Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mike Stafford 2025 Update: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1636

Episode Date: February 23, 2025

In this 1637th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Mike Stafford about his suit against Corus, his health, his life and the world at large. You can offer Staff financial assistance by emailing money to [e-mail]. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1637 of Toronto Miked. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees. From Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Recyclemyelectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past.

Building Toronto Skylines, a podcast and book from Nick Ienies, sponsored by Fusion Corp Construction Management Inc. and Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Joining me today, Returning to Toronto. Mike is Mike Stafford. Man, that's better than anything on WKRP. That's right.

They had the jingle right for, uh, what was the name of that funeral home again? Oh God. Oh, it'll come to us. I just keep going. Right. Ferryman's. Yes. Ferryman's funeral home.

The thing in a red, red wigglers as well. Well, geez, uh, Mike Stafford, let me just say, good to see you again. And you as well, my friend. This is episode number four for me, five, six. Actually, I think it's interesting you bring that up. So I said, okay, I need to let the first time listeners know there's an ongoing history of Mike Stafford at play here.

Oh shit, I said that, now I owe chorus some money, I think, if I say ongoing history of anything. But okay, here. Oh shit, I said that, now I owe Korra some money, I think, if I say ongoing history of anything, but okay. We'll talk about that in a moment. But your first visit was March 2015, which was almost exactly 10 years ago. And saying that was, I worked the Oakley Show that morning until 10 o'clock and came over here. That was that brutally cold winter.

And that was the first day, it was, what'd you say, March? March 2015. It was the first day since, I think, Christmas, we had gone over 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Anyway, things stick with you. So you're still doing Fahrenheit, is this because you went to, when you were going to school, it was Fahrenheit?

Because my brain can't do Fahrenheit, because when I was going to school, it all Celsius yeah but that's like preparing for the inevitable I'm preparing for the return to Imperial measure not even Imperial measure Michael Washington measure we'll get to that too because I have Mike Stafford in the basement you're pretty much my prisoner down here and I'm yes we're gonna do a thorough catch-up look I'll set the table'm gonna we're gonna do a thorough catch up. Well, I'll set the table later, but we're gonna find out how you're doing. You know what crack open your great legs beer right now. This is a, this is a new one from GLB.

Yeah, they have a few different loggers. That's the Vienna and that's Bob O'Lett's favorite beer here. Bingo. What does toast stand for? No, toast was okay. So we had pandemic Friday, which was Cam Gordon's, Stu Stone's. Stu Stone's my guest later this week. Cam Gordon, Stu Stone and I did Pandemic Friday every Friday during the pandemic. And then at some point we had a farewell to we didn't say farewell to the pandemic, but we said farewell to Pandemic Fridays with a huge gathering, a TMLX event at Great Lakes Brewery. And then Stu went off to make Dark Side of the Ring and movies and Cam went, I think he went to the Big Red Machine and now he's somewhere else. But basically Toast was like, we brought back Pandemic Fridays as a monthly and Toast was the name I came

up with because I thought, okay, you know, when you had the origins of hip hop, you had a DJ and then you had somebody who was toasting in the crowd, right? Like the MC. Right. So that there's that toast. And then I thought, uh, yeah, like I used to toast with two life crew back then. As nasty as they want to be. If I remember correctly too, like, um, Luke Skywalker, that was his moniker. I think now you owe money. So does he, so does he. Okay. This okay, this is true so March 2015 10 years ago episode 113 and we talked about your days at CF and Y CF RB and 640 Getting high before your jeopardy appearance

And the Freddie thing and I you know, I for better or worse. I did ask you about firing Fred Well, that's kind of why I sort of came in to give my side of the story for you, but yeah, yeah, that was, I cannot believe that was March of 2015? Ten years ago, my friend. 2017 September was my next one. You know what, you nailed it. That was episode 265 and we kicked out the Jams. Yeah, we had some fun with the Jams.

And that was your second appearance. And how is that Vienna lager? By the way, this is really good. This is really full for a lager because I'm not a much of an ale guy It bugs my stomach. This has got a really nice full taste for a lager I like the the regular premium lager also very popular from GLB We have a couple of cold ones on the table should you require them? Beautiful, let me know you're bringing some home with you today. Thanks to great I'm here for the for the GLB and of course for the lasagna.

So I told Anthony Petrucci at Palma Pasta that Mike Stafford was coming by and absolutely he's ecstatic. You're going to get another Palma Pasta lasagna. Ah delicious, right? Delicious. All right, delicious. What else? Okay. So that was for the two episodes. And then again, I think we talked about this at some point, but, uh, you sort of turned on me, right? Like you soured on Toronto Mike at some point after that. Yeah. It was something to do with loose skis or something stupid.

Yeah. Loose skis was fired. Oh, okay. So in my description for your next appearance, so you come back in May, 2023, and that was episode 1250. And we caught up and basically we talked about your broken neck. Yes. How is your neck? Um, it's still broken. Hey, it's, it's yeah. I'm like, what is it? Like how is your here? I'm just turning them. Yeah, no problem. Uh, I'm just wondering how is your mobility? I saw you using a cane earlier. Is that related to the neck or is that your? Right now it's my back, it's the middle of my back. It's like the muscles have no attachment to anything.

So any sharp movement, I mean I just took the 107 freaking Islington bus. That thing should be burned in effigy like a burning man and kill all the pigeons that have taken over that. Have you been in that station? Sure, of course. It's my home station. Holy jeez! When did that happen? I'm looking for Hitchcock doing a cameo. This isn't the Islington station I remember when I used to go get drunk at the office. Oh yeah. I know. I went to the original location of Michael Power, which was right there.

Okay. At the, where Dundas and Islington. Yep. Across from the police station there on the Bloor Street or whatever. Okay so your neck is not going to get any better? No, no the neck has got screws and I'm waiting to just from my own psyche when I ever fly again what it's going to be like getting through security because I've got all this metal in my you know from the top of my neck down to my shoulder blades. They're going to spend a little extra time with you.

Yeah. I guess I got to bring a doctor's note, but yeah, that's the state, the state of my physical. Jeez. And we talked about why you had to delete your Twitter account. Yes. As you were ahead of the game, as far as I'm concerned, like you were just progressive, like you were just ahead of the reasonable masses who should all be deleting their Twitter account. Okay, we talked in great detail about why you were fired

from AM 640. So if people want that in all its gory detail, it's episode 1250. But then we did catch up and we did address, and this is what we were alluding to earlier, the turd in the basement comment. So basically in a nutshell, Lou Skizze was fired by,

I guess he used to do a, he would do spots on 640. It was happy capitalism. Of course, happy capitalism. And he came over and we talked about it. And I asked him one question, he only came up once and I just said, have you heard from Mike Stafford since you were fired?

And he said one word, he said no, and then I moved on, but this irked you. Yeah, it ripped me, because again, I got it through secondhand as often happens. And then you go give it a listen and you realize it wasn't as bad. No, I didn't dwell on it. I didn't know, pick it up. No, but I'd already opened my big fat mouth, but, uh, I mean, it was the same thing I explained with Freddie too.

I got pissed off at Freddie for something he'd written. And, you know, especially with all the crap that has happened since then and then and then and then and even Lou, it's like it just doesn't fucking matter, man, this crap. It just doesn't matter. And that's why it's been very, very difficult to be stuck at home, not able to participate in some of the discourse to try to, I don't know if it needs more discourse because there's so much discourse out there, but my God, what a world we're living in right now.

Well, we're going to touch on a lot of this. Yeah. Because like we'll do a catch up and then I will ask you some of the questions I often wonder what a staffer think about this, but I need to crack open a GLB. Go ahead. I'm going to crack open burst, which is an IPA

I enjoy from Great Lakes. You got some citrus in there? No, that's, the I enjoy from great lakes. You got some citrus in there. No, that's the octopus wants to fight has a lot of citrus in it. Oh yes. This is a, this is a good one. And then, so I can get out of your way because people hear enough of my voice and

they're very much missing your voice and I'll set the table with that in a moment, but November, 2023. So you're here in May, six months later you come back and we talk about what happened since episode 1250. And we touched on the fact that you, when you appeared in May, 2023, Lauren Honigman was listening to your appearance.

Yes. Lauren, dear friend of the program, I used to produce this podcast. And Lauren Honigman helped you get a lawyer who works on contingency, is that right? Yeah. So you're not paying up front. Which is what you needed. Yeah. And under the wire, you were able to file some kind of a severance,

some suit in pursuit of severance from Corus? Yeah. It was a statement of claim. You have two years from your date of termination and employment law, two years to file a statement of claim. And that's all you have to do is by that magic date, which would have been June 9th of a 2023. I had two weeks to go and it was Lauren who heard me with you and called me and said, you got to give my, my buddy a call. He introduced us. And that's all up in the, I can't talk about stuff like that, but.

So you can't get into specifics, but is it, can you say it's ongoing? It's ongoing, it's ongoing, but have you looked at the stock price? Oh, well the trick is to get it done before they declare bankruptcy or something. I mean, I've just finished watching, you know, streaming two weeks of succession.

And I'm thinking, holy shit, if half this stuff happens in corporate, in the corporate world. But yeah, yeah, of course, you know, I started there at 34 bucks a share. Fred Patterson was the one who said, oh man, you gotta buy, you gotta buy because they'll give you a free share

with every three purchased. And he and Humble had a crap load of them and I thought, oh, I should do it. But me being me, I never got around to it. Now it's at 10 cents. But. I wonder when they sold. Like I wonder when Humble and Fred sold.

I'm just wondering aloud. I don't know. I would assume when maybe when they left for the mix. Well then they were lucky. Oh yeah, absolutely. But then again, I mean, look at Bellstock. Look at Rogerstock. It's not just,

everyone's been dumping on chorus. No, this is a contagion that has spread across the industry. So we can't, it sounds like for, your lawyer doesn't want you to give it any specifics, except this is ongoing, so is it? Shit's been filed, shit's been filed, shit's been filed. But why is it taking, I don't even know what you can say, I'll just ask the question.

I have been told that the other party is taking a leisurely time. But that's ridiculous. If we consider this all started in the mid-20s. Well, yeah, when I've been evicted, and it doesn't mean the money's automatically mine. It has to be decided in court. Right.

