Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - The Produce Stand: Toronto Mike'd #1401

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

In this 1401st episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Victor, Mat, Tanya, and Al from The Produce Stand about Letterkenny and Shoresy. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Raymond James Canada and Moneris. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

For all of 2023, I have immersed myself in the TMU. That's Toronto Mike Universe. But today, in my last live show of the year, I'm visiting a different universe. I literally forgot how to say it when I got to it. How do you do it again? Universe. Universe.

To be discussed. Welcome to episode 1401. That's 1401 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. Palma Pasta.

Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. RecycleMyElectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Advantaged Investor Podcast from Raymond James Canada. Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed, and focused on long-term success. Season five of Yes, We Are Open. An award-winning podcast for Moneris

hosted by FOTM Al Grego and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, joining me to talk all things Letterkenny and Shorzy and who knows what else and what that entails, it is the Produce Stand crew of Victor, Matt, Tanya, and Al Grego. Welcome, everybody. How are you now? We'll get to this language.

I'm hearing. Okay, we'll get to this. But let me say hi. So let me tell the listenership. Three of you are live in the studio, the new Toronto studio. The people live with me is that great voice

you just heard right now, Al Grego's, who's been on the show many times. A couple of times. But making his debut in the studio is Victor.

Hello, Victor. Hello. How are you you doing how are you now okay and uh squirrely matt is that how you want to be referred to squirrely matt squirrely matt they all work where's the answer when you call but matt you have one t is that yes yes is that like on your birth certificate it is it's uh it's this it's the french spelling don't call me matthew. Don't call me Matthew. Yeah, don't call me Matthew. It would actually be Mathieu in French, but I don't speak a lick of French. Okay, like Matthew Schneider. Yeah, something like that. The great defenseman.

Okay, and joining us remotely, and we're going to find out why she's not here and why this is yet another sausage fest. Tanya, how are you doing? I've been better. How are you, Mike? How are your holidays? No, I'm good How are you, Mike? How are your holidays? I'm good, but I'm actually disappointed because you light up a room

and it's dark down here. And I was really looking forward. I had set up, let me do the math, four chairs for guests and I was fully expecting to have you here. But you're not here. What can you say to us about your absence? Why are you not in the studio?

If I was there, it would need to be dark because my eyes are absolutely on fire at the moment. I'm looking at Al Grego too many times. Too close to the sun. Our daughter decided to get festive with it

and came home with pink eye on December 25th. No, 23rd, sorry. And then I got pink eye on the 26th. No, 23rd. Sorry. Right. And then I got pink eye on the 26th and I'm still contagious. So here I am. Us doctors refer to that as conjunctivitis. This is the medical term. And I'm glad you stayed away because I don't want pink eye. Yeah, no, it's totally, it's really, really not fun. Not at all. Does it hurt? Oh yeah, it does. So I also, I have another

eye condition. I've got rosacea, ocular rosacea. So I already have dry eyes. And so now I have dry burning eyes. So it's a, it's a hot mess at the moment. And it just feels like my eyeballs are in turpentine really is, is the best feeling yeah and so thank you for uh staying in holland's landing and zooming in but we'll get your voice on the show but sadly we won't won't have you here in person which means tanya you won't be in the photo by the tree afterwards which breaks my heart i saw the tree i was pretty excited maybe maybe al can put like a photo of me on his phone. Do you want to hold up the iPad with a picture of Jamie?

Yeah, we can probably do something. We'll do that. But also... I'll be there in spirit. For the gentlemen in the room, I have put a cold... It's almost like a game because there's some room temperature beers in front of you and there's some Great Lakes beer that has been in the fridge. But at least three of those beers there have been in the fridge.

Can you guys find them? This one feels cold. Here we go. Of course, no pressure, but if you would crack it open... Well, I think... Okay, so...

This is a cold one. Oh, you did it. So cheers to you. There's some great legs. Cheers. I'm actually going to crack one open as well. What are you guys drinking there?

You got an octopus? I got the octopus. I got the octopus. I got the octopus. I got the octopus. I got the octopus. I got the octopus. I got the octopus.

I got the octopus. That's such a great sound on the mic, eh? I think this is... Oh, no, Matt, I didn't mean to leave you hanging here. This is the part of the podcast where we all give each other cheers and nobody knows what's going on. All right, so your podcast is called the

Produce Stand. If I called the Produce Stand, what would you say? It's incorrect, right? Correct. I would call you an American. It's the produce stand. I don't get prickly about that stuff. Okay. Well, I've been saying Palma pasta forever.

I say pasta instead of pasta. And I actually, by default, want to say produce instead of produce. But I am not American. So how do you explain that? I don't know. I have no idea what maybe you... We're not all perfect, Mike. You say pasta, I see kitchen.

Victor, okay, let me do this off the top. So we have our Great Lakes beer. We're drinking one right now. Great to have you guys here. That time between Christmas and New Year's is a big blob of blur. I don't know what's going on, but glad you're here. Sorry Tanya's not here, but I am sending you each home

with a frozen lasagna from Palma Pasta. They're in my freezer right now. So Matt, you're getting one. Victor, you're getting one. Al, you're bringing one home for Tanya. It solves dinner already. And the leftovers will fill you. Is that a good thing, Tanya? You like your Palma Pasta? That's wonderful. Thank you so much, Mike.

Please, thank you, Palma Pasta. So everybody go to palmapasta.com. So I didn't know where to begin this episode because we have connected Al Grego's iPad to the board. So he'll be able to play audio and I don't know what he's going to play. This is similar to the Best of episodes of Toronto Mic'd,

which Al Grego delivers every 250 episodes. So this is 1401. There's only 99 more to go, Al. Are you ready? No, I'm not. But the Academy has been assembled once again. Okay. There's a crew on this.

I was a little disappointed that we didn't land on a 69 episode. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That would have been nice. It wasn't even close. I know. If you could just hold it off for about 68 episodes. Well, I don't do that.

But I did on this exact day. So we're talking on December 29. On this exact day in 2021, Dr. Roberta Bondar made her Toronto Mike debut. And that day, and I added it in post, so I didn't make the good doctor Thank God. Because we did a Zoom. She's very busy.

And I added some parts in post. And I added an extensive clip of Letter Kenny talking about her. He played the whole amazing cold open, the entire thing. That's a good one, though. Yeah, but poor Roberta Bondar. But she wasn't there. No, thank God.

Okay, so it was in post. I added it. And then I realized this came up every day. I do a thing on Twitter and Blue Sky where I say, on this day in Toronto Mike's history or whatever, Al Grego came over to tell us the best of 251 through 500 whatever so I was doing my on this day and I saw Dr. Roberta Bondar

was on this day in 2021 perfect timing yeah and then I realized that's the record that's the Toronto Mike record for the most Letter Kenny content like was that episode of Dr. it's the only time I played a clip from Letter Kenny it was extensive as you know and then I realized we're gonna smash that record today yes probably uh and and a bit shorzy too i'm probably mostly shorzy okay well

i i don't know like how you want to structure this i know this is an on-air meeting but uh like like do i because i have like one-on-one questions for you all sure one is obvious which i think we'll start with tanya and then we'll start make our way around the table here. But Tanya and you live together, right, Al? Yes, we've been known to cohabitate. Okay, so you're sleeping together. Okay. Not a lot of sleeping going on there. Okay.

Yeah. So Tanya, when did you and Al discover Letter Kenny and was it love at first sight? No. Yes and no. So I didn't discover it with him he discovered it on his own um and then I would catch him uh watching it and uh I would come into the room going what the hell is wrong with you and what is this show about um and then um he created a podcast and asked me if I wanted to be a part of this

and I thought, me? Why? What's going on? And then I realized it's the pandemic and he has no one else to ask. That's not true. Okay, so that's your origin story. He was like, hey babe, I want to do this thing and we live together and we're not allowed to visit other people do you want to be my co-host yes pretty much and

then he's like i've got this idea and uh yeah pandemic uh we were i don't even know how long we're in the pandemic for probably a couple months a few months six months we started in july so the pandemic was a few months old by then. Well, March 13 is the day I think of when we shut things down. Okay. So to you, Al Grego, award-winning podcaster, we'll get to that later. You had this idea, how early in the run of Letter Kenny, like how long had Letter Kenny existed when you got the idea for the produce stand? Oh, it had already been, what, nine or ten, nine seasons, I think.

Oh, yeah? So, yeah. And was there a good podcast covering Letterkenny? There was one out in Seattle, Dean and Tiara. They do a great job. The podcast is called How Are You Now? We've had them on many, many times. There's a few out there,

but I couldn't find one that was consistent and local. You know, it's a show about... Well, that's a Canadian show. Yeah, it's about Ontario specifically. And there weren't any... There was one Letterkenny podcast that started out of Toronto, but he didn't last very long.

I think he lasted 18 episodes. Yeah, I think he was just called the Letterkenny podcast. Yeah, he was called... Which sucks for our SEO, because when you search the Letterkenny podcast, his comes up.

But yeah, he kind of gave up around episode 18 or something like that. I do think you were wise to call yours something like the produce stand because I feel like if Bell Media didn't want to play nice with you, they could shut you down for the name, the Letterketty podcast. Oh, instead, Bell Media has been

one of our greatest champions. Well, we're going to get to that. If you remember, this is a great question for, I'll ask this of Victor and Squirrelly Matt. Did you hear Al Grego's recent visit to Toronto, Mike, to talk about season five of the Yes question for uh i'll ask this of victor and squirrelly matt did you like did you hear al grego's recent visit to toronto mike to talk about season five of the yes we are open podcast i have not if you didn't no i have not yet i've actually uh and we'll talk about this later i've listened to many many many well let's not wait let's do that right now victor i'm listening

closely please i know you enjoy trivia trivia and you are actually my first. You are. I popped your podcast. Yes. You are the very first podcast I've ever listened to. Thanks to Al. And so you're kind of my casual listening category. Okay.

Probably the first beginning to end podcast I ever listened to was around the same time that I started listening to you was S-Town. S-Town. Yeah. And it was a wonderful story. ever listened to was uh around the same time that i started listening to you was s town s town yeah um and it was it was a wonderful story i forget how many episodes it was but it was great i love the music i love that uh song that they played at the beginning of every episode but anyway i so i i was a huge q107 uh you know guy right and that's what i grew up on i listened to the top 10 of 10 and um storm and norman was one of my favorites so when i discovered head alert that there you go head alert so when i discovered that that's who you basically had on like those are the i listened to every

episode of all the people i loved that did you hear shirley mcqueen uh you know what i did uh so so much good stuff. So much good stuff. I loved her doing the top 10 of 10 on Q. This is, again, for younger people like Squirrely Matt. I don't know. You know, Q107 wasn't always a classic rock station. Forever, when I was growing up, it was a new rock station.

And if you wanted to hear the new Aerosmith song or whatever. Or ZZ Top. Or, you know, even when Robert Plant did his long, tall, cool one or whatever, his solo stuff. Like, yeah, where you went. I remember hearing Copperhead Road by Steve Earle. Yep. Al, did you know Steve Earle was in The Wire?

I think so. Okay. Might have been one of those things I forgot. So, Victor, you're a listener and you're a fan, and Al Grego is the guy who turned you on to Toronto Mic'd. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I listened, initially I listened to all of your Kick Out Jam episodes, and then I listened to all of the Al episodes, but I haven't caught up to that latest one yet. He's contractually obliged.

I brought up the latest Al Grego visit for season five of Yes, We Are Open. Al, do these gentlemen have wireless speakers already? Like, has Mineris given them any wireless speakers? I don't know. I don't know if they have or not, but they do now. We have not. Okay, Squirrely Matt with one T. Yes.

I'm handing you something. Hold on. The dead air you guys could be saying. Is that a harmonica? What is this? Okay, so let me tell you what I'm giving you there, okay? This is actually a gift from Moneris. Wow.

And yes, you can listen to anything you want it's a quality bluetooth speaker but you can definitely listen to and you should season five of yes we are open that is an award-winning podcast from maneras victor uh you used to work at maneras right yeah i'd like to think that i have a little a little bit of of play in Al's success. Victor was my boss. He hired me at Maneris. Okay, that's huge. Not only that,

first, Al was incredible. He was very, very talented. Past tense. He was. It's important to know. Underline, especially when I come up with this next part about creativity.

