Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - The Kid Who Interviewed John Lennon: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1493

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

In this 1493rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Sir Jerry Levitan, the kid who interviewed John Lennon, about interviewing John Lennon, his Oscar nomination, his Emmy win, and his lives as a lawyer and Sir Jerry. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Yes, We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Team and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

John, could you please tell us what the situation is with you and your entry into the United States? A lot of people don't want me in, you know. They think I'm going to cause a violent revolution, which I'm not. And the others don't want me in because they don't want me to cause peace either, you know. Because peace is big. War is big business, you know, and they like war because it keeps them fat and happy. And I'm anti-war so they're trying to keep me out, but I'll get in, you know, because they'll have to own up in public that they're against peace, you know. Welcome to episode 1493 of Toronto Miked, 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. Palma Pasta, enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, the best baseball in the city outside the dome. Join me and Toronto Maple Leafs CEO Keith Stein on June 2nd. I'll be recording live from Christy Pitts. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. Season six of Yes We Are Open, an award winning Monaris podcast hosted by

FOTM Al Greggo and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto mic debut is the kid who interviewed John Lennon, Jerry Levitin. Welcome Jerry. Hey, good to be here, Mike. I got to tell you, podcast 1493, like, wow, just one after Columbus when he sailed the ocean blue. You know, when I did the announcement yesterday, 1492, I paused for that exact sales. Absolutely, you were so close. But okay, I paused for that exact sales. Absolutely.

You were so close, but okay. A few things right off the top. One is shout out to FOTM Jeff Rogers. Oh yeah. How do you know Jeff? Oh gee. Uh, uh, I actually just had a coffee with him. I I've known Jeff since, Oh God, it probably goes back to about 16, 17 years ago when I created

this children's entertainment thing called Sir Jerry. Sir Jerry, we're going to talk about it. And he was at that time helping the Drake Hotel with their acts and their programming and all the rest of it. And he heard my first CD and then one day said, let's have lunch and we had lunch at the Drake and he said, you should perform here and have a band. And I said, well, I don't have a band.

So he said, get one. And that began a long and wonderful friendship. So Sir Jerry, the first CD, and we're gonna talk about Sir Jerry. We have a lot of ground with you. There's so many different elements I wanna cover here, and I wanna get back to why am I asking you about Mr. Rogers.

But your first CD, that was Bees, Butterflies, and Bugs. Yep. Okay, I pulled a song, I'll save it for later, but we're gonna hear a little Sir Jerry later in the episode. But the reason I'm bringing up Jeff Rogers is because, I got a note from Jeff. He goes,

did he have coffee at your house? We had dinner. Our two families had dinner last Friday. At your residence? That's right. Okay. So he's like, he basically get a note. I get an email from him. I was just in your hood and I was with Sir Jerry and you should have Sir Jerry on Toronto Mike. And then we won't, we won't dox anybody except, uh, how long was your commute to this studio? Approximately? Well, I could have walked, but I got on my bike. Oh, you bike. I biked and that was maybe two minutes. So is this the shortest distance you've ever traveled for an interview? Yes. Okay. So I'm the champion. Okay. So you're, you're my new Toronto neighbor

and it's good to meet you, man. Will I get invited to any, I don't know, Leviton barbecues or anything this summer? Hey, for sure, you're presuming we have quite a social ongoing situation. Well, it sounds like it. Jeff Rogers is there. What do you want for breakfast?

Scrambled eggs. You got it. Okay, so here, you're gonna make me scrambled eggs. So let me let you know, Jerry, I have in my freezer upstairs a large lasagna for you to take home with you today. I'm not kidding. And that's courtesy of Palma pasta. Okay. They want to feed you delicious Italian food coming from Mississauga and Oakville Palma pasta. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Do you drink beer? I do. Okay, I have some fresh craft beer from you and since you're a South Etobicoke residence, you might know Great Lakes Brewery down the street from the Costco there 30 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard. They you're taking home this pack of beer with you. Wow, this is like, do I have to tell you this? Oh, no, he didn't tell you. Do I leave now? Is that like, this is great? No, that's, that's quite sweet. You leave now. I'm not getting that lasagna out of the freezer You got to earn it jerry. All right, I got to earn it and here Let me uh do a few more gifts here because we're doing this off the top because it's going to be all killer

No filler after that Ridley funeral home They're at 14th and lake shore. Okay, they're Pillars of this community and they have a measuring tape for you Jerry that green circle there that's a measuring tape for Ridley Funeral Home. I thought you were gonna say they have a plot for me. Well we'll see how the episode goes. Jerry they might they might be able to take care of you. Okay. Although you look pretty good in your biking I feel like you're at least a

few years off from needing that service Why thank you for that extension. Although you interviewed John Lennon. Yeah What year did you conduct that interview of John Lennon? It was 1969 in fact the anniversary is coming up. I think on Sunday May 26. That'll be 55 years I'm gonna pretend like I purposely waited for this anniversary to have you on to commemorate. I'm going to just act like that was my plan all along, but, uh, not even finished giving you the gift yet. There was a wireless speaker right here. That's a great next party.

You have that I'm not invited to. I bet you you're going to be playing the songs on kicking out the jams on that wireless speaker. That's from Monaris. The the catch is and it's not a bad catch. It's actually a good thing, but you need to. In fact, you can scan that QR code to make your life easier. You need to subscribe to season six of yes, we are open Al Grego from Monaris. He visited Peterborough and he talked to Scott Stewart the owner of co-author TV and stereo About all the ups and downs in that industry and how they've adapted and how they continue to provide their customers of top quality

Products and services you'll hear that story in the season 6 finale of yes, we are open Enjoy that speaker Jerry. Thank you This is so great. I'm almost done. Listen I feel like there's a lot but I'm gonna do it all in one chunk and then we're just gonna rock and roll but this book Fascinating book on the history of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. They play their home games at Christie Pitts and The exciting announcement I have is that on June 2nd I'll be throwing out the first pitch and then I'll be recording live from Christie Pitts So if you make your way to the the if your your kids you make your way to Christy Pitts you'll have a great time because

it's great baseball and you get you can get yourself a hot dog and a beer and then you could jump on the mic and say hi to me on June 2nd I'll be there. That's great. All right I think you've been taken care of now. I take care of my guests but where do I begin with you? Let's go back to 1969. How old were you in 1969? I was 14. I grew up in North Toronto, North York and The Beatles meant everything The Beatles would yeah, I would think if you're in 1969, you're 14 now would hit hard It is difficult to express to people of any generation that followed mine how incredible it was that the Beatles were there, the anticipation of every album. And in May 1969, the Beatles were beginning to record their final album together, which was Abbey Road. And, um, uh, I, uh, you know, in those days,

you didn't have an iPhone or, or Android, um, the radio stations were, you know, live, uh, there were three or four TV stations and the way kids got information about their pop stars, particularly the Beatles, the Stones or whatever was something on the radio, a DJ would say something. Sure, 1050 Chum would be all over the Beatles in 69. This is a Chum exclusive, world exclusive. And, you know, it was a, I don't know if you want me to jump right into it, but... Oh, you know what? Yeah, we're having a chat. Let's do it now. I had a note that was kind of interesting, but I'll hold on to it since we're already in there

But now I need to know who your favorite chum 1050 chum personalities back in that. Oh wow. Wow. Okay now you're really Test. Well, you know, no one said it would be better earn these gifts Let's see Oh god, what a horrible thing, you know, it's okay You don't have to shout them out now. But if they jump into your mind through the convo, you can. They probably they probably will.

But I mean, hey, that's all I was. As long as you remember the jingles, right? Yeah. Now, now I'm going to be stuck. My brain is going to be stuck in this loop. Try to listen. You know, you're a little older than

me, obviously. I don't actually remember 1969. But but I, you know, I've had many conversations with people from 1050Chum and we've had pretty deep dives. In fact, episode- Dave Marsh. There you go. See? I figured if I vamped long enough, Sir Jerry would come through.

I'm like, just come on, Sir Jerry. I'm not fixing this in post, buddy. I don't do that here, but I will just say that if you have some time on your hands maybe with your new Minaris wireless speaker you can listen to episode 1050. It's a tribute to 1050Chum. You'll hear some voices you'll remember and great history of the station. I think you'd love episode 1050 of Toronto Mite. Well there was another guy he wasn't on air that much Dave Thompson and he I think he's still around. Sorry, Doug Thompson. I've had him over lengthy chats with him.

He's the, he's the best guy. And he one day saw boxes of tapes behind chum with all these interviews of, you know, Mick Jagger or whoever came in there and said, can I take them? And he took them. Doug Thompson came over. He, you can hear him on episode 1050. I have like an hour chat where he brought in clips from these tapes you're talking about. And we talked about everything, Beatles and more. And I think any chumbugs out there, you got to go to episode 1050 and you'll hear from Doug Thompson. I will definitely do it. Well, he was around at that time. We've talked since many times about what happened.

