Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Rick The Temp: Toronto Mike'd #912

Episode Date: September 8, 2021

Mike chats with Rick The Temp a.k.a. Rick Campanelli about his years at MuchMusic, Entertainment Tonight Canada, 102.1 the Edge and more.

Welcome to episode 912 of Toronto Mic'd, a podcast about anything and everything. 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. Chef Drop. Access top chef and restaurant prepared meal kits shipped across the GTHA. Thank you. 1,200 CEOs, executives, and business owners around the world. 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 Mike Majewski, he's the real estate agent who's ripping up the GTA real estate scene. Learn more at realestatelove.ca.

Hi, Mike. From torontomike.com and joining me this week is Rick the Temp. And that's all the time we have for you. That was amazing, man. Well, good for you. Congratulations. Rick, are you okay, though, that I'm referring to you still? Here we are in 2021.

I'm still calling you Rick the Temp. God bless you. And God bless everyone that still refers to Rick Campanelli as Rick the Temp because that meant a lot to me. It still does to this day. So I appreciate that. So there's no, like, I mean, you eventually got the gig, right? Yeah, eventually.

I mean, we're going to get into this. But you also go by Rick Campanelli. Is that fair? I do. And my parents were so proud the day they saw the last name scrolled along the bottom instead of the temp. That was one of their proudest days. But you and I are similar vintage.

And if you remember, the Degrassi it was called Schools Out. And you might remember though that Joey Jeremiah was fucking Tessa Campanelli. Do you remember this? Any relation to Tessa Campanelli? No relation. Actually, Tessa came along before Rick the Temp Campanelli came along. On the screen

that is. I've been around since oh gosh. I was almost a 60s baby, Mike. Let's just put it out there. You know what? You're aging very well. It's all this beautiful Right. I've been around since, oh gosh. I was almost a 60s baby, Mike. Let's just put it out there. You know what? You're aging very well. Well, it's all this beautiful beard that I've been sent. Great Lakes, thank you. 1970.

I'm a 70 kid, yeah. Okay, so that means you are now in your 50s. I am. Wow. January 5th, 1970. I am 51 as we speak today. Wow, you're aging well. You're aging well. let's let's get that

glb connection out of the way because i got introduced to you although and we'll get into this i uh almost had you on in the past a pr person wanted you to come on and talk about a pasta sauce oh like and then in the discussions i decided like i like I said, I do want Rick Campanelli on Toronto Mic'd, but I didn't want it to be like... Just about pasta sauce. Yeah, like you were going to like... It was more to me than just pasta sauce. You were going to cook or something, and I said,

well, I'm going to hold out in the hopes one day Rick comes to his senses and says, get me on Toronto Mic'd. Mike, I would have come back again and again. I think it was World P day that okay the pr firm reached out to you about and i was uh you know being the the good italian kid that i am from hamilton i i i lent my services to be i guess an ambassador to world yeah i don't know what it was right yeah i think there was a there was a brand of sauce that you were an ambassador for and i get how that works i just ran ran off ran off several sponsors here.

But I felt like maybe I'll wait until he's less focused on the sauce. You know what I mean? Hey, I'm always focused on my pasta sauce. But we got reintroduced because Troy Birch at Great Lakes Brewery introduced us and made this happen. What's your connection

to Great Lakes other than the fact that they have delicious fresh craft beer? Yeah, well, I did this gig for this Brewers series. And, of course, Great Lakes Brewing was a big part of that. I think we were giving away some of their product that weekend. And the gentleman that was in charge of that series got me in touch with Troy. And Troy got us in touch together.

There you go. It's a bit of a small world. Troy's a connected individual. So once you're in that craft beer universe, Troy's going to know about you. He makes the introductions to others, yeah, which was really cool of him. You want to crack one open with me? I would love that. Okay, so what we have in front of you, three are cold. You have to guess about you. He makes the introductions to others, yeah, which was really cool of him. You want to crack one open with me? I would love that, yeah. Okay, so what we have

in front of you, three are cold. You have to guess which ones. There's a lager, the premium lager. You got the Canuck Pale Ale, which I know is Troy's favorite. And then I gave you an IPA

called Burst, which is fantastic. And there's a Tango too. But you grab your beer. I've got a sunny side. I'm going to go after Troy's favorite because I've had that one before

and I like it. Delicious. And crack it on the mic when you do that. I was going to say, you've got to stop tempting me like this because I've got to get right after. Oh, just have one. How's that?

Just one for now. Oh, I love that. So get it on the mic, though. Oh, yeah. Get it on the mic. Yeah. Get it on the mic. Ready?

You want to go first? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Didn't sound as good as yours. You've got to do it right. I've got to say, cheers to you, Rick. And I've been watching you on TV for many, many years, but it's a pleasure to finally meet you.

Thank you, Mike. Pleasure, man. That's great. Nice to meet you as well. And thanks, Great Lakes, for the beer. Delicious. You mentioned Hamilton. So nice.

Yes, sir. First question I got for you is a listener named Michael. I guess he goes by Mike, as I do, but Mike Monez. And Mike says, ask him about his days at St. Mary's High in Hamilton on the Mac campus. I went to the Enemy High School, Cathedral High School. Oh, Mike. What's going on here? So, Mike, first of all, let's get to your last name.

I'm assuming Portuguese. I went to grade school with Luis Monez. And funny how we talked about my birthday earlier, Mike. And Mike. That's right. Lots of Mike. Podcast with us right now. Luis Monez and I were born on the same day.

January 5th, 1970. This is all coming together. I'll bet you he's related. I'll find out afterwards when he listens back. But Mike, let us know if you're related to Luis. So Mike was a Cathedral Gale. And they had the best sports teams okay. This was an all

boys school and we were mixed of course St. Mary's on the Mac campus back then. Now they've moved more west towards Dundas a bit more they're looking across Alexander Park where I played my youth baseball with the Alexander Park Blue Jays

but yeah St. Mary's was a great school. I spent five years there after grade school. And getting back to sports, I was personally involved with only winning one city championships, and that was for badminton. Really? I don't know if I've ever met anybody who actually competed in badminton. That's your sport of choice. It was a mixed doubles championships, and my partner and I won it.

Wow. But Mike, he's so right. They were the rival school, and they always, not always, I'm going to say always, but most often beat us up in sports because they were that good. Wow. So you're a Hamilton boy. Except basketball, okay? Except basketball.

You guys were good at basketball. Yeah, yeah. Okay, you had their number there. You're a Hamilton guy. Shout out to Tom Wilson from Junkhouse. Yeah, Tom, yes. And of course, Steve Paikin. Yeah, of course.

He's a Hamilton guy. Yeah, of course they are. I got to name all the Hamilton guys here. Alex Pearson. I know she was a Hamilton gal. Alex Pearson, of course. Yeah, she was big on... Hamilton guys here. Alex Pearson. I know she was a Hamilton gal. Alex Pearson, of course. Yeah, she was big on my former colleague. Hamilton had a great punk scene.

Like the great punk bands out of Hamilton. Back when we were kids, I guess. And that's the sort of the introduction to music for me. That scene, my older siblings being into all sorts of music at the time. My parents constantly listening to music. So yeah, all these introductions to the world of music. So let's get you to Much Music. And then I have about 462 questions for you about Much Music.

But of course, I called you Rick the Temp because if you're of a certain vintage as I am, Rick Campanelli will always be the temp. Now, how did you become the much music temp like how did all that work and then we'll get to the question that title yeah well they had a promo running in a promo slash contest back back in the early to mid 90s that was called the temp contest and it sort of coincided with paramount's release of the movie the temp Temp. And Much Music was, of course, promoting the movie. And they thought they'd tie in a contest with this movie.

And it was 93 or 92, the first one, which I entered, but failed miserably at winning that. So I thought, in 94, I'm going to really put a lot more effort into this entry and this submission. So I went all out. It was a visual entry. We had 25 words or less to explain why we would be the perfect temp that summer. And I just went all out on this entry.

It took me like a couple weeks. I was just talking to my dad yesterday. The entry, the big M- M shaped box is still in his basement his damp basement I'm going to Mike and I'm going to send you the picture when I take it I have a picture of it back in 94 with my long grunge hair but I'm going to take one

this afternoon when I get back to that area and I'm going to send it to you and yeah that was it and I won that contest and the rest is history. And that name stuck for the first few years because I was the temp winner of that year. You were the temp.

And then I know there was an effort to try to get you rebranded as the franchise, but I'm sorry. Oh, I don't know about that. I don't know about that. Bradford and George pushed that name on me a lot. But the franchise comes with a lot of pressure. I didn't want the pressure.

I just wanted to fly under the radar that much. And I had a great... Well, you did a shitty job of doing that. Because you were labeled franchise because not only were you there a long time, and we'll get into the nitty-gritty here, but you were also extremely popular. Like, even when I saw you walk in the backyard,

I felt like warm fuzzies. Like, oh, Rick is here. I'm glad to see him. It's felt like warm fuzzies. Like, oh, Rick is here. I'm glad to see him. It's all about warm fuzzies. It always is. Why put cold fuzzies out there? Life's too short for cold fuzzies. I'm all about warm fuzzies.

A big smile and quite positive. Very optimistic, as you'll learn or you probably know from the past, but that's the only way to be. Well, listen, you're going to get warm fuzzy shortly because I'm about to blow your mind with some gifts for just dropping by here. But first I'm going to read this question. I like it. It's from Elephants and Stars.

Manfred is his name, but his band is called Elephants and Stars. Much music had a contest for a new VJ once, and it was a big, long thing. This red-haired kid won, and then I think he was on the air once and then never heard from or seen again.

I always wondered what the backstory was. And he says, even Ed the Sock used to reference his disappearance on air. Who is this red-haired kid we're talking about? Okay, so that is Aaron Stradi. Okay. And Aaron, okay, we're going back a few years here, okay?

And there was a lot of this back in the day, can I just say? A lot of rock shows. A lot of alcohol consumed. My memory isn't as good as some of the other people that were there at the time. But Aaron, I believe, came in from out west. I'm going to say out west. And yeah, so when it comes to promotions and contests like the temp, like the VJ search, it's not a given.

You're sort of put on this three-month probation period. And that happened to me as the temp. It happened to me when i first started on air and then once the brass see that you're capable and you you've got the chops to do the job i think they extend it for i think another three months um and then you you sign your long-term contracts so i i don't know i can't get into the details cause I don't know the details, but, but my theory on things is maybe, and Aaron was a very young man at the time. Um,

see, I was in my mid twenties already in 94. I was, I was 24. So maybe I was a little more experienced with life experience with this, with that, you know, we,

we all lived music. We all breathed music. No doubt about that, including Aaron. But maybe things just didn't work out the way they worked out for me with Aaron. I don't know. You have to have Aaron Stradi on the show. Yeah, I just learned his name.

So now I've got to hunt this guy down for sure. So let me get this straight. You got this temp gig in your mid-20s. So what were you doing between school and much music? I was going to school. After St. Mary's, which we briefly spoke about, I went to Brock University

for physical education. Wow. And I was going to follow in the footsteps of my older three siblings and become a teacher. Right. Any regrets you didn't do that?

