Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Peter Gross: Toronto Mike'd #1032

Episode Date: April 12, 2022

In this 1032nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by Peter Gross as they breakdown his date with Jeanne Beker, celebrate his Sovereign Award nomination, discuss sports gambling, and when everything is humming along, Peter auditions for a commercial smack dab in the middle of the recording. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Patrons like you.

Welcome to episode 1032 of Toronto Mic'd. 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. StickerU.com Create custom stickers, labels, tattoos, and decals for your home and your business. Palma Pasta

Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Ridley Funeral Home Pillars of the community since 1921. And Canna Cabana, the lowest prices on cannabis, guaranteed over 100 stores across the country. Learn more at cannacabana.com. Joining me this week, the esteemed host of Down the Stretch, Peter Gross.

How's it going, Peter? There's such a dramatic pause there between my first and last name. I know. You know who loves your last name my youngest uh my youngest daughter morgan she just loves the name peter gross because it's got gross in there yeah exactly how are you doing buddy i'm good how many times have i been on the podcast i don't know offhand you should have given me some warning you were going to ask these uh no because i want i want to be the joey bishop of toronto my joey bishop appeared on the johnny carson 176 times. He was the most frequent guest. Already on the live, we have a pirate live stream,

and I can tell you Moose Grumpy is watching you live and says, Peter's looking good today. Well, thank you. That's the real deal. I'm just reading that right now. So, yeah, Joey Bishop, that's a great reference for me and the older crowd, and I know that reference. He was a frequent guest and um you're more of like the regis philbin i think your clock in the most uh broadcasting hours

so that's your uh claim to fame hey peter yes mike lots of ground to cover but i have questions and then i have uh like questions from fotms and then there's questions from yours truly here that that notwithstanding you understand that I'm here to promote myself, to promote horse racing, to massage my ego, to say wonderful things about me. You do feel the love, right? This community, the FOTMs adore you. You must feel that love. Yeah, it's very pleasant. I have the nice experience, much more rare now than it used to be,

of people coming up and saying, I remember you. I remember you fondly. I saw you on TV. Yeah, I like that. So I mentioned, I have clips I've pulled as well. There's so many places. I've got to decide, where do I go first? First, I'm going to ask you about something you mentioned on the program in the past.

And Mark Weisblatt reminded me about it earlier today. What happened to the Don Shabib visit? Is that still happening? You, Don Shabib, in my backyard. Well, yeah, you wanted me to call Don again, and I haven't done it yet, but thanks. What are you waiting for? Well, memory retention's not a major thing with me i will do it um don shabib is a lovely lovely man i had such a great experience with him holy crap 50 years ago when he when he directed the movie that i was in a movie you got to name check it yeah rip off rip off which don shabib says this is the worst movie ever made so i want to let the listeners... What do you mean, well it is? By all accounts. Not because you're in it, but just because it's not one of his

better movies. It's a weaker one. But there is an episode of Toronto Mic'd in which you and I sit in the backyard and dive deep into the history of Ripoff. And we have original audio content from Don Shabib because you recorded a call with him. But it's a plan. You because you recorded a call with him but it's a

plan you're going to touch base with him please and then we're going to get him in the backyard we're going to do it this summer i'll do that as he's calling you right now okay who is that it says no is that don shabib no it's no caller idea okay i'm gonna pass on it all right so that's that answers that we need to follow up with don and get that going you were at cfny for how long cfny yeah oh about a week a week okay longer than that um i ended up at cfny oh god i would say in the uh late late um 1990 oh that's later okay for some reason i thought it was earlier, but it's Billy Van delivered your severance check. Yeah, and it was the fall of 2000. I'm sorry. No, 2000?

Okay, not 1990. Are you sure it's not 1990? I mean, you know your life better than I do. Apparently not. I'm stepping backwards. Yeah, it had to be 89 or 90. Well, how old were you, do you think? And do it work that way?

Well, okay. Well, I left City TV in 1986 and really sputtered around for a while and didn't get much work. fall of 1989. I can actually strategically date this by the birth of my oldest son, Roger. Count the rings on your limb. So Roger was born in 1991. And I met his mother in the summer of

1991. So it had to be the fall of 1990. Let's say September, October. Okay. And I got a, you know, a relatively small gig at CFNY doing editorial,

replacing Fred Patterson when he was on vacation doing the sports. And, and they asked me not to show up anymore. They said, please stop coming to our Brampton studio. I did some editorials and then some of them pissed them off. And, and so,

so they, who fired you? Like, do you know who was of them pissed them off. And so they... Who fired you? Do you know who was it? Reiner Schwartz. Reiner Schwartz, yeah. But he likes the crazy and zany kind of characters. I'm surprised Reiner didn't... There was a couple editorials where I might have stepped over the line.

Well, I want to hear those. In my exuberance. Okay. So I'm going somewhere here. This is a 40-second clip and then I'll explain myself. Listen to the streets of Ontario. You will be surprised. On Sunday afternoons at 4 o'clock, CFNY will feature independent vinyl and tape releases

with reviews of live performances, tips on doing it yourself, facts, rumors, and gigs. 4 o'clock, Sunday afternoon. Tune your radio to the streets of Ontario. CF and YFM 102.1 Okay, why did I play that? Because Peter Goodwin passed away.

Did you encounter Peter Goodwin during your time at CFNY? Does this name sound familiar? No, I don't recall. What about Liz Janik? Was Liz Janik still there? That name rings a very faint bell, but you could mention immediate members of my family for years. How was your mom doing on that note?

My mother, Marilyn Gross, 99 on March the 13th. In spectacularly great health, totally mobile. You know what? She just went up to a friend's cottage. So I said to her, well, how old are these women that you went to the cottage? She said, well, 179 and a couple are in their 80s. And the ones in their 80s have walkers. So my mother goes for a walk with the 79-year-old.

And the 79-year-old can't keep up with her. Okay, amazing. This is a woman who is in almost perfect health. Oh, wow. I mean, what a gift, eh? Amazing. And again, we've talked about this in the past, but you're going to live forever yourself. So this is a good sign for you. But I want to complete my thought on Peter Goodwin because sadly he passed away. And Peter Goodwin was married, not only was married to Liz Janik and worked at CFNY, I know he worked in Hamilton

for many years. I wondered if you knew him. I think all Peters probably know each other, but you don't know Peter Goodwin. But for those who know him, sad news to report that he's no longer with us. Peter Goodwin from Streets of Ontario at CFNY. How old is he? I don't know

the exact age of death for Peter. But he was I understand it was too soon. I think he got cancer and it took him and far too young. And you cited the Peter principle that all Peters know each other.

You Peter Mansbridge, you hang out with him? Oh yeah, all the time. And Peter Zowski. Yeah, the late great Peter Zowski. Pete Marovitch. Yeah, P late, great Peter Sosky. Okay. Like I said, I... Pete Marovitch. Yeah, Pistol Pete. Pete Sampras? Keep going.

How long can you go? Pete the Dragon? What is it? Puff the... No, Pete's Dragon. It was Pete's Dragon, not Puff the Magic Dragon. Okay. Ian Marchant wants to know,

do you remember sitting beside me at a long-forgotten show at the Elmo? It's a little random the the only the only time i recall being at the elmo and i don't remember steve marchand uh ian ian i have no recollection of an ian marchand but i was at the elmo combo for a show called lemmings which was a satirical and um i remember i had i had a girlfriend and there were 14 people and this rather small stage not much bigger than the area that we're recording this right now um and john belushi was in this show lemmings and at halftime of the show he sat on the edge of the stage and chatted with us you know do you like the show what do you think and uh that and that

was way before saturday night live and his huge stardom okay wow amazing uh by the way there's a person on the live i mentioned the pirate stream at live.torontomic.com basement dwellers believes that his late mother volunteered for meals on wheels with your mother through circle of care very possible my mother in her 80s at least, was doing Meals on Wheels. She still drives now, but I don't think she does that anymore. Amazing. Get your mother on this program. What am I doing slumming it with Peter?

Well, let's do it for her 100th birthday. I don't know if you want to do it. I could bring her. I will go to her for her 100th. She'll tell you things about me that I haven't had the you want to do it. I could bring her. I will go to her for her 100th. She'll tell you things about me that I haven't had the guts to tell you. Well, all Toronto Mike, I would love to talk to your mother, by the way.

