Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Liza Fromer: Toronto Mike'd #189

Episode Date: August 12, 2016

Mike chats with Liza Fromer about her years on Breakfast Television, Global's The Morning Show and so much more.

Welcome to episode 189 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is Liza Fromer. Welcome, Liza. Thank you so much. That is a fantastic bit of music you got going there an original composition for this podcast by local rapper producer ill vibe brilliant I'm so happy to hear you I think I think it's really good like I don't know why I'm not hearing that on like kiss 92 I couldn't agree more it's fantastic thank Yeah. My wife famously remarked that I'm not

cool enough for that theme song. And I said, well, I'm going to try to live up to the coolness. Like, that'll be my challenge. You just got to get some swagger, man. I've been working on it. This is episode 189. I'm working on that swagger now for 189 episodes. I've got lots of things I want to talk to you about, but I just want to start. Have you ever seen Stone Temple Pilots in concert? No, but I loved them. This is Pretty Penny.

Do you know why I'm playing Pretty Penny? I have no idea. The Penny Oleksiak won her fourth medal yesterday in the pool. Amazing. See how it the pool. Amazing. See how it comes together. Amazing.

I haven't been paying as much attention as I should to the Olympics. That's okay. I noticed you're either an Olympics person or you're not. So the non-Olympic people, they catch a headline here and there, but they aren't too invested. And if you're an Olympics person, which I happen to be, you're all over this thing. Every night you're watching the swimming. At 9.03 p.m. You're watching it for, like, two hours, and then it's just absorbing.

Yeah, well, I will be watching because my former colleague, Rosie Etta, who's a three-time Olympian, her daughter, Misha Powell, is running in the 400-meter relay representing Canada. That's awesome. A mother-daughter Olympic team. Like, how often does that happen? No, that's really cool. And I think the track starts today. I think today's the first day of the track.

But real quick, so Elliot Friedman is a friend of the show, if you will. He's been on this show. I know Elliot. Elliot's a good guy, right? Great guy. No one has a bad thing to say about Elliot. Nope.

No. So last night, he's calling the swimming and there was a big race. Michael Phelps was racing and Ryan Lockheed was his big competitor, the other American,

but they were beside each other in the lanes and like I said, a big race, so I'm watching it live and like it's 100 meters. At the 50 meter turn you get graphics that tell you what place the top three guys so it goes okay phelps is in first but but elliot is

saying ryan lockheed's in first so i'm yelling at him through the tv he can't hear me that's the weirdest thing right so now i realize poor elliot like because he's been doing a great job but now he thinks michael phelps is ryan lockheed so So what happens is Michael Phelps happens to win by a mile. Lockie doesn't even make the podium. But Elliot gets it reversed. Ryan Lockie blows him away. Michael Phelps isn't even on the podium. And he's like, this is like a finally Lockie got Phelps.

But it was the exact opposite. So I felt awful for Elliot. But have you ever had anything comparable in your career? No. And I was reading, not that it springs to mind, but I was reading about that this morning. And when you're doing live TV, that is everyone's worst nightmare. I can imagine.

You know, that something just, you know, is going to come out of your mouth, that you misspeak in some way. You cannot take it back because it's live. Right. So, yeah, I felt for Elliot because who knows what was going on. I mean, I'm sure his schedule's crazy. Any number of reasons. But the thing is, like, what a fantastic broadcaster that guy is. So you get one.

You get one. Yeah, I felt terrible because it's one of those, they would replay that ad nauseum. They would be replaying that race all the time on CBC, but once you make that kind of a gap, I haven't seen it replayed. I don't think they'd replay it. I don't know.

No. Because you can't fix it in post. This isn't the kind of thing you can go like, hey. I'm wondering, you could possibly re-voice it maybe he could revoice it but then you kind of feel like you're fibbing yeah because you know what's gonna happen so you can't fake like i don't think you could do that but so it's just a bad luck but then the next race was penny going for her fourth medal which is like unprecedented and penny unfortunately during this race elliot called her uh emily Overholt.

So I think he just had a bad moment. And then maybe he got stuck in the moment, if you will. And so then he kind of blew that call, too. And I just felt terrible. So this is all to say, Elliot, I think he's one of the best sports broadcasters we have in this country. And he's a class act because he sat in that seat right there. And he was, like, so honest and self-deprecating and amazing. So I don't think any Canadians

are going to hold this against him. I think the rest of the world might laugh at him a bit, but I don't think Canadians will hold it against him. And he's done a great job. Up until then, it was like just unbelievable

that he stepped up. Well, that's it. He's been doing this for decades. So if you get it right every day for decades and then for whatever reason you have a bad one, you have to overlook it.

Yeah, it's too bad that it's unfortunate for him cbc is airing everything live because on nbc i don't know if they're doing it live maybe they get somebody joked that they could fix it in post because i wish they could for his sake redo that one um you're kind of my vintage i just had a couple of guests like one guest was born in the 90s and I realized my references were not working because I would drop. I mentioned Dr. Joyce Brothers. I don't know where that came from. I haven't heard that name in a while. Yes.

And she looked at me like, who's that? And I realized, what am I doing? But the first Olympics I watched was the 84 Olympics, the Summer Olympics. And Canada did really well. But I failed to understand. I don't remember if I just was too stupid or no one told me or pointed it out that it was the boycott Olympics. So East Germany and Russia and a lot of big countries didn't show up. So we basically did better because they weren't there.

So I just want to point out that I was naive for many years until I realized. Canada was an Olympics powerhouse. Absolutely. I just thought that was the norm The first one that I remember watching And I remember I was in high school And I left a party early Because it was Ben Johnson running

At night 88 In Seoul And it was crushing Because that was when Canada seemed dominant Yeah that's one of those Top of the world and then bottom of the, like the extremes are jolting to the nation psyche.

Oh, oh, because we were so proud and we beat the States and all those good things. And then, and that pompous Carl Lewis was beat and then, uh, Ben did it in nine, seven,

nine. And it looks like he held up at the end. Like he looked like he was toying, like he could do lower. Yeah, that's one of those moments. If you're old enough to remember that moment, it's like defines. Am I just dating myself so much right now?

No, because that's 88. So come on, late 80s, please. Late 80s, grade 12, 13, something like that. Yeah, well, actually I was in grade eight, but we're close wow wow mike hey you know what will make it feel better is that the beer in front of you so uh that's six pack are we drinking that or what it's up to you like i didn't chill it though it's but down here it's kind of cool but yeah you're welcome some guests do crack it open some take it home and

enjoy it like this is for me but it's for you. Oh, wow. It's going home with you. I put it like a variety pack, if you will. There's some pompous ass in there, because I heard you're a pompous ass. Just kidding. It gets around. And there's a summer side in there.

Yeah, I'm looking. And bottom line is it's a good introductory. Canuck Pale Ale, which is very good. That's for Sunnyside, which is, you know, there's a lot of West End Toronto references in the names. Is that where the brewery is? They're in like rural York and Queensway. You know where that Costco is?

No. I'm not a member either. I'm not a member either. But that's like, so it's near rural York and Queensway. Wow. I love that this is a thing now. I thought that's why you came over. Right? I travel for free beer.

People will do amazing things for free beer. Yeah. Also to everybody listening, patreon.com slash Toronto Mike is where you can help crowdfund this podcast. And, you know, if that's too much to remember, go to torontomike.com and hit the orange buttons I have all over the place. Become a patron. Do it. Dale, who's been commenting on my blog,

I'm going to say since like 2004 or something, so for 12 years or something. He's been this figure I've known in my digital world. He doesn't trust online banking stuff. That's fine. He doesn't trust it. So he mailed me a personal

check. Isn't that the nicest thing ever? But hey, Dale! And I got to use my new TD Bank app thing. I took a picture of the check and then I didn't have to go to any banks. It just automatically went in my account. It's amazing.

So thank you. Because you are of my vintage, if you will, then this convo... Oh. I better do that again. There it is. Yeah.

Great. This is a kicker. Yeah. I'm not stepping on the hip. All right. What a great bluesy track. What a great track. Right?

I am... I... All my life I've been a huge fan. Me too, me too. Since, I always tell this story, but I'm listening to the Top Ten at Ten on Q107, and they play Blow It High Doe in like 89, okay? Yeah. So I know they had an EP before that, but I never heard the EP because I'm not cool enough.

But I hear Blow It High Dope. Like the next day, my buddy, who I recently reunited with because he moved in like five blocks away. But my buddy at the time, my best bud, we go downtown and I buy up to here on disc and I spun the shit out of that disc. Sure you did.

Fucking amazing. Oh, we get to swear? Yeah, you can swear on this show. Nice! Have you ever had a gig where you could swear before? No! That's the beauty of podcasts, man. So the hip, my very first job in media was at

Q107 and driving the community cruiser and I wrote this when it was announced that Gord Downie was ill, which just was crushing to learn um my very first gig in the cruiser i'm driving down the highway down the 401 i'm working for q107 that i love i'm working in this business that i'm just getting into i was just out of university and i was playing fully completely and i thought well jesus christ i don't think my life

could get any better. I have peaked. This day is the perfect day. You know what? You had peaked. That was the dream gig right there. Right there.

Yeah, and I wrote that on Instagram the day that it was announced that he was six. It was just like... I woke up to that email because I'm in the hip club or whatever.

I got the email before I read the news. So I wake up, I check my email and the first line was something about how we have sad news that Gord Downie has terminal brain cancer or whatever. So I got the email before I read the news. So I wake up, I check my email and the first line was something about how, you know, we have sad news

that Gordani has terminal brain cancer or whatever. I honestly read it twice. I was in like, I was stunned. Like, this can't be real.

