WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1031 - Brent Butt

Episode Date: June 27, 2019

Even though Brent Butt grew up in rural Saskatchewan, his path to comedy is similar to American comics, except it was exclusively Canadian. He was a directionless youth who was taken in by comedy on Canadian TV, he booked gigs throughout the Canadian countryside to hone his act, he dealt with monopolistic club owners and did sets in lousy environments like curling rinks. It all led to him being the first native Canadian with a #1 comedy series in Canada, Corner Gas, which was turned into a hit movie and now a cartoon. Brent tells Marc about his journey, and why he has no regrets that he remains fairly anonymous in America. This episode is sponsored by Turo. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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nicks what's happening it's mark maron i'm here i'm here in canada still this is my podcast wtf how's it going are you all right today i guess in honor of me being in canada i'm having a canadian comedian on though he we did record it in la brent butt is on the show today and that was fun i like him he's always been a nice guy and i'm glad we got to talk and he's sort of a big celebrity up here in a way well i don't think he would admit that but uh that's coming up so i have been having again a nice time up here just on a spiritual level if i can say that i don't know if it's spiritual just a part of me is relaxed up here because i'm in canada and the the air is not infused with the panic and aggression that that seems to be the electrical current kind of like hovering

over the United States of America right now. It kind of dissipates at the border and you just kind of deal with life up here. There's just life happening in Canada. Now, I am in Hamilton, Ontario, which, look, I don't want to be condescending because I'm not from here and I don't want to be the rude foreigner, but I's definitely, it's got its own frequency. I don't know if it's the neighborhoods that I'm staying in or where we're shooting, but there just seems to be a sort of ongoing ragtag parade of frenetic sadness and many manifestations. It's weird when your focus is not consumed by what's going on culturally. You can really kind of zero in on people.

And there's definitely a bit of a lot of humans twisted by soul sickness of one kind or another wandering the streets here. And it's been kind of interesting and sad, but also funny and nice. How's that? Diplomatic? Anyways, that's my take on Hamilton. But I did have a tremendous experience at a supermarket. Now, before I get to that, I do want to do some business because there's a lot going on for me and maybe for you as well, if you'd like. There's something

happening this weekend. Now, I've told you about the movie I made with Lynn Shelton called Sword of Trust, which comes out on July 12th. You can go to swordoftrust.com to see if it's playing near you. But if you're in LA, there's going to be an advanced screening this weekend as part of a retrospective of Lynn's work. This Saturday, June 29th, you can see Sword of Trust at 5 p.m. at the Arrow Theater in Santa Monica, followed by a triple feature of Lynn's films, Your Sister, Sister, Touchy Feely, and We Go Way Back. Then on Sunday, June 30th, there's a double feature starting at 7.30 of Hump Day and Outside In.

So you can go to that and enjoy. And from what I understand, Lynn is going to be doing a Q&A at the end of every one of her movies there with people from the movie, hopefully. I am going to try to make the Q&A at the end of the sort of trust screening if I can get out of Canada and back to Los Angeles in time. If the shoot doesn't, I don't know what's going to happen. It's going to be a pretty hairy night for me on the coming up on Friday. I got to, we're probably going to be shooting until three or four in the morning. And then I've got to try to get a morning flight out of Toronto. So I'll be in that haze that like, there's no point in sleeping haze. And then you're like, let's, I'll just go right to the

airport. And then you're there like four hours early. You haven't slept and you realize I've made a terrible mistake. I should have slept for two hours somewhere else. And then you sleep uncomfortably on the floor with the floor sleepers. There's always plenty of floor sleepers at airports. And you wonder, how long have they been here, really? Are they in between flights? Did they get here just really early for another flight? Do they live here? I don't know. But I might be among those people we'll see i don't know how that's going to pan out the other thing i wanted to tell you is i mentioned a couple weeks ago that there's a new documentary called blue note records beyond the notes and it's opening in los angeles

