Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Patty Sullivan: Toronto Mike'd #195

Episode Date: September 29, 2016

Mike chats with Patty Sullivan about her years hosting TVOKids and Kids' CBC and what's next for her following CBC's complete rebranding of their pre-school morning show.

Welcome to episode 195 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a local independent brewery producing fresh craft beer. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is former Kids CBC host, Patti Sullivan. Hello. Welcome, Patti Sullivan. Hello. Welcome, Patti. Thank you. I'm telling you, I have,

my oldest is 14. My youngest is six months, so we won't count her, but I have a two-year-old. Yes. Needless to say, you are, it's a big deal

that Patti Sullivan is in my home. And she's going to be very upset that she's not here. Well, yeah, you're right. The only one who's here is the one who

won't know what's going on. That's okay. I'm glad you're here because this is episode 195 and for the first time ever, I had to make a phone call to the guest to tell the guest we might not be able to record. Never had to do that because as you know, it's awful weather

out there with the wind and the rain. And a transformer blew nearby and we lost power for a while. But, you know, it's awful weather out there with the wind and the rain. Yeah. And a transformer blew nearby and we lost power for a while. But, you know, that happens. It happens in my neighborhood all the time. So whatever. We'd wing it. What happens, and it's never happened, but what happens if power dies during this conversation? Because I can tell you technically what happens.

Okay. So, because I had this in my head, I'm thinking of all the parts. Right. Everything we have recorded up to the power outage is going to be fine because the laptop has a battery and it's going to be fine but because these mics go through this mixer i'm pointing to and then that goes in here through the usb this guy's going to lose power because i don't have a generator this guy's going to die which means our recording through these nice mics will have to cease. We could continue through like the laptop external mic. Yeah.

Or we pause it and wait for power. Yeah, I'd pause it. But you know what? This means you just have to get a generator. Yes, I do. You know what I need? You need to get one. Or one of those power things.

My husband has one that if the power goes out, it automatically kicks in and gives you at least another hour. You're right. If I had an hour, I could wrap things up elegantly. That's right. That's right. I need this. Yeah. And it's like 40 bucks.

It's not that expensive. You've sold me. Now I was going to say, I need like a... This was brought to you by Best Buy, sorry. I need a Best Buyer, somebody as a sponsor to step up and give me one. But 40 bucks, I think even I could afford that. I can't remember. I got it for him for Father's Day

gift, but he loved it. So yeah, the power did return, obviously. And you're here, which is awesome. A couple of like timely things I just want to ask you before we dive into your illustrious career. Firstly, do you have any interest at all in watching hockey? I love hockey. Why? Why? So, okay. Are you about to turn on a game? Yeah.

Tonight, so are you watching the World Cup of Hockey? I haven't been. I used to watch it all the time. But I know the Canadians are in the final. It's very exciting. So I do follow even if I don't always get to watch. So it's interesting to me though that if like in Sochi for example you were watching the games I'm gonna guess yeah yeah so uh like I'm surprised how little buzz or interest there seems to be in this world cup of hockey

final I don't know if it's just the time of year you know what I mean I mean especially people with kids September is a nutty month. It goes by so fast. It's the back to school. It's the back to activities. It's the back to everything. And then kind of in hindsight, it's 11 o'clock. You read the news.

It's like, oh, right. I forgot this was on. And for me anyway, that's what happens. Because I didn't even realize it was on until it was too late. And a lot of sports fans in this part of the world anyways

are sort of focused on a pennant race because the Blue Jays are in a pennant race. Are they? Wild card race, we'll call it. Yeah, okay. Because Boston clinched last night. You're right. I don't know how close they really are, but yeah.

I think I read something. Like if we lose the last four games, we still have like a 47% chance of making the wild card. Doesn't that seem a little ridiculous? I mean, you could lose lose lose lose lose and then hey you're in it yeah it does it seems a little odd when you look at it that way yeah when you look at it that way but uh for the so for time's purposes so tonight there's like game two of the world cup of hockey final and i think part of the problem is we're not playing

like the u.s which they wanted yeah which everybody's like always glued to the tv when or even like russia yeah i know it's still exciting but it's less so just a tad bit less so and you're not watching you're not alone i got two kids and you know but don't these kids go to bed how old are your kids they do well one is almost 10 so she's almost at the age where she'll go to bed later than us so yeah so i mean she's not in bed till almost 10 sometimes and then it's our time and then we're tired yeah that's right you've got from 10 to 10 15 yeah pretty much yeah that's true i'm still like well you know i got two that are sort of like independent and then the the two-year-old still goes to bed at 7 30 see i don't know what that's like because even our five-year-old is like you know almost nine o'clock so well yeah i hear

you i hear you no world cup of hockey for daddy so did you like uh so there was a big american presidential debate any interest in that i watched about 20 minutes of it but you can only take so much of that. I'm with you. Oh my. Some people get the popcorn and they can't look away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I have my reaction and I want to hear yours,

but I think it's similar. I really can't stomach the guy. I have trouble. I turned it to the Blue Jays game because he just really turns my stomach. Yeah, no, he does. And my husband was kind of the same he was like i'll just watch the highlights because i just want to make sure she wiped the floor with him and

you know we so we were both very happy with how it ended up but really even the aftermath of all that is even though she clearly won the debate you are not going to change what his followers think that is never going to change, which tells you that there's still a million, however many millions of people who think like he does. And that, to me, scares me more than anything. And does that remind you of anything? Because I'm getting flashbacks.

Like, it reminds me of the Rob Ford era. Yes. Because his core followers, yes. Yeah, you couldn't change their minds no matter what you said. Yeah, yeah. Except even more extreme than him. Well, I mean, yes. Yeah, you couldn't change their minds no matter what you said. Yeah, except even more extreme than him. Well, I mean, yes, maybe more extreme because of the stakes being so much higher. What can a mayor really do?

By comparison, exactly. His one vote on council, they don't give the mayor any nuclear codes. No, no, it terrifies me. It really does. Yeah, me too. And I keep hoping sanity will prevail, but I don't even know. It no longer matters because Daniel Dale, who used to cover Rob Ford for The Star,

and now he covers Trump for The Star, and he does this fact-check thing. So following that debate, I think he had 34 blatant lies. Yeah, oh, NPR did the same thing. They did live fact- fact checking and pretty much every word out of his mouth. You know, braggadocious isn't even a word. I mean, you could go on and on, but it wouldn't matter. It doesn't matter. And even if she wins, knock wood, she wins, he's still going to have all those followers out there. And that's the problem with the country,

is they need to fix that. Yeah, there seems to be this... The uneducated white vote seems to be very loud and proud. Yes, yes. I call it the uneducated white vote because I don't know what other segments would really be in the Trump camp. I think that's his core. Yeah, we're always surprised when they manage to find other people to stand up and speak for him.