Like, and I keep, this is real. And it took a little while to like sink in what's going on here. I was just on the Star. I read the Star online

every morning. And they showed, whoever's live blogging it, I'm sorry, I can't remember the reporter's name, but she put the last two I read the Star online every morning, and they showed, whoever's live blogging it, I'm sorry, I can't remember the reporter's name, but she put the last two minutes of the show

where he just stood on stage. I read this too because Ben Rayner was there and he wrote something about how he was so emotionally affected and then the young woman you're describing also,

I read that one too. I read the Star every day online too. Do you? Yeah. But I never had a device that I could install Star Touch on. Star Touch is their tablet app that they sunk all this money into. In fact, they just laid off a whole whack of Star Touch people.

50 people. It only works on, this is neither here nor there, but it only works on tablets. And I don't actually own a tablet. I own a smartphone. I own a smartphone and I own a laptop and this thing runs Windows, so I couldn't install StarTouch. I don't know, I just wanted to tell you that. Thank you very much. All right, back to Gord.

Are you seeing them? Yeah, tonight. So, like I tried, okay, so I'm thinking of the hip. I've seen them 11 times live. I took my first wife to see the hip. I took my mom in 06 to the Fort York show in which we got to hear 38 years old. The first time they played it in 13 years. Okay so like oh my god yeah they don't play that song live. Why? I read a thing from a guy named Steven Dame who is a great he writes for the hipmuseum.com and he thinks it's because it's in the song he references his brother mike like it's a true story about like a murder yeah and he references his brother mike and he really has

a brother mike and a lot of people thought it was biographical oh and he had and gourd got a lot of like a lot of people would leave things on his porch and things thinking his brother committed these crimes and the theory is that it's too close to home on that front and that's why he doesn't play live but in 2006 at fort york which is a great venue for a hip concert by the way he played it and it was 13 years since we had heard it live and i was so excited to hear it so i took my mom in 06 i took i've taken my brothers many times and i took my uh current wife i took her five years ago at downsview park and then I was dying to take my two older kids. I wanted to take them to this hip.

I couldn't get tickets. I tried. I have never tried so hard. Yeah. I just couldn't. And I ended up getting one solo seat for tonight. So I'm going to buy... You're going on your own.

Yeah, going on my own. And I've never been to a hip concert by myself, but I think I feel very emotional. Even now, if you say the right thing, I could tear up. Like, I'm very emotional right now. So I feel like I need Even now, if you say the right thing, I could tear up. I'm very emotional right now, so I feel like I need to do this alone. Yeah, I felt like I couldn't go.

I just couldn't do it. I'm absolutely going to watch it when it airs on the CBC. I have it marked in my calendar, and I want to kind of make it an event, make it something significant, because it's amazing how that band has touched everyone i've i've been since it was announced like often at night just sort of quietly listening to the albums again and all that sort of thing because it's just been he someone described that he's been our poet

laureate yes great quote yeah because they had a i think it's cbc had a great a great a web page where they would show his references to Canada and play that part of the song and explain it. And yeah, he's like our poet laureate. You're right. Favorite hip song? Sometimes people ask me my favorite album, and I actually can't even answer that question.

So my favorite hip song might be Long Time Running, maybe. Actually, that's my first dance song at my wedding, is Long Time Running. No way. That might be, but I think it depends on my mood, but it could easily be Blow It High Dough, could be it, because it's the first one I fell in love with. But what's yours? I like 50 Mission Cap. I think it's such a phenomenal story, and it's so uniquely Canadian.

I love Bob Cajun. That's true. And when I was living in Calgary, I'm from Kitchener, but really as much as Kitchener is my home, Toronto feels like my home because I moved here when I was 19. And I was in Calgary, and amazing people, great job, but I was so homesick, and that song, I guess it just come out. It was like 98, 99, something like that.

And I remember sitting in the car, and it came out, and as soon as he said that, something like that. And I remember sitting in the car and it came out. And as soon as he said that night in Toronto, I was like weeping in the car, all homesick. You know, I always think if you're not a big hip fan, I think you would gravitate towards a song like Bob Cajun because it's such a beautiful composition. It's beautiful. It's just gorgeous.

And even Ahead by a Century, like that's a beautiful song. And the whole catalog, like, and somebody pointed this out, that part of the allure might be that they're ours. Like, maybe it's because they didn't make it as big outside of Canada. Like, we feel like they're sort of our secret. And that adds to it,

because I'm a big Pearl Jam guy, and I've seen them many times, and I love Pearl Jam. And I think Eddie Vedder's a great front man and a great, I just think they're great. But the hip are my favorite, and I think it's because with Pearl Jam, they belong to the world,

but the hip are ours. Like this, you don't get to have a piece of this. This is ours. Well, exactly. Pearl Jam's never going to be talking about Toronto. No.

It's highly unlikely. So when you hear that and it's something, even if you're from Saskatoon, you're still, and then you hear Wheat Kings, you know, like it's over and over. They're just so good.

It's yeah. And so favorite song changes depending on my mood. Favorite album depends on my mood. I think Road Apples is a great album because they've got Fiddler's Green and Cordelia and all this stuff. Like I did, but Fully Completely

is probably their best selling album. And that's hit laden, you know, from Locked in the Trunk of a Car to Courage. And then Day for Night's got Nautical Disaster and Grace 2. And that's hit-laden, you know, from Locked in the Trunk of a Car to Courage. And then Day for Nights got Nautical Disaster and Grace 2. And I don't know.

We haven't even got to Bob Cajun and even Lake Fever or Music at Work. And even newer stuff. My friend directed Music at Work. Okay. Who's your friend? Bruce McCullough. Oh, my gosh.

I like how he's your friend because I'm a big Kids in the Hall fan well he is married to one of my best friends Tracy that I met in grade 9 gym and they went to they met at a Radiohead concert

and now have been married many many many years and have two beautiful kids I think if I go back and watch, and they're available free streaming on a CBC website. They put the Kids in the Hall skits there. And I go back and watch, I still laugh. That was appointment viewing for me in the 90s,

watching Kids in the Hall. Absolutely. When I was at Ryerson in RTA, I've told Bruce, because it was a big time for them. And you had to decide whether you were a Kids in the hall person or a Codco person. Yeah, you know, and that told you all you needed to know. Like, those Codco people, what's wrong with them? Like, what are they missing?

Come on. Hey, you mentioned RTA. So I have a quick question from Anonymous. I have to call him Anonymous. But I'd be curious to hear about early 90s Ryerson. I was around there at the same time, but journalism school, not RTA. And the buddy who helped me buy these microphones, his name's Andrew Stokely, and he's like an early 90s RTA guy, too.

Who came out of that program? What names do you want to drop that came out of there? What was it like, really briefly, before we dive into Q here? Into Q, the mighty Q. My best friend to this day, I met at Ryerson. Are you a sports watcher? Big time. Martine Geyer?

Yep, absolutely, yeah. I am an only child, but I feel like I have a sister in Martine. She's just been my best friend since we met. She was just laughing. Two days ago, we were talking about one of the very, very first days at Ryerson. And they weren't really going to keep us long. You know, on day one of school, they're like, welcome. Yeah, orientation stuff.

Yeah, and then bye-bye. And so they were teaching us how to use a cart machine. That's how old we are. Which has three buttons. Start, stop, record. And so the teacher said, I'll just show you this and then you can be on your way. Start, stop, record. And Martine raised her hand I'll just show you this And then you can be on your way Start, stop, record And Martine raised her hand And was like, I'm sorry, could you?

And was asking questions like Who's this woman? That's funny Who is keeping us in here? What is, what? And then we became best friends My friend, then Julie Fermini, now Julie Adam Of course, from Rogers Radio.

From Rogers Radio. The three of us were pretty tight. She used to come. She came to my class once. I shouldn't tell this, Jules, but I am. Tell it. I'm in a class, and the first nice day of the year in spring, we would skip class and go to the Bamboo on Queen Street,

sit on the roof. And so she goes, we got to go. Come on, just come on. I'm like, I can't, man. I can't miss this class. She's like, oh. And so I go into the class and I hear, and I'm like, what?

Someone's knocking on the door? And it's Julie who says to the teacher, can I speak to Liza for a minute? I'm like, okay. If you're going to take it that far, fine. All my books in my bag and we went to the bamboo. Yeah, Aaron Davis had raved, even though this is the

best part of the story to me is that julie adam actually fired aaron davis but then realized the errors of her way and made amends and aaron davis uh just talks about her like she is an angel from heaven um she gets she kind of is she's she's one of the most quality individuals you could ever meet well i hear nothing but good things and the only downfall to my understanding is that she's a big Detroit Tigers fan. Huge Detroit Tigers fan. So if we don't hold that against her, I hear nothing but good things about Julie Adams. Anybody else from the RTA days?

Not names you would know. Oh, oh! Yeah. Alan Carter. Alan Carter. At Global, who now anchors the 5.30 and 6 o'clock news, does Queens Park. He had graduated but came back.

The year I started, he came back as like a TA and he worked in the audio department and would wear a kilt and big combat boots. Wow. He doesn't do that anymore, right? No, he does not. That's cool. The Q107 Community Cruiser, what kind of car was that? Do you remember? It was a big, gigantic van, like an old school Chevy or something.

Okay. I can see it. Sort of like that Ford van that Terry Fox had. Yeah. It was a monster. And it said, the Q107. I would sign off saying, I'm Liza Fromer and the Q107 Schneider's Hot Rod Community

Cruiser. Hey, that sounds good. That's why you went into I guess, I was going to say radio, but really TV, because you have a great voice. Thank you. Very good. Thank you, thank you. In those early days, somebody pointed out that you were heavily, you've spoken about you were heavily influenced

by Bill Carroll. Is that true? He and I dated for a while. I didn't know if I was allowed to say it. I knew that too, but I didn't ask me whatever I want. I didn't know. Cause somebody said,

I'm an open book. Mike, you'd bring Bill Carroll to parties at Ryerson. Probably. Sounds about right. I just had John Gallagher in here you did yeah and he's by the way he has great stories you have great stories too but john gallagher's in here and he tells me the most interesting story but he tells me after we stop recording and he says next time i'm in here

ask me about this so i guess john gallagher was dating a woman who bill eventually married i guess so bill sylvie yes oh i don't even know that story. Isn't that funny? So Gallagher tells me a story. Sylvie was his girlfriend. Really? I'm just sharing this. He says he's going to tell it on the next podcast. She's a lovely woman, but that's new news to me. I had no idea.