this weekend at the lamley santa monica the filmmakers are distributing this movie themselves and it's really worth checking out and these are not paid plugs my friends i think that everyone should educate themselves about the beautiful history of jazz and and it's and how it's influenced culture and where it comes from so i i think because i'm just learning it i'm not even being some sort of jazz guy i'm just learning it right and i want a cookie come on man seriously what's happening i'm punchy you guys i'm tired that's what's going on you know i'm all right i hope you're all right you know i'm just like it's been kind of a mind-blowing week and a half doing this movie i i'm realizing that independent filmmaking has its own sort of compulsion like you know the the challenge on everybody's part to sort of you know make the day economize make a kind of compromises but you know

figuring out how to get what you need that there's something intrinsically exciting about that because you hear about these movies that have hundreds of millions of dollars and that those sound like a disaster here you're kind of working you know kind of you know very economically and and very precisely and you're moving quick that it's got its own charm you know i i'm sure i'm not you know saying not surprising anybody involved in the pursuit of making independent film but it's been sort of exciting to be part of the process of sort of like we got to do it we got to get it and. And, you know, one or two takes, man. But everything's okay. There's been a weird swirl of events going on around me in terms of

sobriety, in terms of, you know, people reaching out and my own reactions to those people. And then I guess I could be more specific. I get a lot of emails from people and I got a disturbing email from someone who, like, as you know, that I generally try to get back to people if they are struggling with you know addiction or alcoholism and share my experience a little bit or give you know some sort of you know kind of support and you know I got a disturbing email from somebody who I don't really know that you know was suicidal and in the sort of throes of alcoholic kind of self-pity and pain. And I had a reaction to that where I'm like, oh, come on, man. And then I check back.

Apparently, he's OK. He made it through. But I hope he gets it. And then some other people in my life are struggling with codependency. And it just kind of swirls around all at once to make me realize hey man i guess uh not that i'm a spiritual guy or a god person but you know sometimes you know i go mystical occasionally maybe it's time to sort of uh recommit read a little literature because i'm trying to help somebody else so i'm reading my literature and i'm like wow i did a lot of

underlining over 20 years of having this book in my bag. And I was like, wow, this stuff is pretty relative. Like this part might help me. Why am I not doing this? It's right here and I've done it before and it says to do it and I'll feel better. Why am I not doing that? I don't know. Because it's too much effort.

Is it 10 minutes at the end of the day? It's weird how stubborn we are in our own patterns this is not a self-help podcast but man like i i am so ready to get out of some of them i am so ready and thank god i've got the equipment and the tools and the clarity of mind to do it that's all some sort of weird collective you know the serendipity kind of surrounded me coincidences transcended coincidence to congeal into some meaning for me around like hey time to sort of do some work pal you want to break through to the next thing so you can settle into your body a little more well get the book out stupid yeah that's how i read it but i hope you're all okay

out there i hopefully will be back in la uh for for next week's shows if everything works out right we got two days of shooting i got to get ready to go do that uh and right now i want to uh to share with you uh this interview that i did with brent butt you can subscribe to his youtube channel the butt pod also find him on twitter instagram and at brentbutt.com had a show up here for years that is now you know in animated form called corner gas he's sort of a like i said before kind of a kind of of a Canadian comedy star and a good guy. And I've run into him over the years at different festivals. And I was happy to chat with him.

So this is me talking to Brent Butt. It's weird because I had a friend in high school named Alan Butt. And I keep wanting to say Alan because it's memorable when someone's last name is Butt. Anyways, Brent Butt. You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs and mozzarella balls, yes, we can deliver that.

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Hi. Hi. I don't think you can lump us all together in one kind of... I mean, I know there are only like 50 of us in the second biggest country in the world. There's about 102 Canadians. Yeah. You and Australia, you got lucky with the territory. Yeah. You have plenty of room to do whatever the fuck you want.

I don't know what the hell... You know you think geez we got the second biggest country right how and then come february you realize why why it's so everybody wasn't lined up for it do you know well i i don't want to lump canadians together and i don't because i know there's a tremendous diversity of people up there uh You know, a lot of Asians, a lot of indigenous people, French Canadians, you know, who, you know, come from sort of pirate stock. Do they? I'm learning about Canada here. Trappers. Pirate stock.