He was very very very creative and always had lots of great ideas and one of the ideas was yeah he came to me one day and said why don't we try something because we were talking about podcasts and he got me onto the podcast and just conversational conversationally speaking and he said i have an idea why don't we start doing something called the maneras minute and And which was basically a weekly podcast that was exactly that. It was like a one minute scripted recording. And it was just, you know, what's going to, you know, the week of the news or anyway.

What you need to know working at Maneris. Exactly. And you know what? you need to know working at Moneris. Exactly. And you know what? I was always looking forward to his script because each time it would be a very creative idea.

We ended up having guests on. It was a very, very good platform, but it was the genesis of where we are today. Right? Because when I left Moneris, he took that to the next level and he really flourished. Because at that time, Victor, he was not yet an award winning podcaster. Is that right?

No. Actually, you know what? As a team, we were award winning and we won an award for most innovative. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I actually still have a trophy case. I have it on. I have that award on my mantle. I don't know what happened to the, we got two, the other one, I don't know where the other one is, but it was for the most innovative, what is it?

E-learning design. Sure. People don't know what e-learning is, but yeah. It's like training. We used to call it training. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Anyway, it was gamification, right?

We took gamification to the next level. It was the whole team effort and Al was part of the team. So we did win an award, but it wasn't a podcast award. So when I left, he took podcasting to the next level, and now at Moneris, he is the podfather. He took that and turned it into an actual career, and I think it's incredible.

He's my hero. Okay. Which I'm glad for because at the Christmas party, he was known as the one minute man. And I thought, well, he's better than that. And she was wondering, how does he last so long? Thank you there, honey. Nothing's off the table here today.

Wait till I give him his measuring tape. Okay, so if I understand this origin story, I do slide into this origin story, right, Al? Because when you were setting up your studio at Menaris, you did drop by to see how I was rolling. I came through. So I inspired on some level. Yes, you did. And now we have this giant ego

known as Al Grego and his awards. So tonight, I just want to cover this now and then we'll get to the produce stand and we'll get to Letter Kenny and Shorzy and everything. But tonight, there are what are known as the Canadian Podcast Awards. The winners are being announced this very night, right, Al? That is correct. I believe 8 p.m. Eastern on YouTube.

And how many are you up for? How many awards are you up for? You're up for four awards. How many for Moneris and how many for the produce stand? Three for Moneris, one for the produce stand. So that means that one you'd share with your co-hosts on the produce stand. Yeah. And who are your co-hosts again?

They're Victor, Matt, and my lovely wife, Tanya. Okay. Just covering all the bases here. Okay. And you did, and this is what I meant. I was interested. I sent a Discord DM to the gentleman behind the Canadian Podcast Awards because I wanted to have a Zoom with him where we just talked about like, what the hell is it?

Like, what is the Canadian Podcast Awards? Like, who's behind it? How do we just talked about, like, what the hell is it? Like, what is the Canadian Podcast Awards? Like, who's behind it? How do you win? Like, how proud should we be or whatever? You should be very proud. Well, this is what I'm asking you right now, Al Grego. Oh, you know, I could come up with the, I don't know, the Carrot Awards or whatever. You could. And then I could say,

hey, Toronto Mike just won, like, 19 Carrots. 19 Carrot Awards. And then I could just put that on all my posters and stuff. But it means shit. Like it's nothing. It's bullshit. Right, because you invented it and you gave it to yourself. So of course it means shit.

But you've had conversations with the produce, no, the podcast award people. So can you, do you know, can you just tell us a little bit about this organization and what it means to win these awards? I have not really spoken to them directly, but I mean, here's the thing, Mike,

and I know you... You don't like this topic. Well, you pride yourself in being fiercely independent and you rebel against all things that are considered maybe too corporate or something like that.

But here's the reality in awards, right? In industry awards, most of them you have to pay to enter and you have to let them know that you exist in order to be considered. What I like about the Canadian Podcasting Awards is you have to be nominated by other podcasters,

so basically by your other peers. There's no entry fee. Most other awards cost you hundreds of dollars to enter just for consideration. The Canadian Podcast Awards, you have to be nominated by your peers. So I think, to me, that is worth more than me sending $600 to Adweek magazine for consideration, which I've done. Did you win that award? No.

That's bullshit. That money disappeared, never saw it again. And no explanation. I'm going to charge $700 to win a carrot award. I think you can get your own awards made for less than $600. Exactly. Now, I listened to your episode yesterday with Mohit. And you're like, these awards popped up.

No, they didn't. This is their sixth annual award. Well, that's why you're here. And that's why I wanted to have a conversation with the guy who's behind these awards. Because I would get all these answers. and i love how you talk about like have you ever seen that meme of the guy riding a bike which is apropos for mike because he sticks the he sticks the thing in the spokes and he falls down and he like did like whatever whatever the grievances i feel like you would be uh what is it bullshit baffles brains because that's like

your favorite saying when it comes to these awards. There are awards. There's a group of people who decide to pick the best podcasters out of a pool of nominees. So there's nothing more to it. And this is an example of where it actually is nice to be nominated. Yeah, for sure. Because your peers are nominating you. Okay. So I'm not trying to be negative Nelly or whatever. I have been talking quite a bit about how I'm an award nominated podcaster and I'm up for two

awards tonight and I do hope I win. I'd rather win than lose. It's funny I never thought I cared so much about winning an award until we were watching the ceremony last year and the first nomination came across and my name

didn't get called and I was a little disappointed. Why am I so disappointed? And then when, when the second time, when the second nomination came through and we won, we were genuinely like my, my wife, my kids were, yeah, we were like really excited about it. So you know what? Okay. Okay. Okay.

I love it. Look, it's easy to shit on something that you just don't understand. Yeah. But I, I do have a yearning to understand. Like for sure. I'm actually not just going to shit on something because it exists. I just want to know answers to some 101,

some basic questions. And I hope, I think his name is John. I hope he does come on and have that conversation with you, maybe in the new year. That's all.

And I thought you might have had some chats with John and you had some insight into this. So that's all. So I'm excited for you and I hope you win for all your nominations. And if you win

for the produce stand, that means all four of you win. So I'm hoping that I'll be like promoting this tomorrow with like award winning podcast crew from the produce stand. So Mike, can I just play a quick clip here to explain why we're here today? Oh my God, yeah.

So we're talking a few, was it two months ago we found out about our nomination and it tweaked my memory and i went back to three years ago when we first started this podcast and we had a little bit of a production meeting talking about the podcast and here's how that went and then the second bit of news and it's a little bit happier and i i need to set this up though need to rewind. We need to go back in time. Oh.

That's a new sound, right? To episode zero of this podcast. And that's all we have for this episode. Next week, we'll begin episode recaps with season one. Episode one. Oh, wait. Wait. Stop. What?

Stop everything. Uh-oh. Podcastawards.com. Yes. Is it too early to ask people to go and vote? So early. So early, Victor. All right.

Let's get a few episodes under our wing. Let's see if we even follow through with this. Great clip. Appreciate your excitement, Victor. I mean, I really do. I really like your enthusiasm. And you know what? Maybe we will submit.

Or at least, you know what would be great is if we can get Toronto Mike to interview us I'll feel like we've succeeded if that happens I know a guy who hasn't in so we'll see so after that clip I posted that to Twitter you reached out and invited us on

so thank you Mike so I'm excited to have you here so in my origin story of the foursome so we know one of them you're sleeping with one of these uh yeah it's okay that's you tanya in case you're oh shit i had that wrong puzzle it might be victor too i don't ask these questions okay so that's how i got the job but anyway so victor's your boss at this time so you ask your boss to be a part of it that's a good career he wasn't my boss oh he wasn't your class but you knew him from maneras yes and you knew he had a passion for i guess he had a passion for both podcasting and letter kenny i knew he had a personality that would be uh uh colorful for the podcast okay yeah

you need that okay but then let me ask you because squirrely matt we're gonna get to you i'm gonna see how you fit into this but victor when did you fall in love with letter kenny that question is flawed my premise is faulty yes because you don't love letter i at that point i did not love it and i still don't love it today i i enjoy it really um i enjoy what letter kenny has given to us um but the show itself i can kind of take it or leave it uh that's how i feel yeah and i just decided just decided to leave it. Yeah. And that's fine. That's your prerogative. Maybe I'll change my mind. That's how I felt

after I watched the first episode when it first aired. So whenever that was, it was mid-2000s. 2015, I think. 2015, yeah. But you watch every episode. At that time,

I watched one episode when it aired. And I kind of thought, I was really looking forward to it because I thought it was a hockey, like there was another hockey show at the time called Benders, which was OK. It was not good, but I liked it because it was a hockey show and I thought this was going to be. And after completing the episode, I realized it's not really a hockey show.

It's just a small town with weird skids on it. And I thought, OK, I'll just put this to rest for now. Um, and, and I thought, okay, I'll just put this to rest for now. And I didn't really think about it again until Al called me during the pandemic, you know, at the beginning of the pandemic and said, Hey, do you want to do this show with us? And I kind of said, well, whatever, I'm not really a fan of the show, but I'll watch it if I have to. Um, so that's, that's kind of how, how I got into it. Does this leak into the content?

Like when you're all like, um, celebrating some big moment in Letterkenny and then you get Victor he kind of levels it all and he's like underwhelmed by it all and he's like eh, meh. Yeah, yeah. So he tempers the fanboy and girl activity. There's a picture of Jared Kiesel with Victor in a headlock. We're going to get to Jared.

We're going to get to Jared. Some people think I'm a contrarian and I'm kind of playing the anti-hero or whatever you call the antagonist. But I don't. I'm just giving you how I feel about the episodes. And I don't shit on every episode. I think there's many episodes that I enjoyed and I like and stuff like that.

But for the most part, I'm very honest about my reviews. And in episode one, not zero, but in episode but one we all came up with a decided to use a rating system and i think that rating system is a big part of our kind of framework and success and uh thank you know because then it just it it ensures that we're not a fanboy show yeah right and i'm gonna be uh focused on squirrely matt in a moment here, but back to the remote guest, Tanya. Tanya, when Al said he wanted to bring in his old buddy, Victor, and you learned that Victor could take

or leave the program, what was your initial feelings about adding a cast member who doesn't love the show you're talking about? Oh, I was in the same mindset. I didn't like the show at all either. Every time I caught Alan watching it. Does anyone like this fucking

show? Really quickly, Tanya, really quickly, if I recall the way we originally had it labeled on like any podcast stream was something like to the tune of, Al has invited his three friends to help convince his wife that Letter Kenny

is worth watching. That was the original plan. So Tanya, so when in original plug of the show. So Tanya, when in the run of the show do you realize that you love it? Very early on. Very early. Episode 2. Well, yeah, because Alan had asked me to watch a few

episodes with him here and there before the whole let's do a podcast and I didn't get it. I didn't like it. I saw some very strange things. I just didn't like it. I saw some very strange things. I just, I didn't like the show at all. Anyways, with the fast forward, we are now like watching and have homework

and we have to watch episode and then do a recap and record ourselves talking to each other. And it wasn't too far in. I think it was Fart Book, which was the one that I had seen prior to the podcast and thought it was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen in my life and then that was the one that suddenly somehow won me into um being interested in liking the show because it just it it showed a different um I guess knowing who the the characters were and having that kind of backstory as to, you know, their relationship to each other.

That episode was an episode that they actually showed value to the community and not just skids doing drugs and dancing around in a convenience store parking lot. Yeah, tell me this term skids. Like I am, for a period of time, I used to speak Simpsons. Like I could have full conversations with people in the know and I would just use Simpsons quotes. I still sprinkle like references

to Simpsons episodes in my day-to-day language. But it sounds like just having this chat for the last, you know, 20 minutes. Letterkenny has a language unto itself, but what does this mean, skids? So there's different factions in the town of Letterkenny. There's Skids, there's hockey players, and there's Hicks.

And the hockey players are just... And natives. And natives. And Christians originally. Originally. Originally, but yeah, I think it boiled down to the three factions. The Hicks are the protagonists, the lead characters, the ones that... the moral compass of the show.

The Skids are kind of the the fuck-ups and like tanya was saying they're the drug dealers in town and they're dancing in front of the convenience store and they're doing all sorts of they're kind of goth though yeah they're gothy and and then there's the um and i said the hockey player yeah so yeah there's a three and there's also uh djans which the skids are kind of on halfway there. Yeah. So what's the difference between a skid and a D-gen? The D-gens are upcountry. Yeah. That's right.