I haven't talked to Bill in forever. So you're kind of connected to Gallagher somehow, I guess. You dated a guy who ended up marrying Gallagher's girlfriend. John was part of the morning show. It was Jake Edwards, John, the Q Morning Zoo. Of course, because I was a big Champ fan. And I won't bore anyone with the story, but I do Champ impressions.

Do you? Do you do a Champ impression? No, I do not. But that was the morning show. So I know John, yeah, for sure. And then he was at City when I was at City as well. Right, right, right do not. But that was the morning show. So I know John, yeah, for sure. And then he was at City when I was at City as well. Right, right, right. Spike.

So yeah, so Bill Carroll, you dated Bill Carroll. I did. I was a young'un. Yeah, well, I get lots of these notes or whatever. And some of them I don't read because they're not fair or whatever. And some of them I'll hint at and see what you're willing to tell. But you're like, Hit me, man.

She was 19 and he was 30. But that's fine. You're 19. You're not 16. No, exactly. And I was actually, I was 20, to be fair. Yeah, if you're 20 years old,

you could date a 30-year-old. My wife's seven years younger than me. Right? I mean, it was, it is what it is. But it is funny. Times were different. That's for sure.

Back then. That's funny. Here, I'm going to play a clip from YTV. And the audio is terrible, so I apologize in advance. But this is the best I could find. This is YTV Video and Arcade Top 10.

Let's listen. Video and Arcade Top 10 has extreme game action this week. We'll join Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Mr. Spock, and the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise as we play Star Trek. Then those radical dudes video and arcade top 10 has extreme game action this week we'll join captain kirk dr mccoy mr spock and the rest of the crew of the uss enterprise as we play star trek then those radical dudes check in with their new game teenage mutant ninja turtle 3 the manhattan project there's great music from george michael plus a look at the new film beethoven we have major prizes for home

and studio players and video expert wayne parker from glass tiger joins us with tips for super nes be here saturday at six and th at 7, only on YTV. And remember, play the game. Holy moly, I said play the game about 15 million times. So you sound very young in that clip. I started on video and arcade while I was in Ryerson. 1991. Wow.

Did you know it would go on so long? No. After your departure? Because that went a long time, right? It was a bit ahead of its time, though, don't you think? Yeah, for sure. Is that the Nicholas Piccolos one? Yes.

Yes, okay. I love Nicholas. Yeah, he hosted that for ages after. Nick works his ass off. He's been doing, he's at Kiss in Buffalo, has been forever in the mornings. DJs, was doing V&A forever and ever and ever. But that, yeah, that was my first job.

Wow. Well, almost simultaneous with Q. Okay, so I recently had PJ Fresh Phil in here. He was here. I know Phil. Phil, he's got stories too. But, you know, he did not like Snit. You know, the uh what is he i

guess what is snit he's he's like on the tv i didn't see i didn't watch the pjs that much because i was 20 right but phil's co-host paul mcguire is one of my other very best friends in the world had lunch with him yesterday that's amazing yeah so those were kind of fun times at ytv back then right how long were you there? Well, it was actually an outside production company, so it didn't exactly work for YTV. It just aired on YTV. So we'd go in to different studios first there,

and then different places. There was a studio on the Esplanade, and then we'd go to CHCH in Hamilton to record. And you notice I'm talking so fast in that clip because we had to do it as live and just, I don't know why, they wanted it fast, fast, fire through everything. So it was the best training

because having done mostly live TV all my life, you were not allowed to fuck it up. Like Elliot? Yeah. Oh, shame. No, I shouldn't say that. I love Elliot. Yeah, that's ahead of its time.

I agree. And I don't know, went on 17 years or something after that or whatever. So why, I guess, why do you leave video and arcade top 10? I dyed my hair black. That's enough to do it. And they said, you can't be on the show with black hair. Is it after like three years of doing it or something like that? There's a, it's a long convoluted story, but. That sounds like a short story. Yeah. you can't be on the show with black hair. Is it after like three years of doing it or something like that?

It's a long convoluted story, but... That sounds like a short story. Yeah. And I had left Q because I was working seven days a week for Really Reels. The cruiser was seven days a week live. And then I would be doing V&A and I thought I'm going to choose TV over radio. So I was doing that. And then I wasn't doing that anymore so i was a waitress okay uh was a waitress uh was that like you now

made more money than ever is that oh heck no although i made what did i make i made a hundred dollars a show when i was doing vna and i made eighteen thousand dollars a year at Q. Okay. I don't know. I was working at a grocery store at that age. So that sounds like good money to me. Like a king's ransom. Yeah. I mean, I thought it was the best.

I was happy as a lamb. You're a young woman. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you're 21. It's all relative. Yeah. Cool. And you're at the, I have here 95 to 97.

You're hosting Good Morning Toronto on the Weather Network. Heck yeah, I was. Oh, God. I've done three morning shows. That, BT, and the morning show. And that was the earliest one. I feel like I was just thinking about it the other day. I feel like I had to be in at like 4.30 or something.

Like in. So what time does your alarm go off if you have to be somewhere at 4.30? Oh, God. I can't even remember. I lived in the Annex at the time, and the studios were in Mississauga. Oh, yeah, I know where this is, like near Square One or something. Pelmorex is that company. Pelmorex, yeah.

I had a good friend who went to RTA and ended up working at the Weather Network. My original co-host, by the way, was there, Rosie Ferguson. She might have been Rosie Ferguson, or she might have been her first name, which I'm not supposed to say, I don't think. But anyways, Rosie Ferguson was Well, she might have been Rosie Ferguson or she might have been the name, her first name, which I'm not supposed to say, I don't think. But anyways, Rosie Ferguson was like a producer and then she went on the air at some point

and then there was some issue with like unions, like she's not supposed to be on air or something. But that, anyways, I've been to the office near square one. Well, I bet that's the newer one. The one I was in was also in that area, but we were in,

it was a former like badminton court. Oh yeah. You're right. That's funny. That was me, Tom Reynolds, who was the cohost and two other people, the producer and the switcher,

the end. Gotcha. I think they moved to Oakville now for what it's worth. Oh, I think they're at Oakville now. But, uh, okay.

So this is like when you just, like, so you get your first taste of doing like morning TV and is it just something you, did you intentionally want to become like a morning show TV person? No, I didn't really know what I wanted to do exactly in TV

because I was still so young. I was 25 when I started that job. So I was still like kind of figuring it all out and what I'm good at and what I'm not. And are you a blonde again at this point? You're back to blonde. I'm back to blonde. I learned my lesson.

Well, Martine helped me, A, dye my hair black. B, was the host of the morning show on the Weather Network. She decided to take a different job within the Weather Network. I was waitressing, thinking my career was over. And she suggested that they audition me, and they did, and then they hired me. Cool.

Yeah, she was a huge help there. And you've been blonde ever since? Yeah, pretty much. Close enough. Not born that way, but... That doesn't matter. No, no, exactly. That doesn't matter.

Very few people will ever discover that. Yeah. So, and you go to Calgary at some point. Because I know people want to talk about breakfast television. Because I'm going to say that's when the masses discover Liza. With all due respect to the Video and Arcade. Sure. And, of course, the Weather Network.

Breakfast television is kind of a big deal in this city. Oh, yeah, for sure. Did you watch Video and Arcade, by the way? No. Why not? I don't know why. I honestly don't know. How old are you?

42. You're maybe a little too old for it. I might have been too old. Because I told this to Phil. Because I knew about Phil. And I knew him through osmosis in the pop culture universe. But I was too old for YTV when YTV appeared. I was too old for it.

I tell my kids the same thing about Pokemon. I was too old when Pokemon... I think it arrived in 2000 or something. I was like an old man in 2000. I wasn't playing Pokemon. So you're not doing the Pokemon Go now? No, but my older two kids are doing it. It's expensive though, I heard.

This is up all your data. That's true. You have to be careful with the data, but they're not doing in-game purchases. So you can buy, like, I asked them, I said, like, how do they make the money? People buy balls. I'm like, okay, well, you're not buying balls, are you? No, no, I would never buy balls or whatever.

That doesn't sound right at all. It leads to a lot of great jokes about buying James his balls. But you're right. When I started BT, which was, I just was talking to Bud Pierce, who created it, and produced it, and hired me. He hired me, oh my goodness, I went in, I was living in Los Angeles. Left Calgary, wanted to try it out, wanted to try news, hadn't done it, learned three years, gone.

I had an agent in the States. Moved to LA with the guy I was dating at the time. I had an agent in the States. Moved to L.A. with the guy I was dating at the time. And I heard my friend Alex Pearson called me up and said they're hiring. And Bill. Bill and Alex were the two people. Bill's return.

I know. Called me and said, you should know that Ann Romer's leaving. You should send something in. And I did. And then Bud called me and he said, I look. We argued about this the other day, whether or not I'm remembering it accurately. But I remember him saying, I looked at your tape and then I threw it in the trash. And that's the first thing he said, basically, on the phone.

I'm like, mm hmm. And they said, and then I got it back out again. And I and I looked at it again. And then he gave me this big speech about, you know, we have a lot of people here at Citi are very very talented and we'll we're gonna hire from within so just FYI but if you happen to be in Toronto sometime I would like to meet you and I said when would you like me to happen to be in Toronto and he gave me a date which um I came in flew in had five o'clock in the morning had my audition with Kevin before the show started. Bud is a talker, so we were in a room talking, talking, talking. And then the door opened and it was Kevin.

