this theater Aquarius in Hamilton on Friday night. Oh, he was there. Yeah. Oh, he goes to all the Hamilton things.

It's like his job or whatever. And two funny things. One is he really wanted to introduce me to Bruce McCullough from kids in the hall because he knows I've been trying to get him for years. So he wanted to do that. I actually ended up seeing Bruce in that there's a party at intermission. If you go up the stairs, there's a little party.

I took my daughter because it's all you can eat cookies. She was very excited, right? And two, so a couple of interesting stories you might like here. One is that I see Bruce and I'm way, Tom wanted to introduce me, but I'm like, NAS, I'm just going to introduce myself. But before I could introduce myself to Bruce McCullough, he comes right up to me and I think, oh, he knows who I am. He's come to me, Bruce McCullough from Kids in the Hall.

And he basically looks at me and goes, you have the greatest hair. Like he literally just came to me to compliment my hair. And then I introduced myself and he says, he'll come on. So he'll come on. But also, then I see in the corner of my eye, a guest I had on via Zoom, but I had never met her in real life. I see her and I say, I got to go chat her up. I had the best chat with Jane Eastwood. Oh my gosh.

She was there and we had the best chat. And she remembered her appearance on Toronto Mike and she was raving and she was just, just, just. And she told me, she said, she goes, Mike. She goes, I'm trying to do a Jay, Jane Eastwood here. She goes, Mike. She goes, I have never heard a tragically hip song in my life. So I'm going to pause that story, Larry, to ask you. Do you think that's possible for a Canadian to get this far.

without hearing a tragically hip song? You know what? I do, because my brother had a couple of friends who just hated the band and refused to even acknowledge their existence. So there were those people out there, and I guess, but it is kind of shocking, though, still. And also, of all the bands, like this is a band of friends,

like an organically made Kingston band of friends, where every member of that band, except for Gordauny, every single member of that band chose to stay in Kingston, Ontario. Right. They live there. today, all of them.

Gord moved to Toronto, but the rest of the bands stay there. Of all the bands to pick on, this is a band of high school buds who form, and it's the most organic, authentic. It's like the Beatles. They're just buddies in Liverpool. It is that and the interesting thing, the thing I always loved about them too is that they, you know,

when you form bands, my brother was in many bands and everything, so I've heard the stories. At some point, somebody's either not good enough because the other guys progressed or somebody gets married and leaves or gets a real job or whatever.

And they may have had jobs in between, but these guys, they all went up at a level of ability and obviously had natural talent there as well, but they obviously worked at it and they were all, like everybody was good enough to stay in the band, right? Did you see the four-part tragically hip documentary? I did not.

Okay, you got to, it's on Prime, I think, but you got to check it out because there's an era Shortly before the terrible diagnosis of Gord Downey, which ends up ending the band, there's interesting conversation about the producer Bob Rock, who you might know Bob Rock. Right, right, yeah. And how it was always a band of five, five brothers, okay?

And then Gord started going to Bob Rock and collaborating with him without including the other members. And watching this doc, because I had no idea, you can see there was, for the first time in this band's existence during this Bob Rock era, there's a true rift where you could see this band breaking up. Like instead of it being equal 5, 20% membership of this, whatever, suddenly it's Gord and Bob kind of deciding things

and writing things, collaborating, and then the band kind of finding out later, which is a very different dynamic. And this is apropos of very little, but a stream of consciousness comment. I'm just thinking of that great picture backstage at Massey Hall of Gord Downey, Gordon Lightfoot, and Gordon Pinson, just still makes the rounds on an anniversary or a birthday of either of those men.

What do you think of the Canadianity of that name Gord? Like, sure, there are non-Canadian gourds, but the bulk of famous gourds are Canadian. They are. I think I went through that one time, and there was Gordy Howe, of course, to add to that list. But after that, I was hard pressed to find a Gord that wasn't Canadian. No, I mean, I can think of two, but I'll get to. But Gord Stelic, right? youngest general manager in the Maple League history.

He's a radio guy now. And Gord Depp of lead singer and songwriter for the spoons. Okay, that's a Gord. That's a Gord. And am I missing any? Hold on, there's got to be more. I got to think on it. Hold on Gord's because I'm thinking.

Oh, Gord Johnson from Big Sugar. Oh, right. Another guy who I got to know through Eric Tunney, the great comic. The late great? Yes, because he hosted the Air Tony. He hosted the Ed's Night Party before Humble Howard. So between Harlan Williams and Humble Howard, that was Eric Tunney hosting the Ed's Night Party.

Not I'd say, whatever the Edd's talk show was. So Eric Tunney's good friend was Gordy Johnson. They were pals from Windsor days. And so before there was a big sugar or official band, Gordy would always have a band of some sorts, whether it had a name or not, but he'd play places.

And he would also come to switchback, which is how I got to know him. Okay. God. And one of my great moments when I was at 610 CKTB in St. Catharines, Gordy Johnson shows up to do an interview at 977 Hits FM. Yeah, of course. They played a lot of big children.

So the hits people are all very excited at Gordy Johnson, and he walks into the station and goes, is Larry Fidorkin today? I'd love to say hi. And it was just, it elevated me in that building forever. That was the last time I saw him. I'll bet. And so I recently had Gordy Johnson on for his Toronto Mike debut.

And what's a mind blow for listeners of this podcast is the role of Molly Johnson in that man's career. Like Molly gets him the record deal. Molly gets shelter over his head when she lived at the Cameron House. There's numerous, Molly has them like open for her when she would go do her jazz stuff or whatever. So Molly Johnson, one of the most infamous guests in Toronto Mike's history, Molly Johnson's role in the Big Sugar Gordy Johnson origin story is immeasurable. Wow. That's very cool.

And there's another great gourd. And the only non-Canadian gords that ever jump in my head is Sesame Street had a Gordon. Right. And I was raised on Sesame Street. So Gordon was on Sesame Street. And the last one is kind of silly. But the real name of Alf, alien life form, was Gordon Shumway. It was too.

Good one. And he's not American either. He's from Milmac. That's true. Yeah. I remember always, because we had him on the show once, Gordon Jump. Oh, yes, from WKRP in Cincinnati. Right.

And he was the year he was in town doing a play or something. And so we had him on the morning show. And he was about to that fall appear on Seinfeld. So he kind of broke the news. It's like, you know, what are you doing now kind of question? What's up next for Gordon Jump? And he's like, I'm going to be on Seinfeld this fall. He was George's boss.

that they played again sports or whatever it was. Right. And he was the May Tag repairman for a spell. He was, yeah. But for Gen Xers particularly, Larry, the one thing about Gordon Jump is, yeah, of course, he's forever going to be Arthur Carlson on WKRP in Cincinnati. But he also, there was a special episode of different strokes

where he played a guy who would like invite young boys to his apartment to drink alcohol. And let's just say, yeah, I'm not kidding with you. So we were, I think we were traumatized as Gen Xers by his character in this episode of different strokes where basically he was like a basically a child molester. Oh my gosh. I know. Gordon Jump.

This is like I was watching a lot of WKRP in Cincinnati and this beloved Arthur Carlson. What is he doing with Willis and Colonel Jackson? What's you talking about? Man, the, because I, when I get tired of. of news, which I watch a lot of during the day, I'll flip over to CH and watch some old shows. And some of them are very cringe-worthy.

Some of them are super-crinch, but not as that, not as much I remember. That was the best one. You watch different strokes. You remember that episode of, it was like one of those very special episodes of different strokes. Hey, how well do you know John Wing?

Pretty, again, pretty good. I've had them on my show and I had a show. and of course the Yuck Yuck Yikes days. And not that we hung out together outside of the club, but offstage at the Yuck Yuck Yucs on Bay Street, there was a back hallway because there were other businesses along that downstairs part, right? Where Yuck Yucke Yucs was.

Or were there? Anyway, there was a big long hallway at the back. And that was kind of our green room, if you will. I always wonder, I always meant to ask Mark Breslin And if anybody took down that wall because everybody signed it up and down and drew pictures, guests, all the comics, the locals, the guys that came in from L.A. and New York and stuff, it would be a cool wall. I don't know that anybody said.

But anyway, so John Wing and I back there, yeah, but I always loved him, just like, amazing guy. I think he's a very smart, funny comic. And a great poet. I'm not even sure I'm aware of that, but he learned on blue sky. learned Larry Fedorik was returning to Toronto Mike. Nice. Because your last few appearances, as I mentioned off the top, your last few appearances were at

Palmas Kitchen when I do the live recordings for TMLX events. And we mentioned your amazing sweater. So, and I, I'm pretty sure you've been to every single TMLX event at Palmis Kitchen. I'm not sure. I could even do that without you at this point, Larry. Like, I think you got to keep in, often your brother's there. Maybe get a new sweater, maybe one of these years. No, that would disappoint me.