Because it's like, really? Where did you come from? And there's always someone like Don King. Oh, what was that? Oh, don't even get me started. Let's get off the politics here. Yes, please. Our stomachs are turning together. But in front of you,

there is a six-pack of Great Lakes beer. Yes. You're taking that home with you. Yes. And I'm going off mic because I want to see something. La, la, la. Oh, yeah. Oh, wrong one. He's grabbing different beer. Oh, because they're all different.

They are all different. Okay. Sweet. See these mics? If you're not right on these mics, it's like you're not on the air. Is there a pumpkin on that one? That's right. So the pumpkin ale is out, okay? Sweet. So this is the season, as they say.

So look at that. That's so nice. Now, your kids are going to see that and think that's wonderful. They're going to think it's a drink for them. So keep them away from the pumpkin ale. But this is now available, and yeah, you got a pumpkin ale. That's so cool. Yeah, it's neat because whenever I used to travel with CBC,

I would always try the local beer. So now this is like your South Toronto craft brewery. That's great. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. And if people would like to crowdfund Toronto Mike and keep this going, that's Toronto Mike. Sorry, no, that's patreon.com slash Toronto Mike.

There's a link from torontomike.com if you want to click over. So give what you can, keep it going, so people like Patti Sullivan can come on and tell their story. Because there's a lot of people interested in your story. And your story, correct me if I'm wrong, but does this journey begin, you went to Ryerson, right? I did, before it was a university university when it was a polytechnic Ryerson Polytechnic Institute we called it Rye High yes we did U of T and that was our name yes

no no we called it Rye High too and we went there when did it become a university because that was like late I think it was like the year after I graduated or when I was in third year when I was finishing yeah I don't even maybe you don't know, but like, what's the difference? Like, did they just... I think it was just, I remember when you were in high school, you could apply for so many universities. Three. Yes. And so many colleges, or as many colleges as you want.

Sure. So Ryerson at the time didn't, wasn't one of the universities. So I had applied to Guelph and McMaster and Western. And then Ryerson was the non-university at the time. So it's interesting because I think back now, and I think if Ryerson had been a university then, would I even have applied? Would it have made the cut?

I don't know if I would have. But didn't you want to be in media? I wanted to be a veterinarian. Oh, that's Guelph. Yes, Guelph. That's right. And McMaster had a new program that was half sciences and half arts, which was the program I applied for there.

And Western I applied just for sciences. So I was all science, science, science, science. Yeah. But a friend of mine had gone to Ryerson and was in first year, and I had gone to visit, and I thought, well, that's kind of cool, and I always enjoyed performing. It was more of a whim applying to Ryerson. And so when I got in, I was more excited about getting accepted to Ryerson

than getting scholarships to three universities. Did you get scholarships? Yeah, my parents were not too thrilled that I gave up scholarships to go to Rye High. But in the end, it worked out, I think. Yeah, well, I think it did as well. But do you have any regrets? Like, you ever look back and think, I could have been a great veterinarian?

I would have had a lot of allergies to deal with. So maybe it's a good thing I didn't follow that stream. Yeah, that's a poor... It's like someone who doesn't like the sight of blood. Yeah, no, but I love animals. I love animals. I would have made it work somehow. No, I guess the only regret you have is

I wish I could make more money because this is Canadian media. You don't make a ton of cash. It's not like the US. I hear this. I hear this. Okay, we'll get to that. Let's go in chronological order because I understand your first mainstream media gig

of any sort was CFRB? Was it CFRB or CHUM? I think it was CFRB, yeah. In second year, I applied for, they had this good news or good news reporter, I think it was. And I didn't get that job that went to a third year student, but I got a job just working in the newsroom

and learning the ropes of working that kind of job. And then the next year I did get to do current events for CFRB. So you went on air? Yeah, I did like the van. I drove a van around town and did like little segments of, you know, go to this festival and come see me and I'll give you a prize and that kind of stuff. Of course.

And then I did the same thing for Chum. So yeah, I started in radio. So this is, of course, CFRB, which was the mighty 1010. 1010 CFRB. That might be the biggest AM station in the country. Yeah, I know. I was very lucky. You started at that.

Very lucky, yeah. I mean, and it wasn't a paid gig when I first started. It was just, hey, if you want to volunteer in the newsroom. But that's something you learned in school was put in the time, make the connections and then jobs will come. I think it's still that way. It still is but a lot of people aren't willing to do that now.

Is that called an internship or does it have to be affiliated with Ryerson to be an internship? I think it has to be affiliated. It has to be like a set out six week program. So this is an indentured servant as they say. And I worked for I guess it was CKFM at the time, which then became, oh, gee, is it Virgin Radio now?

Okay, yeah, CKFM became Mix 99.9 in like 1990 or something. Yeah, so it was CKFM first, and I used to just go in. This was back in the day when you had to phone record stores to find out what the top selling albums were. And I had to make a list and give it to the music director. Like this was pre, I know I'm dating myself, pre computers and all this stuff. So it was all by phone and all on paper. You know, you might be a vampire.

We'll get to this. Because you don't actually, as somebody who's been seeing you on his television because the 14-year-old old saw you yes i mean the two-year-old sees you and we'll talk about that but you actually and i went back to make see you're not really aging fyi i'm aging gracefully is that what we call it it's there i think i saw true blood i think you're like that guy whatever true blood so uh but okay so you're at c which chum Which CHUM, by the way? Is this like the 1050? Okay. Yeah, 1050 CHUM. You gave stuff out there? That was... Yeah, that was the... It was the...

Let's see. It was the CFRB Discovery Van and the CHUM Sunkist Van. Same kind of thing. It was a weekend gig and handing out prizes. And you had to drive this yourself? Yeah, and I had an accident one time driving a van. The CFRB one? No, the CHUM one.

Yeah. Oh, man. I was terrified. I was going to lose my job. But no, it wasn't my fault. So it was okay. Cool. Cool. All right. So at some point you end up at TV Ontario. Yeah. So how did you end up at TV Ontario? When I was graduating from Ryerson, I was in my third year. And one of my professors asked me if I could converse in French because she knew I spoke French.