All Toronto Mike guests live forever. There's no evidence that you would die as a guest of Toronto Mike. Therefore, I should speak with your mother, Marilyn. Marilyn, right? Marilyn. Because that'll preserve her. It'll be a good idea.

Okay, we're going to do that. What do I have here? Will Peter Gross be applying for the classical morning man vacancy at Zoomer? Okay, so Zoomer. That's quite a question. You know the story about. Tell me. Remind me.

We pitched Galler and Gross Save the World to Zoomer Radio. We pitched Galler and Go Save the World to Zoomer Radio. I've certainly sent other missives to Zoomer suggesting that they hire me. And I got a very stern response at one point saying, please cease and desist, as if I'd been throwing rocks at their windows or picketing outside. You were asked to please stop contacting Moses. Yeah.

Which is sad when I hear that story because you're such a sweetheart. I will speak from experience. My Sunday's not complete if I don't get a phone call from Peter Gross. You're just a kind-hearted, wouldn't hurt a fly, you're just a solid guy

and you're excited about Gallagher and Gross save the world, which we're going to talk about in a moment, and you just want Moses to get in on the action because you worked for him in the past to get a cease and desist.

That must have hurt. You're not immune to this. You must have hurt when you got that email. I think I was more amused than anything else. I mean, life is a collection of experiences. And I've had some wonderful experiences. I've had some dreadful experiences, and I would say all of my dreadful experiences have been self-inflicted. So it just seemed overkill.

You know, please don't, we're not interested in what you're pitching to us. Please don't send any more, but cease and desist. Yeah, I'm hurt. I'm hurt by that. he said yeah i'm hurt i'm hurt by that uh and and you know the sidebar to this is that moses in my experience was always a guy who recognized the value in everybody and i i i'm a little frustrated that he uh he doesn't see the he didn't see the value in in some of the things i was throwing at him now to be clear that email email came from a gatekeeper, right? I don't know if you want to use the person's name.

You don't have to. But there was a gatekeeper between you and Moses who sent you the email. Is it possible that that gatekeeper decided upon themselves to do the cease and desist and that Moses was unaware of the cease and desist? I kind of doubt it. I don't know what the thing is. I'm just trying to get Moses in out in case he wants to make amends here. So,

cause I know he's listening. I mean, you know, I'm an old guy and Zoomer has this audience of seniors that is huge in this constituency. And, you know, my,

my self-confidence notwithstanding, I, I could provide something to that market. On that note, Peter Gross, we talked in the past that we did a couple of episodes of Seniors Moment, and it was a podcast in need of funding. So we needed a brand,

anyone who's trying to reach senior citizens in this market, to sponsor it. It is well produced. It is an extremely strong podcast. And we have this proof of concept for anyone who needs to hear it, but it's fair to say we're still looking for a sponsor for seniors moment. Yeah, that'd be great. I think we've got three in the can. Right. Well, so if anyone listening, no joke, no BS,

we cut right to the chase here. If there's anyone listening who is trying to read, I don't know, pharmaceutical, I mean, the stairs that take you up, what are they, those, like, you know what I mean, where you sit down and it takes you up the stairs, you know what I mean? Or like those like handles they put in like showers. I'm thinking of all this stuff. More thermo. Medicines that help with your erection. Or arthritis even.

Do you use medicine to help with your erection, Peter Gross? What would be the opposite? You've got to think about, like, anyway. So, think about sports. So, Seniors Moment needs a sponsor. If you want to help fund this and become the title sponsor for Seniors Moment needs a sponsor. If you want to help fund this and become the title sponsor for Seniors Moment, there are real episodes you can listen to right now in Apple and Spotify, et cetera.

And please reach out, mike at torontomike.com or slide into my DMs. They're wide open at Toronto Mike. Let's get this cooking. Speaking of cooking, Gene Valaitis writes in, and I think every time I say you're coming on the show, Gene asks the same question and makes the same point.

So I'm just going to read it verbatim. How is Peter's chicken wing capacity these days? I have never, ever witnessed anyone in person who could eat more. I think I saw him do like 70 once. Crazy. Joey Chestnut could probably beat me. He's exaggerating a bit. However, one of the greatest days of my life,

and I had sex once. With a model. In the early days. Yeah, she was like 5'10". That's a whole other episode. We chatted. That's Gallagher in the world in the early 90s kentucky fried chicken introduced their their chicken wings and so to promote it

they they brought a bucket of it at about seven o'clock in the morning to the newsroom and most of the people in the newsroom basically were fried chicken wings at seven in the morning no thanks and i was like this is the greatest day of my life. And I ate approximately half of the bucket. And that was the greatest day of your life. Yeah, that was the, I would say the chicken wings at 7 in the morning were the greatest day of my life. Well, I'm going to make, this is going to become the second greatest day of your life

because I want to tell you right now, right here, right now, I have another large meat lasagna for you from Palma Pasta in the freezer upstairs. You're going to eat peter delicious authentic italian food what are your thoughts on palma pasta's lasagna the palma pasta is the very best uh lasagna i have ever eaten and i'm not saying that to blow smoke up mr palma's ass just palma is actually the matriarch's first name the last name is petrucci petrucci well mr petrucci palm is a woman um i like to be sincere this is fen it is the most fantastic lasagna and garnett barnsdale makes a wonderful lasagna in which he puts little meatballs in the

lasagna and it's great but he he concedes that the palma lasagna is the best did i i don't know if you caught wind of this because you're not as active on twitter or social media but uh garnett barnsdale was related to my old high school friend and fotm becky dinwoody have you heard any of this before well well i met i met becky and when you had one of those meetings in the park and she passed away she passed away at the uh very suddenly at the age of 48 and i know garnett barnsdale who makes a great lasagna but not as good as palma pasta garnett barnsdale i think is becky's cousin yes so so we're all connected in such a bizarre way and i just wanted to to to make sure you knew garnett's uh cousin beck, was no longer with us.

But it sounds like you got that news. How many minutes are we into the show, by the way? Give me an exact minute. Why? Is there something you haven't promoted yet? No, I got to tell Garnet that he was referred to. He listens. Does he?

He's an FOTM. Garnet listens. He's going to listen to this whole thing. I have a date with Garnet. 18 minutes. Garnet's my date Thursday night for the Sovereign Awards. I know. And I promise you we're going to do the Sovereign Awards right after we do...

So we're going to do Sovereign Awards right after we do Jeannie Becker, okay? So, and I mean... We're going to do Jeannie Becker? So let me do this, okay? So, because I have a whole bunch of like... You're sort of notorious for your gambling habits back in the day. Like, you would, was it fair to say you know you have a problem? Is that fair?

I guess that's fair, yes. But you, I mean, according to Jim McKinney, you're not at the whole, like, living under a bridge, would bet everything and lose it. You have some limits as to what you will bet so that you're not in the in the danger danger zone you're just like in the like teetering is that fair i i won't go so far as to borrow a thousand dollars from a veto and is that okay so so you're not taking credit card money and betting it on

i don't know horses or not today but you in the past that's something you might have done yes so at some point you've got yourself to a point where you can, you just say, okay, I'm going to bet 200 bucks. And then once you hit 200 bucks, you stop. No. Oh. No, no, no. See, it doesn't work that way.

The only way it works is to say, I will bet nothing. Gambling is, gambling like cocaine has to be all or nothing. You can't just, you can't just do one line of cocaine. You know, no one does one line of cocaine. Well, you can't, right? Okay, okay. Because there's a lot of people gambling. The reason it's coming up, I got so many questions. I'll burn through a few and then I want to get your take

on all this. But Brian Gerstein writes in, what does Peter think about the new betting landscape and the demise of Proline? Are they going the way of the cannabis shops or is there enough speed of cannabis? I want to talk to you about that in a minute or are, is there enough room for more players? And then there's a bit more here.

Uh, he says, is Peter as tired as I am of seeing Dan O'Toole promoting bet rivers. He seems to have gone away for the most part during the Olympics, but during the Olympics, anyways, that's a whole Dan O'Toole on TV thing, uh, for the most part during the Olympics, but during the Olympics, anyways, that's a whole Dan O'Toole on TV thing.

Has the legalization of single game sports betting affected the horses? And then YYZ Gord wants to know your thoughts on the sports betting changes. What's your perspective on that? So before we get like a derby pick, because Barrett team wants that, what is your thoughts on all this sports betting changes that we're experiencing in this province?