But anyways, so your information was very limited, particularly as a kid. You'd have to wait to hear something on the radio. A DJ would say something. And one day, Sunday night, I'm taking a shower and it probably was Dave Marsh. I was listening to Chum FM, which in those days they would, you know, play a half an hour side of an album without a commercial or whatever. They were playing something and the DJ came on and said, someone just called in to say they thought they spotted John and

Yoko at the airport. I'll check it out, we'll get back to you." And then they played a Beatles song. That's all I needed to hear. And Dave Marsh, that's not Dave Marsden, right? Dave Marsh is a different guy. Oh God, you know, you're correcting me, which is great. Fact checking you. Dave Marsh, although there was a Dave Marsh, he might have been a Rolling Stone writer, but... Okay, because David Marsden was on, and again, I don't know what year, because he was Dave Mickey on CK, on 590.

And then he became, I think he went to Montreal and he comes back as David Marsden, which he's still known as today. David Marsden on Chum FM. I just wonder if that's the Dave you're thinking of. Might be, might be. All right, but you heard on the radio, you heard on 1050 that Johnson Town that's all I needed to hear and I

was a I was a crazy kid I mean my head was in the sky all the time I you know before the Beatles it was Superman which continues to this day awesome and I went in my room and I started plotting I was gonna go on a mission the next morning, early, not go to school, and try to find my hero. The Beatles were my hero. If it was Paul McCartney, I undoubtedly would've tried to do the same thing, but John definitely was my favorite. He captivated me in every respect.

His intellect, the things he he said how real he was the the you know my favorite Beatles song I am the walrus which today I think is oh there we go man Like how epic is this even now? Especially in the headphones. I love how it sounds in the camera Let me sink this in just long enough to get us blocked on YouTube. Oh man, I love this. You know a good lawyer by any chance? Well, I used to be a good lawyer.

I used to be a good lawyer. It also shows you the power the Beatles had, particularly John, who was not afraid of sticking his neck out, that they would put out something like that. You know, that was so edgy, so poetic. You know, one of his lines is, man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe. And you could just picture this well-read pop star, you know, hanging around Mick Jagger or whatever in a stoned or drunken fest and somebody saying something stupid about Edgar Allan Poe. Anyways, he was kind of, so he was witty, he was very

funny but he was also, I think he had been the cool beetle. Like I think when I think of these four guys, I feel like John Lennon was like the thinking man cool beetle Yeah, he was the leader right? You know even the story of how the rest of the Beatles joined is a great story would take too much time now Well, you know, this is the time like it's a short bike ride home, you know Even you get a lug all this free stuff you're getting and I know you have something for me soon, but don't forget, I don't want to be left empty handed. The reality is, you know, they were kids, you know, growing up in post-World War II Liverpool, none of them well off. I think John was the most middle class of them because of his situation, but one day

you know a friend of Paul's who was a mutual friend of John said hey, we're gonna see my buddy John playing at the Fet I think is what they called it, you know, it's about picnic church thing and Paul went there. I was 14 or 15, saw John and afterwards was introduced to him by his other friend. And they started talking about music and Paul said he could do, I forgot the name of the song, 50 Floor Rock, 12 what? The whole point of it was a lot of words about walking up the stairs. Right. And Paul played it and John was impressed

that he knew all the words and he said, I wanted to join the band. Pretty good Liverpoolian accent you got there. I dig it. Thank you, thank you. So Paul did and then a day or two later he said, you know I've got a mate who goes to school with me, George, he's pretty good on the guitar. George joined shortly after that.

And then ultimately in the early days they had a different drummer. Is this Pete Best? Yeah, it was Pete Best and you know part of it was that his mother owned the Cavern Club you know in Liverpool. What a coincidence. Right. But then you know they ultimately were doing a lot of gigs in Hamburg, Germany and one of the other bands was this I think Rory

Storm and the Hurricanes and Ringo was the drummer and one day when Pete Bess was sick Ringo stepped in and Paul to this day tells the story of you know he John and George looked at each other when Ringo was playing the drum saying, wow, you know, it's kicking in. So anyways, anyways, I don't know. No, it's going to get a little Beatles or bonus Beatles origin story. This obscure band, nobody knows anything about him. So no, honestly, thank you for that because it helps set the stage though. You're 14 years old, 1969. You're listening to the radio David Marsden likely because we I have confirmation on the live stream David Marsh wrote for cream and rolling

stone there we go right okay part of my you know you thought it was Dave Thompson it was Doug Thompson okay you thought it was Dave listen to me we got it I got Robert Lawson in the bushes he's going nuts over here actually now we're talking, it wasn't John Lennon. It was Frank Lennon who was a chiropractor on Ronson's vowel or Kip Lennon who did all those great voices on The Simpsons. Right. Shout out to Kip Lennon. OK, so Pete Best, I'm also being told on the live stream,

shout out to Basement Dweller. He's got a note for you in a moment. That's going to be a small world mind blow for you. OK, but he says Pete Best was just too handsome for that that's one of the One of the lines that may not be one of the Beatles lore that may not be True. I mean, you know, the reality is probably Ringo sat in because Pete was sick and he was just a better drummer. And besides, Paul McCartney was the cute beetle.

He was a good looking guy. Still is. Have you ever met Paul McCartney? I have. And that's one wacky story. So a client of mine was partners with Apple was partners with Apple with the Revolution Bar at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. And right before my film was nominated for an Oscar.

Well, you're an Oscar nominee. I feel like we buried the lead. Okay, we're going to come back and go in. Just so people know we have an Oscar nominee here. And also you want an Emmy, right? Yeah. Where's your Emmy right now? In the basement of my home. OK, but it's on display. It's not in a box or something. I wouldn't call it in display. I don't have it in the living room.

On a mantle? No. It's on a lousy filing cabinet next to my father's hat. OK. And what kind of hat is this? It was an old black, I don't know what you would call it, but dress sort of hat. OK. One of those fancy hats.

Okay, so we've got you meeting right now, we're gonna meet Paul McCarty, then we're gonna go back to 1969. Okay, this podcast is like a wormhole next to a black hole because you go in and out of time. This is a Doctor Who episode. I had a call of a guy, Chris Cooksey, who's at Raymond James. People who listen to this program know the name Chris Cooksey.

He hosts the Advantage to Investor podcast from Raymond James. So we're on the phone. He goes, he was listening to me and John Gallagher the other day and he says he had us on, I don't know, 1.5 speed or something. And he says, when my ADD kicks in, he says, it's unbelievable. And I'm like, I don't think that's my ADD kicking in. I think that's my default setting, actually. But I have a mental track of where I wanna get back to 69,

but I need to hear the McCartney story first. So I'm in LA at the LA Film Festival, and my client knew I was there, and he called me up, and he said, Jerry, get get a flight come to Las Vegas because tomorrow or the next day or whatever Paul Ringo Olivia Harrison and Yoko we're gonna do a live Larry King interview at his restaurant because it was the one year anniversary of the Cirque du Soleil Beatles love thing. And he said, come, you'll get in,

there'll be a private group watching that interview and then we'll go and sit with them and see the show. So I called my then girlfriend, now wife, Anissa, and I said, get on a plane, I'm gonna send you tickets, get on a plane, I'm going to send you tickets. Get on a plane. Come to Las Vegas. We went. And there's so many funny stories about that.

So we're in the little ante area with Celine Dion's lawyer and someone I knew from Toronto. And one or two of Ringo or George's kids there and then went and sat in the same area as Paul and Yoko and saw that. Anyways, afterwards there was a party which my clients had come to. It was a private thing at Mirage Hotel. And so we go to this and it's like, you know, an industry boring thing. So at that point I said to, and I had been by that point to enough of these things. So I said to myself, you know, can I say,

can I use how that works? You can say bad words on this program. I said, let's get the fuck out of here. This is like so late. Sir Jerry just swore? Yeah, no, I know. Yeah, that's my fifth album, Sir Jerry just swore. Yeah, no, I know. Yeah. That's my fifth album, sir. Jerry fuck off. Um, and as we're leaving, my client says, Jerry, right,

I know where you are right behind you. You'll see these sort of bushes and their stairs go up those stairs right now. So I go up with a Nisa and there's a, like a private sort of bar and Paul Falkden McCartney is sitting by himself at the bar with a margarita. Nobody else is there. Nobody else is there. And so, you know, we're just standing, didn't want to sort of intrude. It was right after his split with Heather Mills So he wasn't in the best no bad times for Paul

Yeah, no, it definitely wasn't a happy time for him. And then the next thing we know Yoko is standing next to Paul and they're chatting and I heard him say cuz we're like five six feet away heard him say, because we were like five, six feet away, heard him say, I thought that went well. Yoko said something or whatever, but you could cut the tension with a knife. And then at one point, Anissa went up to him,

I happened to have, funny that you mentioned, my first, it was my first and only CD at the time, Sir Jerry, Bees, Butterflies and Bugs, he said, I'm going to give it to him. Um, because he had a young child with Heather Mills. So she goes up to him and she says, uh, hi, uh, I'm a neat, I'm a Nisa. And he says, I'm Paul. She said, I'm a Nisa from Toronto. Toronto and he said I'm Paul from Liverpool and then she gives the CD my boyfriend like whatever and

I could see he liked her and to this day I say to her, you know, you're like I'm glad you Passed you give her a pass for Paul. Well, I her life would have been probably More luxurious. Let me put it but your life would be better knowing, you know, you're with somebody who was with Paul McCartney. No, I'd be drunk at the Legion on Lakeshore with you saying, my wife left me for Paul. Anyways, so he said, oh, this is, that's my boyfriend, he's Sir Jerry. He says, oh, Sir Jerry, come hither. Came over and he said, oh, okay., and that's my boyfriend. He's Sir Jerry. He says, oh, Sir Jerry, come hither. Came over and he said, oh, okay, whatever, had a brief little chat.

