Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Sir Jerry: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1901

Episode Date: May 19, 2026

In this 1901st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Sir Jerry about his mysterious origin story, his return to the stage and The Beatles animated show before Jerry Levitan crashes the party. 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].

I am so excited to be here. The last time I had this much excitement, I was swimming in a swimming pool. Some random person said, you want to get wet, and I did. I'm Sir Jerry, and it is a sunny day here close to the water of Lake Ontario. Just, is it south?

Yes, south of Lakeshore Boulevard, close to the water. I'm glad the midges are gone, because they're frankly, I don't know why they exist. Anyways, I've taken too much time, and I think everyone wants to hear from Toronto, Mike. I'm speechless, Sir Jerry. That's not good. Take over.

Welcome to episode 1,9001, 1901. Was that the year of your birth, Sir Jerry? Ageless, Mike. Ageless. Episode in 1901 of Toronto Mikeed, an award-winning podcast. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at Great LakesBear.com for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

Visit Palma Pasta.com for more. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Catch a game at Christy Pits this summer. No ticket required. Fusion Corp's own Nick Iienes. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline. And Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recyclemyelectronics.ca.comitting to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home. Pillers of the community since 1921. Joining me today, making his Toronto mic debut, kind of

sort of. It's Sir Jerry. Oh, I have this condition. I don't know. So let me tell the listenership. This gentleman to my left, Sir Jerry, you are well dressed. The last time somebody was that well dressed in the basement

studio here, he was a funeral director at Ridley Funeral Home. You look good. Well, thank you. I try to look well, but, you know, I'm a little battered, you know. A little battered, but you look great. And you got a, I'm going to just paint a picture for those who are listening. You got a, I don't know what they call.

That's a suit. Well, I wouldn't call it suit, but it's a very formal, long jacket, the kind of thing they would wear in the Victorian era. Okay. And you have a bow tie on? Yes, yes. Not a clip on. Oh, it's a real deal.

It's a real deal. Prove it, Sir Jerry. Fine. I didn't know. Is that kind of a broadcast? And what is this? Is this a, I should know what this is, a bootlier? What's that thing called?

It's called a flower. A flower. F-L-O-W-E-R. You've been in the basement too long. But does it have a formal term when you put a flower on your, like, lapel or whatever? That's the kind of question you should ask the funeral home. Well, I think you're right.

A butanier. I think I was going there. Boutanir. Okay, thank you for that. And you got a top hat on. Yes, it's actually quite a vintage top hat. Oh, okay. If you take a look at it.

Well, I want to just shout out Jeremy Hopkins because he often wears a vintage top hat as well when he visits the basement. I love that it's the real deal. It's not some faux thing you bought at a Halloween store. You know, I just want to comment that because it is a hot day, I've been sweating a little bit and you touched it. You may have come down with the hunter virus.

Have you been on any cruise ships lately, Sir Jerry? No, I avoid... Do you work the cruise ship, sir? I have been on a boat. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay, I'll get more info. So I want to just...

I know it's weird here, but I did have on somebody who looks a bit like you, but is not you. So there's a gentleman named Jerry Levittant. Do you know him? Oh, my goodness, I do. He's a very lovable fellow, a bit of a blow. low hard and self-promoter.

I thought so too. Yes, but I do know him. And yes, he actually gave me your name. He connected us. Yes, he connected us. But this is the first time I spoke directly with Sir Jerry. Like, it's an honor, and I have questions, but I don't want to be crass to promote a live event that's coming up.

But there is a pretty exciting live event at noon at the Drake Hotel on June 3rd. 15th. Are you aware of what's happening at the Drake Hotel on June 15th? Not on the 15th, but on the 14th. I am aware of it. Are you serious? Oh, you're right. I'm okay. Sure, I'm putting on a children's show on Monday. No, no. It's Sunday, June 14, noon. I blew that one, okay? We'll fix it in post. We'll fix it imposed. So why don't you tell us off the top? We'll get to know you, Sir Jerry, and then maybe we'll chat maybe about your buddy, Jerry, Levitan as well.

Sure. But just tell everybody what's happening, exactly what's happening Sunday, June 14th, 2026 at noon at the Drake Hotel. Happy to oblige you, Toronto Mike. Slip me a few 20s for that, except even though I blew the date. I'd probably been given the wrong date for my event as well. Do you take Sri Lankan currency? Yes. Excellent.

All right. Now, so I have been doing live shows, mostly at the Drake Hotel in Toronto, but all over the province, actually, for many, many years. And the last show I did was before the pandemic. Wow. And my trusted man-servant Melman indicated at last week's rehearsal that it's been seven years since the last live show. I did some internet things during the pandemic.

but aside from that, I haven't had the band together. So I just raised the proposition of doing another show because I know there's a void in today's very difficult world, a void for me. So there could be a void for you. But so got the band together, they're excited. There's actually a new person on it. So it's me, my trusted man servant, Melman,

my beloved Uncle Alford. Laura the spider girl Super M, she's the new new person, and Rubin, the musical, mystical, magical, genius, who used to many years ago be in a very popular Toronto band called Blue Leg.

In any event... I know Glue League. They'd been in the basement. Have they? Yeah? No kidding me. I wouldn't lie to you. I don't ruin your flow there, Sir Jerry, but I am very quickly Googling Gluleg, Toronto Mike, to tell you the two,

there's many members of Glue Lake, the two gentlemen that were in the basement, Carlos Alonzo and Christian Simpson. So there are a couple of founding members that we talked to. Ruben Heisinga was basically the guy. Right, okay. Well, then how do you do it?

I need to get that guy on Toronto Mike. For sure, he'd be happy to come back. Another Glueleg episode. He has a new band called Starbeast, which is gaining. a lot of traction. He has two albums, and the latest one is great. Okay, well, I trust everything you say, Sir Jerry.

Okay, you wouldn't lie to me. So people need to buy tickets. Like, is it, can you buy tickets in advance, or is it cash only at the door? No, it's cash only, and I believe they have an ATM, an A-T. What does that stand for, Sir Jerry? I don't, automated Toronto mic. Oh, I like this. Okay, well, I'm not paying for this.

And right outside the door. The only reason it's cash only is I'm not going to get to the trouble of doing ticket sales on the internet. I'm an old school sort of person. So the band, let me tell you what the band is. It's all my original compositions. One of them is Ruben Heisenga, Ruben the Musical, Mystical Magical Genius. But it's my original compositions, which these songs are from four albums that I, that I produced with Rubin, and they're on Spotify and all those other places.

We do live songs, a lot of comedy, you know, to get people laughing as opposed to crying. There is some crying from some parents. Well, it's a fine line. It's a fine line. Yes, it is. We have four dancers trained some of them from the National Ballet of Canada. So it's an hour and a half of fun music dancing. The kids always get up and dance and play around,

and the parents, you know, are amazed at the entertainment. And it's a nice get to go to Queen Street, a very cool part of the city, hang out. Sounds like a great afternoon. Ten bucks a person, twenty bucks for a family. Yes. What if your family is 30 people? Still 20 bucks?

Hey, that's the risk, you know? It's the risk you take. this global economy. Yeah, there's some big families out there. Okay, the return of, so that's exciting. So that's big news off the top here. I got questions for you as Sir Jerry, but the return of Sir Jerry,

it's been several years since he did a live show. That means I met you, since I met you, you haven't done a live show until June 14, not June 15th. If you go to the drink on June 15 for Sir Jerry, you will be very disappointed. He won't be. Maybe you'll be there.

I don't know. Well, have them contact me if you're there and I'll come over. Right. I'll broker that deal. Okay, so that's exciting that you're making your triumphant return, good cast of characters there. Is there a gorilla in the band?