But John Wing heard you were coming back and he said, ask him about the blue scouring kind. What is the blue scouring kind? Okay. So here's a thing about John Wing. Those wonderful Yonki-X days, 80s, mid-80s, until I finally decided that I wasn't funny enough to continue to try and do this.

I needed a day job. But for all those years that I was there, five, six years, and all the great people from from Simon Rackoff and Marla Lakoffsky and Larry Horowitz and all the people that were Lawrence Morgan Stern if you want to remember Steve Schuster

if you remember one of their jokes or their entire act word for word John Wing Yeah You just How does John how does that joke go that Lawrence Morganstern used to do this joke Anybody remember it? Call John Wing

John Wing will give you it word for word John Wing was, did I hear him? Was it your podcast? It was my podcast because I heard, you talked to Humble and Fred about it and I screamed at my phone.

Tell them the name of the podcast you heard it on because you said, oh, I just heard, I just heard John Wing on a podcast recite Ralph Ben Mergeys. He came on my show to to tell us Ralph Benmergey's set from the early 80s or whatever the hell that was.

By the way, Ralph, another guy I bumped into on Friday night, Ralph Ben Mergie. There you go. Yeah. And getting right back to that, Tom Wilson, who was excited to introduce me to Bruce McCullough, future FOTM, he comes up to me and he goes, Mike, have you ever met Ralph Benmergy? That was the question. And I said to him, I said, I produced his podcast and we've met approximately 80 times. And he goes, okay, right, of course.

Okay, back to John Wing. So that John at the time, and isn't it funny, I don't remember the joke now, but on your podcast mentioned a joke that I did, that I'd forgotten that I'd ever did. So now when you say the blue scouring kind, I am, I can't. It was something you did on stage at Yuck Yuck Yuck's possibly.

I know, it was a joke. The cleaning pads? I'm trying to think of what it could be. And the closest I'm coming, because first of all, I don't think any of my act is should be memorable to anyone. Otherwise, I'd still be doing it.

Well, John Wing remembers. You remember everything? So the, I think the joke was that I don't know French that well because I used to, you know, Ukrainian and growing up in a prairie's never learned French that well. And I saw a woman in front of me at the grocery store and she had S.O. tampons. And, you know, just to do the look to the, oh, and it usually gets a laugh.

Sure. And I didn't know that it's obvious, but tampons means pads. And that was basically, that was a joke. And I think I may have had a tag about the blue scouring kind. So maybe that's the joke. John would remember it. I don't know. Oh, that's funny.

And I love to hear from John Wing. By the way, about half an hour ago, we were talking about Hamilton the musical, and you asked if it had ever played in Hamilton. And then I said, I think COVID messed up, because I know my mom had tickets and that show never happened because of COVID.

But I didn't check our live stream, live.tronomike.com, where I can see here now, moose grumpy, letting us know that, yes, COVID did shut down the first run in Toronto. But apparently the musical Hamilton did come back in 2023.

Who knew? So it came back in, 2023 post-COVID if there is a post-COVID. It's on my list of things I should do one of these days. See Hamilton somewhere. It's very Obama core, though. Like that's, it feels very Obama core. And I don't know how that would even play in this current regime.

Yeah, I don't know. That's a whole thing. We'll get that. Okay. So that was John Wing. You wanted me to ask you about the blue scouring kind. And then there's Toronto Boris, who I met at Christy Pitts once at a Maple Leaf game. And he follows me on Blue Sky.

And he says, Ask Larry about his quote, dabble into street photography. What's he shooting and what drew him to street photography? Wow. Thank you. Because I don't do it. And the reasons are my camera broke and then my eyes broke.

And then my knees broke. So street photography requires good eyes, good legs, and a good camera. Can't do it on a phone. Not really well, unless you're more talented with a phone. But one of those we could fix. Like, we could get you a new camera.

I don't know how to get you new eyes. Very easily. And I, and I was since diagnosed and I have it and it's still, this is not a pitiful story because I can see and just, but there's certain things now

with age-related macular degeneration that you just can't see. Facial recognition. There's just, you know, obviously older guy needs readers to read that, of course. Sure, I'm wearing readers right now. Contrast is what AMD is not good at.

So if you're, like I always said, this is why I don't drive. Because if you're wearing a gray ski jacket crossing a gray pavement street, I'll probably hit you with the car. Because I can't see the subtleties, the difference. So that ended that. But street photography was something

really I always wanted to do in my entire life. I always thought I had an eye. And I would dabble, not necessarily in street photography, but just get out and shoot anything, a leaf on a tree. I just, isn't that a broken toy lying in a gutter on the street?

I'd get a picture of it. And, and street, so I started to do that, and we had a nice storm back, I don't know the dates very well, 2012, 2013, big ice storm. I remember this, yeah.

Somewhere in there. And I had a little portable, digital, very small camera, thought, I'm going to shoot some pictures out there and send them back to the family out west of what this ice storm looks like, because there was just everything, every little twig and covered nice. So I do this and so that get, walk around, do the photos, bring them back, upload them, process them, compile them, curate, send out. Loveed that process. set to myself, that was the most fun I've had for, I'm going to do that every weekend.

And as I joined street photography groups, most of them, and this is a big transition if you're doing street photography, most of the groups that I was in on social required a person to be in the photo. Other than that, you know, obviously no pornography and everything, no setups, no posed photos. But if you're, if you're taking a picture of somebody

and they make eye contact with you, you're taking their picture, that's allowed. But you can't have posed photos and things like that. So there were, but that was the only rule. So I'd never really taken pictures of people before because I didn't, I felt it was intrusive. I didn't know how to do it and it was, it was a big thing for me to get past.

But once I got past that, then that was it every, every time I could. I mean, every day on holidays, but certainly on weekends I would get out and do, it's just a great city for it. You can go to Tensington. You can go to just anywhere downtown, and I would just wander up and down Spadina and Queen West and the beach. And just kind of people watch and your eyes are good.

And if I say so myself, I did kind of have an eye. I had an eye for a situation of, you know, and it was just, it's fun. And I miss it horribly. said horribly. I just, I could get my camera fixed, but I guess I don't know if my legs would carry me far enough. Well, the legs I didn't really know about, but I did hear a podcast later that same life where you talked about the eye situation, which I was going to ask about. But for a moment you said, wander around down, I thought you were going to say, uh, uh, I, uh, was I say, rosy and gray lyrics about, uh, take a streetcar down town, uh, read Henry Miller and

wander around, drink some Guinness from a tin. This is what I thought you were going there. Shout out to Loest of the Low, who I'm guessing never appeared on Switchback. No, no. But a great, a great band. But that's kind of it. I mean, just take a Saturday and take transit downtown and then just wander around to it. And then just at some point. Love it.

Just sit. There's a great, oh, see, I'm blanking on the movie with Ben Stiller and it's a remake. Sean Penn, the great Walter Middy. Is that it? The Walter Middy remake? I didn't see it, but I do know this name. In the movie, I'm trying to make this short. Sean Penn is a...

The life of Walter Middy or something like that? Oh, yeah. Secret life of Walter Middy. Okay. I'll Google that one. Okay. Sean Penn is a wildlife photographer. Okay.

And he's chasing the... It's a metaphor, obviously, he's chasing this white leopard or whatever it is. And he's up in the mountains, and he's got, you know, the camouflage on and the blanket around him and all the stuff, and it's a little lens set up, a little lens set up,

and one finally walks right in front of the lens, and he doesn't take the picture. And Walter Mitty's there, he said, look, you've been doing this all your life, and why didn't you take the picture? And he says, some of these are just for me. Wow.

And that's, I used to try and keep that that in street photography, Sometimes I'd see something and I'd go, oh my camera, oh my camera. And I went, no, that was just for me. Interesting. That was just for me. It's called The Secret Life of Walter Middy, as you suspected there. Confirmed.

Okay. Now, back to your eyes for a moment here, just so because I did hear the episode of later that same life, because I listened to every episode of later that same life. And maybe tell us a little more. You called it AMD. What does AMD stand for? Age-related macular degeneration. And I don't pretend to know a lot about.

it, but it's the macular. It's the back part of the eye that starts to, with age. Sometimes it's hereditary. In my case, it's also hereditary. My mother had it. We both were getting the same treatments at the time. It's for some time. And I was lucky because I, um, I didn't self-diagnosed, but I noticed something was wrong. And my normal to, in a lot of cases of my health, which is terrible and don't do this is, oh, that'll go away or, oh, well, typical male. Or getting older or, you know, or if I don't go, I won't find out anything bad about it. Right. But I was having this experience where you drive it in a car and you go on an underpass where

the light changes for a split second. Yeah. And I would get all these flashes of my eyes, these little dots flashing off and on, off and on. And then it would go. So this actually went for a couple months where I was like, oh, I don't know. wondering what that is. And I just asked, and they sent me to the, I just went to regular eye doctor, sent me to the Toronto Retina Clinic.