Ooh, what a question. Have you seen the commercial withne gretzky for yes i have i think it's bet mgm yeah i mean there is so much money being spent promoting the legalization of online gambling in canada and the fact that you can bet the most important thing that you can just bet one game the history of pro line has been that you had to bet three games. And the mathematics were just so oppressive. But being allowed to bet one game is a benefit to the gambler. previously millions and millions of dollars from canadian bettors were going to offshore casinos and not not through a canadian institution is that like a gray market or is that an actual like black market because that's illegal right yeah but but there was no way of preventing in

the united states for a while i don't know what the status is now that they made it illegal to use your credit card to go to any of these places because people would funnel funnel their money through canada but that you could still and unfortunately i've had some bad experiences with these online casinos uh you know giving them my credit card um so so now you've got a situation where you can i mean i like the new pro line because you can so why does brian say that uh the demise of pro line he sees this new betting landscape as killing pro line but you're saying no because now pro line is one of those that can also do single game betting yeah i i really don't know the math i don't know i mean it's obviously there's going to be some cannibalization but with all of these groups

coming in and with reference to horse racing, Jim Lawson, the CEO of Woodbine, battled for years that Woodbine should have a piece of the action, that Woodbine and all of the off-track betting shops were already equipped to handle all of these transactions for online betting. And right now, Woodine's have been left out of the equation and i know that jim is still fighting to well that's bullshit to have some kind of involvement i i don't know specifically how it works and uh you know who's who's running the whole show but uh you know woodbine you go to woodbine Racetrack and it's the perfect place if you want to bet on a game, you know, with all of the infrastructure and the capacity to take electronic bets and to have, you know, multiple screens showing the games and just making it such a huge sporting experience. So, okay.

So what do you think about people like yourself who might have an issue of gambling? All this gambling everywhere all the time. Like I have almost near zero interest in sports gambling and I'm just sick of the fact that all the sports I want to watch, be it the Jays or the Leafs or whatever, it seems like there's now a sports gambling component to everything. Like it's all over the place. You know, Brian mentioned the Dan O'Toole ads.

Well, I see them too because I watch the Olympics. I watch all this stuff. But is this dangerous for those who have addiction issues with gambling? Or is it just simply like you need to govern yourself, and if not, there's help available at this toll-free number? Well, it's like anything. The Liquor Board of Ontario is dangerous to alcoholics. It's a product.

to alcoholics. Um, right. It's, it's a product. And by offering the product, uh, money goes to hospitals and people get employed and it's business. And I mean, sports gambling is, is, it's a wonderful thing to do. You know, when you buy a $2 pro line ticket, you're engaged for three hours in a baseball game or a hockey game you know by the way garnett barnsdale is one of the best you mean at winning money oh he um there's a player called scotty barnes plays for the toronto raptors absolutely yeah and so what what barnesdale's been doing for several games is he bets that barnes will score over 15 or over 16 and get a double double and the number of times he's cashed on that is extraordinary and then the odds are very very good that that

will happen he gets so um good for Garnett Garnett and not only do you make a good lasagna but you're winning some money at the sports betting here all right so I'm going to come back to the sports betting a bit later but uh first I'm going to read you. And I mentioned basement dwellers on the live stream, but he also sent in an email and I just want to read it because it's, I just want to read it to you. So pay attention, Peter. I know your attention span isn't as long as it used to be, but this is a bit long. What'd you say? Hey, Peter. Anyway. Hey, Peter. Anyway. Okay. I see how he wrote this. I'm a longtime fan going back to childhood. I'm basement dweller right now.

I'm not Toronto Mike, okay? Although I am also- You're reading this guy's message. But I'm also a longtime fan going back to childhood. We are in your basement. But now I'm back to basement dweller, yeah. So both my late father and grandfather were big lifelong gamblers, with horse racing and all its permutations

being a particular favorite. And while I never developed a knack for it myself, I did have the pleasure of being in the winner's circle gamblers with horse racing and all its permutations being a particular favorite. And while I never developed a knack for it myself, I did have the pleasure of being in the winner's circle at Greenwood with my family in the summer of 1986 when my father fronted ownership on a couple of horses, Valid Michael, I like that horse name, and Triple R Connie for a rich kid whose parents disapproved. Also, my father in his prime was a bit of a handicapped being savant, maybe like Garnet there, with a penchant for picking long shot tri-actors.

Just wondering, but did you ever grab any big paydays courtesy of the legendary standard bred driver, Reg Gassian? Do you know that name? Yeah, Reg Gassian. Do you know that name? Yeah, Reg Gassian. I used to bet Reg Gassian. Actually, it's interesting because a few nights ago, a driver by the name of James McDonald won six races at Mohawk, and I got in touch with Garnett and said,

can you ever recall a driver winning six of ten races? And he said, yes, many, many years ago, Reg Gassian won seven straight at Greenwood. There you go. There you go. Did we mention yet that if anyone has even a little interest in Ontario horse racing, there's really a one definitive podcast you need to subscribe to.

What's the name of that podcast, Peter? It would be the down the stretch podcast. So not only a senior's moment looking for a sponsor, down the stretch is every single week every sunday and i think i date the monday but they drop sunday typically but these things drop every single week and they're fantastic and and i'm really proud to say that we have produced 115 of them and um okay now you can reveal the big reveal this and it took me i had to do some homework to find out what this means but jason portwondo was here this morning and he was explaining to me like

how significant this is you peter gross have been nominated for a sovereign award it's extraordinary it really is tell us uh normies what, what a Sovereign Award is. Well, the Sovereign Awards go for excellence in thoroughbred racing every year. And they have a category, audio-visual production. Okay? And I would say in a typical year, there's probably 1,500 to 2,000 videos or shows. I'm making this up, by the way. There aren't 1,500 or 2,000.

Every year there's maybe 2,000 horses that compete. But the number of audiovisual productions on horse racing is very, very minimal. So I'm a finalist how many finalists are there there's three only three there's three you're you're one third of this finalist who else is nominated for this audio visual uh horse racing award woodbine entertainment is up for its production of the queen's plate okay that's you know what the budget is on that do you know how many bodies are involved many and how many bodies are involved in your podcast two well i know you have help from garnet and other people but okay all right so just who else is nominated besides and alberta racing did

something on the 25th anniversary i think of some big stakes race dude you're such a david in this uh parable uh these are some goliaths you're up against. I'm really David's pet mouse. The problem is, I mean, obviously, Woodbine has all these expensive cameras and they have drones and they have reporters and the capacity to produce something that's really gorgeous. Alberta Racing, very similar. And these two get nominated every year and they've won various sovereigns between them. I produce this on my phone. Okay, this is outstanding that you're nominated for this prestigious award up against those two heavyweights.

This is sort of like when Toronto Mike finds itself competing with these like CBC and Rogers and Chorus Productions. You know, like, oh, I'm going up against this American left. See, I brought it back to me, Peter, because it's enough about you. But this is, like, we are the independents. We're the little guy fighting the big guys. And congratulations on the nomination.

It doesn't matter if you win this award. The fact you were nominated is an absolute mind blow. And I'm going to start using it when I market TMDS. Like, it's going to become a thing, like Sovereign Award-nominated podcast productions. But honestly, I hope you feel proud of yourself. This is amazing. No, there's going to be a moment Thursday night

because we're going to the awards Thursday night. And who's going again? Garnet and I. Thursday night. Platonically, by the way. So in two days. Yeah. Okay.

And there's going to be a moment when they say, now it's time for the Sovereign Award for Audiovisual Production, and they will mention down the stretch in front of the whole horse racing community. And you're going to record this on your phone? Are you going to record this moment so I could put it on my YouTube channel? Well, I'll think about it. Okay, so is there any? No, I think I know the answer,

but I want to know your opinion. Is there any chance you could win this thing? No. No. Is Jason Portwondo part of this ceremony? Jason Portwondo has been the host of the Sovereign Awards for many years, but I don't think he is this year. The last time I talked to him, he said he wasn't the host.

He's very, very good. Oh, yeah, I see him in action every week. Is there any chance he knows the winner? Or is this like the Oscars where you've got like an accounting firm that's protecting the answer? Well, several years ago, I was up much more legitimately in the writing category for a story I'd written. And I was very excited because I thought I had a chance.

And at some point before the awards began, I go off to the washroom to take a pee. And standing beside me is Jason Portwanda. Without looking at me, he says, you won. Because he had the envelope and he ruined it for me. So he's okay. So did he tell you that this time? Well, no, because he's not hosting and I don't think he knows. And it doesn't matter because I've got no, it's impossible for me.