No, trappers. Yeah, the voyageurs. Yeah. Yeah. Aren't they? Yeah, yeah. So I wasn't off. I don't know if pirates and trappers are similar.

Well, yeah. Well, no, but the personality just figured they're like, hey, here we go. Let's go kill something. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't. I have friends who have a trap. I shouldn't say friends, but guys that I knew growing up in my hometown.

I grew up in this little town in northern Saskatchewan. I was back there, and I ran into one of the guys, and I was like, hey, what's going on? What are you up to? And he goes, oh, I was just with was like, hey, what's going on? What are you up to? And he goes, oh, I was just with my buddy and we got a trap line. What are they trapping? Well, I guess we're done talking. I don't know what else to say. Guy's got a, you know, 21st century, he's out trapping animals.

Well, I mean, it's a tradition. I mean, sometimes the untraditions die hard, right? Maybe he comes from trappers. He does not. Oh, it's just something. I think he wants to torture and kill animals. That's what I think it is. It's not for their pelts or for their meat?

Is he trapping rabbits? What are we talking? You didn't get any. I don't know. I literally walked away. Oh, really? I literally was like, hey, cool to see you. We're done talking.

I strolled away. But there are hunters up there. Do you judge hunters with the same? No, I feel I just did not expect to hear. Trappers. I think there's a different level of cruelty to trapping. No doubt. I mean, anything that the animal has to chew its limb off to escape is cruelty.

It shouldn't be alive to do that. Like somebody who shoots another person, like an execution style killer. That's bad, right? Right. But somebody who keeps you around and gives you acid baths or whatever, takes your fingers one at a time. That's horrible.

That's a different level. Yeah. Give me the execution guy. Sure, sure. Every time. Or at least let me run and you hunt me down. That's a sportsman way to do it. That's a sportsman's way to do it.

If you gave me the option of, listen, you can run. I'd stop you right there. No, I'm not going to run. Just kill me now. Why am I going to die winded? Winded and I have no survival skills. I'll be out there. I'm quick to quit.

Yeah. That's what I've learned. Like anytime, you know that never, failure is not an option. I always think it's like, yeah, it's really plan A. Yeah, plan B. A, right. No, no, failure, it's always what I assume is going to happen. Yeah, it's of high probability.

Sure. So when it doesn't happen, it's like, wow, I got away with it. Yeah. That's kind of how I feel about my whole life. Yeah, me too, dude. I'm like, holy hell, how did this happen? You're telling me, man. You're telling me.

So wait, okay, now let's go back to this generalizing Canadian. Let's go back to the Voyageurs. Yeah. Because you, well, see, I don't know. Like, you know, I get people who are, like, a lot of people don't think necessarily the Canadians are that different or it's another country. But it's a whole other country, a whole other history. And I don't fucking know it. I had Charlie Demers in here, and I'm learning about a lot of things.

Well, he's going to teach you a lot more about stuff than I will. I'm glad you learned stuff from him. I'm not asking you about socialism and the future of the planet. I have one Canadian joke. I've only ever heard, you know how there's like jokes of different cultures and stuff? I've only ever heard one Canadian joke, but I love it. What? Have you ever heard a Canadian joke?

Let's hear it. Other than Mike Wilmot? That guy's the best. He is. I love it. What? Have you ever heard a Canadian joke? Let's hear it. Other than Mike Wilmot? That guy's the best. He is. I love that guy. He is. I had him on my show playing Cousin Carl. I'll tell you about that. I'll tell you that story. We're going to work up to that. Here's the Canadian joke. We're going to work up to that. The only Canadian joke ever. How do you get

110 Canadians out of a swimming pool? How? You say, okay, everybody, time to get out of the pool. No crying kids. No one waiting back. No, just, everybody, time to get out of the pool. No crying kids. No one waiting back. Just, all right. Okay. It's time, I guess.

Bella wants us out of the pool. Well, that's all right. But you are, there is a general politeness, if not mondanity. Jesus, I never even heard that word. Is that actually a word? Because you can make words up, but I won't catch you on it. I think it is. Let's see if it fits.