And this is all language that would be understood by anyone who has a... Absolutely. In the universe. How do you say it? Universe. Yes, universe. Universe. You're saying it too long.

Universe. There you go. I'm working on it okay that was better al's been trying to do it for it's like a quarter years now well i scripted that first the open the cold open there i scripted it and then i realized um i asked you guys like just before i record like how do you say universe because i was just gonna say universe but then it's like it's universe and then i still fucked it up actually it's not it's a it's an eighth eighth note yeah okay i take a note right here okay i really want to to focus on the great Squirrely Matt here

because who are you? How do you enter this world of the produce stand? And what are your thoughts on Letterkenny? Yeah, so first, thanks for having us here, Mike. And I remember you from like Pandemic Friday live streams, maybe. I came to a TMLX event at great lakes one time and met you amazing so there's it was a you left quite the impression because i thought i met you for the first time no it's okay i tell you i knew and i said that i'm like i met him once but you should

have told me because i i mean you know i like to make it awkward man it's like to bring it up on the show quickly because they can't see it on the podcast but you're wearing it uh so people can buy i saw that on the uh zoom here that tanya's wearing one but that's the produce stand official merchandise yeah we've got a whole merch site with the tps which is the produce stand uh you can even get a uh you can even get a shirt with my face on it it says if you're when you're this squirrely they call you uncle okay we're getting back to squirrely matt but uh al grego is opening something here at the table i wanted a Cuddly one.

Replenish your... Oh, because I only have the one and I wear the hell out of it. TPS wardrobe. And here's another one for you. This is the secondary logo in blue and green with the patch on the shoulder. So this is new. You're the first one to have one of these outside of a couple of cast members. Is it medium?

It's a medium. Okay, so I have to take off my headphones for this. I thought you were going to bring this blue spatula. No, we don't have it. I it medium? It's a medium. Okay, so I have to take off my headphones for this. I thought you were going to bring this blue spatula. No, we don't. I love that he's doing a full strips scenario. Oh, I'm missing it. Turn the camera around. You're not missing anything.

All right. So there you go. Looks good. Thank you guys very much for my Produce Stand t-shirt, which I'll wear in the photo afterwards. I'm honored that you brought me that so back to you squirrely matt yeah like are you friends with anyone on the produce stand crew or are you just like a fan who just reached out and said hey can i be a part of this like where do you come into the fold yeah so i i work at moneris as well oh there you go but i so i've known alan victor for a long time but never directly worked

with them i worked in financial investigations when I first met them. But you're at Islington and Bloor? Yes. Do you live in the neighborhood? I'm in Eglinton and Caledonia area. That's not the neighborhood. No, not the neighborhood. Victor, what about you?

I'm in East York, just off the Danforth. Okay, far away as well. Okay. Almost as far as Al Grego, but not quite. Okay. That's not even close. Al is in a different country. He is the up country.

But it sounds fancy. It sounds to me like when you, what were like Dynasty and Dallas and you had all those big primetime soap operas. One could have been called

Holland's Landing. Right? Like it just sounds like, oh, I want to tune in Friday night to watch. It's Holland Landing. You're thinking of Knott's Landing.

It's not Holland's Landing. Oh, I am thinking of Knott's Landing. You're thinking of Knott's Landing. Oh, I am thinking of Knott's Landing. You're thinking of Knott's Landing. That's why it sounds like that. So it's not Holland's Landing. It's just Holland Landing. Correct. Yes.

It should be Holland's Landing. It sounds more majestic. Yeah. Okay. It does sound more impressive when you say Holland's. Back to Squirrely Matt, who I met at a TMLX event. Oh, can I tell you to come back to Great Lakes Brewery on June 27, 2024 for TMLX 15? You promise me?

You got nice eyes. Thanks, bud. So do you. We're having a moment. Me and the squirrel. I'm getting a little hot over here. Can you please give us a moment, okay? Okay, so you're friends with these two gentlemen from Moneris.

Yes. And I'd say- We did a practice podcast together. We did. Yeah, we did. But where it really started for Al and I, where we connected was, I actually went to school

for television production originally. And that career didn't pan out the way I hoped, obviously. But Al was doing a lot of work with the learning team to develop content and podcasts. And so he actually leaned on me when he found out what I could do to help him set up the studio for the green screen and a whole number of things. So I got to sort of tap into old muscles and hang out with Al. So that was sort of where we bonded around some of that.

And then of course I had lunch with these guys all the time and just had a great time. So you were at lunch one day. I'm just imagining, you know, you're at lunch one day and they're saying, yeah, we're going to start a podcast about Letter Kenny.

I wasn't at lunch. I was at home during the pandemic. Right. Well, because I had originally got Al onto Letter Kenny. Matt was the one, the originator. Yeah.

I said to him one day, have you heard of Letter Kenny? He said, no. And of course he went home and watched it and came back and said, man, that's a great show. Fast forward, what, a couple of years and the home and watched it and came back and said, man, that's a great show. Fast forward, what, a couple years and the pandemic hits,

he calls me up and says, hey, I know we're all stuck in pandemic mode here, but do you want to do a podcast? And I didn't even know what the content was. I said, sure, I'm in. And then he told me letter, Kenny, and I laughed. I said, are you serious? But I'm so glad I said yes.

Well, yeah, you're're gonna be an award winner tonight it could be the first line of your bio like everywhere for all time but mike if that happens when i come to tmx you'll say hey it's the award winner of course i squarely mad that's the only way i introduce al grego it is i caught that it's it's kind of like he's been knighted well i think mark weisblatt wants it to be instead of saying sir yeah the cuddly one but i prefer award-winning podcaster Al Grego. It's better than the way Al introduces me, I think, still to this day. Oh, no, that's changed.

As my boss or my former boss. That's changed. Not my friend, my former boss. My former boss, Victor. You should hear how he introduces his wife, okay? My current wife. My first wife. This is my first wife that's this is my first my wife is that my wife oh that's a borat i'm feeling attacked here i speak a little borat okay so

the the okay so i want to just get the 101 as a non-viewer of this show okay so letter kenny i saw the press release i know that letter kenny's final season is now available on Crave. I feel like I'm doing a Bell Media ad right here. But on Crave, you can stream the final season right now. Correct. So I'm assuming, Tanya, that all of you have seen the final season of Letterkenny? False. Tanya and I have.

Okay, so you two have. What did you think of it, Tanya? They aired it on Christmas Day and we have finally gotten through all of them. Only because there were so many people spoiling it and sending messages out. In order to not have it spoiled, we watched them all. And I can't really say because not everyone's seen it yet.

Victor and Matt haven't watched it. She's not allowed to tell us if she likes it or not. So you're saving that. And Victor, how many episodes into it are you? I watch episode per episode. So I haven't watched it yet when it's time for us to do our homework when we're ready. I don't know

when we're starting. I think I like Victor as a co-host of Toronto Mike. I kind of like the cut of his jib here. He just doesn't give a fuck. That's correct. He's like the cut of his jib here. He just doesn't give a fuck. Yeah. Right? That's correct. He's like the Elvis of the produce stand.

It's like, what did you think of the episode of Randy Backman? Didn't listen. Okay. So Squirrelly Matt, you were on board

since the episode zero or whatever of the one we just heard from there in that clip that Al played and you're, how far advanced

are you in the final season of Letterkenny? I'm actually also, I've only watched the first episode, and it's not, in my case, that I haven't wanted to. It's just the holiday chaos and the kids, and I just haven't had a chance. How many kids do you have? Three. Yeah, that'll do it. What kind of ages are we talking about here?

13, 10, and 4. Nailed it. Yeah, okay. I'll take your word for it. I was excited that I got it right in the first try. Look, I know how tough that is. I get their names mixed up. Okay, that's what happens. Because my boys have names that start with J and my girls have names that start with M

so I'll be yelling for Jarvis but I'll start with a J and I'll call him James and it happens like 18 times a day. You did it to yourself, Mike. You left out Moose. Yes, and I have a Moose at home as well. Like a, what does that mean, a dog? Yeah. Because it's not a real Moose, right?

It's about the size of a Moose. It's a cane Corso. Hey, is Moose grumpy in the universe? The universe? She isn't, but she's been welcome, or she's been invited, but no, she doesn't. She didn't take to Letterkenny. Okay, so here's my question about Letterkenny.

So Letterkenny is done. People are now watching the final season. And I know because when you were over here, that's why I was asking if Victor had seen your, had heard your last episode, Al, because we did an extensive discussion about your white whale and how on the, which we'll talk about

in a moment again, because heck, we're talking about this all now. But my question is about Shorzy. So, Letter Kenny, done. Shorzy, not done. Just beginning. Hopefully. So how do the two compare?

It's the same universe? Universe. Same universe. It's an extension. It's an extension. One character connects. Victor's shaking his head. Okay, so Letterkenny was very much like a series of comedy sketches almost.

I mean, there's like loose story tying them all together, but it's kind of more of a sketchy kind of show. And one of the characters in Letterkenny was this character named Shorzy, who you never saw his face because he was being played by the same actor who plays the main lead role of Wayne. He's being played by Jared Kiso.

So they never showed his face. He had a different voice, and all he did was chirp at other people and and talk about how you know fucking their mom show his bum and and show his yeah there's he's the only one who's shown nudity nudity on the show uh naked uh handstand in the shower um so yeah that's shorzy in letter kenny is a very one-dimensional character okay but then when they introduced a spinoff and then they introduced the spinoff was going to be shorzy there was a lot of you know

people going how the hell are they going to do that first of all are they going to show his face like are they going to do how can they do a whole uh show where the main character you can't see his face um but it was a brilliant move because a it's still kiso playing the lead role but b because it was a one-dimensional character in letter still kiso playing the lead role but b because it was a one dimensional character in letter kenny they had carp launch to make him whatever they wanted him to be in shore z and it's it's it's great and do you agree victor that shore z is great yeah it's a good show it's uh it's not really even comparable to letter kenny it's better than letter kenny it's it's much better than letter kenny wow it's not like it's not even close and see how excited i was by that wow i had a big wow

yeah well it's written differently it's written by the same uh two people but it's it's it's written differently like al said letter kenny is basically a sketch comedy uh where it's basically you know three different storylines but not really even storylines they're just you know um You know, three different storylines, but not really even storylines. They're just, you know, what are those? Segments? Yeah, segments. Exactly.

Bits? Yeah, bits. Routines? I keep going by synonyms. Yeah, no, you're doing well. And Shorzy is an actual story. Skits? Yeah, vignettes is the word I was looking for.

Vignettes, yeah, that's a fancy word for it. Anyway, Shorzy's well-written. I love those Heritage Minute vignettes. Like, those were the best. Yeah, yeah. So, funny you bring that up. The name of one, the basketball one, yeah. Let me just play a clip here from Shorzy on Letter Kenny. Okay.

It's a quick clip here. Okay. And then we'll compare him to what he's like on the new show. Okay. I'm not helping you tip fuckers or those twats. Give your balls a tug. There's a lot on the line here, Shorzy. You want to talk about lines?

You fucking loser. Is that Torrin? I woke up to your mom ripping dick dingers off my foreskin. Tell her to keep her hands off my scoops. Fuck you, Shorzy. Fuck you, Jonesy. I made your mom cum so hard, they made a Canadian Heritage Minute out of it,

and Don McGowan played my dick. Fuck you, Shorzy. Fuck you, Riley. I made your mom so wet, Trudeau deployed a 24-hour infantry unit to stack sandbags around my bed. Fuck you, Shorzy. Fuck you both. Your lives are so fucking

pathetic. I ran a charity 15k to raise awareness for it, you fucking losers. So aggressive. That sounds to me like Jonathan Torrens' voice. No, that's Jared Kiso doing it. Alright, that's so timely yeah we mentioned the heritage what's your favorite around the table uh tana do you have a favorite uh canadian heritage minute um i smell burnt toast it's mine too dr penfield i smell burnt toast dr penfield okay what say you squirrelly

matt well i'm gonna say the same but it's it's not a favorite. It triggers for me. So I was epileptic. I guess I technically am still epileptic. Okay. But when I was a kid. So when I first saw the burnt toast one, it freaked me out the rest of my life. Still to this day, if I smell burnt toast, I'm like, oh, fuck. And it's never been accurate in my perspective.