Why would anyone vote for something that was strictly audio when they've got high production video, audio, reporters, drones? Well, because it's Peter Gross. Like some people want the underdogs to win. Like some people want to root for the independents. Yeah, but I think at the end of the day, the voters, whoever they are, and I don't know who they are. Hold on, hold on.

So on the live stream, a couple of people have mentioned something, and I have to confirm it before I announce it. So, Lieve Fumpke, is that true, what you just kind of said in the thing? Because I listen to a podcast by a comedian that I thoroughly enjoy. Oh, it's true.

Gilbert Gottfried has passed away. Wow. At the age of 67. I listened to that man's podcast on the reg because it has, I consider it, even though I think I started mine first, but I listen to what he's doing with old Hollywood and I consider myself

doing that for Toronto. That's why you're here, Peter. You're like my old Toronto media guest because I'm trying to capture these stories and share these stories, much like Gilbert Godfrey does with his podcast. So I'm just soaking this in and processing, but this is a great loss.

I'm a big Gilbert Godfrey fan. So you ever meet Gilbert Godfrey? No. The very squinty eye guys? Yes. You know, the guy who talks like this. I'm familiar with him. I'm sure Gallagher's got a picture of him and Gottfried.

Oh, I'm sure he's got several. Okay, so you mentioned the G word, Gallagher, so we're going there right now. Okay. Beats writes in, Question for Peter. How does it feel getting rid of that dead weight you carried on your previous

podcast where you saved the world? I met this guy. His name's Jason Beetz. He's got a big beard. He's a lovely guy. I really like him. He listens to the program. But he despises, for some reason, he hates John Gallagher. But he loves Peter

Gross. So that's his. But then I heard from Matt Chu. This is on the other end of the spectrum. Matt Chu writes me and says, Mike, I'm addicted to Gallagher and Gross save the world. I love the little clues they give. Andy Frost violating bro code. Gallagher dated Martine Gillard. Good stuff. What's the update here? Have you heard from John Gallagher since your last visit to my studio where you revealed that John owed you $100 for a Super Bowl bet?

Yeah, actually, John called me out of the blue a few weeks ago. Not exactly sure what the reason was, just to say hello. So it was a fairly warm conversation. But at one point I said, do you not know that you owe me a hundred dollars and and there's a real point of principle for with me because it was the kentucky derby a year ago and he phones me about two hours before the race he says will you put a

hundred dollars down for me right and and i i have an uh online betting account it was relatively easy for me to make the $100 bet. But what I emphasized to John was, listen, I'm broke. I'll need this money back immediately. I don't know where. I'll send you the money. Anyways, his horse came 17th or something, and I never heard from him again, and he didn't pay me. And I even phoned him and left messages.

And so he calls me out of the blue a few weeks ago and i bring it up to him and he says oh i completely forgot and then at one point he really insulted me he says did you actually place the bet so which of course so he wanted some evidence that you thought you just i i said yeah not only did place the bet but i texted you a picture of the bet so not only that but that would really fuck you up if his horse comes in like because then you're really screwed oh yeah no i wouldn't i wouldn't do that of course i know you know a hundred dollars and the horse was yeah i think it was nine to one or no and you're an ethical guy you're not you know that's why i take pleasure in doing that jim mckinney will be in transit and he'll say to me you know i really want to make

these bets and i have the the codes to his account. I'll go into his account and I'll make the bets for him. And I will always do that because there's kind of a brotherhood of gamblers. Sure. Anyways, there's a happy ending to this because out of the blue, a couple weeks ago, the $100 showed up. Okay, so for the record, so we don't bury this lead, John Gallagher has repaid his debt to you. Yes, he has. Okay.

John Gallagher has repaid his debt to you. Yes, he does. Okay. Has he expressed any interest at all in reuniting the Gallagher and Gross duo? Because it would have to be remote, so you could be here, but he'd have to be on Zoom or phone or something. But any interest at all in another episode

of Gallagher and Gross Save the World, even though he's now in Hal... Where is he? He's in Halifax. Halifax. He sold his house. I think he got a certain amount of money out of his house. He got millions of dollars. I think he got 1.2 million that's it you know i

would have bet he'd get a lot more than that well i think he'd kind of mortgaged it to okay well you're talking about after he pays off the mortgage okay um so i brought it up we had an animated conversation about it and and any conversation with gallagher just bounces off the walls it doesn't go in a straight line and uh he was going to call you and and talk about the possibility of doing it by zoom and uh i sort of the feeling i got is that he's just not up to it so i haven't received any phone call from john gallagher i just want to make that clear i am very glad he repaid you that hundred dollars though i did get an email from John Gallagher, and it was from John's account,

and he was asking me to go buy some gift cards. Oh, yes. Okay, did you get the same one? Yeah. So, John, and I once got the same from you, by the way. This is years ago now, but from Peter Gross, I once had a request to get, like, I don't know, $400 of iTunes gift cards or something, and I did not fall for this scam. In fact, I think my reply was what it would

be to John, except I didn't even reply to John at all. I just replied to you, Peter, and said, phone me. I want to hear that beautiful voice telling me to buy gift cards for your nephew or whatever. So do you know of anyone who fell for this scam? Well, in fact, I got hacked a couple of years ago and the message was, uh, need to buy my niece a birthday gift that I'm out of town and I, the credit card's not working. Please, please go buy. And they, they were, I think they were PlayStation credit cards or something. And this one friend of mine fell for it and he, and he spent $200 on these cards, but fortunately advised me of it before he, cause they, they want you to scratch off the ID codes. Right. You need to get the codes so they can actually spend that money.

Once you pass it on to them. So I, because he'd done this for me and he was contributing to my paper, I gave him the $200. And then my daughter suggested that I go online. Did I go and sell it for like 80 cents on the dollar? Yeah. I think I got 150. I met a, I met a woman at the square one and she bought it. So that worked out.

Okay. But it was unfortunate. It only cost you 50. I did see a story from FOTM Terry Hart. Are you familiar with Terry Hart? No. It's okay if you're not. But Terry Hart, local media personality,

covers movies and such. Terry did fall for a scam. It was like 800 bucks. So she thought the email was from her boss and it was saying, hey, do me a favor, buy $800 worth of gift cards and then you know send me the codes or whatever i can't buy this but it's for my niece or nephew

the same scam that's been running for and it runs because people fall for it but terry hart she she fell for it and she wanted to warn others and i think this is just a good chance like if there's anyone out there ever who gets an email or a text from, and who cares who it's from because it's not really from that person. Do not ever do this. If the CRA wants it, if, I don't know, the border cops are going to come and arrest you if you don't send it over.

Never do this. Don't be like Terry and spend $800 in gift cards because that's gone. You know, we talked about the seniors moment that we're trying to produce. One of and one of the episodes we talked to a guy from the uh the opp who's in charge of senior scams and one of the senior scams that's going on now is they call you and uh they impersonate your your nephew you know so you're 88 years old grandpa listen uh i'm stuck here i've lost my credit card. I've been robbed.

Please send $1,000. And the initial reaction of the grandparents tends to be, well, I better do what I can to help this young man. It's awful, so don't fall for it. So, Peter, as we're talking, I'm about to get into the Jeannie Becker segment, which I'm very excited about, but I just

want to tell you, I'm actually legit upset at the passing of Gilbert Gottfried, because I enjoyed his work, loved his podcast, and gone, you know, that's way too soon. And, you know, I didn't know he was sick, so I'm hearing about this.

But what can I say except shout out to Ridley Funeral Home? What can I say, right, Peter? Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home? What can I say, right, Peter? Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Yeah. Do you concur? I'm sorry. I've been distracted.

I just got some very disturbing news. What's your disturbing news? Everything's fucking falling apart right now. I was under the impression that I had an audition on Wednesday, and now my agent's texting me saying, why have you not done the audition? Oh, is it today? Oh, God.

Can you find that out, man? Nothing's more important than your livelihood. That's how you pay your bills. Okay, you find that out. While you're doing that, I just want to give some love to Great Lakes Brewery. I'm actually going to make a pickup there next week. I'll be dropping by.

Good people, good beer. Fresh craft beer, independent brewery. They're fiercely independent, as you might know. They're here in southern Etobicoke. So much love. They got a brew pub opening in the east end on Jarvis. Lower Jarvis, I should say. Shout out to my boy who just turned eight years old.