And they said, yeah, you have AMD, age related macular degeneration. And I'm like, well, what's, what's the, what's the glasses that I need? What's the cure? It's the treatment. None. Well, what's, what happens now? Well, you go, you go blind. And I'm like, no.

And they like, well, there is brand. And it was pretty. new at the time. It's still kind of new, although you can see ads for it all the time now, especially on news channels that I watch, but there's, there's medicine for it, they said. And it doesn't cure it, but it basically stops it where it is, and we caught yours pretty early. So, what do you think? And I'm like, yeah, sign me up. And it's like, it's covered and all this stuff. Because it's like, but the only thing he said was, who broke your chair for a second. I'll send you an invoice.

What they said was it's eye injections. I'm like, what's that now? It's like a needle in your eyeball. And at the time, it was just my right eye. Eventually they went both eyes needed. And it was every, is there a couple of weeks for a while and then it's every 12 weeks now? Does it hurt?

No. It's a needle in the, like you say a needle in the eye. It sounds like it'll hurt. I'd rather go blind. Edda James. It's the, the, the, uh, the, uh, I like this game. Okay. Right.

It's actually easier. The dentist is worse. Let me just put it that way. Okay. Because you get a numbing, you get numbing eye drops. Right. And then you get a little, it's like a poke. It's almost like you have split second, a piece of sandwood in your eye.

And you're like, oh, gone. It's like that. Right. That needle is an actual, is the actual, uh, novocation. It's not anovcane, but it's the eye-numbing injection. Right. Ten minutes go by, and they give you the injection for the medicine. And you can actually see the medicine inside your head, like it looks like a lava lamp.

Lamp. Lava, lava lamp. Pasta or pasta? The Mazda Mazda. I have no idea. But it's, so it's that for a few seconds. and then you're good. And then the freezing comes out.

You don't know it. There's no pain afterwards. And so I still stress wildly before I go and ask my daughter. She usually has to drive me. And that's the point of her life now. I'm driving my parents to medical appointments. Oh, my God. Am I old?

I'm like, well, what does that make me? So she does this. And I'm very stressed all the time. And it's always a piece of cake. And so there. There's medicine, and anybody, you know, if it comes up in conversation, I don't bring it up, but if people go, I need this, my eyes, my eyes. I'm like, do it.

You wouldn't believe how far that area, that branch of medicine is common the last few years. So you're not legally blind. No, but I shouldn't drive. I've never, I still have a driver's license, but I gave up my car. I would not drive. Right. I do have to ask some time in the store. Excuse me.

Is this the hot or is this the mile? Oh, it's the mild, I can't read that. Okay. You don't do the trick where you take the photo and then you blow it up on your phone. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, sometimes if I'm just too lazy or I just ran across the street and I forgot my phone, I'm like, oh. Right, right, right.

But I can see, when the bus pulls up, I can clearly see it's the 32. Right. I don't have to ask all the time. Facial recognition is really. Like, do you know who you're talking to, right? Do you think you're on Humble and Fred right now there is, but I'm wondering. Yeah. Do I look like Humble Howard?

No, but just actual, I'd be a terrible witness of a bank robbery. I'm like, it's like, yeah, I saw them, but I don't know. Like, interesting. I have to be, it's there. I can, I can recognize you and tell, you know. Do you notice my good hair like Bruce McCullough did on Friday? That's really, that's really what I want to hear, Larry, okay. All the time.

Okay, so I hope that the eyes don't get, there's two of them. I hope the eyes don't get worse. and I did find it interesting in hearing about your experience on later that same life because the idea of a needle in the eye sounds terrible, but the way you describe it with this numbing thing and the thing is it's not so bad and it works for you. Yeah, and it's, my mom kind of gave up.

She lived to be 94, but in the last few years she kind of gave up that kind of stuff and at the end she really couldn't see it all. And so I'm sticking to it. Good. Yeah, stick to it. it. You know, stick to it. Now, um, changing this,

abrupt change of channel here, but, uh, I wanted to, uh, since you my first guest since this happened. Well, my first guest that I could really shoot the breeze with. I actually recorded before you, I've already recorded today. So you're 11 o'clock. I actually recorded at 9.30 an hour episode with Jerry Scott about, uh, he's got this, uh, book for Canadian snowbirds. But it's funny because we had a great chat about it, but I had to like, I'm mad at snowbirds. Like, I actually, when I find out somebody, I, I care about is going to the United States for pleasure, like, oh, I'm going to Vegas to have fun, or I'm going to go because it's nice and warm on the beach or whatever.

It ticks me off right now. It does me. Yeah. I have that, yeah, my brother and I talk about this all the time. It's just, I'll never go to Florida again. I used to go golfing every winter with the guys, did that for a number of years. I've taken the kids to Disney World a couple of times in the day. And it's like I can't imagine, especially Florida.

Right. So I get, so it's funny because I know people are doing it. I know people I work with are going to the United States. Like they're called snowbirds and they're still doing it because maybe they own or they rent something or they have a community they go to. I mean, Humble Howard used to do stuff like that. And Fred, and they've changed it to like Mexico or Dominican Republic or whatever. So they've altered their behavior, which I appreciate. So it's funny that we're doing a whole episode where if you are a snowbird and they exist. and there's all these like tax implications and health care and all these different things that this wonderful man who I've known for a long time and is a great guy, he was at the TMLX at Great Lakes Brewery when I turned 50. He flew from Vancouver just to attend that event and then flew back. Like this is a wonderful man in my life, Jerry Scott. But so we do this, but I'm like, I can't hold back anymore. Like I get angry if somebody I care about is I'm going to, I don't know,

I'm going to Detroit to watch a Tigers game. I'm like, fuck that. Like, go to Toronto. There's a dome there. Anyway, so we're on the same page with that regard. I do feel a little different about the one-offs. Like, people went to Cleveland to watch Game 7 of Raptors. And I'm like, yeah, okay.

Or, you know, that three-day. You're a better man than I, Larry's a three-day Vegas run. But when you're going and you're supporting their economy for six months at a time in Florida and stuff like that, I'm like, are you kidding me? there's these people, I don't know, I'm not going to name them, even if I knew their name, but it's a, it's a mother and a daughter and they do ads and move to Florida and we'll teach you how. And we've done it ourselves. And I'm like, get the hell out of it. Like, I'm glad you're gone. Like, I don't want you here. I just get angry about that. Well, you're a nicer man than I am because when I hear somebody, oh, I went to see a Bill's game and I'm like, ah, stop doing that. Okay. But, but I found myself, this is the first episode I can really talk about this on, which I found myself in, kind of tied to an interesting controversy. So I know you're a big news guy, right?

You've alluded to it a few times, but like are you simply like a CNN kind of guy or do you follow local news as well? Like give us a vibe on how you follow your news. So I'm up pretty early and I'm on the CBC News Network on television for as long as I can take it. And I love the CBC and it's just not a shot at the CBC. It's just I don't like the guy who's on. on there now. Who is it?

David Common. Oh yeah. I know him well. He's an FOTM. Yeah. He's the host Metro Morning. I'm sure he's, yeah,

it's right. And I'm sure he's a wonderful guy. I just can't, I can't warm to him as the anchor yet. He's been out since February. You know, he's an atopical guy. I didn't know that.

Well, maybe I changed us. Just like us. He's like between us, I think, actually, knowing where he is. So, um,

and I do have my criticisms about CBC in general, but, but it's, it's pretty good. And I understand the, importance of a CBC to have a CBC. I'm glad we have a CBC. That's not the criticism. The criticism is I just so then I'm CNN. Okay. And then I'm CP 24. Okay. So you are, you are all in the local news then. So find out where the crashes are and where the fires are and

and what the mayor has to say because city panic 24. Yes. This is, this is, if you want to know the CP 24 format at 10 o'clock, it's, uh, this burnt down. Here's where the car crash is. Here's the gunfire. And now let's go live to the mayor who's speaking at. And, And it's like, oh, my God. And I understand they have challenges in the, you know, local news is really hard. It doesn't make a lot of money. You need a lot of staff. It's very expensive to gather and disseminate and put news out, which is why fewer and few people can do it,

which is why you need the CNNs and you need the associated presses of the world, and those are very important organizations. Agreed. So, and once I get to them after at some point, I'm watching Matlock because, I've had enough news. I've had five, six hours of news. You're like Abe Simpson. Matlock!

I shout in my Abe Simpson voice, I shouted out at the TV because I know how ridiculous it is that I'm watching and enjoying Madlock. We'll be late for Matlock. That's great. That was always Abe's thing.