But time is of the essence here. So did you say evicted? Okay, maybe, I'll get out of the way now. So that's basically all those episodes are where you go to hear more Stafford 113 265 1250 1373. This here is 1637. I think this came to be because I get more emails about you than anything. People now consider me the Stafford whisperer. I appreciate that because I started around Christmas getting emails from people saying, hey, I hope you don't mind, Toronto Mike gave me your email address.

Right. And then you emailed me and you said, you know, I'm getting a lot of emails about you. And I'm going, what's wrong with people? People care about you. And I contacted you and said, okay, well, yeah, we got to do something, I guess. We got to update the staff heads here. Update it, yeah. Why don't I get out of the way and please, and

again, I'll pepper in with questions because I'm a curious cat, but tell us how has life been since your last visit, November, 20, 23 and what's going on with Mike Stafford? Okay. Um, we, uh, we had to leave a house that we were in that we were renting. It was just, getting the money together. You just don't realize how expensive life is until the money's not there. And Jodie, and I wanna respect Jodie's privacy

and a lot of issues, but Jodie had been diagnosed with renal cell cancer the last time I saw you in November of 23. Yep. And the next month after I talked to you, she had the tumor removed very successfully at Credit Valley. Great people. Good. She had follow-up. She had follow-up, a couple of follow-ups, and our situation between her and I was not a good one. I mean, I don't want to get into it, it's not fair to her. It was just not a

very good situation to be in, and having this thrown her away didn't help much, but it turned out the cancer is a stage four. It has metastasized from her kidney to her bone. Well, I'm sorry to hear this. Yeah, she has a scan next month. I saw her a couple of weeks ago at Credit Valley. I made a trip out there. She's not living in the city. She's got an arrangement with community health and stuff

and she's taken care of and all that stuff. But I saw her, she looked good. I told her told her I said I am amazed at how good you look she says I don't have an ass I said well you never had an ass when I married you yeah so she um she's got some good good support it's just it's quite a kick in the teeth obviously but she looked good three weeks ago. I got to say that. I'll see her again in a few weeks. Well, we're all hoping for the best for Jodie. And I'm sorry that, and again, I'm on my second marriage, so I know what it's like, but it

doesn't always work out. Stressors, you know, money is the number one thing in any relationship, I would say, outside of maybe cheating and stuff like that. But, um, yeah, it, it, it's, it's been interesting. 2024 was, uh, was not, you know, missed when it, when it left us on New Year's Eve, but, uh, yeah, and then there's a whole month, you know, and then I've lost a bunch of other good friends at work. It's been a tough year. Well, we're going to touch on all that, but you use the word evicted. Yeah. So okay so you used to talk about port no credit. Yeah.

So you were I take it you were renting that place. We had a place there for we were in for 10 years that the owner sold and it has since been rebuilt. So we found we lucky we Very lucky to find a shorter term lease on the same road with a guy But it was only a short lease and as it was coming up because he wanted to do a tear down as well We had nowhere to go and I had no money and it just basically Became, you know one of those horror stories you hate to read about. Well, I always wonder what happens when you have nowhere to go with no money. Like where are you living now? I'm living in Toronto.

I'm living in, uh, uh, with my sister. Okay. Okay. What? So thankfully you have a family member who could, could help you out, but for all those people out there who don't have a sister, they can move in with, uh, what do they do? You know, I've got neighbors right now.

There's an episode on Monday with a guy named Bruce Davis. And basically this episode is to discuss a proposed shelter at a lakeshore and six street in new Toronto. And you would be surprised that the neighbors of mine who are like rallying, not basically nimby in this thing before they have all the facts, but perhaps that's why these shelters are necessary in this. What is this, like a storefront shelter they're talking about? Well, they're going to breed. They haven't built it yet. It won't open until like 2028 or something like

that, but it's a for families and there's a whole there's to support families, I guess. I've been through this area often when I drove to work here, I'm trying to think of what's that sixth. Well, it's a parking lot right now. It is. Yeah. So they're going to build it.

They're going to build a shelter. It's, it's, uh, apparently been approved. So literally this episode of Bruce Davis, who's not a politician, but he's been assigned to, I don't know, handle consultations with the neighborhood before this thing is built and opened up and like, I guess it's gonna be about Doing math here, but we're years away from this thing opening

But I have less you can imagine I have a lot of questions and Bruce will be in this basement on Monday to discuss this But I'm just thinking what do you do if you're in your situation you and Jodie and you have no money coming in You're evicted from your apartment. You can't afford to give first and last month's rent on something new and you don't have the support you're getting from your sister. Yeah. You basically get caught up in the short-term rental game, whether it was Airbnb or last time I talked

to you in November of that year, we were in a, a motel on Dundas in Mississauga. Right, I remember now, right. And they were housing people through Peel Supports, but if you weren't getting it through Peel Supports they were charging a hundred and seventy bucks a night. It's untenable, right? This is for a shithole. Right.

Drug den. Right. And prostitution den at Dundas and East Addicts. And the cops know about it. They were there. We got to be friends with everybody, but they're still charging hundreds. You know, they're just, it's like the short, the short-term loan business,

the money marts and stuff like that. Right. It has given me an appreciation for just how fucking close everybody could be. You know, God forbid that it doesn't happen, but if it does, if everything comes together in the wrong way, unless you've got that support, that's why, you know, fucking, they talk about burning bridges at work and stuff like that, and I apologize for the F words today. You can swear on this program. I just took the TTC, It's what does it to you.

We're fuck friendly on Toronto. Yeah, I forget what I was going there. No, but it sounds like a precarious situation. Yeah. And there, but for your sister, maybe you're in one of these shelters that my neighbors are rallying. Completely, completely, completely. I'd have to find a way, you know, being given my age and things like that, I would probably

have an easier time, but I don't think there's ever, you could ever use the word easy when it comes to how, you know, finding housing. Because after deck again, to recap, but I'm getting angry on your behalf here, but you were, uh, at chorus for decades. And then when they, when they fired you, they didn't give you a penny to go away.

They just said, just go away. No, even if they did, they didn't give you a penny to go away. They just said, just go away. No, even though two of my bosses above me, um, it doesn't matter if I say it now, I don't think either of them are working there anymore. Uh, begged HR, you've got to give him something. You've got to give him something. But this was the start.

I mean, people go, okay, you used the slur, stuff like that, blah, blah, blah. It was money too. It was money. Which makes me cry when I think of someone like Kelly Catrera. Give me a fucking break. I'm a huge fan, you're a huge fan. Big fan of Kelly's. And when I read that, because Kelly was, Kelly would annoy the hell out of me talking to me. I wanna know how you come up with ideas.

She was such a sweetheart. Because she was a music chick. And she thought I was the talk guy. And she did very well on her own in the talk thing. But when I read that, and Tina, I was ready to go to war when they let Tina go. I mean, Tina's been there longer than me. Right, Tina Trujani.

Yeah, and this is just after, shortly before I left, they actually, they had a pretty damn good newsroom after CFRB blew theirs up. They had, you know, they had reporters in the morning, they had Sandy Salerno. Now they got, yesterday, Dave Bradley, their morning news guy, did an 11-hour shift. Well, he's all they got, yesterday Dave Bradley, their morning news guy, did an 11 hour shift. Well he's all they got right?

He and Danny Longo in the afternoon who I assume was off on a Friday. Right. That's no way to run like a Sarnia radio station. And no one gives a shit. And that's the problem. No one gives a shit. When you've got the head of Bell Media saying, you know what? This isn't a viable business to what we're in right now It's Logan Roy. So we're gonna fuck off So core you mentioned the share price chorus, there's no secret Cloak I don't know how close they were but there were rumors

They might have to declare bankruptcy, but they've been cutting costs across the country for a while now. I mean bankruptcy, but they've been cutting costs across the country for a while now. I mean, Alan Carter, I'm trying to think Farah Nasser. I mean, you name it. There's these, you know, Kelly Catrera who I do adore. Yep. I saw her in December and she was in good spirits. She was going like going out of town with girlfriends to kind of do Kelly. Yeah. Kelly to drink wine and sort of, you know, lick the wounds or whatever, but she'll be back. And she even promised she'll drop by this basement

and talk about everything. So. That would be great to hear. Definitely, that's a listen. It was lovely, by the way, to scroll as I do to see who's on Toronto Mike every day. And there's my sweetheart. There's my darling, Heather Pirdin.

Yes. There's a picture of mine and some asshole, Brad. Somebody. Now, Brad's a good guy too, but. Well, Brad hired Heather. Brad hired Heather and Heather, thank God she was able, she had a, you know, a life vest thrown her away. Same with Chris Creston, he's working for the city

up in Markham now. No, oh yeah, absolutely. Now, glad you mentioned Heather Perdon because when I met her, cause she came over with Brad Bradford and Brad's a good FOTM. You got the picture of her out front. Absolutely and I was really excited. I mean Brad Bradford, whatever, like I saw he was at you know TMLX, whatever it was, 17, I can't keep track of him anymore, but he was at Palmer's Kitchen there and it's always Brad's a good FOTM and he

loves Toronto Mike then he comes to the events. But I was so excited to meet Heather because I've been corresponding with that woman for years and I've never met her. And there she is. And yeah, she seemed happy. Brad loved working with her and she escaped, like she got out. Right. There is no future for a radio professional. And I used to joke when the kids would come through from Humber

every year to do their tour of, and I'd be sitting on air in my booth screaming at them in the hallway, there's no jobs, go away, there's no jobs and they'd have fun with it on the Sony board and stuff like that and didn't I turn out all. We'll get back to that. Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be radio professionals. It's too bad. No, it's too bad. I grew up, I mean, I never attempted in my life, even for a minute. I never even dreamed of being on radio or tried to get on radio. But I loved listening to

radio like that. That was better. Yeah, me too. Whether it was 1976 listening to the US election results in Lexington, Kentucky on you know, getting that nighttime skip in the, in the ionosphere. I just love that kind of radio shit, but, oh man. And remind me, was your first gig CFNY? What was your first gig?