And I said, sure. And she said, well, there's a job at TFO. Actually, it was La Chaine Française back then, which was the French TVO, basically. And they were interviewing for a PA position, production assistant. So I went in, did an interview, and got the job. So I actually started in the French side of TVO.

And again, behind the scenes, my first job was phoning companies to try and get prizes for a kids game show in French. And then I did script assisting. I did all kinds of things. So I was on the French side for a good year.

But can I tell you, I had no idea there was a French side yeah is it still there oh gosh yeah so TV Ontario has a French side called TFO oh and that's like those channels 12 and 13 yes okay I actually have clipped through them in my yes so that's the French side oh yes um and so while I was working there I saw the ad for this kid's host for TV Ontario, brand new show, send in a demo reel. So I did. And I made the cut. And then they narrowed it down to five people.

And apparently how they decided was they sent these five videos out to kids and asked kids to pick who they liked. Not a bad idea. Yeah. No, a genius idea because you want your viewers to pick who they liked. Not a bad idea. Yeah. No, it's a genius idea because you want your viewers to like who the host is. So I'm proud to say that kids chose me. Yes. Which was great.

And it's interesting that you originally wanted to work with animals, but you ended up working kind of with children. Yeah. But there's a lot of similarities. WC Fields, it says don't work with children or animals. And I'm like, I'm both. You've broken WC Fields rules.

Yeah. So, okay. So this is like 1994. Yeah. And you're like the host of the new. April 4th, 1994. April 4th. TVO Kids is what they call that blog.

All right. Now this TVO Kids, which is where we all, most of us saw you for the first time. Can you tell us a bit, like I'm always interested in the TVO kind of, because we know it, Polka Dot Door, for example, I grew up with and all this stuff. Like, what was it like at TVO? It was a real family atmosphere, a very small place. Everybody knew everybody, but everybody also contributed. So it was a great place to work for your first big job because you got a chance to try everything.

I mean, we did our own props. We did our own makeup. We made up our own costumes. We wrote our own scripts. We came up with our own content. And, you know, you'd go out on a field shoot and you'd help carry equipment. I mean, you go to a union place or like CBC.

I'm not allowed to pick up stuff. I'm not allowed to touch anything. Like you're not allowed to. No, you're not allowed to. Whereas whereas tvo you really got to do everything because no one else was going to do it for you no no but it was great because it really made you appreciate everybody who you worked with um so it was a real family atmosphere but our studio i i kid you not was a closet like it was it used to be a broom closet and they turned it into a studio and the operator sat in the room with us and he would stand up and adjust the camera and then sit down and do the

audio so it was very bare bones and really like people would when they would come visit the set they would be they would be in shock how small it was well i had pj fresh phil on recently so he describes like these early days at ytv and it's a similar yeah yeah it was so I had PJ Fresh Phil on recently. So he describes like these early days at YTV and it's a similar. Yeah. Yeah. It was so tiny. That's Canadian television. Yeah. And then when we finally got a camera that was robotic where, you know, our operator could like actually zoom in from his seat. It was just like, wow, that's the best thing. And we were tethered. Our microphones were attached to this long cable and just it seems so antiquated now I mean I guess it was at the time but you know keeping it simple there's something there

where you know the kids are there for you if you will that's the thing and and one thing we learned when we were at school was if you can make great content with crappy equipment it'll take you far and and that's what we learned on the job too. It's all about the content. It still is today. Oh man, yeah. Content is king. You know, you can sex it up and style it up. Yeah, but if there's no substance, forget it.

Yeah, you've lost me. It's like glitz and glamour, but yeah, we need some nourishment. So I'm going to play a little clip. I apologize in advance for the potato quality of this clip, but it's tough to find a good Patty Sullivan TVO kid. So let's just see if we can hear something here. Was that not a great Melops?

Damn, it was great. It was super. I liked it. It was good. You know, we haven't officially welcomed this guy. This is Joe. Thanks for coming, man. You're going to be great. It's a new addition here. Give me some of this was good. You know, we haven't officially welcomed this guy. This is Joe. Thanks for coming, man. You're going to be great.

He's a new addition here. Give me some of this. Can I get in on this? You want to get on that? Joe is going to be helping us out here in the crawl space. And for good reason. Because he's good. And he's funny.

As you've seen today and over the past couple of weeks. They keep me busy. I'll stay if you promise not to let freaks like that get in. So this is the, we're introducing Joe here. Yeah. Is this his first day or something? Yeah, this is his first day're introducing Joe here. Yeah. Is this his first day or something? Yeah, this is his first day or first couple of days because I started with Kevin Brosh,

who then became the Thirsty Traveler years and years later. And Joe Motiki came in, and he and I were kind of the duo for a good four or five years, four years, I think. And then Phil McCordick came in, and we were together about five years, four years, I think. And then Phil McCordick came in and we were together about five years. So yeah, I've gone through my share of male co-hosts. But you were the constant.

I was the constant. Because you show up in 94 and you're the constant. And the kids, you know, the kids, I think it's important for kids to have stability, like to see that same friendly face. And then, hey, there's Patty. And, you know, they... They're more willing to accept another new person if they've at least got one familiar face there.

Right, there's something else, exactly. You can't, too much change. No, you can't change it all. I mean, well, apparently some people do that, but I don't advise it in kids television. No, not a good idea. Now, how were all those people to work with? Like, you keep in touch with any of those?

Oh yeah, we're all still friends. Oh yeah. Like I said, it was like a family and a lot of, especially at TVO, it was live. So you could script all you wanted. That's interesting. I didn't know. Oh yeah, it was live.

Any interesting live accidents? Yeah, we had a light catch on fire while we were on the air. That'll traumatize. Yeah, we were just talking and Kevin all of a sudden said, there's smoke. And this was live on the air.