Yes, the drummer is Dr. Gorilla. In fact, one of my songs is the legend of Dr. Gorilla. I think that's what I called it. Okay. And I couldn't help but notice that your Toronto mic to debut, Sir Jerry, because you, Sir Jerry, have never been on Toronto Mike before. I noticed it was 2.30. And every time I have anything at 2.30, I think of a dad joke about a dentist.

And I'm just going to play a little bit of... I am the dentist. I drill in your teeth. That's because you eat too many sweets. I went to dental school. They taught me these things. I am the dentist I'm the dentist Principal I make all these rules

Because you are enrolled in my school The punishments I give They make me so glad I am your principal The principal It's brightening, sir Jerry Can a four-year-old enjoy Sir Jerry?

Yes Yes, absolutely I actually marketed as ages 1 to 100. They can. You know, a 4-year-old might be a little spooked by that song, but because we have dancers in tutus, and this whole comedy scene, no one really gets freaked out. Also, I failed to mention you have a cane.

You won't disclose your age. Is this simply that you're of an age where you need some help walking so you don't fall? Well, you know, I'm a world traveler. Many of my songs are about my exploits. And as you can see, this cane is quite beaten up. It helps me. But, you know, it's more for just the look, you know.

It looks cool. Thank you. Like the penguin or something. Oh, now you've painted me as a DC villain. Now so many places I want to go, my goodness gracious. So you won't disclose your age, is that correct? That is correct. I'm timeless.

You're timeless. But you're clearly from England, right? Like you have an English accent. Yes, yes. Well, I spent a lot of time in England. I don't really know what country I was born in. Okay, so you don't know when you were born or where. Is this the deal?

Correct. And because I've traveled the way, I found Melman in the Himalayas. And ever since he was a child. Ever since then, he's been my trusted. man's servant. So what do you know, like, about your origin story? Like, you must have some information about where the hell you came from. Well, um, the, in Poopi-Dupy Land, where, um, the queen of the Poopi-Duty, Poopoo-Poo-Poo-Poo-Dudies, Queen Poopo-Duby. Easy for you to say. I have actually a song about that. Um, uh, that is why I'm a sir. She knighted me as a sir. Um, and I spent time there,

I think I came out of a dream is actually what I believe. Because if you ask yourself the question, who are we? Where do we come from? What is this life? What is the universe is expanding? It's expanding. So what the hell are we doing? Oh, Ed said a naughty word,

what the hell are we doing here in South Etobico if the universe is expanding? Right. Right. Do you have an answer for that? Or is these are the great questions of the universe? I have no answers, but I pose the questions. Okay. So you don't, there's no, like, I can't, so you don't know when or where you were born.

Now, I feel like, so you mentioned you've been all around the world, but you also, do you travel through time? Well, that's interesting. I'm giving you a tricky question. No, no, no, no. It's a good question. It's an existential question. I don't understand Sir Jerry here. You know, I asked the late Carl Sagan that question, you know.

And, and his answer was, time is not a, a random, isolated thing. There's the space time continuum. You know, so I can't pinpoint at time. Do I travel in time? Well, there have been times I've been speaking to certain people or in certain groups where I wish I had gone back in time. But, you know, that's another concept. That's another concept here.

Because I played a song called I Am the Dentist just moments ago. Now, so how many albums have you released, Sir Jerry? Actually, I have to be truthful now. I created a time machine. With my infinite knowledge of human history and Ruben's mastery of basic household tasks, we have created this time machine. Melman and I will demonstrate. I will sit here in the captain's chair. You, Melman, sit next to me. Sir Jerry, all these wires and switches are making me nervous. Oh, there's nothing to be worried about, Melman, as long as you don't press the big red button.

You mean this one? Great Hannibal's Hanky! What, Sir Jerry? What's wrong? What's wrong? Well, as I see it, you bumbling nini, we could either panic. Oh, I'm panicking. Or we can enjoy the trip. I, for one, would rather enjoy the trip.

You see, on your left side, the Great Wall of China's actually being built as we speak. Or on the right side, there's Albert Einstein writing E equals nc squared on his blackboard. Well, that certainly is educational. Bingo. Now hear that roar? Smell that smell. Dinosaurs roaming the earth. Yikes!

Well, if I pull this lever, we could see what the future holds. Look, cities built on clouds. Ah, so pretty. Everyone is getting along in the future. I don't see any sign of global warming here. So, Jerry, do you know when ice cream cones were invented? Yes. 1904, the St. Louis World's face.

1508, Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel. 1808, Beethoven's fifth completed his masterpiece, the transformed 22nd, 1954. Sir Jerry is born. Whoa! Okay, that's the truth. I was born on July 22nd, 1954. Although I forgot about it until I re-heard the song. You know, that's what happens when you get older.

I don't think Sir Jerry was prepared for the investigative work I would do, the research that Toronto Mike does. I am the Brian Linahan of podcaster. You know, this is like 60 minutes when it used to be a provocative show. Yeah, like that was six months ago, I think. But I got to say, I've caught you in a couple of fibs here. Like, I got to know I can trust you. Like, I can't have a guest in here, spewing nonsense. So we now know when you were born.

Have you heard of the word hyperbole? Hyperbole. I get a roll with it, Mike. Come on. Okay, so exciting times for Sir Jerry. I'm glad you're here this week because this is the only week of the calendar year when Toronto tree is in full bloom. I get precisely one week a year

where that tree, which, Professor Prickle Thorne, by way, I would love to introduce you to Professor Prickle Thorne. Have you ever met him? No, but it sounds like he'd be good in my band. He wears a Lego bow tie. got, I don't know, you know what's going on under your top hat, but Professor Pricklethorne's got some crazy, like, you know, the guy, who would I compare him to,

back to the future, the professor? Is he a professor? I can't know. Doc Brown. He's a dog, right, do you know who Professor Irwin Corey was? Oh, this name sounds familiar. Oh my God, you have to, you have to check him out on YouTube. Professor Irwin Corey, he had that kind of thing. Okay, okay. So maybe that's where Professor Prickle Thorne borrowed the concept. Professor Pricklethorne's also an arborist. He worked on Toronto Island for 25 years. And he tells me Toronto Tree is at end of life. These trees we get on these boulevards,

you know, they don't last that long. This tree apparently, end of life. But I'm here to report, again, when you look at the photo I took with Sir Jerry, for this episode of Toronto Mike, his debut, you'll see beautiful full-bloom flowers on the Toronto tree. Wow. So how do you feel about that, Sir Jerry?

I feel so light on my feet. Might be because I'm sitting down, but I feel that is actually quite spiritual and mystic. Thank you. Okay. And the only other guest, I think, who's going to get in on the full bloom action is Stu Stone. Have you ever heard of Stu Stone?

Is he a musician? He does everything. So he is a rapper. He wraps with Jamie Kennedy. They had a series called Blowing Up, and they had some pretty big, jams from that MTV era. So I think now I'm going to broker

a meeting between you, Professor Brickle Thorne and Stu Stone. I think that's the trifecta for the next event. The triphithe. You took the trifecta here. Okay, so you mentioned you were friends with Jerry Levitan and

you know, Jerry did tell me about you and he sent me some songs. So please tell me, I'm going to play this song. And tell me if I've got the right theme here. Hello. My name is Sir Jerry. That is my theme. I should have played it at the beginning, Sir Jerry.

Welcome to my world. And this is how our show starts. So if I make my way to Clean Street West on Sunday, June 14 at noon, things will get underway with this Sir Jerry theme. That's right. And the four dancers will be dancing to this. They bring me out, and I introduce myself or inject myself into the audience. Wow. What craziness. Okay. And, you know, I got questions, but I don't know if the answers will be consistent. So maybe I should just ask you for some advice here. Okay. So you've had prior to the pandemic, you had many live events where you would entertain families. Yes. Okay. Here's a true story. It is actually true. A number of years ago, I got a call from the mayor. I'm trying to think of...