That seems like more job security. Yeah, for sure. And the pension's amazing. Right. And any regrets you didn't do that? Like that seems like more job security. Yeah, for sure. And the pension's amazing. Right. They all retire at like 55 and they're done. Are you kidding me? My one brother's about to retire in a year and a half and he can't wait. And we're still hustling.

Oh my goodness. We're still hustling. But look, does he get to drink free Great Lakes Brewing Beer daily like you probably? No, he doesn't. He has to pay for his. He's got to pay for his beer. Here, let me do this now. I got some stuff I want to give you.

I don't want anything from you. I just appreciate talking to you, man. I love it. No, dude, you made the trek. You're here now. This is episode 912. Good for you, man. You came in the right month.

We have a new sponsor here. I want the FOTMs to listen up. This is important. Chef Drop. Okay, and I say this in the right month. We have a new sponsor here. I want the FOTMs to listen up. This is important. Chef Drop. Okay. And I say this in the intro and it's kind of the most succinct way to say it. But you can access top chef and restaurant prepared meal kits and they'll ship it to you in the GTHA. Do you live in the GTHA?

Is that the Greater Toronto Hamilton area? Yeah, I'm a Hamilton kid. I'm right in between the two, let's just say. So you're in the jurisdiction. Yes. So this is for you, Rick, and then I have a special treat for all the listeners. They're going to email you a $75 gift card to use at chefdrop.ca. No way, that's amazing.

And you can check it out. I know, isn't that amazing? Thank you. I know, I know. That's not necessary, but I really appreciatedrop.ca. No way, that's amazing. And you can check it out. I know, isn't that amazing? Thank you. I know, I know. That's not necessary, but I really appreciate that. Wow. Well, when Rick the Temp comes by,

they pull out all the stops here. Chef Drop, and one of my favorite pastimes, you know, aside from listening to music and loving music, I love to eat food. And I'm assuming, I'm assuming Chef Drop is all about that.

Yeah, I mean, I'm going to run down. I'm mispronouncing every other name on this, but there's famous chefs if you're into the uh if you're a foodie you'll know these names but even like i we're drinking our great lakes they serve great lakes at union chicken so union chicken uncle ray's food and liquor the carbon bar richmond station pies by squires uh momofuku oh my god m's Brigadero. Yeah, you got it. That's handcrafted chocolate there. There's Mexican for great tacos. There's a French restaurant.

Gertie's Peanut Butter Pies, if you want desserts. So all this. You go to chefdrop.ca. You've got the $75 gift card. Everybody listening can save 20% right now off your first order if you use the promo code FOTM20. Rick, that means friend of Toronto Mike. You're now an FOTM.

FOTM20. Use that promo code. Help yourself. Help the show. Let Chef Drop know that there's great value in fueling real talk like this. So you've got your $75 from Chef Drop. You're drinking a great fresh can of

Great Lakes beer. I'm going to thank for their support. Sticker you. There should be a Toronto Mike sticker on that red box. Right here. That's yours, buddy. But please know that I didn't come all this way just for all this. I just wanted to talk to you, Mike. You know, you've been reaching out to me for a little while.

We had to cancel at one point we've had to push it back a few times but listen I came to talk you came to talk and we're going to

get into it but you're of Italian descent Campanelli you know good Italian food when you have it that's why

I also have in the freezer for you a large meat lasagna courtesy of Palma Pasta so you got the 75 bucks at chefdrop.ca you got the large meat lasagna you got Palma Pasta. So you got the $75 at chefdrop.ca.

You got the large meat lasagna. You got the fresh cans of Great Lakes beer. You got the sticker from Sticker U. It's like the Showcase Showdown on Price is Right right here. Find me another Canadian program that will compensate you as such. You don't get this at the CBC. Never. You wouldn't get this at Much Music.

Never mind. This is amazing. This is great. Thank you. All right, let's get you back to Much Music. Not necessary. Not necessary. Mark Jordan. Not the Mark This is amazing. This is great. Thank you. All right, let's get you back to much music. Not necessary. Mark Jordan.

Not the Mark Jordan, though. This guy's- Singer-songwriter. No, because that's Mark of a C. I've had a chat with him. He's very talented. He's married to Amy Skye, you know. Yes, he is.

Yes, he is. Very talented guy. He's written a hit for- Who's the American Idol? Carrie Underwood, I believe, has a hit for Mark Jordan. He's written tons of hits, let's just say. Mark Jordan. Talented Torontonian.

I should get him on the show, actually. But this Mark Jordan has a K in his name. Mark, and he says, when does Rick intend on making the leap and becoming full-time instead of temp? So did you, like, was there a moment where they said, okay, we're going to keep you around long-term? Like, did you just earn your stripes?

Yeah, I guess after you've put in your probation time, and I can only speak for much music because I lived it. So, yeah, after you get through that three months, you've put in your probation time and I can only speak with for much music because I lived it. So yeah, after you get through that three months, that six months, and then, then they like what you're doing and you're working and they see something in you,

then you get to sign a two year contract or that's what I did back in the day. Now, um, it's almost next to volunteering your time, but at least you're specific. The statute of limits, you can be honest. I've had a lot of people from the Chum Much Empire. In fact, a lot of them I know work.

It was a great empire. That was a great empire. Well, are you kidding me? I mean, like I said, several hours I could spend talking to you about that 299 Queen Street and all the stuff going on there. And this is, of course, an era where Moses was running the show. It was a magical era. It was a magical time.

Well, tell me, like, what made it magical? And feel free, please. Some people are hesitant to name drop. I want you to just drop those freaking names like they're hot, man. Just drop them. It was a playground for us. I grew up, like I said earlier, listening to music, loving music. And now I get to not only be surrounded by other people that love it and listen to it. It's around us all the time.

The bands are actually coming in for us to interview. We're going to see their shows that same night. It's like I was in heaven, man. It was heaven on earth for me. And I was just telling my wife about this the other night because we finally got to see our first concert in like 18 months. Which one? Because I just saw my first concert in 18 months.

Oh, I saw Blue Rodeo the weekend before. At the same venue. Same venue. Bud's stage, great stage. Sorry, Troy. They've been around a lot longer in the game. One thing about Troy is he knows there are these large conglomerates and he's like

come at me bro and one of the largest right there so Maroon 5 came to town and I remember interviewing Maroon 5 for songs about Jane you know when they came in they were a little less poppy back then

they were kind of a rock band back then. Yeah, yeah. But Adam still had that voice. It's such a unique voice. And those abs. And the abs. Not as many tattoos back then. But that was going back to, when did songs about Jane come out?

97? I don't even know. Is it 97? I don't know. Late 90s anyway. Yeah. But just that, and of course that night okay so you do the interview with the band and and all the vjs will attest to this like you get invited to

the show by the band you hang out with the band you you become friends with the band this band in particular yeah something else came up for me that night and I couldn't take them up on their offer. Wow, I need the details there. Yeah, listen, that was a long time ago. Was it illicit drug or was it a woman? Maybe it was a family event that I was off to that night. I don't know. Large Italian family, Mike. So I couldn't make

the Maroon 5 show that night. You were the muscle for it. I apologize to the Italian Canadian community. It's all good. They get it. We've gotten it for years. I call Anthony Petrucci, whose family owns Palma Pasta.

Literally, if he phones, I answer, Godfather. I know how the game's played. You kiss him on his left pinky finger when he comes. I just can't wait until his daughter gets married. I got some favors to call in. Yeah, there you go. Anyway, to make a long story short, you became friends with people along the way, and that was great, and sometimes you didn't.

But that day and that night could have kicked off a long, fruitful friendship with Adam, but it didn't. Did you pay for the tickets for the concert you just saw? Oh, yes, I did. Oh didn't. I'm just saying it didn't. Did you pay for the tickets for the concert you just saw? Oh, yes, I did. Oh, okay. Of course I did.

But Mike, what I'm getting at is if I had become friends with him back like 23 years ago, whatever it was, he probably would have said, called me up, Rick, I'm in town. You got to come to the show.

You can hang out with my beautiful supermodel Victoria Stewart wife. Bring your wife. Bring the kids. But it didn't go down that way because history didn't, there was something in the books back then

and I didn't go to the show that he personally invited me to and I regret it to this day. That must have been some important family event that you had to attend. But that just goes to show you, family comes first. That's beautiful.

Family will always come first. Now, my wife hits me, not physically, but spiritually every day for not becoming friends with her crush, as she puts it, her hall pass. Adam Levine. Anyhow, what are you going to do? But hey, good to see live music back. Yeah. And it felt good. Too long. Uh, yeah. And it was, it felt good.

I don't know about you. My comfort level outdoors is completely different from my comfort level indoors. Yes. I've been to a TFC match. I've been to blue rodeo. I'll go, I'll hang out with like 15,000 people outdoors,

but inside, I don't know. I don't want to be around 15 people. Well, if you're fully vaccinated and you're wearing a mask and you got your little, you know, your cream. Yes, but how old is your child? I have a 16, 7, and 5.

I did the same thing. I did the same thing. I have a 19, 17, and then I have a 7 and a 5. What? Because I'm guessing you have two different baby mamas. Yes. I did the exact same thing. Okay. But you know the little one not vaccinated. have a seven and a five what because i'm guessing you have two different baby mamas that yes i do the exact same thing okay but you know the little one not vaccinated see that's my concern i don't want to bring it in i know i'm not going to be hospitalized with covid i'm fully vaccinated yeah

but i don't want to bring it in the house because i got two people living with me who have not been vaccinated that's i just once they're like tied up and done done, I might just go fucking nuts. Who knows? Yeah, you may. You may just have to go into a bar with other people and have a drink. Right, and I will happily do so. Hey, what was it like for you? I get this question a lot. People are like, you know, you were done, and then you were changing diapers again.

Oh, I loved it. So we did the same thing. Yeah, tell me what your experience was like. I loved every second of it. I want more babies. To this day, as we speak right now, on the record, I want more babies. Really? And my wife and I talk about it sometimes.

Now, thank God she's 10 years younger than I am, so it's still possible. Listen, even if we were in our 90s, it could still be possible for us. But for the women, it's a trickier situation. But I would still love another. Is she receptive to having another? She is. I just told the story to someone this morning. I agreed to have a third with my wife, who I love very much, Monica. Great.

And then when Jarvis was about a year, you met Jarvis earlier. Yeah, Jarvis. Monica literally, she looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes, and she said, I'd like another. Wow. And I said, okay. I said, okay, I'd like another. And I didn't like, and I said, okay, I said,

okay, you can have another. I felt it was fair. You gave two to the first wife. You should give two to the second, to your final wife, second wife, second in a series.

I'm trying not to say that. But just stop there though. Okay. Well, guess what I did last, guess what I did? Well, no more wives for sure,

but you know what I did last December? Vasectomy. You did it. Done it. So I'm, I'm done. So if Monica's pregnant again, I'm going to be looking at you.

But you could reverse that whole procedure I hear these days. Can you not? It's like a tattoo. I'm not even going to Google that. I have no idea. I don't even need to know.