Because it's always at breakfast. It's always at breakfast. Yeah. So I get, I don't like burnt toast. The smell just really messes me up. But yeah, that's the most memorable in a... Victor, do you have a favorite Canadian Heritage Minute? Yeah, my favorite one is not a Heritage Minute at all.

It's the House Hippo. He is the Elvis. What the fuck? Stick with the question. Yeah, yeah. He's incapable. It's the House Hippo. Because that is Canadian and it's also like...

Do you remember the House Hippo, Mike? What is the House Hippo? What? And I'm the young one? See, before we press record though, you said something about a hippo. And then I said there's a hippo in my bathtub, which was my favorite. And we talked about the Anne Marie album because we're older than Squirrelly Matt. So we remember this.

And then we talked about Anne Marie. And then I know Squirrelly Matt had like a story about going to Anne Marie Museum. And then I told you guys to shut the fuck up because we're going to record a podcast and I don't want to have to repeat all this like I just did. Well, you just recapped it perfectly. So it's a, what's a hippo? So this thing is a public service announcement to, you know, not believe everything you see online and whatnot in the media.

And, and right. Cause it's a house hippo that acts like a cat or a dog. Okay. Did this air on television? Yes. Yes. Like recently? Like.

It's gotta be if it's like. You also need to know Victor has an obsession with hippos. Did this air on television? Yes. Yes. Like recently? Like. It's got to be if it's like. You also need to know Victor has an obsession with hippos. It's his favorite animal. So that's why. Well, there's a hippo in his bathtub.

Yes. Okay. And what was this museum you went to, Squirrelly Matt? An Anne-Marie museum? Oh, yeah. It was awful. But that's from my perspective.

Was she working there? My dad adored it. Listen, I got, so my family's from out east, Nova Scotia. Yeah, she's from there. And my parents are massive Anne-Marie fans. So when I was a kid, I got dragged out there and into the museum. And I'm sure it's wonderful, but I was like eight years old.

Yeah, it sucks for you. And it was not exciting at all. But the story really was I've been there and it exists. Well, of course it exists, right? But like, is it Sunnyside PEI? Where the hell is Anne-Marie from? You have to be a fan of Anne-Marie to appreciate the Anne-Marie Museum.

The only eight-year-old fan was me when I was listening to Hippo in my bathtub because I fucking love that. It's about the size of one of those tourist stops on the side of the highway, but it's got Anne-Marie all over it. Tanya's probably an Anne-Marie fan too. What's your favorite Anne-Marie song, Tanya? Oh, good Lord.

Everyone only knows one, right? Snowbird. Okay, that's mine. Well, just if you ask, if you go in the subway, like random 100 people on the subway, and you say, what's your favorite Anne-Marie song?

I don't know, 60 will say, I don't know any Anne-Marie songs. And then 39 will say Snowbird. And then one of those hundred will be the super fan who picks a deep cut i would say i would say i like the teddy bear picnic that appears on uh hippo in my bathtub what about you victor that was a good one right the hippo in my bathtub okay move my producer is telling me to move on here okay so squirre Matt, you're part of the crew. And let's cover this white whale thing here. So who booked Jared Kiso for an episode of The Produce Stand?

I mean, I did, but that's just because I was in contact with the producer and she reached out to me and said, Hey, Jared will come on now. And there's a reason why he'll come on now, but we had to keep it secret for a bit. And it is the reason that this is the final season. That is correct. But I think there's a lot more.

So it wasn't just reaching out and booking. Cause if you, if you, if you read about Jared Kiesel anywhere, he doesn't do interviews. It's, it was, we were a rare exception to get this and obviously ecstatic.

But I think this was three years of, of building up the love for what we have around the show in the universe to to get us there right and they saw us and appreciated what we've been doing and i think this was a way for them to sort of say thank you and give us the exclusive which is amazing tanya what was your reaction when al uh cuddly owl was in bed with you and he said to you uh we got jared kies. And I'm sure he said it like this, we caught our white whale. What was your reaction?

I don't even remember. I think he told me at lunchtime. I think, I don't even remember the day. I know it was in October, was it? Something like that. 2023? Yeah. Because I think Victor's reaction was, was it? Something like that. 2023? Yeah. Because I think Victor's reaction was,

Jared who? No, no. I'll give you mine after Tanya. After Tanya. I'm still listening to Tanya. Yeah, no. It was just, yeah, excitement. Beyond excitement.

Can't believe that this is happening. This is fine. Like, yeah. And to be clear, I covered this extensively when Al was here for the fifth season jam kicking from Yes, We Are Open, which is an award-winning podcast from Moneris.

But Jared, just again, because Jerry Kiso, I might know him if he was at the door. I'd be like, I feel like I saw this guy like on a Crave commercial, a Bell Media commercial or something like that. But Jared Kiso didn't do any other interviews,

even though the final season of Letter Kenny just dropped on Crave. He only did one interview, is that right? That is correct. I was asking Tanya, Al, okay? It was huge. He doesn't do interviews and the fact that

they had reached out and that we were being offered this amazing opportunity. Yeah, it was super exciting. Were there any parameters, Squirrelly Matt, were there any parameters like, like, do you know, did the people at Bell Media say, okay, you got, I'm going to make it up and you'll tell me the facts, but you've got 30 minutes on Zoom with Jared and then just,

they know more rules, just go because they trust you or whatever. Like what were the parameters for this? No, I mean, they, they know more rules, just go because they trust you or whatever. What were the parameters for this? No, I mean, they had trust in us. They didn't really give us any parameters at all. We had interviewed, what, 20 plus members of the cast or crew over the last couple of years. We got the vibe they liked our style

and our approach to how they treated the material and just said, it's yours. You had the trust. Was there any time parameters applied to this or they just said. An hour. Yeah. So they said, okay,

which is a long time. And they gave us a bit more. Yeah. I taught Alec that move. Mike taught me that move for sure. If they give you an hour, you get an hour 15. That's just how it works here.

Okay. And please toot your own horn, but Variety quotes you now. It's wild. When we saw, like, so we've been tracking horn, but Variety quotes you now? It's wild. So we've been tracking. When we saw Variety, that was unreal. And I think my favorite part of that, and toot my own horn, is the fact that they went out of their way to say that Jared declined Variety's interview

before giving it to us. So yeah, it was a pretty special moment. Yeah, I think it's important to kind of mention that again is it's not out of you know thin air we had already met him in person they invited us up to go uh up to sudbury uh to actually be as extras on one of the episodes which we may or may not talk about um it was episode three you can talk about it now if you want yeah yeah it was yeah it was fantastic it was a wonderful we were there for several days and uh we ended up being on episode three of season two and fantastic they treated us with such class and respect um uh they we met

jared kiso when he came in he was so um you described him as a superhero yeah yeah he came in because he was on skates and he was wearing this kind of the undershirt under jersey and so you saw his abs and he just looked like a superhero but he was so um authentic and and more in awe of us than the other way around so he made us feel really really comfortable and yeah he knew us all by name. and it was fantastic. I was personally, I was excited, but I was more excited for our listeners because I knew how much this would mean to them. And I know even to this day,

I truly believe in my heart. It means more to them than it does to us. Can we talk about the listeners? So, you know, there's the four of you, but there's an entire community that has been built around, i guess the show but more importantly built around your podcast uh al do you want to talk about that sure why don't i play a clip first about jared talking about our show and our oh yeah of course our community here okay

knowing what you've created and and i mean you guys have done the tours and i'm sure you've got a pulse on on the fandom behind it you know how does it feel to you to know that what you've created so special to so many people out there yeah i'm looking at it it's it's you guys you know that people like our show enough and care about our show enough to want to talk about it uh create their own content surrounding the show uh i know not every show does that so that is it is it is definitely not lost on me. You know, I guess going back to your crew to the people that, that you guys have put together,

everybody being so passionate about the show and you guys are so passionate about, about each other too. Like if you want good vibes, listen to a recap episode of the produce stand on a hangout when, when they've all hung out together um you will get the warmest fuzzies possible um so i i have the utmost appreciation for you guys and what you do and i will continue to listen thank you and and if i can add uh mike for the the trip to sudbury just expand a bit that was the four of us from the produce stand were invited up but they also invited, what,

seven or eight of our listener friends from across the United States as far as California and flew them all up to take part in that weekend, and it was pretty amazing. Well, this is all amazing, and that quote is amazing, and I'm trying to think of an equivalent, like, where a creator

of something, like, only does one interview, and it's with,'s with an independent podcast like yours. I can't think of an equivalent, to be quite honest with you. But I'll spend the rest of the day trying to find an equivalent. But you guys should be very honored by all that. We were, for sure. I mean, it's a recognition of the work. And it was work. It's been work.

I mean, Mike, you know, you put these out multiple times a week. But for a while there, we didn't miss a week. We were working harder on this podcast than on our regular job set. If only, yes, we are open to have that kind of TLC applied. But our listeners, they reciprocated too, right? Like they became a big part of what we were doing too. I mean, especially between seasons of Letter we were doing too. I mean, it's especially between seasons of Letter, Kenny and Shorzy

when we're like trying to think of creative ways to put out an episode. We've got, you know, a dozen of our listeners helping us and we've got like a dozen producers for this podcast. It's not just the four of us. Yeah, absolutely. But what was it? Midway, probably season six or seven,

we started really selling the idea. Not selling, but really it was honestly that it's not just our podcast, it's everyone's podcast. So every one of our listener fans who wanted to be involved, if they had something to talk about and wanted to address a topic

or an episode or a character, we gave them the way and helped liaise the whole situation and it was it's been a blast every episode that we do we have a guest from the community and i don't know exactly when that started because originally it was just the four of us and it still is the four of us but we every episode religiously we have a guest from the community and if one of us happens to be sick or something like that we have a stand-in and a guest wow from the community so they're really part of the have a stand-in and a guest from the community.

So they're really part of the podcast. When you have on a member of the community and they completely suck, do you guys just take a mental note? Like, okay, no more booking that member of the community. No one's ever sucked on our podcast because... Matt's giving you a look. I'm curious what he's going to say.

You know what's unique about this community is that there's so much toxicity online, obviously, as you know. So I fully, we fully. That's mostly me. Yeah, exactly. So we fully expected that at some point we'd encounter that. Right. It's yet to happen.

Yeah. So. So can I share one story? And this speaks to the fiber of Al Grego, the award-winning podcaster over here. The cuddly one. We did have one, you know, for the most part there's no toxicity, but early on in the days we had a Twitter group that we

were all privately chatting on, and there was one incident where there was a bit of bullying occurred. Everyone sort of spoke up, and he was removed from the group immediately. Al addressed it privately with the person on the side, like really took at him. The person who was bullied in our group left our community.

We reached out and Al specifically reached out and said, no, we want you back. Don't leave. This means more to us that you're here than that person. Like, fuck him. He's gone. Really stood up for that moment. And that really set the tone from that day forward,

that people know this is a safe place. Everyone's welcome. And we have no tolerance of that kind of bullshit so i i was a huge moment in that but it really set an ongoing tone for what kind of community i think there's a common understanding too like we you know there's all kinds of bullshit that it's happening in the real world and so our community is really a distraction from that and so so people don't bring in that stuff from the outside world into the community. There's enough authenticity

and enough caring and love that happens within that it's a getaway. It's a getaway for people. And everybody, I think, just knows and understands to keep it clean. Tanya, how's that pink eye doing? How are you feeling? I'm closing my eyes and listening deeply.

It's getting too sweet for Mike right now. That's why. Segway Mike. I needed to hear some Tanya. So Tanya, has there ever been a member of this community? Because I know you have a Discord server. Because I'm in there somehow. And I know it's very active.

Is there ever a member of this community that wants the show to go in a direction that you four are like, we are not comfortable going there or we don't want to go there? Like you won't say yes to every suggestion from these great unwashed community members, will you? Our social is really through Al and Matt. There are two social media guys.

I am really too... I'm more of the person that wants to go live with the Amish and get away from my phone. So you're not even in that Discord chat. As much as people wish she was, no. I attempted twice

and the first time I was... I don't even remember what, I think it was Twitter that I went in. I think there was like 400 messages before 12 and I was like, no, can't do it. Because I'm trying to read every single one of them that I didn't miss anything. And I was like, that's not how it works. You just scroll to the bottom. Anyways, I can't keep up with it. And I think I tried again.