First gig was CHIC, which was CFNY's AM brother sister station. Was May Potts there? No. Was Fred Patterson there Freddie P and I did morning news with Pete and Geets I started in 79 I was at Ryerson and between first and second year I got a job at CHIC 790 disco for the summer okay and that was when he was in receivership. The CFA task corporation in Montreal bought them and they called me and said come back,

we want you to do full-time. I got to finish my degree. Fuck the degree. It doesn't mean a thing. Doesn't mean a thing. So I did come back and I started full-time February 1980. 80. At CHIC 790 disco. Right. And then they put Fred and I together on the Pete and Geet show. I did news. He did sports for seven years. Did you hear it was fairly recently, but like time is like a blur to me now, but it was late 2024. I suppose when David Marsden, uh, popped by, did you hear the recent David Marsden? I listened to he said I should be a news director. Yeah. Well, he's a big,

big guy. So you he's a huge guy. So you worked with David Marsden. So who left first, you or Marsden? I did, barely. I left in, well, I think I even mentioned the bullshit they pulled with, they wanted to write with Pete and Geetze because they were getting no growth. The bits weren't getting refreshed. And they'd actually hired someone. And they came to me and said, look, here's the deal, Mike. We can offer you two options.

Either you stay on the air doing your newscasts, but we got a new guy who's taking over. Or you give up your on air and become a full-time producer for Pete and Geets, writing them bits, helping them write bits and stuff like that. I didn-time producer for Pete and Geets writing them bits helping them write bits and stuff like that I didn't want to lose Pete and Geets the poor fucker who got screwed out of that I'll tell you off air who it was it's Ted Walsh. It's no secret I mean Ted's been through this yeah and I wanted to stay with my guys right and it was just it turned in and I don't blame them, some 26 year old kid is now telling these veterans,

no guys, you can't do that bit anymore, it's not funny anymore, let's try this bit. So that lasted two, three months, and then I left, and then I think David left end of 87? Sounds about right, 87. I think Don took over. Right, right. And then shit happened that I still laugh about.

Yeah, well they went, I'm trying to get this right, Kingsbury, I think it was Kingsbury. It was Jim Fonger, who was a sales guy in Kingsbury, and then the Madonna shit started, and it's like, what? Even Fred says, you know, you know what, I like that station, even when we played Madonna. Well, Fred and I have had this discussion because it's like, oh my God, what happened there?

But Fred's like, he wanted it to be more broader because he felt that would be more ears and more listeners, which would mean higher salaries and higher ratings. You can't make money from a cult radio station. I used to say that. It's nice to be part of this cult, but you know, it's Self-defeating no. No, we don't want it to get any more popular. But the sad seen the same shit I remember when ms. Vickies. Yeah, was that independent kettle chip company? Of course. Yeah, and then lays bottom fuck miss

What did they do wrong? They did what everyone wants to do in business. Right, they cashed out. So I'm wondering, I know I probably asked you this last time but it's been a while since you were here, but I've had many a conversation with the Ivor Hamilton's, the Scott Turner's, the Alan Cross's about the CFNY documentary. Did anybody reach out to you to participate in the CFNY doc?

Yeah, Scott did. Did you participate? No, I did not. No, I had been let go and and it just wasn't in my makeup to wanna go out and talk, you know, remember when. You didn't wanna be, yeah, warm fuzzy nostalgia. Yeah, Tony Soprano called it the lowest form of conversation. Right. Remember when, remember when.

So yeah, actually Scott Turner reached out a couple of times. He's a good egg, that Scott Turner. But then I hear it's been delayed again. Oh yeah, so I mean, it depends who you talk to because I actually wrote about, because Iver Hamilton shared that it's on hold and he's wondering, it gets in Scotland or whatever, so I kind of wrote about this

and then the director of the doc got back to me and said, that's not true at all. Like I'm actively searching for a distributor and it's not on hold at all. So I guess it depends who you talk to. I actually wonder, again, this is pure speculation. Lauren Honigman wants me to make this clear. I know nothing.

But I'm wondering if these executive producers simply don't like the documentary. Oh, that's a good point you bring up, Michael. Because you know what it's like. You were in that cult, you called it, but if you're in part of the spirit radio cult of CFNY, you have somebody else driving the bus. Maybe they missed some of the nuances

that made it such a special place. If I can imitate David Marsden. I think you're right, Michael. That's pretty good. No, I think you're onto something here, because it's a legacy that people own. Their own legacy and if, well wait a second. Do you ever see 24 hour party people?

Of course. Fucking amazing. When Howard Devoto is the janitor and the Howard Devoto in the movie is fucking the girl in the bath. And then she comes out and he goes, I don't remember this happening. That's what a lot of that is like with CF and Y.

Right. Right. So part of me wonders if maybe there's a disconnect now between the director, a Scottish based guy who made it. And I know because I got a nice email from him when he was on a train to interview Geets Romo and he's let me know he's listening to Geets Romo in the basement here talking to me about On Tram Life and he said it was the greatest research ever to Gide's Romo in the basement here talking to me about on Trump Mike and he said it was the greatest

research ever. Oh, that's nice of him. So we'll see if I show up in the credits. But they better hurry up because all these new wave guys are dying. Like the drummer from the jam just died. Yeah. Like they're all dying guys.

Get this thing out. Get this out because, and I was gonna ask you about this too, the C, sorry, the SCTV documentary that was with the over that, that reunion that was filmed by Martin Scorsese. My buddy Patrick from work was there at Patrick Malkin. He was, uh, was it at a winter garden, winter garden theater? Yeah. Well, according to people like Dave Thomas, who I've talked to, that thing's never coming out like Scorsese, shelled it and left it. Yeah.

And I've talked to several people now who were there talked to, that thing's never coming out. Like Scorsese just shelved it and left it. Yeah, and I've talked to several people now who are there. Well, one person who was there did say it wasn't that good. But everyone, I've talked to many other people who told me it was fantastic. Really? And I wasn't there. I can't remember what Patrick said. I think he said it was okay.

Call him right now. Call him now. I don't know if I'd even wanna, I'd give it 15 minutes. You mentioned losing people, that's why I brought it up, because Joe Flaherty's gone. I don't know if I'd even want to add I'd give it if I'd give it You mentioned losing people that's why I brought it up because Joe Flaherty is gone I know so it's like the longer you wait. Yeah, like we're losing these people that were at this reunion It just gets awkward. Well, I'd be interested to see it when it comes out if it comes out But then again people hear about me and see if and why I was a very different situation I was a very different situation. I was a news guy there.

But you were part of the Pete and Geet show. I guess I was and I don't accept that in my own, but I guess, yeah, Pete, Fred and I were a couple of clowns who happened to do the news, but musically, Yeah. It's like, I have no interest to know who your favorite bands were. Which is fair, fair, but I mean but we kicked out some cool jams.

Well we kicked out some cool jams. I did see on, somebody put it on YouTube, the television, the Pete and Geet's TV thing that was filmed. Oh did you see that? Yeah. Where I opened it? I can't remember, but you guys, you can speak to this,

but somebody did upload this to YouTube and I definitely watched it. It was like a, a peeding geet. I don't know if it was for cable 10. I'll tell you, I'm just reading this hop. That's a hop. So that has no alcohol. So do you want alcohol?

Put that aside. Yeah. So that. Put that aside. Can I throw it somewhere? There we go. That's not for Stafford. Okay.

That's cause you know, you believe it or not, the odd person comes by in recovery and I got to give them some GLB with no alcohol. So that's the hop up, which is very good, believe it or not the odd person comes by in recovery, and I got to give him some GLB With no alcohol, so that's the hop-up, which is very good, but it's not a beer. It's recovery week on Wheel of Fortune But I did see the TV the Pieden Geetz. Yeah, that was um I was working at Cable 10 Mississauga Wolfdale Road which then was Rogers and McLean Hunters before Rogers bought McLean hunter, right?

so they ran it together and it was on Wolfdale just near the derailment site and I was doing a show called City City and vest whatever it was a city shows crap. It aired every Tuesday, right and somehow we'd go for beers afterwards and the Producer of the show said, man, we all love Pete and Geet. So we'd love, we'd do like a simulcast or something. I said, well, I'll talk to them about it. I talked to Geet, I said, is it doable?

He says, yeah. Pete, would you want it? Pete would do anything. Kevin was up for it. Freddie was up for it. And it's a shame, I'd love to see the whole thing. But there is, yeah, it's on YouTube. I saw it fairly recently.

Yeah. Somebody uploaded it. I think somebody posted it through Sony or something like that. But yeah, that was April 30th, 1986. And that name you dropped, okay, so as you know, today I produced the Humble and Fred shows. I talk to these guys a lot.

But the name you dropped, Kevin. So this is Kevin O'Leary, right, but not the MAGA Kevin O'Leary. I have no idea if this person is MAGA or not, but this is the Kevin O'Leary who produced the Pete and Geet show. Yeah, Kevin was the technical producer, the heartbeat, if you will, of the show.

Have you had any contact with Kevin O'Leary recently? Zero. Kevin is one of those guys who was, he absolutely took over my 80s, my 1980s, until I left in 87. And then he went and did his thing, and I went and did my thing. He got into the CBC for a while, worked there for years.

And it's just one of those things where like, you know what, there's no need or urge to get back together so I mean they had a CFNY reunion I think in 2003 that I missed right and it was a shame because I had I went to New Orleans I had a new relationship and you know a new relationship in New Orleans it beats a night down. They did make a CD about that night cause Steve, Steve McCalliff, Steve McCauley. Yes, Steve McCauley, sales guy. Yeah. He, he knew I was a big fan of the station and got me a copy of the CD that they put together of like greatest hits, if you will clips basically from CF and why in the

spirit radio days. Yeah. Yeah. And I know David Marston's website is now running Pete and Geet's clips. Yes. If you don't mind the cross promotion. No, I don't. He's a good FOTM like you. So nythespirit.com is where you can go. And I know Ivor's got a show on that, on that

station. Is that okay? So we mentioned Kevin O'Leary who I've never met, but I hear about him from Fred Patterson. So I do Mike want to ask you, and I don't know, life is short, we're all getting older. Is there any way we can pack up this Mike Stafford Fred Patterson relationship that has dissolved? Yeah, I've had kind of other things on my schedule the past few years with the stuffing that was happening.

I don't know. I bet. If you have any interest in it, I mean it would take two to tango here. Yeah, I mean if you wanna lay the cards on the table, and I don't give a fuck, as Logan Roy would say, it's humble. It's not Fred.

It's humble. And I don't know what I did. What I've ever said I worked with the guy. Oh, you've got some no here now. So but your case. So there's two things here. It's I do know there's a there's a lack of love from humble to Mike Stafford. Okay, but I do know back in the day before I knew any of you guys personally, there was a lack of love from humble to Mike Stafford. Okay. But I do know back in the day before I knew any of you guys, personally, there was a lot of love between Fred Patterson and Mike Stafford. Huge.