Art Eggleton. No, no, no, no. I knew that. Well, Jerry Leverton knew that fellow. Right. But what was the name of that? Aurelia. And the mayor of Aurelia and their council decided to have a beetle fest to attract tourism. Sure. And this many years ago. And I got a call from the mayor who said he heard my music and he understood that my good friend Jerry Leverton had spent time.

had spent time with John Lennon of the Beatles, and it would be a good idea if I came with my band to perform, and to which I said for sure, and he asked me to play a Beatles song or two, which I agreed to do, because I'm familiar with the Beatles. So we went there, and I forget the name of the venue,

but it was their historic sort of musical theater place in Aurelia, an old building. They canceled school early in Orillia and the surrounding area for the show and bust kids in to this theater. This is the truth. This is the truth.

And it was a great show. So anyways, we did a show there. We played all over Ontario, not at Fort Francis, I don't think. But mostly in Toronto. Where, sorry, which Beatles songs did Sir Jerry you perform? The one I definitely remember performing was Hey Bulldog,

which is one of the more obscure Beatles. I actually, I don't own all the Beatles albums, sadly, and I don't think I know that song. It was a song recorded for the Yellow Submarine album. And like I said, it's one of the obscure Beatles. I thought it was a parody of Hey Jude, Hey Bulldog. That's a good point. You know, I think it actually was recorded before Sergeant Pepper,

and Hey Jude is actually the white album vintage. Okay. Do you remember the other song or no? It may have been all together now, which also was a yellow submarine song. It's possible we only did Hey Bulldog. I can't remember, but it was mostly my songs. Okay, so I'm going to ask you,

I was going to ask your friend Jerry Levittant about this, but I have Sir Jerry here now, and I'm going to ask you about this. I was listening to a podcast that was discussing the Beatles cartoon show. Did you ever watch the Beatles cartoon show? Yes. Okay. What do you remember about the Beatles cartoon show?

Well, here's the point. You know, now that you know my birth date and you can calculate my age, when I became enthralled with the Beatles, the early ages of 13, 14, 15. new Beatle songs would be coming out, right? So you would go from, for example, rubber soul to revolver, to magical mystery tour,

to Sergeant Pepper and the white album, you couldn't wait to hear a new Beatles song. And it was quite obvious to kids my age at the time that things like the Beatle cartoon show were just a joke, right? You know? Right. They weren't as good as Rocket Robin Hood or any. anything like that.

And I don't even think I really watched much of it because why would you do that if you could, if you could listen to Sergeant Pepper or something like that? But I think it was more designed for the younger siblings of those who were into the Beatles. So they made 39 episodes over three seasons, and I guess it was Sunday at 10.30 a.m., I think. But in the third season, they moved it to noon for some reason.

And the music, so the music you'd hear in this show was actually the Beatles, but the voices of the Beatles were... They were terrible. They were terrible imitated. It was like, Ringo was, oh, I can't find the drums, no, you know, that kind of thing. So apparently there's a U.S. actor named Paul Freeze. You know, it's named Paul Freeze. That rings a bell.

He was the voice of John Lennon, your friend's friend. I guess you're a friend of a friend of John Lennon, but he also voiced George Harrison and Brian Epstein. All three voices were this American named Paul Freeze. And there was a chap named Lance Percival. Percival? Yeah. And he voiced Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

So all five of those voices we're talking about were just two guys. Wow. There you go. Well, it makes sense because they were terrible. Well, even the Beatles, like the Beatles were not fans of the show. But apparently, according to Wikipedia, band members enjoyed the cartoon in later years. So, I mean, there were only three years.

So maybe they got better in the third season. I don't know. I think I recall an interview with John Lennon, after he had Sean as his child, they would watch it, you know, when Sean was very young. But, I mean, it was part of the whole merchandising that had very little to do with the Beatles.

You could buy sheets and pillowcases with the Beatles. Right. They just licensed the band to make some cash. There you go. go. Now, I want to give you some gifts because I'm afraid later in this chat, your buddy might drop by. He's a neighbor. He lives nearby. He might drop by and we might talk. But I'm going to give you some gifts, Sir Jerry, while you're here. And then I'm going to ask you for some advice because I am, I know you're back at it on, I'm going to get the date right since I screwed it up. You're back at it. I actually took your image here. I'm looking at your image. I can't screw it up. You're back at it, June 14th at the Drake Hotel, and I hope it's a full room. I make my debut in precisely two days, okay, so I'm going to ask you for some advice. But first, I'm going to ask you, Sir Jerry. I know you're timeless.

I mean, you know, we found out your birth year, so, you know, let's get these stories straight. But have you, Sir Jerry, ever been to Christy Pitts here in Toronto? Yes, I have, but it was so long ago. And I think I think I was there at the invitation of a young girl. I was a teenager at the time. Okay. You probably heard you were friends of a guy who, friends of a guy who knew John Lennon. I feel like that would get you some check.

Yeah, I was in the bushes watching. Okay, well, the Bushman. There's in the Bushmen there now. I was at Christy Pitts on Sunday. Yes. For my second Toronto May Beliefs game of the year. And the weather was spectacular. as you know, Sir Jerry, spectacular today.

But Sunday was great. And I got to say, I don't think I've ever seen that many people at Christy Pitts for a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball game. And I've been to a bunch. This was the biggest crowd I ever saw. What a turnout. I'm giving you, Sir Jerry, a book on the history of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. And I'm going to try to get you out to Christy Pitts for a Leafs game.

I'll do it. I'll do it. Wow, that is, first of all, the fact that you're giving me a gift is just incredible. Because who gives gifts these days? I do. Really? I'm not even done, okay?

By the way, I feel like I could sell the games ops people. Games ops, game ops, game ops, games ops, the game ops people, I'll be noodling that one all day. The game ops people at Chrissy Pizz, I could sell them. I feel like I could sell them on like a Sir Jerry day.

Sir Jerry throws out the pitch. Maybe Sir Jerry sings a song for everybody. I don't know. I could work on that. Make sure you pronounce it correctly because sometimes people might think you're saying surgery. Oh, yes. Hey, I'd like to introduce you to surgery. Yeah, good point, good point.

That's a good tip. That's what I'm going to be looking for in a minute. But I want to say about the Elmo combo and your attendance there. I want me to give you some more gifts and then get back to the Elmo? Yes, because I know something about it. Okay, I do want to talk about the Elmo with you. That's really why you're here. Okay.

So very quickly, a few more gifts. I have in my freezer upstairs surgery, a large Luzon. for you to take home. Do you eat Italian food? Oh, yes. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my lasagna. I do like that.

I'm beside myself. Okay, but if you're going to eat Italian food and you're not going to make it from scratch, like no-no would do, you're going to get it at Palma pasta. I just want to make sure people know, palma pasta.com. They sent over this lasagna for Sir Jerry.

Also a South Atobico institution, known as Great Lakes Brewery, easy for me to say, brewery, they sent over some fresh craft beer for you, Sir Jerry. Oh my goodness. I have to say, unlike other children entertainers, I do drink beer. Glad to hear it. Yes.

Because Rafi never drinks. No, no, and Sir Jerry is not like those other entertainers. Like brush your tea, brush your tea. No, it's not like that. But this is wonderful and one of them is suspended. Well, yeah, the Mayful. It's a shorter cup. But that was, actually, that's professional.