And he said, I'm sorry to interrupt, but a plane just went into the World Trade Center. Wow. And we were all like, what? Like the rest of the world, what? What a terrible accident. Closed the door, big bank of monitors, and we see the second plane go in. And Bud was like, I think I have to go. Like, I think you do. And he said, no matter what happens from here, we'll never forget each other. That's true. Yeah. And then they brought me back to do a more serious audition

because of that. And then they heard me. Wow. That timing is incredible. That's the biggest news day of our lives. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Hopefully never to be topped. Yeah, let's hope that we, that's not, maybe when we like we cure cancer or something. Yeah, okay.

World peace declared by President Trump and then we can have a big day. So don't even joke about that. So, wow, I got so many questions. First thing is, first of all, that's not the last time Ann Romer would step aside from a gig. Do you know she has retired twice?

I know. And she's now back on. It's her third time. So she's there. I don't know. Maybe I have an obsession with Ann Romer. I think she's a great broadcaster.

I'm pro-Ann, okay? I want to put that on the record. But she had a big public farewell with cake and presents and stuff. And she steps away. A few months later, she's back. But they don't acknowledge that she retired. They don't even acknowledge like, oh, she's back. She's just back. Like she never left, okay?

A couple years or whatever. She does it again though. She went back to that well. Big public retirement, cake, gifts, pictures on social media with her colleagues. Good luck, Anne, in your next venture, whatever. And then not too long thereafter, she's back on CP24, like lead anchor delivering the news. But no reference to the fact that, oh, she's decided to come back or she missed.

Like there's no, they don't ever like tell you, oh, we know that she retired, but she's back. Isn't this great, exciting news? They just pretend it never happened. But they did it twice. Yes. Didn't Michael Jordan do that? Michael Jordan quit, played baseball, came back. You're right.

Here's the compare. Michael Jordan can get away with that. And she's done it twice. When she does retire again, because the only alternative is you die. You die or you retire. Like, you want to retire. We can't even, like, feign, like,

congratulatory... Wait, what do we do? Tell me about Anne Romer. Anne's great. I haven't talked to her really... Like, we were colleagues, but we didn't really socialize outside of work. I suspect...

Because I actually did the same thing. I popped on CP24. I was like, what? actually did the same thing. I popped on CP24. I was like, what, Ann? She's back. I suspect, but I don't know at all, that she's just maybe doing some summer fill-in.

I don't know that she's back back, but I don't know. But still, what's the difference to a viewer? Like, you're on the TV or you're not. Like, what summer fill-in,

whatever. Like, Ann's back, but we just, she just cut that cake. You do not get cake, Ann. She just got her keg gift card from a colleague. You know what I'm talking about?

You know what I'm talking about. And probably the second time that colleague had to buy her a keg gift card because she retired twice. And now she's back. They're going to be pissed, right? So I hear you. You don't have a direct connect with Anne to tell me exactly what's going on. No, I wish I could.

All I know is Anne is like, she works hard. She loves working and she works hard. So I suspect every time she, I'm sure she genuinely was like, I got to go. And then she's gone for a while and it's like, this sucks. I need some work. No, you nailed it. And I know the first time she wanted to be a stewardess. I heard that.

I've never, I mean. I have a good source on that. Really? Really. Well, she wasn't. You have to trust Toronto Mike, his journalistic integrity on this one. I never, I never had that confirmed. But she was a flight attendant prior to TV, is my understanding.

And then. Best years of her life. And she wanted to recapture that feeling. Well, why don't you have Anne on? You should have her on. I honestly, I tweeted at Bell Media's PR people. I don't know how to get to Anne directly. I would love to have Anne on.

Okay. Can you help me do that? I can. I'm not saying I can make her do it. No, of course not. I'm sure I can get you a contact. I would love to. It would be the most respectful interview,

and maybe we'd get some answers, and there would be peace in our time. Because you know her dad, for a while, was the most decorated general in Canada. Right. General Romer, of course. Yes. Yeah. And I think she was the second retirement was because she envisioned

a role as like attorney general. Some kind of attorney general role based on her like kinship with General Romer. There's a whole thing there for the second. So the first one is a stewardess thing that quickly didn't work out

and she wanted to come back. And the second one is like this political aspiration that didn't work out and she wanted to come back maybe for just the summer, maybe longer. I don't know. If you know anything about Anne,

you know my email address, you know my phone number, you're going to tip me off. You're also going to see if she would come on the show. Anne Romer is the original host of Breakfast Television. She is number, you're going to tip me off. You're also going to see if she would come on the show. Ann Romer is the original host of Breakfast Television. She is.

And you're the second host. Correct. And we're still on the third host, right? It's Dina. Right. Okay. So you have the 9-11 thing

is an amazing story. Like I was listening to you intently and then I couldn't believe that was the day you were in there at 5 a.m. Like holy smokes. But you come back for another one. I guess they liked what they saw they decided not to hire from within yep and they and bud had sworn up down and sideways that that was not gonna happen

and then we kevin and i i guess just sort of clicked and he just thought that oh one of the reasons i literally was in from like 5.30 until 9 when that happened, talking with him. And at some point, I'd knocked off my shoes and put my feet up on a chair, because we'd been in there for hours. And he's told me since, he's like, who the hell is this

broad thing she is? And so part of the reason I got hired was because I put my feet up on the chair. You never know what will strike a chord with somebody. You never know. The best bet is just be yourself. Like, don't be a jerk or anything, but, you know, be yourself. And then if they hire you, at least they're hiring the real you.

And it's easy for you to be that person because that's who you are. If you present some phony false front, and I've learned this as I got older, but if they don't want you, it's better to find out before you start there. You know what I mean? Well, that's it. I remember people saying to me, giving me that advice before starting BT, just be yourself. I'm like, Jesus, it's too goddamn early to be anyone else.

It's a lot of work to have to be someone else. What time did you roll into the... It's Queen and John, right? Yeah, 299. What time of day were you expected to arrive for the bts quarter to five about quarter to five that doesn't sound as bad quarter to five and you were living is this you're still in the annex no cabbage town okay so but it's not at that time of day especially yeah no that's the one it's one big plus for doing mornings there's

no traffic but uh yeah it was about quarter to five, but I had street parking, so if it was winter, I had to scrape my car. Oh, yeah. You didn't have people for that? Oh, heck no. I had my 1997 Honda Civic. Still, I drove it until it died.

I'm doing that with a 99 Protégé right now. I'm driving it until it dies. Protégé? It's in the driveway right now. I'll introduce you to her. Yeah, okay, very good. I'm back to Honda. I went to Audi.

It was fine. And now I'm driving a Honda again because you can't kill those things. Yeah, those are good cars. Okay, so those are early mornings for you. But can I ask you about Jennifer Valentine for a moment real quick? Of course.

Because the recent news is that they decided, and I read the press release twice. It was on April Fool's Day. Yes, that's right. Which I think is a bad day for those things to come out. Yes. Because the first time I read it, I actually, I don't know why I didn't believe it. It was April Fool's Day, so I've already got my guard up and I had seen a bunch of jokes already.

And it was something like, we've decided to eliminate the position. We couldn't find an equivalent and we've decided to part ways kind of deal. Like, we wish her well. And at first I thought it might be a joke. A terrible joke, right? But it wasn't a joke. They said, so they say publicly, they say at Breakfast Television, they've eliminated the live eye position.

So we don't have a job for Jennifer. And I confess, I don't watch any TV in the morning. But people, because I write about these things, I get a lot of comments and emails. I've been told there's still live eyes. Like, it's just. I haven't watched it in quite well i was either busy you know when it was on or i just haven't watched a lot of

morning television i've been sleeping in for a little while lately but that's not bad yeah no um but jen it's a shitty shitty time to be in this business, is just the bottom line. So many people, so many colleagues have been told their position is being eliminated. Lovely words. I know. And it just sucks. And it's about, I suspect, I don't know exactly what went down with Jen.

I've spoken to her. But it's typically about money. And if you are a veteran in this business who's earned their way to making a good salary, that puts a big old target on your back. This is my non-scientific research.

My anecdotal observational is that if you've been 20 years at a gig, even just incremental raises or whatever, you're going to be at a point, you know, let's say you're 40 years old and you've been there 20 years, let's say. You're making X. Well, there is a 20, no disrespect to the young people. We love the young people. A 26-year-old might be willing, like we talked earlier what you were making at 21 years old

and you were happy with it. Like a 26-year-old might be willing to do that job for i'm gonna say like half of your salary easily that's exactly what goes on so is this essentially because because what bothers me is when they say they eliminate the position and then very clearly that's many questions first thing is first of all that's not the last time ann roemer would step aside from a gig do you know do you know she's she has rate? Yeah, I don't know all the backs and forths of it. But what I do know is Jen is phenomenal. That girl, what you saw is what you got.

She showed for 20. What I do know is Jen is phenomenal. That girl, what you saw is what you got. She showed for 23 years. That girl showed up in church basements and, you know, where, girl, what you saw is what you got. She showed for 23 years. That girl showed up in church basements and, you know, wherever. And she, by the way, girl, what you saw is what you got.

She showed for 23 years. That girl showed up in church basements and, you know, wherever. Girl, what you saw is what you got. She showed for 23 years. That girl showed up in church basements and, you know, wherever. Girl, what you saw is what you got she showed I for 23 years that girl showed up in church church basements and you know wherever and she by the girl what you saw is what you got she showed I for 23

years that girl showed up in church basements and, you know, wherever you saw is what you got. She showed up for 23 years. That girl showed up in church basements and, you know, wherever. And she, by the time she was an hour in, she would know every single person's name, didn't matter how many people were there, would be enthusiastic. I'd see her in the morning when I was doing BT because she'd come in first to gather her stuff, do whatever, and she's there, and she's smiling, and being just a

great co-worker. Yeah, it's just, it really sucks. And isn't that an important part of a, if you're going to be a morning show, you have to be local, right? Isn't the live eye like a key part that you're like in the community, whatever's happening that day, you're there. Like it just seems like that wouldn't be wise to eliminate live eyes.