Like I hear stories from, you know, you knew, you knew, uh, Fred's mom. And it's just, you guys, we grew up together. Thick as thieves. We were thick as thieves. Um, we'd finish our morning show and we went to the gym that my mom managed in Brampton and you know, work out and I never had that relationship with Humble but I've noticed some of the nastiest reaction I've ever had to talking to you, the Humble and

Fred people, who are these people and why do they dislike me? I say I don't know anything about this. I can't imagine they would, I mean, I feel like humble and Fred people would have also been Stafford talk radio, especially on Mojo radio and six far. They would be fans of yours. I would think like I put humble aside. So let's take humble and put them aside.

Okay. I actually got a call from humble this morning. So shut up the humble Howard, but move him aside. Call him now. I know I give you a beer. I don't, I don't know if I, I know CRTC has no ruling on this podcast, but who knows what would come out of that. But so we put him aside. Uh, the, what I was interested in is like a personal, uh,

connection between you and Fred. Maybe, maybe you said stuff that you didn't mean maybe because I know you fired him as your best man. I totally did. I mean, again, that was a very brief. And then when I came back and did the first episode with you and I talked about what happened with Fred and then I made the mistake of listening to Humble and Fred's reaction. Well that upset it. I wasn't the producer back then, but I did send them the clip and I saw it as a heartwarming thing because you said some, you know, and I thought it would be a heartwarming moment. And yeah, I do know you're talking

about because screaming Howard Malaka Malaka Howard, I think played a sound clip that said maybe macaque macaque was it. I thought it was the Greek swear word. I thought it was the monkey, the monkey macaque because they found that to be an amusing name. But regardless, he made it kind of a jokey moment. And my intent there was it would be like a real like heartfelt sensitive moment. But so we were putting Howard aside because I don't know what happened between you and Howard. I don't know. But you and Fred, I'm just wondering if there is time, if there is desire at all, any interest

in patching up your relationship. Yeah, I mean, time is short, very... Junie's gone, his dad's gone. God, I can't remember who it was. Ducky, I believe. No, I don't think so. Oh, you know what? I should know Fred, but I didn't know... I knew Fred's mom. I met her many times, but I didn't know Fred's dad. I'm trying to remember what his name was. Dick. He introduced me to pineapple in chili.

It was delicious. They're gone, my mom and dad are gone. I've got a marriage that has ended terribly, a career that has ended terribly. He's doing okay. And this is a bit of an actual, we can pretend that we actually, you know, rehearsed this.

He's done very well with the podcast. He and you have a lot of credit as well to that. And I know others, some, you know, unicorn people. But I cannot fucking take one more email from someone insisting that I should start a podcast tomorrow Michael can you help me here as someone who has dipped his toes into this holy water known as podcasting, right? It's just not something you fucking throw Together in an afternoon. Well, I got an email today from a fan of yours. I think he's in Peterborough

William Trudeau is his name. Yes, I know Bill. So Bill, okay, Bill Trudeau. And I'm gonna read it. It's really gonna piss you off, but you got the GLB there for support, okay? So William Trudeau wrote me, I'd like to know,

and I'm hoping you'll speak to this, Mike, okay? But I'd like to know if he's motivated to get out of his depressed rut and try and enter the world of podcasting. I'd be interested in sponsoring him, but I'm not going to donate money toward a depressed bed dwelling pot smoking beer drinking Brian Wilson Beach Boys type. So I'm reading that verbatim. Okay. I don't go sign this. Okay. It's very well done, Bill. Thank you. That's very I like that. I do. So which part do you want okay? It's very well done, Bill, thank you. That's very, I like that.

I do. So which part do you want to address first? Oh, line in bed like Brian Wilson did. Shout out to Stephen Page. No, William has emailed me a few times. He also kicked in a few bucks, which I appreciate. Okay, I hate to do this because I want to get that William story,

but part of the reason you're getting people writing you to say, Toronto Mike gave me your email is because when you're on Toronto Mike last time, you gave out an email address so people could help support you financially. But since then, that email address has been discontinued. Well, yeah, it was a bell address and I lost my bell account. So what you need to do right now, if anybody wants to kick a few bucks your way to help you through this rough patch,

can you give an address they can send money to? Yeah, it's, I hate doing this, oh my God. It's Mike Merton, that's one word, Mike Merton, because that's where I used to live, you know. Spell it. M-E-R-T-O-N, Mike, M-I-K N Mike, M I K E M E R T N uh, at iCloud.com. Okay. Mike Merton at iCloud.com. Mike is like our name,

cause we have the same name. M I K E Merton is M E R T O N at iCloud.com. Got it right. And Mike's going to put it up on the header on the website so you don't have to listen. Telethon now. 26 minutes into the year, but yeah, I Though yeah the William thing with the podcasts 42 minutes in so even worse. Oh, there you go. But I don't Kind of being sharp there with the guy

But he he is one of the ones who do about you got to do a podcast man People miss your book a couple of people miss your voice yeah and there's a neighbor in in my building and we've talked a few times when I've been out for a smoke with her and you know you got to get back on a partner you know get a puck I said you know what the equipment is that's required never mind the equipment the bandwidth the sponsors the fact is if you didn't get in it's like a pyramid scheme I'm not saying no I know I hear you didn't get in, it's like a pyramid scheme. I'm not saying no, I know. I hear you didn't get in early enough. See, I don't know if I had, I often think about this. I go on these bike rides and I think about everything. Okay, Mike,

but sometimes I think, Oh, if I weren't going to start Toronto mic today, a, would you have any listeners beyond your, you know, your buddies or your family or something? And would you have any, would you have, would you be giving your guests Great Lakes beer and palma pasta and a Ridley funeral home measuring tape, Mike? Yeah, that's my dictate. That's your dictate. Yeah, the last one wore out.

Let me know what you're up to now. How did that surgery go? Uh, not bad actually. Doubled in size. It's now two inches. That's pretty good, man. Pretty good. Netflix next May.

So, uh, I don't know. So that's a good point there. But you are, you're ace in the hole, if you will, is that you're my fucking staffer. One of the reasons when we talked on email the past couple of days, and I was talking to my sister Lisa about it, God love her, she's been so good with me.

I said, Lisa, I just want to get out and talk to somebody. I'm not denigrating you, my friend. I'm saying, you know. You did say don't record this, so. I just want to, you know, I just want to get out and talk to somebody about shit, which I used to do. Which we're about to get to, but do you have a social life? Like, are you, do you go to a pub

and hang out with buds or whatever? No, no, no. Um, uh, there's just nobody in the area and the age and quite, quite frankly, I mean, it's one of the things when you leave a place is it's tough for about a year and people, oh, we miss you, we miss you. But then you, you move on with your life, right? You found it. I'm sure when you used to, did I, did you work at, uh, two cows? Never.

Okay. That's another, another Toronto Mike. And now I got to call my, again, there's my, uh, my nephew, uh, worked at two cows. No, I knew, I knew, uh, I did know people who work there, uh, one guy, Joey DeVilla, whose, uh, sister was the, um, what's what's the title of the person in charge of health for the city of Toronto, Eileen, during this COVID.

Yeah, so Eileen DeVilla's brother worked at Two Cows for many years back then. Oh, okay. Yeah, I don't know what that was. What if you could have done a better job? All right, we're gonna get to current event stuff because I'm dying to know you're taking a lot of shit. By the way, just one broad, one broad, broad statement for me to everybody during COVID.

You're all forgiven. Okay. We all fucked up. We all didn't know what we were doing. Can we move on with our lives? Thank you. Good night. Glad you did that.

But we got to address this William Trudeau thing and the podcasting thing, because I'll just chime in to say two things. If you wanted to podcast it, honestly, in 2025, with my free help, you could podcast for like, I don't know, we could do the whole thing for like 150 bucks at this point. So people could just pledge $1 150 less. I mean, I'm saying it's not going to be a it's not going to be a high number because you have an internet connection. And you have the voice and you have the content and the rest we could fill in for very little money to be honest. And secondly, and I know you have mobility issues and you don't live

nearby and everything, but I'm just throwing it out there and I think I said this to you at some point, but I would literally for you at this point in your life and what you're going through, and just to put your voice out there for your fans and for my own enjoyment I would donate production for a Mike Stafford podcast like I would do that pro bono as they say like I'm throwing this out well one thing William mentioned last week yeah I've had he's been a better program director than a lot of program directors he said why don't you do a weekly bit with Mike? He didn't consult me on that offer beforehand.

No, obviously he's, I assumed you worked for this gentleman. No, I got an email. I think he saw, I put on, we'll get to all this later, but I always post on Blue Sky because that's where I enjoy posting. And then sometimes I will copy and paste what I put on Blue Sky and paste it into my X and then I don't read anything except for DMs and when I'm added, whatever notifications, whatever. Otherwise I don't read anything on X. So somebody, a beloved

media personality, FOTM wrote me a text yesterday and said, did Mike Richards show ever launch? Because he came on, made a big announcement and then nothing happened. That's right. And I realized, Oh, the, I, all, most of my up unless he was in my basement, most of my updates on Mike Richards was coming from his X account and I don't read X anymore. And I realized I actually wasn't sure if that thing had, it hadn't launched a spoiler alert, but bottom line is I now there's a lot of info I used to get from X that I just don't get

because I refuse to read. But I digress, so William saw that message and that's how he wrote me this morning. So that's how he found out. So I actually don't know William Trudeau except he's a big staff head and I gave him your new email address. But do you-

No, and he's been, I will say again, he's been kind to me. Thank you, William. Through a few bucks at Mike Stafford, he's A-OK in my books. I got a lot of time for this guy. But now I'm fucking Brian Wilson in bed. Yeah. Thank you, William. Well, he threw a few bucks at Mike Stafford. He's A-OK in my books. But now I'm fucking Brian Wilson in bed. Yeah, that's... Yeah. Are you... So, a lot of ground to cover on this one wonderful email,

but are you a bed-dwelling pot-smoking beer-drinking Brian Wilson? This is the first beer I have had in probably four months. Oh, wow! I feel almost like I should have given you the hot pop. Oh totally no I don't drink anymore. You know how expensive booze is? Well you can buy more often. Oh my god. I'll take care of that for you. I do take edibles, pills, what would you call them? Capsules. Not CBD, no give me the THC. Okay. Give me the THC. I do not lay in bed because it hurts to lay in bed. But I do think that God Only Knows is

probably the greatest love song ever written. I love that. Yeah, it's a beautiful song. Yeah. So that's my Michael, William response to the comment about Brian Wilson. Right. Who sings that song? It comment about Brian Wilson. Right. Who sings that song? It's not Brian Wilson. It's- Mike Love probably, isn't it?