Mundanity? Yeah, I think so. I'm not great with them. I throw them around sometimes. That sounds like more like an insult, like kind of, you come in here with, do you have the mundanity to declare? No, no, it's the conditioner quality of being mundane. I think

there is a general notion, and probably not inaccurate, that we're a little boring. In terms of people on the globe, Canadians are pretty boring. Yeah, but there's a lot of funny people up there, and I found the, like, but it's relative to the culture, right?

I used to think it was boring, and the reason is you don't have people shooting everybody everywhere. Yeah. There's not, you know, insane sort of, I think, what is socialized up there is sort of tempered the competitive nature of the capitalism up there. So people aren't fucking, you know. It's not unregulated capitalism. Right.

I figure I'm a capitalist. I love to make a buck. I loved to, ever since I was a little kid, I would try and sell stuff. And, you know, I would draw cartoons and try and sell them to my siblings and they're like why the hell would i buy your goddamn cartoons but i was always into like trying to make a buck you could just take it from your room i don't need but but the notion of unregulated capitalism seems weird to me i'm i'm for regulation weird what do you here's what it looks like it looks like america right now this is the end game of unregulated capitalism but you know here's the thing about like when you wander around america yeah um maybe i just

you know i don't wander around a lot of america yeah maybe i have a privilege of you sure but you know things are going about there it's not dystopian there's not you know bands of marauders you're not going the right area yeah that's true you got to go to the dystopian areas i'm too my i'm it's my mundanity that keeps me from seeking the adventure but wait but uh but is there a way to okay so we've kind of generalized canadians but all the canadians i've met are different they're like and there's a lot of funny people that come out of there who Who did I just interview? Oh, I interviewed, I've only got one more kid in the hall to interview.

I just interviewed Bruce. Yeah. Not to a couple weeks ago. He's a funny dude. He is. And a different way of funny. He's got a very original brain. Oh, yeah.

Original brain, sort of his own time zone, that guy. You're operating, you know, Mike McDonald, before he passed, I had him.

At that point, he was a little slower because he was sick. Yeah. But, you know, Mike McDonald before he passed. I had him. At that point, he was a little slower because he was sick. But, you know, funny. Howie, I did. Mike Myers, he's an animated guy. I don't know. I'm just naming Canadians. It's like when you have a black friend and you start saying, you know, all the black people you've met before.

It's like that with Canadians. Listen, some of my friends are Canadian. A few of them, yeah. But where did you grow up in this rural? I grew up in the, it's called Northern Saskatchewan, but it's really, if you look at Saskatchewan. I have no idea. Is that west, east, middle?

Right in the middle. It's above North Dakota and Montana. Oh, yeah. Okay, straight up. Straight up. Straight up. And it's just, it's boring in terms of geography. There's nothing there. In fact, the borders, there's, you know, generally borders between states or provinces or whatever

are defined by some river or a mountain. These are just two straight lines. Is there a sign? Is there a sign? Well, here, I guess. We'll draw the lines here. Is there a sign? For Saskatchewan? Yeah, you crossed it. You crossed over.

Congratulations, you're in Saskatchewan. So it's like, there's, you know, it's bigger than Texas, but it has less than a million people there. Or right around a million people. Right. And what kind of, what do you say, there's nothing up there? It's farmland. Oh, it's farmland? It's not tundra? It's workable land?

Well, this is why, so it's like a big rectangle. Yeah. The northern half is just bush and there's like 15 people living in the northern half of Saskatchewan. And then the bottom half is just flat farmland. And so all the, you know, 98% of the population of Saskatchewan is um kevin rooney one time he said i talked to him lately he said not in a long time i know but he always busted me up yeah but he said there was all these people it's a pie crust of canadians huddled along the warmth of the american border

and that's kind of what it is there's so i lived in what they call northern saskatchewan that's where i grew up but it was the Northern half of the Southern populated port. Oh, okay. So you're just at the edge of it. You could look out and see like there's nothing. Yeah. And that was another thing he was talking about. He was like, where you grew up, he said to me, what, as a kid, when you go to bed at

night, are you just staring out the window wondering what kind of frost monster is going to crawl down from the top of the world and eat you in your sleep? i was like that's such a great rooney sentence yeah but it's also were you not at all you don't know anything but i mean it's it's very you know there's like one person for every five square miles well what are we talking let's generalize some more these are these hill people are they decent people are they scary they scary people? Are they people that you see and you wave from a distance and go, what the fuck's that guy up to? Yeah. I mean, you don't run into a lot of people.

