Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - The Best of Toronto Mike'd, Vol. 4: Toronto Mike'd #1073

Episode Date: June 29, 2022

In this 1073rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by Al Grego who played 18 of the best moments from episodes 751-1000 of Toronto Mike'd. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Duer Pants and Shorts.

Thank you. Thank you. Holy... That was fucking amazing. Yeah, right on, man. There's some Blue Rodeo fans out there in Mike's backyard. Welcome to episode 1073 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. StickerU.com.

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on cannabis. Guaranteed. Over 100 stores across the country. Learn more at cannacabana.com. Al Grego, how you doing, buddy? How about how are you, Mike? Al Grego, how you doing, buddy? How about, how are you, Mike? That cold open, man. I loved that so much. That was FOTM Mike Boguski from, oh my God.

Yeah, honestly, he was playing that thing in my backyard last summer, you know, in the middle of the pandemic. And I remember the neighbors poking their head up and saying, was that Blue Rodeo? And I'm like, damn right, that's Blue Rodeo. And this is Mike Bogusky. And that was amazing. It was, yeah. Well, that's why it's one of the clips.

Okay, so let's set the table for everybody. Firstly, let's begin by reminding everybody who the heck you are. So I will start kind of going through your key FOTM history here. But you, my friend, are one of three people not named toronto mike who have attended every single toronto mike listener experience is that correct that is correct and i wear that distinction on my sleeve but you wore a protestant shirt but

we'll talk about that in a minute uh can you name i've also attended every single one of the protestant tapings. You're the only one who's done all that. Now, please, please, please, please shout out the other two individuals. I know you're sworn to be their enemy, but jokingly so, of course.

But can you tell us who are the other two who have attended every single TML? The other two are Mike's. I feel like I'm at a disadvantage here. We have Langer and we have Rush Mike.

Oh, my god. Maybe because he goes by Michael instead of Mike, I actually never really connected those dots that they're both mics. And you're an owl. And I can call you owl. You can. And are you going to be able to make TMLXX on September 1st?

Absolutely. I'm there with bells on. You know, you've got a streak to protect. So firstly, that's who you are. But also, this is key to FOTM's listening. The first few Toronto Mike listener experiences on the patio of Great Lakes Brewery, and that's where we're returning on September 1st from 6 to 9 p.m. 2022.

Put it in your calendar. The first three, we had live performances from The Royal 9 p.m. 2022. Put it in your calendar. The first three, we had live performances from the Royal Pains. Is it true that you are the lead singer of the now defunct Royal Pains? Yes, I was the lead singer of the Royal Pains. That is true. What happened to the Royal Pains?

You know, we decided to call it a day. And I decided to call it a day. And I decided to call it a day. Creative differences? No, no, no differences at all. It was just two years off and, you know, priorities change, things change. I couldn't be in a band that's as busy as that band was. And I was looking for something a little more local. So I decided to call it quits.

Local or loco? Both. So what band do you sing for now? Well, now I am the co-lead singer for a band called The Weekends. And Weekend, no relation to the successful singer artist from Toronto. Nowhere near that successful. Who else is in The Weekends? Well, there's my other lead singer.

Her name is Brooke. So we have a female co-lead, which opens things up to a whole other variety of songs that we can sing. Right. We have Adrian on bass. We have Scott on guitar. And we have Jordan on drums. Thank God I remember everyone's names. Oh, my God.

Because we're not editing this, as you know. Do you edit the produce stand? We'll get to that in a moment. But do I remember everyone's names. Oh my God, because we're not editing this, as you know. Do you edit the produce stand? We'll get to that in a moment, but do you edit it? No, I took a page out of your book and it's live to pod. I would have it no other way.

Exactly. Good for you. Plus, I'm just lazy. Well, that's not what you say. You say you like the excitement. Yeah,

that too. The authenticity. It's not about being lazy. Okay, so we're going to get the produce stand in a minute. But this weekend's band, have you guys had any live shows yet? We played our first live gig last month at Donnelly's, which used to be an old haunt for the Royal Pains up in Barrie.

Oh, good for you. So that was kind of our tryout. And they liked us enough. So now we've been booked there every month for the next five months. Congratulations, Al Grego. We earned our residence. I'm proud of you.

Yes. Thank you. I'm proud of you. Are you going to put, add to your catalog? Your ex lover is dead by stars. Sure. I mean,

I'll take a listen. It's not on the list, but I mean, we could, we could give it a go. Because, you know, it's really,

it's really nice if the, the male and the female voice and uh their fotms now that torque will camel but let's yeah we do some july talk so i mean there's another yeah that's another one okay okay so tell us about the produce stand because uh since you were last on toronto mic and you do drop by every 250 episodes to because you curate and deliver the best of Toronto Mike. So you did it for episodes one to 250. Yes. And then you did it from 251 to 500.

Let's see if I can keep doing this. Then you did it from 501 to 750. Then you did it from 751 to a thousand. No, that's what we're doing now. Yeah. You're late. Well,

what took you so long? Oh, Mike, I will never, ever again, make fun of you for saying you retired after all those pandemic fries. I was exhausted. You were exhausted because let me tell you after, so I was, you know, I'm podcasting now for work and season two of Yes, We Were Open, which is a podcast I produced for my employer, Moneris.

Wait, you were, so, cause they were a sponsor of my show. They were, yeah. Did you have anything to do with that? I might've had a little bit something to do with that. Is Moneris. Wait, you were, so, because they were a sponsor of my show. They were, yeah. Did you have anything to do with that? I might have had a little bit something to do with that. Is Moneris coming back as a sponsor? Because things are good here. We're number three right now. I know,

never say never. That might happen. We'll talk. Numbers are huge. Yes. Right now at Toronto Mic. Okay, so you have your,

you know, your corporate podcast. That's your job. Yeah. And now, I mean, I only know because some FOTMs are also, what do you know your corporate podcast that's your job yeah and now i mean i only know because some fotms are also what do you call your people produce standards uh we don't really have a name i mean we kind of go by dmrs or degens or whatever but uh yeah i don't really have a name for them okay so there are some uh fotms who are also degeners so tell people about the produce stand

so the product well theado Stand is an after show podcast for the great Canadian show Letter Kenny. If you haven't heard of it, then what's wrong with you? It's an amazing show on Crave. It's the flagship comedy on Crave. And they're on like on to 10 seasons now.

The creator of it is Jared Kiso, who's a genius. Seems to be good at everything he tries, which kind of pisses me off. That's annoying, right? Yeah, it's very annoying. Good hockey player, great writer, great actor, and now produces this show with all of his friends. And actually, now

they're producing a spin-off called Shorzy, which we're also covering on the ProtoStand. Did I hear that the great Mark Hebbshire was coming on your show? Did he tell you that? No, I think Lieve Fumka, maybe? Oh, okay. Has this aired?

No, we haven't had him yet. So after a couple of Hebbsy on Sports ago, I heard him rave about the spinoff show Shorzy. He loves it, and he should because it's an amazing show. Right. And so I'm like, huh, Mark Hebbs show, Shorzy. He loves it, and he should because it's an amazing show. Right. And so I'm like, huh, Mark Hebbshire likes Shorzy, so maybe we should have him on. And he's seen the Royal Pains live. He has seen us play live.

At a TMLX. I've met him in person a couple of times. So I reached out and I said, hey, Mark, would you like to come on? And he said, absolutely. So once we're done this season, we'll have Mark on for an episode of The Probe Stand. Okay, because all my worlds are colliding. Yeah, absolutely.

I love it. So now that you're a successful podcaster, I have a Google. Did I say the G word? Okay. So The Pro Stand is the after show for Letter Kenny, and you do everything for that show, and it sounds like it's going gang gangbusters for you it's doing all right yeah and you have t-shirts because i'm wearing one right now and so am i and we just took our photo by the tree uh this is a different episode because every episode of toronto bike

drops 10 minutes after we take the photo or whatever but this is actually going to be held for a bit and that's because we have a special episode 1071 and if we drop this in real time it messes it won't be ready in time. This is what I'm dealing with here. You're numbering, yes. But I'm going to, like to celebrate the success of Produce Stand. And before we get into the best of 751 to 1000, I want to crack open a cold Great Lakes beer right on the microphone.

This is a Sunnyside IPA. Much love to Great Lakes Brewery. Here we go. IPA. Much love to Great Lakes Brewery. Here we go. And I'm going to crack open my Canuck Pale Ale, which is my favorite GLB. Amazing.