No, you know what? I think it's like one of the other Wilsons. Do I have a laptop in front of me open like you do right now? No. Well then, I would freaking look it up. I'll look it up when I get you going on the next topic. Can you speak to the fact, like, can you work? Like, can you work? Do you have any desire to work? I'm not suggesting there's a lot

of radio jobs waiting for you, but I'm just wondering, people often wonder like Stafford, he's got a great voice. What a sharp mind. Why isn't he working? This drives me crazy, obviously, on a daily basis as well is I used to joke about this when I worked is I used to joke about this when I worked CF and Y, CFRB or 640. Holy Christ, I'm glad this job's working out because I don't have a clue what else I would do. What else could I do? No appreciable skills.

Everybody immediately go to government. Why? Spin, I guess? You tell me because you're the voter. I voted today, by the way you did Provincially, obviously I voted advanced voting between hockey game I had a game then I voted and then I got my kid to a practice and then now here you are yeah, god bless this guy by the way picking me up at

at Islington and Somewhere some undisclosed location undisclosed location In Mississauga who knows where I am? Right near the airport. Jerry Levitan is like doxing me. He's a lawyer and Jerry Levitan interviewed John Lennon when he was 14 years old and he came over like a week when he's doxing me and I'm like. Levitan's doxing you? Yeah he doxes me and I said but that place is several miles away. I'm like winking at him over here like isn't that several miles away? I don't know what the crazies out there, but okay. So I'm trying to find out, uh, why is it taking,

why don't they just give you the freaking answer when you Google stuff anymore or the olden days when you could Google something and there was the answer, but I'm trying to write. Now it's like, uh, you got to wade through cess pools and, and whoever I call it AI slop. Well, you have to go through who's paid for it first, right? Yeah. Well, there's, it's just ridiculous. wade through cesspools and whoever, I call it AI slop. Well, you have to go through who's paid for it first, right? Yeah, well, it's just ridiculous. So here I am, this is wonderful, of course,

it's written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher. The producer is Brian Wilson. God only knows song written, okay, written by, okay, this is very exciting for the listenership, they're going crazy right now, but whatever. I shout out to Scruff Connors, by the way, that's why it's very exciting for the listenership. They're going crazy right now, but whatever. I shut up the scruff Connors, by the way. That's why I say listenership, the listenership, good listenership.

Oh fuck. If you think this, I gotta wait for you to start talking and then I'll read through this. Well, it, it, it wouldn't be Wilson. Uh, it wouldn't be a Wilson. Okay. Okay. I'm thinking Mike love. I don't know who was the one that pissed off on the cover of pet sounds. Is it Bruce John don't know. Who was the one that pissed off on the cover of Pat Sounds? Was it Bruce Johnston? No.

He in the mix there? Okay. I don't know. Jesus, okay. This would be a great version of Jeopardy. They don't know the answers. Why did you get high again? Remind us, why did you get high before your Jeopardy appearance?

Because I was in Los Angeles about to tape Jeopardy and I was scared. Carl Wilson sang lead vocal. Carl. God only knows. Yeah. Good for him. So I knew it was a Wilson.

Okay. So look, I got it. I'm just happy I figured it out here on the Wikipedia page here. Okay. But you've lost the connection online. But back to your, do the Jeopardy recap. Yes. And then we'll get back to how the hell they get you podcasting or whatever.

So you were in LA alone, so of course you just, even though you knew you were gonna make your Jeopardy. No, I wasn't in LA alone. I was in LA with one of the hottest women I have ever dated. This was the problem. Now I understand everything. My friend who I took down to the Howard Johnson's on Franklin Avenue in North Hollywood, she

accompanied me to my tape, taping day, which was a Tuesday and they taped twice a week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, five shows each day from noon till evening. Taped the whole Tuesday, had dinner on the set of Soul Train, and okay folks, we've taped five shows, see you tomorrow at noon. So this friend of mine, this girlfriend, okay, because she had to sit in the audience, they're very tight with that kind of shit, security. I'll see you back at the hotel room I get out of my cab I get in the hotel room there are 14 crew members from Jeopardy in my room smoking dope she must have caught their attention one K smoking the dope that's

whatever moral issues you have to Two, the Quiz Show scandal. Did you not read about that or see the movie? Yeah. So having half the crew from a game show in your hotel room the night before you tape might catch a few eyes. Am I remembering correctly, and I think because it was on Kennedy Road CFNY,

but the answer was Kennedy, the question you butchered there Was it Kennedy again as Logan Roy fuck off? And yeah, I remember you telling me like you should have you know, you worked on Kennedy Road Yeah, it was the Daily Double the last clue of the show in It was a double in The only US president with a double N in starting. Oh shit, yeah. What was your guess?

Were you blanking? I can't. I blanked because I started with Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Jackson. You're running through the list. Exactly. You missed the obvious.

Yeah, I said Buchanan. But I did get Runnymede, which I heard today on the subway. So. There you go, shout out to run a mead. Okay. So if I remember correctly, uh, that same episode you did here where Lauren Honigman reached out and got you a lawyer to get chorus and hopefully that

works out well, come back when that's resolved. Okay. So I'll see you in 2029 or whatever. That'll be only smoke. Well, he actually, my lawyer did say that to, um, to my wife, cause we had a phone message last winter. And she said, how long is this gonna take? He said, 2028, you know?

That's ridiculous. Yeah. Like, geez. It's already been a couple of years. Yeah, and you stop blaming COVID for crisis. Yeah. Well, this has a lot to do with the typhoid fever of 1908. Oh, geez. Okay. So I didn't, didn't we hear from John Pole after that episode?

John Pole emailed me and he offered, um, he offered some shifts. He does the MyFM stuff, right? Yeah. He owns a bunch of stations. He's a good FOTM like you and I think I've worked with him at CFRB and so he offered you some kind of paid work. He offered me the availability of paid work. At the time, like this is when we were in between places to live. And again, you know, when you don't have a bed, setting up, where am I gonna set up my microphone? And again, I super appreciate it, and I'm gonna come across as such a- No, no, but here's what I'm wondering now that you, and again, your life is still shitty, Mike. I don't want you to get excited here that things are all good here,

but maybe you're at a place now where with a little technical assistance, like setting up a USB mic on a laptop at your sister's place or something, maybe you could now do some voiceover work for John Pole if he was still interested in having your legendary pipes on his airwaves. Yeah, does he want my voice or does he want newscasts?

I don't know. Maybe I'm just saying John will be listening to this episode. So maybe we directly communicate to John Pole. If there's any work for Stafford, maybe now maybe you weren't in a place to accept work back then, but maybe you're in that place right now. It was like a nuclear explosion going off. You couldn't predict what was going on. And John's a good man. I'm so glad he's done so well.

Yeah, he's doing very well. And I'm still reeling from this. I haven't drank a beer in four months. Is it strictly because of cost or did you think for health reasons? No, I just, I didn't want one. I, I seriously, that's good. Cause a lot of people have to have it.

I've had like three years. If you're ever, you know, if you're founded a ditch tomorrow, it's a hundred percent my fault. Do you realize that? Absolutely. And I will tell you exactly where I was found. You're like Barney. Don't cry for me.

I'm already dead. Finn. Right. Oh geez. That's what a great show. I still gave it to the guy who got hit with football. That's right.

I have memories. I used to work in a, it was in Mississauga, this office, so I had to drive from Toronto to Mississauga in a car. I, before I realized you can actually bike that distance, I was dumb. And Iuga in a car. I, before I realized you can actually bike that distance, I was dumb and I'm in a car and I'm biking and I'm flipping stations and I discover

Stafford's on six 40 doing Simpson's trivia. And I am just glued to it. Loving it so much that doesn't like, is there radio now in Toronto where you can hear something like that, or is it all about, uh, I don't know, bike lanes and Doug Ford and, uh, like, like Ken Kent, is there a talk radio? This is the question, Michael. I was Michael.

I was waiting for you to ask, please talk. Nah, I'm done. I'm serious because I've been off air, but I don't want to sound like some bitter old man yelling at clouds. Abe Simpson, Like Abe. Radio in this market right now sucks. The only contact I have, because quite honestly I don't listen very much anymore, is that stupid radio board.

Which will now get a mention. And God love them, I mean, they're good people on there. Some of them can go to hell, but some of them are actual fans who I think are a little too much. But the stuff that I read on a daily basis, like yesterday talking about Dave Bradley, who I knew before I left 640. Your morning news guy did an 11-hour shift in Toronto, Canada? The fourth largest

media market. You had nobody else you could call in. Ben Dickson couldn't do it with his fake mohawk? Seriously, you couldn't get somebody in to you know pick up a few newscasts cuz I've been there and sometimes shit does happen I remember I did I think six hours live on CFRB once we had a snow it might have been during the Mel Gibbs the Mel Gibson oh jeez that's a whole different member mayor Mel Gibson the Mel Lastman think he called you sugar tits. Yes. I used to call out to Ryan. Yeah, Jesus.

But why are we so underserved? This is, you know, this is Canada's largest city. I don't know. It's strictly money. I think we've basically, the entire industry has reached the Peter principle, which I don't know if you remember from the 70s. It was a business book that was written as a joke, but it's true. Everybody rises in any hierarchy to the level of their own incompetence. Meaning you'll get promoted, you get promoted, you get promoted and then you don't know what the fuck you're doing. And I think that's what has happened with that industry, TV included. But is it podcasters who have eaten their lunch? I don't know if it's podcasting that can be that disruptive.

Politically, yes. Put this one aside because I have a little bias here. My, my, my beautiful baby Toronto Mike, but podcasts are audio presentations and you can hear them on demand and pause them and come back to them and you can get the ads. Yep. Yep. Like I always wonder who's listening to who's listening to talk radio. And then I realized, Oh, It's boomers who haven't figured out Bluetooth. Mm-hmm Yeah, yeah, you know what they had I get on their kids showed them what Bluetooth can do Yeah, you know your phone you carry everywhere, you know, you can do this press this button and that and they would never listen to radio again No, I just maybe the sound you guys would but but maybe. Yeah. But again, what's their average age?