Yeah. So there's a wariness. Yeah. But it's not dangerous. You're like, holy God, there's another person. Yeah. Do you come from farmers? Yeah.

I was a townie. My parents were both farm people. And for the first three kids, I'm the seventh kid. Holy shit. How Catholic are you? We weren't at all. Really? It was just cold and nothing to do, I guess.

Let's have another one. Yeah, and no birth control up north. No. I'm sure that, in fact, my mother, I remember, I'm sure the last five of us were accidents, right? You had no money. Why do you want more kids? I remember saying to my mom, or she's saying to me,

we were watching some made-for-TV movie. I was home visiting her one time when I was, I think I was maybe 40 at this time. It's good you weren't living with her. No, I was back home visiting her, and she was watching some cheesy, like, made-for-TV movie. And at the act break, before we go to commercial,

the woman finds out, the star of the movie finds out she's pregnant. She doesn't want to be. Oh, no, that's the go-to commercial. And so my mother says, she says, yeah, I remember, you know, when I found out I was pregnant with you, I looked up to God, and I said, why, yeah, I remember when I found out I was pregnant with you. I looked up to God and I said, why, why, why?

Can you imagine? I said, mom, you're not supposed to tell the kid that. And she goes, what are you, 40? Did you not feel loved? She was like a real hard ass, hard farm woman. Had no time for. She goes, oh, did you not feel loved? How old was she at the time?

76. She was 36 when I was born. Fuck, you made me do math. I'm sorry. But it's weird, though, because it doesn't seem to be... The statute of limitations on what you can tell your children about things they shouldn't know about runs out somewhere in the 70s. Yeah, I think so. It starts coming out in the 70s when you're like, I didn't know how to love you when you were a child.

Wait, what? What? Wait a minute. Why? I didn't even know if I was going to. Yeah. Or if I'd be able to. Yeah, it's like, well, that answers a lot of questions for me. So, you were the last one?

Yeah. Oh, my God. I was seven of seven. Do you know all the other ones? Yeah, I can rattle off their names. Elna Elmer Velma, John Della Lloyd, and Brent. That's the thing. It's this weird hodgepodge of names, like a lot of unusual names. Elna Elmer Velma. That's the first three.'s this weird hodgepodge of names, like a lot of unusual names. Elna, Elmer, Velma. That's the first three.

Elna. I know one other Elna. Elna, Elmer, Velma. Then John. Yeah. Like a shift in gears. Yeah, yeah. And then back to Della after that.

And then Lloyd and Brent. Are these family names? I don't know. Like I asked- Velma? I know Elmer, I believe. Your brother. The oldest boy in the family, Elmer, was named after my dad fought in World War II and he

had a buddy there and his name was Elmer or something. I think that's what they named him. Yeah. I mean, it's like a, yeah, it's like it's a classic. Especially if your last name is Butt, then it's very Elmer Fudd close. Elmer Butt. Elmer Butt. But like, it's like one of those names where it's like, it was kind of like a working class

name. I don't know when but you don't hear it anymore at all yeah elmer is he still around yeah oh everyone's still with us yeah all my siblings are still that's great there was an eighth there was an eighth who died in infancy somewhere in the middle there between us oh really wayne so there would have been eight but he was a matter of i think so your a month old. So your mom was tough. Yeah. Was she like, where did she come from? Was she Canadian?

Depression era, hard farm woman. Really? But all from Canada for generations. Yeah, although she was born in Canada, but her family came from Nebraska. Scandinavians? I always said they moved from Nebraska to Saskatchewan because they wanted to gear down. They couldn't handle the hurly-burly pace of punk in Nebraska, so they came to Saskatchewan.

It was probably for more land. Well, it was. Saskatchewan, they were trying to populate, and so they were giving away very inexpensive land. Were they Scandinavian? You don't know? No. Irish was their heritage, and my father's heritage was English.