Cheers to you, Al. Before we move on, though, I do want to present you with a gift. I mean, GLBs, I've got a fridge full of GLB. They're my beer. That's your beer. Obviously, because I do run a Pr you with a gift. I mean, GLBs, I've got a fridge full of GLB. They're my beer. That's your beer. Obviously, because I do run a ProtoStand podcast, here's a beer called Puppers,

which is the official beer of Letterkenny. You can keep it over there. See how far I have to put it back to read it now? That's because I'm pushing 50 here. Golden Lager. Are we the same age? Yes. Okay.

Oh, you wear glasses. I do, yeah. Oh, that's your secret to success. Wear glasses. See, I can learn a lot from you. It says, Proud, Golden, Loyal. Puppers, Golden Lager. This is, yeah, the official beer of Letterkenny.

It's not Great Lakes, but I will drink it and enjoy it. And I thank you, Al Grego, for that lovely gift. Just proudly display it if you want. Okay, so then quickly. You'll be the envy of all your American listeners who can't get puppers down in the States. All right, screw them. It's their loss.

So I have a puppers now. I'm going to give you more than one can of Great Lakes on your way out. So you're drinking the Canuck Pale Ale now. You're going to leave with more beer, but you're also going to leave with a lasagna from Palma Pasta. My family will be very happy about that. And an ashtray from Canna Cabana and a hat.

I know that the seasons have changed on us, but I still have some toques left and it will get cold again in this country. So I know you're big in the USA now, but here in the great white north, it will get cold again. So you have a toque. Thank you, Canna Cabana. They won't be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. And of course, you got your Great Lakes delicious fresh craft beer.

People can get free delivery in the GTA. But you don't live in the GTA. But that's okay because you can pick it up when you are at an LCBO or if you're in town for work purposes. Okay, Al, you are late on this because you're doing so much podcasting and you're exhausted. When I'm exhausted, I go camping. But anyway, uh, like help me understand the process here.

Did you listen to all 250 episodes? Did you just qualify some episodes? How did you come up with, uh, the top, what do you got here? The top 10? What do we got here? Oh, I have, uh, 18 clips. Some of them are short, so I'm hoping we can get through these tonight. Yeah, don't worry.

And I should remind the people before you tell us your process that I have no idea what Al's going to play. This is key. I plugged in his, he's got a device with him, like an iPad or something, and I plugged it into my board

so he can control what he plays through that channel. I have no clue what he's going to play. I had no idea he was going to play Mike Bogusky off the top. That was amazing. What was the process to come up with this top 18 or whatever? So like I said, I've been really busy. So I leaned heavily on a few FOTMs to help me with this process. So shout out first to Tyler, to Miriam, to Gord.

You guys were lifesavers. You got to use their handles here. Okay. So VP of Sales, Lieve Famke. That's right. And YYZ Gord. Yes, Lieve and YYZ are also DGENs.

So cheers to them. That explains everything. Yes. So they really helped me out. I created a spreadsheet. I went through all the episodes, the 250 episodes, and I marked the ones that were eligible so i disqualified any kick out the jams i disqualified any uh toast and or pandemic fridays much to stew's chagrin yeah it does bother him because it came up uh last he was over on

tuesday yeah and it came up then like he's like why why is he disqualifying the best episodes because they're not the best episode they Because they're not the best episodes. They're great episodes and they're a whole other thing. So I put this spreadsheet together and then I asked Miriam, Gord, and Tyler to give me their picks. Then I went through and I got my picks and I assembled this list. So for example, that first cold open clip off the top, that was Tyler's contribution of Mike B playing Diamond Mine. Mike Boguski playing, and it's funny, when I say Mike Boguski, I have to remind myself

that's yet another Mike because I knew his brother, Mark Boguski, and I always got to be careful I don't call Mike Boguski, Mark Boguski. But amazing moment. Now, one thing about this, if I may speak to be careful. I don't call Mike Bogusky, Mark Bogusky. But amazing moment. Now, one thing about this, if I may speak to this block of 250 that we're going to dive into is that these are a pandemic 250, right? Like I actually was a little nervous because I said, okay, once you get rid of Wise Blot, right?

Once you get rid of Pandemic Fridays and Toast, I don't even know. Yeah, I guess we don't know when we switched to Toast. But once you get rid of those, then I was thinking, oh no, this was the pivot. Like, what do I do? There's a bunch of Zooms in there. I never used to do any Zooms. Like, I just wasn't sure how deep that ocean was

for the 751 to 1000. But it sounds like you were able to come up with 18 clips. I think so. I think it was a deeper ocean because you did do the Zooms now, right? You disqualified those before and there were people that you couldn't get because of them and now those people... Now I can get Kish. Yeah, now you can get Kish.

I think Kish was in the previous 250 so he didn't make it on this one. Okay, so basically what I think we'll do is we'll you'll fire off the clip and then I'll be hearing it, you know, in real time and I don't know what it's going to be until I hear it. And then I'll react.

And then if you have any comments, you can share your comments. And we'll just do that like 18 times. All right. So number 18, before I play it though, I want to ask you, who do you think your most famous guest is? I think it might have been, it might be, I always thought it might be Chuck D. Yeah. But then I wondered if my client and friend Donovan Bailey was in the running. And then running, see what I did there?

I see what you did there. I didn't even mean to do that. And then, of course, there's another gentleman who more recently has popped on. I think he might appear in the next Best Of You Do. But Dave Thomas is a very famous guy. I think, hands down, this first clip is your most world-famous guest. Okay, I'm excited. Go ahead.

All right, and this one is my contribution. So here we go. This is from episode 771, December 15th, 2020. That's right, Doug. Huge fan of Toronto Mike. You know, ever since my reruns on global TV, you know, the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show,

I used to be a Toronto star, but now with all these streaming channels, it's hard to find me. I'm buried underneath my own reruns, Doc. Anytime you want to do that. That's amazing got i got a lot of questions for you and this will be multiple hours if i don't i don't cut to the chase in that one episode you

had multiple people way more famous worldwide than chuck d well done well done i never i never even thought outside the box but of course that is fo well're all FOTMs if you're playing it, but Eric Bauza. Yeah. Who became the voice of Bugs Bunny and other beloved Warner Brothers characters. So yeah, I had Bugs Bunny on the show. Absolutely. And Porky Pig and some others. I forget who else, what other voices he did, but yeah, I think he did Marvin the Martian.

It was a fun episode. No, it was actually great fun. And yeah, you know, thanks for reminding me about that episode. Because I remember he would go into the voices and you heard my laughter in the background. Like, that's not, I don't do the fake laughter thing. Like, I just thought it was delightful. So much love to Eric Bauza, now living in LA. And a guest I probably, in fact, I'm certain would not have come on if I had to get him in the basement and get him in person.

So thank you, COVID-19. certain would not have come on if I had to get him in the basement and get him in person. So thank you, COVID-19. Yeah, definitely you would not have had Bugs Bunny here in person in your basement. He would have taken the wrong turn by Albuquerque or something. Here we go. So number 17. Love it. This one here is from Miriam, from Leve. Yeah, you know, Miriam is like some kind of a government name.

Oh, sorry. I've broken her confidentiality here. From Levee. This is from episode 785. Well, here, let's listen to this one. So, yes, Sway. Sway was my first year at Thornley. Sway was the thing to play.

And I went to my very first sway and i was supposed to perform a version of somebody by depeche mode uh with uh somebody playing piano for me and i got cut because i was in grade nine so i never got to perform it i i'm sure it was it would have been terrible uh but i i did not get to perform it i did i did uh watch that entire sway and i would say about the 40 performances uh and this is the first of many times i'm going to mention this name uh jean gomeshi was was was was in about half of those performances notably he played uh the dx7 drums which is the yamaha synthesizer on sweet dreams are made of these i had a dx9 he was just playing the drum part on the dx7 and i and i i i did not

very early on in in my my thorn league career uh or or studies uh grade nine, I did not like Jean Gomeschi very much. Now, before I get too far removed from the Stu Stone and Cam Gordon intro there, Stu really wanted to know if you've heard of him. Just be honest with me. Have you ever heard of Stu Stone? I mean, the name sounds familiar, but trying to remember people from high school.

Right. I mean, come on. So Stu can't say he didn't make it on the list this time. Have you noticed, you probably have, but whenever I have that person on from Thorne Lee, it's like I start to think I went to Thorne Lee.

Like, am I, did I go to Thorne Lee? No, I think you went to Michael Kahn. I don't have any, I might've gone to Thorne Lee. Like, I feel like it at this point, but was that Noah Mintz? Correct. Okay.

You know what? I'm actually at a point now, because I'm 1,000 and whatever, 70 episodes deep into this thing or whatever, where now I'm worried you're going to play a clip and I won't know who it was. That'll happen eventually. I don't know if it's happened yet. Just give me a signal off camera and I'll slip you the paper. I'll mute it and say, who is this?