Well, I loved radio as a kid, but today, like I, there is nothing, there is nothing for and shout out to the aforementioned Bob Willett, who does a great job at Indy 88. I think he's there right now. And if I do want to hear some music and I'm in the car, 100%, I'm going to throw an Indy 88 and hope I hear Bob's beautiful voice. Right. Okay. And otherwise I'm a big CBC indie 88 and hope I hear Bob's beautiful voice. Right. Okay. And otherwise I'm a big CBC radio guy and I do tune into that periodically, but you

know, it's a, it's a, there's nothing for me on, on radio and we're missing Mike Stafford. So here, let me shout out the sponsors and you take a timeout and then you make sure you come back. Don't don't run away. I don't think there's any danger of that here, but I would like to say hello and thank you to Nick Ienis from Fusion Corp Developments Inc. because this show you're listening to right now is only fueled by the good people who throw me a few bucks. So I'm not saying throw me the bucks you were going to throw Stafford, okay?

Throw Stafford the bucks, but I'm always open for sponsorship opportunities. And Nick, who wrote a great book called Building Toronto Skyline, and he's got another great book called Battle of the Skyscrapers. Nick Ienis is a proud new sponsor of Toronto Mic'd, and I spoke with him a couple of weeks ago, and I urge people to listen to Nick Ienis on Toronto Mic'd.

Great episode there. I also want to shout out RecycleMyElectronics.ca. That's where you go if you have old electronics, old devices, old laptops, old phones, old cables. Who doesn't have a drawer full of cables that haven't worked since 1999? Don't throw that in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca, put in your postal code and find out where you can drop that off. And we've already given them much love, but it's worth mentioning that TMLX 18, the 18th Toronto Mike listener experience, is going to take place at Great Lakes Brewery on June 26th from 6 to 9 p.m.

This is 2025 if you're listening in the future and Great Lakes will buy you your first pint. So your first beer is on the house and then Palma Pasta is going to cater the whole thing for free. So drop by, say hi, hang out and eat, drink, be merry June June 26th from 6 to 9 PM. Stafford, how do I get you to a TMLX event? Can I get aircraft from Midtown? A helicopter? Yeah, from Waste Our Royco.

We'll see if Midtown Gord will drive you there and back. Sure. So we'll put that there. Were you holding this one? Oh, it's at Great Lakes Brewery near Royal York and Queensway. It's a 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard here in South Etobicoke.

So you'd have to do the, well, you don't have to do the 110, there's probably a Royal York bus you would take to the station. But we'll see what we can do. It's June 26th, so there's a lot of time to figure it out. It's near St. Remo, isn't it?

It's, well, St. Remo's on Royal York. Yeah, it's not far. Okay. Same general area for sure. Shut up, St. Remo. I was at the 60th anniversary of Canada's flag. It was at a presentation. This is last weekend. It was this Saturday, I guess, because we watched Canada USA that night. Oh, by the way, in a minute, I'm going to ask you about current events stuff. So we can hear what Stafford thinks about things. But they have this amazing cake

for the 60th birthday of the flag and it was made by, donated and made and donated by San Remo Bakery. So much love to that Mimico institution. So, okay, Mike Stafford. And that guy, that swimming guy is just up the street. Okay, so yes. Oh yeah, now I'm doxing you.

That's Lumsden, that's okay, it's a hundred miles away. But Cliff Lumsden is his name. Yes. And he was the swimming guy, and Marilyn Bell and him were both trained by the same guy, his name is Gus Ryder. And there's a pool in the neighborhood, Gus Ryder pool, where my kids get swimming lessons

and I sit there and I have to disrobe, I have to get completely nude, Stafford, if you can have that image in your head. Sure. Because it is like And I'll use your Fahrenheit for you It's 110 degrees in there, it's unbelievable. I mean it's 40 degrees It's yeah, they got in the pool. Oh Being in the like sitting in the stands watching this one

I don't know what it is in that water because I never get in there, but geez, it's hot. Okay, so Mike Stafford, we'll do our best to reunite you with Fred Patterson. I'm doing a recap right now. We're going to, I mean, I'm open to doing what I can to help you podcast and then we'll see if there's, I don't know, a Patreon or something where everybody puts in 10 bucks a month or something. Can I ask just one quick question?

Ask anything, man. That I, when people say, you should do a podcast, I say, great, what should I do it on? They want your take on what's happening in the world. On what? Like what we're gonna do right now. Gaza, don't know. Okay, well, maybe you should know.

Maybe I should know. Or you can talk about, I don't know, because you did a daily radio show for hours, and you figured out what to say there. It's weird, though. It's a very good point Mike, is when you're paid to do it, you sure come up with answers quicker.

But what if we tied, okay, now I'm just gonna spitball and then we'll leave this to be noodled or whatever. But let's say you launched a podcast, but before we launched it, we launched a Patreon, it's the Mike Stafford Show Patreon, and Stafford fans, let's pretend we ask for 10 bucks a month, okay, which might sound excessive to you, but this is of course, we're trying to keep you from living under a bridge. Okay. So 10 bucks a month. Now you're your

kind of co-owner of this show and you promise to do an hour a month, sorry, an hour a week, let's say an hour a week, Mike Stafford show. And then basically we take this Patreon and I don't know, we divide it up, okay, if it's 70-30, whatever we decide. So who's Patreon? Patreon is literally a crowdfunding service that exists, which is used by many a podcaster. Think, you know, Jesse Brown at Canada Land

has a Patreon. Fuck him. Ha ha ha ha. Sorry, not a fan. Well, I've never met the guy. Give me another name. Mother Teresa, give me Maggie Gyllenhaal, I love her. Oh yeah, secretary, okay.

Oh, and you know what I liked, and maybe we talked about this before, the deuce. Have you ever watched the deuce, which is from the same guy who made The Wire? Yeah, Maggie Gyllenhaal, she's great. I love the fucking deuce, okay. I love the music in the deuce, okay. But we could, because I'm not good at math, Mike, let's say we did a 50-50 split. So you had this patreon people were pledging

So every month their credit card would get dinged for let's say ten bucks or whatever Patreon takes whatever they take three percent or whatever and then we have whatever's left over and I'm making up these numbers But you take half of it. I take half of it. We deliver an hour a week You may have mobility issues. We might not be able to afford a helicopter. So maybe we literally meet on Zoom for an hour a week and I get you set up with like $130 Blue Yeti USB mic or something so you'll sound as good as you can with USB.

So maybe this is something we, not only will it mean you'll chat with me for an hour a week, but you'll have to, I don't know, you'll have to think of what do you think of things? Like it's like, it's easy to say, I don't know what Gaza this and that, but we're about to run through some topics I'm curious about. And I bet you hear you do have takes on this shit and you could effortlessly do even if it was 45 minutes a week. As long as Patreon isn't spawned sponsoring terrorism.

It's all I care about. Right. And that's all I care about. Fucking right. And then, and they don't, but they do work with Jesse Brown, so you'll have to accept that. I can let that go. Maybe the three of us can meet with Fred.

Jesus, oh. Now it's 20 bucks a month, okay. Now I like how you're thinking here. By the way, were you friendly with Dani Stover? Never really met Dani. Okay, never met Dani. She got caught up in that same wave that took out I think the one that took out Kelly Catrera and Tina

Trogiani. Oh she was doing Seven O'Clock? It was a weird show. I don't think that was. I know her because her parents know Fred Patterson from a trailer park and I believe Fred got Danny her radio start at the Wolf when he was the PD over there many moons ago. Oh, from, uh, Freddy's Tiki bar. Yeah. Place. Like I think there's a whole, anyway, I just

wondered, but okay. So she got caught up in that. So can I play you just a little bit of audio and then I want to know what you thought of it. Okay. So, and then we'll talk about this. So here we go. Actually, we're going to restart that because your producer here has the volume way down.

Here we go again. Oh, my goodness. I failed you. We need Heather Perton here. True patriot love that only us command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise. The true North strong and free. From far and wide. All right, Mike Stafford, that is FOTM, Chantel Kravyažek. Chantel's been on the show. She came over last summer. And by the way-

Did Rain come with her? No, Rain was not there, but we actually hit it off and we had a great time. And then I witnessed her after the recording, after we took our photo by Toronto Tree. I witnessed, she saw down the street, whatever street this is, she saw a woman postal employee being just verbally assaulted by a road rager who didn't like some maneuver previously, who chased her to the street of mine. And he got out of his car and I watched Chantelle bolt down the street to get between this guy and this woman and to support this woman and then I was right behind her of course but just I just loved my chat with Chantel

so that bias aside I want to let Mike Stafford think yeah she's she's just a cool chick. Well this happened right here at the foot of Aaron Mills. I see what you're doing there. Well done. This is East York. Yeah, man. I watched this the other night and one, okay. Thursday night. Thursday.

You pooched the first French line. All right, okay. That's not cool. That's not cool. I hate that word. That's problematic. Pooched? It's a problematic thing she did.

But then when she created her own line that was way too smart for the room, Chantel, it's hockey. That only us command, that's the line she invented. Yes, but she was being too clever for the room. If this was a chess tournament, I'm not denigrating hockey, I love hockey. But you-

People are dumb, like that's gonna- People are dumb and it's very, very emotional right now. Things are weird. That was a weird hockey game to watch. One, cause it was such a stupid tournament. I'm sorry, a four team round robin. Are the results gonna be in the East York mirror? Well the spiders won over the snakes.

Yeah, the whole thing was four games. Yeah, so the whole tournament, my belief is, it was not legitimate. But it came down to where it came down to. Well, remember Russia's banned, so who got left out? Czech Republic maybe? Czechia I felt bad for. I mean, yeah yeah Czechia and maybe

I forgot about the rebrand even Slovakia See, but yeah, so now what about the Germans with dry soul? Yeah dry saddle Yeah, well they can have a chance next year in the Olympics But okay, so you're right she and she owns it because I got a statement from her afterwards Yeah, but she blew the French line But she wanted the French line in and she had to get out of French in order to get back to English so she could do that only us command. So, and I mean, I got kids in French immersion.