And that was. Because he's Sir Paul, like he's been knighted. Yeah, yeah. Oh, right, right. That's what, thank. She said, this is Sir, he looked at the album and it said Sir Jerry and he says, ah, Sir Jerry, I'm Sir Paul.

Right, no, I know, I wondered when that would come up. But also, did you mention to Paul McCartney that when you were 14 years old, you interviewed John Lennon? I didn't, it was. How do you not, like how do you? Well, I've been good at that, even when I was 14 with John, had I started my interview with John to say, to talk about the Beatles,

I probably wouldn't have gotten very far. And I've known enough celebrities and have had relationships with some celebrities to know that, you know, once you go there they're bombarded with this kind of shit all the time. You gotta go off the beaten path. Right. So I didn't have the, you know, can I say chutzpah? I don't know how that compares with fuck, but. Well, listen, I used to co-host a show with Mark Hebbscher and he dropped Yiddish on the reg.

I feel like I learned so many Yiddish words from Hebbsy, but go ahead. Anyways, I didn't, cause you know, hey, their relationship was always turbulent. And you know, had I said, hey, I met John when I was 14. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, now we're going back. now we're in the time machine we're going back to 1969 you here You know what I don't actually

What where did that sign if I've been doing that like since I would again because I wasn't looking at you We're going back in the time machine. Okay, everybody take a gummy and close your eyes. My mind just got blown Okay, we're going back in the time machine. Okay, everybody take a gummy and close your eyes. My mind just got blown. Okay, we're going back in the time machine. That's your mouth doing that? It's not my ass, I'll tell you that. I feel like I'm tripping out here. How many Great Lakes deep am I right now?

Oh my goodness, because I said it and then I heard the sound effect, but I didn't call, you know, I control the audio effects on this show, Sir Jerry, and I didn't call, you know, I'm, I control the audio effects on this show, sir Jerry. And I didn't call for that effect. I don't even have that loaded up. And I was, I wasn't looking at you and I was like, and then what I thought I was at just, is my Apple Mac book. When I say the word time machine, it plays like a sound effect or something. I'm like,

where did that come from surgery? I need a moment right now. Oh my goodness. Okay. So 1969 you hear they're in town, but then give me the little bit of the details like do you grab a Recording device and you didn't have one. So what I did was I thought okay I'm gonna pretend I'm a reporter and So I called so this late Sunday night. I called the Royal York Hotel and said Hi, I'm looking for John Lennon. Uh, um, uh, we'll check. No, there's no John Lennon. Uh, maybe another hotel. And then I called up the King Edward Hotel where the Beatles had stayed, uh,

a few years before when they were on tour. And I said, uh, uh, hello, is John Lennon staying there? And they hung up on me. So I thought, okay, that's where it is. I grabbed my sister's, my older sister's super eight camera. Uh, sorry, sorry. My brother's super eight camera and my sister's Brownie Kodak thing that you would hang on your neck and you'd have to lift up a visor. I didn't know if there was any film in either of those things.

I took with me my Two Virgins album with John Yoko naked on the front and back and was probably one of maybe a handful of people in Canada who had it because I was the type of kid I'd call up Capitol Records when is Abbey Road coming, when is whatever and they'd give me the date. I'd go to Sam the Record Man in the alley, wait for the Capitol Records truck, and they knew me already at the back door. They'd open the box, and I would go up to the cash register with whatever the new Beatle album was.

I did that with the Two Virgins album, and as I was paying for it at the cash register, the police came in and confiscated them all, because it was deemed obscene. Wow, oh yes, the nude cover. Right, so I had that. So I took that, I wore my triple-breasted Bar Mitzvah jacket that I wore at my Bar Mitzvah.

Right, which was only a year prior. Yeah. So it fit. Yeah, and it was funky. Did you say your name was Jimmy Olsen? By any chance? Yeah, I had the Superman watch that Jimmy would wear. Superman gave it to him. So if he was in distress, he would press a button on it.

Really quick aside, we're coming right back to this moment. Is that just last week, Rob Salem dropped by. Did you know Rob? I knew him back even in the in the Oscar days Yeah, because he's he's got a tattoo all down his body a Superman like he's a Superman freak who tattooed himself Like he's Superman like he's a complete Superman fanatic Rob Salem. So you two can talk Superman So anyway, so I made the trek from Bathurst and Shepherd to downtown. King Edward is on King Street.

And on the bus. And it took about 45 minutes. So I left the house around six. Didn't tell my parents what I was doing. Didn't tell any friends. I was pretty much a loner kid Got to the King Edward and it was just a rumor still was not confirmed that he was there and About seven in the morning went to the top floor knocked on every door

strange, but true and then on one floor there was a cleaning lady and She went up to me and she said, are you looking for the beetle? And I said, I am, said he's in room, whatever. Don't tell anyone. I told you. She was, I think Scottish. And I went down a few flights, uh, got off the elevator, elevator, turned the corner of the hall. And at the end of the hall, where the suite was, there was a young Asian girl, a seven, eight years old lying on her stomach in front of a closed door,

coloring. And I recognized her as Yoko's daughter from her first marriage. And I knew I was at the epicenter of all things. That cleaning person did you such a solid. Oh God, yeah. I mean, I probably would have. I have it noted because years later, believe it or not, the King Edward, this is how in some respects Toronto

can be so fucking lame. Years, many years later, like the Montreal hotel where the bed in was, I mean, they've, you know, the room is historic and they would charge, you know, a million dollars for someone to stay there. They contacted me to ask if I could help them with the room so that they could designate and because I took pictures, there was one picture, a couple of pictures where the windows are behind John and Yoko behind the couch.

And I met with their engineer or architect who was able to determine what room it was. Right. Anyways, I have it, it's probably in my book or I have it somewhere. If you really want, you wrote a book. Yeah. What's his book called?

It's called my life on podcasts. It's, uh's to be written. Come on. No, it's called I Met the Walrus, which is the same title of the short film that I did. How do I get a copy of I Met the Walrus? Well through the power of magic. Do you have a sound effect for that? Yeah.

How did you, is that a a surgery thing when you did the time machine thing? Like I'm just wondering like how you mean that? Like I said, I was doing that since I was a kid and you're just gifted. Yeah, I'm exceedingly gifted. I knew that the moment I met you and you are gifted. I'm just trying to get invited to some barbecue. No problem. Mike, come on. What do you like? Any dietary restrictions? No, I like it fresh and I like it to fresh off the grill. Absolutely. I'll be there, man. Okay. I'll bring the beer. Here is my book published by HarperCollins. HarperCollins US, the vice president called me the day after the Oscars to say,

we are going to do a book with you, not we'd like to talk about doing a book. And the ultimate result with this was a really beautiful book. And at the back, there's a DVD. Remember what a DVD was kids? Look, I'm almost 50. I remember DVDs. 50 you're a baby. And it has my full 30 minute interview and I'll sign it. So there, let's get these nuts and bolts here. So in fact, I'm so you find out you got the right room because you see Yoko and his daughters outside this is a cool book okay. So I'm standing there I said to Kyoko, her name I said is your mummy in there she said yeah and she didn't really want to talk to me right and I just stood there for maybe 20 minutes and then I think it was a CBC cameraman and reporter. Knocked on the door, it opened up a few inches and he's they said CBC door opened up a bit more. He went in the door closed and I just stood there. My heart was beating. You know the scene

in The Godfather where Michael Corleone goes into the bathroom, he's about to kill, you know, those guards. Of course, love that scene. And then he comes back and you see his eyes, Pacino's eyes are darting back and forth and he's sweating and the heart is beating. Yeah. That's how I, that's the best way I could describe it because... Terrible analogy considering what happens to John.

Well, yeah, no, no, no, I know. And sometimes I'm reluctant to put it that way, but it wasn't that I was doing anything nefarious, but the importance of it was, you know you're at a moment of serious importance. What do you do? Do you walk away or do you? So I then knock on the door, it opens up a bit, and I said, Canadian news.