Who is this? No, I'd rather just screw up authentically. But Noah Mint mince uh i was really excited to have mon and he was a great guest and those gian gomeshi stories were priceless but i was a big head guy like i loved head who doesn't i gotta be careful of that one i love head everybody i love it i love. I love it. I love it. I love it. But 2H Head, I should say. And then that great tidbit, I only learned fairly recently about Hayden's take. Yeah. Like, my mind is still blowing

because for years I just assumed Hayden sang on take. And then to find out that was actually Noah Mintz from Head. And then there's the Brendan Canning connection. And then that becomes Broken Social Scene. Like, we could do 90 minutes on how these people are all connected to the important threads and the fabric of this city's musical history, but

No Mints was amazing. I'm glad he made the cut. Yeah, that's a story about the other song may come back in a bit. Okay, okay. Next one up here is one from Gord. This is episode 882. Now, Kevin, I'm wondering, were you with Gord at the end?

Not the very end, no. But close, you know, close to it and um you know we we'd said our goodbyes and he said he loved me and always would and you know i feel we had closure as best we could and we we did something together that was very meaningful for both of us you know and uh i still do work for the secret path project whenever i can um to honor him but also because i really believe in what he was doing nice little bit of production you did there can i tell you i'm listening to that and i'm thinking wow i did that that's fucking amazing and that? That's fucking amazing. And that's, of course, Kevin Hearn. That's right.

And we were almost back. Not quite Rod Black style. But like almost back to back. And that was the second part. And when I left that recording, I felt like you can tell me there were episodes just as good, you know. But for my money, that was the greatest thing i ever did like i was so proud of that episode because kevin gave so much and i i'm so glad yy z or z can i say that yyz gourd it's z but we we all have to honor what he wants to be called so

z because i you know there was a moment at a tmlx in the park i want to i don't know which one it was but six or seven or something and he gave me an old like he had an old keg gift card from his retirement that he wasn't going to use and he passed it over and he wasn't sure if there's anything on it but we went for that you know that billy minor oh yeah yeah billy minor yeah we went monica and i I went for that Billy Minor pie or cake or whatever it is and coffees. And I said, hey, go see if there's anything on this. There was 50 bucks on that card. Whoa.

I know. Nice tip. Shout out to YYZ Gord. And I got in, I won't out him with any details but the loveliest email because I've been going through some shit lately in the podcast I don't know if you have shit

happening in the produce stand universe but we've been lucky so far well wait till you get to your 10th year okay so anyway I want to shout out

Tom Gord's Better Half because I got the loveliest email from that son of a bitch and I want to thank you Tom they're good people, for sure.

But Kevin Hearn, speaking of good people, because he's got that Lou Reed story, and then the Gord Downie story. Did you mix that song in live, or was that post? I'm going to say that's post, because I think all the music was added to Kevin Hearn's episode in post. And it sounded perfect. I don't think

in real time I would have known he was winding down on that. So that sounds like something I would have added in post. And I never used to do that. But now I will selectively do it, particularly with PPMM episodes where I put all the music in post. And then I did it with that Kevin Hearn episode and it was really effective.

And I thank you for playing that. Kevin, you're a sweetheart. And I miss Gord. Yes, we you for playing that. Kevin, you're a sweetheart. And I miss Gord. Yes, we all miss Gord. Not YYZ Gord. I'm going to see him at TMOX. I miss Gord Downey. Well,

and in fact, let's, so let's keep it going with the Tragically Hip with this next clip. And this one's from Tyler. This is from episode 884. The hip never really caught on in America. They could have been one of the biggest bands in the world they were on par with u2 and pearl jam and all these other bands for one reason or

another they never really took here which is our loss not theirs so like i i heard you know i think when uh bob cajun came out i think that's phantom Power record in the 90s. Yes. Yeah. When that came out, I saw a video because for a brief time, we would get much music down in New York market. And I saw the video and went to school the next day. I was like, I heard the best band yesterday that I've never heard of. I think they're from Canada. They're called the Tragically Hip. And of course, my buddy freaked out. And being a good Canadian, he sent me their entire catalog as a gift the next day. You know, I had like 12 CDs in my mailbox and I just dove in and never stopped. And, you know, I didn't get

to see them because they didn't tour here a lot. They played Woodstock 99 where I was working. And, you know, the whole reason I took that gig was to see their performance. And I ended up missing it because I don't know if you heard, but that festival was a nightmare and all kinds of bad things went down. So I missed their set, but I never lost the love for them. And, you know, when Gord passed, one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen, and it's now my Christmas tradition as I watch Long Time Running, the brilliant documentary about them, because one of the things that I've always responded to in life is a public show of sort of gratitude or affection. You know, the best thing art can do is bring us together and show us our common humanity.

And when they played their last concert, and I'm going to cry now just thinking about it, when they play, you know what I mean? When everybody in Canada took the day off, you know, and went outside and sang these songs that meant so much to them, you know, from the big cities all the way up into the northern territories, you know, small towns were making an event out of it. And everybody came together in spirit and joy. And it's one of the most, that's the height of human achievement. You know, it doesn't get better while you're alive than something like that. And what a gift to give,

you know, for the man who'd given so much to his own country, you know, to stay alive, essentially to make that sacrifice, to be able to do that final tour and do that. I mean, talk about a way to go out. Amazing. Noel Kassler. And I love an American perspective on the Tragically Hip because we never get that, do we? Exactly. Yeah. And there's a great tribute to Gord and from an American, you're right. And somebody who dove into that catalog. No, I mean, we had the benefit of growing up with the music, right? So it's imprinted in us, but he learned it. He,

he came about it honestly. And he appreciated it. And you can tell by how he spoke of it. And he knew his shit. Yeah. Like there's many Canadians who aren't as knowledgeable and tragically hip as Noel Kastler. I loved Noel's episode, loved it.

And he is returning to kick out the jams, which I think will be special because he seems to have a great taste in music. But good choice, man. It was that episode more than just Donald Trump shitting in a diaper. Yes. Much more than that.

Thank you for, but check that out. Yes. Yeah. But that's also in there. Everybody, Noel Kessler. All right.

Next one up here is from leave a, again, uh, this is from episode seven 84. I'm with me. Get away. Actually, hold on. Dude, I can sing it all.

You want me to sing it for you? Take me with you. Ready? Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take me with you. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take a part of me. Take. Take me home.

Take a part of me. Take all of me. Come with me. Get away from me. Please agree with me. Disagree from me. Please agree with me. Disagree with me. Come with me. Get away from me.

It's fucking amazing. It's a bit of like that Nirvana grunginess. I love it, man. But it was like a lullaby the way you did it. Whoever the woman is, and I'm sorry, Jason, we'll get back to you. No, I love it. I don't know, and I'm sorry, Jason, we'll get back to you. No, I love it. I don't know, but I thought it was Hayden my whole life till right now, so my brain

is just blowing, but I thought Hayden's voice in that song contrasted with the woman voice, which was so sweet behind it. I just loved how they blended together. It just was music to my ears, man. You could do that with Weeknd. Yeah, we do already. You'll have to come and see us play.

Is that right? Okay. Well, last time I saw you with the other band, you were down the street when you're coming back to the Dakota there. It'll be a while. We'll see. We'll have to reach out to Dakota, see if they'll have us back. Okay.

So here's a rarity. I actually say no to this all the time when people say you can record, but you have to. Ready for this word? I don't know if the product stand ever got this word before, but embargo. Okay. This is a word that the PR people use. You have to embargo ready for this word? I don't know if the product stand ever got this word before, but embargo. This is a word that the PR people use. You have to embargo the episode.

And I just went through this with Wendy Mesley and Maureen Holloway, and we basically didn't embargo shit because I wasn't going to do it. But for the Ubiquitous Synergy Seekers farewell album release, or whatever it was that they were saying goodbye to us, I got a chat

with them and they had to embargo the episode but i will say it's the second time uh ash ashley boo schultz has been that's the first time that uh the human kebab was on the show jason parsons there but but ashley boo schultz that's his second time and i remember the first time being magic and we just click like you heard us singing along there with Hayden. I guess that's technically Noah Mintz. But he is amazing on Toronto Mike, Ashley Boo Schultz. So shout out to those guys who I think just wrapped up their farewell tour. Good choice.

Who chose that? That was from Leve. I didn't know she had it in her. That's a great choice, Leve. Wow. I think she wanted to see you turn red. Well, you know what? what i can't sing but that is one of those songs where people who can't sing it's fine because it's just like you know take me with you although i got the the words wrong a few times but love it man i'll listen i'll listen to that no matter who's singing it

all right the next three are have a bit of a theme to them because if we go by like the first volume one we had a lot of people talking about how they got fired volume two we you had a lot of guests come on and talk about children they lost and stuff it's actually kind of sad i feel like if there's a theme for volume four it's definitely um degrassi junior high okay so here's here's first episode from from that okay i'm becoming so familiar with it right um as you are too i'm sure like this is kind of like it's becoming the new thing and i think we have to get used to it unfortunately and really uh i'd rather have stacy matician on via zoom than not have stacy metician. Say it again. Mestician.