Otherwise, you're just a couple of people talking about the news and reading tweets and stuff. It's the way to connect to the community. Absolutely. And people, gosh, when that all went down, like the amount of tweets and I'm sure emails coming into Jen or coming into City were tremendous because people felt connected to her. She's been part of, I mean, when I started on BT,

on the very first day, I went to the corner store to get something and someone said, oh my goodness, didn't I see you on City this morning? And it never stopped from there because so many people watch that show. So many felt connected to it that when Jen suddenly wasn wasn't there it's like whoa whoa they've watched her have

babies they've done all those things and they can't it it it's a big big deal and it's that's been an interesting thing for me as well getting lovely letters and things and people saying like what the hell man no we'll get to that. So yeah, we'll definitely get to that because in terms of like people, it seems like people overwhelmingly liked seeing Jennifer Valentine on breakfast television, but they liked seeing Liza Fromer.

Like my mom, I wish she was here right now. She's not dead. It sounds like she's dead, right? She's not here physically, but she's alive. Yeah, good. Yeah, I know.

I realized. I wish she was here now, but she's alive. Yeah, good. Yeah, I know. I realize. I wish she was here now looking up to the heavens. Mom's watching. But she's a huge, like, you know, because she's got good taste. She's a huge Liza Frommer fan. Big time fan. Like, watches every night and follows you. So if you showed up on, like, you could show up on the,

do they still have the Christian station? You could show up there. They do. I think they rebranded it. Yeah, whatever. So, okay. So, Jennifer, so your chemistry test

with Frankish went well and that led to you getting the gig of Breakfast Television. How long were you at BT? Five years. Five good years, as Colin James would say.

Five long years there. So, why did you leave Breakfast Television? I was pregnant with my son and the hours, I have never, surprise, surprise, So why did you leave breakfast television? I was pregnant with my son. And the hours, I have never, surprise, surprise, been a morning person. When I first got the gig at the Weather Network, people were like, this is never going to work. You can't get up at that time.

I was like a frigging champion sleeper. But so I left BT because I was about, I left two weeks before I delivered my son in 06. And I just thought that the hours would be difficult. And I had been approached by what was then the Life Channel was rebranding to be Slice. And I was approached by a production company saying, let's create a show for you that can kind of start, kickstart this whole thing at Slice. And that turned into The List, which wasn't an easier lifestyle at all. You care what you wish for. Yeah, exactly. But it's nice to hear about somebody who left a gig like that of their own volition. Like this is your choice to leave. This isn't somebody pushing you off.

No, and they were very kind, and they asked me to stay and all of those things. And I just thought the idea of creating a new show and potentially having some time off, if we could shoot a certain number of months and then be off, would all be much more conducive to raising my son. So the list is on the Slice Network. And so how was that experience overall when you look back?

Hectic. Really hectic. Because we were kind of making it up as we went along, sort of. And there was a lot of travel involved, which if you're single and don't have a baby and someone says, tomorrow you need to go to London, England england you go that's fucking awesome let's do that but when you have a baby and a husband and all those things it's not so good um so it was a lot of travel and i probably sound like an idiot saying that because i was like who doesn't want to go to london no but you're absolutely you

know you're nailing it it all depends on where you are in your. There's a time in your life where that is what you want, and then there's a time where that is not what you want. It all depends, especially if you're a young kid. Exactly. So, yeah, we were kind of making it up as we went along, format-wise, a little bit. So it was hectic. Before we get you to the morning show on Global,

you did work with S children's villages right i sure did okay so i'm gonna read something because i want to get these facts right and i haven't memorized them and that is important yeah reading's fine reading's fine thank you uh so on august 26 which uh is coming up i don't know we're in august right now i've lost track of the days but on august 26 uh there's an 11-year-old girl from Canada named Capri Everett. And she's going to be singing

the national anthem at the Blue Jays game. And it's kind of a cool story because she just spent the last nine months traveling the world. She sang 80 anthems in 80 countries,

eight zero, and in 41 different languages. And she's doing this to raise awareness and funds for SOS children's villages. And as you know, that's a charity that seeks to provide orphaned and abandoned children with loving homes.

And she'll be returning to Canada soon. And then on August 20, she sings this anthem at the Jays game. So I just want everyone to know, and I'll tweet a link to this Evite, but there's a pre game, a pre blueBlue Jay game party on August 26th that the Everetts

are going to host, and it's only $10 to go, and all the proceeds go to SOS Children's Villages, so I'll tweet this link. Go to this pre-game thing on August 26th, and then at the game, Capri Everetts are going to sing the anthem. So that's for SOS Children's Villages.

So, there, I've done reading my thing. Yes. Tell me about your experiences with SOS Children's Villages. They're tremendous. The work they do is so incredible. And in fact, I was aware of that because they very recently asked me if I would like to go on another trip with them back to Africa. Sadly, I cannot.

And I would love to because what they do is just bar none, like, blows my mind. But I said, if I can do some stuff here to help you out, let me know. And so I might be going to that game to see her. Oh, cool. Yeah. That's really cool. By the way, you said back to Africa. So that leads, because I'm such a good interviewer.

Dude, your research is kind of knocking me out. I'm not going to lie. So you've been to Africa on behalf of this charity. Yes. So when was that? That was 2009. And so what did you do there? What they do is they go out to small villages, not just in Africa, around the world, where children are in need. And the children that I met had lost their parents And the children that I met had lost their parents mostly to AIDS. And some of them had no parents whatsoever. And there were 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds that were left in charge of the entire family, literally living in dirt shacks. And I thought, oh, I'm fine, I'm fine.

I can handle this. The first day we were going out to meet the first child that we would profile. I'm a news person. I've done all this stuff. And we walked in, and it was such a meager, sad existence. I immediately burst into tears. And I'm not a weeper. Walk back out, pull myself together, and then come back in. So they find children, and they bring them into these villages that they create, the SOS villages,

where they live in homes and they have a quote-unquote mother within the home that cooks and lives with them. Like an Edna Garrett. Oh, I love that show. See, I couldn't have dropped that reference on the last episode.

No, you could not have. But Edna Garrett was Different Strokes or was Facts of Life? Both. Both. So Facts of Life is a spinoff of Different Strokes. She left. She was like the home housekeeper for the Different Strokes family. And then she went to start to work for the girls' home on Facts of Life.

So they're a spinoff. So Facts of Life is a spinoff of Different Strokes. And she plays the same character. It's just the housekeeper goes to work as whatever the den mother or whatever they're called. Can you sing the theme song to the Facts of Life? Yeah, of course. And I believe it was co-written by the great Alan Thicke.

I believe that's true. It's a fun fact. Yeah, I think he did the Growing Pains one too. Yes, I do believe he did. But you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both in there. You have the facts of life. The facts of life. There's a time you got to go and show you're growing.

Now you know about the facts of life. When the world never seems. I can't sing. You're better singing than me. To be living up to your dreams. This is quite the segue. So, by the way, early season,

Molly Ringwald is one of the girls. Before they go down to the four girls, the first season of Facts of Life, lots of girls. Sure she was.

George Clooney. George Clooney is also, yes, he's in there too. The height of his Attack of the Killer Tomatoes fame, pre-ER George Clooney.

Clooney is one of those guys, I hope I'm doing the same thing, got better looking as he got older. Yeah. Tough to pull that off. That's a good thing to do. I know, guys get to do it.

Girls, it's true. Some guys get to do it. Some guys get to do it. Okay, so that's amazing. You were in Africa. So how old, you got a kid? Do you have a kid at this point? I have, my son then was two and a half, three.

And my then husband and I decided we were going to have another kid. And then I found out I was going to go to Africa and I had to get all these shots. I'm like, whoa, stop. Pause that? Pause, yeah. Let's hit pause. I went to Africa in January, I think it was. Came back and then was pregnant with my daughter by March.

And then she showed up in November of 2009. Okay, cool. So that's tough. You had to leave a young one at home, I guess, when you went to... It was, but at the same time, I'm like, when I got there and I saw what these kids, you know, didn't have, I thought, my boy will be just fine for 10 days. No, good on you.

I feel like when I read about people like you going off to Africa for, you know, to help, I feel like I should be doing more. And then I start to think, come on, Mike. You should be doing stuff like that. So you're inspiring is what I'm telling you. Oh my gosh, thank you. I want to be like Liza.

Oh, please. September 2009, it was announced that you'd be a member of the new John Moore show on News Talk 1010. So how was that? I got to watch or listen to more things in the morning. I listened to a bit of Metro Morning with Matt Galloway, but that's it. So how did that go?

That was in October 2009. It was great. I did it from home. I had a setup much like yours here. Is this like an ISDN line? Yeah. Is that what you had? Yeah. And it was a very much like yours here. Is this like an ISDN line? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was just, it was a very, very small role.

It was like a couple minutes chatting about news of the day. And that was kind of, I guess, from like a woman slash mother slash whatever. From a Liza perspective. Yes, exactly, exactly. But only blonde Liza. Yeah, it was radio. I could do whatever the hell I wanted. That's the best.

Okay, so let's get, everybody wants to hear about the morning show on Global. So they promoted the hell out of this because I couldn't like

bike down the street without seeing you on like billboards and stuff. When it launched. Yeah, when it launched. Right,

exactly. So how did you get the gig at Global for their, I guess it was brand new show, the morning show. Yeah,

well, I wasn't working because I had my kid and then was just off for a while. And Bud, back to Bud Pierce, he was brought in as kind of a consultant to create the show and then kind of launch it for the first year that it was in operation. So he called me up and said, hey, want to do this again? And I said, yeah, I do.

And then, you know, met some of the people at Global. It wasn't entirely his decision by any means. And that was that. But you're a natural candidate based on the fact that you're already a name brand morning show person in the city. I guess so. I guess so. It's amazing.