But yeah, I can't wait to check out the new brew pub. It's not quite open yet, but they're just getting some permit stuff done and they'll be opening. But much love to them and much love. Of course, I've got your palm of pasta, much love to sticker. You sticker you.com.

That's where you get your stickers and decals. Peter, um, what's going on with this edition? Share it with the, can we pick this up in half an hour? The agent is asking me to call him now. So phone. Yeah. Yeah. Could we do? Yeah. The agent is asking me to call him now. So phone?

Yeah. Yeah. Could we do? Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to call him immediately. Call him right now. Okay.

Call him right now. This is unprecedented. Just remember, I'm going to the Leaf game and I can't, I don't have a lot of time, but you call him right now. Okay. I'm calling him now. Okay. I'll take a timestamp of where to edit. this is very exciting hello

Ron it's Peter Peter where are you I'm fortunately I'm at Toronto Mike's I was doing a podcast with him my information was that this was Wednesday. Am I wrong? No,

you're wrong. It's Tuesday. It's today. Um, okay. If, if I get in touch with these people in five minutes, can I go ahead with it?

Absolutely. Oh, just do the zoom right now. I'm going to do the zoom with, uh, with Toronto Mike right now. Okay. That's fine.

Okay. Thanks. Okay. Bye bye. Okay. Thanks. Let me know that you've done it too. Okay.

I'm sorry about this, Ron. I was sure it was Wednesday. Nope. Today. Okay. Thanks. Okay. Bye-bye. Okay. Thanks. Let me know that you've done it too, okay? I'm sorry about this, Ron. I was sure it was Wednesday. No, today. Okay. Okay. Bye. Peter, can you give me the link? Yep.

I'm going to give you the link. Okay. Okay. Exciting. This is exciting. You forward that to my account, and I'll connect this via Zoom ASAP, but we already have a nice camera on you. This is really exciting.

Okay, I'm following this. This is a rollercoaster, man. First Gilbert Gottfried dies, and now you missed your audition. I don't have the script either, so I'm just going to have to fake this. Well, you know what? This is how legends are made, brother. Here's the link.

Why won't this send? let me send it to you give me that link ah shit well there's there's the script take a deep breath forward that to me mike at

jimmymike.com when can I find it, though? Because you're panicking. And then when we come back from your edition, I want to do the Jeannie Becker. Okay, here's the... Okay, I'm checking my email right now. I'm staring at my inbox with bated breath.

Listen, Peter, not only are you a legend, a fucking legend, but you're also a good friend. Of course I'm going to do this for you. Yeah, if you can get that in my inbox, I can take it from there. Everything is blurry everything is great did you drop an f-bomb yeah okay i got it i'm clicking it now okay okay there it is well you need the headphones so you can hear your Zoom person.

So I'm putting you in. The host will let you in soon. Casting Central's personal meeting room. By default, it's okay. You got a camera on you. I might have to switch it when we get in, but that's okay. We're going to get you this.

Can you tell me the role that you're auditioning for? Ed. Ed? Yeah. And what is Ed?'re auditioning for? Ed. Ed? Yeah. And what is Ed? Is Ed a grandpa? What is Ed? Is he a homeless man? Ed's an angry neighbor.

You want to read the script while we wait? I'll let you know. I'll give you the sign when you're actually going to be heard. You know you did it and you're going to pay for it.

It's like I'm in the fucking room with Marlon Brando. Holy shit. How do you expect me to cut my grass? No, no, you're my problem and you're gonna give me my mower bat and you're gonna replace my mower.

What is that line? These pretzels are making me thirsty. These pretzels are making me thirsty. These pretzels are making me thirsty. These pretzels are making me thirsty. Okay, do it all from the top again, man. Take this time to get loose. Come on. You're a bit tight. You know what you did

and you're going to pay for it. How do you expect me to cut my grass? What's my problem? You're my problem. You need to get me a new mower. That's ridiculous. This is your problem.

Wow. You're not going to pull a stunt like that on me and you're not getting my mower. Hey, Bruce, you son of a bitch. Where's my money? What about my mower? I think those are the lines. Peter, can you send an email to info at castingcentral.ca and tell them that the username Toronto Mike is Peter Gross?

Because I have no way to change it here. Okay. Because the problem with the Zoom chat is it's only a one-way chat. I can't actually chat to them. So just say Toronto Mike is Peter Gross. Otherwise, I might get this. Can you imagine I get this fucking role? What is it?

Info at castingcentral.ca Could you imagine I get this role? Why not, right? Info at castingcentral.ca castingcentral.ca Just to say Toronto Mike is Peter Gross

I forgot I would come in as Toronto Mike of course you know what they should just say Toronto Mike's auditioning fucking the role is his have they not seen the cover oh you're coming in you ready recording in progress his. Have they not seen the cover? Oh, they're coming in. You ready? Yep. Recording in progress.

No, that's not it. It's okay. He's right there. There he is. There's Peter. My apologies. My calendar had this audition as tomorrow. All right. Okay. I'm an aging old man. What do you expect? All right, Peter, I'm going to start by grabbing your slate. So it'll be your name, your height and your agency. And I will let you know when I'm rolling. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Standing by and rolling. My name is Peter Gross. I'm 71 years old. I'm Standing by and rolling. My name is Peter Gross. I'm 71 years old. I'm represented by Ron Barry of Compass Management and I'm fully vaccinated. Perfect. All right. Um, Patrick, do you want to take over? Yep. Sure. Hey, how are you, Peter? Well, I'm good. I'm a little frazzled. Yeah, understood, understood.

So this time with your audition, we are going to have you do the same sides first and just not have you as excitable. It's more subtle. Yes, okay, at first. you could you could amp it up and then we'll add a little anger after okay all right all right here we go and daniel will read for you and action what are you talking about no i didn't you know what you did and you're gonna pay for it No, I didn't. You know what you did, and you're going to pay for it.

Ed, chill out, okay? What's going on? You're not going to get away with this. You need to replace my mower. But the mower was fine when I dropped it off. What is your problem? What's my problem? My problem is you.

You need to get me a new mower. Dude, you need to back off. I didn't do anything to your mower. And if there's any damage, it probably happened when Helen was using it. That's ridiculous. You're not going to get away with that. Hey, Ed, listen. If it's such a big deal, I'll buy you a new mower, and you can just give me the broken one, okay? No, you're not going to pull a stunt like that on me. You need to get me a new mower.

Scene. Okay, great. That was good. All right, well, let's just do it one more time. You need to get me a new mower. Scene. Okay, great. That was good. All right, well, let's just do it one more time. Just slightly more irritated. More irritated, okay. Just slightly.

Okay. Okay? And action. What are you talking about? No, I didn't. You know what you did, and you're gonna pay for it. Ed, chill out, okay? What's going on?

You need to replace my mower. How do you expect me to cut my grass? Look, Ed, the mower was fine when I dropped it off. I mean, what is your problem? What's my problem? You're my problem. You need to get me a new mower. You need to back off. I didn't do anything to your mower. And if there's damage, it probably happened when Helen was using it. That's ridiculous. This is your problem.

Ed, Ed, listen. If it's such a big deal, I'll buy you a new mower and you just give me the broken one, okay? No, you're not going to pull a stunt like that on me. You need to replace my mower. Scene. Okay, great. Now let's go again. And I just want an ad lib argument between you and Daniel. Okay, Robert? Daniel will just egg you on.

Okay. Let's get a heated argument between the two of you. Okay? Okay. Let's get a heated argument between the two of you. Okay? And action. Hey, fuckface, why are you so late?

Why am I so late? I didn't have any schedule. This is your problem. Why are you screwing with me? It's not my problem. It's about to be your problem, asshole. You screwed up my lawnmower. That was a costly mower. You owe me 250 bucks. Oh, sure, sure. The fucking lawnmower did it. That's right.

That's the new fish ate my homework, right? You are the worst neighbor ever. You're the neighbor from hell, and everyone down the street knows it. Oh, really? Okay, well, at least I'm not the quack on the street going on about broken lawnmowers. Yeah, broken lawnmowers. You broke my lawnmower. Of course you're not going to admit it. Man, you even said yourself you were old. Maybe you're starting to get a few more screws loose than you realize. Yeah, that's got nothing to do with it. You broke my lawnmower. You owe me.

Okay, let's see how angry you can get, Robert. As angry as possible, okay? And action. I don't know. Maybe it seems like you could use a little bit of extra help at your old age. Yeah, screw you. I don't need any help because you're the one who's out of control! You know, this type of lashing out is exactly the thing that concerns us in this community.