Come on, man. It's 2021. You could reverse anything. You could do anything these days in the medical field. No, that was too... I went through too much to reverse that.

So I just... For kids, it's a lot. So I will say you won't regret having a fourth if you did it. I got the blueprint here. It's wonderful. Good for you. Okay, good.

And maybe a girl. I've got three boys. Oh, yeah. I would like to experience fatherhood as a father of a girl. I've got a lot of buddies that have girls as daughters, and they say it's a totally different ball game that you're dealing with, but it'd be cool to experience that.

Well, that's where I got lucky. I did boy-girl. Yeah. Took a decade off and then I did boy-girl. Good for you. So I've got the best of both worlds, as they say. And you have teenagers and you have little ones. Well, I just got a text right now.

You'll laugh. Literally, my phone was blown up. I just took a peek at it. My 19-year-old who lives in Waterloo, because he's going to Laurier for university, says, he just asked me, because I feel like a side chick, he wrote, he just asked me if I could send him $3,000, because he owes a big chunk of money to Laurier. Like, he's just right, I'm looking at it right now. Just right now.

He said, $3,000 at some point, sir. He called me, sir. And he goes, no rush, but don't forget. And then he wrote, I feel like a side chick. Wow. He's a funny guy. James, shout out to James. But he's asking me now for $3,000.

So just prepare yourself. Well, prepare yourself for those teenage years where the teenagers will come to you asking for money. Well, listen, Mike, you and I did it to our parents when we were that age. Yeah, but not 3,000. I paid my whole tuition. Good for you. I know because I worked at the grocery store. I worked hard.

3,000, this is a whole different world. But I'm actually happy, but not 3,000. I paid my whole tuition. Good for you. I know, because I worked through the grocery store. I worked hard. 3,000, this is a whole different world, but I'm actually happy. Inflation, yeah. I'm happy to come up with it for him because I want to give him that education.

I want to give him that step up here. He's a golden hawk, is he? That's what they're called, right? Yeah, he's a golden hawk. Laurier Golden Hawks, is that right? That's right.

What year is he in? Second. Second year, good. Well, that's great, man. And what's he taking? He downgraded to general arts. He was taking like a business accounting thing. He's not sure. He's not certain. Yeah, he's not sure.

So now he's taking more of a general arts to figure it all out. Maybe he'll become a much music VJ. I don't know. We'll talk if that's possible. By the way, back to you, my friend. Enough about me. Jerry the Garbage Man wants me to ask you if you remember when Blondie didn't believe that you won a contest

to be a VJ. Is this in your memory bank anywhere? He's got memories of this. Debbie Harry apparently I don't remember this but Jerry remembers Blondie not believing that you won the contest to become a VJ. Are you sure it wasn't Cindy

Lopper? Well hey I'm going to say I have no idea what Jerry's talking about. Okay, wait a minute. But I would remember Blondie, Debra Harris. She was very influential. Wait a minute. Did I interview Blondie? Jeez. You wouldn't forget.

I would say you didn't because you would not forget interviewing Blondie. But you know what? They started doing a lot of these quick um red carpet type interviews during tiff during all these other movie film festival film festivals where a lot of these artists would contribute to the soundtrack and then you'd see them on the red carpet and then you know you were there to interview basically the actors and you had like 10 20 actors and then all of a sudden an artist uh senior songwriter would come and you know what i'm sorry i'm gonna it sounds really ridiculous but i do forget interviews here and there mike

there were so many but but i would have remembered deborah harry blondie i'd be shocked if you could forget but this next question might tie into why you forget and i'm legit curious i should preface this by saying, Steve Anthony's been over a handful of times and has been very honest about certain details. I love Steve. He was my inspiration. Really?

Yeah. He might hear this. Yeah, Steve is. Continue that thread. Like what? You watched him in the 80s. I watched him in the 80s. And I loved tuning in for the music video,

don't get me wrong, because it was so novel back then. It was so new. And I loved putting pictures to the music video, don't get me wrong, because it was so novel back then. It was so new and I loved putting pictures to the music, the actual music. But Steve, the way he did things as a VJ on Much Music in the 80s and the 90s, and then when I got to meet him as a temp in 94, the guy, he's a one of a kind. He has that frenetic energy. He still has that frenetic energy.

But he opened up quite a bit about the cocaine that was being done at Much Music. And the question I have from DJ Dream Doctor, he wants to know, Rick, how much cocaine did you see being done at Much Music? Well, here's the thing. And I learned this years after being there for that long. I never went down that road. Never to this day. Smart. there for that long i i never went down that road uh never to this day smart but but they had this little room beside the audio booth where we'd go in and we voice over do you remember those uh

they call them the molson uh tour dates and we used to go in there live sure and there was something visual on this on the screen and it'd show a band, and we'd say, yeah, well, this band, 5440, performing at the Horseshoe next Thursday night, or whatever, along those lines. So this little room that we did all those VOs from, well, there were remnants of those drug days, and you saw little, you know what we call that, I believe. That was John Gallagher's office. I'm sure he's proud of it.

Because, well, that was the life back then that was it went hand in hand with what these people were doing i'm talking the 80s now 90s when i got there i i listen then all more power to them that was amazing when i got there, I, seriously, Mike, I lived, breathed, I ate, I dreamt about music. I just, music, music was all about, that got me high. The music got me high. Oh, me too, buddy. Me too. It still does.

I'm so jealous that you got to meet all these artists coming through 299 Queen. Like, are there any- I pinched myself every day. Pinch yourself right now. Right now. Like, give me a, like, what are a few of the personal triumphs, if you will? Shout out to Rick Emmett, who's on the show next week. Yeah, Rick's on.

Rick came by to play the national anthem for us when we tossed the tree over for the annual tree toss. Speaking of Steve Anthony. Isn't that his? That was Steve's gig, for sure. Right. With Mike the Cleaner. God bless Mike. He's up in sure with Mike the Cleaner. God bless Mike. He's up in heaven watching down on us now.

But Mike the Cleaner and Steve Anthony started that whole racket of the tree toss, and God bless them. And I was just fortunate enough to take over for Steve when he left, and Mike and I got to do it a couple times. Ed the Sock was involved a couple times. But I remember Rick coming. And you know how Jimi Hendrix did the star-stem-angled banner at Woodstock. of course in a minute i'm gonna play a clip of you at woodstock right on but rick came by to do the canadian national they made up they made it a big deal as you remember this tree toss it got

to be a huge monster it was a beast on its on its own dude you're making me miss much music i know i am of the age though where i spent hours every day watching Much Music. Me too. You know. We were fans, Mike. It wasn't just, I did love the videos, but I loved the personalities

that were involved. I loved the characters. Like, I loved, you know, Erica M. Yeah. Or Steve Anthony. Or Michael Williams. Or Master T.

You know, you mentioned later generations, the Strombos, the Ed the Socks, the Rick the Temps. You mentioned Bradford. Bill Welichka took me under his wing. He's working in Kingston with my buddy Bingo Bob.

Bill, Bill, one of the best. And so talented. He does it all. Edits and hosts and produces. And he would do the Outlaws and Heroes. Outlaws and Heroes. Outlaws and Heroes. Shout out to Johnny Cash.

Okay. So, so many places to go here, but I'm going to, and by the way, you probably don't know this, but I produced a podcast and there's like 50 in the can. You should check it out one day. Yeah, I will. It's called Gallagher and Gross Save the World. It's John Gallagher and Peter Gross, basically. And these stories are unbelievable.

And they talk a lot about the Moses era and different things. And Deanie Petty. Okay, what an era that was. Yeah, Peter Gross goes way back. They both did sports, right? Yeah. They both did sports. And Peter talks about quitting much music in like the mid 80s.

Not much music. City TV. Same difference. But he quits it in like a cocaine induced like rage. He was doing a lot of coke in the mid 80s. And he quits and he ends up begging Moses for his job back at some point. But it's so reserved. Yeah, I could see that.

That doesn't surprise me about the guys back in the day. And God bless those guys because they paved the way for the VJs of yesteryear, sorry, the latter days. And as we know, TikTok has reinvented much music in their own way. So that's good to see. Have you tuned in any of that? Well, because I heard, I read the press release, but I actually haven't, like, I don't consume TikTok.

I see things here and there every once in a while. I'll get some TikTok stuff on Instagram. And you know what? Amazing. It's amazing. It's much music for today's generation. It's 2021. You and I lived it back in the 80s and 90s, Mike,

and we watched it religiously. And the youth of today need that as well. And it's a different medium. Of course, it's a different beast altogether, but it's still needed. Much music, it's a staple in this country. And obviously more so back in the day when things were a little simpler. Yeah, well, we didn't have the internet. That's a key in this country. And obviously more so back in the day when things were a little simpler.

Yeah, well, we didn't have the internet. That's a key part of the equation. It really is. You can't go back again. I can't explain to my teenagers what it's like to not actually be online. And you don't miss it because it doesn't exist yet. It's one of those things where you can't go back. It's like being born blind.

You don't know what a sunset looks like. Have you showed them a rotary phone, by the way they've seen they've seen one of those things yeah rotary phones uh yeah it's it's it's kind of uh wild to think of how different 2021 is because we're all like pervasively online i was talking to my buddy about this same topic the other day he was he and he put it beautifully we our, was born in the sweet spot of history, of life. Right. Gen X.

We've seen so much take place. Of course, the Industrial Revolution, we'll give that to our grandparents, but we, this technology. Oh, great-grandparents. Or great-grandparents, yeah. This computer age

that we've witnessed from its inception. Right. And where is it going to take us? Maybe it's going to take us to Mars one day. Who knows? But we've hit the sweet spot. Do you remember when you first got online? Do you remember? Because I was at U of T

and I remember going to the library at U of T because I had a utoronto.ca email address. And I remember, I think the first stop, I think I went to, there was a CNNSI or something, some Sports Illust Illustrated thing and going to the website and chatting about Roger Clemens okay like I but but it's kind of like like like the fact that I'm in and I'm doing math in my head yeah I'm in my early 20s when I get online for the first time you'll never forget those those

days where you were what you talked about. So Roger Clemens, eh? Roger Clemens, yeah. Was he with the Jays at that point? Yeah, he must have been there. We must have just, like, he must have been coming. He must have been coming. He spent the two years here. Statistically, the best two seasons in a row for any pitcher ever.

Although, he was juicing, of course. But, hey, it was still statistically the best two seasons. Hey, these personalities and much. This is a great question from Kara that came in. Does he know whatever happened to Lee Miller? It was Lee, right? Leah Miller. Leah.

Okay, yes, of course. I know. First of all, I'm going to answer this. She's married to City in Color. That's right. Dallas Green. And they moved to Nashville maybe? No, I think they did that temporarily.

Yes. You know what? And I regret this and I feel bad. I would keep in touch with a lot of my former BJ buddies when I first left

and went to ET. Right. But over time, you know, we all have our own lives to live. So I sort of lost touch with Leia. Yes,

but I know she married Dallas. I know they, they moved there temporarily because he was, you know, big, still is big on his music career. He's great. I think he's there temporarily because he was, you know, still has a big on his music career. He's great. I think he's great.