Like for years, it was so funny. People would come up to me after BT and say, when are you coming back from your mat leave i'm like it's been three years you're like you're not an elephant i know i'm like i'm not i'm not so there was people to this day people will come up and say oh bt this that often about how their mothers like it on that note they're often i find with radio personalities particularly that they go on vacation and that's when they're let go. So they just don't come back from vacation.

I've witnessed this many times over the past decade of closely monitoring the firings in our media. But it takes a very long time. And I'll write about the fact that XYZ has been let go by Chorus or whatever it is, Bell Media, whatever. And then based on the comments and the visits from people Googling, like, where's Liza Fromer? That'll be a Google search,

and then they'll end up on my site. So I can tell you it takes a very long time for people to realize you're not on vacation. You're just not there anymore. That's exactly what I've been hearing, and I have received so many emails and see the tweets, and I read every one, and I've tried to write back to

anyone who wrote me because they've written me the kindest things and uh yeah it's either basically what the hell or um I thought you were on vacation because you were and I'm jumping ahead but then I'll come back but yeah you were basically in June so what are we now August so in June which is not very long ago, chorus did a bunch of cuts across the board, I guess. For example, 16 by nine was canceled.

Yeah. I was shocked by that. Yeah. Cause that's like investigative news. Like, yeah. You know, we need more of that.

Not less. Didn't they see that movie? Uh, what's the movie from the Boston? Oh, spotlight. Yeah. Yeah.

Did they fit? Come on. Have you watched, uh, do you watch John Oliver? I watched that clip of John. Yes, I did watch it. Yeah. Come on. Have you watched... Do you watch John Oliver? I watched that clip of John. Yes, I did watch it. He just very recently did one on journalism.

Did you watch that? Yeah, he nailed it. And he did it just before the star cuts. He nailed it. The star guy should have watched that. We need way more investigative journalism, not less. He's right. That's where things start.

It's like the... Yeah. And he made a good point. The Huffington Post isn't going to send somebody to the council meeting or where it all begins. You know what I mean? You need a local presence that's actually in the council meetings to keep... That was a great clip by John Oliver. Yeah, I was very impressed by that.

But yeah, 16 by 9 was a surprise to me. But in addition to that, they don't renew your contract. So I guess you did... I don't know. You were there five years and you had a contract that was expiring and they decided not to renew it. Yep, exactly. Which I have to say was probably quite possibly the most, I don't even know what the word is, shocking, stunning day of my life. I just had no idea.

So you didn't see it coming? No. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not remotely. no idea yeah so you didn't see it coming no no no no no no not remotely i'd been involved in all sorts of meetings because you know they're moving studios and so we were having meetings about like what should that look like and you know ctv's launching something in the fall so we need to like really get our act together and what does that look like how what how would she we tweak or change and then for some reason it's on tuesday. I don't know why it's on Tuesdays.

And I was about to go on vacation the next week. I was told, a la Jen, that my position had been eliminated. But do they call you in a room and you have like an HR person there? Yeah. Because I know when you're fired, but I wasn't sure how it works when your contract's not renewed. Although the effect is the same, which is, Liza, we don't want you on the show anymore. not renewed.

Although the effect is the same, which is, Liza, we don't want you on the show anymore. Yeah, and they said this has nothing to do with performance. It has nothing to do with anything behind the scenes and the amount of work you put in. It's simply corporate. Okay, so for people who don't like the inside baseball stuff, but Chorus just acquired, is it Canwest? Is that the name of the global company?

It was Canwest back in the day. Shaw. Shaw, right. Thank you. So you know what I know. So I know Chorus just did this huge, like, multi-billion dollar absorption or whatever of takeover of Shaw. Mm-hmm.

And so all this stuff happens. So I don't know what that plays into this at all, but is it that you were making too much money? I mean, you can interpret corporate however you like. But, you know, I've been in this business a long time. So was I making a good salary? Yeah, I was making a pretty good salary. And was the show able to support that through its ratings?

No, it was not. So if you're just looking at a numbers game, those probably didn't add up. Do you think we're creating an environment where broadcasters and reporters and journalists, et cetera, are going to artificially deflate their salaries in negotiations in order to not be an obvious cut? You know what I mean?

You have a target on your back if you're making real money. Some people feel pretty safe because they say, I'm not making that much money. Do you think you'd almost be hesitant? I know this sounds strange because you're always trying to get

the most money you can. That's the whole objective. But it's almost like if that puts a big target on your back back maybe you're better off making less or are you screwed either way you might as well um i just i don't even know that it's gonna that that will be the way things go i think everything's gonna change in 1989 when i started at ryerson if you told me that you know news and morning shows would become extinct and people would stop watching TV, you'd be like, what are you talking about?

What? Everybody watches TV. When I interviewed John Travolta a couple years back, I said, when you started on Welcome Back, Cotter, how long did it take you to know you were famous? And he said, a week. He said, you have to understand, there were three networks, of course. 40 million people a week watched bloody Welcome Back cotter which i loved um yeah i liked it too and now things not only are there a bazillion channels but no one's watched they're streaming they're they're going to netflix like no one's watching tv so tv is going to have to

radically and fundamentally change it won't just be about salaries it'll be like to have to radically and fundamentally change. It won't just be about salaries. It'll be like we have to completely do this differently. Yeah, this is... So now I kind of have to go a little backwards before we come back. So you're five years at The Morning Show. My mom was a big fan. I got a question from my mom. Yes.

This is my mom's question. So my mom's seated... Mary? Mary. She's seated two questions with me, but this is the first one. I think she had a crush. So My mom's seated. Mary. Mary. She's seated two questions with me, but this is the first one. I think she had a crush. So my mom's a single woman.

I think she had a crush on Dave Gehry. She just loved the guy. Okay. So she wants to know, why did Dave Gehry leave the show? Dave is from this area, but for the last 20 or more years has made Vancouver home. And so he moved here, decided to take the job. He had worked with Bud in Vancouver, the producer. Bud wanted to bring him out.

He came out. We all chatted. He decided to do it. However, Dave's wife, who he's been with for a bazillion years in Loves, Loves, Loves, was not about to leave Vancouver because she has an elderly mother that she wanted to be around for so they that's a hell of a commute that's a long commute that's a long commute and after a while i think it just became too much and i think dave also felt like because he's such a fantastic storyteller that he that's where he wanted to put his energy not into

necessarily a morning show so there were just a number of factors where he wanted to put his energy not into necessarily a morning show so there were just a number of factors where he decided it would be a better move to go back to vancouver okay so mom i hope that's satisfactory to you uh so i have a question so about the leslie roberts controversy so so so tell us how was leslie how did leslie roberts fit in with the morning show like less is a great broadcaster so and he also like ann rober works works works works um so yeah i'm trying to remember back i mean it's just we just all decided he was like i'd love to be part of it okay and that was kind of that and uh so was he at was he on the morning show when all this like conflict of interest stuff came came about because

because he actually i don't know if he was suspended or and then he ended up quitting like i don't even remember i'm trying to remember it wasn't that long ago but no it wasn't that long ago um yeah i think that they you know decided everyone both sides that that there was a conflict that was troubling and having that come to light, there was just no way to move forward because in the news, obviously like, you know, yeah, it has to be all about like your trustworthiness and not to say he's not, but once something like that comes to light publicly and I can say,

no one knew a thing like that was a, that, that was another shocker. Cause you have to declare those conflicts. It's like a judge can Like, that was another shocker of a day. Well, the thing is, because you have to declare those conflicts. It's like a judge can't, you know, do a case and his ex-girlfriend is one of the lawyers. He's got to say up front,

I declare a conflict here. So Leslie was not declaring the fact that some of these were clients, basically? That's, I mean, I know probably about as much as you do. Something like that But yeah, that was what came to light

And so that was a conflict That you can't be working with someone behind the scenes And then also, you know Now this brings up another interesting discussion Which we probably don't have time for now But the line seemed to be blurring Between news and entertainment fodder I don't know what the term to call it.

Because you have news. You know the news program, but then you have shows like The Morning Show, which does talk about news, but a lot of it is fluffier than news, if you will. Sure, sure, sure. So is it okay to do that kind of a thing there? And where does the line sort of get blurry?

Is this news? Well, you know, it's interesting. I think it's almost because people wear it on their sleeve, their biases, sometimes. That's almost better. Like Fox News, you know what you're getting. But I always think, I remember one year at Halloween turning on the Today Show

and Matt Lauer was dressed as Pam Anderson for Halloween. And I thought, what a funny thing. And I think Matt Lauer is one of the absolute best in the business. Love him. And that didn't hurt his credibility to me. I'm like, I get it. He can ask really tough questions and do a great job

and put on a red bathing suit. And I'm okay with that. And it's so obvious. What I think we've grown accustomed to is the cross promotion on these shows. and put on a red bathing suit. And I'm okay with that. And it's so obvious. Yeah. No, I hear you. But because what I think we've grown accustomed to is the cross promotion on these shows. So like, let's say, what's the Rogers show?

So Breakfast Television is Rogers, right? So Rogers will have a guy on there talking about Show Me, like this wonderful new streaming service. But they're not going to mention Crave TV because Bell has Crave TV. So there's a whack of that. Or look at this great new show coming that we're going to mention Crave TV because Bell has Crave TV. So there's a whack of that. Or look at this great new show coming that we're going to happen to have. We'll be airing it at 8 o'clock on Tuesdays on City TV.

There's a whack of that. And we almost take it for granted that Bell's going to do a Bell promotion and Roger's going to do Roger's promotion and now there'll be a Shaw slash Chorus thing, whatever. So that's not a conflict of interest. You know you're being advertised to through a discussion on a morning show. Right.