And of course, Patty and Selma were big MacGyver heads. It's like they'll still, but I feel like those pop, I know they brought back Matlock with a different, with Kate. what's her name, Kathy Bates. So I haven't seen it or anything, but I'm aware it exists. And I find it interesting that my 10-year-old

will know references to McGiver and Matlock because of the Simpsons. It's sort of like in Jurassic Park where they had the DNA in the sap, it was in the mosquito that was in the sap and they could extract that or whatever. I feel like all these pop culture references are like embedded in Simpsons episodes

and every generation sort of dives into the Simpsons and falls in love and then discovers all these little nuts. like so it's interesting to think because mcguiver hasn't been a pop culture touchstone for a long time right i you know it you're older than i am i grew up with it but but it's a 10 year old my 10 year old knows mcgiver because patty and selma love that show when my son was 10 he was the bigger simpsons fan than my daughter they're both big fans now but my son and i would end up watching it and i always tell the story we'd laugh at different jokes right right and and i and i

I'd go, what, what did he say? What's so funny? And he'd explain the joke. And then the other thing would happen where I'd laugh and he goes, why is it's this funny? Oh, because back when I was a kid, and that was wonderful. They didn't, they didn't pick and choose. I don't think really still do about, oh, we're talking to a demo. They made the joke. And if you didn't get it, then you had to ask somebody, but anyway, you learn something from it. Oh, so we're both big fans. It's funny. I have four kids. And my oldest and my youngest are the Simpsons heads. It's funny. the second and third lukewarm never got us into it but my first born was obsessed knew every character at the age of like five and my youngest 10 year old is completely obsessed of the references so it's just

interesting like who gets it and who doesn't but the you know the book ends there and for those two kids of mine we can just talk simpson simpson simpsons yeah yeah love it uh so okay so i found myself in a little uh tied to so i guess i was asking about the news because uh on may first this is may 4th So May 1st, I'm guessing that was Friday, was the first day you could officially become a candidate for the upcoming municipal election we're having, right? So even though Brad Bradford told us months ago he was running from there, it can't be official until May 1st because the campaign doesn't officially begin until May 1st. I don't think you can actually even, could you fill out the forms earlier? Because a lot of people were going in Friday to fill out the forms, right? Yeah, I think you have to, I don't know when you can fill out the forms, but you can't submit the forms until

May 1st. That's it. Yeah, right. So Brad was there, of course, at City Hall to do that, as he said he would. But what was interesting is later that day, are you familiar with this, this consortium? I guess it's an organization, this collective, I'll call them, called Progress Toronto. Have you heard of this? For some reason, it's ringing the bell, but I can't tell you beyond that.

So it's a kind of a, I guess if we're going to use these terms, I'm never sure if I like these terms left and right. Like, it feels so divisive and polarizing. Like, oh, I'm on team. Oh, I'm on team right. Let's go. Okay, my guy won, your guy won or whatever. It seems really divisive.

But they look for progressive, they want to put progressive candidates in places of power, right? So they, that day, May 1st, Progress Toronto filed a complaint with the, what is it called, again, the integrity commissioner? What is it? We have some kind of, Toronto has some kind of integrity. I do believe it's an integrity commissioner. Okay, thank you, Mr. Fedorick. That's while you're here. Okay.

Anyway, and it was basically regarding an event that Brad Bradford participated in a month earlier, in early April. And this is where I come into it. So this event that Brad Bradford attended and participated in was a live podcast recording of Nick Iienes' podcast, which is called Building Toronto Skyline. And I produced that live event. So I was the guy brought the speaker, made sure everybody could hear it. I recorded the audio, the video, made it a podcast, made it a, you know, a night's video for Nick's YouTube channel. And, of course, I produced that podcast, Building Toronto Skyline,

which is typically recorded right in this very basement. But it was very interesting to hear that this complaint was filed with the Integrity Commissioner regarding that event, because that event was before May 1st. So a couple of interesting things, Larry, is one is that Nick had talked to the, elections people at the city before the event

because they wanted to make sure it wasn't a fundraiser. Because you can't raise funds until May 1st. And this was like April 2nd or something like that. And Nick assured them it wasn't a fundraiser. And then I was pretty embedded. I was in all the Zooms organizing it. Where is it going to be? You know, because I was producing the thing.

And 100% no money, like not a penny was going to go to either Brad Bradford or his campaign. campaign. So this was, no money was being raised, but there's still a stink in the air regarding this. There has to be a decision made by this integrity commissioner, whether anything rules were violated. But it is interesting to me that this thing kind of happened May 1. It got picked up by like the star and the CBC. And it was, I was told that it was on CTV. And then my client who's on the show Friday, Nick Aini's, we're going to talk about it. He was quoted in these publications

because he was the guy who organized the event. And just kind of interesting to be that close to a municipal controversy. It is interesting. So the event itself, though, is not controversial. You weren't. Well, that is, okay. So, well, I mean, as I understand it, the rule is he can't raise funds and no funds were raised. So, like, no rule.

But outside of the funding, the subject matter of the event was not one. No, no. It was about, uh, Bill, it was basically what would, Brad Bradford as mayor do to help developers and help get things built in the city. So it's really the fund, but it's interesting to me. One of the, I don't think this was a rule broken, but one of the ethical things about this was that it wasn't a free event. So people who attended this event, and I didn't collect any money or, you know, I had

nothing to do with this part, but I understand that you paid to attend the event. So there is, you know, this is very, and I was going to ask you about this guy, a minute, but, you know, we talk about how, you know, Doug Ford would get like envelopes of cash at his daughter's wedding or whatever. And it was like you pay to access a political leader. So there is like some ethical discussion about how, you know, you can meet Brad Bradford, who might become mayor of Toronto, but you got to pay to do that. But Brad didn't receive any of the money, which is the discussion point. And it's all kind of swirling around. And it's not over yet. but this all broke Friday and I found it all interesting because of my unique perspective on the whole thing.

Like this must have hit CP 24. Yeah, whether. Maybe you went for a walk and then. I was already at Matlock. You're already at Matlock by the lifetime. Yeah, it was later in the day. Like it blindsided me. It's interesting because when you're, well, and the Doug Ford Cash thing at his daughter's wedding, it's, you know, it's customary.

so that you get away with that. It's like, well, it's a customer to bring, you know, and give cash gifts at these kind of things, whatever. Okay, perhaps. Right. When you're, when you have to pay it, and you're going in and you know you're paying a fee to enter an event. And that feed is not, it's not for dinner or.

Oh, no. So you got dinner and drinks. So open bar. There was food. And then you got to see Nick Iini's interview Brad Brad Bradford for a live recording of his podcast, building Toronto Skyline. So let's say, there is a surplus because that costs money

to put out together. And I sent an invoice to Nick. Exactly. For your services as producer. You have some money now. And let's say there's surplus and you have some money. Yeah. So I don't do anything with that money.

But then on May the 4th, I go, you know what? I'm going to give it to, I'm going to give it to Brad. See, I would say that would be a violation. Like, I think that's, I think, I think if you raise the money on any 2nd and you give it to the campaign on April 4th. To me, that's just you found a,

maybe you found some loophole, but to me that is a violation, but I'm not a, I'm not the commissioner. I'm not, I'm just going through that. I'm like, if,

as a, as a personal individual, if I made money in April, I could give it to his campaign now. It doesn't matter when I got the money. I will say this. So Nick Iini is on the show Friday, and I'm going to ask them straight out,

whether any of the, whether, will that money find its way to Brad's campaign now? I'm going to ask them. Right, right. Like, I mean, I'm the home of the real talk.

I'm not going to pull punches with Nick Aini's. Interesting. So this is a, you know, he, like Olivia Chow has not gone on the record to say she's running again. We all just assume Olivia Chow will run again.

And I'm sure she will. But she hasn't gone to file the papers you have to file to be on the ballot for that election. for that election. So the only notable candidate so far to file that he's running for mayor is Brad Bradford. So this is the news that everybody got on Friday and people ran with it. So it'll be interesting.

I'm going to talk to Nick about this Friday, but it is interesting that you're in the eye of the municipal election storm, so to speak. Isn't that cool? There you are. And it's not, by the way, on that note, you call it as a witness. I know. So that happened Friday.

By any chance did you hear that the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team signed a chap named I gotta make sure I say his name right because I'm gonna have to say it tonight. Yassiel Pugge. So he's Cuban-born. Yassie L. Pweig. But he was convicted of,

what's say when you block justice or you, there's a gambling ring and he lied to authorities and obstruction of justice. So he's got convictions that he's going to be sentenced later this month, I believe. But he has allegations.

Nothing was, no charges, but he has unseemly allegations that have been made over the years. Like, by many accounts, he doesn't seem like a good guy, okay, allegedly not a good guy. I don't know how to word that. I don't want Lauren Hoddickman to call me up or whatever.