What are you talking about lashing out? You're the one lashing out at me! I'm calm! You're calm? You're yelling at me and you're calm? I'll show you calm! Yeah, yeah, I'll show you calm, you fuckface! Oh, nice, nice. Yeah, no, this is what everyone wants to see. This is who everyone knows you are. Oh, no, no. Everyone on the street knows that you're the moron. You're the moron who broke my lawnmower.

You're the moron who makes too much noise at night. Get off the street. 70-year-old quack going on about a broken lawnmower again. Yeah, no, this is great. Yeah, yeah, play the old age thing. I could beat you with one arm behind my back. I'd like to see you try, old man. You'd probably keel over from death. I'm ready to go right now.

Bring it. Bring it. You think you can take me? I can take you. I can take your sister. I can take your mother. It's seen. It's great. Good job. Good job. All right. Thank you so much, Robert. Peter. Sorry, Peter. My Peter grows. My apologies. My apologies. good job good job all right thank you thank you so much robert peter i'm sorry peter peter my peter gross my apologies my apologies okay thank you so much that was great okay thanks peter thank

you peter gross how do you feel buddy i was so excited watching how the sausage gets made that pick yeah you, you back? Yeah. Okay, so I didn't cut because it was so fucking great. So let me see if I got this straight. In the middle of a Toronto Mike podcast, including me, we went to my audition and this is part of the podcast? Yes.

It was so good. That's bizarre. And by the way, you're a hell of an actor. And I don't know, that guy was pretty good too. Like, I'm all pumped up from this altercation I just witnessed. I feel like I just saw Will Smith slap Chris Rock. This was fucking incredible. I hope, if you get that, the legend will be made if you get that audition. Like, I'm rooting so hard for you to get that.

I got to witness how that sausage gets made, man. I just have to text my agent who's very angry at me. You text. I'm going to play something. You can text that. I'm going to play your sports reel, so do that. Let's hear it. Doesn't he look good?

You got Maple Leafs, the Jays and the Raptors, Zargos, golf shots, and exactos. Don't waste your time with mediocre slackers. You want sports, you want gross. Gives the scores better than most fellas. He's got the face to make men jealous. Women want him just as well as. You got gross, you got sports.

Peter Gross can make an extraordinary claim that really no one else can make. Not only was Peter on the ice when the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1964, but he was also on the field when the Blue Jays won the World Series back in 1993. He can tell you how your team will play. You sit and watch the games all day. free anyway you know Peter goes he did yeah he does something to me that no one else ever did 97 pro fights never off my feet Bob Muhammad only twice 15 rounds rounds, 12 rounds, 27 rounds altogether, never off my feet.

But Peter Gross, he did that miserable little act, had me off my feet. He's good with cola, he's friends with grapes, he's been to 23 Queens plates. He even cuts his on fucking tapes. You want sports, you want gross. Five out of six Canadian dentists prefer Peter Gross on sports. Actually, excessive exposure to Peter Gross can lead to gingivitis, increased tooth decay, and a predisposition to root canals. Oh shit, we've got the wrong one. The numbers wanting is gigamany Cause it pays a pretty penny

But who trained Humphreys and McKinney? You want sports, you want gross If there's one thing I can thank Peter Gross for, it would be teaching me the word ensuing, like how he used to say, well, the goal was scored, and then on the next player, the word ensuing, like I always used to say, well, the goal was scored, and then on the next player, the touchdown was scored, and then on the next player, on ensuing, like, it pretty well made me.

When you want your sports, you want your bros, the winter's such a evening host, so let's shout out that happy post. When you want sports, when you watch sports, you watch gross. When you watch sports, you watch gross. I always remember that.

Wow. Okay, so lots going on here on Toronto Mic'd, episode 1032, maybe? Okay, so do you want to credit quickly, because Paul Godfrey's on that, George Shavalo, Jim McKinney, Donald Cherry. Who else is on that clip?

Mark Daly. I think that's, anyone else I'm missing? Oh, yeah. Who's the goalie? Johnny Bauer's on that thing, too. Like, that's quite the cast. When did you put that together? Well, this was 2004 when Stephen Hurlbutt dismissed me from City TV.

There's a whole story there. Did we get that story? What? What is that story um well for four years i was doing world according to rossum 2000 2004 cgv and the i mean this sounds so self-serving but um the producer was terrified of of stephen hurlbut and and when i say all this it's my impression that okay so it's not necessarily fact and so i was sort of breaking a lot of rules of broadcasting not doing anything really obscene or or unseemly or you know not that didn't belong on tv but just just not doing

stories in the typical way because i was telling stories instead of doing reports and uh he was afraid that he'd get in trouble with with hurlbutt if he ran so a lot of my best work didn't get on air again my opinion uh the opinion and the opinion of others it was very frustrating and i went to hurlbutt from time to time and said this guy's not running my best stuff and the logging showed if it was that at the end of four years, so little of my best work got on air that, you know, I look like a two 20 hitter batting second for the blue Jays with no

homers and three RBIs. So they, so they fired me. And at the same time, yeah, they fired Gallagher as the sportscaster. So out of sheer desperation, I said, they fired Gallagher as the sportscaster. So out of sheer desperation,

I said, would you consider replacing Gallagher with me? I've got a long history of being a very dynamic sportscaster with City TV at Hurlbut said, well, you better give me a kick-ass piece of tape, which was really insulting. But you delivered. I didn't have to. Well, yeah, I knew that it wouldn't work, was really insulting yeah i didn't have you delivered i didn't have to well yeah and i did

i knew that i knew that it it wouldn't work but i just did it as my farewell uh salvo to hurl but and um there were several cameramen who gave up their time to help me out because we shot that on on several nights right um and uh you know so i put that together and actually it's it's a wonderful piece of video if you yeah if you find it on youtube peter gross's sports reel i think it's called and uh so i get a note from her but after i sent it to him that said uh great great audition tape but we've already hired someone and they hired this woman named heather lynn lovely young lady and they fucked her around so badly six months later she was fired i don't remember her at all no uh the problem was that she she wasn't really ready uh to be a sports anchor and she she got mixed messages about what she should be doing

you know one from the producer, one from the director, you know, and it was just, it was a disaster. Wow, but that is a, and again, if I can find it, anyone else can find it, Peter Gross Sports Reel. Yeah, I'm very, very, very proud of that. It's a really, it's a wonderful, funny, and that was my way of saying to her, oh, but, you know, what are you thinking?

I have heard every episode of Gallagher and Gross save the world. Therefore, I have heard John Gallagher curse that man's name on several occasions. Not a fan of the dude who let him go in that story. All right, Peter. So we auditioned for an ad during this chat, but I wanted to talk about Jeannie Becker.

Okay. Did you hear Jeannie Becker's Toronto Mike debut? I did. I did. I listened to some of it. I don't, I'm so surprised. Just the part where she referred to me.

Lots of, okay, well, that's what I did. So I pulled that part. Okay. So we're going to listen to Jeannie Becker on Toronto Mike talking about Peter Gross. And then we're going to get the real deal,

the real talk from Peter. Here we go. Well, Hey, this is a good segue because I produce a podcast for somebody, you know, from your past, Peter Gross.

What a cutie. Oh, what a character. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah yeah so peter i was chatting with on the phone this is the other day and i mentioned uh i said i'm chatting with jeannie becker on monday and peter pointed he made sure to let me know how he was always fond of you he always admired you and then he said he went on a date with you and i will i won't give any details it's none of my business and i'm i'm very happy for both of you but he was telling me a little bit about i guess And then he said he went on a date with you. And I won't give any details. It's none of my business. And I'm very happy for both of you.

But he was telling me a little bit about, I guess, you were wearing a dress designed by Taller Cranston. Like, he remembers all these details. Oh, God. And I totally remember. The minute you said that, I thought about what I was wearing. I was wearing it. Okay. Taller Cranston, the great Olympian, late great.