It opened up a bit more, and I just barged in, staring at my feet bit and I said, Canadian news. It opened up a bit more and I just barged in staring at my feet and I was walking and it's a, it's a suite, right? So there was a bit of a corridor and then just stared at my feet, walked, went into the living room, there was a tripod base and I sat down next to it and I looked up and four or five feet in front of me was John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I can get in chills, man. That's unbelievable that you had the 42 to do that and that it has worked like the crack security there was so awesome.

You're there. And he laughed because it just looked weird. And the PR guy for Apple records, Derek Taylor was there and I recognized him because I'd seen pictures in a real Carnaby Street outfit and he started walking towards me and John waved him off, right? So he was about to probably... Yeah, he was about to. And he was in middle, John was in the middle of the interview and so I thought okay I better look like a reporter. So I take the camera out, right?

Cause I was afraid I'd be kicked out and literally go up to his nose and take, uh, you know, with the, the super eight camera and I'm pretending that I'm zooming in and out and then his feet, he was barefoot at his feet. And then I, I sit down and then ultimately the interviews over and I went up to John he was still sitting there the CBC guys with the interview the CBC interviews. Oh, yeah yeah, right, so they left and there was just Derek Taylor there and at that point and Go up to John and I said

at that point and I go up to John and I said, hi, I love you and the Beatles or whatever. And I took out my Two Virgins album and he said, how did you get that? I thought the Mounties came in and took them all. And I told him the story that I just recounted and he thought it was great. Had I took out Sergeant Pepper, because the context is at the time-

He played it brilliantly. At the time he was a brilliant at the time he was done. Right with the Beatles, right? They were virtually like falling apart. And so he wrote, you know, him and Yoko both signed in and he drew a little cartoon on it and said to Jerry love and peace, you know, whatever. And we chatted a bit more. And then Derek said, okay, uh, uh, John Yoko have to go to the airport, uh, to customs or whatever. Right. So John Yoko left that the living room area, the suite, and I like took my sweet time to get out. I just looked around or whatever.

And then I took a different route to get out of there and I passed their bedroom and John Lennon was there by himself trying to lift a huge sea chest, like a British sea chest onto the bed. And he said, Hey lad, it wasn't like, what the fuck are you doing? Give me a hand. Right. You know, even now when I tell this story, it's like, what a story, like, And now when I tell this story, it's like, what a story. Like, I can't believe it happened. Anyways, I'm pushing it up onto the bed, nose to nose, with my hero, and I say, can I come back later

with a tape recorder and do an interview and take it back to the kids in my school and talk about peace? Yeah, great idea, Yoko, Derek. They come in and they see the 14 year old kid in the bedroom and he tells them, Yoko thought it was, that's great, that's why we're doing it.

Right. And he says to Derek Taylor, set it up. Derek Taylor walks in and he says, why don't you come back at six p.m.? Okay. He showed me the door, I floated. I bet. Down the door. I bet.

That's part one. And that's how you got an interview. That's part one. Okay. So a couple of follow ups. One is that, that story about being the police and the, the two virgins album, uh, is worthy of a Canadian heritage minute. One of those Canadian heritage minutes.

That was quite the story. And shout out to Basement Dweller for the observation. But you're now, you're gonna go home and you're gonna get a recorder so you can come back for a six o'clock interview. It wasn't that, I'm like, you know, think about it for a second. I'm 14, this happened.

If that's all that happened, it would have been spectacular. Of course. I don't, I go to school. And I don't go to school to go to school, but to tell kids what just happened. And at this point. And none of them believed you.

The girls sorta believed me. Right. And the boys didn't. And so I'm at a middle school in North Toronto, in North York, and it's now lunchtime. And kids are outside, and I tell them this, and I create a bit of a, you know, like chaos. And at one point, the vice principal came out,

I think his name was Mr. Davis, and he was the scariest guy. He was one of these guys that you never talked to but he just loomed in the halls He was very tall dark haired guy He came over and to this day, I think his call was was brilliant he Comes over to me says all right, what's going on and I show him the two virgins album. Okay, even now all right, what's going on? And I show him the two virgins album. Okay. Even now there's no pop star

who would print an album or a CD cover a picture with them naked on it. Right. They wouldn't be able to get away with it. So I show him this and I just saw John Lennon and coming back whatever. And he said, you know what, go home. Right? Didn't think to call my parents. So he probably thought he's either on drugs or it's sort of true. So I went home and I crashed. Right. And then I woke up in a cold sweat, like around four o'clock and to my horror, I realized I don't have a tape recorder.

And I had a lingering thought, did they just get rid of me? Like say, yeah, come back at six. And so I was a little panicky about that. And you know, now that I say that, like I'm starting to think maybe that explains the anxiety I have now every day when I think of did I do this? so I called up chum I'm gonna invoice you for this therapy session 45 minutes we gotta stop right now so I called up chum and by

this point news was out that John Lennon was in Toronto. And I asked for the newsroom and I said, hi, I've got an interview with John Lennon. And my voice was, hi, I have an interview with John Lennon at six o'clock. Yeah, all right. I said, well, call Derek Taylor at the King Edward and you can confirm it. Here's my number.

The guy calls me back 10 minutes later and he's my best friend. Of course. And I said, if you guys can send someone there with a tape recorder, you can play parts of it on the news. Smart, look at you. So 14 years old, okay, amazing. Yeah, but you're not looking at me,

you're looking at the screen. Look at you. I glanced over. Yep, I can confirm that you did that. And I can see you on my screen. Oh, right. There's a, hello. There's a camera there.

So, um, um, they said, you know, he'll be at the bar and the main level of the King Edward hotel and, um, he'll be there at five 30 or whatever. I then make the preparations to make the long trek downtown. And when I got to King Street, the street was cordoned off around the King Edward and there were tons of people there. There are Mounties on horses or the Toronto police on horses vendors. It was pandemonium. I somehow snuck through, got through the front door. Wasn't easy. Cause like I said, there was security now was tight.

Right. Um, my memory is that you walk in the front door of the King Edward and then to the left is the bar and Went in there. There was a guy at the bar with a big box tape recorder At his feet having a drink Because he undoubtedly was thinking great. I've This is where I'm I'm gonna carry a tape recorder for a fucking 14 year old Wow chum anyways, I go up to him and I said, um,

you know what I'm starting to remember? I think his name might've been Kim, Kim Calloway. Anyways, um, uh, uh, he said you the kid and I said, yeah, okay, let's go up. We went to the elevator. It, uh Stopped at the sixth floor or whatever. I bound out of it and a cop presses my chest with his open hands and Pushes me I fall in the elevator and the guy says no, this is legit where we have an interview I'm with chum shows him the cop lets us go through to the right

I'm with chum shows him the cop lets us go through to the right Cordoned off were a ton of kids including a couple kids from my school Jerry Jerry Jerry Jerry Jerry Let us like come let us go with you we turned the hallway and the same thing could see the suite at the end and One after the other chairs lined up with reporters, most of which were from New York because John hadn't been on North American soil for about two years. So it was big news because there were rumors they're breaking up. There were definitely waiting American reporters are waiting for John Lennon

to finally say something about the Vietnam War. So it was it was really big news. I start walking past them. One of them one of the reporters grabs me and says, where are you going? I said, I have an interview at six o'clock. Yeah, right. And they started laughing. Yeah, like the rest of us.

And the chum guys just sort of standing thinking, yeah, this is like this is bullshit. At six, the door opens up and it's Derek Taylor says, where's the lad? Raise my hand. I go in. It closes. They didn't let any of those reporters in because John left that evening through the back door on a fire escape to go to Montreal. Anyways I go in, Derek sits me down the couch, John Yoko just getting dressed and they'll be out shortly, and the chum guy starts setting up the thing. There's a kids record player in the room playing on repeat a song. I knew and you would know back then it's a Beatle song.

I could discern John's voice and it's on repeat. John Yoko come in and I still remember it's like the air brushed right by me, sat down, and I said, is that a new Beatles song? Yeah, it's the ballad of John Yoko, it's coming out in a week. I heard the ballad of John Yoko for the first time in front of John. You know, this story is mind blowing.

No wonder you got an Oscar nomination. Ha ha ha. So, he then says, you want a photo? And I said, yeah, I think it was Yoko took my camera and took a picture of the two of us, which is in there. And it's, it's, it's an amazing photo. It's somewhere in the middle, Mike, because you look how attentive he was to me, how kind and attentive. Anyways, he says, all right, ask away.

And at that moment, I realized I hadn't prepared one question, not one question. Look at you, you've prepared for this interview. Like you. You've got background information. I can show you if you're looking for the photo, but I... But that's you there, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was actually... When I was doing the book, there were Toronto Star archives of that day, and lo and behold, I found pictures of me sitting there. Unbelievable. And the recorder worked? You didn't mess that up? It worked. Well, I could imagine it was the chum guy. How come you got a half an hour, right? I had, yeah, it was just about a half an hour.