But this chap is probably the best player not in MLB right now. Because of all that, he's not playing for MLB, but he's a former all-star. he's 35 years old. And because he is not playing in Major League Baseball, due to that baggage, he was available to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs

baseball team at Christy Pitts. I don't know what to do about guilty by accusation and guilty by association. Which for, um, which there is a case to be made if you're major league baseball or, or any professional organization, sports, or otherwise.

There is a case to be. be made for them to say that that's enough for us because we have a customer base and we have a PR. Like, maybe it's not worth the damage to your team. Like the Js won't sign him, I would think, because the PR damage makes it not worth it.

Right. And I think they could make that case where you could say, well, you should, you should. It's only allegations, guilty, innocent, proven guilty, et cetera, et cetera. I'm like, no, sorry. Not in this world. maybe in this world, yes, and the legal world that you simply are alleged and suspected of, etc.

But nothing's been proven. So, and I know there's, you know, everyone's from a while there's a wrongly accused. And that's, but those, you know, those are rare. Again, so on the heels of this Brad Bradford, uh, Commissioner, Integrity Commissioner thing that Progress Toronto filed on Friday. It turns out I'm actually going to be at a brewery tonight to unveil this 2026 Toronto Blue Jays roster at an event. And if all goes according to plan, this will be the first time. Toronto Maple Leaf roster or Toronto Blue Jays?

No, well, did I say Blue Jays? Oh my God. I would fix it in post, but I don't edit the show. That's a slip. Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. It gets awfully confusing when you're talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs because they had their own press conference today on a different matter. Yes, I'm doing back, Matt Sundeen. Okay, wow, that's going to fail miserably.

Yeah. That's going to go terribly. Okay. Sorry, but it is. But the Leaves baseball team. So I'm at an event tonight where I'm literally there with my buddy Snow, in former Snow, and I'm going to unveil. Pugge as the newest member of the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club.

Like, that's got its own controversy around it. Like, that's happening tonight. Wow. I know. So Larry, you're in the heart of the matter here, brother. There you are. Look at you, stirring it up and causing trouble. Well, I want to ask you about stirring it up causing trouble and cancel culture, etc.

How many times Larry Fedorik did you see the Jackson 5 victory tour? Four. Four times. And this, if, because this is where you're coming from or where you're headed, but I just did a podcast called Michael Jackson based on the release of a new biopic called Michael, which kind of bothered me. And there was a controversy around the movie. So I started to think about it and I wanted to do a podcast on it.

And when I do a podcast, later that same life podcast, one of my favorite things is when I'm talking about an issue and I have a personal story that I can add to an issue. And when that happens, it's great. And for me, it was seeing the Jackson's, as they were called at the time, on the 1984 Victory Tour. four different times. They played three dates at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, and it was early October, like 3,45 or 456, like that. And because we knew that CFTR was going to get the exclusive presents rights on this,

which reminds me of a quick story that I'll share in second. Yeah, yeah, I love all CFTR stories. But they sent us to Buffalo to see the show at the end of August. It was August 29th. We went a bunch of us in a big bus, van or something from CFTR went to Rich Stadium and saw the victory tour and then of course I was

there every night with the CFTR presents because we it was so huge I remember because I drove a station logoed vehicle and we actually had a sign made up for all station logoed vehicles there are no Jackson's tickets inside this vehicle

so that nobody would break in I wanted to mention this in the podcast, but I couldn't confirm it. But the talk was in the day that Ted Rogers actually put some money into that tour. Now, I don't know if it went right into Michael and Jermaine's pocket or who got that money. Maybe Nick Aeney's got that money. But maybe.

Because normally how the presents work for a big show or even a movie or the company would come to you. And because we were doing real well, they would say you present, even though it was a CPI production or whatever, you got to say presents. And that was a big thing. It was a big thing for your image. So when,

and this one I think cost some money. But I think it was worth it because it was massive. I mean, 50,000 plus, the full exhibition stadium, the grand old place, God bless it. Three nights in a row. I mean, and we had, I was thinking of this on the bus

And the way here for some reason We had a broadcast location Just outside the stadium So we would do a show just before The Jackson's tour And then the guy would be on after the Jackson's Crowd got let out And I went to the broadcast location

And we're playing, of course, Michael Jackson songs And We had about 5,000 kids around this Our Broadcast trailer And they were always singing along so I called the radio station and I said they're all singing I'm going to grab the

the mic and hold it up at high as I can outside the trailer and they're singing along to the song so you can't turn it off but I want you at the station to mix them higher than the so we had the

Michael Jackson whatever it was beat it or Billy Jean or smooth criminal we had like five there was no smooth criminal yet that's right there wasn't good one good one actually I'm a Michael Jackson expert. They had, they had, they, um, they were all singing.

And it was just like a radio moment. Wow. That was just fantastic. And just to see it, just to see the bigness of it was really what it was. Whatever you think of Michael Jackson today, it was huge. Well, I want to get into that a bit because I did listen to the latest episode of later that same life, which was all about Michael Jackson and this new film called Michael. When I heard there was a new movie called Michael.

I thought it might be about me, Mary, but no, it's about Michael. Should be. One day, one day. Did you know I'm headlining at the Alma combo? I do know that now. Okay, I'm going to bring it up again later. I apologize for being the last one to find out. I'll break your, bust your chops in mere moments.

But to give a little context, so you, you know, this was 1984. Am I right? Yeah. Okay. And Thriller was like 83, I want to say, but Thriller had already, you know, had come out. So your podcast has a good job of kind of, you know, talking about the Michael Jackson story, which,

which, of course, if you go beyond the Jackson 5 stuff, it's very interesting that it is the Whiz. It is an encounter with Quincy Jones at the Whiz. The Wiz was a movie based, go ahead. It was a Broadway musical. It was a reimagining of the Wizard of Oz with an all-black cast.

Right. And the story of, of Dorothy paralleled the struggles of African Americans in the United States. And if you watch, it's funny because I shouted out different strokes earlier, just randomly, but a spinoff of different strokes is a show called Facts of Life, which I used to watch. And Tudy, there was an episode where Tudy, Kim Fields, was trying out for a role in the whiz. And in this episode of Facts of Life, I still remember it like it was yesterday. Come on in, ease on down, ease on down the road.

And to this day, Larry Fedorick, that is all I know for. from the whiz. Is that line that she sings in Facts of Life? One of my producers, I'll give him a shout out, the great Corey Motley, who went on to be on radio in Niagara and on his own, but he was my producer at the time, and we would talk about favorite shows, Fact of Life. Yeah.

And he said, we used to, he and I used to come up when we would talk off the air, just on the aircom, we'd say a phrase and we'd go, that would be a great band name. That would be a great name for a band. You know, and that's the, we used to play. I have a list of those somewhere at home. And we were talking about facts of life, and I should, you know.

And he's, and he's, and I was like, and Tudy, and he goes, oh, my God, I was Gaga for Tudy. And I'm like, that's a band name. Gaga for Tudy. Gaga for Tudu. I hope Lady Gaga doesn't sue over that band name. Well, we would have been first, of course, if we had done it. Although she was named after a queen song, Radio Gaga. Gaga, which is one of the best songs ever.

Yeah. Oh, my God. Radio people love that song. So, um, okay, so, so Quincy Jones means,

yeah, so the Michael Jackson encounter with Quincy Jones, because Michael's in the Whiz, is what leads to Quincy Jones producing off the wall. Off the wall, which was 89, I think. Which was huge as in your,

which was huge. And that was, I was too young for off the wall, but those songs are still out there today, some of those songs. But then the one I own two cassette copies of, because I was just getting into popular music when this thing, when this thing broke, it was like the perfect age.

But thriller was a monster. So it's in that post-thriller, which was the biggest album of all time. And that's when this Jackson tour hits Toronto. Yeah. I mean, the Jackson's, without going through the history, like they discovered in the Apollo Theater in 1967, they get a contract with Motown, so on and so forth.

through that time, through their rise, Germain had singles. He was the lead singer before Michael got old enough to perform with the band, with the family. Tremendous, tremendous voice. Great R&B voice. And he had his own hit singles. But really it was Michael that allowed the Jackson's

to tour on that massive 55 stadium day tour. biggest to date, biggest to date in the day. Right. That it was his success. And a lot of it was Michael's music. And I think the Jackson's had a single out of the time. I think it was called Body or something like that.

And they had an album. And, no, I think we played it. But I don't think anybody's really interested. You know, you kind of sat through that part until Michael would do beat it or whatever it was. But yeah, because Thriller, if you imagine 89 and off the wall goes four times. What? Did you say 89? I did.

Sorry, 79. I did say 89. Fact check you. I'm Robert Lawson over here. Just a misspeak, but I knew that. I also made a misspeak when I referred to the Toronto Blue Jays. I said, meet leaves for the Blue Jays. So we're one all now.