Okay, Toller Cranston, the great Olympian, late great, you know, so sad that Toller's gone because he was very, very, very, very close to me. He was like my confidant. He was my mentor. I'm sorry. And Toller invited me to go to the Genie Awards with him. the genie awards with him that that's what they used to call the uh the genie awards were like they had the gemini awards which were for tv i guess he thinks it was a woodbine uh race no i'm telling you about the dress oh okay sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry yeah okay taller decided that he was because he was my style mentor he was going to buy me this amazing dress that he saw in a window it was designed by wayne clark and it was just looked like something out of i don't

know like swan lake or the nutcracker suite or it had all this tulle and all these you know organza and crystals on it and it was an amazing dress so i didn't have much of an occasion to wear that but when peter gross the fabulous Peter Gross asked me to accompany him to a party at Woodbine Racetrack which was like his home away from home it still is so I wore that dress and for some reason I recall meeting his parents I think I think he might have taken me over to his parents' house. You know, his mom's still alive. Something like that. I don't know.

But yeah. Okay. So any adventure you have in the mid 80s with Peter Gross, I always wonder. And you can plead the fifth on this, even though that doesn't actually exist in this country. But you can do that. But in the mid 80s, Peter was really he was not a fan of Pepsi. Peter preferred Coke. You're terrible.

I don't know. No, I said, so we can skip over that. I think I did mushrooms with him once. A bunch of us went to the Woodbine racetrack one afternoon and did some magic mushrooms. Some psilocybin. Okay. That's as heavy as it got. Well, plead the fifth.

It's always safer to do that. But shout out to Peter Gross. Down the Stretch is the name of his podcast because he lives at Woodbine, as you know. well plead the fifth it's always safer to do that but uh shout out to peter gross down the stretch is the name of his podcast because he lives at woodbine as you know okay peter i'm glad you're here now you've heard that you've heard before um i guess i'm looking for the real talk on the limo date the date the date was going to in the limo whatever you tell us what was this date with genie becker and what exactly happened in that limousine well it's it's kind of coincidental because it was a date to the sovereign awards which were held at woodbine and the sovereign

awards are happening in uh thursday uh thursday and across the whole point your date now instead of genie becker it's garnett barnssdale. You've gone way downhill with your dates. Is he wearing a taller Cranston? No, I don't think he is. Garnett Barnsdale is getting mentioned a lot in this podcast, isn't he? He deserves it. It was a nice night. I don't have any really explicit but let's get memories of it what

do you want to know i want to know did you snort cocaine with genie becker in the back of that limo that is entirely possible it was certainly during the period that i was uh ingesting well what are these mushrooms she's talking about i never i never never did i never did mushroom i i had a couple bad experiences with acid or with mushrooms didn't enjoy that at all okay so i think that we have definitely covered the ground in multiple podcasts here that i did cocaine in the 80s no shame in that game if you didn't do coke in the 80s you weren't there right i did more coke than a lot of people and i like who did more coke you were gallagher that's that's difficult to say there there were nights where i did more than gallagher i mean it's easy 40 years after the fact to say that uh um i haven't done i haven't done any coke since 1987, and I was smoking pot regularly, and I stopped that in 1988, I would say.

So is your last consumption of cannabis 1988? Not really. When it was legal to grow, I grew a couple plants in my yard just to make that political statement. And I said, you know, you wrap it up and tie it all together, wrap it up,

hang it for several weeks and then all of the resin apparently drips out of the stalk into the leaves, dried it and I smoked a joint and got incredibly paranoid and frightened and scared

and may have as many as two other times smoked a third of a joint and each time I found it very unpleasant. Okay, well I would recommend you talk to the bud tenders at Canna Cabana. They can tell you what the different strains do and they can help you out. Don't waste your time and energies

trying to grow your own, man. Go to Canna Cabana. I'm not, well, I really, I'm disinclined to smoke any more pot after those. All right, man. They got beverages for you. They got edibles for you. We're going to take care of you, Peter.

But right now, I've got a toque. So courtesy of Canna Cabana, there's a toque for you, Peter. So you're getting the lasagna. So not a toque, but a toque, right? Yeah, right. And then when you're ready a toque. So courtesy of Canna Cabana, there's a toque for you, Peter. So you're getting the lasagna. So not a toque, but a toque, right? Yeah, right. And then when you're ready to toque, Canna Cabana is, well, it was created by and for people who love weed, love to smoke it, buy it, chat about it, and share it with their friends.

At Canna Cabana, they've got more than just weed. They've got bongs and pipes and vapes and dab rigs and grinders and anything else a smoker could want can you imagine if you thought back to those days in the 80s when you were regularly consuming cannabis did you ever think there would be a day when it would be completely legal in this fine country did you see that day coming i i didn't at all but but you know since we're talking about this you might want to uh give a shout out to i i produced a marijuana song at one point okay well i'll dig listen peter gross i think it's peter gross marijuana song on youtube it's gotten 30 hits so far i thought it would get

thousands um yeah but you you were wrong but uh i'm rooting for you but sometimes miracles are not possible so i I found it. So this will... Are you going to play it? Sure. We'll play a little bit of it. Well, you're my very special plant. You do something for me that others can't. One thing I want you to know.

It won't make me grieve wherever you spurt your leave. So grow marijuana, grow. Grow, grow marijuana anywhere that you want to. I'll just sit and play some honky-tonk. Can I critique it? Go grow marijuana anywhere that you want to. I'll just sit and play some honky tonk. Can I critique it? Can I give you some critique? Good line coming up.

Oh man, if this turns out to be good cannabis, I'm really going to get zonked. All right, so the style of this song is rather an older style, right? This is sort of, I don't know what you call this, like a folksy kind of bluegrass-y kind of jam, right? By the way, I should mention Eric Mehar, a wonderful musician, because the music's terrific. Whether or not you like the song, it's really well produced. Oh, the song's fine, but I'm just wondering about your expectations.

So you were envisioning millions of views. i thought this would get a good response i was wrong but you but be straight up with me what were you looking for like could you get 10,000 what was your oh i i had no idea um we did with with the same uh musician eric mahar we did a parody of the gordon lightfoot song wreck of the the Edmund Fitzgerald, Wreck of the Maple Leaf Season. And we got 100,000 hits within a few hours of that one. Oh, maybe. Okay, that's very good. That's extremely good. And that was during a period when the Leafs were doing very, very poorly.

Be more specific. Ha, ha, ha. Okay. Cambrio wants to know, do you have a new push-up record? What's your new push-up record? Because last summer you came, I think it was one of the great events in

the backyard at TMDS here. You did 70, no you did more. How many push-ups? I did 91 then. What's your record? I do 100 every day. Good for you, man. I could do more. It's funny, the progression. And quite frankly, at my age, it's very pleasing to know that I can still get more fit than I was.

So I was capable of doing 90, but no more, a year ago. Wow. And then I found, well, let's do 100. And for a few weeks, the 100 killed me. And now I do 100. I do 100 every morning. And when I get to 100, I'm happy to stop. But I'm not dying.

I'm not gasping. I could do 110. If someone put $1,000 down, I could do 110 consecutive push-ups. Congratulations. I don't know if I could do 10 push-ups, but you're doing 100 every day. It's amazing. To amplify the boast, I'm 71 and a half. I'll be 72 in July. I cannot find anyone online my age who can do 100 straight push-ups. Good for you.

There must be. There's got to be some. But still, that's amazing. Okay. Barrett Team wrote me a tweet. Barrett Team is looking for your derby pick. When is the derby? May the 7th, Saturday, May the 7th. Okay. Do you have a favorite?

What is the name? There were two horses on the weekend that ran sensational races. One of them was called Zandon, Z-A-N-D-O-N. And the other is called Tabla. I think it's T-A-N-D-O-N. And the other is called Tabla. I think it's T-A-I-B-L-A. And only because these are the two most recent Kentucky Derby preps, the timing is nice. Some, I think that's, is that four weeks with Saturday?

Yeah, Saturday would be four weeks exactly. So that's a good, that's good spacing for a racehorse. This horse, Zandon, was 10th down the backstretch. I can't even remember the name of the race. I think it was at Keeneland. It was at Keeneland. It was the Bluegrass Stakes. He was 10th down the backstretch,

and the jockey just weaved him in and out, and he was powerful at the end. And he went 150 and change for a mile and an eighth. Later that afternoon in the san anita derby um a horse called tabla now he had a much easier trip because there were only six horses in the race and he he came into the stretch and he collared the leader in the stretch and it looked like the two of them would bob heads to the wire but in the last 16th, this horse, Tabla, just... And at a mile and an eighth, at his mile and an eighth time was 147.

So that's three seconds faster, but you can't compare Santa Anita time to Keeneland time. Okay. I would never do that. But Tabla sounds like a good horse. I think it's T-A-I-B-L-A. All right. So there you go, Barrett team. Tabla, put all your money on Tabla to win the derby. No, don't. I'll tell you why.