I only had 20 minutes of Chuck D and you got a half an hour with John Lennon. And I stopped it. If you listen to the full interviews at the back, you can hear I stop it. He would have gone on for another half an hour out of kindness. Like George Costanza, you wanted to quit while you were ahead. You said, this is going well. I'm out of here. Yeah.

Would you like to come up for coffee? Uh, no, I got a, um, and I stayed there for another half an hour because we were chatting and then there's another wacky story that happens. Right. Right then. So we were, we were chatting and, uh's another wacky story that happens right right then so we were we were chatting and Derek Taylor comes in and says John Mary Hopkins just arrived in Toronto and she's opening for Engelbert Humperdinck at the O'Keeffe Center which is now I don't know

what it's called Sony Center or whatever. No you know what it is now? It's meridian. Yeah. It's been okay. Yeah. Very medieval. Shadow to the O'Keeffe. Yeah. So, uh, he said, she, uh, she sends her love and he said, send it back. Now Mary Hopkins was a Paul McCartney protege. She was, I think 17 ish at the time. She had a massive hit produced by Paul McCartney called Those Were the Days. It was a worldwide massive hit. She was a Welsh girl.

And so in retrospect, yeah, of course he had disdain for her, right? Right. Because Paul was doing his thing. And he then, and she wants to come as a thing. And he then, and she wants to come as a guest and he says, no, thank you. Or whatever. And he says to me, you want to go in me stead? And I said, sure. And he calls over a capital records PR guy and says, um, hey, make sure the kid, uh, goes, uh,

as a VIP in me stead. And if there's a party afterwards, let him go to it. And I left that room to go to the O'Keeffe center. Wasn't that far away and go to the door and that the capital records guy wrote something on a card. And I think I met him at the front. I was in the front row and who gave a shit about it, Engelbert Humperding saw her, although in retrospect that was pretty funny, and then went to the

party downstairs and everybody, Engelbert Humperding was a huge star, he was a Tom Jones sort of guy, but with less talent and Sam the Wrecker Man was there, all kinds of, the mayor was there I I think all these people and they're all Swarming around Engelbert Humperdinck sure he's one of these guys that would like take his scarf off and throw it into the audience it was wet with sweat and like he sang songs like please Release me let me go, you know, that kind of stuff. And Mary Hopkins was sitting by herself at a table

and I go up to her and I tell her why I was there. And so we immediately had some kind of a bond and we chatted and then she said, they're taking me in a limo around Toronto, show me the site, would you like to come with? And actually it was a Welsh accent, so I'm fucking up here. Because you would know Toronto. And I said, sure.

And then afterwards I'm going to some nightclub, the Electric Circus, which was a new, it was the first- 99 Queen East. You got it. And City TV, I think that was their original place and much music on 100% you are correct. And that's why they named the show electric circus in homage to the electric

circus you're referring to. So, uh, I said, great. So it was the next night. And, um, so at this point, no one believes me. I don't have any demonstrable evidence, right? There's no phone, cell phone with a picture. You had to develop film, which would take unless you were wealthy and had your own studio, wait for two weeks for the film to develop. I didn't have the tape recorder because Chum.

Chum had it. And I have a story about that too. So no one, believe me, I had the album and John gave me one of their albums during the interview. That was, it was there, and you can hear it on the interview. I said, I love John Yoko music. Well, we have our latest, we have our first album.

It's not, Yoko, why don't you give them our album? And he drew something else on that too, something. But whoever I showed to said oh yeah you you you did it so I told my brother who had a driving driving license at the time and my cousin well if you don't believe me dropped me off I'm telling these crazy stories at the at the Electric Cir. And that night we're there and it's whatever the time designated to meet her, she's not there, it's a half an hour goes by and they said,

yeah, yeah, right. And then a limo pulls up, she comes out, Jerry, and takes my hand and we go inside. And you know, I danced with, and I didn't know how to dance and I didn't even know what dancing was back then. And John Lennon set me up and my recollection is we had a sweet kiss. Really? You got the first base of Mary Hopkins. Yeah, I think she kissed me and it wasn't an amorous thing but it was on the list. But she's a teenager, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. But she's a big sort of looming star. And, uh, and up until then girls liked me, but it was for humor. Like I had like, you know, like the kiss before that, a girl stuck her tongue in my mouth and I spit and said, what the fuck are you doing? That's I swear that's how green I was. You were 14, of course, yeah. Now that is one hell of a day you had. Like, I don't even know, to me is like, what do you do from there for an encore? It's like, Well, there you have it. Like, it's like,

It's okay. So, but Chum, I just want to know what happened to this audio prior to the animation short. Sure. So Chum, right after the interview. And in those days, they would have news every half an hour. And sometimes in prime time, every 15 minutes, like, here's a Chum News break, right? Right. They played the number one item for days was chum news asked John Lennon what kids should do for Toronto well you can piss for peace to

go to school for peace with it and this went on for days and I would call chum and say you told me you were gonna want the tape I want the tape on tape and got no way I will take a message or whatever Weeks, I think it took I finally showed up at the top chum offices on Yonge Street or in young in Summer Hill now condos and I put on a fucking scene Like screaming I was probably crying whatever and then someone finally came out with the tape and there you go But when they were airing this on chum, did they say correspond in Jerry Levitin?

No, no chum news asked John Lennon. Kind of bullshit though. Yeah, I'm going to call it dug up. What's going on here? So they don't even have your voice on it, right? It's just they the big voice says whatever and then they play John. Yeah, like it's a chum exclusive. It was all you buddy, but you got your you got the tape good for you to get that tape. And then okay, so this is you get the tape. Good for you to get that tape. And then, okay. So this is, you get the tape in 1969. I take it. Yeah. Now what happens to the tape? Like, does it go into like a storage bin or something? So strange, but true. Um, it was always very personal to me.

I didn't let a lot of people listen to the tape. I let my family know and I did play it at a school assembly where they when I everybody knew that I had done this you know on the what was Jerry Levitan day it was you were being honored no totally and I learned about um um about having intimate relations with girls very quickly after that. It became very popular because of John Lennon. Yeah. One degree of separation. You got it. Wow. So, um,

I would keep it in this yellow cardboard box with my photos, um, with my film and those kinds of things. And, but word was out, everybody sorta knew about this. And then when John died, I would get, I got so many solicitations over the years. HBO, when it first started at one point, someone wrote me, um, um, the CBC every couple of years, some new person would say, Hey, we'd like to meet with you and talk about, I never agreed to anything and nothing ever happened. I got tired of people wanting to buy the stuff from me.

I got tired of it. And then one day I thought, you know what, I'm going to do something wacky with it. And it was in the beginning of YouTube, like, so we're talking 2007 ish. Um, I thought, you know what, I knew this one visual artist, um, and through him met another and thought, you know, kind of edit it down to five minutes and do some wacky animation said to them, have you guys done animation? They hadn't other than stuff for themselves and sort of stuff. Yeah. animation they hadn't other than stuff for themselves and sort of stuff. And did it with the object of just doing it for my kids and,

and dumping it on YouTube. And very quickly it started circulating at film festivals around the world, from the middle East Film Festival, the Dubai Film Festival to Hong Kong to South Africa, like it was everywhere. And then ultimately it was nominated for an Oscar. Okay, so nominated for an Oscar in 2008. And the name of this short animation is I Met the Walrus. What's the name of it?

Yeah, I Met the Walrus on YouTube. Great name, okay okay so can I play a bit of it and yeah I think I don't like it I'm gonna play like a minute or so and then we'll bring her down but I did play a little off the top but let's listen to how it sounded How's that for dialogue? Well listen, you can talk over it if you like, like pop-up video or something. I'm trying to remember... There we go. John, could you please tell us what the situation is with you and your entry into the United States?

A lot of people don't want me in, you know, they think I'm going to cause a violent revolution, which I'm not. And the others don't want me in because they don't want me to cause peace either, you know, because peace is big. War is big business, you know, and they like war because it keeps them fat and happy. And I'm anti-war, so they're trying to keep me out, but I'll get in, you know, because they'll have to own up in public that they're against peace you know. What can we as the youth of Toronto like what can we do to try and help you? Help me by helping yourselves you know and the militant revolutionaries ask them to show you one revolution that turned out to be what it promised militantly

That's I take Russia from France anyway They're out of what they do is they smash the place down and they build it up again and the people have built it up Hang on to it and then they become the establishment and you guys are gonna be the establishment a few years It's not worth knocking it down because it's convenient to have the rooms and the machinery. The thing is to protest for protest non-violently because violence begets violence, you know, and if you run around wild you get smacked and that's it, you know, that's the laws of the universe. And they've got all the weapons, they've got all the money and they know how to fight violence because they've been doing it for thousands of years, suppressing us. And the only, they've got all the money and they know how to fight violence because they've been doing it for thousands of years suppressing us

and the only thing they don't know about is non-violence and humour and there's many ways of promoting peace, do everything for peace, piss for peace or smile for peace or go to school for peace or don't go to school for peace, whatever you do, just do it for peace it's up to the people, you can't blame it on the government and say they're doing this, they're going to put us into war. If we put them there, we allow it, you know, and we can change it. If we really want to change it, we can change it. What about the Paul Ringo? George. We're all four individuals and George is saying to me, George is doing it in his own way, but the way he goes about his life.