Yes, okay. So you got the Great Lakes, the premium logger. You got an IPA called Burst. my favorite Sunnyside Session, IPA, and I threw in a special non-GLB beverage for you that came courtesy of the aforementioned Professor Pricklethorn.

So yeah, so you've got yourself some fresh beer from Great Lakes. I also have a measuring tape for you, sir, Jerry, from Ridley Funeral Home. This will come in handy. You might come in handy if Brad Jones is unavailable and they need somebody to wear the hat

and the suit to, to welcome people who are grieving a loved one. I think you do a great job at that. Well, I was thinking more, you know, given now that you know my birth date, that may be a measurement of me. But as I said, one way or the other, I enjoy it. Okay, enjoy that.

And thank you to Ridley Funeral Home. They have a great podcast called Life's Undertaking. Also, Nick Iienes has a great podcast called Building Toronto Skyline, and he's got another one called Mike and Nick. And I want to thank him for supporting the show. And I want to thank Recycle My Electronics.com. because Sir Jerry, if you have old, I can't imagine you having old electronics, old phones, old devices,

because you're sort of an old-fashioned kind of guy. But if maybe your buddy Jerry Levittan does, I'm going to urge him to go to recycle my electronics.ca, stick in his South Atobico postal code and find out where he could drop that off to be properly recycled. That sounds good to me. Sounds good to you. Okay, so now I've given you the gifts.

Let's talk about the Elmo for a moment because I, I'm speaking to you on Tuesday, May 19th. And on Thursday, May 21st, see, I got this date, right. Thursday, May 21, 2026. Literally, Sir Jerry, I'm going to be not too long, maybe around this time, I'll be biking to the Alma combo, doing like a sound check, watching the opening act, Rob Pruse,

and getting ready to grab that mic at 8 p.m. to deliver like a 90-minute presentation that I've been working on, like two days from now. So I want to hear from you. I want to hear that beautiful, authentic British accent of yours. What advice can you give me so I don't, I'm not a deer in the headlights, and I'm staring at the crowd,

and I can't remember what to say. Like, what advice would you give me as a veteran performer? Well, first of all, I know about it because that lovable vagabon Jerry Levitan told me about he's going. Oh, my God. Not that that will mean that anyone will go because of that. Well, I will go. I will go in one form or another.

Will I see that hat in the crowd? I'll bring it. I'll bring it and that will screw you up. No, but so the advice... That's amazing that Mr. Levitan's going. Like, I'm honored because these are not cheap tickets. I know. I know.

You know, the Paul McCartney tickets were less. No, they won't. They were like a hundred times more. They aren't that expensive. And here's the thing. You know, my advice would be, just be yourself. That's it. Well, oh, oh, yeah, you're right.

That's it. Pretend that you're doing a podcast, you know, but you'll get some instant audience reaction. I'll make sure that Jerry Levittan laughs when it's appropriate, that shouts out good things. Okay. I'm like I'm honored Jerry Levitan's going to be there. I'm starting to hear from,

at first my whole thing, my whole schick, if you will, was I'll be on stage in front of the six people who bought a ticket. Like, I wrote that.

Mike. Can I call you Mike or do I have to call you Toronto Mike? I'm calling you Sir Jerry. You're calling me Toronto Mike. Okay. Okay, Toronto Mike. Oh, Toronto Mike. Come on.

Sir Toronto Mike. Okay. All right. I, that was my schick. I didn't, I didn't know what to think. But now I'm thinking it might be nice to have a crowd there. So I guess I'm going to do like a bit of a call to action. If you've been like on the fence thinking about, oh, do I really want to buy a couple of takes?

I'd say, have a great night on the town. Come to the historic Elma Camba on Thursday. Come for the Rob Proust. Rob Proust is going to put on a great show at 7 p.m. I think he's worth the price of admission. And he's got a drummer. He's added a drummer. to his squad there.

And the drummer whose name will come to me. His nickname is Juice. Okay? It'll come to me. It's not Juice Newton, I don't think. But Juice, and he's a drummer for Platinum Blonde. All right. Well, already, you know that the beat will be right.

Right. So anyway, I just got that news from Rob today. But Rob's going to be great going, he's going to, the door's open at 630. Rob starts at like 7. At 7.55, I have ordered Rob Proust from spoons and Honeymoon Suite, if you don't know that name. I've ordered him to play a song that he co-wrote. It's called Romantic Traffic.

So when I hear Rob Pruth start romantic traffic, that's like my, that's my call. That's my cue, if you will. I'm going to storm that stage, grab the mic, and I ain't not going to give up that mic for 90 minutes. I think that's great. And, you know, I have been at the Elmo since they renovated it. It's beautiful.

Yeah, I got to be clear too, because I was wrong about this at first, too. There are two floors to the Elmo. There's the ground floor, which they call the Starlight Room, and then there's the room you're probably thinking of a shape like an L, the upstairs room where the Rolling Stones would have played, I would think, the L-shaped room. So we're in the Starlight Room, not that you go to the wrong room and say, where the hell is Rob Proust.

But the Starlight Room, the main room, it's a great room. I visited it last week. I saw my name on the marquee. That's cool. Big moment. took some video, took some pictures. So, like, it's all, like, starting to hit home that this is actually happening. Like I said, I'm going to bike over, just sort of, like, soak it in, do my best.

And I do have a, like, a top secret surprise grand finale that I won't be letting you in on Sir Jerry. Wow. Well, okay. It's you. What a surprise. But, you know, actually, there are three levels. There's a basement, too, where they actually have. in a lusite container, Keith Richards' soiled undergarments.

So I urge everyone who goes to your show before you come on or after you come on to go down there and take a peek. Take a peek, but hold your nose. I don't think they've cleaned it. I don't think they've cleaned it. Okay, good, that's a good tip. But all jokes aside. So yeah, so be myself. You're saying just be yourself.

Because although I haven't done anything like that, I do, like you've been to, well, your friend's been to. Very complicated here. I'm getting the end of sock flashbacks now. But your buddy, Jerry Levitan, has been to the Palmas Kitchen TMLX event, which is a very different vibe because I got a co-host and people like your buddy would come on the mic and chat it up. But we go three hours unedited. With a good audience, with quite a number of people on.

Free event, though, we'll see how many, we'll see who's there. I'm excited to find out. Like, it's all part of the experience. And I am excited about it. And I do, as I speak to you now, Sir Jerry, I could never lie to you. You may have lied to me a couple of times accidentally. earlier. I could never lie to you. My intent is to never do this again. Never do what again? Have me on? Oh, that's for sure. I'll have your buddy on, but I can't do this twice.

I can't do it twice. He'll never be the same. I think I'd want to, no, I would never do this headlining at the Elma combo thing again. Like, I don't think. What if it goes great, which it will? And what if you get a buzz? You see, this is a thing. You know it from the Palmer, uh, past a... TMLX events. There's a buzz when you have a live audience, right? Well, you would know.

I certainly do. Okay, well, I see, that's it. You do feed off it. But this time, I don't, you know, it's just me, right? So I'm going to do my thing. I've crafted something. It fell out of my head on bike rides. It fell out pretty fully formed.

So I'm just going to like, I still have a couple of days here, Sir Jerry, but like I've been kind of memorizing it sort of deal. Like, not that I'm going to be, Like, I'm going to go up there. I know the beats and the hits, and I think I'll just go up for 90 minutes. But people like humble Howard Glassman and people who have done a lot of stand-up tell me, that's a very long time.

Like, I don't have it. I'm too naive to know how ridiculous some of this is where apparently 90 minutes is a long time. But I am going to go 90 minutes. But you're not going to do stand-up, right? I'm not calling a stand-up because I'm not going to do like Jerry Seinfeld. Yeah, that's a different thing. That's a different thing. You're right.