Oh my, do you know I've been mispronouncing that for decades? That's true. Mestician. I had to jump in. I had to jump in. No, you should.

Like I, I kind of, I work really hard on pronouncing my guests' names correctly. And I just always had, it's like a little dyslexia. I've always read it as, it's Mestician. Okayia I've always read it as it's mystician okay my apologies that's okay it's a hard one I mean it's nothing like it's mystician and it's not that hard really it's just uh I need to figure out how to read I think mystician okay so okay that's Caitlin fucking Ryan that's right of Ryan, first of all.

And that was a dream come true. I just wish it was in person. But still, finally got that done. I've wanted Caitlin on the show for a long time. I won't be creepy stalker-esque like Kevin Smith, but I am a big Caitlin fan. And Miss Stition, Miss Miss Stition, was, yeah, great fun having her zoom in from east of the city.

Yes, great. Say your last name for me. Mistician. Did you always know that? Well, yeah, of course. But you were with me. I remember getting a note from you, and I think I have the right guy. But remember I played on an episode of Toast?

I played Your Kiss Is On My List? Yes, yes. All my life I thought it was, your kiss is on my lips. Yeah, me too. You know, your kiss is on my lips you know your kiss is on my lips okay and then the guys though cam gordon and stew stone looked at me like i was nuts when i said i thought it was your kisses on my lips no no i was with you okay the list doesn't make sense so no lips does lips make sense and it sounded like lips anyway that's what i thought it was and that i'm glad uh you got my back al greco that was my contribution and this next one here is also my contribution keeping with the theme love

it uh right place right time a lot of luck uh i was a grade nine student at a catholic high school uh in a suburb of toronto and they dropped off flyers saying uh wanted for a new TV television show for the CBC, no experience necessary. My old high school campus was very close to Earl Hegg, Claude Watson. If you know Toronto, you know that's an art school and a lot of young kids go there for theater and acting and dancing. And so I guess because my school was in that proximity, they just dropped off some flyers at mine too. Thank God that they did because it changed the course of my life and i filled it out went in uh had to do an audition it was a two to three minute audition and from that they picked about uh 75 kids to do these workshops for for three weeks uh kind of like what you see on tv with uh you know the the talent

shows where they you know they start off with 100 people and then they dumb it down to like five and then, you know, the finals. Well, it was kind of like that for us every week we would do these workshops. And at the end of the week, they'd say, okay, you're invited back for next week's round, or thank you very much for coming. But you know, this is where you end. And so it went, it got to the point where all the guys that were auditioning for the show were dying for Joey Jeremiah because he was,

it was either Joey or Arthur Kowalowski, who was the nerd. Right. We all thought, you know, either Stefan Brogren who eventually got the role of snake or bill parrot, Billy parrot, who got the role of Shane. I thought it was between those two guys that were going to be Joe. Cause I just thought they had a little more cockiness and a bit more attitude than I did at that time. And so we were all fighting for that role. And I think they just saw something in me,

either it was an insecurity or a childlike behavior, an earnestness to my performance that they leaned towards me as being for the role of Joey. Joey Jeremiah, Pat Mastroianni. You got that right. Okay. But I've been practicing for decades here. Yeah, it took a long time for me to get Joey Jeremiah because I think he did.

I know this name has come up a lot, but because, you know, Cam Gordon has the record for most appearances on Toronto Mike, although Stu's making a hard run in June 2022. But he's got two on him this month. But Cam had Joey Jeremiah on his now defunct podcast. What's it called? Do you remember?

Oh, I don't remember. So completely ignored. Yes, that's it. I completely ignored it. But yeah, I finally got him on and he was great. Joey Jeremiah. I met him when I was working at the CNE back in 89. I had a Joey Jeremiah sighting back in 2021-ish.

Oh. My wife and I went to the Danforth Music Hall to see Bobcat Goldthwait stand up. Okay. And a couple of rows behind us, he was sitting there and I looked back and go, holy shit, that's Joey Jeremiah. And you said, what happened to his hair?

Yeah, well, yeah, but I was starstruck. I mean, is there a more iconic role than Joey Jeremiah in Canadian or Toronto anyway? No, of course not. But he did fuck it up with Caitlin Ryan because Tessa Campanelli. Is it Campanelli or Campanella? Campanelli, right?

Yeah, he fucked it up because he was fucking Tessa Campanelli. Damn it, Joey. Use your head. You've got Caitlin Ryan. Don't fuck it up. Yes. All right, one last one from the Degrassi archives.

This one comes from... From Gord, yes. There I am driving along in a marked OPP car on King Road. That's the one up in the 400 that goes through King City. I'm driving along. This is back in the 80s. I was an active member in our police association union.

Kind of knew everybody. You know, hey, a happening young cop are there. So I see an OPP car coming towards me. It was a nice summer day. And we had the 460 air conditioning. It means four windows open, drive 60 mile an hour. Didn't have AC. So I wave, I give the guys the wave. They slouch down and look away.

And that is uncool. Right. So who is that? I look at the car number. The car numbers are decodable. And this car number was gibberish. It was too many digits. Didn't make sense.

There was no front plate on it. The cruiser was a bit of a beater and the OPP do not drive beaters. If it gets a scratch on it, if you see it with a scratch, it's on the way to the body shop. This thing was a beater. The roof lights, back then we had big tractor lights

and a center rotator and there was a blue lens in one of them and a what, what the hell? So I do a U-bolt behind it, and this is weird, and the license plate, rear plate was on with one screw. I call the plate in, and it comes back stolen. And I go, uh-oh, these guys are going to rob a bank. Like, why else would someone have a fake police car?

So I call for backup. Well, there isn't any for about 20, there's nobody near me. So these guys then go north up, I think it was Keel Street, Keeler Jane, I can't remember. And then down some back road, dead end. And that's what bad guys do. They try and draw you away.

And I'm getting nervous and I'm starting thinking about getting ready for the shootout because there's two of them. And I basically take them down at gunpoint and it's two guys delivering a movie car for, for Degrassi. And they're, they're, they worked for Parkview Ambulance, who was at the time based on Belvia

blocks from here. Okay. Uh, and, uh, anyway, it all sort of shook out in the end, but I, they, uh, didn't have, couldn't prove insurance. The plates were switched. I impounded their car. So the next thing, you know, all these movie types show up and go, ah, we they couldn't prove insurance. The plates were switched. I impounded their car. So the next thing you know, all these movie types show up and go,

ah, we need an OPP car. And I go, well, too bad. You can't have that one. And they said, what about yours? Can we rent you? And do you want to pay duty? And I go, I don't know. I call my boss.

And he says, what's this about? And they said, well, they want me for this show, and it's about impaired driving, and it's positive. And he says, yeah, OK want me for this show and it's about impaired driving and it's positive. And he says, yeah, okay, you can do it. Wow.

Okay. So that was, well, that was fascinating because that was a fair, an exit interview for CP24 personality, former OPP officer, Cam Woolley. That's right.

And again, that's a nice, nice to hear that because that was on my microphones, not a Zoomer. He was in the backyard and that story, I didn hear that because that was on my microphones not a zoomer he was in the backyard and that story i didn't know where that was going but it was a mind blow to hear that that was schools out that was being filmed with that carrie impounded because wheels of course i don't have to tell you born the same year as me wheels was drinking and driving and, oh, the wheel story in both the series Degrassi and in real life, complete tragedy.

Yeah, for sure. This is also kind of the birth story because Cam Woolley ended up, you know, starting a company where he was, you know, providing police cars and ambulances and stuff for movie sets. And this is the beginning of that business that he invested in.

That was the origin story. It all began with schools out. That's right. And that's something that very key television event for Toronto or sorry, Canadian dudes of our vintage. That's right. So that's the end of the Degrassi segment. Now we're going to get into the Toronto Mike lore segment.

Okay. And are we counting down or no? Yes. We're at number 10 now. So we're in the top 10. So we're counting down. Okay. Top 10 now.