It's no good to shout on the street corner, I want peace, and then beating up your mates. You've got to try and work your own head out, you know, and get non-violent. It's pretty hard because we're all violent inside. We're all Hitler inside, we're all Christ inside. It's just to try and work on the good bit of it. Um, oh yeah, like I read in a paper that everyone seems to think that George is the nice guitarist and stuff like that. Like I'm not too keen on George. I like him if I have, but yeah. I have a feeling that they just started drifting away from people.

You're still like, you're like similar to Beatles, like God and stuff like that. And, but no one in school, like if you ask them, who's your favorite group, they'll say the Bee Gees, you know. Like I'll ask them, why don't you like the Beatles? You know, they're, they're fantastic. But they're not the best. They're not the best. They're not the best.

They're not the best. They're not the best. They're not the best. They're not the best. They're not the best. They're not the best. They're not the best. They're not the best. They're not the best. They're not the best. like God and stuff like that and but no one in school like if you ask them who's your favorite group they'll say the Bee Gees you know like I'll ask them why don't you like the Beatles you know they're fantastic they're great etc and they'll say because um like for example the marijuana charges they're all they're all hippies and they're gone from us they're dirty men actually well

those kids uh they sound like son of square we just gotta get from under their parents wings, you know. And they're like robots, you know. Like, um... Once I just got this feeling, you know, out of your WLP after I was listening to it for a long time, I started getting this feeling that there's a message in it. The white album. Yeah, the messages are there on all levels, in all music. On whatever level you get it on, I've had it too when I wrote it or sang it. But some of that stuff, I write it, record it and play it, and I don't hear it until

a few months later and I'm lying down with a cello and I think, oh listen to the Beatles album and try and hear it in retrospect and not objectively. And it's about everything. So it's about UK, it's about USSR, So it's about UK, it's about USSR, it's about nothing, it's about USA. Anything you hear is there. You know, it's all there. Either trivia or profound whatever. It's all there, you know.

And the same is in a flower. Everything's there. You know, it just is. And if you look long enough, all answers are in it, you you know and same with the music Oh the key to the big box, I don't know I love this stuff. Yoko's looking for the album to give me I love the background noises like the ambiance No, not the black shiny case. My hand log is in there.

Maybe with my old last night's white jacket there. Thank you very much, sir. It's a pleasure, man. Bye-bye. Use your album. Good luck and keep in touch. Play that to him. Yeah, you too.

Amazing, Jerry. That's an amazing memento of that day that you have this and then it was animated and then like you said, you know, it was just going to be for what I don't know your friends or whatever you can be on YouTube or whatever. And not only does it get so it gets nominated for the Oscar in 2008, which must have been a mind blow like you get a phone call and it's like you congratulations. I first you get shortlisted. So I get a call. I see on my phone display, Los Angeles,

and person says, this is Jerry Levitan. I said, yes, I'm calling from the Academy Awards, Arts and Sciences. Yes. We're just to let you know, this isn't something for public release from you. And we'd ask that you not let you know, this isn't something for public release from you. And we'd ask that you not, you know, um, do any press interviews yet, but your film

is shortlisted for an Oscar. And I said, what does that mean? He says, well, we shortlist there are five nominees and we shortlist 10. Right. And I said, you mean there's a 50% chance that my film's gonna be nominated for? That's right.

I said, okay. And then ultimately it was nominated. That's unbelievable. Off I was to LA. They wanted me to come there. Even before then I went to what's called the Oscars nominees lunch. So it's a private lunch for all the nominations and the Oscars for that year.

Right. At, uh, God, I forget what hotel it was. Um, and Wolfgang Puck caters at whatever. And it's all these people in a private setting without press. And I remember when I walked through the front door, I just sort of stood on the steps of this, the banquet area and just looking at their stars, like everywhere, celebrities everywhere. And someone taps me on the shoulder. Uh, and I look at his George Clooney says, Hey, how you doing? And he for sure thought I was somebody else,

like a producer or something. Because it wasn't, like he wasn't there schmoozing, you know, with random people. It was a private sort of thing. Some rando from Toronto. And he says, okay, let's get a drink. And I said, okay, where's the bar over there? So I go with him, we order, I order whatever he ordered,

type of thing, and then ultimately we're chatting, and then ultimately somebody says hey George Whatever so it was that kind of a setting and then well because My film was the odds-on favorite to win Which it didn't The Oscars wanted me to come a week before and they have this thing called wanted me to come a week before and they have this thing called the short animation tour where they take all the nominees in that category to all the studios meet with executives and what became apparent it was they're trolling for

Talent right here right to work in the matrix there do animation, right? I didn't want to go for the whole week because I wasn't looking for a job so I came about four days before type of thing. And then it's the bloody Oscars. And you know, I was the seats that they had there for that category were amazing. They were like six or seven behind the front row in the center. So on the left of me was Harrison Ford, a few seats over and then Mickey Rooney. I don't know if anybody remembers him. He was like 120, was there, and you know,

Daniel Day-Lewis, and you know, so I'm right in the thick of it. Jack Nicholson was in the front row, which he always was, with sunglasses. And then ultimately, and Jerry Seinfeld, uh, read the categories, right? He had a good line before ours was, uh, um, the documentaries, right? Short documentaries. And his line for that, uh, was,

and now five of the most depressing films you've ever, um, anyways, um, uh, when it was over, so when the audience would see credits, I grabbed Anissa's hand and I said I got a great line for Jack Nicholson. She was pulling me, no, no, no. So we're going against the traffic, right? People are now leaving. Everybody wants to go to the Oscar dinner in the hotel. And so we go up to the front and I go up to Jack Nicholson and it's really tight now, right? So people are leaving and there wasn't a lot of space between the front row and the stage.

And I go up to Jack and we're like inches away from each other and I said, hey Jack, I'm an Oscar loser. And he lifts up his sunglasses. Well, let's take a look at you. Right. And then he looks at that and he says, Oh, who's this? And I said, it's my girlfriend. And he said, well, you don't look like a loser to me. And he grabs her, right. And kisses her like a big fucking Hollywood kiss. Like if Anissa wasn't there with me,

people wouldn't think I'm making it up. And then, you know, his lips separate and he says, well, it was certainly nice meeting you, but my friend Javier Bardem is waiting for me. First of all, your now wife, we, we, we had Paul McCartney. Now we have Jack Nicholson, keep her away from George Clooney, especially 2009, uh, 2008 George Clooney. Forget about it. You know what I said to her shortly after, I don't know if I should say this,

but you can say anything. Okay. I said to her after that and she was like stunned, right? I said, uh, your lips, uh, have now touched, uh, like your lips were touched by the same lips that have been on every Hollywood actress. I want a chicken salad. Hold the mayo, hold the toast. Chicken between your legs. Okay. Uh, amazing. Uh, that story, these, all these stories are amazing. You, I will just shout out that you did win best animated, uh, short film or whatever at

the Manhattan short film festival. I don't know what that means, but I'd be impressed by that. A good one. It's a good one. The American film festival. Yep. And the middle East International Film Festival. So you there were more, but there are more, but these are the big ones. Okay. And you got the, you wrote the book you mentioned, uh, I met the walrus, which was published by Harper Collins.

I now have a copy and it looks amazing. Jeez. Okay. So this is 2009 basic. Oh, no, that's right. I want to ask you about the Emmy. Okay. So, uh, I didn't know there were Emmys for like Animated shorts that go on YouTube. I didn't either and I get a call

I might have been a year later from an executive at the Emmys, right? And he said once you know, I love your film Why didn't you apply for an Emmy and I said I, I didn't know I could. Right. He said, well, the deadline was, he said the deadline was last week. And I said, Oh, well, whatever. He says, but you know what? I like, just I'm going to send you a form, fill it and just backdate it. And we'll put, put you in there. Totally. They're going to take back your emmy the other so it was the first emmy for

Something on the internet. Oh Right. I got the name of the category because I didn't know any about it. It was called new approaches Daytime entertainment. Yeah, you know, whatever the hell that me well they fit it in somewhere But the new approaches so wasn't it wasn't technically a daytime Emmy But new approaches right because don't you have to air on television to be nominated for an Emmy. Well, it was actually oh it was CTV I let CTV the night of the Emmys CTV really hyped it and

and CTV really hyped it and, um, um, and, uh, played it. So technically I guess, you know, now that you mentioned that's probably technically why. Okay. Cause you got to, you know, it's like, you can be nominated for an Oscar, but not because it's just went to Netflix. Like you still have to put that movie in a theater for like a week or something. You're absolutely right. That's probably why it qualified. I was up against the New York Times had some

Short, uh, I remember a woman's shelter Somewhere in the states and who won. Oh, that was you won the emmy, but when the oscar that was my question Peter and the wolf which was a beautiful beautiful film. It would really really It deserved it. It deserved it. Look at you, uh, humble in your defeat there. Yeah. Great honor. Okay. So I want to say about your animated short that it also was honored by the Guggenheim museum and YouTube when it was selected in the first, uh, biennial of creative video. Yeah. Yeah. It was 2010. Yeah. They, um, um, and it's in the archives of, yeah, it was 2010. Yeah, they and it's in the archives of installed at the Guggenheim worldwide and

It was deemed to be one of I think five and they looked at You know tens of thousands of videos in recognition that the internet and YouTube was now a new art form venue type of thing. Sure. And the judges were Daniel Aronofsky, the director and all kinds of... Love his work, Requiem for a Dream. Yeah, yeah, all these kind of people. Darren. Darren, Darren, Darren.