Alma, but in a different kind of, I'm going to say cooler ambience, but it is cooler, right? You know, it's the Elma combo. That's why it's a ticketed event. It's too cool for the TMU without a down here. Okay. All right. So, excited that your buddy Jerry is going to be there. I kind of had a clue, I think, and then I wasn't sure.

That's one thing. I don't have any insight into the ticketing. So I don't really know exactly how many tickets have been sold. But this is all happening Thursday. If you're on the fence, do it. There's a link. If you go to Toronto Mike.com, there's a link at the top that says,

Elmo gig, buy a couple of tickets. Go have a good time in Toronto. Come on. This is a Kensington Market, for goodness sakes. Where are we? College in Spadena. Where the hell are we? Yeah, that's virtually Kensington.

It's Chinatown. It's like the corner of the, yeah, that's Kensington Market. Yeah. And come on out, cool part of the city. See what's going to happen. You don't have FOMO. I wouldn't want fear of missing out.

on this one. And the Toronto Western Hospital is not that far away. Forget Sir Jerry, if you need surgery. Surgery. All right, so Sir Jerry, good luck to you. Thank you. My good luck is two days from now. Your good luck is June 14.

I guess the pandemic is to blame for like seven years off of live events. Yes, and I was doing other things. I was traveling and doing meditation for six years and doing various other. other activities. Well, where did you go? Like anywhere exotic and interesting? You name it, I went there. I traveled the world.

Okay, Paris? I was in Paris. I was in Paris. Okay. I'm going to say, name places. And not Paris, Ontario. Have you been to Paris, Ontario? No.

Okay, well, we could get your show there, I think. I think that's a safe bet. I went to a wedding in Paris, Ontario once. Wow. Yeah, it's wow. It's, yeah, I'm trying to, yeah, okay, so they're no longer together. You know, these French people are.

I have a question. Dad. Dad. I get it now. But do you think, like, if you go to a great wedding, you know, like, that was a great wedding, and then eventually that couple breaks up, okay? Yes. Does that, like, retroactively make the wedding not as great?

Or is it, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, that was a wonderful, what a great day, but that that love didn't last or whatever, and they went their separate ways at some point. I think, I think Socrates posed that question to Glaucon and the other fellows, you know, and it's recited in Plato's Republic. If someone gets divorced, Socrates, does that marriage cease to exist? He went on for about 14 pages, right?

So no one could understand what he was saying. Also, it was Greek. So, you know, I... It's all Greek to me. Yeah. Well, I know that Jerry Levittan was married a few times. So I hear. Yes.

Is he currently married? He is currently married in a one... wonderful marriage. It's working out great. How's, how's, how's, how's, how's that one going? Is that going to stick? Oh my God, that was a real laugh. It's going very well, and it's been going for quite a long time.

I know you have to go, time traveling and stuff. I know you have to go, but could you tag in your buddy, Jerry Levitin? Just maybe, maybe I have a few minutes with Jerry Levitin before I close it. Sure. Why not you, will you do this? Unless Sir Jerry, unless Sir Jerry has more he wants to get off his chest and share. Like I'm not trying to get rid of Sir Jerry. Off my chest, no, off my belly maybe.

But, no, I'll do it. But this is how we can do it. I want you to click your heels and say, I want to go home. I want to go home. And he'll appear. Okay, I've seen this movie. Three times. Okay.

I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home. Yeah, what do you want? Hey, Jerry. Yeah, what's happening? You know, your buddy, Sir Jerry, was just here. Oh, my God.

You missed him again. Well, you know, he's everywhere. Shout out to the polka roo. And I'm still, I'm trying to float the rumor that Steve Paken played polkaoo. Wow, that's a good rumor. I'm trying to get that one going. Maybe Retro Ontario can help me out. I have a question.

Brian Linahan. Why do you have that photo of Brian Linehan there? So that frame with the photo inside is a gift from a rock band I like called The Watchman. And they wanted me to know that Brian Linehan would have been proud of me because like Brian Linehan, I always do my homework. Okay. I do my homework. I'm always very prepared for my guests. Sometimes I know more about my guests or origin story than they do.

For example, your buddy, Sir Jerry. He couldn't remember if he had a birthday. He couldn't remember. There was an unfortunate accident at a brewery. Oh, was it at Great Lakes? No, it was a different one. And it affected his. But I was, this is the truth.

I was friends with Brian Linehan. And I was in a play at the no longer Colonnade Theater in the Colonnade on Blur. A gazillion years ago, an Arthur Miller play called Incident and Vichy. And I was a kid. So in that play, they needed a kid. And he was one of the actors. They said, give us the kid who interviewed John Lennon. It was before I met John.

I was like 13, 12, 13. But I then became friends with him up to his death. He was quite an interesting guy. Love to hear it. Like, I only met him once. I met him one time. And it was, and you're running me. It's funny because people, okay, you know, whatever.

At the Elma combo. At the Elma combo. Can I share a story I told, your buddy, Sir Jerry. Totally. Before we started recording, just real quick here. So when I was a teenager

for 18 months, I worked at the Running Meaden, the Runnymede and Bluer McDonald's, which is no more. It's gone. But there was a McDonald's at Runameen Bluer.

Okay. The reason I'm bringing this story up now is because I realize there's a parquet at Runamine and Blue. That's where I met Brian Linehan.

Like it was that, right at that intersection, he was walking, and I met Brian Leinhan. Reminds me of when I was on a subway, I don't know. It was run to meet station. It was running me station, Sir Jerry.

No, you're not, you're not Sir Jerry. That's another guy. Jerry Levitant. It was running out station where I bumped into Ziggy Lawrence. Do you remember Ziggy? From City TV. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.

She had the pink house and she did mush music and all this, okay? And she said, and we had a crush on Ziggy Lawrence. Me and my buddy were there, and she did this flirty wave and said, Hi boys or something like that. And then years later, when I had her over here to do Toronto Mike, I told her that story. And for the photo, she gave me a big kiss on the cheek. Wow.

Oh, my goodness. But, okay, so Brian Linehan was the same running mead and bluer where I worked at McDonald's, but I told you about the responsibilities I had as one of the few teens there that could be relied on by management. They said to me, my job was to get Ronald McDonald from the Windermere. This was the Ukrainian festival, and they closed down blue. Street, and it was a big street festival on this one weekend, and Ronald McDonald made it appearance at the stage,

at like, Windermere and Bluer, and I had to get him to and fro from the restaurant McDonald's to the stage to perform for the kids, and then get him back. So I'm just chaperoning Ronald McDonald's, and then we're walking back, and then we open the door behind the back of McDonald's, so we're in private, we're not in the public part of McDonald's, and then

the door closes, and then Ronald McDonald looks at me and goes, is my ride you here? here yet, kid. He completely broke character and it completely shattered me. And I'm not trying to say, connect any dots. But the reason I shared that with your buddy, Sir Jerry, is because there was a moment like that outside when I was talking to Sir Jerry. And he slipped for a moment.

That's all I'm going to say. That's all I'm going to say. It's like Krusty, the clown, right? Right. On the Simpsons. Dr. smoking on the cigarette. Okay.

Love me some Krusty. Okay. So very interesting that the Brian, Linahan thing because I kind of admired his interview style. Did you see the Chevy Chase documentary? I'm Chevy Chase. No, I want to, but he seems like quite the troubled guy. Yep.

And there's a scene, you got to see this doc. It was like CNN made it or something, but I saw it. And in this doc, there's a scene where he's tearing Brian Linehan a new one. Wow. Chevy Chase, he was just a dick. But he's an asshole, but it's kind of interesting to kind of. interesting to kind of the fact, like to see what made him an asshole,

like why is he an asshole? Like, I found the whole dog kind of interesting. But there is that scene where you can see him tearing Brian Linehan a new one. I mean, the thing about Brian Linehan and his interviews, they were never caustic.