Okay, don't do that't i'll tell you why okay don't do that um one of the biggest mistake horse players make is they see a horse run a sensational race and assume that it translates into the next race right and i i say look at the horses that didn't quite run a terrific race in these kentucky derby preps because they're improving as they go along. Interesting. And I've just cited two horses that may have peaked or may have something more to get, but just those two races were visually very stunning. You know, earlier we talked about how you Peters all stick together. Okay. We'd mentioned to several Peters, you, Peter Mansbridge, Pete Maravich, is that right? Pistol Pete, Pete Sampras. Were you friendly, or did you have any interactions

with the late, great Peter Goddard? Do you know who that is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we crossed paths a couple of times um i'm wondering if he might have mentioned me in a column about something yeah he did write about media stuff and uh i could see him writing about you there was um he wrote about hebsey for okay um he might have referred to something i did in the late 70s at city tv um i did i performed a horrible song with a group called the battered newsmen okay i don't really know the details and goddard might have referred to it wow maybe maybe yes maybe no so he passed away a long time toronto star writer for those who don't know uh peter goddard left us uh you know as and you know we're about to wrap soon but i'm still reeling from the gilbert

godfrey news i'll be quite honest podcast is about people who died but we did save your career by auditioning for that uh ad you're gonna get uh it's not an it's some kind of uh series it's not actually not an ad oh okay and that kid who was uh that younger person who was uh auditioning with was he was he is he going to be in that ad no that's that's the casting agency that okay because that guy was good i mean you saved my ass by by yes putting me through the zoom yeah so why don't you elaborate on that uh aspect of things how i saved your career here today. That's what I do for my friends.

Well, I have an agent. He's a terrific guy, Ron Barry. He's really pissed at me because this audition was 3.30 this afternoon and my brain told me it was tomorrow. But that is, Peter, on that note, that's dangerous. You've got to have a Google calendar.

You've got to have some kind of a calendar where you put stuff in it because that that's very big mistake you made there so that was that was very poor mike ragoski says i'm looking forward to getting back to woodbine for some races what can i expect to see after two weeks two years away from woodbine any changes kazushi kimura kazushi kimura is the best jockey at woodbine uh he's going to win the sovereign award on thursday um but not your award another one no well that's best jockey i know i know um the japanese jockeys uh are wonderful human beings because they go to uh jockey school in japan and one of the things they are taught is respect for the media so this this kazushi kimura is not only a terrific jockey he's the sweetest

young man it's funny when you're 70 years old you can talk about a 23 year old as a sweet young man and his his english is getting excellent he's very very bright and he's just he's a terrific story amazing amazing did you ever see the film uh cynthia dale starred in it it's called heavenly bodies did you ever see that movie any memories of heavenly bodies is that where she's she's she's naked and there's a shot of her butt i just i remember cynthia dale Speaking of Peter Mansbridge, I do not know about that scene with the derriere, but a young Stu Stone plays the son of Cynthia Dale's character in Heavenly Bodies,

and the person who created it just passed away, and I was just curious if you remember Heavenly Bodies. It's all about dead people. I know. Who's the person who created it? Gare? I want to say something. Gare?

I should know this, right? Heavenly bodies. Hold on here. I'll tell you in two seconds here. Lawrence Dane. Oh, Larry Dane. Okay, so you know Larry Dane. Oh, I know of Larry Dane.

And in the 70s and 80s, he made a lot of movies. Yeah, he died on March 21st. I'm guessing here, did Larry Dane have something to do with Face Off with Art Hindle and Trudy Young? Oh, it's funny you mentioned that movie because I just talked about that movie on Toronto Mike just a couple weeks ago. Here, let's see here. No, the Bassetts produced that. Here, let's see here. No. The Bassetts. The Bassetts produced that.

Right. And you know Jim McKinney's in that, but you already know that. Yeah. How's Jim doing? Oh, Jim's doing great. I mean, you're talking about the gambling issue. And one of the things that McKinney does for me is he's got money in an account, and he's betting the races every day.

And he has these incredible moments because he bets mostly long shots where he cashes thousands right and he when when he wins something he lets me bet two dollars to show on a horse through his account so it takes the pressure off of me wanting to gamble. I bet with his money. Okay, so he's fine. I'm just checking in on everybody. And then just before we say goodbye here today, you look great. You're feeling great?

Yeah, I'm fantastic. No lingering effects from the stroke you were afflicted with? Well, that stroke was a year and a half ago. It was on the occipital lobe. It affected my eyesight. They actually took my license away for three months. But during the hospital stay and subsequently, I had my eyes tested and was told at 70, I didn't need glasses, that my eyesight was. And you haven't had any LASIK or anything.

Have you had any surgery? No, no, no. So naturally at 70, you don't need glasses. I don't need glasses i don't need glasses because i'm uh pushing 50 and i can tell you uh although i'm hanging in there there are times when my eyes get tired and i actually do need glasses i i um i have a i have a doctor i haven't seen him dr feelgood in months dr victor they, uh, he, he changed offices and he had to transfer my medical records. So they asked me to get two weeks of blood pressure readings and the blood pressure was rather high. So they prescribed a pill that I take every day. And now

the blood pressure is much, much lower. So wow. Senior's moment. Yeah. I'm taking, I'm taking pills for cholesterol and for blood pressure. But you're feeling good? You're still rollerblading? I'm just getting back into it. I haven't seen you in a while. I'm getting back into the rollerblading. I probably put on five pounds during the winter because in December.

Yeah, you're eating to stay warm or something. I'm not like you, Greg, who goes out and rides his bike during a blizzard. I'm up 10 pounds since COVID started. Well, you're not, but you're not a fat guy. I'm a short guy, so when I put... Don't want to be flabby anymore. You remember this? Don't want to be a fat guy.

Rubbery, blubbery, out of shape, dude. Look at me, I'm a pear. I'm 5'2", and I weigh 160, 162, and I'd be better at 145. And if I got down to 105, I could ride a woodbine. Good luck with that. You're too muscly to get down to 105. Peter, always a pleasure. It won't be your last time on the show.

Damn it, you're amazing, and I'm so glad we got to do that audition together. It was exciting for me to witness that. I don't see that. I've never auditioned for an ad before. But it's all captured on tape. You realize that? Everything was recorded and everybody can hear the whole thing. I'm not going to

edit a stitch. So hopefully they aren't pissed at that. Any final words? Obviously the horse racing fans should subscribe to Down the Stretch. Opening day at Woodbine, Saturday, April the 16th. It's going to be fantastic. It looks like the weather's going to be excellent.

First time in two years that they're going to have any kind of significant crowds. Yeah. So it should be wonderful. And speaking of significant crowds, I'm at my first Leafs game in several years. I'm going to the Leafs game right now. So you'll see me on TV if you're watching. And maybe Austin hits 60 tonight.

It is possible. Did you see the goal he scored in overtime against Dallas? Yes. That was a Jose Batista moment after the goal with the gesture of the crowd. And that that brings us to the end of our 1,032nd show. You can follow me on Twitter.

I'm at TorontoMike. Peter does not really do a good job on Twitter, but he is there. Peter the Gross. Peter, you could do a better job engaging with your fans on Twitter. No interest? You're just too busy? if you're fans on Twitter.

No interest? You're just too busy? I post the podcast and I post every issue of Down the Stretch and occasionally converse with people. But no, I'm not a huge Twitter guy. Oh, shout out to Mike Epple.

Great FOTM Mike Epple who's a good friend of yours. Yes. Talk with him often. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery. They're at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta's at Palma Pasta. Don't worry, you're getting your lasagna. I know you love it and I'm happy to give you

another one. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Ridley Funeral Home is at Ridley FH. There was a lot of funeral talk today. We're gonna miss Gilbert Gottfried. Enjoyed his sense of humor. We'll always have the Aristocats. No, the fucking Aristocrats.

The Aristocats was that cartoon, the Disney cartoon. Okay, I'm indulging. Canna Cabana. They're at canna cabana underscore. See you all tomorrow. And my special guest is the cowboy dancer from Electric Circus who released the 12 inch single summertime,

summertime, and then fathered not one, but two major league baseball players, Dalton and Tristan Pompey. My guest is Ken Pompey. See you then. Everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow

warms me today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places

I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green

Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms us today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away. Cause everything is rosy now, everything is rosy and everything is rosy and gray. Thank you.