How'd they get to Canada? Why Canada? Well, with my mother's parents, it was the land giveaway. They could literally get three. They sold their farm in Nebraska and got like three times as much land. Right. Sure. That's how they did it here too.

They had all these, I think they were like Siberian or Scandinavian. No one knew how to farm that land up there. So they gave away the land to people from countries that had the type of weather yeah and you know that's why a lot of ukrainians came to saskatchewan oh yeah huh because they they it was very similar on the same winter wheat parallel or whatever yeah yeah and so a lot i was the only my buddies growing up they're almost all ukrainian stock oh yeah i was the uh we? I was the... Good food. I always said I was the visible minority because my shirt wasn't button crooked.

That was my anti-Ukrainian joke to my friends growing up. Knock in that community, the Ukrainians. They don't give a shit. I was the minority. You got to understand. Yeah. I was free to lash out. Did you get to eat at their house a lot, like pierogies?

Oh, yeah. Unbelievable food. Good food, right? And then they were... I was always like a little fat kid, and their parents would always say I was too skinny. I loved that. They'd be like, eat some more, have some more sausage, you're too skinny.

Well, what were they farming, man? Do you know? Changes by the market, you know, whatever. But there was a ton of wheat, a ton of canola or rapeseed. My hometown, Tisdale, Saskatchewan, had this, they just changed it as of a couple years ago. For 50 years or something, they had this town motto was the land of rape and honey. And so it was kind of this controversial thing and got them a lot of attention because they grew rapeseed and there were a lot of apiaries there.

So it was the land of rape and honey. And there was some heavy metal band that called their album the land of rape and honey. After seeing that on like a coffee mug. Sure. Why wouldn't you? I'd like one of those mugs. So they changed it, I guess. Yeah.

I'm assuming. Yeah. To something very mundanity. Mundane. Something. It's like where opportunity grows or something like that. Something very. Still a lot of bees up there.

I put in, I offered up, my suggestion was, welcome to Tisdale, Saskatchewan, home of the Pointless Fistfight. That was my, yeah. They didn't think it would be good. Still a lot of bees up there? Yeah, still a lot of bees. That was like all my life.

I think actually the year that I was born, my father took a job at the honey plant where they processed honey and he ran the boiler rooms and stuff there. Yeah, so you had plenty of honey growing up. Yeah, loads of honey. Like the raw stuff in the cone? I know.

Still, when I smell honey, like if you're in a store and there's a beeswax candle, it smells like my dad. Oh, really? I launch back. It reminds me of my dad. That's crazy. That's a unique and singular sense memory. Yeah, it is.

And it's so locked in. Like it's so tied to your olfactory senses and your memory. Yeah. And that smell. Beeswax. Beeswax. Smells like my dad. And he was just, you know, he just was a scrappy.

Didn't have anything invested in honey necessarily. It's just a job. No, just went to work. Yeah. But he. Ran the boiler room. I don't know what the hell they needed boilers for. To get the wax.

They probably, that's how they separated shit, right? They had to separate the wax from the honey. And there was just bees like just all around the factory. I remember, I have this very clear memory one time because I used to go with them sometime to work. Of course. And hang out in the summer, you know, summer holidays, home from school.

Because the boiler room was very, it seemed like the bat cave to me, you know? Yeah, yeah. One wall of it was just like dirt. It was like carved out of dirt. Really? And then there was like, you know, pipes and everything, like a mad scientist kind of,

like a bat cave. And so I used to like to go hang out there. And I, I have this clear memory of one time he was, he was telling me something. And as he was talking, he was going to put on, you know, he's putting on these big rubber gloves that he used to handle these hot barrels or whatever.

So he's talking to me, he puts on these gloves and then he takes the glove off. He doesn't even lose a sentence like, and about nine bees fly out of this glove. And he never even stopped talking. And I said to him, didn't you get stung there? He said,

Oh yeah, I got stung a lot then. But it was just like part of the day. Oh yeah, I got stung 50 times. A work hazard. So the bees are just there because it smells so good.