Here we go. Number 10. Number 10. So I learned recently that my podcast now has some lore to it. So stuff that listeners know about and like inside jokes and all that stuff. Like its own language. Yeah, its own language and its own kind of history well obviously you've got you know over a thousand episodes you have your own lore so the next few are dedicated to some of the lore that happened in

in volume four anyway love it so we're going to start with one from leave a here uh i'm not gonna you know i'm not going to tell you the episode number because that'll just give it away okay alan's retort was very valid and that is he wasn't at world war he wasn't in world war ii other other either but he could probably talk about it and that's right and and you know i i can i take this moment just to make sure that the next time alan comes in that you play this for him and say that you know i apologize for the way that sounded and the way it came out because i have nothing but the utmost respect for Alan Cross. Alan was the guy when I first wanted to work at CFNY, I used to call him when he did the overnight show and he would be gracious enough to allow me to come up into the studio and watch him for an hour or so do what he did.

studio and watch him for an hour or so do what he did. You know, so he is to me, not only a brother, because we come from the same radio station and this, you know, we have a history. He was my boss when I left, he was very kind to me then, but also just, you know, Alan is what Stu Stone said. Alan is, is a legend in, in music, not only in Toronto, but I mean, people talk about Alan Cross. I went and spoke to a class out here at BCIT, which is the British Columbia Institute of Technology. And there were a couple of kids in that class a few years ago, but they were so fascinated with Alan Cross that I had to stick around and tell Alan stories to these people. And I just want to make sure that we, we know, I mean, I, I, the fact that you, that Cam and yourself and Stu, you use that every once in a while, the, he wasn't there thing, you know,

I think is great, but you know, I, I just want to make it clear that I have nothing but the most respect for Alan. So there you go. Oh, he made a very valid point back in the original thing. I didn't go to a lot of those shows. And I did not because my schedule and where I was living didn't allow me to go to a lot of live gigs. I just couldn't do it. Because I'd have to be at work at 7.15 in the morning and I was living way outside the city up near Orangeville.

So it didn't make a lot of sense for me. So it wouldn't be a valid point. But at the same time, even though I didn't make a lot of sense for me. So it wouldn't be a valid point. But at the same time, even though I didn't see a lot of the stuff live, I was able to piece together enough information to write and talk about it.

So those are two wonderful FOTM's voices we heard, of course. That's Brother Bill, who's been a fantastic ally, especially the last couple of weeks, talking about the sort of the phrase that we did latch on to on Toronto Mike. He wasn't there.

That's right. And that was Alan Cross, who, you know, Brother Bill said it about. I got to say, Alan Cross is a tremendous FOTM who I've had some communication with regarding an issue I have with someone in radio. And what an ally himself and always there to answer the call. If you, if you, if you need to talk to him late on a Friday night,

as I did, he'll phone you and talk to you. This is a great guy. So much love to Alan cross, much love to brother Bill, AKA Neil Morrison. And he wasn't there. Although we did try to retire it because it was a little,

we were hitting it pretty hard. And I think Brother was worried that Alan, somebody he respects so much, would not necessarily find the humor in it. So we kind of tried to retire it, but it definitely became part of our lore. And it definitely sounds like Alan has been there for you now. Alan is there for me now, as is Brother Bill.

And we can make that a thing now. is al grego there you go all right here's another one uh this is one of my favorites actually uh this is this one's from gourd i was great friends with bruce allen still to this day my whole email system is set up because of his mullyet man. Um, and, and David Foster and I, uh, were friends even longer, like they're longtime friends of mine, uh, in and out of the business. And, um, and then Adams and I were friends just because I helped get him to a certain point in his career. And then he took off. Uh, so it was very comfortable to actually, um, be in that room. See, because they needed my, uh my smarts about media. They wanted to know my contacts, who to get a hold of, how to make this work.

We can't find this guy. Can you help us find this guy? So basically, all along the way, I was just there for support. I was forbidden to bring a camera, which really pissed off Moses because he said, why are you in there and not doing a story for us? Because they said, don't do that. We want you to be you and not you, the media guy. And so that was OK with me, frankly, because it was such a journey, such an adventure to watch it all unfold, to hear the original song in its bits and pieces. And then it came together and it was magic how it all, the song came together and then,

and then came the day and all these faces that we all know walk in candies over in the corner. The second city guys were over in the corner. And what I remember, I don't know if it made the, if it made the final documentary. Foster on his last phone call. Yeah. Yeah. OK.

Yeah. By kind of hung it down. He looked at me and said, Buffy bailed. Boom. And to this day, I carry that phrase. That is my my phrase to a couple of my friends. When something goes wrong, I would say Buffy bail. I wondered where she was.

We were trying to. I don't know where she was. We were trying to- I don't know where she was. I never, and I've interviewed her like half a dozen times. I've never asked her why she never got there. She could have been living in Hawaii at the time. Okay, firstly, if I ever get Buffy St. Marie on this program and I would love it. And she was like my second mother in the late 70s.

That's a true story because she was on Sesame Street. My first question to her, I pledged it all she was on Sesame Street. My first question to her, I pledged it all FOTMs right now. My first question for Buffy St. Marie is going to be, why did you bail on Tears Are Not Enough? Buffy bailed absolutely perfect for this program and we've been using it early and often.

Oh, I'm so glad you played that. Terry David Mulligan, great stories. He really got the vibe of this show. When a guest comes on and they get it, it's just like magic. It was great. And yeah, the Buffy Bell,

do you guys use it? So if Degrassi was the story of this quarter, so was Tears Are Not Enough. I mean, he did the whole Mikey Mentory on it, right? No, that was actually a,

that wasn't even a Mikey Mentory. Oh. So Mikey Mentory is, just to let people know the difference, is I'm partnered with Tyler, the aforementioned VP of Sales, Tyler Campbell, on Mikeumentary. And what that was, the two and a half hour deep dive into Tears Are Not Enough, was just a Mike and Cam one-off.

Cam and I will occasionally do that. And we did the same thing for Schools Out, the Degrassi TV movie that we just talked about. So certain subjects will resonate with us and we will have this like compelling desire to dive way deeper than anyone would ever go. And it's like, you want to talk, tears are not enough?

Okay, let's do two and a half hours on it. And that's what we do. All right, here we go. The final... What number are we at? Seven now? This will be number eight. And that's what we do. All right, here we go. The final... What number are we at? Seven now? This will be number eight. And this is the final installment in the Toronto Mike Lohr category.

Love it. Here we go. But Mike, you're a big number in Toronto. You know, like you really are. Tell me more. And say it slower. No, no. That's why I say it's so cool to be here, because you are the man now.

You rule the airwaves, right? And I mean, from you, that means a great deal. I mean, I would like to hear that from anybody, but from you, who worked and tell, we're going to go through some of the stuff you worked on, including Just Like Mom. If the producer of Just Like Mom tells me that I'm a big number in this city, I believe it.

And you should. Paul Burford, not only co-creator of Just Like Mom with Fergie Oliver, father of FOTM Broccoli. That's right. From Sunshine and Broccoli. Paul, man. And he's hooked me up with the guy who directed Battlefield Earth okay you're getting an exclusive here Mr. Grego I know the produce stand uh what are they called again degenerates what

are they called degens the degens will want to know that uh the the guy who directed Battlefield Earth lives in Mimico oh and we're working on having him stroll over for a backyard episode of Toronto Mike. That's a true story. Interesting. And that's all. Thank the Paul Burford who legit, whether he's right or not,

is open to discussion, but he believes that I'm a big deal in this city. In fact, I feel like I loaded this into a soundboard because you never know when it's going to come up here. Do I have it? Let's see. But Mike, you're a big number in Toronto.

You know, like you really are. Just in case somebody gives me guff. Okay, Al, that's a great choice. Love it. All right, here we go to number seven. We're just straight interviews now. This one here is from episode 912. This is my contribution.

Well, they had a promo running and a promo slash. Oh, geez, what happened here? Why didn't it start from the beginning? Oh. Well, they had a promo running and a promo slash contest. Oh, geez, what happened here? Why didn't it start from the beginning? Oh. Well, they had a promo running and a promo slash contest back in the early to mid-90s that was called the Temp Contest. And it sort of coincided with Paramount's release of the movie, The Temp. Right.

And Much Music was, of course, promoting the movie, The Temp. And Much Music was, of course, promoting the movie. And they thought they'd tie in a contest with this movie. And it was 93 or 92, the first one, which I entered, but failed miserably at winning that. So I thought, in 94, I'm going to really put a lot more effort

into this entry and this submission. So I went all out. It was a visual entry. We had 25 words or less to explain why we would be the perfect temp that summer. And I just went all out on this entry. It took me like a couple weeks. I was just talking to my dad yesterday. The entry, the big M-shaped box, is still in his basement, his damp

basement. Get a picture of that. I'm going to, Mike, and I'm going to send you the picture when I take it. I have a picture of it back in 94 with my long hair, but I'm going to take one this afternoon when I get back to that area and I'm going to send it to you. And yeah, so that

was it, and I won that contest, and the rest is history. And that name stuck for the first few years because I was the temp winner. Longest serving temp in history. Rick Campanelli, ready for a small world story? I think it's a small story. Bodog is paying Rick Campanelli

to do like social media videos with, you ready for this name? Stew really that's what i've heard yes absolutely stews and everything stews stew likes to wet his beak and everything stews like city tv he's everywhere but yeah rick campanelli and i think i even asked him like if he was related to tessa campanelli i think that might have been my first question which is stupid right because tessa's a fictional fucking character, but I still ask them. And I like hearing that one.