So if it's four times platinum and it's so massive is off the wall, can imagine like how Thriller just killed it? I mean, Thriller was so huge. Notwithstanding that, you know, that again, MTV and the thriller video and the whole that was an epic mini film, you know. It's just... Yeah, thriller. Yeah. Yeah, no, so it's difficult

even in this current world, like when you talk to kids today, it's almost impossible to explain how big the album thriller was because everything, all the game has changed so dramatically since then. But what I find interesting is, and I believe this to be true, you can confirm, that this three appearances of the Jackson's at Exhibition Stadium that you attended all these concerts with the CFTR, that that's the only time Michael Jackson played

the city of Toronto. I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure he never came and played. There is no Michael Jackson solo tour that came through Toronto. The bad tour would have been the only big tour I can think of that would have traveled a lot of places and I don't know that it was ever here. Don't believe it ever came here for some reason. Yeah.

I don't think so. You saw the only Michael Jackson. appearances in the city of Toronto. Yeah. Also, quick aside, because we talked about Motown in the Jackson 5, quick aside is that Tommy Chong, I believe Tommy Chong, this was told to me by his daughter, Ray Don Chong. I believe Tommy Chong played a interesting role in connecting the Jackson's to Motown

because he was in a band that was a Motown band, Tommy Chong. I did not know that. Yeah. The name was the, I got to remember the name of that. I'm going to Google that one later. the Tommy Chong band that was on Motown. But yeah, interesting Canadian connection.

Right. Wow. That's, yeah, because I only know the old, you know, they took them to the, they're from,

from Gary, Indiana, and they are playing locally, and they're pretty good, and word is out, and they're, and they take them to the Apollo for amateur night in 1967.

Bobby Taylor and the Vancouver's, is the Motown group, and Tommy Chong was, a guitarist and songwriter. Well, Ray Don Chong tells this story that she was hanging out with a young Michael Jackson in Detroit. So interesting. Go find that episode and dig that up here.

But I want to ask you about, I know what's in your episode of later that same life, but it is interesting when the family produces a movie about a person that, you know, we talked a bit about Yasiel Pueig. But the Michael Jackson story, warts and all, is awfully greasy. And it is interesting that they put out a movie, which apparently you tell me it doesn't actually reference any of that negative stuff. I will not see this movie. If it happens to be on five years from now, it's not that I'll turn it off.

It's the same way now where if Michael Jackson comes on the store system at the shoppers. I'm not walking out of the store, but yet at the same time, I'm not, you're not seeking it. I'm also not going to celebrate his, his legacy and wonderful talent. I think it's a whole story. I think you can't separate it and say, well, you know, still, forgive all that because he could really sing and dance. I don't think so. So the story was, the script was, um, this whole time, but was, was sanctioned and vetted by the Jackson estate.

And apparently, and, Antoine Fukuwa, who did Training Day and Equalizer in a bunch of great movies. He's directing it, and it's going to start with footage, or maybe recreated footage of the raid on Neverland Ranch. And the movie's going to end on the controversial times of Michael's life in the early and mid-90s, especially when the accusations started to come out. Then for some reason, the Jackson estate finds a clause and a contract where in the dialogue of the movie,

they mentioned the name of one of the accusers. And that guy and his family, back when he was 13 years old, signed an agreement that he can never be mentioned in any future books or films. It's by name. And they go, well, we can't put that in the movie. I don't know how they just didn't notice it.

You know, you'd think, but they didn't found this. So they had to reshoot. So they reshot an ending that just now ends on the movie. bad tour on a real uplifting note and does not include any mention of the accusations. And when asked about it, they said, well, this is a part one. This is just a part one. Part two of Michael's story.

I'm surprised anyone would expect anything less because it's sort of like the Melania documentary. Have you seen that? Yeah. I mean, why would they, why would they, that's what shocked me. The fact that even at the beginning there would have been some mentioned of Neverland Raid

and police raid and then the stories at the end, vetted by the Jackson family, when really it's the Jackson estate, which includes his three kids, and one of his kids was a supervisor on set every day. It's surprising me that they would even include any of it, but now they don't. And I doubt they'll ever be a part two

that finishes the Michael story, at least not by that group of producers and directors and family. Certainly not. Well, it is interesting how well that movie did at the box office. It was tremendous commercial success. And the actor playing Michael beat out 200 other candidates for the role. And I'm like, he's Jermaine's son. He's Michael's nephew.

He's Jafar Jackson. No nepotism there, okay? Give me a break. Yeah. But apparently does a great job, right? Like, I mean, if you're looking for a Michael Jackson impersonator or whatever. But it is interesting. I think what we learn is that it's easy to cancel people.

people, it's easy to cancel people when you don't love their art. You know what I mean? Like it's, it sounds like, oh, it's tough to cancel Michael Jackson as, as a, if we think of culture as a whole, it's tough to cancel Michael Jackson because of how tremendous his art was, like how catchy his songs were and how many big monster hits he had. I make the point and it really was, it just kind of dawned on me as I was doing it, and it may sound obvious, but. sometimes I'm often very slow, but it dawned on me that cancel culture is,

should be this individual thing. And it doesn't, you don't have to, what people do now is they demand mass hysteria on a cancel. And it's like, you, you like Michael Jackson, how dare you? And I'm like, well, I, sorry, I dare. It's my personal opinion that he was, that those accusers were correct and true and that he was a pedophile and that it caused a lot of hearting for a lot of people. And I'm going to choose not to celebrate his life or listen to him or go to his movies

or buy any products related to Michael Jackson. But don't make me be part of mass hysteria cancel culture. It should be a personal decision. But like your decision sounds like that's similar to one's decision to go to the United States as a snowbird and enjoy the warmer weather. I guess. Like it's, you know, each person, you know, makes their own. decision and you don't have to agree with the decision.

You don't have to like the decision. But, you know, I guess that's the free will of being an adult. I guess. But I mean, but don't force me to be on, on, on your path. And also I'm not going to force you to be on mine, I guess. But also, if that's your path, then don't expect us to really interact or be friends that much because we're just too far apart on certain things. You're not going to go over for like a listening party to listen to, what was it

called history. I remember there was a big Michael. See, I guess because I was of the age, this you know, the thriller hits that you would hear on CFTR and then of course Bad, and then Dangerous as I'm recalling now. And just go so on and so on.

He was such a massive pop culture persona. And he was weird AF, Larry. Like weird. Before the, before the unseemly pedophilia allegations, like he was just super, super weird.

but you couldn't help but, you know, pay attention and notice this guy. And he could dance? Oh, my God. Could he dance? The, the, if you look at off the wall, which is a brick wall,

and it says off the wall, kind of in chalk on it, and Michael's in a tux. Right. And he's got the, still the 70s fro looking thing going, and this kid. Remember when he and Donnie Osman

appeared on the Grammys together, side by side? I don't remember that. It was just, they were the exact same height. They wore an exact same tuxie. They had the same beautiful white smile. It was black and white, whatever, Michael Jackson's song.

So there's that fresh, still fresh-faced kid. Right. If you remember Thriller, which we think of the video, excuse me, of him and all that gross makeup, grotesque makeup, but the album Thriller, he's in a white jacket, he's reclined, he's beautiful. And then somewhere, it's just, I don't know whether it was the Pepsi Fire, or what it was. But he just starts to go the other way,

whether it was the complexion disease, the plastic surgery, the nose went bad, the hair straightened and long. And it just, it just got weird. It just got weird. And I don't know what it was.

Was it all the money and the pressure and the constant attention and the whatever? And he's by an elephant man parts and he's got a chimpanzee. He has the Neverland Ranch. And it's just everything about him, one after the other. you know.

And then at 50 years old, he's dead. Just like that. Murdered by his doctor. Propofal poisoning. Like will there ever be a pop culture death that big? Like, I mean, a 50 years old, that guy dies. Like, that's one of the biggest. People know him.

Every corner of the globe, they know Michael Jackson. It's amazing. There's this, there's this Hungarian piano player, Peter Bruce, you see him on social. He's a younger looking dude. He's in his 30s. skinny guy and he does like Bohemian Rhapsody on piano. He's a virtuoso, but he also plays pop hits.

And he'll come up occasionally on my channel, and I saw him the other day, and I was like, oh, I haven't seen a Peter Bruce video for a while, I wonder what he's playing. And he's playing this grand piano in a church. And it's like really good, and of course he's fantastic. And he's playing this, and I'm like, and he gets to this one part, I don't know what he's playing, I think it's a classical piece.

And he gets to this one part, and it's da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. and I'm like, Annie, are you okay? And it's smooth criminal. And I'm like, oh my God, he's been playing smooth criminal this whole time. I've just spent the last three days watching the original video, watching his video. That's why I said smooth criminal earlier because it's now. And it's like, and I'm supposed to hate Michael Jackson. And I'm like, my God.