Yeah. Because they loved the way my dad smelled. Yeah. And to this day, many bees, when they smell that, they think of your father. They think of my father. Remember that, dude? But yeah, there was no room for, so, you know, Depression era, you know, my dad fought Nazis and the whole thing.

Did he? Yeah. Yeah. He fought in World War II, and my mom was Depression era farm woman. So there was no room for complaining growing up. Right. Did he? Yeah. He fought in World War II and my mom was a Depression-era farm woman, so there was no room for complaining growing up. Right. That's probably good. You know, you could grouse a little,

get your point across, but don't. I don't want to hear you complaining about a bunch of stuff. So you went ahead and made a career out of it. You found your voice. I don't even. Like, my comedy is very, it doesn't even come from a place of complaining. Like most comedy does. It's observational. Yeah, and it's really kind of, even come from a place of complaining, like most comedy does. I know, yeah, it's observational.

Yeah, and it's really kind of, it comes from a place of, here's what I don't get. Right. It's legitimately I'm puzzled by things. Right. So how does that, so you're the runt of this litter, and did you, like, were you, did you learn a lot from your brothers? Were you wearing

everyone else's clothes? How did that work? Yeah, all that stuff. Because we didn't have any money growing up. I don't know how much my dad was making. What, he was hauling down net for running the boiler rooms. But you had health care. Right? Everybody got taken care of. Yeah.

That's a lot of kids. You don't have seven kids without health care. So there's a lot of, yeah, there was a lot of hand-me-downs. And then my mother worked at the the local thrift store right so people would donate their clothes and then sometimes she would bring clothes something to be like this would fit you and i'd be like i'm gonna go to school that was always fear was like i was gonna go to school and some kid would be like god damn that's my shirt man that's the one we threw away yeah i got a new one now you're wearing it so So yeah, that puts you in the state of like,

you know, where you're verbally, you got to verbally be able to lash back at anybody who's going to make fun of you. Right. And I think that's a good background for developing comedy. Oh, absolutely. Guarded, defensiveness.

But the whole thing around the- Preemptive strike. We were all trying to make each other laugh growing up. That was their thing. What'd your siblings end up doing? Are they teachers? Very different things. Elmer.

Elmer with a good name. Elmer with a good name. Yeah, that's the Jay-Z song. He fixes watches and clocks. And he's one of the few people that knows how to, because he's kind of self-taught, and he's done this his whole adult life. People send him antique clocks from all over the place.

Really? Because he's the only dude who knows how to take apart a clock, figure it. It doesn't matter what the mechanism is. He takes it apart, figures out how it's supposed to work, what's wrong. So he's like a very specialized person. Like does he do museum

pieces and stuff and they send like is he world renowned the the the premier of the province of saskatchewan called him to come fix the uh clock that the province of quebec had given to saskatchewan as a gift in 1906 or something and was this is something like you see him around when you were a kid did you see him taking things apart? Yeah. Oh, that was his. And apparently my parents always said with him from the time he was a kid, if you gave him a little toy, just take it apart. Yeah. That was the first thing he'd do. He didn't want to play with it.

Take it apart, see how the hell it worked. I have none of that. We're all very different, I think, my siblings. I have no curiosity or understanding of how anything works. I don't want to know. How's he with cars? Yeah, he's awesome with cars. Really?

Two of my brothers are great with cars. Yeah. And all that kind of stuff. Yeah. And then me and another one of my brothers were like into writing and language and I play music. Yeah.

But we're all kind of an offspring of, you know, my father was like that. He was like the toughest dude you ever met. Yeah. But he also wrote poetry and played music. Yeah. And he was this really diverse. Eclectic cat.

Eclectic dude, yeah. Renaissance man. Yeah, he really was. And your mom just. So he like built our house with his bare hands. Oh, he did? You know, I don't know how. The only thing he wouldn't do is an electrical.

Because he said, that shit would kill you. There's no wiggle room there with that. Plumbing, things get wet if you mess up. But, you know, like electricity, you're done. Hire a pro for that. He's right. Yeah, yeah. He was a wise man.