Just like I liked her hearing that Paul Burford one, because those are two more episodes on my microphone. Uh, cause I, I mean, when I'm listening back and they're the zooms, it just sounds like a zoom, but fuck,

get, get on my mics. I love it. Thank you, Rick, for that wonderful episode of Trottle Mic oh well sadly i'm gonna break the streak here but uh number six is uh here's something that uh gourd uh put in um well we were lovers for a while and um it was pretty traumatic i mean read my book if you want to

know all about jesse springfield read my book anti Anti-Devon. I know how much you love him. Thanks, KCOs. Yeah, she was an amazing, amazing artist. And she sang backup vocals on, actually with my late brother, on a track of ours called The Sacred and the Profane. And then she covered a couple of songs that we wrote, like Softcore and I Am Curious. But yeah, she was like a fabulous deeply

troubled person who you know had problems with alcohol and then she got sober and then she had fantastic career resurgence because of the pet shop boys um i went to her funeral and i met the pet shop boys and we just drank, you know, we drank champagne and toasted Dusty all night. Yeah, I mean, the Pet Shop Boys, absolutely. And then, of course, Pulp Fiction sort of gave a whole new generation a taste of Dusty Springfield. Yeah, she really was a brilliant, innovative artist and nobody had a voice like hers and really had a great time talking about music and her career. And I was always quizzing her about how she recorded and things like that.

That was great. I mean, that episode got off to a very rocky start. It's a rare appearance from Future Mike. He doesn't show up too often. So Future Mike showed up. I think he showed up a handful of times, but most famously or infamously with Molly Johnson. Shout out Mike showed up. He only, I think he showed up a handful of times, but you know, most famously or infamously with Molly Johnson.

Shout out to Molly Johnson. Did that make one of the best of episodes? Do you remember? Yes. Okay, it did. It was number one of her quarter, whatever that quarter was. My wire box set is just over here, Al, if you're curious. But that was Carol Pope.

Read the liner notes. Carol Pope. I was so excited to talk to Carol and I'm glad we sorted out the tech issues and stuff and had a real convo. She seemed to kind of get into it as we went. And that Dusty Springfield portion of the convo was amazing. Yeah, and it turns out she had just done a song with Rob Pruce, and at the time,

I just knew this name Rob Pruce as some guy who was in Spoons, The Spoons, if you will. Shout out to Gord Depp. But it just so happened that shortly thereafter, Rob Pruce became one of the great FOTMs. And he listens to every episode. And he's been so supportive these last couple of weeks. So, Carol Pope, can't wait to go round two with you. You're a Canadian icon.

Love you, Carol Pope. Very good. Are you creaming your jeans right now, Al? That's classified. Number five, we have our buddy Gord. He contributed another one here. This one here could have easily been part of your volumes one or two, and it should have been part of your Harold Ballard, Mikey Mentory. So here we

go. Okay. In 68, Hockey Night wanted to use Bogbo Goldham in my place and Goldham said, I won't, I won't take the job if I'm going to replace a friend. And so they found a place for two of us. But in the meantime, I got a job with Harold in public relations. I told him how sick his public relations was. And he hired me at, I think it was $7,500 a year. We were the lowest paid public relation guys in the history of the NHL. Stan Abodiak and myself. And Stan was angry that I came in and was working alongside him. And so Ballard said, I can't name you my public relations director because

Stan will get upset. So I'll find another title for you. But he never did. I worked, I think, nine months and I just said, I've got to get out of here. I'd go to him, for example, and say, Harold, you can't go on the air and say no women in the press box. Women's movement is in full force and you're going to be picketed by ladies and placards. And he said, let's get one thing straight, McFarland, no effing women in the press box. And he walked away. And I said, well, okay, I got a call, Harold, this week. There are six mentally challenged kids who've never seen a Leaf game. They're well-behaved. They're well monitored. Could they just sit up there in the gauntlet? There's a little space for six people. He said, I don't want any idiots falling out on the ice. You can imagine the shock of that comment.

So I kind of gave up in public relations. And I don't know to this day whether I was fired or quit. I just planned a vacation. We planned to take our kids to see all of Canada, first all the way to Tofino, British Columbia, one summer, and then to Newfoundland the next. And we were sitting around the campfire around Canora, I guess it was, and I said to my wife, you know, I'm not going back to the gardens. She said, well, don't you have a job there anymore? And I said, I don't know.

Were you fired? I don't think so a job there anymore? And I said, I don't know. Were you fired? I don't think so. Well, did you quit? Not really. She said, well, don't go back then. Because I'd rather sell pots and pans to Ordedor, which I seriously considered. So I never went back. And I still don't know whether I was ever fired or quit.

Somebody said they were thinking of closing down that department. Well, that was enough of a clue, I guess. I think the most difficult job in all of hockey is being Harold Ballard's PR representative. I think that's... Yeah, he was difficult. Yeah. Amazing. That's an amazing clip.

And that man was only a month away from his 90th birthday. Brian McFarlane. And still with us, everybody, because only one FOTM. clip and that man was only a month away from his 90th birthday yeah brian mcfarland and uh still with us everybody because only one fotm has ever died right al grego yeah shout out ridley funeral shout out to ridley funeral home brad jones listen to his podcast life's undertaking it's fantastic and you get to hear my voice on it because you don't get enough of me so you need more me and that can be found on life's Undertaking by Brad Jones, the good people at Ridley Funeral Home. Not just a great funeral home,

but they know how to sponsor a winning grilled cheese. They won the grilled cheese challenge just a couple of weekends ago. Now, Brian McFarlane, again, still with a sharp as a tack. I don't know how that didn't become part of the Harold Ballard micumentary. I might have to have a meeting, a private meeting with VP of sales. I think he dropped the ball on that one.

Oh, I think it happened after. Oh, it happened. Yeah, that's why. Oh, I was going to fire VP of sales. No, no, Tyler, you're okay. You're okay, bud. Tyler, Al just saved your ass. I was going to fire you.

Okay. That's a great clip though. Love another gourd so three two in a row and actually gourd's got the next two see gourd's thoughtful he listens closely yeah and i feel like he should be taking this over for me i'm so busy these days but uh you know what you make time for this al come on what do i pay you for you don't okay so this one here i love this one uh wear your for? You don't. Okay. So this one here, I love this one. I wear your T-shirt, don't I? Yes, you do. Thank you very much.

I appreciate it. So here's number four from episode 910. So you had an issue with Super Dave Osborne in a Toronto hotel room. Yeah. He lured me over for dinner. I did the show quite. The owner, I've got this idea. I've got this concept for a whole special that you can host on

guitar and you can have different guests and I have the money to do it and we'll fund it and it'll be on network and I was intrigued and come over to dinner to discuss it. So naive me, even after all my hundreds of Me Too moments in

the music business because I was basically in a man's world. I naively go to the hotel. I look for him in the restaurant. He's not there. I called him. I somehow connected. He said, oh, no, I've ordered room service.

Immediately the red flag went off. He said, I'm too tired. I'm just going to be in my room. Come up to the room. I thought, oh, dear. But anyway, I wanted the tv special so there he was in his robe just like the other guys had been and uh with the dinner but I was hungry and I thought well damn it he surely you know he's well known he's not going to pounce on me and we we spent about an hour discussing all the details of the TV show.

Me still a little bit alert. And sure enough, he grabbed me after. And I had to fight my way out of the room and push him away. And he's a big, big guy. So it ended badly. And of course, I never heard from him. I think he invented the whole TV thing just to get me. That's awful. Look, Leona, that's awful.

That's the better taste. Yeah, but I've had so many of those with TV producers and music people. And my records didn't come out in certain countries because I wouldn't comply with the demands of the label people. I must say I'm with a nice team now at Universal Music. must say i'm with a nice team now at universal music um they've been doing a great job getting all my music on itunes and you know around the world and promoting the video and they made a vimeo thing but no in the past it was really difficult for women especially in a male dominated music business that's some real talk from leona boyd. And that, we're slaughtering sacred cows on this program because what FOTM doesn't love Super Dave Osborne?

I know, it's horrible. It's tough. Yeah. It's like, I choose the red pill. But, oh my God, I was thinking the great Tyler Stewart episode of Trotter Mike. Yeah, yeah. Which I'm sure was a best of a previous. It was from the previous, yeah.