Well, I'm in the same boat with what it's worth because I'm in there and I can't keep up with it. And then, you know what I don't like? Once in a while I get an email from Discord saying that I was tagged or whatever. So, I know this in WhatsApp. It's when somebody actually specifically mentions you. So, now I need to read. Like, somebody's like, Toronto Mike, what an

asshole. Or Toronto Mike, he's the greatest. You're supposed to read that one. But, what I fucking pissed me off was I i was getting these emails you were mentioned in a post but it was actually like mentioning at everyone oh yeah like fuck that right like it's like uh i'm like oh i better go in and see what they're saying about me like here i am being mentioned on in this discord for letter kenny or whatever and it's like no it's just someone saying hey thanks everyone for watching the live stream last night or whatever and it's like, no, it's just someone saying, hey, thanks everyone for watching the live stream last night or whatever. And it's like, what? Come on,

Discord. And just to be clear, the community, it's not, for anyone who's listening, it's not just like hundreds of people sitting there talking about Letterkenny and Chorzy all day. It's probably 99% other stuff. What would you say, Victor, if you were going to guess right now, you're in the Discord server, right? He doesn't. No, he doesn't

care. Okay, so Al. We'll go to Al. The cuddly one. What's the breakdown of Canadians to non-Canadians in that Discord, if you had to guess? Oh, there's only a handful of Canadians. It's mostly Americans. How do you explain that? Can you please tell me where...

And Australians. And UK, yeah. Where do you see Letterkenny in the United States? On Hulu. They're on Hulu. Okay. Yeah. I didn't know that.

Okay. Yeah. So there's an interesting story about how Letterkenny kind of became more of a worldwide thing than Canadian. It was a Roberta Bondar episode. No, it was actually, so if you believe the lore,

Canadian soldiers would receive these care packages, you know, with, you know, TV shows from home and stuff to help them with homesickness. And they would watch these shows, like Corner Gas, like Letterkenny. And then they would share with their American and Australian and UK allies.

The NATO allies? Yeah, so they would pass these USB keys around. And apparently Letterkenny was a big thing that everyone got into. So we have listeners in Australia, UK. The majority of our listeners are American and it seems to strike a nerve, especially with our American listeners.

So it's funny, it's bigger down there than it is up here for the most part. Does that surprise you guys? Like Victor, is that surprising? No, it doesn't because we're weak. When I heard that clip you played and you've got more clips, right? But when I hear these clips of Letterkenny,

it feels very hoser to me. Like it's like, oh, that's half of their country. And like, you know, south of the Bible Belt or whatever they call it. They love it. They,

they love it because it's, it's, it's very much them, right? They're all hicks for the most, most part. Without the hockey stick. Yeah,

exactly. Well, what's even more interesting is, is what I, I found really cool was the amount of, uh, listeners who just are really into Canadian culture altogether. Like they're coming and talking about

Murdoch mysteries, Trailer Park Boys, that's the other one I think of when I think of Letter King, which I also never really got. I liked it better actually. We had a friend come up not too long ago and he was wearing a Terry Fox shirt and he says he gets one every year.

I don't understand it, but they're fascinated by Canadian culture. Bubbles, you know, is in Sandbox. The band. Curious, the band. Okay. I heard a voice from Holland Landing, and I'm hoping we could revisit that.

What were you going to say there, Tanya? I was going to say, it's a sense of exactly what Matt was saying, the Canadian culture, but it goes beyond that into a sense of community. Like there's that so far, like the people that are reaching out, they are just very community driven, very, you know, just from the show always references. If a friend asks you for help, you help them. And that's how the community is. Like everybody is there to help one another. And it's just grown from there. It's a progressive show.

On the surface, it doesn't look progressive, but it is very progressive. It's very inclusive. It's well written, despite what Victor might think. It's very inclusive. It's well-written, despite what Victor might think. It's just... And here's the thing. Canadians eat their own. Like, we grew up, Mike, you know, with Brit trials like people who would consume anything

coming out of the UK, with people who consume anything coming out of the US, and very few people would be like, I like this show because it's Canadian. And Letterkenny and Shorzy are unapologetically Canadian. they don't you don't need to like them they're going to continue doing what they're doing the way they do it and people appreciate them for it i think it is well written it's just not for everybody like for me um let's say corner gas it's in a different different hemisphere yeah that's more like the canadian everybody loves raymond or something like to me

it's more accessible yeah like i love i think something. To me, it's more accessible. Yeah, I love... I think for me, it's probably... Is Schitt's Creek a Canadian? Is that considered Canadian? Yeah, that's Canadian. So for me, Schitt's Creek is super high-end. Yeah, that's premium content.

Then Corner Gas. Okay. Then... What's that Winnipeg show? Murdoch? No, no. The Winnipeg one. Little Mosque on the Prairie?

No, no. Winnipeg. The guy that hates the song, I Hate Winnipeg show? No, no. The Winnipeg one. Little Mosque on the Prairie? No, no. Winnipeg. The guy that hates the song I Hate Winnipeg. Oh, the week event. Less Than Kind. Less Than Kind. Less Than Kind.

I love that show. And then Trailer Park Boys and then Shorzy and then Letterkenny. What? So Letterkenny. Let me explore. You were fired.

No. Hold on. Victor's fired. I'm announcing this right now. So you've got Victor. Victor can only this, Victor. You are fired. Hold on. Victor's fired. I'm announcing this right now. So you've got Victor. No, Victor can only speak for Victor. The rest of you obviously disagree with him. But Victor, you've got...

Because it's funny, because I have multiple times I've taken a run at Letterkenny because I am of the belief that I'm a Canadian guy, like I am a Gen Xer, like this is right for me. And sort of even listening to these clips, I'm like, oh yeah, that's why I don't Canadian guy. I am a Gen Xer. This is right for me. And sort of even listening to these clips,

I'm like, oh yeah, that's why I don't like it. YYZ in the live stream just said it's an acquired taste. I really do get the feeling it's just not a mainstream accessible program that everybody's going to be. It's not Downton Abbey. No. Anyone they ask, you do a podcast, what is it on? I say Letterkenny.

If they say they haven't heard it I say well go check it out you're either going to love it you tell them it's a show you watch it yes yeah yeah I tell them that

and I say you're either going to love it or you're going to hate it because that's the vibe I've learned is people either fall in love with it so it either hooks you and you're so obsessed you're like I got to find a community

where we can talk about this and then they find you guys as characters or you can take it or leave it like me I can take it or leave it I listen to it because we do a podcast but if you didn't host this podcast would you be watching probably so you would leave it i would leave it but if he left it then he wouldn't have discovered exactly

exactly and you love shorzy yeah let's talk about shorzy because i think letter kenny you're right is an acquired taste and we're not going to change anybody's minds on that it's and it's you know now that it's over but shorzy is a different animal and and i talk about shorzy i think um mike you would appreciate shorzy and i've got some clips here that'll help you with that first i'm going to just play a smash cut here of a bunch of interviews just kind of setting up the the so up until now we know shorzy's this one-dimensional character from letter kenny and their newness spin-off and we know nothing about it. So then we interviewed a bunch of actors from Shorzy. I told Jared on season three of Letterkenny, I was like, man, it's so cool to be a part of,

because to have the creator, the showrunner, he goes out of his way to say hi, good morning, how was your weekend, shakes everybody's hand, and it's just anything that he puts his passion into i think will do well and i've told him that since the very beginning and um you know he like i said when we were talking about shores he has just an idea he said we're gonna make the best hockey show ever made and i just you know trust trust the process so far so good yeah you retire from hockey uh you've got this music career going how do you meet jared kisa where do you meet jared honestly i don't meet him he sees i guess he sees fucking everything happening on the news or whatever because in quebec he made kind of a pretty big deal right and he's uh he's dating mag which is a quebec girl too so he lives in montreal

so i guess he's heard of all that and he he's a hockey fucking nerd. So yeah, I never met him actually. I guess he saw me in the streets one day. He saw Joe Dolo. Jonathan Diaby. I like how he talks. He's a hip hop artist that I was trying to get to. I didn't want to spoil you or whatever. I knew it was coming down the pipe that I was getting really close.

And then Jared actually called me on my birthday. That was July 13th. And he said, I believe the exact words were, do you want to go make the best damn hockey show ever? And I said, oh, psych. Sign me up, my man. Sign me up.

That's great. Yeah, there's a lot of all my old hockey buddies. Sure. They were calling me and texting me and they're like, dude, this is the best hockey show i've ever seen and your scenes were so funny and so accurate to to our trapper or trapper seasons and right yeah and she says i got somebody on the line here that wants to talk to you and it was jared and jared broke the news to me and said um like how do you feel about creating the greatest hockey show on the planet? And obviously I was

dumbfounded about the whole thing. So I was like, yeah, absolutely fucking lutely. Let's do it. It's awesome. I love that that's how he introduced it to everyone. You're about the third or fourth person we've heard say that comment that they got on the phone with Jared and he said, how do you want to make the greatest hockey show in fucking history?

Oh yeah, yep. Jared, that was the first thing he said. He so he is so adamant about that that this will be the greatest hockey show ever and i think he's done a good job on it so far so yeah we we hard to agree what is the second greatest hockey show of all time there's not a lot of hockey shows as i think so you know what one of the greatest hockey shows is also it's not really a show it's a tv biopic that he said that um it was the don cherry oh i saw that and and did you know that that was kisa yes i did i think i did find that out and it was i think to this day it's one of the best acting that he that he's done and i loved it good question jared kiso does he do any outside of the universe is that like the only thing you

might have like the uh you might have seen him in? Well, he did a series of things. There was an old show, I'll make this an awesome show, called Monster Warriors, which was a wide TV show. He did a number of that. He was in movies.

He did bits in Godzilla, one of the Godzilla movies, and a number of other things. But he talks about it in his interviews around how he didn't like the L.A. scene and the hustle down there, wanted to really have more control over his career.

That's the Ron James story. It's true. He went to LA and then he came home and he decided I'll just be a big fucking deal in my home in England. Yeah, and that's what he did. He did a great show called 19-2. It's a Montreal cop procedural.

Amazing show, very dark, very intense. A lot of cast members from that show have gone on to be on letter kenny and shorzy because uh kiesel's brought them he's he's that kind of guy he's loyal to the people who he's loyal to and uh and brings them on to his shows he's kind of had like a sandler approach where he brings all his friends along for the journey and just loves to make the best kind of stuff he can with his friends. Right. I'm thinking Private Eyes is a Jason Priestley show. It's been canceled based on a book by FOTM Gare Joyce. Right.

Hope Gare's listening. And not really a hockey show, but he was a former hockey NHL player. I'm trying to think of hockey shows. There was mini series. Remember that? Crap. There was one in the mid 80s that was really big.

You know what I'm talking about? The hockey show? Megan Follows was in it, maybe? Maybe Megan Follows is in this thing? Anyways. There's been a few attempts. The only one that I know is Benders. Benders was actually...

Where did you see Benders? I don't remember. It was on network television probably. No, no, no. You know what? It must have been like, not streaming, but one of those premium ones that you have to purchase

extra with your cable package. A showcase or something. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I actually enjoyed it. If you look it up on IMDb, I think the rating is maybe six something, whatever. But for me, it was a 10 because it was about hockey. And I loved it. And I think there was a girl on there that I kind of had a crush on.

Of course. That's how you reel in the victors. That's right. And I actually enjoyed it. And I thought it was a girl on there that I kind of had a crush on. Of course. That's how you reel in the victors. That's right. And I actually enjoyed it. And I thought it was really good. And Shorzy took me back there. And, you know, I don't think there's been really a sitcom about hockey since Benders. And Shorzy's doing it.

Mike, I feel like you're kind of trying to discredit the claim that it's going to be the best. No, no, I've never seen Shorzy. So I actually, I've taken a run at Letter Kenny. Yeah. And it didn't stick. Yeah. that it's going to be the best show ever. No, no, I've never seen Shorzy. So I've taken a run at Letterkenny, and it didn't stick. But I have not yet dipped my toe in the Shorzy waters. Like, I might love it. Is Jess Salguero at all involved in Shorzy?