So we're like, we're going to go to a show and we'll deal with this. And Joe was always one of those co-hosts who kept you on your toes. Like he would just throw a curveball at me just because because

that's just joe just to mess with you but it that's what brought the energy and that's what brought the fun and i think that's why kids enjoyed watching it because they never knew what would happen and we could take phone calls and do live games and it was just really interactive is it tough like here's so that's live i didn't even know that but let's say you're having a crappy day yeah because you must have had a crap day Like, is it tough to turn that? Is there anything challenging about turning that switch? Cause you have to be such a cheerful person live for these kids. Yeah. Um, yeah, there were challenging times, but there's something about if you're a performer and you love what you do, you're able to turn it on. My husband always jokes, um, cause he worked at TVO

as well. And he said, he remembers coming in one day and doing a segment with us. And as soon as the light went on the camera, he's like, you just turned it on. And he said, and as soon as that light went off, you,

it was like, where'd that, where'd that person go? Now she's like, yeah, now she's all like serious all of a sudden. So I don't know. You just,

it's, it's a skill and not everybody can do it and i'm i'm happy to say i've been able to do it well you're a pro i mean uh ann roszkowski was just here like two weeks ago and you know she talks about the dynamic between her and her co-host when the light the red light goes on it's true as opposed to when the red light goes off and it's like night and day because you're pros and you do your thing and then the light goes off and you can i mean i'm i got along with everybody I worked with. I can't imagine what it would be like to work with a co-host

that I didn't get along with. I mean, you're going to have your days where it's like, you know, stop throwing me curveballs or whatever. But you still, you're friends in the end and it makes a big difference because that reads. It reads to the audience. friends in the end and it makes a big difference because that reads it reads to the audience in 1995 your tvo kids team won an international emmy award for uh your your international children's day of broadcasting yeah that was a day-long event i think it was 12 hours see i don't

know i don't like i don't know exactly what that means but it's it reads impressive it was no it was i mean it started at i think six or seven in the morning and all No, it was. I mean, it started at, I think, six or seven in the morning and all day long it was programming for children and between every single show we had segments, we had guests on, we had kid performers on and it was just a very difficult thing to carry off so early in the life of that show.

But at the time, I think we had four hosts. It was myself and Kevin and Joe and Rekha who hosted the morning weekends. So we would kind of alternate who would go on air next. I was going to say, did you have, was Red Bull around or something? No, no, that's what I mean. Everything was so antiquated.

But the excitement kind of got you going, right? The excitement of it all. Right. And it goes so fast. When you're involved in a big event like that, the day just flies by somehow, it does. Now, this is all going great. You're here from 1994.

You're winning Emmy Awards and things are going wonderfully. So let me just bring us all down a little bit here. If that's okay. Let me just turn a corner here, a sharp turn. So let me just bring us all down a little bit here. If that's okay. Let me just turn a corner here. A sharp turn. So in 2003, okay, let me see. I'm going to, how I understand it,

you were hosting a nature documentary series on the W Network called Animal Magnetism. It wasn't nature documentary. It was an animal show about the relationship that people have with animals. Okay. And this is... The W Network is not TVO.

No. It's a women's channel. Yes. Today it's owned by Chorus. Yeah. It may have changed its focus now. But at the time, it was the women's channel. So pretty much all the programming was targeted at women. I think it's not a kid show no i mean it was family friendly uh you could watch it with your kids but the target audience was women probably

between 20 and 45 maybe okay uh i just have to ask these tough tough questions is your seat getting warmer is your seat getting warmer go ahead uh so, I guess, did you clear it with your employer that you were going to go do this other show? I had spoken to my union and asked them if I had the right to do that based on my contract. And they said as long as it's not during TVO times. Your hours. As long as it's off hours. Yeah, as long as you don't, yeah, yeah, right. The filming of it.

Yes. Okay. So I was, okay. Yeah, you did that. That's all you got to do. Yeah. But TVO decided, nope. And I think part of it was when the Women's Channel decided to broadcast it.

They decided to broadcast the show at 5.30 on a weekday, which was the exact same time as TVO's most popular show Arthur and they claim that well that's a conflict then because you're in two places at the exact same time you're on the women's channel at 5 30 and you're on TVO kids at 5 30 we can't have that and I mean my I always felt well that's kind of cuckoo. Because no kid is going to turn off their favorite program, Arthur, to turn on the women's channel.

I can't even turn off Arthur. So, you know, that was their reason. To this day, I don't know if I buy that that's the real reason. That's frustrating because if they're looking, I don't know why they would, but like nine years into your run and you're popular with the kids and doing a great job,

I don't know why they'd look for a reason. I don't know. Were you making too much money? What was going on over there? No, this is public television. Oh my gosh. They may have wanted to make a change just because. Especially when you're talking about a teen tween

audience you know your hosts have to be youngish young enough right um you wouldn't have somebody like ernie coombs hosting a teen show or dear ann agnes yeah yeah not that i was looking old as you've pointed out no um like i said I don't think I'll ever know the real reason. Maybe someday one of those execs will come to me and say, you know. I'll get them on the show and that'll be my first question. This was the real reason and we kind of had to couch it. But anyway, in the end, you know, my union took them to court and we settled. And I can't discuss the settlement, but.

You still can't discuss this. No, it was part of the deal. I noticed you did have a Rolls Royce when you pulled up. Yeah, no. Before I leave the TVO here, did you ever see them filming Polka Dot Door? No. That was long done.

So they had done by that point. Oh yeah, Polka Dot Door was in rerun. Rerun heaven. Yeah. I can't remember when that. They started doing a show called Polka Dot Shorts. Yes. Did they talk like these guys?

No, they didn't talk. Good. No. Don't mess with the formula. I always get mad like on Sesame Street when Snuffleupagus could be seen by everybody. It really. But there was a reason they did it. Tell me.

It's because the whole believability of kids, adults not believing children. And, you know, there's that whole fear of if a kid is making up a story or not making up a story. So they felt that they had to make Snuffleupagus visible. That makes sense now.

So that, you know, we're going to believe the children because otherwise Big Bird would look like a liar. He's lying. Or it's like a drug-induced delusion. That show, especially Sesame Street, I'm sure they have an advisor and a child psychologist.

The light went on in my head as you were telling me that, yes, that makes good sense. Yeah. I forgive them now. But if they ever have like Marigold, was it Humpty Dumpty, Marigold and Bear? They shouldn't, we shouldn't hear them talk. They always remember these hosts always put their ear to the nose. That's right. Oh, what's that Marigold? Yeah. And I thought maybe. But that's pretend. And every kid plays pretend and that's okay. So they

never did talk. Nope. Okay. And one more thing though, uh, Polkaroo. Yes. Was he ever seen by the host? No. The host. Oh,

I missed him again. I missed him again. That's an important. That was the big joke. Yes. That was a big part of the. Is it true that this husband you met at TVO, was he Polkaroo?

No. Oh no. He was tall enough. He could have been, but no, he was never Polkaroo. Cause I made that up. And if it was true, I would have been but no he was never poker because i made that up and if it was true i know my husband was one of the hosts of inquiring minds is that right yeah

which was a tvo staple as well wow you're like a you're like a dream team this is forget brangelina yeah no it's i don't even know me what would we be i don't know misha i don't know i don't even know. What would we be? I don't know. Misha? I don't know. I don't know. That's what we are, too. All right. So the TVO dismisses you in 2003 for these reasons of conflict of interest. All smells bad. But what do we know? I don't know anything more than what you've told me.