You slip, Larry. You've slipped. What a great song. What a great song. What a great video. What great dancing. Oh, my God. And the biggest hit of Alien and Farms career because they covered smooth criminal.

and it's, uh, they're only, uh, they're only hit. There you go. Okay. So, God, you're easy to talk to. Uh, we got to do this more often, my friend. Absolutely. Uh, I want to just, I need to thank a couple of partners here real quick. I do have in my freezer upstairs, Larry Fedorick, I have a large lasagna from

palma pasta for you. Oh my gosh. I love it. I know that's why you come to the TML XIVs, because you know you're going to get some Palmapost. You're good guy and everything, but I come from the lasagna. I don't blame you. So I want to thank Palma pasta.

Go to Palmapasta. Go to Palmap. pasta.com. They send over these lasagnas for the guests of Toronto Mike. That's why I wanted to get you here in person. I can't give it to you via Zoom, Larry. This is good that you're here. I'm glad to have you here. I also have for you, courtesy of Great Lakes Brewery. I have some fresh craft beer for you. Lovely. So you got your beer, the lasagna's in the in the freezer upstairs. I have a measuring tape for you, Larry Fedorick. This is courtesy of

Ridley Funeral Home. Oh, you know what? You need. one, right? So we used to have this discussion all the time about you have a measuring tape in a toolbox somewhere in the basement or the storage room. You should always just have one around. Right. And I always meant to do that.

And now you can. Now I have that. Wow. There's a great podcast from Ridley Funeral Home called Life's Undertaking. In fact, on Wednesday, Brad Jones will be by to record a fresh episode with a new theme song that was put together by Rob Pruse from the Spoons. So Rob Pruss, and here's a fun fact, Larry. We're going to get to this in exactly two minutes.

But Rob Pruss will be a part of my Elma combo debut. So I'll tell you about that in exactly two minutes. But I urge people to listen to Life's Undertaking. We've already shouted out Nick Aenees. He's on the show Friday. And his podcast, Building Toronto Skyline, got a lot of what we call Earned Media, which means a lot of free mentions from places like

CBC and the Toronto Star. It's been quite a weekend. We'll talk to Nick about that on Friday. I mentioned I'm at this event for the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball team tonight, and I have a book that is the history of Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. That's for you, Larry, to learn about the ongoing history.

Yeah, they play at Christy Pitts, and you can learn a lot about this great team. This is good, because I have a vague memory of a week ago watching a short video clip about the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Club and going, I didn't know that. And I was desperately searching it in my brain, you know, that don't Google it, search it.

And I couldn't come up with it. So maybe I can look it up in this book now. And that's different than Googling it, right? That's not coming off your brain if you look it up in the book. I feel like that you also, I don't know. It's almost as good as thinking of it yourself. It's a, it's a gray area. Sadly, my brain is missing a lot of that.

Gray matter. That's right. Gray's anatomy. Okay. you know what? After I watched this for season one of the pit, I don't know if you ever watched

this show. Did you see the pen? No, yeah. Okay. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed ER, but the first time I watched ER, which was in real time

in the 90s, I watched only eight seasons and then something happened and I dropped off. But this thing went 15 seasons. So I decided, with my wife, we decided to watch,

she had never seen it. We watched ER in its entirety, and just last night, we watched the series finale of ER. That was last, night. This was, uh, whatever, whenever the first season of the pit ended, we started this journey and it ended last night. I've now seen every episode of ER. Wow. There you go. Okay. I only thought of that because I said Gray's Anatomy. Okay. Last but not least, Larry Fedorick, if you have old cables, old devices, maybe an old broken camera for goodness sake. Don't throw that in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recycle my electronics.ca. Put in your postal code and find out where you can draw all that off to be properly recycled.

That's your orders. All right. I'm speaking, preaching to the converted. I've always done that. Always done that with, uh, love to hear it. A few years ago when I took everything that was in this cabinet, like,

that's like, I have an audio cassette player, take that out. Yeah, I have still my VCR, take that out. I have, I had all the stuff that was still hooked up. And I recycled it. Good for you, man.

I know last time you were on the show, which was at TMLX at, Palmer's Kitchen. We talked about we talked, you have a great story. We won't revisit it now because of time, but about getting rid of your vinyl and getting rid of your CDs and everything. Like, just the best, I totally relate.

I do have a CD player here, but the only CDs, I got rid of most of my CDs, but I do have some in a box. There's a room beyond this wall where literally since I moved in, it's been sitting in this box in that room. And I feel like one day this summer, I just feel like going through it and seeing what I really

should keep. And just I don't know, just to see what the hell I have in that box. When I gave away my CDs and some just begrudgingly and heartbreakingly like the albums, but I kept all the ones I made, which was basically the digital version of mixtapes. Right. And those ones degrade. All CDs apparently degrade or can. But the ones you make yourself, they do degrade.

So I'm interested to see how I'm going to go through them and see which one still kind of lasted. and which ones didn't. So I still have about 100 of those. That's all I have. Okay, just 100 there. Okay. All right. Well, if you need any help digitizing that to MP3, let me know because I can run a line

from the CD player into this board and capture any CD. Oh, see that. And I've done so. So there you go. All right. So I love later that same life. And we just talked about Michael. And I also love trivia.

And I just want to shout out, I enjoyed your music trivia episode. I love all trivia. I know you're a big trivia head. I am. Yeah. Yeah. Probably, as I say, I'm probably not Jeopardy level, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, uh, pub quiz, I would say.

You're no Mike Stafford, you're telling me. Probably not. No, who is? He got on, he got on, he got on, he got on Jeopardy. Yeah, we used to talk. And when I worked with Mike, we used to talk about that probably every, at least once a a month. So the fun, the fun, I don't think he found it fun, but the, the question that made him lose was

the answer was, uh, Kennedy. And he always kicked himself because he was working on Kennedy Road. in Brampton. Like, so he was working on Kennedy. And the answer was Kennedy. It was something about what president this or that and it was Kennedy. Anyways, he kicks himself because he's like, how did he not get Kennedy? He worked on Kennedy Road in Brampton at CFNY.

Okay, so, and I also love your random pop culture things you'll discuss. Like, I'm thinking about, like an episode about the Farrah Fawcett poster. Poster, yep. Or K-Tel, which I also did an episode on K-Tel. You'll tell about it. I heard that. It was really great to hear her. because also some of the things she was talking about,

I had just found out how they, KTEL still exists, it's basically music licensing. Mini Pops and, yeah, oh, the music licensing, right, right, right. Samantha Kivis is her name, the daughter of the founder of Ketel. But you did an episode on Fordlandia,

and I swear to you when I queued it up to listen, I didn't know what Fordlandia was, and I just assumed it would be about Doug Ford's Ontario. that's what I thought is like how did Dougie miss this because he would apply for the name change Fordlandia uh Henry Ford uh but Henry Ford's thing was I own all items of production so I own the metal or I have a metal cheat factory or an I own and the one thing he didn't have that he had to buy still was rubber and he went and it was it was came from Asia via England and And there were surcharges and everything.

He's like, I'm going to, so he bought a plantation in South America and was going to build it and did build it to look like an American town. White picket fences, sidewalk street, water tower, which is still there. Factories. And I'm going to plant rubber trees and grow my own rubber and ship it to myself really cheap and make more cars. And I had no idea. I had, like I literally had no idea. And it's still there is the point. It exists.

And the water tower is still there. And remnants of it are still there. And it's just this piece. of central, or it's not central, piece of middle America there in South America. It's, you can really only access it by,

by boat through a river and, and just a colossal failure, it was. So, it's great story. Obviously, there are previous episodes of Toronto Mike with Larry Federick where we talked about

your radio career. You mentioned Switchback a few times. Switchback would have, like different regions would have different hosts, right? That's right, yeah. because I know Humble Howard was a host at West for Switchback. Yeah. So we talked about, so Switchback and the radio career,

you know I was a big CFNY fan. That's when I first heard you. And of course, most recently you were doing talk radio at 610. You mentioned Hits FM. So I guess you were all out of the, was it the White House of Rock? The White House of Rock and the White House of Talk. And we had what was then called Easy Rock,

which we called the White House of Schlock. And they hated that. We didn't do it on the air. Maybe we did too. I don't know. So, yeah, we could call ourselves the White House of Talk and, of course, the White House of Rock,

977, but the White House of Schlock for all that middle music. Well, I know Rick Hodge was last on the radio there. He was there. Yeah, yeah. That's the first time I actually got to know him a little bit. We're seeing him in the halls. Well, okay, well, it's a good segue.

Because Rick Hodge, I never listened to Roger, Rick, and Maryland, but I did hear, Rick Hodge host the Sunday Night Funnies on Chum FM. Yeah. And you, as we've John Wing alluded to and, you know, you talked about your Yuck Yuck Yucs days. So you were an aspiring stand-up at Yuck Yuck Yucs. I guess we're going back to the 80s here, right? Right.