Oh, God. I think that's the fourth time. Oh, man. Listen, Brenda, I try my hardest. Well, Robert Lawson's exhausted. Okay, so you see that's an inside reference. That's for the real heads out there like Jeff Rogers. Hopefully he gets that. Robert Lawson's the official fact checker

of the Toronto Mined Podcast. We should talk about Sean and Yoko if you have time. Well, here's, there's a few quick hits before I dismiss you. Sure. For your long ride home. I know before I dismiss for your long ride home. I know it's going to be a long ride home. By the way, tonight I do, I have a, I'm biking to, uh, the Danforth tonight to hang out, uh, with Ben Johnson. Okay. Because he, he and Mary arms,

well, Mary arms be from the star wrote a book about Ben and Ben came over a few weeks ago and we had a nice hundred minute chat about it. And I'm mildly amused that I'm going to be hanging with Ben Johnson tonight, because just before you arrived, I was hanging with Donovan Bailey. And I don't think there's a lot of people who can say like in one day, they hung out with both Donovan and Ben because they really don't do much together. I just wanted to throw that out there. Cause it's all about you, Jerry, except for that moment right there, which was all about me. I'm going to play something and then you're going to tell everybody what the hell I just played. You ready?

Yep. Okay. Love to play audio from visual presentations. visual presentations. The guitar is John Lennon. Do you know where your home town is? Love is what it takes to live Your hometown is a place you choose Love is what it takes to live

I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it. Get a map of the world. Pin a little flag on a place on the map you'd like to go to. The place you put your flag is your hometown. That's Yoko Ono. Let's find a way to make this flag something Yoko Town. What are we listening to?

My hometown. What is this? I had another idea to do a short animation, but this time with some of Yoko's pros, which I've always loved. Her poems, her prose, her writings, they're always positive and ethereal, if that's a word. It is, I looked it up. One of the skills I learned in my school. Ah, someone who actually looks at sources.

I thought it was a dying thing. learned in my school. Ah, someone who actually looks at sources. I thought it was a dying thing. So like I said, I'm an old man. I can't guarantee my kids are looking at sources. So I found a very obscure piece that she wrote for an artist of opening

up some art exhibit in Europe. And it was called My Hometown. and some of the words you heard, which is beautiful, and even to this day it has such meaning in terms of the turbulent world we live in. So I asked her if she'd agree to me doing it, and she did, and she was happy to do it. And then one day she called and said, would you like me, a representative called to say, Yoko would be happy to do the voiceover if you'd like.

I said, okay, yeah, for sure. And she'll go in the studio and do it. And if you'd like, you can use Remember Love, which was the B side to give Piece of Chance, and you can use Remember Love, which was the B-side to give Piece of Chance, and you can use John's strumming and play around with it if you want as a soundtrack. I said, okay, didn't ask for a contract, didn't ask for money, and I've come to know Yoko over the years, and if it's all about art for her and positive treatment of the memory of John and

it's not always about money and if you're coming from the right place and it's something that intrigues her she's the most generous person ever so that was my hometown which started to get awards in Europe and went to a film festival in Italy and And my daughter Rebecca did the illustrations. I sent them to Yoko And she approved she thought it was great and Amazing that's that so you can YouTube it to go to Yoko and oh my hometown and you'll see it Absolutely, and just to be clear you directed film, you also co-produced it? Co-produced, co-directed it, yep.

Amazing. Okay, so will Yoko Ono answer a text if you text her right now? She's, let me put it this way, she's over 90 and she's not doing an awful lot. But I'm, I'm more although she one point, I happened to be in New York, and she heard that I was there. And she invited me over to the Dakota for lunch. And I spent a few hours with her. I'll show you the photograph afterwards. And sat there, you know, one point I that there was a white grand piano in the corner and I said, is that? And she said, yes, that's the imagined piano. Chir, what a life you've lived. Thank you. And Sean contacted me a few years ago out of the blue to ask if I would help them produce a they're called canvases for Spotify short animations with the

re-release of the plastic ono band iconic album of his dad's and give peace of chance and cold turkey and instant karma and that began a collaboration with him and we're buds to this day. Right I am the egg-bird. Yeah you got it. Look I did my homework here okay. And buds to this day. Right? I am the egg bird. Yep. You got it. Look, I did my homework here. Okay. And can I just throw this out?

Yeah, because then there's a few other quick hits before you're dismissed. You got to earn that in the selling of Jerry. When Sean called me, he said he always loved I Met the Walrus and would fantasize about what it would have been like to be a 14 year old speaking to his dad. And it's one of, if not, um, his favorite interview with his dad because it's not contrived. He's not pushing something and he's just talking to a kid. Just a chat and there's such innocence to it. Really beautiful to listen to here.

And you could have, could have dined on that for the rest of your life, by the way, but you did it other things. So I'm gonna read it, I think off the top, I mentioned Basement Dweller sent in a small world story. So I'm gonna read it verbatim because I just like the way Basement Dweller writes, okay. Jerry Levitan rented space in my late uncle's suite of law offices in the late 80s, early 90s.

Great guy. So you can relax now. He called you a great guy. I know, cause you never know where these are going. And during the early years of his side hustle acting career, which I need to ask you about, because I heard you're in the West wing. We got to talk about that for a moment.

But he said he and some of his colleagues wrote a comedic script about ambulance chasing lawyers in the style of airplane. Do you remember you wrote this script? Yeah, it was called let's kill all the lawyers. Okay. Wow. And then he goes, he, he let my, this is

basement dweller again. He let my father and I read it. My dad worked for his brother as a bookkeeper post jail, LOL. Okay. So that's a lot of basement dweller inside info there, but I don't think that it ever got produced ahead of its time

as this was long before Canada started to allow the equivalent of Salino and Barnes, LOL. Okay, so there's a lot there, but not to bury the lead, we've got to find out about the acting, but you are a lawyer, right? So that 14 year old kid we've been listening to talking to John Lennon on that magical day in your life, you went to law school and became a lawyer.

What kind of lawyer? I started off as a litigation lawyer, a constitutional lawyer. Because of me, I started the whole Sunday shopping. There was a time when places were not open on a Sunday. It was against the law. And I represented bookstores and video stores and was the only one of many other lawyers to win and then ultimately that helped pave the way to the dismantling. But you only won because you met John Lennon I think.

Absolutely, the court of appeal, the five judges in the court of appeal knew that. I didn't know constitutional law. One fun, so that's a high that's a high profile legal case you're involved in. Uh, one fun fact is that you did write the, uh, complete idiots guide to winning everyday legal hassles in Canada. Thanks for bringing that book. It's better than not writing it.

Okay. And the acting thing, uh, I need to know what was your role in the West wing. I played, uh, I was on two episodes, I believe I played a news producer. So I had scenes with Jimmy Smiths and Bradley, I forget what his name was. He was the chief of staff. Yeah, he's in Yeah, he's in the Handmaid's Tale now. Oh, is he? Yeah. OK, everybody knows Brad, Bradford, Bradley, Bradley.

Oh, here I'm Googling. Doug Thompson, Whitford, Whitford. There you go. OK, come on. And I was I was a busy actor, you know, while I had a legal practice and I've gone back to it. I have a new agent, Marla man is her name. Okay. And she said, Hey, why don't you get back into it? So I, and this is literally in the last two months. So I'm doing a lot of lawyer, right? Like I feel like a lawyer who knows who

can talk like a lawyer, but I want to stretch maybe an accountant. Well, they'll get carried away. That's, that's too far a stretch. Okay. and I know how I want to close this wonderful conversation. You've earned your lasagna, Sir Jerry. I know I want to close it. But just before I close it, you did run for provincial office, right? You ran as a as a MPP for the Liberal Party. Yeah, I was asked I was approached a few years ago to run and

For the Liberals for the provincial election and was definitely experienced. There's talk of me running again in the next election, you know, I've met the I've come to know Bonnie Cromby who's the head of the Ontario Liberals went to Michael Power High School Really? Okay, there's Cynthia Dale and to Michael power high school. Really? Okay. Cynthia Dale and you were in high school. She gave me that hot tip. Wow. And you know what? She's, she's great. She, she really is. She's a real person, which for me is the number one, I mean real good person, right? Right. You're,

you can be a real person and evil, but she, um, you know, we're talking during when she started, uh, the leadership campaign. Um, and she's, she's the kind of person that you'd want in politics, no matter what, what party someone who, so you're mulling another run. I, I don't know if I'll, if I'll do it, it's a couple of years away. Um, I would want a better feel that, you know, the liberals were when, or at least that I would win in the writing, you know, so, um, you know, it's a big enterprise.