Yeah, there was a big petition. And they jammed the phone lines with complaints. And yep, it didn't matter, though. So no more TVO. but you do bounce back. But before I get there, let me just tell you, you said you have two kids and busy life. Yep. And you want to serve these kids healthy meals.

You're short on time. This is a very big challenge. Is this a big challenge? Yeah, I'm a terrible cook. All right, let me tell you, because I'm a terrible cook. There's a company called Chef's Plate. I've heard of them. Well, okay, good, because just last week,

they delivered this box to my door. It's like a refrigerated box. Yeah, and everything's there for a recipe, right? Like portioned out like this. But for how many people? Okay, so I bought the family kind, which feeds four people. Okay. Four people.

And I can tell you, it's like locally sourced farm fresh ingredients and it comes pre-portioned. Like everything's kind of like dummy proof I like to call it. Right. And then there's like

one sheet of like instructions. So it was important to my wife that I do this because she's good at this kitchen stuff. Yeah. And I'm not. Okay.

So I did stuff I've never done before because I followed the instructions and it came out looking amazing. Like I tweeted a picture of this I followed the instructions and it came out looking amazing. Like I tweeted a picture of this. Yeah.

And like it's healthy. You got veggies and stuff going on the pork chops. There's a lot of like options. And it was like at the door and pre-portioned and easy to do. And I have some good news for you. Did they eat it? They ate. Everyone ate it.

Everyone liked it. Just because you made the drive to my studio, just because you're here right now, right? This sounds like a game show. This is exciting. This is exciting. You're going to get two free meals from Chef's Plate. So this beer you're taking home,

they'll ship it to you in that refrigerated box, which is really cool. Yeah. And everybody listening can get two free meals as well. If you go to chefsplate.com, chefsplate.com, and use the promo code Toronto Mike. So at some point in this process, my dear friend Rosie just wrote me to tell me she ordered from Chef's Plate using my promo code. Like I don't get paid when you use my promo code, but it tells them it's worthwhile to sponsor podcasts like this, right? So that's cool. Yeah. Chefsplate.com put in toronto mike is your

promo code uh and you my friend patty i'll send you the link but you just got to pick like your two favorite favorite meals from the list and they're gonna send you my kids two favorite yeah no joke and there's like there's good stuff like italian i can't even say these words but there's new england shrimp rolls and malaysian mango noodles and sage butter steak and like yeah i've been curious about trying them. So this is good. And this is going to Patty, it costs you nothing.

And then if people use that Toronto Mike promo code, they get a $22 in savings. Cause they get two free plates. Cool. There you go. Okay. So five months after you leave TV, Ontario.

Yeah. Something good happens. Tell me what happened. Well, um, somebody I had previously worked with at TV Ontario was at CBC. And I guess the host there had left and they were looking for a new host. And she called me up and said, well, have you ever thought about doing preschool?

And I said, nope, but I'm willing to try. So I started working at CBC. This is the aforementioned Kids CBC. Yes. And it went through a lot of changes, even from when I started there. When I started there, I was the Ontario host. And they had a host in different regions of the country. I think we had four different hosts at the time. And the main character was this little two-dimensional animated little girl named Dot, which is ironic because now they have a show with a character named Dot. But they're completely different characters. Yeah.

And then it kind of morphed. And then Dot and I kind of became co-hosts. And we anchored the show and had regional hosts. And then it changed again. And then we had myself and Sid and some regional hosts. And then it changed again. And then we had myself and Sid and some puppets. And then it changed again. And it was myself and Sid and just Mama. So it changed at least four times,

possibly five in the many years I was there. So this, actually, let me play a clip of you at Kids CBC. And it starts with the jingle, which is like an earworm of sorts. Yeah, it is. It's stuck in my head. And I have a question about that. But let's hear you at CBC. And it starts with the jingle, which is like an earworm of sorts. Yeah, it is. It's stuck in my head. And I have a question about that, but let's hear you at CBC.

Hi, did you know that this is Healthy Me Week? What does that mean? Oh, that means we should get outside and get active. Why? Because getting active helps you to stay healthy. We better get moving then. Okay. So yeah,

now we're aiming at the preschool set. So that's why my two-year-old is crazy about this stuff. Yeah, so that you and me and kids.

When did that show up? Was that there from the beginning? I don't remember at the beginning. No, it wasn't. That one's probably two or three years old.

Okay. So that's why, you know why? Because I took a break. Yeah. Because, yeah, I took a break. And then I revisited the preschool television blocks. And then it was there. And it's like super catchy.

Yeah. So tell me, that's Sid Bob. Sid Bob, who lives in North Bay. Is that right? Yeah. So he helicopters over. He would drive down whenever we would shoot. Okay, let's start with that.

So you mentioned TVO, you did it, it was live. Yeah. Okay. This CBC, definitely not live. Not live, no. So we would tape. And again, it was done differently depending on who was in charge. There was a period of time where we would shoot weekly when it was just myself.

And the other hosts would shoot their stuff in their regions and they'd send it into us um and then when we had all the puppets we would shoot like a four or five week block and then we would not shoot for a couple months then we'd shoot another block and then not shoot for a couple months and then it changed again where we would just shoot uh three or four times a month. So it would change all the time. And Sid would just come down from North Bay and shoot when he had to shoot. And then he'd head home.

So he was kind of the guy who came in and worked with me when we would shoot. But he wasn't one of the regular writers or people on set all the time. Who's doing Mama Yama? Now or then? Okay, we'll do both then? Okay, both. You also do both. She was originated by a brilliant puppeteer

named Ali Eisner who really created the character and is also an amazing musician. So that's why a lot of the music that Mama sang was so amazing. And then when she left, Wendy Welch came in. And that's a really hard thing to do. It's like when, you know, you had to replace Jim Henson. How do you replace Jim? How? How do you? I mean, they were able to get his son. So the voice was similar and it was able

to carry on. But you can never quite totally capture it exactly. Right. But Wendy did a great job as best as she could not being the person who created the character. It's a little bit of a little Rosie O'Donnell, right? A little, yeah, yeah. For the adults who are watching. A little sarcastic, a little, yeah.