No, she was in Letterkenny. I'm trying to think of FOTMs who were involved. It's not a perfect show. Like, there's still some things that, the things that I don't love about Letterkenny have seeped into Shorzy. But's fine because it you know the rest of the people love that kind of stuff i'm not into toilet humor uh i know matt loves it uh and well that's it i that's actually what turns me up i don't i don't really need to hear the uh fuck your mother with a whatever uh like the the potty stuff the the kind of the gratuitous sex stuff. Like I'm not approved by any,

I was going to ask Alex, I'm not approved by any imagination. I just don't find it clever or funny. But don't expect that. I mean, we all know Shorzy from Letterkenny, what he brought. That's not what you get in the show. They definitely show you taste of that

because you're not going to forget where he came from, but they really take what, as Alex said, that one-dimensional character and really create a whole persona around him that he's kind of that villain that you learn to love. Yeah, so here, let me play you a scene that

describes a plot from season one of Shorzy. Please don't fold. Why, Shorzy? We're firmly in the basement. The towns turn their back on us. We don't even have a coach now. What are we supposed to do? Never lose again.

What? This team will never lose again. Wheels are already in motion, Shorzy. I gassed Michael's... Sanguinette'll coach. But I'm a player. Sanguinette, you're a healthy scratch on a last place club in the no-show. Hang him up. What's your plan? Me?

Oh my god. Fucking one top line of Canadian grade studs to fill the net, surround them with the toughest natives we can find. Tough natives is redundant. That's a good plan. It's a really good plan. It's the best fucking plan I ever heard in my life. My man. Well just use the money that you were gonna spend on Michaels to bring in four guys who'll turn this ship right round. Then that's four guys she'll have to put up in hotels. They'll stay with me. So you're saying you've got four studs who will completely uproot their lives to live with you and play senior hockey in Sudbury. Are they fucking inbred? Does anyone kind of think Zeke maybe wishes they were? Four team league, four games left. Timmons North Bay once, Sioux twice, all four on home ice. We could get in right before the trade

deadline. I want bums in seats. Watch this. I can't lose one more game. We won't. Sure-Z. This team will never lose again. If we never lose again, we win the league. Okay, alright. Unapologetically Canadian takes place

in Sudbury. It's put Sudbury on the map. Sudbury has now become a hot spot for filming, but also visitors. We've been up there a few times with some of our listeners as well. Again, he's creating his own little industry

up here because that's what he wants to do. This is something we should all root for. Like an independent Canadian projects or whatever. I know Bell Media is behind this,'s not as independent as you guys but what you said but even when we were up there too yes bell media is behind it but you know we spent like i said a number of visits up there any person we met in the community and we asked them about the presence of letter kenny and shorzy they were all very well aware even and not a single person had a negative

thing to say they'd all interacted with somebody involved in the show and they loved them for it but even giant soulless corporations like bell media are capable of doing some good yes and this is an example yeah they stay out of the way yeah that's what they've done yeah this is a new metric or new a new metric new metric production that bell media has bought up right but i mean it's new metric that that's all over this they do good by staying out of the way. Amazing. Okay, good. And then we get more homegrown art that it seems to be resonating with Americans.

So it's all good. I can just see the Americans buying their tickets to Sudbury. Like this is happening. Mike, I know you love your con can, so here's a clip that I think will appeal more to your sensibilities. Nice fancy.

I'm Mother Earth, eh, Hitch? Pamsky! Fuck you, Shorzy. Scenery and Fish might be the best Canadian record of the genre. What a era. No, it's Rusty Flute. Honorable mention, Sloan, one chord to another? Oh, so we're just going to stand here and then pretend that Jake Little Pill never happened.

Pam, you want to come over sometime, play some tunes? I know it's Let's Listen to Hitch. Look, you had me at Rusty's Fluke. I know, I know. Are there any other fans of Fluke on these mics right now? What do you think, Tanya, of Rusty's Fluke? She doesn't know. No, no, I do not.

Yes, I'm a fan. I'd have the same reaction from my wife. It's like, hey, babe, babe, what do you think, Monica, what do you think of Rusty's fluke? And she'd be like, I do not know what that is. And then I go, oh, I've made a huge mistake. Okay. Squirrely Matt, do you know Rusty?

You're a younger man. What are you, 28, 29? Oh, that's cute, man. I've been flirting with Squirrely Matt the whole time. I've been enjoying it. It's been quite nice. But are you north or south of 40? I'm right on the cusp.

Right. And Victor, you're north of 40. Do you remember Rusty's Fluke? I wasn't born here. So I came here from Soviet Union. I didn't speak a word of English. So I grew up in the 80s, in the mid to late 80s, learning how to speak

english from watching wkp in cincinnati love it and three's company and my first concert was tiffany um so uh so there's that so it took me a while was it in a mall no it was at wonderland uh if you remember on when wonderland you can go and see a concert for ten dollars every saturday so that was me um anyway uh so it was it was a while until i kind of found myself and when i finally did that's you know i got into floyd he's like 94 uh yeah yeah i was like all about i was trying to convince people don't go grunge uh stay with extreme right uh i was all i was very anti-grunge at that time um and uh yeah you were still listening to Poison.

I was still listening to Poison, but mostly Extreme. I was a huge, huge Extreme fan. You still are. They recently released a new album. He-Man Woman Hater was a heavy jam. He-Man Woman Hater started off with Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee, which was pretty incredible at the time.

Anyway, all those... Do you want to start an extreme podcast with me? We could do that. You know what? It took me 10 years how to play the riff for Human Woman Hater properly, and I can now finally do it.

I had that album, Pornografiti. One of the greatest guitar albums of our time. But that was my favorite song on the album, because everybody was about wholehearted and more than words. For me, time. But that was my favorite song on the album because everybody was about wholehearted and more than words. For me, Decadence Dance was my favorite song. And Get the Funk Out is them, right? I felt like that was...

Go ahead. Oh my God. Brian May himself said that... From Queen. Brian May from Queen said himself that is the greatest guitar solo ever written. Because to me at the time when it was new and I had seen how much music,

I was thinking, oh, they're trying to be the Red Hot Chili Peppers because I was really into Mother's Milk at the time. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, that is, they wish. Wow.

Okay, I love this. We should just talk about, oh, that's 80s. We can leave you two alone. Should we leave Al? Victor and I are starting an extreme podcast and he had a run

as a lead singer of Van Halen, right? So that's Gary, yeah, so Sharon, Sharon or however you pronounce. So he did one album with him of Van Halen, right? So that's Gary, yeah. Sharon. Sharon or however you pronounce. So he did one album with him that Van Halen fans didn't really like too much. But that was Eddie's fault.

He was too much of a control freak in that one. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Yeah, exactly. It was okay. And Gary, he's incredible. For me, it's all about Nuno. Nuno's the true genius behind kind of all the music. See, I know that. It's Betancourt. Yeah, it is. Yeah, Al's incredible. For me, it's all about Nuno. Nuno is the true genius behind kind of all the music. See, I know that.

It's Betancourt. Yeah, it is. Yeah, Al's a friend. Because he's Portuguese. Yeah, that's right. And I got Al's kid into Xtreme. So I'm very proud of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

How does Tanya feel about that, that her kid is now into Xtreme? Yeah, he does love it. She's happy about it. I couldn't get my own kids into it, but I got Al's kids into it. Okay, quick last question on Van Halen, and then I know we have more clips. I want to thank a couple more sponsors here, and then I have a song loaded up.

That's exciting, right? That kind of stands. David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar? I don't care. What do you mean? Do you care about anything, Victor? It's not about them. It's about Eddie Van Halen.

You're completely completely take it or leave it on everything in fucking life you don't understand you don't know this question no no no david lee roth was incredible uh performance and i saw him in concert with eddie and without incredible performer i saw him with steve i uh in another incredible guitar player. But if not for Sammy Hagar, then we wouldn't have gotten the other type of Eddie Van Halen. He wrote some of the most incredible riffs. What? No! That one?

Some of the most incredible riffs, the 5150 stuff. Like, you know what I'm saying? OUA12? That was him, right? Yeah, yeah. Incredible guitar riffs that are iconic, that people love today. We wouldn't have gotten

if it was still with Dave Lee Roth. So I think that both are important to the legacy of Eddie, but it was about Eddie. It wasn't about those two guys. Al, did I see on social media that there was a reunion of a certain band that played the first three Toronto Mike

listener experiences? We had dinner together, yes. So you didn't play together? No, we didn't play. And what was the name of that band? Royal Pains. The Royal Pains. So the Royal Pains, you remain,

you have your project, The Weekends. That's correct. And you're not going to get back together with the Royal Pains. We talked about maybe, you know, playing a show or something one day.

But no, I don't have the bandwidth for a second band. Because of this podcast that you do called The Produce Stand. This podcast and life, yes. Lots going on there with your kids and everything. Squirrely Matt, you in any bands?

I am not. What are your jams? What are my jams? What music? Like what would you listen to? What would you grab? So, you know, where Victor was railing against grunge, I was all in on grunge.

Yeah. I'm still listening to a lot of grunge. I mean, I've always been all over the map with music. Very eclectic. I'm drawn to classic rock or alternative stuff like that. You'll see me dip into anything from country to more chill stuff. I'm all over the map. Some of my favorite bands growing up were Bush, Tragically Hip.

Oh my God. Everclear was a big one for me when I was young. We just talked extensively on the most recent episode of Toast. We were talking about House of Pain. I kicked out a House of Pain song. We talked about the three different kind of career arcs of Everlast. And Whitey Ford Sings the Blues was in my CD player of my 99 Protégé when I rear-ended a pickup truck on the 401.

And I'll never forget that because when I eventually got the car back, there it was in there. It was a Whitey Ford Sings the Blues. It's a good one. It's a good one. All right, before we move on, what are your jams, Tanya? Oh, I'm like Matt.

I'm all over the place. Anywhere from opera to heavy metal to country to just everywhere. Everywhere. Love, love music, all kinds. What's your favorite piece of opera?

Oh my. Puccini. Ave Maria. Yeah, probably. Very cultured of you. Okay. And you ended up with El Grego,

eh? That's interesting. I know. He was a singer on stage and brought me pizza. That would get me. Are you kidding me? Okay, so Al, how many clips do you have left? I mean, we don't have to go through all of them,

but I wanted to play just a couple more instances of the great dialogue. Okay, so before you press play, we hear that great dialogue. I would just like to advise the listenership that if they have any electronics, devices, cables that they're thinking

of throwing out, don't just throw it in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca put in your address and it says, hey, a couple blocks away from a depot, EPRA accredited. They'll take it and recycle it properly. It's good for everybody.

Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past and much love. And I realize here we are on December 29. There might be another episode or two,

but they won't be like live recordings like this. But that's it. I guess we take a break with the Monera sponsorship. Is that right, El Grego? For now. We'll talk.

Let's do it right now. I want the meeting right now. I want the meeting right now while I have you. I don't have clearance for that yet. You don't have a signature authority. Okay. Learn how to plan, invest, and live smarter with the Raymond James The Advantaged Investor podcast. Whether you already work with a trusted financial advisor or currently manage your own investment plans the advantaged investor provides the engaging wealth management information you value as you pursue your most important goals let's hear those clips al grego wait wait a second just because you're talking about uh recycled

um chemicals and whatnot uh it it brings me back to my son when he was five years old and he still has it today, the element bucket. So he and I would go to the science center, the Ontario Science Center, where they let you take stuff apart. And so he would take stuff apart. I'd help him, of course, and he'd bring those raw elements back.

So while other kids had buckets of Legos and superheroes, he had an element bucket that he still has today where he has a bunch of, and there might be some lead in there any asbestos in there might explain what happened to him as a teenager maybe no mercury actually we have some mercury

anyway it was a bit of a memory I like it when you never know it will spark a memory and the whole idea on this show I don't know how well structured the produce stand is but you can go on a tangent as long as you take a mental note to come back to where you were this is the kind of uh content you can look forward to if you listen to the produce stand victor talking about elements trains uh what else oh hippos hippos guitars sorry by the way i apologize that i didn't remember the hippo ad campaign right i was you were

commenting on my age. But that's an internet mistruth campaign. I actually think it's too recent for me. Because when would we be talking about mistruths on the internet? That sounds like something from the last 15 years. Am I right, the hippo? I don't think it was just about the internet. I'm more of an 80s PSA guy.

It wasn't about the internet. It was just about mistruths in general. I know. I don't know how I missed it. I think it was in the 90s. Yeah. So you remember this, right, Tanya? I do remember that one.