So, so talented. And he can do both. Like, he's great with Alexis on fire when they're screaming and yelling. And he's great when he just, like, strips it down and is, like, a sweet acoustic ballad. Such a talent. Yeah, such a huge talent. Yeah, he is.

So, to make a long story short on this topic, I haven't kept up with Leia. You know, I'll reach out to Rachel every once in a while. Amanda, um, Namagenny, Jennifer. Remind me of Amanda's last name. Uh, Amanda Walsh. She was originally in, she was in the pilot for Big Bang Theory. That's right. I mean, you know, you're pinching yourself about not going out with Adam Levine. Imagine what happens if they don't recast her spot. Penny, right? Oh, I felt, and Kaley Cuoco got the gig, right? Yeah, she got the gig, and the rest is history.

You just gave me goosebumps, Mike. That's what I do. Because Amanda was a super talent. We're talking about Dallas Green, we're talking about all these other people, but Amanda was so, so good. And you made that connection with Amanda when you were watching her

on TV on Much Music and of course, her first love was always acting. She'd always been an actress and doing the acting thing and it seriously took it upon herself

to move to LA to, you know, put her, plant her feet in where, with the heart and soul of it all. This close.

This close. She got that close, man. She got that close. I mean, I've had three members of the Barenaked Ladies on this program. And, you know, you'll hear Tyler Stewart talking about, you know, he was at the cottage. He didn't want to drive to Toronto to record a theme song for some sitcom that nobody's going to see. You know, Ed Robertson talks him into it and says, take one for the team.

This guy's made a hit before. He made Two and a Half Men. They says, take one for the team. This guy's made a hit before. He made two and a half men. They said, take one for the team. You never know. You know, like Wayne Gretzky says, you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take. So Tyler begrudgingly to help his, his, his bandmates out, drives from the cottage, comes back to Toronto to record this stupid song Ed wrote or whatever, you know, and then think of what that did for, you know, it built him another cottage, right? You know, that's the most popular sitcom of all time

via some measurements. And I don't even want to dwell on this because it's just unfortunate, but it's exciting she was in the pilot and it's just too bad that they recast that particular role. You know, and this must happen to actors on a daily basis. You know, and this must happen to actors on a daily basis.

You know, there's so many pilots shot and then the producers and they change their minds on certain things and, but you know, there's still something

out there for Amanda. I believe that she's such a talented actress, you know, and... Do you keep in touch with her? Is that what you're saying? Because the rest

of the Kara question is, does Rick keep in touch with any other VJs? I do. Every once in a while, I'll reach out to, thank God for Instagram, right? Because I'll DM people and just check up on them and see how they're doing. Not regularly with Amanda, unfortunately,

but the one that I probably keep most in contact with, Bradford Howe and I keep in touch. And Brad's in New York now. Just recently got married. And he's got a new small role in the new Michael Keaton movie, Worth. Wow. Surrounding the top.

That's a fun fact. The 9-11 tragedy, of course. But Bradford's in that. Okay. And Brad's been doing things along the way. Shout out to Brad. Brad, if you want to come

on Toronto Mic, we can Zoom you in from New York. I just had Leona Boyd in from Florida, so I'm happy to Zoom in Bradford Howell. You had Leona Boyd on? Yeah, like Monday.

She's still playing the harp. Well, can I tell you, I didn't know what to expect because I don't normally talk to classical guitarists or whatever. What an episode. She talked to me for 90 minutes. She just spilled all the tea.

In fact, here's a little circle here. Tyler Stewart, when he came over to be on Toronto Mic, he talked. It was right after Bob Einstein died. Bob Einstein's better known as Super Dave Osborne. Bob Einstein's better known as Super Dave Osborne. Tyler's, one of his first jobs was driving Bob Einstein around because he was filming a show on aging court. And he was like a handler almost. So Tyler was hired to handle Bob Einstein.

Leona Boyd on Monday was talking about her experience, her Me Too experiences. And she shared a story about bob einstein in a toronto hotel room like she just drops this bomb i'm hoping tyler stewart never hears it like it's gonna break his heart but it's just it's all it's it's all there and the leona boyd episode is quite uh is quite something i've got to listen to that i've got to listen to that seriously it's it's it's it didn't have it never should have been that good. And I take no credit here. Hey, you know what I want to do?

Is she still making music, by the way? Yeah, she made a song called Popcorn Remix, which she's very excited about, and I played it in that episode. God bless her. She's still active, yeah. Mid-70s, I would say, Leona Boyd? Early 70s, maybe.

I would put her at like 72. That's great. I love when artists do it until they just physically can't do it anymore. I love that. Like Leonard Cohen. Leonard Cohen. Well, look at Tony Bennett.

Look at all, well, sure, these are just a couple people that were mentioned. Well, Bennett, he's a freak of nature. I know he's no longer, I think he's got Alzheimer's or something. Sad came over him. But wow, what a career Tony Bennett had. In his 90s too now, right? Yeah. Yeah, he's up there

hey you know what I want to do to set the mood a bit while we still wrap up Much Music here I'm going to play a little bit of you in 1997 on Much Music I just think this is

nostalgia value for all those Gen Xers listening and there's many of them so this is you Rick the Temp on Much Music like any well run organization

here at Much Music the cream rises to the top revealing the best of the very best on Much Music. Like any well-run organization, here at Much Music, the cream rises to the top, revealing the best of the very best. And starting this Sunday, a proud first at Much, the number one hit weekend. Oh my gosh.

All number one hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. I like the way you work it. No diggity. Yeah. Oh, man. The number one hit weekend. This weekend on Much.

Brought to you by PepsiStuff. Oh, wow. Can you pause it? You are watching Much Music. My name is Rick the Temp. It's Tuesday, May 13th. Special day. Big day right here on Much Music.

The crew is getting ready for the I&I. Oh, yeah. It's not just any I&I. No doubt from Anaheim. They're coming to spend some time with Master T in the Much environment. What a night that was. We'll be in Chile. He's there now. Sik-Yin Lee from Anaheim. They're coming to spend some time with Master T in the music environment. What a night that was. We'll be in Chile. He's there now.

Siky and Lee will be the other way, the other direction. Singapore. And where's Juliet? Yeah, New York City. I'll be in Barrie or up the street. Nothing against Barrie. I love Barrie, by the way. Sorry.

That's what the palette with this one. The choice cut is no doubt Sunday morning right here on My Community. Oh, my goodness. See, you could tell I was the new VJ. I didn't get to go anywhere. I didn't travel anywhere. There was a lot of travel going on back then. They were sending much music VJs everywhere for every event.

You had to pay your dues before you got those trips? Yes. I remember vividly what my first trip was and my first big one and how intimidating this trip was because my first big one and how intimidating this trip was because I went with Denise Donlan. Denise was the big boss. Denise has been here.

Married to Marie McLachlan. Who's also been here. 9912. I'm going to listen to a lot of them. I went with Denise and I went with Dave Hurlbutt. Have you had Dave over here? No, but that's a guy that Gallagher has cursed out on Gallagher Girls.

Like he hated him. He hated him? Yeah, he hated him. I don't know the full story there. I only know the name of Gallagher. Come on, Johnny. John Gallagher seems to have despised that guy. Dave Hurlbutt?

No, no, I love Dave Hurlbutt. That's wild. So many of them showed me the ropes. And Dave was a veteran cameraman back in the day but yeah my first gig was to New Zealand to interview let's start with the Fugees

Alanis Morissette and Frente and Denise great cover of Bizarre Love Triangle but it's all I can remember now which is a great cover great trip I think we talked trying to go. Yeah, Frente. But it's all I can remember now from Frente. Which is a great cover. Yeah, well. Great trip. I think we talked to them, half

of the interview was regarding that cover. But anyway, no, that was my first big trip. But with this, no doubt, the idea behind sending VJs all over the place was the interaction. The live interaction with someone in Singapore or someone in Australia with Gwen and Tony and,

and all the guys in the band. So it was brilliant what they did back in the day, man, the I and I's the live at much is these shows. Cause there was a lot of money in it back then. Right. I mean, you hear these,

these Pepsi, this and, and, and, and most in Canadian that's yeah. Yeah. Pepsi power hour, the Coca-Cola countdown and... And Molson Canadian that. Yeah, yeah. Pepsi Power Hour, the Coca-Cola Countdown, the brewery stuff. Yeah, the Molson stuff.

Yeah, a lot of money. And of course, as you know, back in the 80s and 90s, like the record labels had bucks. They had deep pockets. Because they sold records. Because they sold actual records were being sold. Jagged Little Pills sold a few records. Yeah they sold actual records. Jagged Little Pill sold a few records.

So all this was happening and it was all happening easily. The travel was unbelievable. I always loved to travel before starting with Much, but this picked it up a notch. New Zealand's a real trip.

They were sending you to Austin or whatever. That's a real trip, New this isn't like they were sending you to like Austin or whatever. Like that's a real trip, New Zealand. Wow. And I do apologize. I've been apologizing to this day for the people in Barrie

because I love Barrie. I love, one of my favorite all-time venues was in Barrie. Yeah, Molson Park. Yeah, me too, man. I loved Molson Park.

I loved making the drive up the 400 to Molson Park in Barrie. And that's one of the venues that we'll never be able to experience. I did a whole episode paying tribute to Molson Park memories, we called it. Yeah, because I'm just thinking, when Pearl Jam played in 98 at Molson Park, one of my favorite concert experiences of all time.

I almost broke my neck body surfing to Nine Inch Nails, Trent Rez and and the guy honest to god no there's no i'm not exaggerating mike and and the listeners i almost broke my like you don't want to break your neck in life because then you can't you can't do a lot but i i took a fall and i was lying there wow and i was already a vj. And I thought it was, I thought that was it for me. Um, by the power of Trent, Trent Reznor's music, I, I, I, I, I rose from, from the mud. March of the pigs, of course. It was the March of the pigs. It brought me back to life. Oh, wow. Wow.

But that was Molson Park. And you're right. The hip, Oasis, uh, all these, you know, Pearl Jam. So many edge fests I saw. You know, I used to catch all the edge fests and so many good ones. Yeah, you were with it. Somersault. Yeah, Somersault. Our Lady. There was one with Foo Fighters at Our Lady Peace. And Smashing Pumpkins.

In 2000, it was a farewell tour for Smashing Pumpkins. Of course, I've seen them pretty recently, so the farewell didn't last too long. You saw them recently, Smashing Pumpkins? I saw them. I'm going to put that at four years ago at the Scotiabank Arena. And they were way better this time than they were in 2000. And it's not the original lineup. There's no...

Darcy's not there anymore. No, Darcy's not there. Sadly, but... Was Billy still complaining about Britney Spears and the pop music? Is he... I remember... Well, he's a wrestling guy now, right? Like, he owns some wrestling league.

Like, he's big on, like... And he's gone a bit nuts, but he's still a great singer song writer love the pumpkins so did you meet you got to meet the pumpkins oh yeah I did some stuff with him we did an interview

with James Eha with his solo record but I remember when the pumpkins performed at the MMVAs I forget the actual year but I remember you know

watching the rehearsal and then Billy comes up afterwards while hanging around in the parking lot. And I don't know if Brittany was performing that night as well, or we talked about Brittany performing at this same show the previous year, but he went off.

He went off on pop stars. They're manufactured, right? Well, she was a Mickey Mouse. Her and Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. And I think Ryan Gosling. He was? He was. He was a fan of yours. You know your Mickey Mouse Club members. Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. And I think Ryan Gosling. He was? He was. He was a fan of yours.

You know your Mickey Mouse Club members. Yeah, of course. And I didn't even see that show. It was only on American channels. Like, I don't think it ever got here. But I know the fun facts. But Gosling's a fan of yours, right? I saw a clip.

Well, he's a music fan. And he would watch much music back in the day. I actually have this in a clip so we can later. Because at some point, shockingly to me, you actually appeared on your own Entertainment Tonight Canada as well. I got on there too. I got on there too.

And getting back to Ryan, but Brian is not only a fan of music, he's in a band himself and he loves music and he's passionate about it like we are. It's funny, nowadays you get them less,

but there was the Gosling and Reynolds Ryans, the Canadian Ryans, coming up at the same time. That's right. They both have gone a long way in their careers and more power to them. What was Gosling's show? Higher Ground?

Back in the day, Gosling was Young Hercules. But he had a show, like it was like a pre-teens or teen drama or something. Yes, on the boat. Yeah, what was it called on the boat with with with uh higher learning hold on we're gonna get this you got the you got the i have the google here we're gonna we're gonna breaker high breaker high yeah you're thinking of young hercules in 98 he was at young hercules he did young hercules and then breaker high correct yeah uh yeah i believe that's the order yeah no breaker high first in 97 You're thinking of Young Hercules in 98. He did Young Hercules. He did Young Hercules and then Breaker High, correct?

Yeah, I believe that's the order. No, Breaker High first. In 97, he did Breaker High. Oh, Breaker High was first. Breaker High was first, okay. Then 98's Young Hercules. And let's not forget, he did Are You Afraid of the Dark? That was earlier. That's right.

1990. And Ready or Not, he's in all this stuff. Before all that was the Mickey Mouse Club, right? Right, before all that. That's where I got here from. Pre-teen, yes. Yes, absolutely. Look at us.

This is an established hero here. But look at his library. Look at his repertoire of acting. Absolutely. He's a great guy. He's done well. We're going to hear from him in a bit when we get to you two. Have you had him on your show yet?

You know what? I don't even try for that level. Like, I don't even ask. Like, what's the point? What do you mean, man? I feel like... 912 shows under your belt. I know.

Uh, I, you're right. I've, uh, I'm going to tell him all about this lasagna that you're going to give me later. He's going to want all over your show.

Score me Gosling. Let's get, I'll just talk about breaker high the whole time. Like that's the way I work. Don't forget young Hercules. Here's young Hercules, right? Here is another clip of Rick,

the temp, uh, cause this will set the stage. I want to talk to you about Woodstock 99, which has been in the news lately because there's a big documentary on Woodstock 99. So I've got questions for you. But let's hear like 45 seconds of you there.

I really haven't seen anything. What? There's a huge person. I can't see. Oh, you're blind. I'm like, stop, you know. Ask a few questions. What's your name?

Patches. That was the easy one. Where are you from, man? Wherever. Oh, this was the stoner dude. Enjoy your pizza? Oh, no. What's the strangest thing you've seen at Woodstock 99?

The price of the food and drinks. The what? The price of food and drinks. Yeah. Any crazy things that you've done yourself? No. No. Anything that you crazy things that you've done yourself? No. No. Anything that you might do that you might regret later?

Nope. Because we still got a day and a half to go. Where are you from? Nowhere, man. From nowhere. That dude is very mellow. It was going okay for a while, but then he got all screwy on me. All right, give us the real talk here.

Did you stay for the end, or did as much send everybody home? When Limp Bizkit and the Chili Peppers were, well, we stayed right to the very end. Okay. Because MTV went home. We went home the next morning. We were cleaning up the next morning early. No, no, we stayed. Juliet, Sookie and Lee, Ed the Sock, Bill Wilichka, myself.

Who else was part of that? The five of us for sure. I apologize if I'm forgetting any other VJ that made an appearance, but what an opportunity, man. Obviously, we weren't there for the original, but to be part of the 25th anniversary of Woodstock. Was that the 25th anniversary? Or 30th.

That was the 30th. 94 was a better one with Green Day doing When I Come Around and all that. That's true. This was the 30th anniversary of Woodstock. Was that the 25th anniversary? Or 30th. That was the 30th. 94. 94 was a better one with Green Day doing When I Come Around and all that. That's true. This was the 30th. But to go over to, was it Socrates, New York, or wherever we went. Rome? That one was Rome. Socrates, I think, was 94.

Right. And then Rome in 99. See how blurry my whole mind is? Everything is blurry. What happened to those days? But James Brown, man. I saw James Brown. Did you see Serial Joe?

I saw Serial Joe. They were on the secondary stage. Because you want a fun fact? This is a mind blow from Wits Up 99. Serial Joe was co-managed by Much Music's very own

Kim Clark Champness. Yeah, that's right. I only just learned this fun fact so I'm sharing it with everybody. KCC. Rock Flash. He most of the show called Rock Flash in the 80s.

KCC with the long hair. Absolutely. And I saw, he was in Children of the Corn, I believe, like as a kid. But I met him at, there was a Much Music reunion

hosted by Christopher Ward when he put out the book. His book. Yeah, his book. And that's actually where I met Ziggy there. Ziggy, by the way, you've got to listen to Ziggy on Toronto Mic. Was it The Damned?

Was it The Damned? Not Children of the Corn. I'm trying to remember. It might be The Damned. You know what? You're probably right. It was one of those British horror movies or whatever. KCC will correct us once he hears this. Shout out to KCC. I know he's had some health challenges lately, but still writing.

Another one of my inspirations, all those guys and girls back in the day doing their thing, they inspired me to be a VJ. Like Simon Evans. I'm trying to think of some of these cats. Craig F. Halkett. Don't forget Craig. You should have Craig on this show.

I would totally have Craig on this show. Craig F. Halkett. Combat zone, man. Among other things. Remember, I don't know when I drop off. I drop off around 2000 or something like that. Maybe I start to, you know,

do other things, but, but you dropped off before I left, Mike, I probably dropped off before you met even Amanda. I don't remember a lot of Amanda or even Bradford. Like it's kind of like the tail end of my much years, but,

uh, but man, uh, you had some good years prior to that. I had some good years, good years, memorable. Can you name,

I almost want you to like, is there anyone you worked with who was on the air that we haven't referenced yet? I'm putting a spot here. Yeah, we haven't talked a lot about, okay, let's go to Monica Diole. Oh my God.

Who I'm doing a tour with. Electric Circus, really? Next week, we're doing the Electric Circus 90s nostalgia tour. Oh my God. Kicking'm doing a tour with next week. We're doing the Electric Circus 90s Nostalgia Tour. Oh my God. Kicking off in Abbotsford, BC on the 20th of September. I flew into that airport a couple of years ago because it was cheaper than flying into Vancouver

and I rented a car and I went there. Shout out to Abbotsford. It is. So wait, and Monica Dior was coming in town to do, she had a makeup line at like- That's right, that's right, Sephora. Stellar, I think it's- Sephora?

Sephora is the store that carries her line, but is it not Stellar? Probably. Is the line called Stellar? But she was going to come over, and I actually had notes done and everything loaded up, and she actually never made it here, but I kept the notes and the audio.

You'll have her on one day. Because one day Monica Duell is coming on. I'm a big fan of Electric Circus. In fact, Great Lakes Brewery has a beer they called Electric Circus. No. Because the cowboy dancer. Yes. Do you know who the cowboy dancer is?

Was that Jonathan? Kay Pompei is what he went by. Kay Pompei. Kay Pompei. Okay. Do you want to. Wow. You want that.

Do you know the names? Do you know who is the offspring of the dancing cowboy on Electric Circus that we're referencing right now? Do you know who? So the dancing cowboy. K. Pompei. Kenrick, I think. Kenrick.

Had a child. Had two children. Two children. And they're both, if you are a baseball fan, they're both famous. Dalton? Yes. Dalton Pompei? Dalton and Tristan.

No. But Dalton's a Blue Jay. He played with the Jays. Dalton Pompei's dad was and Tristan, but Dalton's the Blue Jay. Dalton Pompeii's dad was the electric circus cowboy dancer. You know, that's it. Get the F out of here. I'm dead serious. Oh, shit.

And it's okay. It's that surge of wind. It's a surge of wind. Wow. So not only anymore, my bro, he released Pompeii now. I'm talking about Kenrick Pompeii,

Kay Pompeii, father of Dalton and Tristan Pompeii, Major League Baseball players. He released a 12-inch single called Summy, Kay Pompey, father of Dalton and Tristan Pompey, Major League Baseball players. He released a 12-inch single called Summertime, Summertime. And if you Google it, you'll end up on my website, torontomic.com,

because I've been hosting that audio. So this whole happening that I made a lot of noise about, I was very excited about it when I discovered this. Troy Burch and the gang at Great Lakes created a beer called Electric Circus with the cowboy on the front,

and they invited Kay Pompey and his wife to come to the brewery to sort of like to bless it or whatever. That's awesome. Yeah. To give it their blessing, like a child comes to you when they get married. That is amazing, man. I love that story. I think that's a crazy story.

It's still true. Well, getting back to the show Electric Circus, that was a huge staple on MuchMusic. Like, everyone knew that show, and you knew it around the world, that show Electric Circus. Like, it was 90 minutes of dancing. Right. You're going to work up a sweat.

You're going to, you know, you're going to just, there's going to be a smile on your face from ear to ear for that full 90 minutes. And I was fortunate enough to host that show on three occasions because whether it was Monica or Juliet or Nadine, they all threw all three hosts. But whenever they would, and it very rarely happened, Mike, but whenever they would call in sick or something came up, because I was always doing Combat Zone on Friday night. So George didn't go alone?

George Lagoganis? No, George Lagogannis never did the CP24 still to this day. I know. He's on vacation or something because I don't know if he,

maybe he took some time off. Another great story about George too. A lot of changes at that station. Lots of changes. The breakfasts.

I was fortunate enough to host Electric Circus. Me, the rock kid, the alt rock guy hosting Electric Circus but I would do Combat Zone from

seven till eight and then Electric Circus. But I would do Combat Zone from 7 till 8, and then Electric Circus was 9, and I was always sticking around the much environment. And Rick, since you're there, you've got to do Electric Circus. Now that we're on Electric Circus, a couple more mind blows that won't blow your mind, but maybe the listeners who are tuning in to hear Rick the Temp. One of which, of course, if you've listened to Toronto Mic over the years,

I've had Joel Goldberg on a couple of times. one of the co-creators of Electric Circus. He actually accompanied Ziggy for her two episodes. That's amazing. Because they still work together in the Zoomerplex. Yeah, right. Speaking of the great Moses. Well, those are blasts from the past, right? They're those two names.

But here's the one I like to drop, of course. Joel Goldberg, not only did he co-create Electric Circus but he directed all those early Maestro Fresh West videos okay cameos were made especially in

Let Your Backbone Slide and Drop the Needle cameos were made by a very young Dwight Drummond who's been on the program but Dwight got those gigs

because he was working like security for like Electric Circus at 299 Queen what? I did not know that story so there's a whole dwight drummond was there became you know and uh you know maestro was he said got his deal because stevie b was on electric circus and um maestro did let your backbone slide and stevie b

like brokered the the record deal for maestro i'm, buddy, it all happened there. I got your letter from the postman. Stevie B will be on this tour in the Toronto, the Vaughn stop. Stevie B, Stevie Van Zandt, Stevie Vaughn. There's a lot of Stevie B's, but there's only one

Stevie B will be making an appearance when we come across the country in Vaughn. Stevie B. Should we shut this down right now? Oh, wait a minute. You're blowing my fucking mind. Dwight was in those videos. Dwight was in those videos. I love Dwight.

In the opening of Let Your Backbone Slide video, which is an iconic Munch Music video. Oh, my God. He's one of the guys, I guess they're on the stairs and they're wearing the jacket. The red jacket? Yeah, the red jacket. With Farley Flex? Yeah. There's a guy, Farley Flex.

I love Farley Flex. But yeah, dude. Maestro. Dwight's there. Getting back to the maestro, I just spoke to him. I don't mean to name drop. I want you to name drop. Maestro, he's the god when it comes to hip hop in this country.

And I just spoke to him a few weeks ago. And Maestro's starting to get into the social media game. And so he reaches out to me because he sees that I've been at it for a while. And I'm giving Maestro advice, Mike. That's crazy talk right now. I am also an FOMFW, friend of Maestro Fresh West. I am also a friend of Maestro Fresh West. He's in the Maritimes now.

He's in the Maritimes now. Frederick. New Brunswick. Yeah, that's right. New Brunswick. But when he was releasing the Burton Cummings mix. These Eyes. There you go.

You can sing it for us. Stick to Your Vision. Stick to Your Vision. Which is great. He had it on a cassette tape, the demo. Yeah. And he circles around. And a lot of artists would do this.

He saw that I was working out front and he brings me into his car and he said, Rick, you got to listen to this. My latest track. I loved those moments. And that track. And you're giving him social media advice now. It's great. It blows my mind.

I love it. Not that I'm an expert on it or anything like that. I just do my thing. No, but he's got respect. He's got respect for Reptile. And I've got huge respect for Maestro. He's the godfather of Canadian rap. Have you had him on the show?

Multiple times. Okay, good. A few times. And he even kicked out the... He was episode 416 and he kicked out the jams for that. But a few times he's been on. You've got? Multiple times. Okay, good. A few times. And he even kicked out the, he was episode 416, and he kicked out the jams for that. But a few times he's been on. Man, you've got a good show going here, man.

Dude, but I gotta say, respect to the goddess, if you will, the hip-hop goddess. I wanna just say, because she's been over multiple times too, and I absolutely adore her, Mishimi. Mishimi.

Love Mishimi. I legit love, and she knows it. I love Mishimi. I'm trying to think back. Love Mishimi. I legit love, and she knows it, I love Mishimi. I'm trying to think back. I'm sure I've met Mishimi back in the day, but she's one of those. But you know what? If you showed up in the mid-90s,

you might have missed the heyday. Right, right. You might have missed it because it would be like. And Mishimi passed the torch to Julie along the way, Julie Black. And Julie has done some amazing things. You've had Julie on the show. No.

You want to broker that deal? You've got to get Julie Black on this show. Okay, make that happen. I have invited her, and then her people wanted to know more info of what I intended to do with Julie. And then I lose interest. Once a PR person, this gets back to you and that pasta sauce. I hope you survive the windstorm here. You've got to break through the PR people and get right to the person.

Well, that's why I needed Troy Burch to introduce me to Rick Campanelli and I could do that. Hey, so Woodstock 99, you stuck it out and there was a clip of you there. Because it's a lot of talk now, but the clusterfuck that was Woodstock 99. That's scary. When you were there, were you aware, like, oh, this shit's

getting scary? Did you have any sense of that when you were there? I remember being on this scaffolding setup with our camera, and I was there. And I think someone just released a picture of that the other day because the whole Woodstock doc came out. But, yeah, you can feel the earth moving. It was like an earthquake, but it wasn't an earthquake well it was limp biscuit right it was it was it was the chili peppers and and aside from those two bands it was thousands of knuckleheads drunk knuckleheads just thinking that um they're invincible and they they can do anything at a rock concert. Well,

it was a very aggressive lineup. That was an aggressive... Testosterone in your face. What was Alanis doing at Woodstock 99? And Jewel was there too. Jewel was there too. Yeah, what was she doing there?

Well, it was a wide variety of genres and talents and the balance. The Tragically Hip were there. Did you catch them at the...

I sure did, man. The Hip. In front of all those people, the Hip. The Tragically Hip were there. Did you catch them at the... I sure did, man. The Hip. In front of all those people, the Hip. But Jay... And correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't checked the lineup out in years. But I believe James Brown kicked the whole show off. Did he not?

Possibly. Am I wrong? I think you're right. I think you're right. The Godfather of Soul, man. Yeah. James Brown. This is a legend. I believe you're right. And anotherfather of Soul Man. James Brown. This is a legend.

I believe you're right. And another legend. And this sucks too because there's a few wobbly pops going around. I actually introduced a band, but I forget. Oh, my God. I forget the band. It wasn't Serial Joe, was it? No, no, no.

That was the second stage. It was on the big stage. And they said, get this much musicJ out here to introduce this band. And you can't remember who you introduced. Oh, Mike, see how sad it is. That's tragic, man. If anyone out there is listening remembers, if you were in attendance in Rome, New York, in 99, in the summer, when I introduced them, I must have been drunk.

And I'm so sorry. Well, it means if you can remember Woodstock 99, you weren't there. That's what they said about the original. Does that apply to 94 and 99? That was the brown acid. I stayed away from the brown. So Rick, why do you ever leave much music? What happens?

At some point they said we gotta move on. What happened? When VJs start having babies, it just doesn't work anymore. Well, I don't know. Terry David Mulligan seemed doesn't work anymore. Well, I don't know. Terry David Mulligan seemed to be there a long time. I don't know. He did. He did.

But he had some weird West Coast monopoly going on there. He really did. And he was the godfather of much music, if you want to put it that way. He had his foot firmly planted in everything. And I think he signed his soul away to Moses back in the day. So everything, much music, he had to participate somehow. And God bless him. Good rocking tonight.

That was the Terry David Mulligan. Shout out to Stu Jeffries who took over that streak. That's right. That's right. So they basically, you aged out essentially? Because you still look young enough to be a VJ. You know, it was 2005. I was, I was only 35.

Yeah. But I'd been there for 11 years, you know, counting the, the summer that I won the temp contest. But, but yeah, I started, I had my first child that summer and, and things weren't, weren't gelling anymore. I'm going to be honest with you. Um, corporation was coming in and it was becoming more corporate. Is that Bell Media?

That was soon after. But we already saw the ratings. But they already booted Moses, right? Yeah, so my understanding, having talked to a million people who worked, that when Moses left, things changed. Because it was so much a reflection of the visionary founder. And that all changed. You know, it wasn't, we didn't,

we got away with murder, man. We were on live television getting away with whatever we wanted to do. Basically. So when the larger corporations started coming in, the writings were on the wall. It was more say this, do this. Okay, that you did last year or last week.

We're not going to be doing that anymore. And then when someone takes away your freedoms, your creative freedoms, you just sort of, it leaves you a little, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, let's just say. So is that 04? What year is this? Summer of 05. Okay, okay.

Summer of 05. Because something launches in September. Okay, so let me play this little clip here and we'll set it up. All right. Here we go. Sure. From the Emerald Jewel in Canada's Crown. Oh, man.

You had to play all the bad stuff. I thought I picked the good stuff. You don't know who I am. How's your wife doing? Is she in New York right now with a rumor? I think she was in New York. How do you know this, man? We've got cruising at Tribeca.

Are you spying on my family? How do you know where my wife is? Where can you go from there? Choreography. Choreography, nice. That's my next move. Jazz hands. That's what they call me, George Jazz Hands Clooney.

Can't wait to see that. Oh, it's big. You've done it 15 times yeah past um pretty excited about i am actually i decided to try and do a good job this time you always do it oh steve martin i don't think so you know i don't think so we were thinking about like seeing if we could steal there goes the sticker because we figured she would she wouldn't be able to you wouldn't know i know, I think she's got like 37 kids now. I recognize you.

Good to see you again. What do you like so much about Pamela Anderson? She is, how you say it, stalking me. I have received just this week three love letters which have been delivered to me from her lawyer. You think once it's up and ready to go, we may see a Canadian apprentice? Stranger things have happened.

Don't ever let the body break. Oh, Deborah Cox. Deborah. You're beautiful have happened. Don't ever let the body break you down. Debra. Don't ever change. Is that alright? That was okay? Oh, Mike. I miss doing all that. Oh, we're still going here. The beauty of Debra Cox

followed the Donald Trump chat there, which is interesting. You had Donald Trump on. How'd you get the gig? And then, did they tell you to change your speaking style? Did they ever? Because when I listen to much, when I hear you on much, and then I listen to you on Entertainment Tonight, it's hard to believe you're the same guy.

Talk to me how this comes to be. They sent me to speaking school in LA to change my whole approach to things, my whole delivery. Because you have to talk like this. You have to talk like Mary Hart. If you're on ET Canada. You got legs like Mary Hart, if I may. Holy smokes. Are they insured? I'm sorry.

A few more hairs. That was a great gig, man. I did that for longer than I did much music, if you can believe that. I did 12 seasons at ET Canada. 12 at ET Canada. What a beautiful time. And you were there from day one? Yeah.

And that was September 12, 2005. I did my first interview for ET Canada. I was still under contract and still at Much Music. I'm just going to let this out of the bag right now. Yeah, let's do it. I had not said goodbye

on Much On Demand yet, and I flew down to New York to do an interview with Alicia Keys. Wow. And of course, I didn't't tell my much music they're hearing now but if they're tuning in but it was it was amazing it was it was it was a beautiful transition in the fact that i i still continue to talk with um singer songwriters and artists and musicians and i love that but now it's more actors and and athletes and interesting people um but i i didn't sign that contract right away i i auditioned and it's gonna be crazy but i knew i was on my way out of much let's say around may so when you know you're leaving somewhere you want to say you want to

set up your next you, your next gig somewhere. So I remember doing a pilot for CBC. It was called The List, and it would have been amazing. Something happened at the time. I think it was around the same time CBC went on strike for a while there, and everything got halted and paused. But I would have loved that gig and working with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. I also did something. I did an audition

for TCM. No, sorry. Turner Classic Music? That's right. The Country... CMT. Country Music Television. Yes.