You know what I mean? So see how blurry it all gets? Oh, absolutely. And we tried to be pretty transparent about that. Like at least say this is, you know, a global show or whatever, whatever. But when it gets to the point where we didn't do this,

but when morning shows start to sell their live eyes or things like that. Gotcha. So you're doing a live eye at X place and it's not really clear that they've paid you to be there. Like the X might pay you to go to the C&E for a week or something. Yeah, anything like that. So that's when it gets to the point where you go, okay, wait a minute. And again, that's not journalism. It's very light. So does it really matter? But where else do things get not and again that's not journalism it's very light so does

it really matter but where else do things get embedded and all that sort of thing no i totally agree with you on that point for sure yeah that's uh but yeah so leslie roberts is i think he's in like la right now i just heard that then he moved down there yeah i think i don't i think he's uh i don't know what he's up to but i think he's trying to be maybe in PR or something in L.A., maybe. Maybe. Do you have any contact with Mr. Roberts? I don't. Again, we were friendly at work.

He was a great colleague, but outside of work, we really didn't socialize much. If you didn't watch the Global Morning Show, you did probably see a clip via Twitter or facebook of when you you all took off your makeup like this seemed to be like almost like a viral thing because it fell into my lap and i ended up watching it so um what was that like how does that feel because uh on tv you need makeup because you you even though like i don't even you're you wear makeup right now mascara just little mascara you look you look great but on, you'd look probably washed out or whatever. Yes. Yeah, you wouldn't

want to look at people on TV with no makeup on. Right, they're like pasty and all. Your blotchy skin and all that sort of thing. But we did that because Chris Reyes,

who was my co-host at the time, her niece, little niece, had said something about how she looks so different on TV than in regular life.

But I can't remember the quote, but it was something a bit disturbing that this little girl was thinking. Right, because it's not just makeup, right? It's eyelashes, for example. Yeah, I hated those things. I wore them and then I didn't because ripping them off after the show every day,

I'm like, nah, I'm out. I don't know if the average Joe knows that you guys are all putting on fake eyelashes because I'm not even sure if I really knew that. I knew about the makeup, of course. But but not everybody does i did for a while and then i just hated it um but yeah so we took off all our makeup but i don't i'm not a big makeup wearer so and frankly at 46 years old i just don't give a shit anymore if someone thinks that it is like that's scary like whatever so that if you can still dig up that clip somewhere,

but that was pretty cool to see you guys all do that. So Chris Reyes also, so Chris Reyes, I have a question about her in a minute, but she did the whole like, what I look like, obviously she didn't get naked. She kept on like underwear and a sports bra.

Yeah, I did that with her. And you did it too, right, right, right. So this is like to show people like, you know, reality versus what you see on the TV. When people try to live up to what the TV is, well, you're living up to like an unexpected reality. Exactly. And it was a thing just about, again, I can't remember the details,

but it was something about being comfortable in your own skin, in your own body. And so we said like, let's all, all the TMS staff do this. And four people, Chris and I being two of them, said yes. And there were so many people, girls and guys, who were like, no, man, I'm not letting anybody see me in my underwear, who were in good shape and still thought, that's a drag that we all have to feel shitty.

But good on you for doing it. And would you have done that, though, at BT? Is this part of aging? Like you mentioned, at some point you don't give though at BT? Like, is this part of aging? Like, where you, like you mentioned, like, at some point you don't give a shit? Yeah.

This is what I am. I don't know if I would have done it at BT. It was such a different time then. It wouldn't have come up. But, I can tell you

I wouldn't do it today. Right. Because morning shows pack on the pounds. Is that right? Yes. I don't know. You look pretty good.

I saw your clip too. You look day okay. So do you know why Chris Reyes left? Because I know she went to Global News, right? So she's on Global News, not The Morning Show.

But then she mentions like the most low-key thing ever in one of her blog entries. She mentions that she's quitting. So do you have any more insight into this? It was the most discreet,

quiet way to kind of quit. Which is very Chris. She and her husband have huge wanderlust, and they have a toddler. And they just decided that they weren't, they just didn't want to do the grind for a while, and sold everything and moved to europe wow and so uh for just for the summer they're living uh in europe and then she's coming back and chris is such a

an interesting innovative person i i don't we we've been in touch a little bit but since she's been away but she's gonna come up with something brand new and exciting for herself wow yeah yeah all right that's good people uh like chris and they want to know what happened she's a doll she couldn't be a nicer lady nice nice uh my mom's second question you're ready yes mary okay so she writes did she think bringing carolyn mckenzie to the morning show would be a danger to her position so So there's a perception among some viewers that the two of you, when Carolyn comes in, is it Carolyn? That's easy.

Carolyn comes in, that you're too similar so it makes one of you expendable. Right. No, that never crossed my mind. I knew Carolyn a bit before because we had mutual friends. because we had mutual friends. She is one of the funniest women I know,

and not on purpose. She's just got the funniest, quirkiest, loveliest personality. So when she came in, I was like, oh, great, Carolyn. And then I really got to know her. I'm like, this girl's crazy in the best way. No, you know what? One of my other best friends is a woman named Tara that lives in Calgary,

and she and I worked on air together for a long time, Tara McCool. It's a cool name. It is a cool name, and it's real. Her dad, or rather, grandfather, Frank McCool, has his name on the Stanley Cup, was a goalie for the Leafs. Wow, yes, I know this name, yes. Frank McCool? Yeah, because it's Cup. Was a goalie for the Leafs. Wow, yes. I know this name. Yes. Frank McCool.

Yeah, because it's the coolest name ever. Exactly. Very nice. So Tara is blonde-haired and blue-eyed, like me. And we became friends when I moved to Calgary. And you just, God, I just can't spend my time worrying about crap like that. Like, if I meet a woman that I like, and she has blonde hair and blue eyes, fine. That's when you dye your hair black. Black, yeah, exactly.

Because then you can be Veronica to her Betty. No, I look like strung out heroin Veronica when I have black hair. It was not a good look. That's like Winona Ryder in Heathers or something. Yeah. Okay, so yes, I'm bringing all the 80s references, right? The question from my blog, Toronto Mike, this is from Tron, speaking of 80s movies.

So Tron says, What was the deal, I'll say it like Seinfeld would say it, what was the deal with the Oakley morning show simulcast? It just seemed like an odd fit. Well, that again was, you know, experimenting. The show was brand new, and 640 is part of Chorus and Shaw. And so we thought, well, that could be interesting. Maybe that's a thing to do.

It was meant to be a bit of a crossover with, what are Torontonians talking about today, John? Because he's hearing immediately from people. But, Tron, you're not wrong. It was an awkward fit. So eventually we kind of tried to tinker here and there and just thought, it's just not working. Tron will be back with another question in a moment,

but I'm going to play a very quick intro here. This is called Intimate with Liza Fromer. This is a Global News special presentation. The most well-known faces on the planet. You always kind of have that person you feel like might interrupt your wedding. Share little-known secrets. Don't do it because we're not over yet. Do you have that person?

Answer in three, two... You have to believe you belong, then when you get somewhere you have to kind of fake it. You have to fake it so you make it. And get personal. Were you afraid to revisit the idea of a father losing a son you can't avoid that you wear that because it happened just like when my girlfriend died vulnerable you're revealing your life and your true emotions to people who want to take you down silly thank you for comparing me to Oprah. It took us two minutes, but we got there. Talk about transformation.

Describe that guy. Yeah. Candid. I learned a lot from past girlfriends. And intimate. Is your dad still living? He died at 55. He fell down the stairs, broke his neck.

He was my best friend. The Morning Show presents Intimate with Liza Fromer. Like the title says, this is an hour of candid, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, and always intimate conversation. Since our guests are all celebrities, we decided to bring the show to you from a place the stars can often be seen. That's a long clip, but I wanted to finish it. The end of that sentence was Modestito, a restaurant.

Okay, so that whole idea is similar to the idea of this show. You get somebody in and you have a longer form real talk. Yeah. It kind of was a happy accident. I'd been doing a lot this show you get somebody in and you have like a longer form like real talk yeah it it was um it kind of was a happy accident um i'd been doing a lot of different interviews uh around tiff a couple years ago you know when the film fest is in town and everybody comes to town and and uh

typically something on our show would be a couple minutes long maybe yeah and so i went to a couple of people at the station and said why don't we create it'll cost nothing why don't we create um like a barbara walter style sort of a primetime show and it was coming up to to winter i said you know it's it's coming up to christmas when programming's all loopy anyway and you need some stuff. And so I kept doing interviews with an eye to putting it all together into that hour format. You say Barbara Walters, but I say Brian Linehan. That's who I emulate. I'm trying to be Brian Linehan.

I know I already said this earlier, but I mean it. Your research is crazy good. You can say that any time. I want you to interrupt me any time to tell me that. Much like Mr. Linehan. Yeah. There's a park near Runnymede and Bloor where I worked at a McDonald's at Runnymede and Bloor a long time ago. Anyway, so I used to freak with his park, just whatever.

I would see him often walking in that park and I would say hi to him, Brian Linehan. Oh, was he friendly back? Yeah, he was very friendly. Yeah, I remember watching that show, and every single time, how do you know that, Brian? Because that's like before Wikipedia. You can't know that.

Well, I know. I don't know how the hell he knew it at the reference library, looking at the microfiche. He was great. So you're great, though, because now I want to know, how does Taylor Swift answer? She's like, answer in 5, like answer in five four three two one what did she say after that trying to she was spectacular i had fallen down um taking out the garbage and ripped up my knee and um it took

forever to heal because it was big but i sort of forgot about it because it took so long so i was wearing a like a shorter dress and i went in and i sat down and across from her and she looked over and she's like hi whoa dude did you get shot in your knee that was the first thing she said to me and um she she is a really savvy woman she never answered a question candidly particularly. She gave me more than I expected in some instances, but she knew exactly how to get around the question as well. No, I get a savvy vibe from her. Yeah. She knows how to market herself.

Yeah. Plus, that was just magical editing that made it in the intro. The teasers, guys, it's hooked me in. Yeah. So you did a bunch of these, I guess, these for Intimate. What am I calling it? It's called Intimate with Liza Frommer.