And I'd like to change my answer. I do remember the Heritage Minute where there was a woman in the lecture hall, and she was the only woman, and everyone was snickering and trying to not say the word penis, and she walked up to the front of the classroom and ripped the leaf off of the off of the diagram. Right.

And now that you brought back the heritage a couple that are I'm just remembering is remember the guy who was on the Morse code thing warning about the explosion whatever Halifax explosion that gives me chills to think about. Yeah, it's crazy.

You know, and he's like, and at the end, you know, he perished along with how many other, you know, like he died to warn others of that. And the Underground Railroad, there was a really good Underground Railroad one.

And it was like the first time I personally learned about the Underground Railroad. The most recent one features Michelle Milet from Letter Kenny, actress from Letter Kenny, about the baseball,

the Women's Baseball League during the war. Okay, big of their own. The actress who plays Katie in Letter Kenny, she's in that heritage moment. Okay, long may they run. Okay, Al, the floor is yours. You're connected to the board. I don't know what you're going to play next.

All right, one of the favorite things that as a writer, Jared Kiso writes really well is dialogue between his protagonist and other women. And here's a great example. Everyone loves it when Shorzy and Laura Moore get together. Laura Moore,

let me just start by saying there is no other place I would rather be in the entire world than right here with you right now. Hey Shorzy. Can't you see I'm just completely taken by it? Like I've never known a feeling like this. Let's assemble. Why are we doing this here when we could be over at Seven Star Dumpling House?

It's some fuckin' bibimbap. How do they feel about never losing again? How do you feel about it? I don't care. Oh, you are an absolute stallion. You're a horse face. I won't rest till I get even a shoulder pat from you. That would be the most a man has got from me

in a very long time, Shorzy. Hey, you ever been sitting across from someone just trying to have a normal conversation, fighting every urge inside yourself to just scream out, Yeah! Shut the fuck up. Oh, I've never let myself be so vulnerable with someone before. It feels amazing.

You are a lot, dude. God, did I be good to you? Yeah. Oh, I'd be good to you like crazy. How good? Like you wake up in the morning, I'm right there being good to you. That's actually unsettling. How do you feel about a couple steaks and some corn on the cob?

With your four roommates? Five! Apologies to Big Sexy I'll honour you till the day I die, I swear to God From the guy infamous for wheeling two of his friends' moms in Letterkenny They aren't my friends, and their moms were wheeling me Text me the score after the game Are you not coming?

Huh? Huh? I got my kid this weekend Well, no one gets a good story from just a score And no one cares. All right. Kind of like Gilmore Girls dialogue. You're not the first to make that comparison, yes.

My first wife used to watch this. Gilmore Girls, I'm like, that's an unnatural speaking pattern. Like, the way it's, like, it's obviously, like, it's right away. And it's like, there's no gap there. This is like that. And one final clip featuring i believe in fotm uh scott thompson's been on your posse nope only kevin mcdonald oh okay i thought okay so i call him a future fo team because scott will eventually be in the basement future fotm so

this is just a uh a little a clip that kind of shows off shores he's fine family dynamics his his father his stepfather is played by Scott Thompson. Love this guy. And all of his siblings are adopted children, including himself. Here it is. You want to know what your social worker said to dad, care? Said, you okay with Asians? Dad says, yeah. And she says, well, how about a gay one?

Fuck you, waffle. No, free. That was definitely said. Something you want to say, free? You don't want it, girl. You don't want it, girl. He don't want it. Free. Let's get into it, Waffle. Because you're going to hear this.

You're all going to hear this. I know you all see our engagement rings. I know you're all talking. Those two girls can't be together. It ain't right. Well, guess what? Carrie is not my sister. She's my foster sister, so it's completely fine that we're getting married.

Sounds perfectly fine. And she was only my foster sister for a year and a half. Just keep saying your sister's free. It's likely one of those the more you hear it things. Dad! You both call him Dad, Carrie. I mean, it's like... We're called sisters and brothers on the farm.

Hey, Free, you know any brothers with sisters who fire digits up each other? But you're not blood. Right? So, I think it's perfectly fine for you to get married, Free. Thank you. But you didn't seriously think

we weren't going to take the piss out of you, did you? You're worth it. Get a room, you fucking sister wife so a little bit of something for everyone now tell me al how many clips more would you like to play because this is the time to to drain the swamp i mean i only have one last clip because i don't want to give away any plot so because i have a song loaded up so does it make sense to play the clip and then we'll play the song and then we'll wrap up? Let's just play the clip and then, yeah, we can wrap up with the song because it's an emotional song.

We may get Matt crying here. Oh, good. This one here is from season two. It doesn't give anything away from the plot, but it's just a hilarious scene where they're shooting a calendar. And before you play, I will say, Mike, when we were reviewing season two, I multiple times talked about how the song selection in Shorzy is a master class in song selection. We'll talk about music for sure. We'll talk about music.

But first, let's do this last clip. Any extreme on Shorzy? No extreme. Not yet. There's Rusty, there's Sloan, there's all sorts of Canadian stuff. Love them all. Here we go

What are you doing, my son? What are you doing? Your face Huh? Bro What's he doing? What's it look like? Why does he have his tarp on?

What? Huh? Why would he have his tarp up? Because if I'm abroad looking at a sexy calendar of dudes I'm probably hoping they have their tarps on Your face is orange It looks like you ate an Oompa-Oompa's mitt. What the fuck is wrong with you, dude?

You look like the tip of Chester Cheetah's dick, my guy. Did you get a spray tan? Well, I thought everybody would have a spray tan. Why? Because if I'm abroad looking at a sexy calendar of dudes, I'm probably hoping they have a spray tan. Settle down. What's with the sunglasses?

Me? Oh my God. After I got the spray tan, I looked at myself in the mirror, and the whites of my eyes were so white it kind of freaked me out. Does no one else think that this is hilarious? Wanna get lippy? Just take them off. Take your tarp off too, let's have a look at you.

I'm gonna wait till the grease down to take my tarp off. Grease down? Oh my god. That's for someone, but no. Sold out. Why would you have a grease down? Because if I'm abroad looking at a sexy calendar of dudes, I'm probably hoping they're greased out. How is that shade of orange even an option? I mean, it's almost offensive.

Shut the fuck up, Michael! Is your whole body that color? Yeah. Even your junk? Yeah. Nice. They did your junk, too. I did my own junk. How? You just take the spray gun, you spray your junk, a monkey could do it. Did you do your butthole, too? Let's just get these guys greased down and

spray tanned so we can be done with it. You want everyone to get a spray tan? Well, except Dolo. Why not Dolo? Well, he can if he wants to. He's included. You're an idiot. Okay, very good. Very good. Okay. So there's a taste of Shorzy,

which we don't have a clue how long it'll run for, but it's got a good long life ahead of it. Long may they run. How long is this deal with Bell Media and Jared Kiso? Do you know? 49 episodes. How many episodes in a typical season of these shows? Six. Well, that's it.

It's like the British style. That's how the Brits do it with The Office and everything like that. Six episodes, short episodes. How, Tanya, how did you enjoy your Toronto Mike debut? I loved it. Thank you so much, how did you enjoy your Toronto Mike debut? I loved it. Thank you so much, Mike. This was fantastic. I just wish I could have been there in person.

Well, you are getting the lasagna. Make sure Alec doesn't keep it all for himself. Make sure it finds its way to the Grego kitchen table. Is lasagna allowed in a Portuguese house? Sure, why not? What is the relationship like between the Portuguese and the Italians? They're warm, warm. Unless you're on the soccer field.

I was born and raised in Bradford, so, you know, there was a lot of Portuguese and Italians playing together, hanging out together. We're friends. Okay. So shout out to Palma Pasta providing the lasagna. You're all getting, everyone here is getting the lasagna. Great Lakes Beer, I got some more beers

for you guys. How was your beer? How was your beer, Squirrely Matt? And where does the nickname Squirrely come from? Squirrely is just a direct reference to Letter Kenny.

One of the main characters in there is Squirrely Dan, so naturally we needed Squirrely Matt, I guess. Squirrely Matt was anointed upon me. Yes. How's your beer?

Fantastic. I'm actually already a fan of Great Lakes Brewery. I buy them on the regular, so I was really excited to see them sitting here at the table. And I think we took too long to open our first can. But I appreciate it. Victor, how are you enjoying your Great Lakes beer?

I think it's great. But to me, all beer tastes the same. Victor, how come I've never seen you? It's so wrong that you said that. Yeah, you know what? I think I would last two episodes with Victor as my co-host. And I would be done with him. Yeah, exactly.

It's been three years. I think we need a medal you're over him already you went through like all the emotional states well 90 minutes during this 90 minutes i went from loving this guy because he loves toronto miked okay and uh got introduced to it by alan i got the story of how he loves toronto miked loving this guy in the end i'm like i couldn't co-host a extreme podcast with this man like all those plans that i built up in my head, they're gone now, Victor. Yeah, but we wouldn't be talking about extreme because I'd be talking about Bossa Nova

and all the other stuff I'm into. Okay, you're a talent. So what are, like, okay, so your drive, are you going to listen to music or a podcast on your drive home today? Oh, boy. Well, Al's driving me home, so it's whatever. But if I had a control, I'd probably listen to a hockey podcast

and then finish off with a little music. You love your hockey. What's your, as if I have to ask, what is your hockey team? The New Jersey Devils. Is that right? See, I'm shocked. Right. No.

Yes. Makes no fucking sense. Yeah, it's from 1988. It makes sense a bit. He basically banked on a winner. Yeah. Our team's not from running. No, no.

It's when Wayne Gretzky said that they were a Mickey Mouse organization. That's when I fell in love with them. That's all it took. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I still remember John McClain scoring the goal to put him into the playoffs in the last game of the season. And I was their fan ever since. And, you know, it was first with Sean Burke and then Martin Berdure came and they won three Stanley Cups ever since.

You know, fabulous team. Brandon Shanahan did play for the... He did, yes. He was traded for Scott Stevens. Right, that's a big trade. Yeah, yeah. And Scott Stevens was a big guy for them. So, great team.

My favorite team is the Devils. Obviously, I follow the Leafs just because I live here. But you do realize, and I have this chat, like I have buddies who grew up in the Junction and they're Bruins fans. And I always have the same chat, which is, okay, when the Leafs, if the Leafs ever win again, because 1967 was before all of our time,

but they could put it together, right? No. Get the right goal tending. It could happen, theoretically. Like, let's say they go on a run and let's say they win the Stanley Cup. This city's going to go bananas. You remember 2019 of the Raptors right we're gonna have

millions of people spilling on the street for praise but you're gonna be like this sad lonely devil's fan no no i already is it doesn't matter i'm i'm i root for the leaves i live here but you're hedging your bets okay yeah so when the devils win the stanley cup which they've won multiple times three times right and they've been to the fun there's no there's no parade and just yeah thank you robert lawson listen there's no parade in toronto like there's nothing for you do you go online in the subreddit for the devils listen we did it i wasn't i wasn't a blue jays parade i don't need to do that again i was the first you know first year they won i was down there i was the people. I remember it like it was yesterday. Year two, we went down there but stayed in our car and celebrated.

93. Yeah, and then we went to the pub afterwards. And I was there for the Raptors. 2019. And ran away when the shooting started. And had to walk home because the subway stopped. Shout out to Brad Gerstin. And then I had enough with it. I said, you know what? Fuck people. So I subway stopped. Shout out to Brad Gerstin. And then, you know, I had enough with it.

I said, you know what? Fuck people. So I don't need to be amongst the people in the parade. Who the hell cares? It's enough to have the bragging rights and to enjoy that your team's winning. Tanya, if you were in charge of your own podcast, The Produce Stand, would you fire Victor? Be honest. Victor brings a flair like no other and um i know one of these days i will win the

the uh mvp victor uh uh nominee yes at some point i've gotta i've gotta be closer to to his uh his his choices um so yes i i would still keep a diplomat you married out. Like I'm listening and I'm like, oh, she's good. Oh yeah, she has to be. She's got Portuguese in-laws. Does she? Tanya's my favorite on the podcast. She's many people's favorite. That's a low bar. That's like being the tallest midget.

I don't even think you can say that anymore. I have to edit that. You can say dwarf though. Little people, I think. Thanks for canceling yourself on our episode there, Mike. At least it's at the end of the podcast.