But funny interaction. Yeah, it was funny. She kind of brought that adult edge. Yeah, yeah. There was some, I felt like she was doing a little for the parents in the room. Funny interaction, yeah. It was funny. Yeah. She kind of brought that adult edge. Yeah. Yeah, there was some, I felt like she was doing a little for the parents in the room. Yeah, and you have to, when you're doing preschool television,

you want to entertain the parents too so that they want to watch as well. I mean, if you watch Sesame Street when they do their parodies, you know, it might all be about the letter A, but it's funny for the parents because they're understanding a whole other side. I still remember the Miami Mice.

Yeah, see, there you go. Yes, exactly. And what I do like also is that with Kids CBC is that when you would have like bands like Strombelas, for example, and they come on and do it. And it's just fun to see the Strombelas do their stuff. Yeah, and it was trying to focus on Canadian performers and give them, you know, a place that was similar to Sesame Street, but in Canada. Of course, we sound like we're talking about this wonderful Kid CBC in the past tense. I've noticed it's as if it's gone. It is.

But yesterday morning, my two-year-old and I are watching Kid CBC. I'm still there. We saw you on there yesterday. I will still be on air, I guess, until they've finished putting together their rebrand. Okay, but tell the people, because although I blogged about it, and I tweeted

about it several times, when I saw the, whatever that CBC blog that kind of said, why don't you tell us what happened and when it happened, like how they told you that they were going to, I guess, reformat this thing. Tell us. It was just a few days before my contract was up because I was on a yearly contract. A lot of people think I was staff.

Yeah. But for 13 years, I was just on a year toyear contract. So you never knew when that was going to end. You really didn't. But I had an employer or, you know, one of my previous bosses. She always said, as long as I'm here, you're safe. But then she was let go over a year ago. So I knew when she was let go, anything could happen. So anyway, it was a couple of days before the end of my contract. And my boss came and said, well, we're renewing you, but only for 90 days. And that was it. And it was, we're rebranding and thank you very much. And we still want you to go to Ottawa for Canada Day and do Kids CBC Days and do all the things. They had you for 90 days. Yeah. So I still had to obviously

fulfill my 90 days and perform and do what I would normally do. And of course I'm going to do it because it's the kids and that's my audience. And they have so many segments in the can, so to speak. Yeah. So they'll just continue to air the recorded segments until their new look and their new show is ready to

go, I guess. And it's not just you. Did Sid get the same? everybody and uh mama yeah everybody that's sad yeah that's sad because um i forget right now you're still and that kind of what's that like that's what's confusing people too because i mean it was in an article in kid screen magazine which is a industry magazine so you know your average mom and dad don't read that. So the news is still kind of trickling out.

You know what this reminds me of? And I have a lot of people on who, they'll be radio people, like on the radio every day. And then they'll go on a legitimate vacation. Like they're going to go away for two weeks. They just don't come back. Okay. And it takes, and I'll write about it.

I'll learn because I have whatever, I'll learn about this news and I'll say, hey, I don't know. I'll make it up. Make someone up. Mad Dog is no longer on Virgin Radio. But it takes a long time for the listener to realize Mad Dog's not coming back. Yeah. I mean, unless you're somebody who's watching every single day or listening every single day.

The one percent or whatever. Right. You might not know. And yeah, my situation, I'm sure it's not going to be until maybe January that all of a sudden people are calling me or writing me going, where'd you go?

Here's what's going to happen. They'll Google, what happened to Patty Sullivan or something. Yeah. And they'll end up on my entry about it. Maybe, yeah.

And I'll see these spikes. Because I get this all the time. Yeah. All the time. I'll tell you when they start to realize. It probably will be, of course,

when they launch the new whatever they're doing, which you, I guess, have no insight into because you're not there anymore. So you have kids who would be like, although your youngest is five. She would be kind of on the edge of still watching. I remember when my 12-year-old daughter, I hate to say graduated, but she started to watch family channel stuff. And all the sitcoms, they're all harmless.

Yeah. But they all seem the same to me they're all very similar yeah um the adults are not very bright and you know the young people are they have a formula and they're just stupid with a different like pre attractive preteen girl like it's just it's just very like saved by the bell yeah very much so yeah and that's fine but i even even find that my 10-year-old, she doesn't even watch TV anymore. It's all YouTube. You're right. It's all Minecraft.

It's all DIYs. It's all that kind of stuff. You're absolutely right. You're right. TV. I actually, because I need TV because I love it. I watch a lot of live sports. I need cable.

Okay. So it came with like three outlets for cable. And I wanted one in the bedroom, one in the living room. And I had a third. And I paid for this already. And I was like, so outlets for cable and I wanted one in the bedroom, one in the living room. And I had a third and I'm like, I paid for this already. And it's like, so I told my son, he's around the corner. He's not there now. He's at school, but I'm going to put it in your room. So I put it in three years ago. I put in this cable in the room. There's a flat screen TV in there. It's never been turned on. Funny. It's never been turned on because he's got a tablet and a laptop and that's where he lives. And I'm sure that maybe that's part of the rebranding

is they want to push more towards online. But you can go online. You can go online anytime. And I don't know. I mean, it's CBC. And in my mind, they have a purpose and they are a publicly funded broadcaster. Is Strombo the new host of Kid CBC?

You know, we've talked about it. No. No. No. I thought I had an exclusive there. Sorry for interrupting. No, no. But I mean, as a public broadcaster, I think they need to be doing something different than everyone else. And so I don't know what their plan is. But I hope it's not just going to jump into what everyone else is doing, because what makes thembc is that they are different and they are someplace safe that parents can go oh see what i think might be frustrating uh correct me if i'm wrong but is that to be cut from it and then to have such a long period where you're actually on the tv every morning as if nothing has changed yeah it is a little frustrating

because i'm spending a lot of my time just getting my name out there and letting people know. Yeah, people don't know you're an unrestricted free agent. That's right. Because in the past, I was pretty much tied to CBC and couldn't do other things.

So convincing people, you know, no, I'm actually not there anymore. I can do other things. It's challenging. It's challenging. So in many ways, it'll be better for you when they actually launch this rebrand

and it looks different. They don't use that jingle and your face isn't there. Mama Yama's not there. It'll be sad, but it'll help me to move on. Yeah. Like the band-aid has to come off.

Yeah. I hear you. So I'm very sorry that happened to you because even though you were on these year contracts, how many in a row did they renew? 13. 13, right. Yeah. I hear you. So I'm very sorry that happened to you because even though you were on these year contracts, how many in a row did they renew? 13. 13, right?

Yeah. So you start to get used to it being an automatic. I mean, every year around February you'd start thinking, okay, is this the year?