With Liza Frommer. Good title, right? It's a very stimulating title. I'm into it. Yeah, it was Travolta, Taylor Swift, Amy Poehler, Mike Holmes.

How does Mike Holmes get into that group of elite A-listers? Well, we wanted to have some Canadian names. And let me tell you, whenever I've been around Holmes, people lose their minds for that guy.

Yeah, yeah, he's popular. Like more than any other celebrity I've kind of seen, Travolta or otherwise. Like people want to get close to Mike Holmes. Yeah, no, that's great. Here's a question from Tron related. So it's a long one. Something about Liza is a great interviewer. When the time

is right, she can do a hard interview and call somebody on their bullshit. The perfect example was the interview of the anti-sex ed guy last year who was making stuff up and was upset that sex ed actually had real facts about sex. Liza was

respectful but didn't let him go on unchallenged. You don't see that much in media, especially morning shows, who seem to do only fluff and let guests say whatever absurd BS they want. My question is, did Liza get any heat whenever she pushed back when the guest is obviously full of it?

No, I didn't at all. And thank you, Tron, again. I didn't forget about that, but I hadn't thought about it in a while. And I was actually really kind of proud of myself with that interview. Cause I felt like I went into it and did the job that I was meant to do. Like I was, I did the research and I feel strongly about that topic and you know, and he was just talking shit, like things that were just not true. On behalf of listeners everywhere, the biggest pet peeve

is when somebody spews bullshit that isn't called, and the interviewer doesn't call them out on it, like lets it go. The Trump shit going on in the States? And when he just says nonsense, and people go, okay, moving on. No, not moving on. Before Trump, I feel

like Trump is like a big, bad, scarier sequel to the Rob Ford story. Like there was a lot of that going on the Rob Ford where depending who's doing the interview, most people like if it's the guy on CP24 or whatever, I won't bow tie man there or whatever, like just free passes to spew complete obvious falsehoods without being challenged. Like what is the point? What is the point? It's like a PR machine for the politician.

And that is, that's just so bad. You've got to call people on it. And you can't. It's tough because if you're friendly, then you get the interviews. But if you're friendly, you don't get to do a real interview. Bingo. The reason, yes, the free pass is because CP24 wants the next Rob Ford interview or whatnot. And they don't want to get blacklisted or whatever.

I feel like you're right. If you challenge, then you risk not. I feel like you're right. If you challenge, then you risk not getting the interview because you're tough. Yep. Who wants tough? You have to do it. So yeah, that was...

I felt good about that interview that day. Good stuff. Thank you. Hey, I got to close here with a personal question as if we haven't had one yet. So... Hit it.

Yeah. So it's about religion. Okay. So you converted to Judaism to marry someone of the Jewish faith. The marriage did not last. In this instance, what happens to the conversion and the new faith? I'm so impressed with you. And this is actually a question, my natural curiosity,

I'm fascinated with religion and what people believe and why. Always. I'm interested to know, like, do you drop the religion because you drop the guy? I was raised Protestant. We were kind of sort of go to church. But then as I got older into teens, I wanted to sleep in and my mom just couldn't handle the fight anymore. So I forget it. Fine. My last name for omer is jewish my dad's side of the family was jewish um but then my grandpa jewish married my grandma not and it was over um so it didn't feel that foreign to me did a year of conversion learned all about it couldn't read a word of hebrew now we used to be able to um because josh and i he was very um it meant a lot to him to raise a family in the Jewish faith.

So I thought, okay, if it's a big deal to you, now I would put myself in the atheist camp. Not because of anything to do with my marriage. But I'm a bit of a student of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. We had Richard Dawkins on the show, and he was amazing. But the more I read and the more I think about it, it's a hard buy-in for me these days. So when you did decide to go through this conversion, at that point, were you just doing it for him?

Like you weren't really buying into it, but you were just... No, I didn't have the same feelings then that I do now about religion. And if people, you know, practice it, I'm not trying to like shun anyone's thing. If it makes you feel good and you believe it, great. At that time, I thought perhaps it would be nice to have one faith that my kids could kind of learn about and have as a bit of a touchstone. It meant a lot to Josh. His dad and aunt survived the Holocaust. So there were a lot of reasons why I thought, OK, if this is a big deal to you and it's not a huge deal to me to do it.

It was a lot of work. not a huge deal to me to to do it it was a lot of work but yeah like it wasn't a deal because because um as i put myself in your shoes i feel i would be of the like i could never do that for you like i could never why well like you said at that point you weren't an atheist you were uh you still believed on some level uh at that point so but for, I staunchly believe that there is no, there's nothing. And that, right. So here's what's important.

So I married a woman who came from a very Catholic family, the second marriage. First, I married an atheist the first time and it was really easy because we agreed we'll never baptize our kids and they're going to go to public schools, but it was really easy. And then the second marriage, she's from a very religious family,

a very religious Filipino family. Like they're the super Catholics. It's Filipinos. Holy smokes. Wow. Chris Reyes would probably tell you a story or two. So, uh,

but we agreed before we even, before I even proposed, uh, we agreed that basically, cause religion, she did not believe, but her family believes, but we agreed.

I, I, I won't do anything for your mom, for example. Like I, you know, our children are not being are not being baptized. And there's no religion in the home. And there's no faith of that. Nothing like that. And we agreed. So we got on the same page. But if she had said to me, I need you, I wouldn't have to convert. Because I guess I was raised Catholic. So there's no conversion required. But I simply wouldn't. Marriage, the wedding. The wedding, we had a justice of the peace.

I can't remember what the terminology was. But the bottom line is it was not affiliated with religion, and it was no God, and there was no Bible readings, none of that. And that was important to me, and we got on the same page. So the fact that you converted for him, which is good, because you wanted your family to have this. And I'm guessing your children have this today. Yeah, my son is

studying hebrew um with an eye to i i you know i made a promise to josh when we got married that yes if he wants to raise them jewish that's what we're going to do um so you know he's learning hebrew with an eye to a bar mitzvah however yeah he's asked me they rarely go to a synagogue and I don't take them to church. Um, so they have a lot of questions. My son is 10. He's got a lot of questions. And so I'll try to give him the like fundamentals of, well, this is what the Bible says. If you're Christian or if you're Jewish, other people have other things. And then he said, well, what do you believe? And I said, well, I tend to believe science more and that would mean this but when i was telling him the bible stories he's like those are crazy like out of the mouths of babes i said listen honey this is going to be your thing to figure out as you live your life

and you should really explore it all and and then ask me anything and and you figure out this is i'm gonna guess this is out of respect for their father that you're so diplomatic about it all because I would tell my kids that's bullshit. Like, I think I would just like... Would you? Yeah. Interesting.

But they don't, I don't, because none of my children, they don't get it from their mom or anything. I think to your difference, so what I see is the difference is that your ex-husband is practicing the, maybe they don't go to synagogue, but still considers himself Jewish.

So out of respect for that, you are going to be careful with how you share your opinions on these things, where I don't have that element to deal with. I want him, I'm saying him because my daughter's six and a half, so she's a little young for all this stuff. I want my children to read.

Read, read, read. I got lots of books in my house. Read up on it and figure out what you think. Do they go to public schools? They do. Yeah, that was really important to me. A parochial school was not going to be on the agenda. Or private.

I told you I'd hit you up with some tough, hard-hitting personal questions about religion. Did you? I had to feel you. Have I answered them to your satisfaction? Yeah, absolutely. You consider yourself atheist now, so you've

obviously, and you said it was unrelated to the marriage. Let's say you're still with Josh. You're still with Josh, let's say. You're still happily married to Josh. Are you're still with Josh. You're still with Josh, let's say. You're still happily married to Josh. Are you Jewish still? No. I mean, I would still attend, you know, Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah or whatever it was.

I wouldn't be much different, but I would have changed my attitude. But again, like if I give my word to someone, particularly my then-husband, I'm going to follow through on it. I just don't feel like it would be fair to change the game halfway through and go, eh, fuck it.

Bait and switch, you can't do that. Yeah, no. Like, Watley, the dentist on Seinfeld. Oh, just for the jokes! Can you tell a Jewish joke, or is that no longer cool? Could you get away with a Jewish joke? I don't know if I could even get away with it before. I looked too waspy.

It was iffy. I'm going to play a song from Lowest of the Low in a millisecond here but I got to point out that I didn't know this. You published like six books. The Body Works series and they explain to kids how their bodies work by incorporating facts and fun. That's pretty cool. How does that happen? So Josh's sister, my then-sister-in-law, Francine, is a doctor, MD.

And we were just hanging out. I was pregnant with Ever, my daughter. And we were just hanging out, and we talked to her. She is like an A-type personality. If she makes her mind up, she's getting shit done. i tend to be a little airy farrier um anyway long story short i said you you know you know stuff about medicine that seems useful yeah and we decided to so she we would decide on the different topics she would kind of describe to me the medical terminology and how things work, like why do you sweat, whatever, whatever.

And then I would write it in a manner that was appropriate for like 10-year-olds. Cool. Yeah. And you did six of these things. Six of them. And if they ever make movies, these could be the next Harry Potter films. Oh, man. I don't think they're going to do it about farts.

Liza, I got to say, this was an absolute pleasure. Thank you. And you were super honest, which is like, in these things, that's like 90% of the battle. You get somebody in who's really guarded and careful and is like, okay, I'm getting like PR scripts or whatever. Yeah. But, yeah, you were awesome. So thank you very much. And my phone is ringing.

Thank you, Mike, for doing so much work, man. Who's calling? Is it Mary? No. Oh, remind me to get a picture with you so my mom can be proud of me. Okay. She should have come. And that brings us to the end of our 189th show.

You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike and Liza is at Liza Fromer. And our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. See you all next week. And drink some goodness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in Ah, where you been? Because everything is kind of rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold