Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Sean Cullen and Banjo Dunc: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1845

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

In this 1845th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Sean Cullen and Whiskey Jack's Banjo Duncan Fremlin about Corky and the Juice Pigs, Stompin' Tom Connors, Canadian pride and more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Wow, I'm really looking forward to the show tonight, Duncan. Sean Cullen, Duncan from one's my name. How do you, Duncan? Yeah, pleasure to meet you. I understand you're the premier banjo player in the country music world of Canada. Well, that's what Douglas says, but... What does he know? Well, exactly. I'm the only one he's ever heard.

Right, and that's enough, really. Although we are getting Meredith Moon in there tonight to join us at the horseshoes. So she's pretty damn good. She's beautiful, too. She is. What up, Brian? Yo, yo. You can wrap along.

He's here. Talk to you. He's Toronto Mike and he's ready to do the things that you love. Talk to the folks you think aren't a great big joke. Hey, yo. It's time. Welcome to episode 1,845 of Toronto Mike. An award-winning podcast.

Dunk, did you hear that? An award-winning podcast. Unlike many others. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at Great LakesBeer.com for free local home delivery in the GTA. Gee whiz. Free. Free is in beer. Palma pasta.

Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Mama Mia. Visit palmaPasta.com for more. That's a spicy meatball. Fusion Corps own Nick Aienis. He's the host of building Toronto Skyline and building success. Two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recyclemyelectronics.c.a.cometing to our planet's future

means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Redley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. You're going to die. In this episode, also brought to you by Banjo Dunk Productions. Just like the old day. is Mike. And then the pandemic destroyed our partnership. Do you remember that?

Remember the pandemic? I do. How long do we have to wait before we have nostalgic pans for a better time? Oh. A global pandemic. A few more deaths, I think. Wow. After our deaths, you can go to the funeral home that sponsors this incredible award-winning podcast.

No coincidence. I literally scheduled a pickup for 10.30, so Dunk, you got 20 minutes. Okay. By the way, I haven't actually told the great listenership of this award-winning podcast. I haven't told them yet that returning to Toronto White, it is Sean Cullen in Banjo Dunk Fremlin. Banjo, you're from Whiskey Jack. That's right. Okay, great to see you both.

It's great to be in this cold basement. Thanks for the invitation, Mike. It's really not as cold as you think, Duncan. I mean, it's warm in that it's incredibly friendly. Well, keep your hands above the table. Sean, if you don't mind. And your eyes on the stars. See, I couldn't afford a, one of those, you know, deep freezers that, you know,

you people have in their basements. So I just lowered the temp so I can keep the lasagna down here. Let me just push this side of beef aside. We're hanging meat in the basement today. Hey, honestly. Have you seen, Duncan? Yes, he is hanging meat. Right off the top, okay?

So it's February night. I got to say it's up the top. And then we're going to get into it. I'm so excited. A, to see my dear friend Banjo Dunk again. Bless your heart. And we're going to run through our ongoing history of you bringing great guests into the basement.

Is this on video as well? Yeah, you're looking amazing. All your people can see is. Oh, okay. You look amazing. But, Sean, you've been over here before. I have. I'm going to tell the listenership that you were here in June 2018,

but it took almost like five and a half years to get you back. I know. What took you so? long. I am a big Sean Cullen head. Well, you didn't ask me. I guess that's the key to this. Did I forget to it? You didn't ask me to come back. I felt somehow rejected. And also, maybe I let you down.

You need people. Your people have to get a hold of Sean's people. You don't have people, Mike. I don't even have a person. I rarely even have myself. We're going to tell the listeners that they can find that episode with Sean Cullen if they want to see the A to Z. because we go through your ongoing history. And here's what I wrote at the time. I wrote Mike Chats with Sean Cullen about corky and the juice pigs, his many television appearances. So that's Mad TV and everything.

And, you know, trying to make it in Canadian comedy. I guess you deliver the real talk in what it's like to be a Canadian comedy genius. Well, I don't know. So you asked Ron James and then you told us what he said. I came over here. He's not a genius, but he seems to. it's done never stopped talking. Do you understand half of what Ron James says when he gets into one of those runs?

It's hard as the Hobbs of hell. Yeah, whatever. What about you, Dunk? Are you big Ron James fan? Yeah, the older I get, the harder it is to keep up. That's the thing. The brain doesn't work as quickly as it. He has an enormous head.

Ron does? Yeah, it's very big. Compared to his actual body, it's enormous. It's really just a life support system for his head. I'm giving you, Sean, a Ridley Funeral Home measuring tape. And you, Dunk, you've got a good. drawer full of these. I'm giving you another, but we can measure Ron James's head because I'm dying to know what we're talking about that. It's big. It's big. It's a big one. So I'm going to

get this off the top and we'll revisit this because we're going to talk a lot of Stomp and Tom, but I want to, I discover something interesting when I was prepping for this app. But today, am I right? Is this the 90th birthday of Stomp and Tom Conners? It is. There's stuff all over the internet. There's Richard Fullhill posted a special substack this morning about it. Yeah, this is the day and we're going to end up at the horseshoe tavern to Nishon and I and the band at the horseshoe tavern tonight. To celebrate. Okay, so I hope the hardcore listeners jump on this episode immediately. I like the softcore listeners too.

But they don't get to it until a week later, you know, so they're going to miss this event tonight. So tonight at the horseshoe, how appropriate for stomping Tom Congers, and we're going to get into Stompenton soon. But I was, am I right that is Meredith Moon going to be there? Yeah, I invited Meredith. She's going to sing Tom's a song called Prairie Moon, which Whiskey Jack recorded with Tom back in 1993. And she's also going to sing East City Blues, one of her songs. So very, very excited to join. She and I are even talking about doing some collaboration in the future.

I think it's a really good fit, a band with her songs, because we went to see her at the Hues Room, Douglas and I, a few days ago, and we were just talking to each other, but wow, this is, this is good. This could be a good fit for us. You mentioned Richard Flo Hill. Yeah. Did you read his piece where he basically, what's the Latin term for that when you say, oh, I was wrong?

There's a Latin term for that. Mioclupa. Yes. This guy, that's why Sean's here. He speaks Latin here, okay? But I was reading Flohills. I was wrong about Meredith Moon. She's amazing.

And it's amazing. She'll be joining you too. So what can people expect tonight? Like, how do they get tickets? What time does it start? I talked to Ben at the club a couple of days ago and tickets, they're holding back tickets to be available at the door. 20 bucks, Mike, come on for crying out loud.

We're keeping it accessible so that anybody can come to this thing. Well, bless you because you can't get a latte anymore for 20 bucks. No, you can't. And we also have, who else we got? We got, oh, Mike Kerr. My Kerr. Holy cow. Do you know about Mike Kerr?

Remind me about this wonderful man. Yeah, really. Just an up-and-coming singer. or guitar, amazing musician. I like all the mics, you know that. And the neat thing about when I watch Mike perform either of the Cadillac Lounge or wherever, I see him, not Cadillac, sorry, Cameron House. Is he related to the singing mayor?

No, I don't think so. Oh, I know that guy. Ben Kerr ran for, maybe he is. I don't know. He's cut from the same cloth, I'd say. Although I lived at Charles Street and Young, and I used to see the late great Ben Kerr going through the garbage at the Young Bluer TTC stations. That was a long time ago.

Looking for a sixth. Right. He never had all the strings on his guitar. What a legend. But one of those Toronto characters, there's so many of them over the years. He wore that sweater to tell you who he was. Yeah, that's right. I'm Ben Kerr.

Sing and mayor. Yeah. Now, the other guy is the guy used to sell papers at the Carlton Subway or, you know, it would go, paper, get your paper, paper. That guy. Yeah. I could do 90 minutes on great Toronto characters. through the years.

It's what really gives the city some texture. That's right. Yeah, then there's the woman that used to stand on the overpass at the parkway, and she dressed in this white gown. And I don't know how many accidents she caused over the years. She's a ghost. That's a legendary figure. A haunted overpass.

Well, speaking of ghosts, so big celebration for Tom's Stomp and Tom Conner's 90th birthday. We're going to get into it. But, you know, since we've already mentioned, you mentioned Cadillac Lounge, you mentioned Richard Flo Hill. You brought Duncan to him. Yeah. You brought Sean Cullen back because I, erroneously, an oversight, we bumped into each other at a tragically hip event. That's right. Oh, was that the one where it was upstairs above the half, what was it called the?

It was a cross from the dome. Was it? Yeah. Like it was, what's that place called owned by Cineplex? Oh, I know what to mean? It's called the rec room. Yeah, okay, thank you. This guy finishes my sandwiches.

I like that, okay? So I want to say hello to J.D., who is the guy who put on this hip event, and then I'm there. And it's funny, because the next year I came in it, I said, oh, no Sean this year. And he's like, yeah,

this year Sean's going to be played by Tara Sloan from Joy Draught. Well, she's very much more beautiful than me, and sensuous. That says you. I think it's debatable. Yeah, exactly. But then she was my most recent guest.

I saw that. She is quite beautiful. She is lovely. She's no dunk, but she's all right. Sloan with a knee. Right. Did you hear my, I'm going to share it with you too because you're such fans of Canadian. But Tara Sloan is a teenager, like 15 years old.

She's growing up in Nova Scotia. She's in Halifax. She's working at the Halifax, Sam, the Record Man, with a chap named Jay Ferguson. Okay? Jay's got a few years on her, but they're both working at this record store. So they're colleagues. You know Jay is one of the nicest people in the country.

He's like Halifax's version. of Sean Cullen. Oh. Yeah, like really nice guy. I'm sorry for him. So, shortly thereafter, a band forms

and is given the name Sloan. Right. And every time I have these members on my show, all four members of Sloan of being in the basement, I always ask them to, I say, hey, like,

where did Sloan come from? And I get a, what I deem, what I deem, personally, I deem it a bullshit story about, we had a buddy, we called him the slow one.

Slow one became Sloan. It never really, Dunk, I mean on us, it never sat right with me. Like, it never made sense. I thought it was the name of the urinals. You know what? There are urinals named Sloan.

That's fine. Or even, what's that great movie? Ferris Bueller's Day Off had a character named Sloan. The girl? Yeah. And she's beautiful. Yeah, me as Sarah. I agree.

She's also stunning, like Tar's Sloane. But all this is to say, I have now wondered aloud with Tara, and I need to confirm it with the boys from Sloan. But perhaps they named their band after this attractive, young Sam the Record Man employee, and they just changed the spelling. What do you two think about that? I think it would have been a statutory situation.

She was 15, not of age. I think girlfriends and wives of Sloan might have not approved of this. We're not talking about anything. I know you're making a funny there. Nothing untoward. They're just naming their band Sloan because they like the last name of this Sam the Recognition. I believe it's just looking at urinal after urinal

across the country and seeing the name Sloan on it. Subconsciously, it was just embedded. Yes. It's a conspiracy, let's face it. Before we get into more stomp and Tom and more catching up, I noticed that, oh, Dunk, you joked earlier, that I need somebody to help me of this show because how did I not invite Sean Collin back for a return?

I needed you to do it. So I actually went through the archives. There's 1,44 episodes, and I went through each episode. This took me all weekend, okay, Dunk? And I'm like, who has banjo dunk brought onto the program, Torontoite? Can we do this? You want to be only going to order?

Well, I'm trying to remember. I know I brought. Let me do it. And then you can react. And then we'll see. Sean can tell us if he's impressed or not. Okay. Yeah.

Sounds fun? Okay. So firstly, we meet because you come over in January 2020. Jeez. That's your debut, Banjo Dunk. Well, let's be, let's be frank. I bought my way into this show. Let's be frank.

It costs me. Home of Real Talk. It costs me, Sean, I'll be blood here. It cost me, I think, $2,000 to be a guest on this show. That's so. It's called Paola. The Canadian way. I got to eat, too.

Okay, Dunk. You got to pay. But you, as you told me when we sat in my living room that day to negotiate this deal, you biked up. You told me that I was getting a hell of a deal that the normal price was $45,000. But for you, Dunk, I'll give you $2,000. Okay, so I can't remember how you got on the show. I'm just glad.

I'm glad you got on the show. Okay, maybe you cut a check. I was an ad. I bought ads. You remember? Of course I did. Canada is a pay-to-play industry. Right.

Yeah. If you want to be a star, you've got to pay through the nose. Right. And then, even then, you're completely obscure. Shout out to Ron James. Okay, so this is important. January 2020, you come over, you kick out the jams. You may have bought your way on as a sponsor, but then the pandemic hits in, like, March

2020. And that's what really messes up. the whole whiskey jack, Toronto mic thing, because you can't perform for a while, and that sucks. Yes. I don't want to talk anymore about that. But I will say,

you came back, you brought a gentleman, this is now March 2020. So I guess it's pre-pandemic, maybe days before this pandemic, shut things down. You mentioned the Cadillac Lounge. Do you know who owned the Cadillac Lounge?

Oh, Sam Garso. I brought Sam in. Right. Sam's delightful. We just did a show. We did a show with him. In Belleville, he produced, and he has a new venue there called Sam's Place,

which he wants us to come back and do. Because he owned the Elmo, right? No, he owned graffiti. At some point, he didn't have money in the Elmo. Yeah. Do you know I'm going to play the Elmo in May? You are. I played it in about 1988 with the forgotten rebels from Hamilton.

Of course. With Mickey DeSatist. Okay, who's in this new movie, Kyrie Papoots just directed. I just had this director named Kyrie. You'd like this guy, actually. And he's got Desaitist as a actor in this. in this thing.

I can only imagine. Yeah. So Sam Gras, so again, just react to all these names. I have one short story. Go ahead. So,

Mickey DeSatist, we're, one of the guys in our group smoked a lot of dope. He was smoking backstage and you could do that. And he said to Mickey DeSatist, hey,

is there an ashtray here? And Mickey DeSatis said, You're standing on it, man. And then that, At that point in punk music, the thing was that people would spit on you from the audience. And Mickey DeSattis was so angry at the crowd. Stop spitting on me! Stop spitting on me!

And it was hilarious because he's singing like, bomb the boats and feed the fish about the Cambodian boat people, and angry that someone's spitting on him. That's a great impression of him, though, because he's in this film. That's a great impression. Stop spitting on me. And he works for Stalco, right? Didn't he?

I'm guessing. I think all of them did, yeah. They all did. Okay, so. Sorry, I enjoyed it. No, no, please, I love it. So that's March 2020 with Sam. About a year later, March 2021,

I'm so glad he's still with us, okay? I was worried. Brian McFarlane. Oh, yeah, we got Brian, yeah. Well, you did that. Yeah, right. How's he doing? I think he's doing fine.

He's still publishing a book. not very long ago. And he's part of the NHL alumni luncheon program. I bet he eats that way every day. Now, isn't his father, Franklin W. Dixon?

Yes. The Hardy Boys. 100% of the Hardy Boys books. That was his pen name. It was McFarland was his real name. That's exactly correct. And Brian... Sintillating.

Here's the neat thing about Brian. And he's like... A lot of older guys like this. He's planning five years from now. He's got, you know, he's got books in his mind that he wants...

He's trying to get a publisher. At that age, you shouldn't even buy green bananas. No, right? No. No. You shouldn't buy large packs of toilet paper. It should go roll to roll. And he's got a five-year plan.

He's got a five-year plan. You know, guys like that are putting Ridley funeral home out of business. Yeah, far as I'm concerned. Damn it. They're called super agers. So how old do we think he is now? Oh, I wish I knew. I'm sorry.

I'll Google it while we can. He's in the 90s, anyways. No, he's well into his 90s. I'm sorry. I want to, there's somebody coming up who can compete with him, I think, on the age front. His new book is called, I Can't Hear You. Speak up. 94 years young.

Jesus. Murphy, my mother, today is 95. Oh my gosh. Is this her birthday today? Today. Okay. It's the same date. As Stomp and Tom.

Stop and Tom. Happy birthday. Oh, she's, yeah, I went to see her on Saturday after we did his show in Lindsay. It was a great show in Lindsay at the Academy Theater. Brilliant time. And she's doing great. Well, you know, I don't know if this will get to her, but I do have in my freezer right now, Mr. Cullen, a frozen...

Oh. Can I sing her my birthday? Hold on. I have to finish my thing here, and then you're going to sing that song. Sorry, I'm in the middle of telling Sean. I'm hooking her up with Brian McFarland. We're going to date each other.

Palma pasta sent over a frozen lasagna for Sean Cullen. It's in my freezer right now. Oh, my God. I want that to get to your mom. You want to sing that song? What's her first name? Rita. Rita is a fine young girl.

She lives in Peterborough town. Today she has a birthday with all her friends around. She puts on her son's underwear. She wears it front to back. And she picks his belly button when she needs a bedtime snack. Oh. Yeah. All of her friends are dead.

Right. That's what happens. Yeah. 95, eh? Yep. All right. Happy birthday to read. tends to tell me the same stories over and over again within one visit.

So it's not great, but she's still alive. But do you act surprise each time? Oh my God, Mom. Really? The guy across the road is doing renovations? It's amazing. Sean, there are a couple of guys in the dressing room each week that you play with that are telling the same stories every day.

I heard this one before. So you guys play hockey together? Yes, we do. A few times a week, yeah. How long have you guys been? Like, I guess this is how... 2001. one, we've been, well, maybe before that we were playing pickup,

but we were on the same team from about 2001. Before that, yeah. It's 25 years now. Stupid. I just did that math by myself. No one, you see me, I didn't even go to it. Duncan is exactly the same as he was then. It's not right.

A rat. He's the Ken Lindsman of our skate. I was going to say he's the rat. Okay, so Brian McFarlane would have called him that. Okay, so Brian McFarlane, but then a year later, May 20, no, no, sorry, only a couple months later, I'm very generous to you. That was worth the $2,000. You had to get his money worth.

Yeah, $2,000. You got more than that. Andy Curran was the gentleman you brought on Toronto Mike in May 2021. Was it that long ago? Yeah. Well, it seems like yesterday that Andy was on. Andy Curran. That was a big deal, too.

What about Brian Good, Brian and Susie? I'm doing this and reverse. Oh, really? Oh, you're doing it in chronologically. I see. Sorry. Then in October 2020, so we had a little break. Maybe that was a pandemic.

I don't know. But Brian. Good. Yeah. What an episode. Yeah, we had some great stories there. All these are good episodes. Like, you're doing well here.

But is that Amy what you want to do? No, no, no, you're thinking of, is that, no, pure prairie league. Sorry, shoot. No. The Good Brothers are Fox on the run. Fox on the run. That's the one.

Absolutely. The Good Brothers had former Maple Leafs manager, Pat Burns, coach, I guess. Pat Burns would play with the Good Brothers on occasion. They turned 80 this year, the brothers, the twins. You know what a family, right? What a family. But then a year later, I guess it's March 2023,

the aforementioned Richard Flohill was in the basement, thanks to you, Banjo Dunk. I had to drive him here and listen to all his stories all over again. But no, no, we drove through a snowstorm to get here. He gave you a terrible review as well. Yeah, but he's going to regret it. But in about 15 years, he's going to go on Facebook and say he was wrong about you.

That's so nice. Like Meredith Moon. How old do we think Richard is? He's younger than Brian, right? I'd say 87. Okay, I'm going to search it up. But it is wild that Richard doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. People are begging him to.

He was at the show at Hughes Room the other day with Meredith and Mooney walked in. I just mentioned earlier, he wrote that piece about he was wrong about her after seeing her at Hughes Room. Shadowed to FOTM Jane Herbury. Yes. 91 years young. Richard Full Hill. Wow. Still as bitter as ever.

Sharp, though, in a sharp sort of way. You came back in December 2024. Sean's like, what am I doing here? We're going to spend all 90 minutes going to do. In December... I love talking about these people. Well, yeah, let us know if you don't know these people. But you might know this name.

Douglas John Cameron. Oh, that's a lovely man. Finally. He took so long to get him. His current beard, he has no mustache and a beard, and he looks like an Amish gentleman. Wasn't that also a great episode? It was. Well, it was built up.

The stories have been built up. up and is, no, really, what an amazing musical story he is. Yeah, he's a Canadian story. And if you're kids of a certain age, you're watching Treehouse and he's the man. He's the raffy of your generation. Well, move over Fred Penner. Please. Fred, much like you, Sean, came to the basement with a pretty rad hat.

Well, Fred's a real bohemian. I'm a big Fred head as well. Now, this is a big one, and I'm dying to know if, a sheltered to a Ridley funeral home. I'm dying to know Sean Colin knows this name. But when you brought over

Donna Ramsey Anderson, I think about that ep on the reg. That was fantastic, Dunk. Yeah, well, I'd forgot. That was last May. Yeah, I totally forgot about that. Because remember,

her husband was with her and we had to keep him off the mic because it was the Donna show and he wanted to take over a little bit. Yeah, yeah. But again, you know, Canadian institutions, so on TV, think about this,

on TV, week for 17 years. What show was it? Tommy Hunter's show. Oh, right. Which you were also on. Not for 17 years. No, I didn't say 17 years, but you were on the Tommy Hunter show.

Yeah. I remember watching it as a child, as a really young child. Me too. I always marveled at Tommy Hunter's complexion. It was not good. Like, he had a very, very, a lot of acne scarring. Am I wrong? You can bet he had a tough teenage.

situation, but he was a brilliant musicians. But on those old 13-inch black and white TVs, who could tell? Nobody. Right. I guess. Well, you had one of those fancy television. Yeah, that you could see a picture on.

I want to get serious with you, Dunk, for a moment. Sorry. Before I play something, I know, don't be sorry. Once in a while, I have to get serious, but I'm going to get serious for a moment here. Can you please share with us a story or two about Howard Willett? Oh, thank you.

Thank you for bringing that up. That's, wow. You know, last time I was here, if you recall, my other guitar player, Paul Wickham had just died, and the two days before. And now, this coming Sunday at Pal, which is Performing Arts Lodge on the Espinot, which is where Howard lived.

They're going to have a celebration of life. The who's who of the Toronto music scene will be there undoubtedly in the afternoon. Will Dave Badini be there? I wouldn't be surprised. Howard was one of these guys, Mike, not to say that there aren't a lot of likable people in the music business, but in terms of the top five, Howard is right up there. So in other words, there aren't many people who did not like or there aren't many people, if any, that he pissed off.

You know, if they ever have a celebration of life for me, for example, that's not likely going to happen, but it's going to be sparsely attended. But Howard, everybody loves Howard. he you know besides the fact that he had his voice and his harmonica playing was soulful as as hell he just uh we just had what we had this off stage banter going and howard and i were both northern ontario boys so just quickly he we kind of we kind of thought of ourselves as these tough northern ontario hockey players because we played hockey him and parry sounded me in suz sam reese so in my mind, he was just Reggie Fleming.

He was this son of a bitch. And so every time I call him on the phone, I call him Reggie, or I call him Kenny, a Kenny Warm or Stan McKeta or somebody. So it was an ongoing thing. Anyway, we loved Howard and a big loss. And he was a harmonica player. Amazing, really. The tone he got out of that thing was unbelievable.

Now, there's a regular visitor to the TMDS basement here named Bob Willett, who's on the air right now at Indy 88. he's a long-time radio guy, and he does the toast episodes with Rob Pruse from Spoons. And Bob Willett has an E at the end, but I'm just, for the listenership, I'm just sharing. So Howard Sands E.

Two L's, two T's. Willett. Willett. Oh, you know what I'm saying? That's because Bob. I think it's Bob. So Willett. So Howard Willett,

who was a longtime harmonica player with Whiskey Jack. And the Bebop Cowboys and many other bands for, you know, his entire life. And he passed away on New Year's Eve 2025. So I'm sorry for your loss of Anjo. I see, I'm going to ask a question of Sean Collin because I see on that watch there. I just have to send a message to my son. Oh, yeah.

He's in jail. How old is your son? He's 18. He's going to University of York to study film. So he's out for a big, big payday. Well, I'll hook him up with Kyrie Papoo. and they can make some movies with Mickey Sidney. That would be amazing.

Yeah, well, or Alan's Weig. I think there's another guy. Okay. Did you hear the most recent Alan's Weig episode of Toronto Mike Bancho? No, I have no idea that is. Okay, we'll move on then. Moving on. Okay, so I'm going to play something because I just want to,

and again, if people want the Sean Cullen Deep Dive, I've done that, so I'm not going to repeat myself, but there's a song I want you to know, Sean. There's a song from Corky and the Juice Pigs. Okay. That I, like, so non-I-Rolling. chronically, not as a comedy song, not as anything. I put it on my playlist all the time because I legit sincerely

love this as a song, not just as something that makes me laugh, not just as something that amuses me. So I'm going to play a bit of it. Oh. I'm wondering if Banjo Dunk knows this song. No, I don't. It's our tribute to R.N. Although this is like the cult.

And I'll be less I move over here. Do you see how that moved across the... Remember how the vegetables were steed. I'm not me. If you're looking at me and if you're not looking, then you don't. But I love it. Sean, as you listen to this in the headphones, please tell me, what are you thinking?

What are you feeling? I don't remember it at all. No, it was quite a good song. It was fun. We did a video for it. Yeah. Much played it quite often, is I recall. And it was silly.

I mean, just because, you know, I could only make fun of people I actually like. So, R.E.M. I'm a huge. I'm a fan. And I don't think he would have liked it. But he was, Michael Stipe was a very cantankerous man. But we were in Ireland touring and he was in Ireland as well. And someone asked him about it. And he said, no, he just didn't like it. So that's fun. He wasn't flattered. No, he just hated being mocked.

Very different from the story I hear from Stephen Page, for example, when Sean Lennon told him that Yoko loved Be My Yoko Ono. Oh, I bet she would. She loves any attention. I just saw this weird. But John Lennon hosted the Mike Douglas show for a week in the mid-7. I was there. It was the big event.

It was insane. Yes. And she was up there just, you know, like Chuck Barry was on. And they were doing like Roll over Beethoven. And she was just standing there going, It was ridiculous. It was great, though.

I was at the 1969 rock and roll revival at first. I saw the dog. I went with my sister. That's a big a loser I am. You're cool. And she, when Yoko came on and threw the blanket overhead and started wailing, my sister started booing. And I looked at her and I said, you can't boo.

Yoko. She's, come on. Yeah, you can't. But at least she had a sense of humor about, be my Yoko Ono. Sure, she did. Unlike Michael Stipe, who apparently did not appreciate it. And I want to make sure dunk knows.

When this song's called Remember, you have to visualize the R-E-M in Remember as all caps. I took a note. I took a note. Very clever. And I always loved it. And very different from something like this, for example. All right. The friendly bears of China, white and black, they rarely will reduce.

What shall be done about these Chinese bears? What shall be done about these friendly bears? Die, they must die, A pandas must die, die. Should we say, then what good do they do? Have you ever seen a Fanda do something good for you? They can't wear t-shirts, they can't buy basketball, they can't walk tightrope overnight I go home.

Now I'm going to ask Banjo, John, because he listens to pandas in the headphones. What are you thinking? What are you feeling? I'm thinking, would that sell today, Sean? Is that, were you ahead of your time? I think we were ahead of our time in a lot of things. It was just hard to be popular in Canada. like to make an impression.

It was a different time because nowadays you have all the social media stuff. If this was around now, it would be everywhere on social media, but we had to just find a way to get on to network TV. So how many in the band? There were three. Three people made all that noise?

Well, we had some session guys come in to do like the saxophone and things like that. Okay. It just seems to me like that's good production, really good production. Yeah, it was really excellent. Yeah. Like that album, that album,

eponymous was the pig nose album and it was really good. I thought they did a really good job on it. Super fast moving. It just seems like this is contemporary stuff. Yeah. Yeah, you're preaching to the converted over here. I think when Sean was over here the first time, we had a great conversation about why why wasn't corky and the Jews pigs? Why weren't they bigger?

A great name right off the bat. Well, people didn't know what to do with us. Like there were three of us. we were weird and frenetic and in Canada like people say oh why people always ask me why do Canadians have such a great sense of humor they don't really I mean they don't

they love terrible comedy and it's on TV all the time like everything is washed out and watered down so it doesn't offend anybody so it's hard to be a fringe element in Canada because that means you're going to get 30,000 viewers and you can't have a career that way

and Canada's industry in every way is about the gatekeepers or like producers. And it's not about artists. It's about who's in like as far as comedy goes, I don't know. Or like getting on television. You're not, it's not about who wrote it or who's in it. It's who can get the grant to get the show. Right. You know, and then they'll make a mediocre show.

that doesn't offend anyone, and then they'll get another grant because that one was okay. You know, and that's, in America, you're going to lose your own money if you don't nail it. So here it's mediocrity. It just leads to just kind of, you know, nothing didn't offend anybody. Good job.

Have you ever thought, Sean, about sucking up? Yeah, but to what? And to what purpose? Like, I wouldn't be doing what I'd like. Oh, okay. No, he can't have it both ways. Who's famous in Canada? Maybe Jerry D.

Because he's on Family Feud, which is an American project. Harley Dickison? Yeah, no, she's up there. Charlie, Charlie Angus. Politicians. You know what? I want to roll with you there, but I think you go into the Jane subway station, grab 100 people, and say that name, Charlie Angus.

And I think three of them might know who the hell you're talking about. No, no, for sure. It's his undergone. The politicians. Politicians are the stars in Canada. politicians and news, you know, something like, say, 22 minutes, not that it's a terrible show, but it's been on for so long and it's such an old format. Like it's put on a wig and pretend to be the prime minister.

People love that stuff because they already know what the joke is. It's familiar. Yeah, they already know what the punchline is. So they think they're funny when they watch it and know that. Whereas some, we never do shows like baskets or, you know, just crazy. Like, Zach Alphenacus would never be a star here. Can I ask you about a show? We're going back to the 90s.

This is all about the 90s. Okay, for now we've learned in the 90s. But I want to ask you about the kids in the hall. Well, that was an aberration because you had, Lorne Michaels was a producer and his company, Broadway video. He had come to the CBC and said, I want to do a show on Saturday Night called Saturday Night Live. And they said, no, thanks.

And so he went and made it into the iconic comedy show of all time in the world. So when he came back and said, I like these guys, they said, okay, Lauren, and as long as, but they also had a mandate to make it for its HBO. So it was going to be really challenging and it's going to be really fringe and weird. You're going to have a gay character doing, not just being a silly, he's going to be in your face hard. Like, and it's going to be weird. And if that had been, Just the CBC's decision, it would not have happened. Interesting. So the HBO factor in the Lauren Michaels...

Gave them a lot of license, and it made them able to do what they do. Okay, because I thought of you... So obviously, I played a couple of old Corky and the Juice Pigs jams, but then there's this. They're just a child, a tiny baby. It's a big old world out there. It can drive a person crazy. But I'm your daddy. I'm going to hold your hand.

There's some things you've got to learn as you grow up. to be a man gotta treat the pretty ladies right gotta make them scream all night gotta give them booze and bling and make them wanna dangle off your dirty thing but baby gotta take it slow take the time to make a feel and grow when you want to do a lady's pants gotta move with her gotta do the dance take it baby from a man who knows you dida daddy he knows the hose i can make him take up all the clothes and want to humpty hump but want to self-expose

you're just a biddy-be now but as you grow i'm gonna teach you how to make the ladies want to touch your love but when you do the deed, you better wear a glove because you are just a little man child, but I'm telling you how to make the pictures go out, make them move, ooh, ooh, you are just a little man charmed, but I'm telling you how to make the pictures grow, I'll make the move. Gotta buy them the fancy wine, gotta get them feeling fine, Pretend you listen to what they say, cause I think you're saying, and that's okay. Tell the lady that you like her friends, cause a little baby when the music ends,

she might let you take it far, have sex with you in the back of your car. Take a baby from a man who knows, you're the daddy, he knows the hose, I can make him take up all the clothes and want to humpty-hound, but want to still expose. You're just a baby now, but as you grow, I'm gonna teach you how,

to make the ladies want to touch your love, but when you do the deed, you better wear a glove, Sean, tell the listenership what we're listening to here. This is a song called, oh, I forget what it's called. You're just a child. You're just a child on my I'm a Human Man album, and it was to produce by Robbie Roth. And I just love to go into styles and execute them well.

And I just think R&B and rap is such a weird mentality. Like women are just like, I want to have sex with women. And that's what it's all about. And look at how much money I've got and let's have sex, women. And so this is kind of like going hard at that. See, I think this is fucking funny. Yeah. So I'm listening to this album.

And then I'm thinking, coincidentally, I'm also prepping for the debut of Bruce McCullough. He's in the calendar for next week. Yeah. And I've had Scott on. I've had Kevin on. I've never had Bruce on. And I've tried for a long time. But Bruce, I was listening to his albums, right?

And so I'm wondering, like, and again, I don't even know the age difference. You might be the same age. About that. He's a couple years older than you. A couple years old than you. But I'm wondering, does the Bruce, the ones that made TV that people will know,

Terriers, these are the caves, I know. That's the big one, I suppose. But he's got these albums. And I'm just wondering if he at all was an influence in terms of like comedic musical albums. Well, what I like to do is give you something that's pretty, like, this is a little rap song, but it's when you listen to it it's really wrong you know so that i like that juxtaposition i like to do

but i think the whole point of doing comedy music and a lot of times it's lost is the music has to be great and then you can sell the joke right and i hate when people are bad at music and then write a song and sing like or change the words to a popular song that's a weird out would be Weird Al, who is an incredible musician. Right. Like, he could do anything. And his renderings are amazing. So I respect him for that.

But a lot of people are just like, I sort of play the guitar, and I'm going to change the lyrics to the song. And it gives all comedy this bad name. Right, because I played three songs in the past 20 minutes. I played, Remember, I played Pandas, and I played You're Just a Child. And all three musically are talking. shelf like I enjoy all three musically right dunk it's great great production all three of them

well I'm working on a new album we've been I've been actually doing some songs with dunk and Doug and I'm going to be doing an album with uh... an album with uh... Hawksley workman we're working on it right now love the Hawk and he's all and I just love his incredible vision like and he's an artist and he gets it like he gets what I do so we're gonna do really like I do a song called get the big girl on the phone, which is kind of like a George Jones kind of, you know, get the big girl on the phone, you know, so we're going to nail it as that kind of style.

So as this has been going on, we've done some shows together, Sean and I, the Stomp and Tom Tom shows. And so he's, we're presenting this man who's 15, 17 years younger than we are to our audience who are 15, 17, 20 years older than him. So we have a kind of a different, you know, we're trying to present. His humor is not humor. He's Gen X, okay? You're going to let the boomers know about him.

Yeah, well, yeah, whether they want to or not. So he can adapt to our audience because he goes over, we were, when he started singing this song to our senior crowd, these are kind of white, you know, rural country music fans for the most part, most of them quite old. And we weren't sure how this was going to go. Right. But he sells it so he can sell it to this crowd and they get it. Like we've seen some of these guys in the front row killing themselves with their overweight wife sitting right beside them. So they get the joke.

But to do it the other way around, I wouldn't have a clue how to relate to his audience. They wouldn't read my humor is too. I don't know. But his humor can translate. Well, it's my job though. So like that's what I do. but I've I you know because you're a comedian in Canada you have to do a lot of things for a lot of different audiences and Taylor stuff so and you do corporate shows and you know you're you have to know or the thing about comedy and I always thought is it's a conversation you are talking to the audience and reacting to their vibe and it goes back and forth and there's comics who are like oh I hated that audience or you know it's just because you didn't connect with them and didn't know what they wanted and and didn't you know what they wanted and and didn't you. give them what they wanted.

And I have always thought we're entertainers. We're here to entertain you. You paid money to come in, and I have to give you something that you feel you got their money's worth. And a lot of comics, it's very adversarial. It's like, you better like me. And if you don't, you're stupid. Have you seen him in concert to Mike?

Well, actually, that day, the tragically hip event I saw. I was hosting it, I think, didn't it, wasn't I? You did some funny, funny. Oh, good. If that's what it's called. It was a hard show, though. So there's a direct. Tell me why it's our show.

Well, it was in a weird venue. Oh, that's a weird. You're in the back room, but it's continuous with an arcade. Like you can hear bling, blah, blon, blong, pank, blah, blah, blah. And it was weird. But it was good, you know, for what it was. It was fun. Well, I was there cheering you on.

I thought you were great. And I remember you had a Canada jersey on. Am I right? That's right, yeah, from 72. See that memory? Yeah, 72. And we're on the cusp. I got to get back to YouTube.

Because I don't think we've done a good. We did a good job telling people that at the Horseshoe Tavern tonight, there's going to be Stompant Tom's official 90th birthday party. And it's U-2, Meredith Moon, Mike Kerr, Russell de Karl. Prairie Oyster? Yes. So the contemporaries of the good brothers, they're good friends, and you should get Russell in here. He's got stories.

Billy McGinnis? Eight Juno's or something. So Billy McGinnis is our fiddle player, and he's Tom's, he was Tom's fiddle player for 13 years. I'm going to pivot to go, we're going to. Tom the rest of the way here. But I think we did a... I as host failed the listenership. They should take away my Canadian

podcast award. We did a piss poor job of telling like, you two are doing what? Like you're doing a tour? Like I just heard illusions, you know, when I introduce Sean to this older audience. But what are we talking about here? Is there some kind of whiskey jack with Sean Cullen Tour I should know about? It's called

Canada's not for sale and it's kind of a celebration of the 90th year of Stomp and Tom if he had lived due to his incredible fitness regimen that he owned. He didn't. Three and a half packs of cigarettes a day. And a case of beer. But we're just kind of celebrating his life.

And they're incredible players. Like Billy McGuinness is unbelievable. And so we're like, we want to tell us where we could go to find out what the dates and locations are to see this? This sounds really rad. Just go to, you know, that what do you? Get mad at me, Dunk.

Okay. No, no. Well, what's that, that, that letter A with the circle around it. At? Just do at banjo dunk and all our shit comes up. What's that letter A with the circle of right? It's 2026, Dunk.

The ad sign. Every email I just has one. We've been doing that since 96. Or you can go to Whiskey Jack. It's been 30 years of the ad symbol. Is it Whiskeyjackmusicmusic. Music.com? Yeah, that's the other thing.

So, yeah, find it. And I'm just going to endorse these guys because as I read off the top, banjo dunk, dear. I mean, he even cut me a check for God's sake. For thousands. He bought his way on the show. More people should buy their way.

Now, Sean, I had to give him his great legs beer and his palm of pasta to get him to come here. And I should have invited him over several times in the last five years. But I'm glad you're back because, Sean, this won't be your last visit. And, of course, Dunk, I'm sure you'll be bringing another great guest on the show. And, you know, you're always well. I think I gave you carte blanche, right? Yes, I said, you can come on anytime you bring me somebody that will, like, entertain me. Yes.

Here I am now. Entertain me. Yes. shout out to Nirvana. That's a Gen X reference for Sean. I know you don't know what we're talking about over here. But these names I listed, like Donna Ramsey, Anderson,

I would never know enough to get her on. I loved it. Douglas John Cameron, you know I loved that song. I was mesmerized by that song. Mona with the children. Mona with her children said, her love to me.

I love that. Flow Hill, I wasn't sure who a Flow Hill was. Now I know, I know Brian Good, but I didn't have a connect. And Andy Curran, Brian McFarland, Sam Grosso.

Is that how you saying it? Grosso. And he's related. to an exceptional soccer player, if I am correct. I believe there's an exception, a woman on our Canadian national team with the same surname is a relation of Sam. Just throwing that into the abyss.

I don't know. I know that his dad was one of the downtown characters. I think he roasted chestnuts and had one of those carts. Ah, I love those carts. You know, Sam's connection to the city of Toronto goes back. And people can go in the archives and hear that here. I'm going to just thank a couple of sponsors and I'm going to play a song that I,

promised a chap. So, hello, James, this is coming. James, Jim. I'm going to, Jim Orum from Rusty. I promised him I'd play this and this is the time to do it. But I want to take a moment to say, Nick Iini's much like Banjo Dunk, he cut me a check, he stepped up and he bought his way on the show. And I produce a couple of great podcasts for him. One is called Building Toronto Skyline. The other is called Building Success. And I got to say, the reason we're able to have this conversation right now, Sean and Dunk, is because of good people like Nick Aienis, who help to fuel the real talk.

So thank you, Nick. Also, thank you to recyclemyelectronics.ca who have committed to partnering with this program throughout 2026. And if you, Sean, have any old cables, old electronics, old devices, I bet you've got a room full of this stuff. Crap.

And you're thinking, I should just throw in the garbage. Is that what you're thinking? No. Don't you dare. How dare you? I don't want that thought in your head. You too, Dunk.

go to recycle my electronics.ca. Yeah, absolutely. Do I get remuneration for bringing in my electronics? It's in your heart because you're helping to keep those chemicals out of our landfill. Okay. So you put in your postal code. So who's making money as a result of this? I am.

Oh, okay. Okay, good. It's not altruistic, is it? It's not completely. You think I get a four nice shirts like this? No. No. So thank you to recycle my electronics.

dot CA. And of course, Great Lakes beer. There are fresh craft beer on the table. I should tell the listenership if they're not watching this video. My God, there's Canacapale ale. There's this one, the, whatever that guy is.

Octopus wants to fight IPA. Yeah. Super light, which is super and light. It's a logger. Both and Great Lakes. What is that? Atobokokin. You've got to come to Atobico for that one.

They brew this in South Atobico. Not too far from here at Great Lakes. It was real Great Lakes water? Real Great Lake, Great, real Atobico water from Lake Ontario. Filtered, don't worry. It's clean. What are you doing?

I've always been curious who's buried back here. Dunk is peeling back the curtain. That's like the, if you're not seeing the Wizard of Oz, okay, you don't do that. There's a guy back there. He's pulling the strings. That's right. That's where you could be.

You could be pulling these strings. Okay, I promised Jim where I'd play this and I can't wait to do it. Do you guys remember a show, a Canadian show called Power Play? Yeah, with Gordon Pinsent. He played a kind of, what's the guy's name who play,

who was the owner of the Boston Bruins for you, Sinden, Harry Sending kind of character. He was the owner of the team, right? Yeah, he was the god. I want to say he was the godfather of Gord Downey. Oh, really? That you, you can say that if you want to, but I don't know if it's true. And this explains why Gord always dawned a Bruins logo.

Like, even in the courage video, he's got that nice sweater, but it's a Bruins logo. He was a Bruins fan, but that's Kingston people. But I think that's Harry Sinden. Maybe. I think, I think so. I got a, I, I used to play hockey with Gord. He played goal.

He was very, like, what a lot of people don't realize is he was really tall, you know, like, and he was a good goalie. Very quiet, very pinson. Oh, Gordon, Pinson was it all. But the Gordon Pinsent stories, he was lovely. Like, I loved him, and he told me a story, like, when he first came to Toronto, he made a living painting portraits of dentists. Like, he was, he would do anything for money, but he painted. oil portraits of, he painted one for his dentist to get, get some money. And his dentist kept telling all his dentist buddies,

get Gordon to come and paint your portrait. And they got cash. Yeah. That's a smart move here. He's great. You know, we've lost a lot of great gourds lately. Yeah, we have. Who else?

Well, we lost Gord Lightfoot. Oh, that's right. Tinsent. We lost Gord Downey. That's three great gourds right there. Three great gourds. That's my next book. I think Brian McFarlane's working.

on it right now. Somebody protect Gord Dep from Spoons. Okay, just protect him. And Gord Stelick. Gordy Howe. We lost Gordy Howe as well. That's right.

We lost a lot of great gourds. You should know this as the, what's the name of your touring show? Canada's not for sale. Canada's not for sale. You should be well aware that Canada has produced some stellar gourds.

You know, there's two names. Gordes, there's a lot of gourds in Canada. There's a lot of dugs. And there's a lot of lorns. and nowhere else in the world is Lorne used as a name. Lorne, Lauren Green, Lauren Honeckman. Yes.

Lorne Naring. There's like so many Lorns. It's insane. Are they all FOTMs, Mike? No, but Lorne Honickman is an FOTM. Put that in the abyss. The rest of got to catch up. So here's the song I'm going to play

because anyone who listens to Toronto Mike knows I'm a big fan of the 90s rock band Rusty. And Rusty had an album called Fluke. In fact, Scott McCullough has promised he's going to come over and deliver some vinyl. Not that I can play it, but I like to put it on display here. But I'm going to get a vinyl copy of a fluke because I only had the CD. Anyway, this is the opening theme to the aforementioned show called PowerPlay. Are you two gentlemen ready?

Yes. Hello out there. We're on the air. It's hockey night tonight. Tension grows, the whistle blows, and the puck goes down the ice. The goalie jumps and the ballie jumps and the ball. players bump and the fans all go insane. Someone roars, Bobby scores at the good old hockey game. Oh, the good old hockey game is the best game you can name and the best game you can name is the good old hockey game.

With the final flick of a hockey stick and one gigantic scream, the puck is in the hometown it's the best game you can name and the best game you can name. It's a good game. It's a good That's the opening theme to the show PowerPlay, which opens with Stompatom Connors, and then segues into a cover by Rusty. Oh, it was good. The cover was great. That's Ken McI'm a big rusty head,

so don't get me going here. But Jim, who moved to Europe, he's in Europe now listening to us right now. He's on that track. You got Ken McNeil on vocals, Scott McCullough, who put the band together, your guitar. But that is Rusty,

covering Stomp and Tom. I thought it might be a nice segue as we turn our attention to Tom. There are some very bad covers of Tom songs out there, but that's a great one. That's really heavy. I wanted your... I wanted your... The only other good hockey song, there's one called, Do I Like Hockey? I forget who the band is.

I think they're from Toronto. The jug... Or Jughead, yeah, downtown band, yeah. My friend Chris Quinn's in that band. Does Sarah Harmer have a pretty good hockey song? I have to dig it up on YouTube. It's about on the ice. Well, maybe it's just about skating.

Yeah. And then Hayden's got a good skating song. I like Hayden, too. I like Hayden, too, you know. That everything I long for, I play it over and over. I know he's moved on. I think he, because I know him personally, and he'll give me this look when I go back to that album

because he's moved on to much more eclectic, more, you know, significant. I just remember his song, the streetcar stopped and I, what was it called? Streetcar stopped and I did not. That's one of my, like, and he runs into the back of his, street cards. A song about getting a street cut accident. Anyway.

Well, no, because he's a very Toronto guy. And I like his lyrics. And he's from that same scene where the kids in the hall are coming up, Parking in the Jusburg, Hawksley Workman, and, you know, all these guys. So we like, we do like, is this for definitively, you both like the rusty cover of hockey song there from PowerPlay. Well, they're rusty themselves, uh, Whiskey Jack. So that's all good.

Tell me why Banjo Dunk, stomping Tom Connors is still relevant in 2026. More relevant than it's funny. I was thinking about that yesterday that you hear, you hear Gord Lightfoot songs, you know, you'll always hear them, but Tom was on the verge of fading away. I mean, I was having a hard time selling the bad

until Trump started threatening us with the 51st state, and all of a sudden my phone starts ringing because patriotism is in again. And if there's anybody, who is unapologetically patriotic in the industry, it's stomping tom. Aggressively. I can't think of anybody who has taken it to the level he has, to the point where I always love telling this story that he left the business

in the prime earning years of his life for 13 years. It cost him millions. Can you be more specific? On principle. Be more specific about this decision and, When are we talking here? Are we talking early 80s? Like, where are we here in the year?

Was it 77? That's what he gave back his Juno's? He was booked to play the C&E, and he was going to be the headliner. And then he finds out that they hired Charlie Pride and American superstar to come in. And he was all of a sudden going to, Tom was going to be relegated to second banana.

He wasn't going to be given the main slot. And then he found out that Charlie was making, and 10 times more, whatever, a lot more money than he was. And, you know, he had been waving this banner for a long time to begin with, and he just had enough. And there's a great picture. I love the photo of him at the booth at the offices, loading his juno's into a cardboard box and sending the backs,

putting him in a cab, sending the back to the, and I'd love to know if there's anybody out there where the hell these Juno's are, because I don't know what happened to them. Do you think Padini knows? I might have talked to him about it. I'm not sure. But why would he know? I think it's got to be somebody in the music.

Somebody in the music business. Well, no, no. No, but some of the... It takes a stand. They took a big stand. Yeah. I mean, it was just a, you know, a brave... And it cost him a fortune.

Well, it's just that thing about being a Canadian artist. Like, you know, they're just for laughs. And certainly they gave people a lot of opportunities, and I got a great opportunity out of it. But it was kind of backhanded because it's all about American comics coming up here and having a holiday and having a convention and they would get paid so much more than us and be treated with such respect and given everything

and you just go, this is all my tax money paying for these people. Those days might be over now. Maybe this whole conversation shifted. But to pick up that thread, though, I did a special episode of Toronto Mike about, similar to what you're describing there, Sean, with a gentleman named Simon Rackoff. Do you know those?

Oh, yeah, I know Simon. Yeah, yeah. He's got one of my favorite jokes. All these great superheroes are Jewish. Did you know that? Spider-Man, Batman, Superman. But Simon Rakoff would echo your sentiments and more about the Just for Laughs.

Almost like, yeah, taking advantage of this country, really. Well, you look at like when they go... Come on, you guys. Well, when you go, no, the thing is, Just Verlif did tours across the country. They do tours across the country. Most of the acts are married. And like you don't promote a Canadian stars.

Like there are no stars because you don't think they are. And you don't promote them as such. You know, it's kind of tiring. A bit of a chicken egg thing, sort of. So you grimaced there, Mr. Yeah, no, I get, I get tired of this. We, look, the fact is, as a business, you're trying to sell tickets to an event and I'm going to bring in a name.

I've done it. I brought in Guard Lightfoot back in, you know, at Tom's 80th birthday, he came in. and we sold the place that I read Adrian. I used the stars to bring it in so that we have an audience. Stars like Adrian Clarkson. Yeah, well, I borrow their audience. She presents. You know, I borrow their audience.

I've been borrowing Tom's audience for 13 years. Here's the problem, though. Like, we have nowhere to promote any performers. Like, there's no television show, there's no talk shows, there's no circuit. There's no anything for us as Canadian. artists to get in front of people and be taken seriously. Can I pick up on that? Because I happen to, it just so happens, I produce a podcast for Ralph Benmergy.

Oh, yeah. Called Not That Kind of Rabbi. You might appreciate that Ratkoff joke. Now, famously, we did have a late night talk show for not even two years. I believe it was like 18 months or something. Friday night. Did the cork in the juice pigs ever play Friday night with Rob Benmergy? But here's the problem.

Let's hear it. Like, you, in Canada, you have. have to be everything to everybody. So you'd have the lowest of the low and Rita McNeil on the same show. Who are you trying to get to? Like who are you doing? Like who's, do you think is watching it? And we'll watch both of those.

It's a small market too. Like there's not a huge market. So it's hard to be everything to everyone. But that's the only way you end up on TV if you're everything to everyone. How about this combination? Peter Zosski had a, talk show. Oh my God. Okay, so I went to one taping, and it was Ann Murray, Eddie Shack, and Kurt Vonnegut. We're the three guests. Come on. I love that show. It was a fantastic show. And as Kurt, as Kurt was

being interviewed, the studio audience could watch, Ann and Eddie Shack, bantering with each other off camera and obviously distracting Kurt Vonnegut and Peter's. It was very fun. One of my favorite moments in Canadian television is when I interviewed Pierre Burton about this. He was on and he was cooking, right? And there was a, he had a Mullinex food processor and it was spinning. And he wanted to stop it. So he stuck his hand in the top and cut his hand. Oh, my God.

But would not stop cooking. Right. It was bleeding. Oh, my God. You can see it on YouTube. That's unbelievable. It was dripping. He had a towel.

wrapped around it that soaked through and it was continuous. So that sounds like a Tim Robinson bit or something. Oh my God, it was unbelievable. And he was just like, I don't know what I was thinking. And you mentioned Ann Murray. And I keep thinking about that story.

Donna Ramsey Anderson told us about how close she came to having the hit with, what is it? Snowbird. She was offered Snowbird. Yeah. And I think it was the order in which, I think it was the order in which it was released. And also,

I mean, Anne had mega management at that time. So she had big advantages right off the bad. Can you get her on Toronto, Mike? No, I think she might be a little hard to get to. She lives down east. Yes, she does. I shouldn't say down. We would let her zoom in.

We did a couple of your guests. We let zoom in. We didn't bring Brian in the basement. Yes. He couldn't have made it down the stairs. I was worried about the insurance. Like, can I afford the insurance? So we zoomed him in.

But you, Sean, you said I would love that show. And I was thinking, and I wonder. allowed if this is a Gen X thing. But I feel like we were raised with everything hodgepodge together. Like we'll hear, for example, top 40 radio in like, let's say 1990. I'm just making this up now.

680 CFTR, which was probably the most popular top 40 radio station in Toronto in 1990. But they would have like there's Maestro Fresh West and right beside it would be Deaf Leopard and then right beside that would be

what's a different? I don't know. Well, we didn't have niche radio stations. So you said, like, who's that for? And I'm thinking, it seems like a modern phenomenon where it's like, we need to narrow cast to this specific niche and we can't have these genres. Well, this is the thing. Like, I think people's mentality with phones and social media and everything like that has gone back to bits and pieces.

And they want to see a variety of weird stuff. Like, and it's not, that's what happens when they're going around their phone. Oh, there's something about Donald Trump. Oh, and there's a woman doing. doing a TikTok dance. And there's an Olympic. Oh, look. And you're just like, that mentality is coming back.

That kind of fragmented. What always happens, like corpse, corporations, big business are trying to figure out how to manipulate everything so they make the most money. And it's kind of, all of the streaming and all that stuff is trying to focus all that. But now people are reacting and doing cottage stuff that they make for themselves and for people like-minded people. And I think we're going to another place where indie productions, independence. Well, I hope so.

My girlfriend's kids are like 13 and 15. And they're both like, I can't stand AI. Like if they see something that's, that's AI and I hate it. Right. Like they want real experiences. Bless them. You know? And all they're given is processed crap.

Right. And they're just saying, like, give me a fucking vegetable. Yeah, kind of in an artistic sense. Yeah, like this over-processed slop. It's like, no, I want something organic. I'll go so far also to say that I think our audiences have changed in the last a few months. I think the people that Sean and I are playing to today, they're the same people, but the reaction that they give to us, what they want from us, I think is quite different

than what it was two or three years ago. Sure. I agree with that. When you mentioned that what I, it sounds really cool, like a folk here, like I just saw this totally amazing new documentary about Terry Fox. I saw it at the Roy Thompson Hall. And the TSO. Played the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for you uncultured people.

I thought it was a Chinese chicken dish. Right. They played the score live. Okay. So I was just, Sean Minard is the director's name. He also directed 299 Queen Street West. The dog, you'll never get to see because you weren't at the,

maybe you were there. Were you at the 29th? No, you weren't. I can tell by Sean's face. But anyway, he directed. famously on Toronto make me talk about it often. The much music documentary

that Crave couldn't air because he didn't clear the musical bits or whatever here. But he did this, Terry Fox. Anyways, I got the same kind of chills hearing you talk about Stomp and Tom. And I'm going to play a song

so this is a long buildup for me to ask you as the Stomp and Tom and Tom expert in the room, Mr. Banjo Dunk. What brought Tom back? Like, why as a teenager was I so exposed

to Stomp and Tom Conners on much music, for example? Like I, as a teenager, there was a lot of Tom in my musical diet. So he went away, he stepped back, but he comes back. What brings him back? I think there was, without the political climate going on at the country at the time, it wouldn't have happened, even though they were, you know, Petersoski, even Bedini had some say into the end of this.

But I think, I think there was a division in the country over the Meach Lake Accord and free trade agreement was starting to be discussed. And Tom was getting all pretty riled up about all. that he didn't like Mulroney at all and he was a put no you know it wasn't a partisan performer directly but he did have a letter from Pierre Trudeau on on his wall I will say that but no he was I think that was really really got to him and when he realized that he had a big enough audience to influence the outcome I think that was well I remember and I think it was in 90 maybe there was a big tour and a big Canada Day show at, I'm going to say, Moulson Park.

Barry. And we were on it. Mawes Mariposa. No, we were on that one at Mousson Park. And he headlined it and played Canada Day on Canada. It was that Canada Day song, Up Canada Day, Up Canada Way. Yeah. And it was amazing how people responded to it.

It's similar to when I was, I was in Glastonbury, and I went to see Johnny Cash. And he was in the daytime. It was an outdoor thing. Glastonbury is a big eclectic mix of music. Right. It was absolutely packed with young people, 80,000 people, because you don't realize how much influence that guy had. Yeah.

And his album with Rick Rubin had just come out, and it was huge. American recording. And he was shocked by how many people were there. And I think Tom was the same. Like, I think people know him. And yeah, it's a bit corn ball or whatever they think there is. But we're starting to embrace, like, we need these things.

Okay. We have to have them. On the heels of telling you about $299 Queen Street West, the documentary about much music, you cannot watch, maybe you go to Sean's living room, he'll play it for you, I don't know.

Okay. Which we'll make a date. Let's get that settled, okay? But I'll tell you, so I'm born in 74, and I don't know, I'm about, I don't know what I am, 14, 50,

I'm a teenager, pretty young teenager, but I'm a huge, much music consumer. Like, I'm getting a lot of my music. I liked 102.1 for the radio. I liked, and before that 680 CFDR quite a bit. I liked the Q107, and I liked much music. This is the song that brings me into Tom's universe.

You ready? Yeah. Have you heard the news in Newfoundland rolling around the rock? A Reggie brought for Margie home, a cowsy-dungsy-clock. With Margie being a farm girl, she almost took a fit. To find the cowsy-dungsy-clock was really made of it. The clock was from Toronto, and her mind was soon made. up. She said to Reggie, get the cow and load her on the truck.

We're heading for Ontario and we're off to make her big. Because Margot's got the cargo by and Reggie's got the rig. Reggie's got the rig. Reggie's got the rig. Margo's got the cargo buying Reg she's got the rig. Okay, Margo's cargo. So I don't actually have a great understanding of why I'm being, like, why am I seeing a video for this song, why am I almost thinking

who is this stomping Tom guy that seemingly is like a new artist or something? Okay? Why do I like this so much? And then to speak to my earlier point about how these genres, you know, Kurt Vonnegut and then Anne Murray and Eddie Shaq and mash it all together, I'm listening to Guns and Fucking Roses and this side by side, listen to this in the headphones

and then I'll put on some appetite for destruction for you. Like what happened? So you, when you were a kid, You listen to this? I know it was on Much Music. Yeah. I loved, unironically, I feel I need to throw that in there, loved this. And this character that was introduced to me via Much Music as a teenager.

Well, it must be the story, Mike. This guy bringing a load of shit into downtown Toronto, dumping it on the street. Come on. That story is Evergreen. Yeah, what kid wouldn't like that story? And then they start selling, you know, cow pies with the clock face on it. You know, I don't know what they got for those. A city boy is for like, I like this stuff.

Yeah, yeah, it's irreverent. It's like, well, tell him Tom was irreverent. He was a rebel. He was like a little bit like you, Mike, rogue. He was a rogue. Elaborate. Tell me more about how rogue is. Unlawful.

He didn't like the cops at one point. I don't know what happened later, but, you know, he was a rebel. Come on, man. He was contrary. Well, you know, he was kind of an unapologetically Canadian person. Like, he would tell Newfy jokes and he would, you know, he embraced everything. about what it was to be a Canadian.

Yes. You know, when the thing about much music was, at least it was a contact point for people with Canadian music. Like you could go there, and it was mandated that there were Canadian artists on board.

And we got on there because of that with Pandas. We had a video for that and R.E.M. That's where I think I got to, I discovered to remember. Yeah, so all that's gone now. Like, everything's been homogenized and flattened. And I think we want,

we're hungry for that to come back. And that's why he's getting a bit of research. Maybe that's where I was going with the Ralph Ben Mergi thing, is that we did take a, you know, and then of course, Mike Bullard had a talk show, but this was a forum where a band like Rusty could play late at night, and, you know, you mentioned it was the

low or whatnot, but we're like right now we're just being fed on some streaming service, some Sabrina Carpenter thing or whatever. Like, this is why I think you're getting those phone calls, Dunk. I think a lot of us are starving for some organic Canadian.

Like, Stomp and Tom is sort of epitomizes exactly what I'm hungry for. I'm not sure the audience knows that's what they want, but when they see it, they certainly react to it. They enjoy it so much. It's like, I always like it to the CFL. Like, it's not NFL with all of its gloss and it's abetting and all of that crap, but it's ours.

And these guys, I always say that they're the most sincere Canadian athletes there are because they don't get paid very much at all. all and they do it for the love of the game. And when I see all the rules changes that are coming out this year, I go, why are you doing that? It's, let's have a 55, centerline of the 55 and make it wide field and make it ridiculous. Like, that's what it is. It's not like that game. It's our game.

And, you know, I think people, the way, you know, I don't know why I'm going on about this, but Toronto Argonauts have always suffered because it's like, Toronto. Toronto's got this attitude that why would we go to that? It's not the best there is. Right. And I'm like, just embrace it, lean into it and say, this is your dad's game. And there's a reason for it. It's lovable and fun and not so serious.

And, you know, make it that, make it that attraction. Make it a kind of a boutique thing. And make it fun and make it cheaper. And you go there for a day out and get drunk and have fun. and watch something that is uniquely yours. And that's why, like, with the women's soccer is coming, and the Northern Super League is such a huge reaction to it, not just because women are doing it, but because it's ours.

It's not in America. There's no American teams. The PWHL, like that stuff, like people really love it, get behind it. And I think that's all part and parcel of this desperation for something that's ours that we've been denied for a long time, time because everyone's told us it's not as good, you know, sorry. No, and I love that, I love that take on it. I think you're absolutely right.

And then you mentioned, you know, that knock against the CFL is it's not best on best because I guess the best will go play in the NFL. Meanwhile, though, this city does support its MLS team. It's not the best, which is not the best on best either. They're lucky because they have an ethnic kind of tap. They have all these Italians and Spanish. and all these people who love football and will get it any way they can. And also, I just realized, of course, that if you want better caliber soccer,

you're not going to find it in North America. It's getting better. Like, I'm a season's ticket holder. I love football. Like, I love soccer. And this World Cup, the whole thing that's changed is there's somewhere for Canadian players to go. That's not, like, they don't have to get on to, you know, Chelsea. They can be on a professional team near their home.

And there's not a chance. Like, they're not just going to get, like, I can't play and make money at this. I'm going to go play basketball. I'm going to do that. So, but it's ours and it's great. And I, there's no atmosphere like that, that, it's the best game. It's all the live sports I've seen in this city. My favorite atmosphere, my favorite ambiance is TFC.

The drumming and the singing. It'll be the supporter section, though. Oh, they're insane, you know, like I love it. And that's the PWHL games are, Dickey-o. Oh, yeah. Sing of me, dunk. Danny Dickie-Yo.

Danny Dickie-Yo. Danny Dickie-Yo. Every time the first goal ever scored by franchise a team. So, and also. 21-minute mark or 23-minute mark, I can't remember. 21, 23 or something. Anyway, the, and the Scepters also, you go to that game, and it's fun. They're excited.

It's not priced out of everybody's range, and it's exciting and fun and good. And that is out. That's why we really get behind it. So, sorry. Sean is the perfect companion for Whiskey Jack on this tour. Yeah, it works well. You guys have the same passion. And yeah, he can speak to GenX.

You speak to Boomers and everybody's happy. Well, I'm on 65. It was when I was born. So I'm technically in the mid-range. Okay, because you pass. I'll tell you right now. I'm not in the boomers. I'm a year out of booming.

You're a cusp. He's not one of us. No, and I never will be. Tells it's My back still aches When I hear that word There's Douglas I was feeling in the morning

Anything but fine Such a good song It says you got a don't A pair of oil skin pants If you want to go work And the tobacco plants We landed in a field That was long and wide

With one No No I don't want to keep you all day I see now I can't believe how easy it was To go 90 minutes with you too Well it's just this song This is good

It's just as good is any song about some town in America. And this should be everywhere. Like, this is ours. It's good. And this, for those who haven't, because I know you mentioned it was John Douglas Cameron, but this is Whiskey Jack we're listening to doing Tilsonburg. And of course, a cover.

Hey, Tom, have you ever been to Tilsonburg? Tilsenberg. My back still aches when I hear that word. While away down southern Ontario, Do you ever want to send a thank you card to the president of the United States of America that he is solely responsible for what I feel a resurgence of pride in this country and our ideals and our values? No, it could be a great cost. So no, I'm not going to thank him for fuck all.

Yeah, and I don't know if he could read it. There's that. He is a scumbach. I'm going to say it right now. Yeah, I was going to say maybe... It's the worst thing that's ever happened. I feel like no redeeming qualities at all. Like I'm pretty good at finding, like I, you know,

I talked to like Bruce Dobe again and different people like that, and I can find something somewhere, a redeeming quality. You're a bigger man than I am. I couldn't do that. But I, I mean, you know, we're all humans on this earth and I try to listen to people with different viewpoints and try to read. But you're right. Sometimes there's just, oh, this is a piece of garbage,

human garbage. And I believe that is what applies to the president of the United States of America. It brings the worst out of everyone he gets in contact with. is the worst. So other than you doing what you're doing, can you tell me about, like just on our way out here, I want to just explore this

because we'd have private chats through the past year. You know I had Charlie, before everybody wanted a piece of Charlie Angus, I had him over to talk about this. Fantastic, yeah. And it was a great episode.

You mentioned this hour is 22 minutes. They took a piece of that because he went off on Wayne Gradsky and it made it to this hour is 22 minutes. And I remember feeling kind of raw at the time that they didn't,

and nowhere on that screen they could put Toronto mic or TorontoMike. Or tronelomik.com or some kind of credit. It just airs. It's me talking to Charlie. I don't know how long that bit was, 30 seconds or whatever.

And we're on the screen because I captured the video. I put it on YouTube. They just grabbed. They didn't ask for it. Of course. They just grab it. They just grab it.

No accreditation. Nothing. That's poor. And then like the next week, CNN called the next week. My name, Toronto Mike, the banner. And the folder they used that me and Donald Trump fighting each other.

That's typically Canada, though. Well, that's unfortunate. They don't understand that you would want that. Or just, it's just, like, if I'm on my blog, Toronto mic.com, if I'm going to put something up there, I'm going to say, this is from this hour has 22 minutes and it aired on this date. Like, that's just human decency. Yes.

Well, we know that. Okay, on our way out here, go at this fucker, this fucking orange pig that's ruining the world. When he started talking those jokes, making those jokes about Canada becoming the 51st state, I was royally pissed from the get-go. But we're at a point now. I'm watching the opening ceremonies from where are they in Milan, okay? And I love Olympics and I'm watching

opening ceremonies and the Americans are coming in and I had a pit in the pit of my stomach I could feel this not. I don't want to see this country and that flag coming in anywhere. I literally had to fucking stop. My wife's wife, I had to leave the room until the

Americans were off the fucking screen. This is where we're at. Yeah. You know, I just every time I hear you as USA. I'm like, just go home. You are just not welcome anywhere. Like he has made being an American a kind of an almost shameful thing. You know, it's... And they were well on their way to that to begin with. I've always been arrogant. I remember posting on my substike page a couple, maybe 18 months ago, the fact that Americans don't know that when you're on vacation and you're in a group of people that they, those that aren't American talk about. out the Americans.

So if they're not there, if you go on vacation, for example, we sometimes go south and we're in a group of people. Invariably, the non-Americans are drawn to each other,

way more than ever before. But it was always a little bit like that. They just didn't know. Nor did they care. And my guess it's, for the most part, they don't care. Still,

well, they think they're the, I, they think that they are the best country in the world, the only country that gets it, the home of the land of the free, they believe,

that shit. Well, they got the biggest cock, so. Well, here's the country as one of the worst education systems of any of developed country in the world. Then they spend more money on defense. Why do you have to do that if you're so goddamn popular? Like, why, you know, it's just when they don't learn about the rest of the world at all. So when they travel, they don't understand that other people do things differently,

and it's not the only way to do it. And it comes off very poorly with most people. Can I clarify? Yeah. The cock was a metaphor. They don't really have the military you're talking about. Yeah. I knew that.

I have the nuanced ability. I just don't know what your audience is like. The arrogance and stupidity of this man, but like when he said, oh, Greenland, just because a boat landed on it 500 years, ago doesn't mean you own it. Wait a minute. It was a thousand years ago. And two, what was America except a bunch of guys in a boat landing on it? And you to celebrate Columbus as the discoverer of America, he discovered El Salvador. He just like he didn't even set foot in North America. You're dumb as shit. You don't know anything about history. You're a moron. Everything you say,

is idiotic. Your takes are stupid. You don't have any basis in fact for anything you say. How you think tariffs help your industry inside your own country? Go, Sean. Go. Go. Go, man. I could run. I'm terrible with money, but even I know that's a stupid take. Hey, you know what? We're going to make everything 10 times more expensive. That'll improve things. You know, people are desperate and fucking... He needs a podcast. They're desperate and they have no money.

You take away from the least people, like the people who need it the most. And they always say, oh, socialism, you know? Like every time I have an argument with somebody about this stuff, they go, well, what do you want? Soviet Russia? Is that the only option? Is it just Soviet

Russia or absolute rampant raping capitalism? Is that the only options? Maybe you can have universal health care and not have to line up for bread. No, because nobody's making money then. We need somebody, a middleman, to rake off money and tell you you're not getting cancer treatment. You're finished.

You know, it's, we, everybody says, well, what about, you know, socialism? Do you use roads? That's socialism, moron. Fire department. Did you build it yourself? Do you put out the fires yourself? It's socialism. We're all socialists, moron.

Anyway. You two are a dynamic duo. I'm on your team. I'm on your team. I'm no Kevin O'Leary. Okay, I'm here to tell you. Yeah, Mr. Quisling. You know, I'm...

I told the Tatara Sloan on Friday. I don't even want to see this Oscar-nominated film starring an actor I quite like and a director I quite like because I know it's going to have that fucking face in it. Kevin O'Leary. Can't stand him. Can't stand him. Trader.

Piece of shit. Creepy. P-O-S. Sean, you know, my... I'm going to keep my door ajar for the next 10 years. And anytime you want to just slip down here. How about Daniel Smith being funded by MAGA to separate from the country? How about a treason trial?

How about that? That's taking foreign money to undermine our government. Go to hell, Danielle, I say. That rhymes. Sorry. Sean, thanks for coming back, buddy. Come to the horseshoe tonight, nine, eight, At the clock. 20 bucks.

20 bucks at the door? At the door. That's incredible. It's incredible. Inside the door even. What perfect venue for that? You know that. That's 90th birthday.

Well, that's one of his stomping grounds. Absolutely. I was watching a bunch of YouTube videos this past week of Stomp and Tom performing at the Horseshoe Tavern because I never got to experience it in person. Fucking love it. Fucking love you. Bandov, Dunk. I love you too, Mike. $2,000 for the love.

I want to bury your children, Mike. Just leave a check on the table before you go. Okay, Dunk. Pay for the love. You whore And that Hey you see I got my Whiskey Jack rhymes in good times

Of stomping Tom On prominent display here You see that right though I'll see if it's there tomorrow morning No it's been there I got photos It's on Instagram You'll see photos on Instagram

Where it was there And that You gotta go But you gotta take a photo by the tree Before you disappear Watch your head And that brings us to the end

Of our 1,845th show Go to Toronto Mike.com for all your Toronto Mike needs. Go see this whiskey jack of Sean Cullen experience, not just at the horseshoe, but they're in wonderful towns in this beautiful province.

Get out and see them. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery. Palma Pasta. Nick Iini's Recycle MyElectronics.ca. And Redley Funeral Home, Mike's going to go into his calendar in real time this is happening.

And I'm here to tell you. It's kind of an amazing week. I'm very excited about this week's Toronto mic episodes. Tomorrow I have a Canadian reggae artist, Moya. She's been nominated for several Juno's for her reggae recordings. I can't wait to have her in the basement.

But then on Wednesday, the aforementioned Dave Bedini is coming on. Another rat on the ice, I'll tell you. Well, who is it? Jim Cuddy says, Bidini's always got his elbows up. Oh, yeah. Chopping your ankles.

Simone Denny. This is a big deal. Simone Denny worked with Chris Shepard on some of these Love Inc and BKS and all this cool stuff. She's going to make her debut on Thursday. And I got a top secret recording. I don't even want to tell you, but it's a Canadian rock star. That's all you need to know. Canadian rock star, also named Gord.

See you all then.