They weren't, he wasn't trying to score points. They were very well researched. And he just adored movies and celebrity. So he made, people feel comfortable, which is why they always said, how did you know that? Yeah, because there was no Wikipedia back then, right, Jerry?

Exactly. So I guess when someone would turn on him, like, that's a nasty person. Yeah, it just seemed like, you may be like if I kicked Ronald McDonald's shins or something, like screw you, buddy. Okay. I'm going to remind the listeners that you have made two previous appearances on Toronto Mike. And I'm not counting your visits to Palmer's Kitchen for TMLX events because it's always amazing to see you there.

You've been to at least two. Yeah, well, I mean, here's my attitude. Like, anybody does anything that's positive, creative, like, we should support it, right? You might not like what, they might not like Sir Jerry music or whatever or somebody else, whatever, or anybody who's just trying to make an impact

for the good of everybody. It's something to support. And you're great. You have, like, you have, like, the vast number of interesting people, you have had on that celebrate not just Toronto, but particularly Toronto and people who who've been part of part of the scene is just great. And we should celebrate that as opposed to listening to, you know, CNN. Or Joe Rogan or whatever. Yeah. Hey, but enough of, you know,

you mentioned those people I celebrate. Enough about Peter Gross, okay? He will be with you at the Elma Combo on Thursday. So he bought a ticket. Okay. Peter Gross. And he then reached out and said, He doesn't have a license. He's got a whole thing going on with insurance for driving. And he's got like a lawsuit going on. I don't know if you know any lawyers. Unfortunately, I know a lot. Okay.

Well, he's got this whole legal thing where he can't get insurance or whatever. But so yesterday he called me up and he says, is there an FOT, a friend of Toronto, Mike, does there an FOTM that can drive me and back to the Elmo? I'll help pay for parking. He's going on the sales bank. And I did put out a little call. There's like a WhatsApp group.

for FOTMs. You should be in there, Jerry. Okay. And somebody did say, hey, I will pick up Peter Gross and bring him to the Elmo. So we got a ride for Peter Gross. Well, there you go.

I mean, saved him doing a GoFundMe for his Uber. Right. Well, that's going to be pricey. I'm going to shout out the two episodes you're on, and then I'm going to ask you about a specific moment for your friend. So you're so close with Sir Jerry, you know a lot about his stuff. I feel like, so I'm going to ask you something.

then, okay. Sure. May 2024, that's when you, Jerry Levitan, made your Toronto Mike debut. Okay. At the time, here's what I wrote. In this 1,493rd episode of Toronto Mike, Mike Chats with Sir, oh, I called you Sir Jerry Levitant. I don't know.

I think I was just trying to, like, play both sides of the fence there. Right. The kid who interviewed John Lennon about, so you were, I called you, the kid who interviewed John Lennon, about interviewing John Lennon. I like that sentence I wrote. his Oscar nomination, his Emmy win, and his lives as a lawyer and Sir Jerry.

So I'm not going to comment on any of that. Oh, my son had a sleepover. My son's actually 12. So this story might, I don't know if he wants me to tell a story, but I'm going to tell it anyway because I'm going to explain it. But he had a sleepover where he wasn't home,

and while he was at this other house, he lost a tooth. And I think my 12-year-old is well aware of what's going on with the tooth barrier. I think so, but I think he likes what happens there, okay? Because he benefits, and he told me, he goes off, there's a gas station nearby where he goes in and gets like a chocolate bar and a drink or whatever. Like, I think he's really into that aspect of the tooth fairy, so he's whatever.

I won't say too much in a case that kids listening in a car or something. They're dad listening. Okay, so don't worry. I'm not going to say anything crazy. But I am going to say that this, he, I think he was telling the mom or whatever at this house he was at about his tooth coming out and he might have talked about the tooth fairy. And then the mom said, oh, this house doesn't believe in the tooth fairy. Like, you know, and then, and he said, like, I don't know.

He's fine. And so he brought the tooth home and then, but I just think that's an interesting thing. Like if you ever lost a tooth out of sleep over somewhere and then it's like, oh, that doesn't work here. You know what I mean? Like, I'm trying to dance around this whole thing. But, you know, it's like, but the belief in this and it's just, just, and gladly he's 12.

But if it were my youngest, I feel like that, that could be troublesome because I think the youngest is very into the tooth fairy. Well, you hear like, hey, I've got kids and grad kids. And, you know, I remember stories of them finding out things about whether it's Santa Claus or whatever. Yeah, who are there? And for some kids, it's a little traumatic when somebody, you know, says, hey, you know, Santa Claus is a Coca-Cola picture.

Right. The invention of Coca-Cola. But those, but people who do that particularly subject, not their kids, but other kids to that kind of crap, you know, they're no fun. Yeah, she's something, like sort of like me and Sir Jerry. Sometimes you got to try to roll with it. Like, you know what I mean? Just, you know, roll with it for a bit.

You know, it's not going to kill you. There you go. You can talk to the guy in the top hat for a bit who's got the English accent. Totally. Who doesn't, wasn't born at any time. And then you hear in a recording, he was born in 1954. Imagine when it goes on in our house. How did you feel listening outside the door there when you heard?

that that song was being played and you were going to be, it was going to reveal a birth year for Sir Jerry. Well, it excited me because, you know, the problem with short-term memory loss is that, sorry, what was I? You don't remember. What was the question?

And who are you? So May 2024 is when we met for the first time. And remind me again, who's the gentleman who connected us? He's a friend of yours. Jeff Rogers. I like, you know what? I bumped into him.

at a screening of a documentary about Nash the Slash. Did you ever meet Nash the Slash? No. And Jeff Rogers, he's just kind of like a straw stirring the drink, you know? He, hey, look, he had quite a career as being a manager of cool rock bands. Like Rusty. There you go. You know, crash test dummies and stuff like that.

So he knows everybody and knew everybody in the best. business. And the business has taken on a huge transformation now, right? It's like everything, whether it's law or medicine or anything, what you thought you knew or the people you knew doesn't exist anymore. But he knows everybody and his friends with everybody. And he's a great connector of people. Yeah. And he, I know he did work. Erica Am reached out to me after he was on to say, oh, you had my dear friend Jeff Rogers on. Rob Proust was buddies of, everybody knows Jeff Rogers. And I met him.

He introduced me to Cam Hawkins from FM. This is a band that Nash the Slash was in, and Cam's going to come over and talk about FM. Well, you know, he has a big role with Sir Jerry because I produced the record with my friend Rubin, of formerly of Glokeg and now of Starbeast. But I did the record, and I didn't know him. And somebody gave him my CD.

The first one was bees, butterflies, and bugs. And at that point, he was helping the Drake. The Drake was in its early infancy. And he was helping, is that in my mind? Or is it in the ether? I actually didn't play it because it's not very Sir Jerry. It was the first song I did. Right?

Right. It almost could be credited to just Jerry Levitton. Yeah. And I'm not doing the Sir Jerry voice. That's why I didn't play it because I don't want to confuse everybody. So Jeff heard that. At that time he was helping the Drake with their programming. And he calls me up and he says,

hey, I've got your CD. Let's have coffee or whatever. And went to the Drake and he said, so we were thinking of doing like family events during the day on the weekend. So you want to put on a show? And I said, I don't have a band. Because it was just me and Rubin. and a drummer doing those songs on the first album.