But you did lose to the future, uh, now present, a leader of the NDP party. Man, there's no shame in losing to the best, you know, this is like 60 minutes. This is great. Well, we've, we've exceeded, yeah, you know No I did. I had a great, great, great team. I really did. A lot law because I wanted to go into politics. Pierre Trudeau was another hero. And I was always felt instrumental in John wanting to meet Pierre Trudeau. And it's in my tape. You can hear me talking about him. So that's why I went into law. But here's, here's the bottom line.

The world is so fucked up in every respect. And if you have kids, I mean you, you do Mike, um, you know, the stress, you have five kids. I want to just shout that out because that beats my rec. My personal best was four kids. You've beat that with five, but not quite as many again as Brad Jones from Ridley funeral home who has six kids. He went, and I have four grandkids of tender ages.

I mean, there's so many challenges now, and there's such hatred and violence and all kinds of technological problems that the kids are gonna have to face and deal with both as careers or just to live a relatively happy life and you can either just post the shit out of shit and or try to do something positive and just walking around like John said you know like you run around wild you're gonna get smacked so, you know if you're running around and not being factual or just

throwing slogans around No matter what your perspective is without having some historical knowledge or Basic knowledge of what it takes for people to get along on this fiery planet, then You're just doing nothing. So the best way one of the best ways of having an impact on your world is Is to run for politics. Otherwise all these as Pierre Trudeau said to me one time. Otherwise all these bums are

Elected Otherwise all these bums are elected. We have enough bums in public office. There you go. Fewer bums, okay. And your answer there really resonates with me because I produced a podcast for Diane Sachs who's currently a counselor on- Great person. And I asked her because she was very apolitical

from all of her career, and last environmental commissioner in this province, but no no political allegiance, unlike her father. And I asked her like, why did you run? And she gave me a very similar answer. She's like, I can, you know, talk about what changes we need to make, or I can, you know, roll up my sleeves, I can, I can get public office and actually help with the change from from the inside there. And that's what she's's she's been up to so you're friendly with Diane Sacks I know but I know okay

I know take your will she answer your text because she'll answer my text. I'm just you know, you had John Lennon. I got Diane Sacks No, but I know hey, I was a liberal candidate, right? So of course. Oh, I knew I knew of her You know, and that's a Davenport was the writing you ran it, right? So if you write if you ran again, would you run in the riding you live in? Typically, yeah. You'd be surprised how many people don't live in the riding they live in. It kind of bugged me. Like, I feel like you should run in the riding in which you own property.

Well, that's one perspective, but I'm a relative newcomer to your hood. So how long ago did you? Because I just learned. Three years ago. Really? Yeah. I used to live on a street called Soho, um, uh, which is right off of Queen around Queen and Spadina. And I was there for 25 years and worked.

So the writing that makes the best sense for me really would be that. I'm not very well known there. And, you know, well, let me ask you what you think before I, because I know how I want to close, I'm going to play a song and ask you about one chapter we haven't addressed yet. Okay.

We alluded to it but we haven't addressed it yet. But what do you think of your hood now? I've been here by the way 11 years, just full disclosure. This is my 11th year and I'm dying to know what you think. Three years into living in New Toronto. I love it. Is that the truth? I'm gonna-

100%, look, when we decided to leave, it was when I was anticipating running, I thought, you know what, let's downsize, and had a lot of debt on my house there. And my wife, Fenisa, grew up in Etobicoke, in North Etobicoke, and one day we're looking at houses and you don't need to hear for me about house prices. Um, she said, you know, I want to show you south of the lake

shore and believe it or not, there's a south of the lake shore, believe it pretty close, but believe it or not, I had never been in this area in my life. It was the type of thing. If I had said to my mother, you know, I'm going out, where are you going? And I'm going out with, um, cousin Larry to whatever he's, there you're going to Mimico, you know, as if it was Siberia.

Right. Right. And as soon as she, uh, can't say I loved the strip of Lake Shore, uh, uh, wherever we're close to, but as soon as she drove into it, I thought, what the hell? This is beautiful. Right. And so we're a block away from the water and it's, you know, the other day I saw this gorgeous orange bird, you know, on the tree. Cause you're close to Colonel Samuel Smith park and the bird people,

they're birders. I think it's what they're called. The birders, uh, collect there often because of the different variety of species of birds you see in that park. It's beautiful. Yeah, totally, totally. So I love it. And it's, look, it's, you know, far different from Queen and Spadina. And as much as I love that area, particularly when I first got the house there, it was funky and much music was still around and whatever. I mean, it's a nightmare going into downtown Toronto. You got a bike, man. You got a bike there.

Well, yeah, if you live there, but biking there from here, look, I'm pushing 110. So like, you know. You look good for your age. Why? That's an illusion. Okay. Let me play a song and then we're going to close with a chat about this persona. We'll call it. Here we go. Bees, butterflies and bugs Bees, butterflies and bugs Frying and crawling around Whenever I go outside

I see them alive Those bees, butterflies and bugs They're so cool all of my friends like them too they laugh as I do those bees, butterflies and bugs buzzy buzzy boo That's the sound! That's it! Jerry, that's the sound! That's it! That's the sound! Unbelievable!

That's the sound! It's going to haunt me tonight. I'm going to do it for Ben Johnson tonight. I'm digging this jam. These butterflies and bugs. This is like literally the song that Paul McCartney's kid was listening to back in 2000. Sir-Jerry.com is the best website even though it was done way back when click with sound everywhere. And before I leave, check out on Spotify,

those who have Spotify, John Lennon Plastic Ono Band Ultimate Collection, and you can see the little animations I did with Sean, and they're incredible. We're gonna let you take us into lowest of the low and then I'll take us home. Crying and crawling around Buzz with me now And flap your wings Buzz with your friends Keep buzzing, baby Well, I got a buzz off now.

See you later. Jerry's got a buzz off now. So you wrote that, you recorded that, you did the sound effects. That's your baby right there. Yeah. And I have four CDs on Spotify. Sir.Jerry.com. Sir-Jerry.com. I'll fix that one in post.

There you go. Okay. Jerry, what did you think of your Toronto Mic debut? Was it everything Jeff Rogers promised it might be? I gotta tell you it was great. I had checked you out before I came on and I feel flummoxed that I haven't... So you might not have come over? Yeah. No, I totally will. I flummoxed that I haven't been checking you out before

but I will now and I also have to buy some stuff for the barbecue. Well make sure you go to Palma Pasta and remember only drink Great Lakes from now on okay? No other beer allowed. But Jerry I enjoyed it very much. So did I. This was great. I'll see you in the hood. You going walks or anything? You know I see you walk in our hood all the time. Let's talk some people. No. Carl Hanske from 680 News, always walking his big St. Bernard. And Michelle Butterly, who's on CHFI. Do you know Scott Colby?

No, Scott Colby. Scott Colby is the opinion editor for the Toronto Star. And he's... He's in New Toronto. Yeah, he's great He's just a couple streets over my goodness. You should have him on this show. He's like, oh, I have any coming I'm gonna put Jenna on next week. Okay, I'll have any any New Toronto resident, you know, Mary Berg lives on a street near us Mary Berg. So Mary Berg is on CTV.

She's got like an hour show every weekday, I think. Anyway, a lot of big celebs, not just you and I, okay? And that brings us to the end of our 1493rd show. You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. I'm at Toronto Mike. I'm all over the place at Toronto mic. Jerry go to sirsir-jerry.com for all your Sir Jerry needs. And on Spotify.

Don't forget Spotify. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, recyclemyelectronics.ca. That's where you go, Jerry, if you got old cables, old devices, old electronics, like that old recorder that recorded John Lennon in 1969. Don't throw it in the garbage. Those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca. Find out where you can drop them off

to be properly recycled. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team. Love this baseball. It's at Christie Pitts. It's free. And I will be there June 2nd throwing out the first pitch. I think Sir Jerry will have to throw out the first pitch one day. I'll see what I can do.

Monaris of course. We love Monaris and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow when in the basement, Jerry, you're going to want to come back tomorrow because Honeymoon Suite will be in the basement tomorrow. Get out! Honeymoon Suite everybody. Whoa! See you all then. Thanks, man. Honeymoon Suite will be in the basement tomorrow. Get out! Honeymoon Suite everybody! Whoa! See you all then.

Thanks man. I can. Maybe I'm not and maybe I am. But who gives a damn because everything is coming out rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is going.