And you never knew so it was very stressful. But I think when, like we were talking about children's programming, having a constant is important. And I mean, even look at Sesame Street.

Even though Gordon and Bob became more background players, they were still there. And Bob's like 84 or something. Yeah, and they were letting them go when HBO took over, but then they were having discussions to bring them back because everybody was so upset. And that just shows, you know, that constant is important to people. Even if it's the parents, even if the kids have no idea who you are, when you're talking preschoolers,

the parents often decide what they're going to watch until they learn to do the swiping on the iPads themselves. And, you know, the parents will decide at first. So the decisions made that patty sullivan is not part of the new launch and i know they use a lot of like what i call corporate speak like there's a lot of like multi-platform digital stuff this and that but there's no reason why patty sullivan can't be i talk about you like you're not here patty sullivan can't be a part of a newly launched facelift for digital first or something.

Yeah. There's no reason why. That's what's been a lot of people's question to me is why can't you be part of it? And I don't know how to answer that. So can we say, it's either ageism, sexism, both or neither. Pick one of those four options for me. Oh my gosh.

I can't speak for them. No, of course not. Yeah. But I know that that is going to go into a lot of people's minds is why. Why? And if she wasn't doing anything wrong, if it's broke, don't fix. If it ain't broke, you know, why are you fixing it? That kind of thing. Yeah.

I always wonder like, because, and I'm just doing math here, but if you've been on our TVs for over 20 years, you can't be in your early 20s. Like, right? The math doesn't work. Like, I just... Sure, I can. I just have a photo in, you know, a picture in my attic that's, you know, aging.

Oh, that's right. The Dorian Gray. How many will get that reference? I just... I'm going to just say it because you can't say it, but maybe they want younger face i don't know maybe they want to maybe you got too old maybe they don't want to do preschool anymore i don't know i'm not there i don't know what their plan is uh and i guess we'll just all have to wait

and see what happens while you were doing all this great work at kids cbc you used to show up i know that in 2008 you were in one of the Ross Petty fractured fairy tales of the Elgin Winter Garden. But then I was going to, I had tickets because I get these media passes. And I was going to go

to the one two or three years ago. That I was supposed to be a stepsister in Cinderella. Yes. Here's the email I got. Okay. So,

and I remember that was like, you were like one of the big names. Hey, Patti Sullivan's playing one of the whatever stepsisters. And then here's what I got in my email box. were like one of the big names. Hey, Patti Sullivan's playing one of the whatever steps. And then here's what I got in my email box. This is 2014, by the way. Please be advised that Patti Sullivan

originally announced to play evil stepsister Nastine has had to withdraw from the production due to an auto, and I know there's a word missing in here. Accident? Accident, but she missed it. Where she sustained a personal injury. Yeah.

So what happened there? It was devastating. I was so upset. I had a scooter and I took a turn. Just, I don't know what happened. I hit something or the tire went out from under me. And yeah, I ended up slamming into a brick wall with my knee. And these scooters, these are the ones that go go they can go up like 27 kilometers no this isn't one of those e-scooters this was like a vespa oh okay

yeah much faster yeah and then i slammed into a car which was luckily parked so nobody else was hurt but me and a brick wall um and a taillight of a car. But as a result, my knee just blew up. And it's a very short rehearsal period for these shows. Like six weeks, five weeks. So they just couldn't afford to wait and see.

So it was really disappointing because I was only a week into rehearsals. It was so, so disappointing. And I noticed those shows, you're right. And then I noticed those shows, sometimes there's still like an opening night, there's still tweaking the stuff. Oh yeah.

No, those shows, I mean, the preview night is like a test of the show. And depending on how the audience reacts to things, it could change drastically from preview to opening. That week in between, a lot of things can change.

So what I loved about that show was the fact that it was, A, live theater. I love live theater. But B, it kept you on your toes because you never knew when the show was going to change or you had to learn something new or new script or new song or new dance number. And they're fun.

I guess that style is called pantomime, right? Yeah, a panto. So basically we're interacting, like we're booing. Yes. And a lot of ad-libbing on stage, especially from, at the time, Ross Petty and Eddie Glenn and Dan Shamroy, they would just go off on tangents on stage

and you had to go with it. Eddie Glenn is that voice you hear on YTV. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's great. Yeah, he's a staple in those things. But Ross doesn't do them anymore, right? He's decided to step back and just produce. So this will be his first year not actually in the show.

That's interesting because he was like a huge like... He was the draw. He was the draw. We just enjoyed booing his... I know he'll miss it. But it's eight shows a week for, you know, five, six weeks. It's a lot. Right.

More than eight shows. I think some weeks we did like 10 shows. Yeah. So that's a lot. He'll be missed in that role. And hopefully you'll be back to do another one maybe. I'd love to. I'd love to.

But, you know, if I'm not attached to Kids CBC or something, I don't know if I'm a draw anymore. No, that's not true because you are forever going to be Patti Sullivan of Formerly Of. That's how I introduced you. I wasn't sure how to introduce you, actually. But you also, I should point out, you won a Gemini Award for Best Host in a Preschool,

Children's or Youth Program. This is 2010. And you earned a pair of Youth Media Alliance Awards. So you were obviously good at what you did and a constant for kids who watch Kids CBC. And I'm sure there's many preschool kids watching. But a decision has been made.

You're no longer part. And at some point, they'll remove your face from CBC. Although they won't take away that nice sweater. I know. I realized that when I wore this. I'm like, I'm wearing a kid's CBC hoodie right now. They let you keep that, right? Well, yeah.

Apparently, the show name is even going to change. And that jingle that's stuck in my head. You and me. Yeah, it'll go away. I'm sure it'll all go away. Who knows what will be there? I don't know. I'll be booing it.

I used to boo Ross Petty. I'll be booing it. Don't worry. Don't worry. I'm on Team Patty. I don't know why you get rid of a beloved host. It always upsets me. But anyway, not for us to know, I suppose.

So here, oh, yeah. So the press release about this. I'm just, we're going to get rid of the silos that separated the broadcast from the digital platforms. At the same time, we will create a new space in which our hosts and puppets, so they're keeping the puppets, can interact with our, or at least some puppets. No, I think they're getting new puppets. New puppets, right. Can interact with our viewers. With the changes afoot, Kids CBC will launch a country-wide

search for new hosts and puppet characters. Did you apply? Wouldn't that be cute if you applied? And anyway, there's a petition to get you back for what it's worth, but we all know once the corp has made this decision. Well, I don't know. They brought Ron McLean back to Hockey Night in Canada. He was still on the payroll though.