We were watching that live like at most many Canadians on Thursday night and my eight year old knew she blew that French line because they say it every damn day in French. Well, I know French and that's, I can sing that. I'm with you, man. I don't know what I'm saying, but I fucking know. Tell no saye, man. So she butchers the French,

which kind of puts your back up, right? Then she changes the lyrics to that only has command. So what are your thoughts on this? Because I'll share quickly that I was just kind of glad somebody said something. Because I feel like we're not hearing much, and I'm dying to know your thoughts on the whole Donald Trump, 51st state threatening to annex this country

and all this rhetoric we've been hearing for months now. Well first I did not expect my first strong statement to come from Canada from a lovely Ukrainian, Winnipeg born woman. I would expect someone of more, I don't know, power, influence, years. So God bless you, Chantel. She did something.

She seized it. She seized the moment, whatever. And good for her for doing that. I think it speaks more to the fact that there weren't like, I don't care. Truthfully, I will not lose sleep, but I will ask the question, where the fuck is Wayne Gretzky on this? I asked Charlie Angus this in the basement a few weeks ago. I saw that. Yeah. And it did take kind of go viral. Like it's still being shared like crazy because he was photographed with a make

America great again hat. He was at Mar-a-Lago on election night. He's friendly with Trump. He, Trump made a joke about Gretzky being a governor of this 51st state or something. Gretzky, even when he showed up on Thursday night as the, whatever he was, the ambassador or whatever for Canada, whatever.

You look like a Mater D at a Toronto restaurant. The guy, the America's guy threw on a Goudreau jersey, was wearing the red, white and blue. Canada was looked like a, like you said, a Mater D. There was no Maple Leaf near anywhere in sight. No, not even, he never picked up his order

at Canada pin. I haven't heard a word about Gretzky in support of this country that made him. Yeah. You know, one of my comedian friends on Facebook pointed out that Rosione is this, he's this, you know, he never went anywhere in his career. He's got one great bar story for the rest of his life.

Yeah. And he was just, you could tell, he was just having a ball. Right. And Gretzky's showing up and he looks like, it looks like, I don't know, Downton Abbey. He's wearing a vest. Right. So where is-

But hasn't Wayne always been like that? Wayne's not the smartest. Come on. He's kind of boring, but you would think he, this is a slam dunk no brainer to make a statement in support of the sovereignty of- But isn't he the mega guy because his daughter's married to a golfer? I don't know, but he was, I do know, I remember back in the day, he was very vocal in support of Stephen Harper for prime minister. Like he's always been kind of supporting the conservative politicians.

I know that's different than this magazine. Well, that's going to be Walter. One because I know the Ukrainian community. They're very conservative. So that I would lay on Walter. The rest I would lay on the fact that Wayne Gretzky did not live a life that any of us could ever imagine growing up. I had a girlfriend who actually went to school with him.

He was at West Humber. And he just kind of sat in class. He wasn't... did he need to be extremely brilliant? I don't know. I'm not looking at Wayne Gretzky, you know, as my... I just feel his silence is deafening. What does he need to do though? Just say something. Like just let us I just feel his silence is deafening. It's his silence is deafening. What does he need to do though? Just say something. Like just let us know that you actually do not support this rhetoric from your buddy Donald Trump

suggesting that Canada be the 51st state. Do people seriously believe it though? Because one day I can wake up and it's like, oh people get it, it's just him being him him and then it's like wait a second you guys know Like he did it the other day with he expanded on it on Thursday before the game right on truth social Yeah, and the governor will be here the glorious governor So you're saying ignore him?

It's kind of hard to do though isn't it? Well here's the thing, so I'm kind of like you where I get to this point of like just ignore this lying bullshit artist who's trying to distract from dismantling this. Well because we've all grown up in families and we've known siblings who did this and... But, but Mr. Stafford, he with one stroke of his pen in March and because my daughter's birthday is in March there's a countdown in this home to March. It's coming in less than a week. One stroke of his pen and he can hammer our economy, right? With these tariffs and he's got two on the go, whatever. He's got the one for the automotive industry and he's got the blanket.

That's the other thing, Mike. I can't keep track of what the freak he's... Okay. Is it steel and aluminum today or is it... No? Is it bamboo? I don't know. But in your lifetime, can you remember a moment when our sovereign sovereignty was this threatened? Well, that would be a huge no, but I don't know if it's threatened. I mean, are we talking about a mass of troops moving north? Well, see, you're gonna say that's not happening, right? I'm not as confident. I mean, are we talking about an amass of troops moving north? Well, see, you're going to say that's not happening, right? I'm not as confident.

I just feel like uneasy about it all because there's this madman king-like dictator. Will we fight it like Red Dawn though? I feel like when they, oh God, but if they did roll the tanks, we have no chance, right? This is- I'm not getting in the way. You're getting in the way. I have no chance, right? This is- I'm not getting in the way. You're getting in the way.

I have a 23 year old son, they're not getting his blood to grind the gears. Jesus, okay. But the fact that these conversations are even happening is like wild. Yeah. Right, such bullshit. Okay.

I'm sure he has had four years to prepare for these 100 days where he knows I'm just going to fuck with people's heads. So we'll see what happens when these deadlines arrive for these tariffs that he's threatening here. Actually, I'm at a point now where America voted for this idiot. They saw what he was. They said, let's have some more of that action. You know, he's true to his word, which is a shit storm and like America will fuck shit up,

but just leave us alone. Leave us out of it. Yeah, there's no reason to involve us. There's no reason to involve us. Stafford and I will grab our hockey sticks and- Do you have a sense that Kamala Harris had a chance? See, I don't think she ever, I think she was dead. She was cut off at the knees in July.

Oh, with the bullet, the assassination attempt? No, the here, it's yours, you're running. Oh, I see what you mean. He can't do it. He can't do it, yeah. I watched that debate, man, and I went. So you knew it, okay, because I'm like Charlie Brown of that fucking football, because for the second time in recent memory, I was certain there would be

a woman president of the United States second time. Like I am totally Charlie Brown on this thing. Yeah. You keep picking the wrong side, man. I know. You know what? I got to stop overestimating the intelligence of Americans. Uh, no more. From now on, I'm just going to assume that they're as dumb as a rock and I can't go wrong. Anyway, it was great ending to the game though. Great game.

Just the tournament itself was a little, uh, bring the Olympics. Manufactured. Let's see some Olympics please. Next year, next year. But it had been nine years since there was a best on best. And we, and when we did it last, there was no, there was some under 25 young guns thing where McDavid played for them instead of Canada and Crosby. So we got to see Crosby and McDavid and it was fucking of with Canada and Crosby. So we got to see

Crosby and McDavid and it was fucking grand. And we, the right. We missed too because the fucking owners, where's the money? Where's the money? Where's the money? I know it's not about the money, man. That Saturday game, which we lost to the States, the three fights in nine seconds, it's like, oh yeah, this is not the Olympics. And then, oh, this is NHL. This is an NHL tournament. Fucking chucks. There's no way he can keep playing for Ottawa. Yeah, that's right.

So what does he do? Do you trade me to an American team? Yeah, trade me to like deep south Dallas. Shadow to the stars. Okay, what are any thoughts on this? Well, I voted today because the election day is five days from now or something like that but Thursday yeah yeah the provincial election Doug Ford called an early I have a question of you Stafford Doug

Ford said he needed a mandate but doesn't he have a majority government isn't he have a mandate yeah pretty strong one yeah so what the fuck been through this been through this 1991 I'm working in the CFRB newsroom. I'm the old guy. I'm 31 I got all these kids working with me It's election night Bob Ray and the NDP Sweep to power Wow, and I remember all my underlings because I'm the 31 year old I'm the old man, and they're all shaking

their fists. Oh, this is great. This is great. Mike, I remember the Toronto Star the Saturday before that election saying, this is going to be one of the biggest upsets in Ontario political history. David Peterson has screwed them. Wow. That people were so pissed off that he called an election that was not needed,

which is exactly what's going on now. Like nobody bought that bullshit. Well, we need they need a strong voice. They have one. That's like saying, you know what, Adele, she's not doing it. Can we get no, yeah, they'll still do it. And the other thing that irks me is Doug Ford, there'll be some statement from the Progressive Conservative Party that if elected, we will do this, this and this. And I'll be like, you have fucking power right now. You have a majority government. You don't need to be elected to do this, this and this. You could have done it any time over the past X year. Here's what we have planned. You don't need to do it now. It's so weird when an incumbent does that. It's like, it's like, oh, you have the power, do it.

Yeah, who runs to the bank and says, here's 15 months of mortgage? No, he's, I don't buy it, and I don't know what's going on federally. Well, OK, well, do you have a, for fun, Marcy Ian was just here, like a couple, I guess she was here like, She's Toronto Center?

Yes, she's Toronto Center. She turned on a center. Yes. She's Toronto center. Is there rumor floating around that Mark Carney is going to run in that? And, uh, have you heard this? I've heard that. Yeah. That is cause she, cause Marcy, she held those, if she knew that she, I looked her in the eye, we talked for over an hour.

She did. She held those cards very close to her chest. Oh yeah. Talked about being ready for this election. Oh yeah. So, uh, okay. So I only learned that after the fact, but we'll see what happens there. But I asked her for the, oh yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, yeah, go ahead buddy. Go back. Okay. That's okay. Yeah. Uh, I've done all the sponsor mentions, so now maybe I'm going to do, I'm sure many a time Mike Stafford's phones went down and he had to

vamp here, but I was just saying there that I asked Marcy Ian, I said, Marcy, I I said what will be the score on Thursday night because I just I fucking knew early in the Sweden Canada day so I was like Stafford I'm like this is a manufacturer tournament I'm not sure I'm into it what do I care you just invented this four nation thing like what's that about then I tuned in to watch Canada versus Sweden because I wanted to see McDavid and Crosby play together like that was the big hook for me these two guys the greatest of their I tuned in to watch Canada versus Sweden because I wanted to see McDavid and Crosby play together. That was the big hook for me.

These two guys, the greatest of their generations, let's see them play together. And then very early in that game, we got a power play. And I saw McDavid, McDavid passed the puck to Crosby. Crosby behind the back, Nate McKinnon scored early. And I realized I would give up all four of my children's for this fucking championship.

I needed to win this thing and we did here. But Marcy and I said what will be the score on Thursday night and she said it'll be three to two for Canada and she was exactly right. So Stafford I'm now gonna ask you, this could haunt you but I'll tell the people you didn't bring a crystal ball with you. What happens this provincial election? Any prediction? I think Ford's gonna get another majority. It's gonna be reduced. I think 1991 was just a weird time in Ontario and you know it's a great time too to like fuck you Peterson. Right. Give another 15 months. So I think that'll be reduced. I don't know what's

happening in March. Well I was gonna ask you. Do you think Mark Carney will win? Oh yeah. And what do you think about Pierre Paul yet? I don't think we've ever talked about that. I have no, seriously, no opinion on Pierre Poliev. I just have not been invested enough to give a shit. I've heard that he's, to Hitler, I've heard that he's Trump-l. I've heard that he's Trump light. I've heard he's this, he's that. Um, you're not a fan.