One of our old directors at Much had moved and was doing some work at CMT. Was Bill Wieliczka there? I don't know. Bill Bill there? I feel like, I don't know. Bill ever do something. It makes sense. Bill would have gone there.

Dennis Saunders was the director. So he called me in for, for, for an audition. And I also did something for a couple other, other shows at the time. But, but when I found out that this,

this American, you know, the granddaddy of all the entertainment shows was coming to town. The very first one I ever saw, John Tesh and Mary Hart. That's right. I said, I gotta go with these people. And it was on Global. And the producer, exec producer

Zev Shalev at the time, I guess he liked what I did at Munch and the red carpets and the onsets and all that. And it was an extension of that because it was more of that. And you were a known commodity. Like you were a familiar face to this country. I guess. For sure. And it was an honor to be there alongside Cheryl and

Cheryl Hines was a weather person. Cheryl Hickey. You know who Cheryl Hines is? She's from Curb Your Enthusiasm. Cheryl's fucked up there. I'm sorry. Obviously I don't watch a lot of entertainment tonight. You'll bring that up with Cheryl Hickey when she comes on your show. I would love Cheryl Hickey on the show.

And I remember she was doing Weather or something and then suddenly she was like the new Mary Hart. That's right. That's right. Wow. But we all went down that road of like, we all brought our own personalities and styles. Do you remember who else was a day one-er? Was it Roz Weston?

Roz, of course, Roz. He's been over. So then you had Rosie Etta. Okay. And Kim Dion. Okay. So there the five of us wow cheryl kim rosie roz and myself and what a what a what a needed 12 years good for you buddy and i got the sucker punch at the end of the 12th season and that was it boom there you go obviously you didn't see that one coming because you saw the much one coming yes and then you were able to

negotiate this yes you know you kind of overlapped a bit i just you know there's some there's some moments in life where you think you're cruising mike and but it's it's a humbling experience getting let go it's it's a humbling is it just cost cutting they like rick's making too much cash? Is that the deal here? This guy's making major bread? They wanted to streamline their on-air talent. And at the time, Chorus, the umbrella had all, you know, they had YTV, they had this, they had this, they had that. So they wanted to streamline their on-air talent, which is another way to say cut costs and get rid of the old guys. You know, I see it a lot, buddy.

I see it a lot. But whatever. It was a blessing in disguise, man. I became a full-time dad, and it's been my best gig of my life. Getting to spend, because I had a young family at the time. At the time, when I got let go, I had a two-year- year old and a or two and a half and a newborn and it was wonderful

to get to spend all that time with them and we made the move that's a good attitude because you might not have chosen that path but you make lemonade when somebody

gives you lemons and you did that good for you whatever it was it was hurtful at first and very emotional and it was a roller coaster ride because it's so public right

like a lot of people lose their job and it's tough for the family and the friends it was hard but it's not. Because it's so public, right? Like a lot of people lose their job, and it's tough for the family and the friends. It was hard. But it's not like the whole country notices, you know what I mean? Exactly.

Like when suddenly Rick Campanelli is no longer on Entertainment Tonight Canada, we notice. Well, people kept tuning in to Entertainment Tonight. They were getting their fix, and that's all good, and that's all great. But kind of like a smack back in their face. Because, honest to God, I was a very loyal employee,

and I would have done whatever. I loved my job. I was passionate about my job until the last day. But I'm just going to put this out there, and I'm not going to drop names, but the three women that, whatever, the three women that, say, ganged up to make those changes and say goodbye to me,

those three women aren't there anymore either. There's a little schodenfreude there. Schodenfreude. I can't spell it, but I know the word. A.K.A. Karma, right? Right. Okay, yeah, you can look at it that way too. But no, and I never wish bad upon anybody,

but it just seems so wrong at the time to, you know, I was in a rhythm, I was loving it, I actually loved, I really loved that gig, but to get given your papers,

it was hurtful. And I've been there, I've been there, because you're like, this company has just reached the conclusion that they're better off without me. It's hard not to take that personally. Oh, we're better if we don't have Rick on the air. What's that about?

You're going through all the emotions and it's humbling and of course they're the boss. It's their company. They're making the decisions. I don't have anything to do with it. It's such a big conglomerate. It's chorus. Listen, man. It's all company. They're making the decisions. I don't have anything to do with it. And it's such a big conglomerate. It's Chorus, right? Yeah. But listen, man.

It's all good. Everything happens for a reason. Okay. Well, something happened while you were at Chorus. But here, I'm going to actually thank a few people who helped make this show possible really quickly here. One is Mike Majewski. I used to call him Mimico Mike, and then I realized most of the real estate he sells is actually not in Mimico. So I've decided to, even though his motto is in the know in Mimico Mike and then I realized most of the real estate he sells is actually not in Mimico. So I've decided to, even though his motto is in the know in Mimico, if you're looking to buy and or sell

in the GTA in the next six months, you should contact Mike Majeski. He actually bought, we had an event a couple of Fridays ago at Great Lakes Brewery. 75 people came out and Mike Majeski bought 40 beers for the crowd. Like he bought 40 beers. I know this. Rick is blowing away. This is like the Wizard of Oz. Wasn't there a tornado last night? There were around. Not here but around. It was a tough go last night.

Tornadoes. You're quick. You're a thin guy I feel like. I'm going to snap my ruby slippers. Those are nice shoes. The kids would call those kicks. Okay. These, these shoes are available on the,

um, sick kids website. The, the actual sick kids, the patients at that hospital. Oh, design, design these shoes.

Okay. That's, you know, I got a call from sick kids yesterday because I give a dollar a day and they said, yeah, it was the nicest pitch I've ever got. It was like, I know you're giving a dollar a day,

but we want to build whatever, whatever. They're saying, can you give two dollars a day? So this is the thing. That's the one thing, though. Okay, why don't you feed the dog, okay? Why don't you give the dollar a day, which I've been doing for years. Good for you.

Good for you. Well, it's only a dollar a day, and it goes on my credit card. It's like 30 bucks a month or whatever. But once you give the dollar a day, they know they might get two dollars a day, maybe five dollars a day. We've heard this podcast is very successful.

You have 19 sponsors. And they know you'll take their call. It's like sowing their own garden. But I digress. So good for you on the sick kids thing. They do great things, sick kids. But I do want people to contact Mike Majewski, realestatelove.ca. Reach out to Mike.

He's a great guy. He bought us all a beer. And also, Brad Jones, this is interesting. You're in New Toronto right now. At 14th and Lakeshore, which is also New Toronto, there's Ridley Funeral Home. They've been pillars of the community since

1921. Now, Brad Jones isn't that old, but he's a great FOTM. And I would just say, if you have any questions about this whole loss of a loved one or somebody, you can always chat with the good people at Ridley Funeral Home. It's RidleyFuneralHome.com. You can pay tribute without paying a fortune.

And last but not least, the CEO Edge podcast from McKay CEO Forums. It's fireside chats with inspiring CEOs and thought leaders. I'm going to post the most recent episode on torontomic.com later today. I urge all FOTMs to subscribe and sample the CEO Edge podcast from McKay CEO forums. Mr. Campanelli, while you were at Chorus on Entertainment Tonight Canada,

you then, you had a, like a, a stint on a, a station I used to listen to incessantly. Okay. Oh yes. You almost forgot, right? Yeah.

I did. I need to know what happened here. It was so brief. I need to know what happened here. Don't blink. Yeah. This is, this is the real talk here. Oh my.

So we're going back to February, 2016. Now this station, uh, so many people who have been on this station have been on Toronto Mic'd I have people from the spirit of radio era but also of course the Brother Bills and the Alan Crosses and the Maypots

let's talk about CFNY 102.1 The Edge The Current Morning Team by the way are FOTMs they were on this the brother and sister duo

no they're long gone you gotta keep up with this, they're long gone. You got to keep up with this, Rick. They're long gone. They took the team from Y108 in Hamilton. It's Jay Brody. Jay Brody? Jay Brody, who used to... He used to do a serious...

He used to produce for Todd... You're correct. Todd Shapiro. Jay Brody's now the... Jay Brody is the Morning Show guy On 102.1 He's a great guy He was at that event

That Majeski bought The 40 beers for The last two fries Jay was there Funny enough I wasn't there Funny enough You know why

Because we only met today You'll meet at the next one Okay But wait Back to So shout out to Jay Brody Yep Excellent

He's doing a great job And who's his co-host now Mike I know you're putting me on the spot. What is her name? She's such a lovely lady, and I cannot fucking believe it. Don't worry about it. I don't think she listens, though, so it's okay. But she's lovely, and there's a guy named Chris Z.

Chris Z, okay. He's Chris Z on radio. And the three of them have the B team, they're called, and they're the morning show. The brothers and sisters didn't last very long either. A little longer than you, but they didn't last that long. Let's talk about what happened here, though, because the funny thing is, Fearless Fred, Fred Kennedy,

he came to town from Edmonton and decided he didn't like some comments about him because they fired Barry Taylor and Martin Streak. They were both fired. You know, Barry Taylor's mom taught me grade 11 English. Yeah. Just to give you a little bit of, yeah, Barry Taylor's mom taught me grade 11 English. Yeah. So just to give you a little bit. Yeah.

Barry Taylor's been here. And now he's like some comedy records guy. Good. I think he's doing something. In Toronto? GTA, I think. But he's doing something. Yeah.

Barry Taylor. Yeah. Oh, here's a fun story. I wrote Barry, who'd been over. Yeah. Got his Great Lakes beer. And I just said, hey, I know you're representing, you're doing work with K. Trevor Wilson. This is a guy from Letter Kenny.

Yes, yeah. And I said, hey, Barry. Comedian, yeah. Can you get K. Trevor Wilson on Toronto Mike? And I got this like, almost this like form response of how it's under consideration.

Thanks for contacting him. Like it was bullshit. Never heard back. And I'm like, what happened to Barry? He had a good experience here. Come on, Barry. You know. Come on, Barry. Barry, here. Come on, Barry. You know. Come on, Barry.

Put in a good word. Very interesting. Come on, Barry. But Fred, Fearless Fred, when he came to town, he came on Humble and Fred, which is a show I also produce. And he shit all over Toronto Mike because he didn't like the comments. I didn't write these comments. He didn't like the comments about him coming to Toronto

after firing popular Martin Streak was a big one. They let Martin Streak go two months before he tragically takes his own life. Martin Streak was let go. And then next thing you know, they hired Fearless Fred from Edmonton. So people connected these dots and then they weren't happy about that in the comments at torontomike.com.

So Fearless Fred went off on me. And anyway, I never actually met Fearless Fred. I'm sure we would get along. But Melanie, I know. So Kennedy, Fred Kennedy and Melanie Mariani are The Morning Show. His aunt worked on the new music with Avi Lewis back in the day. And Ben.

Who else was there? Ben Shin? No, no. I was going to say Ben. Ben and Avi played soccer with me at City Much Bravo, the team. Wow. Go City Much Bravo. Those two played soccer. No, Avi Lewis, the music, obviously, a long line Go City Much Bravo. Those two play soccer.