I take it back. I don't think you can say the M word. Okay, I know in hockey, my kids now are under 11. They've got rid of all those words. Now, to get politically

correct again, as I prefer here, how was this, Victor, your Toronto Mike debut? Everything you hoped it would be? Yeah, I think it's cool. I'm sitting in the chair

that probably some really cool people sat in. Oh, that chair no one sits in. You got the temporary chair. But Steven Page was just right there. Chris Murphy was just right there. What about Hodge? Rick Emmett. Didn't Rick...

No, Rick Emmett was a Zoom. I was going to say... Rick Emmett was incredible. Oh, I think you would have liked... What's the guy from q107 uh the guitarist kim mitchell yeah kim mitchell kim mitchell is not from q107 but he was i know that he was that's not what he's known for kim and i bowled at the same bowling alley so there you go together and by the way kim mitchell has got two of the greatest guitar riffs ever

you know the the going out for a soda and Rock and Roll Duty are two riffs. It's going out for a soda. Yeah, no. Shut up. And I, you know, that was one of the first few riffs that I've learned how to play on a guitar.

I love. You know what? I can take or leave Victor, but right now I would take him. And he plays, he's the only popular musician that plays the HM Strat, the heavy metal Strat,

the same guitar that I have, which is, you know, so he's a kindred spirit that way. Love Kim Mitchell. Love to hear it. Okay. And you have the same guitar that i have uh which is you know uh so he kindred spirit that way love kim mitch love to hear it okay and you have the same amount of hair uh yeah he and i are both okay with that squirrel matt what do you got under that hat you got any good hair under there i've got a full head of hair which i get yellow why are you hiding it because i love my hats man you can grow it you should show it i've got you want to see it i just want to confirm oh yeah he does have a head of hair okay so squirrelly how was your toronto mic debut it was awesome man

i i was i'm a little surprised it took us three hours to get here mike i know we had no al we had an in when did al ask me if the tps crew could come on i didn't ask you reached out oh you post yes okay you posted on social media that clip we played it was organic and it was like i heard victor's voice saying in the first episode of this award-winning podcast which by the time people hear this it'll be true and i liked i like to bank my favors and i wasn't going to use a favor up on this well you know you had me at hello cuddly one it's all good here you were harder to get than kiso oh by the way you landed kiso before you got on toronto mic that's what it took okay toronto mic before in case that was the well i'm gonna play a. Toronto Mike, in case that was the go-around.

So in case that was a go-around, I want to take this opportunity to plug my daughter, who is on Spotify, Natalie Rosalina. Everybody go and check it out. I'm glad you got your plug in there, because we plug the hell out of this podcast called The Produce Stand, which is available everywhere you get podcasts.

And if somebody wants to join your Discord server, what do they do? They should just reach out to me on any social media and I will send them an invite. Yeah. Yeah. And if you can't find them, just reach out to me and I'll connect you to Al and then Al will put you in.

This is how it's going to work. This is the community we have, the TMU, and you could join the universe. Okay. And Tanya, what a pleasure it is. I kind of wish you were here, but the pink guy thing, that's just a shitty happenstance there.

So maybe you're better there. But it was great to have you on the program. Squirrely Matt, I know we met at a TMLX event, but it was great to get you on. Victor, great to meet a fan of the show. Because I don't think Squirrely Matt's ever listened to the show. I listened to a couple the last couple days knowing I was coming for preparation.

Prep yourself. Which ones did you listen to? I listened to the Jason Priestley. Okay. Yeah. There you go.? I listened to the Jason Priestley. Okay. Yeah. There you go. There you go. The great one himself.

Al Grego, always a pleasure. Even though many times you'll be on again. I do hope that, uh, Maneris returns for, uh, promoting season six of yes,

we are open. Is that a possibility? I think it's a, it's a definite possibility. Let's get stronger language in there. So there's a chance. So there's a chance language in there. So there's a chance. So there's a chance. You're telling me there's a chance.

You want me to press play on this song? Mike, you've been a great partner to Moneris and to TPS, and we appreciate your time. Can I get a new T-shirt to wear for the pictures? Thank you so much. Best of luck tonight. I know you don't care whether or not you win this award. No, no, I didn't say that.

I said I'd rather win than lose. I just wish I had a better understanding of what it is. Like, you know, you're all into the spin. Like, you're in the marketing department. Like, we won an award.

Bullshit baffles brains. Award winner. Oh, my God. Because I know when I said I was nominated for this Canadian Podcast Awards, I can't tell you how many congrats I got.

And I'm getting all these congrats and I'm like, oh, like, they're congratulating me on being like nominated for an award they didn't know existed. It didn't matter what it was. I was nominated for something.

So I do hope I win tonight. Because then I will post on social media that I won the Canadian Podcast Award. I beat Larry Fedorek. And then people will be saying, congrats, Mike. Couldn't happen to a better host. Long overdue. All that kind of bullshit.

Well, good luck with you tonight. We're going to be watching it as well as a group and with our fingers crossed can you text me if i win sure and if i lose can i make one more comment for you i do want to thank yeah yeah i do want to thank you mike because i i my suspicion is we wouldn't be here today if you weren't doing what you do because i know al i have the same suspicion. Well, Al loves this industry. He loves... He's extremely amazing. I would go further than this, Squirrelly. I don't think any of your community,

your podcast, your community, the discourse, none of it exists without the Toronto Mike's universe and what we built here in Toronto Mike's. Is that correct, Al? Take your flowers, Mike. Take your flowers.

I got a t-shirt instead. Sorry to interrupt you, Squirrelly. No, that's all I was saying. I mean's it's been amazing and i know you've supported him as we've grown in the background and i'm thankful to be here some weirdo says he wants to come over and look at your shit you're like uh come on in buddy and you look cuddly and i said let's go do you let's get this done because i'm gonna play a song and then we're gonna tanya's unaware of my nickname. But does Tanya... No, she doesn't know.

Tanya, how long have you guys been married? Tanya, how long have you been married? 23 years. That's a long time because I don't think you're older than 35 years old. We were six years before that. Yeah. Wow.

So 29 years together. Do you think Al is particularly cuddly or is he just like a regular, normal, healthy amount of cuddly? He's a bear. Very cuddly. He's more cuddly than the average bear, right? Papa bear. regular normal healthy amount of cuddly? He's a bear. He's more cuddly than the average bear, right? Papa bear, yeah. He's pretty cuddly. I mean

that's why I hired him. And are you comfortable? Jesus Christ. Because what's happening now is when Al, because Al comes to almost every single TMLX event. How many have you missed Al? One. So you're 13 for 14. That's right. Will you be at TMLX 15 on June 27? Yeah, I just heard about it yesterday.

So yes, I'll be there. Will Tanya be there? Hopefully, if there's no pink eye. If the eyes aren't burning in bleach or whatever the hell is going on there. Go to her event and she can wear glasses. Yeah. Okay.

I'm going to play a song. I don't even know what I'm playing. I'm going to play it. It's got a pretty title. And then again, I'll read the room here when I should fade this down and maybe you can tell me what we're listening to but we're gonna close with a song i'll do that again He's uptight

He don't know nothing new well he ain't cheap he just can't afford to but she don't so this is the this is the closer to season one on Shorzy, where they're diving into their last game. I don't want to give anything away, but it's a big moment for them. And this song is playing in the background in a series of hockey scenes. So it's not something you expect playing over a pretty intense hockey game, but this is a very pivotal moment in the entire season.

So this is a screen-enhanced jam. Like, you listen to this, and you're taken back to that moment in the season finale of Shorzy. Absolutely. Does even Victor like this song? I think the song is fantastic. They use music in ways you'd never expect, I think in both shows, but Shorzy more in particular.

Who's the artist performing this song called True Love, if you're looking for it? Oh my God, I'm blanking out it's Tobias is it Gesso Junior Tobias Gesso Junior

yeah it sounds right okay and you guys mentioned earlier that the music that you hear on Letter Kenny and Shorzy

or is it just so Jared Kiesel chooses all the music for both shows he's a master at this both shows also really feature prominently great musical montages often, and they've perfected it to add emotional heaviness to the scenes. And this is a great example of that.

But when Matt says that you know he picks music that you wouldn't expect you know think about you know there's a big brawl scene that he sets like to disco music and you would think it wouldn't fit but it does and he's such a master at that he's like it's music first for him he writes

his scenes with music in mind which is amazing and when we talked to him he did talk about how there's nothing better in life than finding your new favorite song. And he keeps all the music he finds in mind around scene selection. And we, we spoke to the editor as well. And he talked about when they'd come in that he would say exactly which

second to which second he wants a certain scene to play. Like he has it all in his head as he's playing it out and as he's writing it. So he writes for the music tanya what do you think of true love oh it's a beautiful oh not the song i mean with al grego the award-winning podcaster back to the song yeah there are so many beautiful songs like i go as far as to saying it's almost like the whole thing is a string of a musical. Like it's just one great music number.

And like the punches, the hits, everything is timed out so perfectly well. Whether it's a fast song or a slow song, he'll slow down the shot just for it to land on the timing of the music and the melody. Amazing. On the live stream, live.torontomic.com, YYZ Gord says that this is a great song even without the context. Correct. Yeah, it's a beautiful song. He also points out, Al, he's visiting your motherland.

I know you were born in Canada, but you're... Yeah, he's in Lisbon right now. Yes. Okay, so shout out to Portugal. I want to shout out a couple more people on the live stream. Lieve Fumpka is on the live stream. I know she's a big D-Gen. She is. Her and Anjuan.

And Moose Grumpy is here. Moose Grumpy enjoys these shows, but hasn't quite figured out Discord yet. So maybe if you give Moose Grumpy a little 101 on Discord, she'll be there. And damn it, you guys were great, man. I'm so glad that you shouted me out in

episode number one and that we finally made this happen how many years later? How many episodes are there of the Prado stand? I forget now. 212, 213, something like that. I forget. We're not quite at 1,400

yet. We're getting there. Did any of you want number 1,400? Because it was a bit of a... We weren't sure how these chips were going to fall for a little bit, but you guys ended up 1,401. Any of you wish that you had 1,400? No, it's like price is right. You bid $1 over and you're that much better.

Like I said, my preference would have been something on the 69, but we're away from that. Maybe you'll come back for 1469. There you go. Well, thank you all. Like all of you. This is what I would say. I would rather you guys win tonight than I win tonight.

Like I feel like this, the produce stand winning an award tonight would excite me more than if I win one or two awards tonight. So I wish you guys much luck tonight. Thank you. We could both win. Yeah. We can all be. Yeah, we're in different categories.

Exactly. Let's do that. I think it's amusing to me. I'm in a category with another TMDS podcast. I'm in a category with Larry Fedorek's podcast later that same night. Like two of the five nominees are TMDS productions. I mean, already you can tout that on

your masthead. Like, yeah. That's why I want to know more about him touting. Okay. So maybe you can introduce me via a different channel than Discord. Maybe he doesn't like Discord DMs. Maybe if you send me an email and I can introduce to this guy behind the Canadian Podcast Awards. but thank you very much thank you tanya thank you mike thank you squirrelly matt with one t thank you mike thank you victor a shout out to

extreme what it is and thank you al grego award-winning podcaster it's been a pleasure talking about uh manaris's fine podcast that you produce for them and I hope in 2024 we can do it again. And that brings us to the end of our 1,401st show. You can follow me

on Twitter and Blue Sky. I'm at Toronto Mike. Where would you send people, Al, if you wanted them to, I don't know, learn more about the Produce Stand? At Produce Stand pod on all social media outlets. That's Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, even Blue Sky. Even Blue Sky.

What's Twitter? Shitter. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery. That's Palma Pasta. Don't leave without your lasagnas, as if there's a risk of that happening. Raymond James Canada,

Moneris, Recycle My Electronics, and Ridley Funeral Home. Did I give you guys your measuring tapes? Okay, we're doing it now. 5.15 inches. I had the under, so I lost that bet here make sure you bring

that measuring tape home to Tanya to your wife Tanya there okay so shout out to Ridley Funeral Home they're right around the corner 14th and Lakeshore see you all I think the next episode I have to put together an FOTM KOTJ about songs you love but you didn't realize were covers when you fell in love with them and then later you realize their covers so I have to do together an FOTM KOTJ about songs you love, but you didn't realize were covers when you fell in love with them. And then later you realize they're covers.

So I have to do that. And there's also a Ridley funeral home Memorial episode coming. Cause we're at the end of the month. So one of those two will be the next episode. See you all then. 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.