Like he was in. That's true. He was doing the other shows, right? But yeah, I hear you. You never know, but hopefully something happens there. Maybe you can drop by my house every morning and just introduce Daniel Tiger for my son.

Would you do that? Or maybe we do it by Skype or something. Oh, that's funny. Send me your Skype ID. Just download one of my intros and keep it. So let's talk about what's next for you. So this news is still fresh. Like you said, there's an awareness issue right now that you're actually available because you're on the TV.

But hopefully that remedies itself soon. So what would you like to do next? A bit of everything. I mean, part of the thing of being in one job for a long time is you're limited to other opportunities. You know, I've always wanted to do voice work, you know, do voice animation. I've always wanted to write for some kids shows, which I actually got an opportunity to write some episodes for another show. Get back into the acting a little bit. Do a bit of theater. mean i've you know now's

my chance to just try everything do a podcast i mean hey why not right well why not exactly a lot of people uh in your position who are structured out as we call it or whatever uh realize maybe you mentioned right at the top that content is king. Yeah. If you're the face in the content, then you no longer need a mainstream media. Yes. There's always YouTube. There's always, seriously, there's always YouTube. And I haven't dabbled in YouTube yet because I'm too busy with other things. And who knows?

But I can tell you that as you know, from your kids, this is it. This is where they are. Yeah. So if you have a channel on YouTube and you're, you know, there's something. I know. This is the thing.

There's lots of somethings. And this is, it's almost like too much choice. And it's, where do I go? The paradox of choice. It really is. And for now,

I'm okay to just try a bunch of things and almost see what sticks. But if somebody comes knocking or calls me up and says, hey, would you be interested? I'm not going to say no. I don't think I'd say no to anything right now. Just because it's kind of exciting to try new things. And have you reached out to, for example, Chorus has their own treehouse and things like that? Just natural segues for you as a Canadian?

No, because for me, it's like jumping from the pot into the fire right now. I think I need to let everything kind of settle down. Sure. No, I'm okay right now just seeing where things are going to go. And it was the same when I was let go from TVO. There was a few months of, okay, you got to breathe first before you jump into something else. That's true. You know?

Yeah. Let things simmer and you see things clearer and then you'll know what's best for you. Yeah, exactly. Because I had to do the 90 days first. I had to finish my 90 days and then it was September and kids went back to school. So it's just now, like I'm just now starting to go, okay, now what? You know? Yeah.

I had to get through all that first. That's great. And my last guest, I know earlier I showed off my autographed 12 inches of Maestro Fresh West's Let Your Back Ones Light. And when I first announced that, you know, he was an upcoming guest and you were an upcoming guest, you shared a picture with me of you and Maestro on stage. So that's a kids CBC event? That was the day after I got the news I was being let go. Yeah, they told me.

It was a music fest, CBC music fest down at Echo Beach. And yeah, the day before is when I was informed I was being let go. So I went to that event and performed all day and nobody knew. No, because you're a pro. My team didn't know. This is all about that. Oh, your team didn't even know. No, just me.

But I just didn't think it would be fair to tell the team because then everybody there would be all kind of feeling what I was feeling. And I thought, you know what? I can do this and we'll talk about it after. And that's what happened. And I guess they found out when this all went, when that article was published. Well, no, we told the team on the following Monday

because you have to, you kind of have to let them know what's coming. Yeah, that's only fair. So what do you say when you talk to like young, not the preschoolers, but when you're talking to like high school kids or whatnot who want to be the next Patti Sullivan, what advice do you give them? Yeah, it's funny. I did an interview with somebody recently for, I think he went to Centennial College or Mohawk, one of the programs. And he asked me the same question. And my answer is always the same,

which is try everything. Try anything and try everything because you never know what is going to tweak your interests. I mean, I've done craft service, I've done, you know, project assistant, I've done driving, I've done all kinds of things behind the scenes. I did, I remember I did a three hour web webcast, I guess it was, for Easter Seals. And I remember it scared me. I was like, oh my gosh, I don't know if I can do that. And my husband said, then you should do it. If it scares you, try it.

Because then you're challenging yourself and you're always going to want that. That's the only way you'll grow. So that's always been my advice for young people is just try anything, try everything, make contacts. Because you never know, maybe you think you want to be the next Patty, but maybe along the way, you're going to find something else that you like better. Sure, sure. Great advice. Like try everything. And what I would add is be prepared to starve while you're trying everything. Oh, yeah. I lived in a basement apartment for many years,

many, many years. And that's, and yeah, it's truly a reality. Like if you, in this city only gets more expensive, as you know, in every regard. So it's like, it's gotta be a tough industry. It's gotta be tough to start in this industry in Toronto. It is, but you know, and I think maybe 20 somethings sometimes get a bad rap as being people who aren't willing to work hard

and aren't willing to take any old job. And I've met enough people in that age who are working and are trying and are, you know, doing anything and trying anything. And in this business, though, in media, you really have to be open to it. Sure. Yeah, you can't shut the door. I'm going to leave you with one thought, okay? There's a lot of corporations in this country but mainly in the gta there's lots of corporations and especially at christmas time they host these very extravagant

uh like kids parties for the children of their call me up right well this is it almost if you had to hire a host yeah for whatever the three hours kids think there's there's no one better it's either you or pokaroo okay and pokaroo doesn't talk the pokaroo just says pokaroo that's right that's right so get into that uh get into that game and you'll you'll just you'll thank me i know this is nothing new to you but that's that's what i'm gonna leave you with and that's what you you need to look at all right i'm glad the power didn't go out. Yeah, see? The power held up. It's great.

No, it's a pleasure. I got to take a photo with you so I can blow my kid's mind when he comes home from daycare. Look who I'm with. I should have brought you a postcard or something. You're going to have to come back because you're going to come every morning and introduce Daniel Tiger for my kid. We need more Daniel Tiger. So that brings us to the end of our 195th show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike and Patty is at Patty Sullivan. The most Irish sounding name I think I've had since Siobhan Morris.

Born on St. Patrick's Day. Is that right? Yeah. Wow. Irish as can be. I had a Siobhan that spells it S-I-O-B-H-A-N.

But you now are the most Irish sounding. Very good. And our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer and Chef's Plate. Sending Patty Sullivan two free meals is at Chef's Plate CA. See you all next week. Read Andrew Miller and wander around And drink some Guinness from a tin Cause my UI check has just come in Ah, where you been? Because everything is coming up