No, Avi Lewis, the music, obviously, a long line of... Get on that mic there, buddy. Sorry, sorry. I blame that. I know. I'm lounging now. We're almost in the homestretch here, but I did not know that connection to Melanie.

See how we go all over the place? She was a receptionist. Yes. Melanie was a receptionist, and she ended up on the morning show, which is amazing. And I did that receptionist job for a while. Did you? Ziggy is still the receptionist at the zoomerplex i think i'm not even kidding we need two hours for this show man i know you're gonna come back

can i can i you're gonna pee your pants you mentioned a name and and uh you know god rest his soul martin i listened to i got to meet you know while i was at much and that guy you know i listened to religiously like i watched the much live days back in the day and and that's such a sad you know tragic ending and story and uh but i i think of martin often and um and he was really tight with strombo too yeah yeah yeah dude i uh two years ago week. But just before you start your story, Mike. Yeah, this is a Marty thing. Go ahead.

Just before you start, just to end on, you know, you'd see him from time to time riding his longboard down, you know, Yonge Street, Queen Street. Right. He just loved life, man. Coolest guy in the world, right? Very cool, man. Very cool guy.

He loved his Trent Resnick. Life sucks sometimes, yeah. So we had a party for Marty at the Opera House two years ago this week, and I actually set up my studio in the lobby of the Opera House, and we did a three-hour recording where people like, I don't know,

Craig Venn, David Marsden, all these people who came to the party for Marty. It was organized, I think, by Pete Fowler. Do you know the name Pete fowler do you know the name pete fowler he was on the air with marty did he do the thursday 30 together yeah and dj craig g but people like you know the aforementioned bob willett showed up and uh all these like alan cross was there of course alan was there yeah and all these interesting people would come by to pay tribute to martin streak and then they would jump on my mics and tell me a Marty story.

So if you want to listen to the three hour recording from the party for Marty two years ago, this great, great man. Great. Yeah. Sad, sad,

sad. But you let's find out like how the hell do you end up on that morning show? Oh, what happens? Getting back to that, which is not important at all, but it's very important because, uh,

you, your first day was my birthday, June 27th, 2016. So tell me what the hell happened there. I just went to, I just come back from Las Vegas. We did ET Canada in Las Vegas and I started my first day on with Fred and Mel. And it was the morning show.

This was a radio station I listened to religiously as a kid, as a teenager. You know, they introduced me to the cult. They introduced me to the pumpkins, the Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Chili Peppers, Screaming Trees, Alice in Chains. Love it. Anyhow, do you smell a skunk right now?

Yeah, yeah. I wasn't sure if it was a skunk or if it was a cream. I wasn't sure. Yeah. And we don't have to say for medicinal purposes anymore. No, it's all good these days. But I got approached to be God, on that

morning show. And what an honor, man. What an honor. But they just wanted some name recognition on there? Like a famous guy? I feel like that was what it felt like at the time. They're like, okay, Rick Campanelli is famous. It was chorus, so it was in the family. I guess I was the music guy.

I love that little title too. They give you more money, right? They can't just make you do more work without giving you more money. Oh, hell yeah. But that was the thing, Mike. I was working 14-hour days. I would get up at 4.30, and I just had a baby. Because this was June 27th of 2016.

I just had my third boy, Harrison. Yeah, he was born in February. So I was a new dad again. Right. And I was getting up at, I remember sleeping out in the living room. My wife didn't want me to wake her up at 4.30 in the morning, because she was already up all night long with the baby. So make a long story short, I loved that gig.

It lasted seven months, and I pulled the plug myself. I pulled the plug because I thought I was burning the candle at both ends. I was getting stretched. I went to Chorus. I asked them, guys, I can't do this anymore. I'm doing 14 hour days for seven months and I'm, I, I can't see my family and, and I'm a big family guy, Mike. Sure. If you may have guessed already, I just wanted to see my family more. And I guess that was, that was a little foreshadowing if you want to put it there because of in June of 2017, I got,

I got let go. Here you go, Rick. You want time with your family? We're going to let you go. You can spend all the time with your family you want. But no, I said to my boss at the time at the edge, I go, I, this is the toughest decision I've had to make, but I can't do this anymore. I love it. I don't get me wrong. I love it, but I need to stick to my bread and butter, which is ET Canada. And that was my, my main passion. Um, Don't get me wrong. I love it. But I need to stick to my bread and butter, which is ET Canada. And that was my main passion.

I loved doing the Edge. I loved it, man. But seven months, I couldn't do it. I was burnt out. I was burnt out. Just so you know, they're looking for a new morning show guy in Kingston. Really? Yeah, not even joking. Because my buddy's the program.

Yeah, I was going to say, he's there in the same building. But my buddy. Okay. Actually, it's Bingo Bob., he's there in the same building. Actually, it's Bingo Bob. Bob Ouellette is the program director for this station. Can we do it remote? No, this is the thing. My buddy Stu Stone would have taken that gig already. Stu Stone, do you know this name?

Yeah, that name rings a bell. He was in Donnie Darko and My Pet Monster and Magic School Bus. And then he did a rap album with Jamie Kennedy. Rolling with Sag, it's one of his big hits. And Circle Circle Dot Dot. So, Stu Stone. I recorded 76 weeks in a row with Stu Stone. In fact, that event we had was the finale. We called it Pandemic Fridays.

Once a week, we got together and kicked out thematic jams. You'd love it, actually. Right on. You do a lot, man. You do a lot. Didn't want to move to Kingston for the gig, I think. But Bob wants the morning show host to be in Kingston. So he wants the person to be there. You'd have to relocate. Well, my wife's grandmother is in Kempville on the way to Ottawa. Is that close? So it would be a nice stopover.

Can I just put this out there? I would love to do Kempville on the way to Ottawa. So it would be a nice, it would be nice like stopover. No, I do. Can I just put this out there? Yeah. I would love to do morning radio again. I had a great time. I didn't feel like I got into it because it was only as much as I could have because it was only, it was so brief.

Right. It was so brief. And I got to do stuff with Josie and, and kid Craig from time to time. And, and yeah, I remember he came here once. No.

And he had very little to say. I remember thinking like, wait a minute, you radio guys are supposed to like know how to talk. Take over the whole hour. Yeah. Yeah. Very interesting episode,

but okay. Yeah. No, they've got some great people over there. I know Josie moved on, but, but they all inspired me, man.

I was never a radio guy. I, I, I was very green in that world but um i loved it but you know how to talk in a mic i've been listening to you for nine i'd rather listen i'd rather listen well you can do both i'm the youngest in the family of there were six of us and i i was always i was forced to listen so right i guess that's where the interview skills kick in okay look so now we're in 2021 and ET Canada,

I guess even though you got the word in the summer there, you were on there until like, I guess, August 2017. So it's been a few years now. Let me do the math now. Four years.

And I know a lot of that has been like pandemic shit we've been dealing with. Yeah, half of that. Half of that's been pandemic. It has. But what's Rick up to? That was a question I got was,

oh, what's Rick up to these days? Besides hawking a nice pasta sauce. Well, you know what? That's the whole thing. The whole social media influencing has been quite lucrative. And I love creating, you know. And it's just been an extension of me on social media. So my wife teaches it at Mohawk College.

I'm living it. You know, she's the brains behind the operation. But we're in the world of social media now. And I've sort of jumped on that boat. And trust me, I don't want to be your pitch man for 2021. But I am passionate about these things that i'm that i'm talking about on my feed and and i i i love i love it all i really love it all and i love talking about it and that's an extension of what i was doing when i was on tv so so that's basically what i'm doing

the whole live events got shut down right thanks to covid. So I was sent to my basement to put on my upper half of my tuxedo and do these virtual Zoom events. But we're finally getting back out there and I'm going to be hosting events again. Like I said, we're bringing

EC and the 90s nostalgia across the country. Is that coming here? We're doing Vaughan. We're doing a stop in Vaughan in late September. The city above Toronto. That coming here? We're doing Vaughan. We're doing a stop in Vaughan in late September. The city above Toronto. That's right. The city of Vaughan. The city of Vaughan.

So when is it in Vaughan? And shout out to Mayor Bevilacqua, who's done some great things up in Vaughan. And maybe one day I will run for a position, do some politics in that area. But for now, I'm your social media go-to guy. You're an influencer. You're an influencer.

It's crazy to say that. No, and I'm happy that events are starting to return because I know that was a big part of what you were up to. And I'm happy for you, man. I'm glad we got to finally meet. And a father. A father. Yeah, your father of three.

The gig as a father is my priority. And remind me, how old is the youngest? Five. Yeah, I know that deal. You need to be hands-on with that five-year-old. You do. And that was the thing, too. And I always said to my wife, until Harrison starts school full-time,

I want to be a father full-time. And now that he's going into his second year of schooling now, he's in SK. I got one starting tomorrow. Tomorrow, that he's, you know, he's going into his second year of schooling now. He's in SK. Yeah, I got one starting tomorrow. Tomorrow, that's right. So now I'll more aggressively work on my career if my wife's listening, and she knows this.

You're crossing my path at the perfect moment here. Kids going back to school, who knows what synergies await us. But Rick, won't be your last appearance on Trainwreck. I hope not, Mike. I had a great time, man. Dude, I loved it. Taking a stroll down memory lane,

I love to do that. And you brought it out in me, so I appreciate that. Thank you, sir. I extracted the nostalgic real talk. Troy helped out too with the Canuck Pale Ale. Oh, Troy's a good man.

And Great Lakes, again, fiercely independent, family-run business here in Southern Etobicoke, but you can get them throughout the province at LCBO's so pick up your Great Lakes

thanks for that and Rick again not your last appearance I hope not no way you know what maybe even better than Leona Boyd's episode

it's no no because hers was on Zoom if she was here she would have blown you out of the water did she actually

bring an instrument with her and perform for you no she did not. But maybe. You should have just given her something from like Jarvis's recorder or something. Here. Or she strictly strings.

I don't know. Strictly strings, that gal. But she's amazing. You're amazing. What an episode. You're amazing, man. Thank you. My pleasure.

And that. And that brings us to the end of our 912th show you can follow me on Twitter I'm at Toronto Mike how do we follow you Rick Campanelli um

I guess Instagram anything you like Rick underscore Campanelli on Instagram okay you're also on Twitter I am also on there yes I think that's

Rick A Campanelli you'll find him he's a big deal I'm out there he's a big ticket and if you don't want to find me also on Twitter. I am also on there. Yes. I think that's Rick A. Campanelli. You'll find him. He's a big deal. I'm out there. He's a big ticket in this. And if you don't want to find me,

I'm not going to hold that against you. Don't be foolish. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Chef Drop is at Get Chef Drop.

Remember, the promo code is FOTM20. McKay's CEO Forums, they're at McKay's CEO Forums. Pal're at McKay CEO Forums. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. I really do have a large lasagna for you before you go.

Sticker U. Is that Sticker U? Oh, it's empty. That one's empty. It's in the freezer. Ridley Funeral Home at Ridley FH. And Mike Majeski is on Instagram at Majeski Group Homes. See you all next week.

Good job, Mike. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold with the smell of snow. Won't stay today. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Rome Phone.

Rome Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RomePhone.ca to get started.