Not a fan. Uh, I find him incredibly unlikable, but I'm not a fan and I worry for, you know, this resistance as a Trump won't drop it like a dog of a bad bone in his mouth. I'm worried about a conservative government in leading Canada at this time with these threats from the USA. Given the timing.

Yeah, and I feel like, and I said this to Marce, Ian, I think reading the room and feeling the zeitgeist, because, you know, I talk to a lot of people and they, sometimes they're lefties and sometimes they're more conservative. I got Bruce Dobegine here last week. I think he's a big Trumper, if I remember correctly. Dobigan? Yeah.

He moved to Calgary and got indoctrinated. He completely. Yeah. Bruce Dobigan. Bruce, CBC's Bruce Dobigan, who helped bring down Alan Eagleson, is super right wing. Yeah. That's surprising.

I mean, he, he actually hosted a show with Fred, I think at one point. I think you might be right. Like on CBC. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's, yeah, he's. Oh, I think at one point. I think you might be right. Like CBC. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's, yeah, he's. I thought he was a total Kremlin guy.

Opposite. Front street. Big, uh, big backer of the conservative party and Trump and all this. And we'll have a little chat about that, but mainly we're going to talk about Alan Eagleton actually, but he's dropping by, uh, next week. But my feeling was Mr. Stafford that, uh, the Pierre Pauliev led conservative party were going to easily assume government and it was going to be a cakewalk and I saw them easily forming a majority government and I'd accepted it like I

was talking about like it had happened and I think in my feeling is that the the Trump 51st state rhetoric has made this a race Mark Kearney the the first state rhetoric has made this a race. Mark Kearney v. Pierre Poliev, whenever that happens, sooner rather than later probably, will be a true battle and possibly one or the other forms a minority government. I don't think anybody scores a majority government out of there and I wouldn't have said that three months ago.

No, I think you're right. Put me on 640, who's on there? Who's on right now? Well, Dave Bradley just did his 12th newscast. So, man, you've been amazing. I got to ask you about another name and then see if there's anything else on your mind. But I'm going to ask you about one more name, but I got to say, it's pretty cool that you just, you know, you got most of the way on your own here and then we sat down and we

got a life update. You're looking pretty good for a guy whose neck was broken. And I know you have a spine. What is the name of your spine? Ankylosing spondylitis. Yeah, you know why I can never remember that name. Because that's fucking hard. Yeah, and the spine actually is as well, yes. It fuses.

Holy shit. So I know there's, Jan, I know you got some mobility issues there, but the brain is still sharp and it's exciting to hear that you took four months off drinking because, you know, but if you're going to drink, at least you're drinking Great Lakes beer. Oh no, absolutely the best. So it's good to see you and to have a conversation. If I, and I'm sorry about the marriage, like shit happens. I, most of the people I know.

It's just, yeah, we're just, you know, we're working on it right now. Health is what's important, I think. Well, that's, that's, I really am sorry to hear, uh, your Jodi is stage four. And I really hope for the best there. And that's just, that's what's important, right? Like how can you even worry about the, you know, who gives a fuck about a hockey game and 51st state shit when you're fighting for your life? Yeah, it's, it's nice at the time just to take your attention away from the other realities of

life. Right. Good escape, the hockey game for sure. Any thoughts on Elon Musk? I've never liked him. I used to get in arguments with Lou Skizis because Lou loves him. And Lou actually gave me his biography and I read about him. And he, you know, weird guy.

Never picked up much, okay, he's got a bit of an Ayn Rand. Objectivism, crap, you know, doesn't like government much. But now all of a sudden he's, well, he's running the country south of me. Yeah. I've never been a fan of the fanboys, the Elon Musk's, the Tesla people. Right.

Who just think he's a genius, you know, he can come up with any idea. Yeah, I know rocket science is hard and he's done well at it and stuff like that, but I just, I see him on my TV and I go why are you in the oval office? Why is your son on your shoulders as you're wearing that stupid hat which wasn't even a mega hat, right? Right, so I don't know. I mean I love the tech guys I've been a fan of the tech guys for 40 years reading about their biographies from Gates to Jobs and Wozniak and but must gives me a scent that I don't know. How do you feel when you see in the wild and I know you're

not getting out of long walks or anything, but when you see a cyber truck, like, how do you feel? Do you care? I have never seen one. Oh, you haven't seen one. Okay. Cause you're not. I have never seen one in the streets of Toronto. I've certainly seen them everywhere else What do you see them here? Yeah, I've seen a bunch. Yeah, but I do Day, yeah, so but when I see them I have this Reaction where I just want to take a piss on them. Like I just fucking hate them

And to me it's like anyone who would get a cyber truck is just giving a fuck you to any compassionate, empathetic human being. And from a lot of what I've seen online, people do react that way with paint and stuff. I would not want to own one in public. Right, so how do you, now, so cyber trucks, one thing, like what about all the people out there, reasonable, compassionate human beings, Humble Howard I'm thinking of actually, who own a Tesla, not a cyber

truck but an actual Tesla, like is there now like sort of I don't know what the term is but when you see somebody driving a Tesla do you assume certain characteristics that maybe are less than flattering? Yeah you just assume that they're idiots like the guy who created this thing, right? No, absolutely. I mean there you go back to the Prius the first electric car Well, he's got to be an asshole Larry David drove one Larry David at Begley Got to be an asshole. No, they're two of the funniest people I've ever known but the as for Tesla I

Wouldn't have bought just from reviews and stuff like that, but if you got the money. You need money too. Yeah. All right, so I don't want to close on that dour note. I actually want to wonder any thoughts on, cause I've been watching a lot of 50th anniversary coverage specials, documentaries about Saturday Night Live.

Mike Stafford, I would love to close with a little chat about SNL 50. Did you catch any of these? All of it, yeah. It's been the past couple of weeks. The documentary Questlove did was amazing. That first 20 minutes, anybody in, you know, screw radio school, TV school,

watch the first 20 minutes of Questlove's music documentary. Mike, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah. You're taking like an F key to a new song, which is an F key. It's great. It's great. Just that, you know, which is probably really easy stuff for people who know what they're doing. So I love the Questlove doc. And I love that part about, you know, Captain Beefheart, for example. Oh, you shit! I love that stuff. I loved all of it and I don't know. Well, Fear, I remember seeing that actually and that was Belushi's bullshit.

He was a big metalhead or what was it? Oh yeah, total punk. Sinead with the, and she didn't, she turned out to be right. Yeah, that was a really, really great documentary. And Sunday's show, it was okay. God, it was long. Yeah, it was, oh, it went way over time. Three and a half.

It went way over time. But still, you know, people coming back, a few noticeable omissions, uh, on the return. Uh, Dan Ackroyd wasn't there. Yeah, Dan, um, wasn't there. Bill Hader wasn't there. Apparently he was doing something prior commitments and, uh, apparently he was at the flu or something and wasn't well enough to be there, but Dana Carvey did not make the, uh, the trip. No, which is weird cause he's been so involved in this season, but Mike Myers was there doing the.

We did Linda Richmond. Coffee talk. I thought that was what could I was, I was a little, can I be disappointed? I was happy to see him, you know, but I thought maybe, uh, could have been a bit sharper, a little funnier, but. Well, cause they put them in with the Bronx beat girls. Right, right. Mike Stafford, I want you to seriously noodle this idea. Oh yeah. Um, we start a Patreon. I'll help you to seriously noodle this idea. We start a Patreon, I'll help you with that.

All right. We promoted ahead of time to see how many Stafford heads will be contributing 10 bucks a month. Okay. To support you and this podcast project. And then once a week via Zoom, if you got an internet connection at your sister's place, you click in, we'll get you a decent usb mic we chat about whatever maybe i'll pick your brain about stuff in the stafford whatever i mean i'm a i'm the residential stafford expert right now you do your research

right so just consider this because i would see what we can do see what okay maybe it'll be popular if it's not popular you can just kill the Patreon everyone gets their money back and you can go about being Brian Wilson. And again, thank you, William, for your kindness and your comments as well. Yes, the Brian Wilson. I don't know. I haven't been Brian Wilson. I just, I'm just damn sad. I don't know if Brian Wilson was sad. Well, to recap, you got fired with no severance and it is a previous episode where you go into the gory details, but the peace slur on an internal teams chat sounded like you gave them the gun and said, shoot me. And they said, Hey, we don't have to pay severance to this idiot. So there you go.

Chorus walks away from that. You're still working on that. So, but that happens. You have, simultaneously, your wife is battling cancer stage four, and there's a, you're having relationship problems like so many of us. And I'm telling you, you've got a broken neck. No wonder you're sad. I'm sad now. Let's not end on a sad note here. So everybody stay tuned if there's going to be news about a Meg Stafford podcast. Yeah. Do what I can here, but Mike, it's great that you made the effort to come here today and you are getting the lasagna and some beer to take home. Although you're not drinking, but maybe

put it away in case of- Bless. Bless, I can find a reason. I can find a reason, Michael. And that brings us to the end of our 1637th show. Go to torontomic.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Follow me on blue sky, I'm at torontomic.com. Much love to all who made this possible. Again, that's Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, RecycleMyElectronics.ca,

Building Toronto Skyline and Ridley funeral home. Geez, I got a lot of fucking episodes next week. I slipped and I was trying to do less than 2025. So I mentioned there's gonna be a chat about the shelter coming to sixth street and Lake Shore with Bruce Davis. And then did you work with a mean but Batia I'm in I'm in Batia. No, you didn't because he's like a 90s guy on CFNY. You're long gone by then. Okay. Amin would do stingers and audio stuff at CFNY, but he also

played an instrument and his piece is part of Michael Jackson's thriller. Okay. This guy's got a wild story. So I'm going to talk to Am. I'm in on Monday and then Tuesday, Jesse Hirsch drops by Wednesday at Stu Stone Thursday at Socrates. Great rapper Sherry Denovo on Friday. Good stuff coming up. Subscribe to Toronto Mike. What is my podcast called? Subscribe to Toronto Mike. See you all Monday. So You