I came here in 70, was it 78? Yeah, 78. Fall of 78. We moved to Toronto and got on amateur night a couple of weeks after I moved here. And never forget it. First amateur night, they said, you can now book spot. bots, which was, in other words, some guys had to do amateur night like 10 times. I was lucky enough.

Wow. And I think it was only, not that my material was strong, but I was, because radio and doing live stuff before, I knew how to present. I could stand up there and put a setup together in a joke. So it got me off amateur night and then did that for about five or six years before I finally went, yeah, I don't know. You're going to go make a living in radio. Johnny's not Colin.

None of the big shows are calling. I don't have my own sit-time. So wait, when I don't remember from our previous conversations is like, did you already have the CFTR gig before you quit the Yuck Yucs? Oh, the CFTR gig, yeah. I mean, when I got here, and this is really quick, I really thought that all I had to do was show up and do a couple stand-ups, and I'd just be going to L.A.

because they'd be calling me because they would go where have you been? It's so naive. and how terrible I was and how good everybody else was that wasn't getting that gig and and Howie Mandel was just starting to break when I started Yuck Yucks. So I need a job because we were having a kid and I'm like, I don't know. I can make a living for comedy for a couple more weeks or months. So I better get a job. So I got a job out in Brampton at CFNY's sister station.

Oh, was that Sheik FM? Yeah, where the chicks are. And then. With May Pots there? No, Scott Turner? Possibly. Possibly. Okay. See, the only thing about that was at the time in Brampton, we were in two different houses about two blocks apart.

If you were needed in FM production to voice a commercial, you got on your car and you drove down the street in Brampton. Interesting. Is that the Yellow House? Yeah. One of them was yellow, one of them was more orange. Yeah. So that's the place before, the Yellow House CFNY, if I remember from my David

Marston conversations, was before they moved to that Kennedy, road strip mall that I alluded to in the staff. I was gone long before they did that. So we were in these two houses and it was very kind of cool in a lot of ways. But my point is I wouldn't have known a lot of the FM people barely because you were just in a different house down

the street really. You didn't bump into each other. I still think May Potts was at Chick FM. She may have been. Maybe. Okay. I don't know. I don't. I've spoken to her briefly since and it's never come up. But I don't know. I don't know her well. Do you go from that station to CFTR? Yeah, as a writer.

I got to get out of here because I hate this thing. And my friend gets hired as a program director of CFTR and he's like, I don't have anything for you, but would you like to come on and be a writer? Like, and I'm like, copyrighter, and he goes, well, you might have to do some of that too, but I need you to write

promos and imaging. I'm like, yes. I had a, like, if I didn't have a stage, like, Yuck Yuck Yuck's a platform to go on, I might not have taken that. So I went there, I was a writer there for two or three years before I got back on the air there. Okay.

And of course, we've covered this in depth, but we talk about Tom Rivers. I used to wake up to Tom Rivers and you would work with Tom Rivers again at, was it, mixed 99.9. Yeah, it was a mix already. Yeah. So I got all my, so all this is in previous episodes of Toronto, Mike. But I guess I'm wondering on our way out here, because you've been amazing and it's been already over 90 minutes. Oh, my gosh.

I know. Isn't it weird how quickly it goes. We're going to do it again. It's great. It's great. Because there's so much I could talk to you about. But as a stand-up, as a guy who, you know, honed his craft on Yuck-Yuck's stages back in the day, you may not have made a career out of it, but you were doing it, man. And I'm wondering if you have any tips for me to ignore as I embark on my Elma combo headlining debut, which is on May 21st until it's coming up. I mean, tickets are available at tronelomike.com.

If you click Elmo gig, this is happening. Humble Howard told me I'm going to die on stage. What say you, Larry Fedorik? The worst thing that happened to me was I did not die on stage my first time. Had I done that, I might have got it out of my system and just moved on instead of devoting the next six, seven years of my life to it. So I don't think necessarily you will. And also, I'm not doing stuff. stand up per se. Like I'm not there to get a laugh every 12 seconds.

Yeah. See, I think what you do here and what you do in your podcast, and I know it's talking to people often, but I've heard you just talk. The thing I always noticed about my radio friends or my comic friends is my radio friends would say things that my comic friends would never say because my comic friends were in front of people and they knew how people would react. You already have sense in my opinion. Okay. I don't, I don't think you're saying things on a mic that you wouldn't say to, like I see you at Palma at Christmas and you're talking to people in the room and people at the table and you know how to do that already. And that's three hours unedited, live on the floor produced by yours truly in real time depending on like literally who I see in the room. And I've seen

you grow tremendously just in that skill alone in the years. I've known. You like, like, and not that you you know how it's like the first time you see ER it's like they find their characters and then they're much better in the second and third and fourth season you're that so I since you kind of already do that and and you have I don't think you have that that crowd fear um I think just do that I hate to say be you no man I think that's the tip I like what you're saying because that's what I'm going to do and also I feel I have they say ignorance is bliss I don't have the crowd fear. Like, I don't know if I'm supposed to have it.

Like, I don't have it. Like, I'm going to take my mic and I'm going to deliver something that I'm crafting, and it is, this thing's going to be 90 minutes and there's a grand finale. Let me share the nuts and bolts here for the listenership, or maybe on the fence or whatever. But literally, it's, let me get the right times here. Yeah, 7 p.m. on May 21, Rob Pruse is going to, for an hour, he's going to play songs.

Like, he's a keyboard. He's a prodigy that man. And he's going to play stuff. It'll be relevant to the TMU, but he's going to do his thing. Then at 8 o'clock, he's going to play a specific song that he co-wrote,

and I'm going to take the microphone, and I'm going to spend the next 90 minutes doing my thing. Okay? Then there is a very special guests for a grand finale. That will happen approximately 9.30 p.m. If everything works out.

And everyone's, that'll be it. That'll be, I'll have made my Elmo debut as a headliner. I say that like I've done other shows at Elmo. My for anything debut, okay? This is one time only thing. And it will have happened and everybody who came out to the Elmo combo will have had a great time. You never know who's going to be there. I can't believe Peter Gross is even going to be there.

So there you go. But yeah, so that's happening. I love what you said. Now I feel, I feel better. Well, it's going to be tremendous. It's going to be tremendous. And you are tremendous in your triumphant return. We have to do this again.

Anytime. You want another lasagna, don't you, Larry? Well, that's, we all know the motivation. But yes, anytime. And that brings us to the end of our 1,894th show. 1894. Wow. Go to TorontoMike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs.

That's where you can find the link to buy tickets to see me May 21 at the Elma combo. Subscribe to later that same life wherever you get podcasts. But in addition to that, I should know you have a YouTube channel and you also put a video. So episodes are a podcast like this, but also a video on your YouTube channel. It's just something I do with slides, rudimentary images that are fun to do. You don't need to explain yourself. Larry, it's all good for the listeners and the viewers out there. So consume your later that same life,

which drops every Thursday morning, and now we finally got it atomically timed. It's going to go in the feed, your podcast feed at 7 a.m. Eastern, every Thursday morning. Perfect. There you go. Okay.

Much love to all who made this possible. Again, that is Great Lakes Brewery. You've got your beer. It's Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. I'll be at a Liberty Village Brewery, not Grey Lakes, but I'll be at our Liberty Village Brewery tonight to unveil the 2026 Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team.

Palma Pasta, you've got your lasagna, Larry. Nick Aini's, he'll be on the show Friday to talk about the great controversy with Brad Bradford. Recycle My Electronics.ca. And of course, Ridley Funeral Home, fresh episode of Life's Undertaking Records Wednesday. Seawall. Jeez, I did two episodes today, Larry.

What's coming up next in my calendar? I got to check it in real quick here. Oh, I'm excited about this. Oh, wow. Okay, her name is Eva Almos. Do you know Eva? Please ask her about her time with Tom because I knew her. And Tom had an eye for talent.

And I think he brought her on his show. So she was part of the Tom River show for a while. I think we crossed paths there. So I would love her to. She does have a great radio background. We're going to talk a lot of radio. But you know what? made her super famous.

She, and I know I've lost my closing theme, but who cares? It's my show. I'm going over time here. She was a carebear. So Nelvana was saved by this care bear movie in like 84, 85. I can't remember. So Nelvana was in Bip Dira Straits because it financed that movie that didn't do well, although I liked it.

And then Care Bears saved Nelvana, and she is a key friend. Well, she's a key carebear. and that launches her voiceover career, this care bear she does. So I'm going to talk about care bears and her radio background, and of course we will talk about Tom Rivers, Eva Elmos, making her trauma.

I know if she'd remember me, but we cross-pass, I remember her. Well, if she doesn't remember you, I'm going to kick her out of the studio. Okay, Larry? All right, so that's happening Wednesday at 11 a.m. I can't wait.