And he says, so get a band and put on a show. So I mentioned it to Rubin. And I said, I was too embarrassed to say to him because he's quite the musician. I said, would you want to be in this band? He says, yeah, sure. So that's what we did. It was because of Jeff. And then you became friends?

Yeah. And then he told me, he goes, you know, I was just at this fascinating, this guy's house. He's fascinating. You should talk to him. And he's in like your backyard. I'm like literally. I go, and he's like,

oh, there he is with the groundhog. You know, I never, I've been here 13 years. Never saw a groundhog till this spring. And now there's a groundhog who's like living in my backyard. So I don't know if you see groundhogs.

Well, it may, maybe that a weird thing has happened since spring. All these holes have, have emerged on our front lawn. So I don't know if it's a squirrel or what. It must be groundhog. It could be groundhogs.

Okay, because I'm used to typically, I've got, yeah, I've got my skunks back there, and of course raccoons and squirrels, of course. But in rabbit, there's a rabbit that we call hoppy. And my daughter, my youngest calls it hoppy, but I don't know if it's always the same rabbit, but every rabbit in that backyard is called hoppy. There's also apparently an insurance salesman on 7th Avenue. Right. Okay, yeah.

Well, I have that sound effect on the board, but I'm not playing a friend. for that one. Okay, raise the bar there. Okay. So, by way, I like this jam, too. And shout out to Jeff Rogers, who connected this. But one more time, you came back. You came back for an episode 1628 in February, 2025.

So that's about a little over a year ago. Mike Chats with, again, I call you Sir Jerry Levitant. I'm trying to split, you know, the difference there. Okay. About his Oscars. We talked more about you going to the Oscars. We talked about, you know, you ran, what did you run for, MPP? What did you run for?

Yeah, for the Liberal Party of Ontario in the, Stephen Del Ducca days. I was asked to run. And that was, hey, it was a great experience. I had a great team. And who knew what was going to happen with the present premier. But it was a blowout. So is that this riding that you ran in?

No, I ran in Davenport. So, you know, I originally was going to run in Spadena, Fort York. The powers, and I had lived there, I lived on a street called Seoul Street for many, many years, and I had a strong connection with that. But the powers that be thought it would be best if I ran in Davenport against Merritt Stiles. And the thinking was that if Doug Ford was going to tank, the liberals would come on strong, and the NDP would tank with the Tories. But that didn't play out.

In this riding that we both live in, the MPP is Lee Fairclough. I know her well. We ran together in 22. I think it was. She's great. Well, she's running for leadership of the Liberal Party of Ontario. Yeah. She, I mean, if you look at her background, it's incredible.

You know, she's been in the healthcare industry and an executive positions with hospitals and so on and so forth. She was an amazing athlete. Rugby? Rugby and I think something else but she is the kindest most empathetic person you could meet she really is I have very little to do with the Liberal Party now

they asked me to run again I didn't and whatever But you're too busy with Sir Jerry Yeah but I mean it takes a lot to do it right And if if there isn't a great prospect And I didn't think there was a great prospect last time in the Bonnie Cromby days, then, you know, what are you doing? But anyways, but she, I know her well because we ran together and she's just a great human

being. And the way I look at it is you want people who are good people. Forget their political stripe. But if the person has the basic human decency, I mean, look around the world now, particularly the United States, like, where are the decent people? Well, they're in this basement. I'll drink to that. Well, if you think about it, so Doug Ford's had three majorities, okay?

So it's, there's a, what time is it? There's a clock on that here. And I believe, in my opinion, because we're years away from the next election, because he just won another majority. But I believe the next leader of the Liberal Party is going to be the next Premier of Ontario. I think you're right. So I feel like, you know, you mentioned Del Dukkah,

who, by the way, brought his own, I don't know, he did, his handler brought him. his own chair when he came on Toronto Mike. It was during COVID times. But still, I thought that was quite a interesting happening. Well, I got to say when I was a candidate, there was some big event where they were taking pictures of Stephen with candidates. And when it was my turn, so there was a whole backdrop, you know,

and professional photographers. So when it was my turn and, you know, you shake his hand. Before the picture was taken, I said, man, this is like the Oscars again. to which he said, I don't think so. He was right. So, and then Bonnie Cromby, who went to my high school, I believe was buds with Cynthia Dale. I'm going to drop names here.

Cynthia Dale, okay. Went to my high school as well, because they're both older than me. You know that, Jerry. You know that, come on. But, you know, with that happened. And I believe it'll be interesting to see who the next leader of the party is because that could very well be the next premier of this province. Well, for all you know, Doug Ford is going to resign before the next election.

You know, he's been at it for a while. Right. And if he smells, things aren't going to look great, you know. Yeah, like, like, Kretchen style. Like, most of them do that. I was surprised Harper didn't do that last time in 2015. But, you know, that's a move where you, you know, okay, we're up for a defeat. You step down.

Someone else goes in and takes the hit. Mulroney, right? Kim Campbell can take the hit. Yeah, but, I mean, those were the days where you had, like, in particularly in Canada, the history of the Liberal Party is a history of leaders wanting to make sure that younger

people carry on. So go back to people like even McKenzie King, who won four times, groomed Louis Saint-Laurent. Louis-San-Laureen who had won Nobel Peace Prize. He was the foreign minister of Canada at the time for the Suez Crisis.

Yes. Lester Pearson wanted, felt that it was important that a Quebecer run the next time and groomed Pierre Trudeau did the same thing, right? But these days, these days, these days, these power, hunger, the intoxication of power is so great that the idea of, oh, there's a better cause than just me winning the next election, I want to make sure my party continues. It just doesn't exist anymore. Except Trudeau, Jr., will call him, Justin Trudeau. Justin Trudeau seemed to have a great sense of when it was time to step down and basically

save the party and look what happened with Carney there. Correct. Correct. And that's true. And who was his dad? Yes, who was his dad? Right. And JT, of course, younger than Mark Carney.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, there are other thing. I mean, the die was cast, right? And there was so many people in his party trying to push him out. But if you look at, but it's true. father was Pierre and and I knew Justin a little bit and we actually talked about at the film festival when he was there, he was still prime minister, briefly talked about, about that

and the pressure on him. But, but yeah, no, it's, it's. Yeah, I know, good points. Good points. I love talking Paul, because that was the end of the description here, which is that we talked about at that time. There was a liberal leader. So the more things change, the more they stay the same. There was a liberal leadership race at the time we were talking about. I don't know if I think that was provincial, but who knows now. And we talked more about the Beatles. We talked about John Donaby who passed away. Right. And at that time, and then, and more. And it was good to have you back here. And here you are. But I did one thing before we say goodbye, now that I've got Jerry Levitan here, and because you know so much about

Sir Jerry's life in times. What do you remember about the, I almost want to call it a takeover, but it was Sir Jerry on YTV. Like, what do you remember? Give me what you remember about that. Sure. Well, in the first number of years of Sir Jerry, it started to take off quite dramatically in terms of shows and, and all of that.

So my concept was not just to put on shows. And my original concept was just to make music, but to get a TV show called Sir Jerry's World. and made self-produced a pilot and a trailer and was working on that. And YTV contacted me, and I knew the head, I forget what her name was Melanie York, may she rest in peace. So I went to high school with her, even before high school, I think. She was a couple years older than me, but she was the head of,

something at YTV. And she just loved the surgery concept and wanted to do something with it. And we started talking about it. And she said, why don't you start by coming on this thing? And we did. And it was a fun thing. They got, I was told at the time that they got one of the bigger responses they ever had on

the zone, which was the show. Sure. And then she got dramatically ill and died. And that ended the YTV. Was there ever a moment? Because, you know, that's terribly sad that this person got sick and passed away. Terribly sad.