Right. Like, you know, he was telling these Super Dave Osborne stories about, you know, driving him around aging court and this and that. And it was fantastic. And then we hear Leona Boyd

and oh my goodness. But on the live stream, the Pirate live stream, VP of Sales heard the conversation about, and he's now suggesting that I can finish episode 1071. So, uh, that's a little tip that we're recording this before 1071,

even though it's probably not dropping in the feed until after. And that's how the sausage is made. He's threatening strike. If you, uh, if you try to fire him, I think we've lost him. Absolutely.

And shout out to YYZ Gord, who's also listening live. And Ian Service, who you know as well. And Andrew Ward, who says, gotta love Al. By the way. Do you gotta, Andrew? I think I do, but do you have to? You don't have to, right? Okay, go ahead, Al.

Big kudos to Ian Service. And thank you so much because he has set us up on his live stream. You have your own pirate stream? We have our own pirate stream. So whenever we're on, on Thursday nights, 9.30 p.m. Eastern, sometimes I'll switch over to the Toronto mic. So there's two channels right now on his pirate stream. There's the Toronto mic and there's the protestant.

So you borrowed that from me. What else have you borrowed from me? I just want to keep track. A couple of guests. Well, one guest. And the spirit of the show is very Toronto Mike-esque. But you know what? I love it because I am a big fan of Al Grego. So steal away.

Well, I mean, our listeners call me the podfather. Do they? That makes you the pod grandfather. Have you not seen the Toronto Star lately, Al? I know. Have you not seen this? But most of them are Americans. They wouldn't seen the Toronto Star lately, Al? I know. Have you not seen this? But most of them are Americans. They wouldn't see the Toronto Star. That's right. It's online. Okay. All right. All right. We're down to number three. And once again, it's a

gourd pick, but this would have been one of my picks too, if he hadn't done it first, but I'll give him credit for this. He was running for the leader of the Liberal Party, ostensibly Prime Minister of Canada.. He was running for the leader of the Liberal Party, ostensibly prime minister of Canada. I invited everyone running for the leadership, Stephane Dion, Michael Ignatius, to come on a fishing trip with me. And none of them would do it except Bob. And I thought, well, this is going to look weird if I just take one. But then I thought, shag it. Ignatius won't go. We'll go with Bob. We went on this fishing trip in Northern Ontario.

The most important thing was we had to catch fish. I wasn't going to have a fishing segment without catching a fish. It's like a fishing show where they don't catch a fish. Terrible. So we went to this beautiful – a friend of mine has a small plane in Sudbury, and we got in this plane, and we flew to these lakes you can't even get to unless you have a plane. You'd have to be an idiot not to catch a fish there it's just beautiful picturesque fall the leaves are changing just gorgeous northern Ontario landscape and couldn't get a fish couldn't get a fish and when it was

over the interview was great the scenics were great but we never got a fish I knew that's all anyone would talk about how these two idiots went up there and they couldn't get a fish and so it was suggested that we end the segment by getting naked and jumping in the lake. And this is a man who's running for the leadership of the Liberal Party. And he thought about it for about 30 seconds and said, OK, let's go. And we dropped pants and took up all our clothes and jumped in this lake in the fall. But, you know, that spoke to the character of the man and the type of person he is in a way that a thousand interviews with journalists probably never would. And it will probably be in Bob Ray's obituary, which, please, God, won't have to be written for a very long time.

But it will be there because it was significant and it told Canadians something very important about him. I mean, I don't know what it is, but I think it was positive. That's the great Rick Mercer. And he was promoting a book. And that's how I got him. And he had no business being as good as he was on Toronto Mike. Like he was amazing. I'm not surprised there.

The contrast between Canadian and American politics. So just recently, Biden fell off his bike and gets roasted. Yeah, what's that about? Just crucified by the right mostly. And up here we have somebody who was running for the leadership party of the Liberal Party skinny dipping with a television host. And that's just hilarious. No, I'm very proud of our differences here and uh our many differences but uh also very that was a good run there there was a good run i

think i don't want to spoil any future people but i'm i'll just say i think it's kind of funny that wendy mesley just made her debut like like recent. And Cynthia Dale not only made her debut, but also reunited with her heavenly body's son, Stu Stone. Like that all happened in the same week. Because I remember. In a busy week. Busy week.

Okay. So thank you for playing some Rick Mercer. All right, we're down to number two. This one is my contribution. Finally, we're down to number two. This one is my contribution. Finally, we're off of the gourd picks. Well, I'm just going to play it. Here we go. I would say that

there was a definite rivalry. I think we tried to hire hitmen to take out Jim Van Horn. Jim Van Horn had the Sistine Chapel of the Mona Lisa of the Louvre of mustaches. You still got it. The Stanley Cup of mustaches. I'm not sure.

I haven't seen Jim in a few years. But I don't know if a lot of people know, they found Jimmy Hoffa in Jim Van Horn's mustache. It was a true story. It was crazy, but I had it for a while, I guess, you know, back in the eighties where I used to work in Winnipeg, right. Mustaches are popular, you know, even though they're not anymore. Now beards and mustaches are mustaches and everybody,

it's like a podcast now. Everybody has a podcast. You were an original, everybody had a mustache. So I had a mustache for a long time um and quite frankly the day i everybody asked me why'd you get rid of your mustache and they some people still think you know i just got rid of it two years ago i think i haven't had it in about 15 uh i was uh one of my youngest boys brody uh was like six or seven and he looked at me i was shaving he goes hey dad he had this little growly voice i've never kissed you without a mustache and that kind of brought a tear to my eye so i shaved my mustache off and quite frankly haven't put it back on since uh little known fact i did loan it to jim

tatty for a while and jim jim still has it but jim uses it as an eyebrow i don't know if you know that his right eyebrow is actually that's my my mustache. It's a true story. Absolutely true story. Before we get to one of the greatest FOTMs to join our lives in 2021, Rod Black, your kids, Al, you've got a couple of

kids. Have they ever kissed you when you were clean shaven? Not my daughter. My son probably has, but no, not my daughter. She's never known me without a beard. And that's my friend Veronica. That's right. All she had to do was one time she had to write me a nice note and forever I would

have a warm, fuzzy feeling about Veronica. She's quick to say how prickly I am that I need to shave. She's very honest. My daughter, my youngest anyway, I get the same thing and that's,

and I don't grow a beard because it looks ridiculous. But if it's like a couple of days growth, she'll complain when I give her the kiss or whatever, like daddy, she calls them my sticks. She says, you're sticks. So back to Rod Black here.

Okay. So we did the back toback. Which one was that? The first or the second? That one was, let me see here. I think that was the first one, 800. Yeah, because 801 is Rod Black 2. That was a runner-up clip that was a lot longer

about Joe Carter. Yeah, yeah. So Rod, amazing. He even appeared at TMLX8 when he was covering the Women's Hockey Championship, I believe. So he was not in town, but he showed up via Zoom

to say goodbye to Pandemic Fridays. And he also did a guest appearance on Pandemic Fridays. He did many, many appearances in 2021. But in early July, Rod Black is doing something he's never done. You know what that is? What's that?

He's going to visit in the flesh. He's going to be here. So he's going to sit where you are. Nice. And guess who's going to be sitting in that seat

right beside Rod Black? I don't know. Leo Roudens. Really? Oh, that'll be awesome. I'm reuniting on this program in person. I'm reuniting Leo Roudens

and Rod Black. That's a lot of personality in this low ceiling here. Can you imagine? Wow. I got to clear my schedule for that one. That'll be great. And we're going to get some more Charles Barkley. That will certainly be volume five material.

I hope they don't disappoint. I'm also working on reuniting. It won't be quite as good, but it'll be pretty good, I think. Damien Cox and Gord Stelic are dropping by together. That will be good. I think that'll be great. I miss those two together on the fan.

They were great on the fan together. Absolutely. Okay. So that was number two? Yeah. So there's only one left? One left. So can I apologize quickly?

My Wi-Fi dropped, but because all're not, all of our recording is local. So it just means that there was an interruption to the live stream and we don't really care about them because we're recording this for the podcast. That's right. But okay, I don't have a drum. I guess I do have a drum roll. Do you want a drum roll? I could give you a drum roll. It's your show.

It's my show. It's your show. Well, let me see if I have a good drum roll. Let's see if I have one right here. Well, let me see if I have a good drum roll. Let's see if I have one right here. This one is from Miriam. I'm going to attempt to do 90 push-ups on that yoga mat.

Right now? Why not? Okay, so again, this is audio, so I will do play-by-play, but Peter Gross has just got up from his seat. He's walked over to the yoga mat peter gross you may begin my friend so peter gross is going to do this has been edited down by the way okay personally i think i i'd be done by now to be quite honest and i'm uh i'm only half peter's age he's just screamed out the number 10 he's going at quite the clip. I'll share this video on Twitter so everybody can see.