Did you ever have a moment where just my luck? Hey, I've had a lot of experiences. Again, I'll say it. I was married a few times. Right. Right. So if you went down that rabbit hole, which I have in the past, you know, I don't know if anyone else here has been through that. But if you go through that rabbit hole, it's like, oh, brother.

You know. Tell us more. I'm going to play a bit. I mean, it's long, so I'm not going to play at all. Before we go, people log on to sir dash jerry with a j.com. It's my website. It was made a gazillion years ago, but it's still unbelievably great. Click everywhere.

My music is there. And my music is on Spotify and everywhere. Well, Sir Jerry's stuff is there. I don't know, but you trying to take credit for Sir Jerry's good work. I'm not, but he said. I could have the lasagna. Well, here, look, I'm going to play a bit of this, and then just to give people a taste. Rock on, what's up, everybody?

Welcome back to the Zone. Carlos here hanging out with you all day long on this, the second last day of music week. I have it with me, my guest, Sir Jerry, and his crew. They're all here just hanging out, Sir Jerry, so good to see you. Carlos, it's so exciting to be here on YTV. Children, hello. You see, Melman? Yes, Sir Jerry.

Through that lens, thousands and thousands of children are watching us on television. Oh, scrum, delicious. Yes, scropped up when this, twinkleclings, beautiful faces of beautiful children politely sitting are looking at you right now. Oh! This is ridiculous! I've heard of this boog tube. You brought disgrace to our family, Sir Jerry.

Put the uncle, Alfi, uh, actually, back home, they're watching you right now dressed. so beautifully in your suit and your hat tilted so nicely. Yes, I am put together quite well. I do say so myself. Yeah, you look great. Really? I like the hat. Ethel, how are you?

Be home soon. Wow. So awkward a little bit. Well, anyways, sort of Jerry. I mean, thank you everybody for coming by. That's how I felt, by the way. Do many things together. I think, first of all, very cool how much time and space.

base they gave you. Like I was, I was thinking, wow, they're like, they're letting you cook. Yeah, I did two songs. Did two songs on it too. But, you know, you're bringing me down memory lane. So when there was an impetus to do a Surgery show, and in fact, there was a big production distribution company that did children's stuff that wanted to do it. And it ultimately fell down the wayside because they wanted rights to all my music and all

the rest of it so it didn't go forward with it. But I contacted Yoko Ono, who I was in touch with, and have been all these years, and asked if I got a Sergeri TV show, would she agree, I had an idea to have a Yoko Ono cartoon on every episode. And she said, great. And so we record, I'll send it to you. We took one of her, she has all these prose, sort of poems and just positive sayings. and things like that. So I took one called Tuna Fish Sandwich Piece. And I got, oh God, what's the guy's name? He died, but he was a really cool guy.

Anyways, he did the voiceover, and my daughter, Rebecca, who's a great illustrator, did the animation. And it was great. I'll send you the trailer. And, you know, like, who on earth has a yoke-on-o-o-cartoon on every children's show? Well, okay, speaking of the Beatles cartoon we talked to. Well, sorry, that was Sir Jerry I was talking to.

You might have missed it here. Okay. So do we, and again, I know if you have to be delicate and sensitive. I respect that. But do we know how Yoko's doing these days? She's in her 90s, early 90s. And, you know, that's all you need really to know, right? Also, I'm not stupid.

Like, it's been a while since we had, like, a public, you know, from Yoko. Her faculties are still great. But she has been very happy for the last few years to let Sean run with everything. And he does, and he does it in a great way. And are you familiar at all with this Stephen Soderberg crafted John Lennon, the last interview? Coincidence, that you mentioned that because a good friend... Not coincidence. I'm bringing it up to you because you interviewed John Lennon.

Yeah. Okay. But here's the coincidence. That a good friend of mine, Jeff Sackman, who's in the film business, is right now in Greece on a honeymoon and he emailed me to say and he was just before that at can and saw the film at can and said do you know about this i'll get you a private uh screening type of thing so i didn't know about it but i'm really looking forward to it well when you see it for your next visit you can tell us what you thought of that but uh totally i got to say i guess you so i'm going to see you

Thursday night, which tickles me pink. I've never been so damn pink. I'm telling you, like, I'm so excited. Like, you're whipped out a credit card. You're making this happen. You're going to be there. You're going to be at the Elmo. Like, that means a lot to me.

I hope there are others there. Yeah, other people should do it too. And I'd be happy with just you and Peter Gross. Other people should do it. Like, it'll be a cool thing. Ralph Ben Mergi bought a ticket. Okay. He's got to come in from Hamilton.

All right. There you go. So that's three of you. Okay, I'm counting now. I'll drive anybody. I'll drive you there. I'll drive you back. I'll drive you for a week.

I'll do your shopping. Drive you there as Sir Jerry, though. You got to hear the British accent. Okay. And your event is June 14 at noon at the Drake Hotel. Yeah, Sunday, June 14. Ages 1 to 100, which means at the end of her life, Hazel McKellion would have been turned away at the door.

Get out of here, Hazel. Yeah, I interviewed Hazel. No, I didn't. I was offered an interview. I took a pass at it. I actually, I produced the Humble and Fred show and I gave it to them. I don't know. I felt like, I don't know, it was a phoneer with like a 100-year-old lady.

In hindsight, maybe I should have done it. But anyway, I didn't do it. So, Hazel. Next time I'll come on is Hazel McAlliam. Or Hazel May. All right. So are you bringing anybody with you on Thursday? Are you going to bring a plus one to the alma combo?

You know what? Let me get in touch with Jeff Sack. Not Jeff Sackman. Jeff Rogers. I would be amazing. Because tell Jeff Rogers, his friend Rob Pruss is going to be there as well. No, I will definitely get in touch with him because it's always fun hanging with him. And the last time I went to something with Jeff was to the Elma Combo when it opened, re-opened with the new owners.

Yeah, because Weckerly owned it. He put in all that money. Yeah, and then the new people, I was at that thing. Well, I can't wait to see you Thursday. And, you know, I've been the lawyer for the Elma-combo. Not for the present owners, but for Weckerly, before Weckerly, and before that person for a gazillion years. You never know who you're talking to on Toronto Mike. Amazing.

Like, who cares about what I just said? I do. I don't know. I find that interesting. I had a previous owner of the Elma Cumberley on the program and his name and trying to jog my rollo decks in my head. Was he the guy who, Mother Teresa was, oh, before, there was a guy who owned Cadillac land. Yes, that's him.

Yeah, yeah, good guy. He came on with banjo dunk. And now I'm a banjo dunked from it. He also owned graffiti. Yes, this is the right guy. Yeah, and he's in Prince Edward County now. Yes. And I, yeah, we all know who I'm talking about.

Okay. Well, I really love this chat with you and your buddy, Sir Jerry. I already took a photo of Sir Jerry by the Toronto Tree because it's in full bloom. Did I mention that? You did? And wouldn't it be crazy if when we leave now, it's dead? God forbid. What would that say about the universe?

I'll be calling Professor Pricklethorn. Yeah, it'll be like Thanos. We have to get some infinity stones. And that brings us to the end of our 1000 and what is it? 1,9001st show, 1901. Go to tronomelmike.com for all your Toronto mic needs and buy an Elmo ticket or two.

It just says Elmo gig at the top. Click it. Much love to all who made this point. possible. Again, that's Great Lakes Brewery. They sell GLB at the Elmo. Palma Pasta. Don't get that lasagna to Sir Jerry. He left about it. So bring it to him, okay?

Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Get to Christy Pits this summer. Nick Aini's Recycle MyElectronics.ca. And of course, Ridley Funeral Home. See you tomorrow with Stu. Stone.