Make the final. Wow. Peter Gross is going at a tremendous clip. 30 already. Wow. And it's not a cool day. It's a humid day in Toronto. There's video evidence of all of this. It's even more difficult for Peter Gross. He's already hit 40.

Still going at that tremendous clip. What tremendous shape. I can't believe this man had a stroke a year ago. Unbelievable. Honestly, what an inspiration. Wow. He's turning red. I don't know if I should be concerned about that.

So I think 50. He's still going strong. Wow. I've got to listen for the next number. 72. So he's got to his age, which I would have been happy with that. Your play-by-play needs a little work. I didn't rehearse.

He is slowing down, ladies and gentlemen. The clip is not what it was. Cicada's in the background. Now it's sort of like counting the time between contractions. Now his posture's changed a bit. He's at 80. He's got 20 to go. His form is suffering a little bit.

Really, Peter, you know, there's no shame in this game. I can't get to eight. I can't get to eight, let alone 80. Okay, 91. How are you, buddy? Okay, you collect yourself here. How do you feel? Really good.

I've had times where I did the 90 push-ups where I thought I would die. Are you going to die? No, I feel really good. I'm obviously breathing a little heavily. I would be curious if anyone else my age or older can do that. I mean, that was the point. I'm showing off. You're showing off.

So you're 71 years old. If anyone knows of someone over 71 or older who can do more than 91 push-ups, let us know. Because we think Peter's in some rarefied air here. Peter Gross. He was here this week to audition for... Did he get it? I should say, I don't know if he got it.

He's not optimistic about this one. But I don't charge him for this service. I need him to make money. Who knew this would be a service? Come to my studio and audition for roles. That's crazy. So I get to go through this process. Sometimes I'm like, I want to audition for roles.

And then usually this time anyways, they complimented the quality of the microphones and the sound. I think they're used to guys just burping in their laptop or whatever. Sure. And it sounds good. Good camera. So Peter Gross, as mentioned, he had a stroke not too long

before that, I think, about a year before that. And then now I've announced on an episode of Toast, I think. I don't know. Amber Pay. That John Gallagher had the same kind of stroke. Wow. But they're both okay. I talked to John the other day.

And Al, damn it, you did it again. Like, I can't wait till we finish episode 1,000. Are we going to make 1250? Because I got to get to 1250 before you come back for another best of. I hope so, yeah. So just a quick note on this one. Oh my God, yeah.

So the reason I love this pick by Levi is your podcast is no longer just an interview podcast. You have a variety show here. If you think about it, the cold open was a musical guest playing music. Right. You had a bunch of interviews and now you have a guy doing push-ups live. As bad podcasting as that might sound. sound right he was doing it and you're doing the play-by-play i mean there's no boundaries here you can do anything you know you're right alan that's you know now i realize it's uh the only uh limitation is my creativity like i can

sure because now i'm like as you know i'm like oh i can put leo roudens and rod black in my basement i don't need tsn to do that like i don't tsn let rod go and then it was like oh they're broken up but i'm like oh i can do that like this is my power is that i'm independent i i can do these things and i mean you've you were doing the pandemic fridays you're doing the toast now right i feel like the last quarter is also when when you started doing the micumentaries. So this is. A lot of stuff came out of pandemic. Sure. I will say that when COVID-19 showed up, a few things showed up.

One thing that showed up that I'm really glad exists. And, you know, once in a while, I'll remember I should do another one. But the FOTM KOTJs came out of the pandemic. That's right. And when I listen back to those and you hear like just FOTM, some famous, some not, talking about their favorite song. I mean, there's a great clip of Sheila Kniecewicz

kicking out a song and then we lost her. And then there's that, you know, that great clip. There's several clips of Becky Dinwoody kicking out jams and you hear her talking

about her favorite songs and then we lost Becky. Like these things are going to live forever. You can hear Tyler Campbell and Al Grego and YYZ Gord and Moose Grumpy and Levi Femke and Michael Lang and Rush Mike and James Edgar and God, do I want me to run down all the great Apple teams? Ian Service.

Oh my God, all these wonderful people. So as I look back and it has been a rough week, but when I look back at what we've done, like this is not just a variety show and it's not just, you know, Buffy Bale and

he wasn't there, but like this is a community. That's right. A few runner-ups or honorable mentions. Runner-ups or runners-up?

Runners-up and honorable mentions. Let's say that. I mentioned before, but Rod Black's second interview when he talks about the Joe Carter sharing a house at the Masters with Rod Black. Joe didn't touch them all. That was a great interview. You should check that out for sure.

Well, hey, who's the golf analyst for Bob Weeks? Yeah. It was Bob Weeks. Weeks and him and his other production crew, they were down there for the Masters. Right. AJ Andrews' interview was great and she reveals her name and also.

Adriana. Adriana. And she talks about inspiring Scott, what's his last name? Scotty Max. Scotty Max. Scott MacArthur. Coming out and.

Who's now hosting the afternoon drive show on 1010 with a woman named Reshmi Nair. Okay. And Reshmi Nair is scheduled to make her Toronto mic debut in person in one week's time. Perfect. And then the only other one here, and it's a really good interview as well, is the Kim Clark Champness. Oh. And very inspirational interview. Is the Kim Clark Champness.

Oh. And very inspirational interview. And just, I clipped it just because it was a bit like, in terms of the audio quality wasn't, you know. Oh, he's speaking through his voice box. Is that what it was called? Something like that. I was like so honored that he, you know, it was the only vocal, the speaking interview he's done

since his surgery to remove his voice, his ability to speak. Yeah. Oh my God, Kim, man, I don't know. I get all choked up thinking about it, but I heard Noel Kastler earlier in one of your clips mentioning Woodstock 99. And then my first thought was, Kim Clark Chapness was there.

Right. Woodstock 1999. And do you know who he was there with? Who? What's the greatest boy band to come out of Newmarket? Serial Joe! He was

managing Serial Joe and it was not a mistake. Al, now I've got to just praise you on the way out here, which is that again, you've never missed a Toronto Mike listener experience and number 10 happens September 1st. I can't wait to see you there. We have something else going

on we won't talk about, but it's going to be amazing if that happens and work with you on that. And your support means the world to me. You're a lovely man. And when I look at the fact that you now podcast for a living, for a major company, that's amazing

because I remember when I didn't know who you were and you sent me an email and said, can I see your studio or whatever? And I said, come on in, you know, and you came down and I showed you how it all worked. And then you went off and did that for a big financial, whatever your company is, but big company. And then you started your own like personal podcast,

a love letter to letter, Love Letter to Letter Kenny. You see what I did there? Yes. And I mean, there are people like Lieve Famke and YYZ Gord that just adore that podcast. I think they listen to you

more than me. That's okay. I'll still let them keep their FOTM status, but I root for you. And that's why I wear my Produce Stand t-shirt early and often.

Yes. Thank you very much. It's been fun. And I love coming and doing these why I wear my produce stand t-shirt and I early and often yes thank you very much uh it's been fun and I love coming and doing these I always you know I feel bad that we were so late this time around hopefully but thank you so much to Tyler, Levi and Gord for their help putting these clips together with me uh I couldn't have done it without them it would have been much much later had they not helped and And thank you, Al Grego, for taking the time to kick out, I guess, 18 great clips from episodes 751 through 1,000 of Toronto Mic'd. And that brings us to the end of our 1073rd show. You can follow me on Twitter.

I'm at Toronto Mike. Al is at PFTW. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U. Dewar are at Dewar Performance. The promo code is Toronto Mike to save 15% right now at the retail store or online at Dewar.ca. Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH.

And Canna Cabana are at canna cabana underscore. Smoke them if you got them. See you all tomorrow for another progressive past of Modern Melodies with Brother Bill and Cam Gordon. Our special guest, by the way, is beloved FOTM, Scott Turner. You've been under my skin for more than eight years It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears And I don't know what the future can hold or do For me and you

But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true because Everything is coming up Rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Won't speed the day And your smile is fine

And it's just like mine And it won't go away Because everything is rosy and green well I've been told that there's a sucker born every day but I wonder who yeah I

wonder who maybe the one who doesn't realize there's a thousand shades of gray. Cause I know that's true, yes I do. I know it's true, yeah. I know it's true. How about you?

Are they picking up trash and then putting down ropes? And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can Maybe I'm not and maybe I am But who gives a damn because Everything is coming up rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms me today And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine

And it won't go away Because everything is rosy and gray Well, I've kissed you in France, and I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places I better not name And I've seen the sun go down on Sacré-Cœur

But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms us today

And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy now Everything is rosy and Everything is rosy and gray Thank you.