And your mom just, what, she do? She raised the kids. That's a lot. You know, that's full-time. Was it like one every year? What are the... No, like every two or three years. There's seven of us spread out over 16 years.

Between the oldest and myself, there's 16 years. Oh. So how do you, like from that world, how do you... Because the comedy world in Canada, I know a lot of the guys and I know how it's kind of set up. But how do you start doing that I mean were you doing another job first my only real path in life was to do stand-up was the only thing that I was interested in doing it's the only thing that made sense to me outside of you know I had a dream of playing in the NHL being a goalie in the NHL but it was that was kind of a

pipe dream a hockey dream that's every Canadian kid's dream. Yeah. Right? And I knew, I was wise enough to know early on, this is not going to, I don't have the skill set. Right. But the only other thing, when I was 12, there used to be this talk show, afternoon talk show, that was videotaped live in Vancouver five days a week. This guy, Alan Hamill, was the host of the show.

He ended up marrying Suzanne Somers, and he left the show to go be her manager. And it was taken over by Alan Thicke, became the host of this afternoon talk show. He became sort of big here. And they had, yeah, yeah. The Thicke of the night. Remember, he had a nighttime talk show. I don't think it lasted that long. No.

And I think his son just had to pay the estate of Marvin Gaye a lot. Yeah. Nancy and I were just talking about that last night. But anyway, this afternoon talk show had maybe two or three days out of the week, they would have a stand-up comedian on it. And that was the first time, and I remember the first time I ever saw a stand-up comedian. We're like the same age. So you're talking, how old were you?

I was 12. So it was like 1978, something like that. Yeah. Yeah. And Kelly Monteith was the guy. Kelly Monteith. Yeah. Monteith?

Monteith. Yeah. Yeah. And I'd never seen, like I'd seen, you know, sketch comedy and sitcoms and guys being funny. Yeah. But just somebody walking out and standing there and talking and not really doing, he wasn't like doing knock knock jokes or something. He was just a guy out and standing there and talking. And not really doing, he wasn't like doing knock-knock jokes or something. He was just a guy talking about stuff and being hilarious.

I know. It's a great moment, isn't it? And it just changed my world. I was like, holy, that's an option? Yeah. Because that's what I do with my buddies now while we're waiting to get into the school. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to remember what he looks like.

He was like, he's an American guy, isn't he? Yeah, an American guy. And then he had a big success over in Britain for a while. Yeah. Yeah, he was the first dude that I saw. And I became obsessed. So every afternoon when I was home from school in the summer, the first thing, I would always make sure I was home at 1 o'clock in the afternoon

because they would say at the start of the show that they have a comedian on. Right. If they didn't, I'd bugger off and go play with my buddies. If they did, I'd be like, I'll be outger off and go play with my buddies. If they did, I'd be like, I'll be out in an hour. That became my path. Who else did you see?

Who else did you think was great? Because were there Canadian comics at that time? Yeah, yeah. So, so a lot of the guys were Toronto Yuck Yucks comedians, like Mike McDonald. That's where I first saw Mike McDonald.

Right. So this is the late 70s? Larry Horowitz. Late 70s? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So all those guys, you know, Lawrence Morgenstern. Oh, it's also the first place I saw Richard Lewis. I remember because he was like nobody else I'd ever seen. Yeah. He was just all over the map, and Alan Thicke didn't know what to make of him.

Right, right, yeah. But he was cracking everybody up. Yeah. And I was so enamored by this. Nothing seemed scripted with him. He was just like pulling ideas out of the air. He was so manic. Yeah.

And I remember after the show was over, going out to meet my buddies to, you know, play baseball. Yeah. Whatever the hell we were doing. I was trying to do his stuff to them and none of it made sense. Holding your head, wandering around. What the hell are you talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he still works that way.

Yeah. He definitely is out there on the wire. That was my window to stand-up. And then I did it for the first time in high school, like at a variety night, drama night. Yeah, yeah. I offered up doing stand-up, and that was weird to them. They were like, what do you mean?

Did you do it? Yeah, and it went well. It encouraged me. I did it the next year. And that kind of gave me the notion that, oh, well, maybe I can do this. Is that your only job? You never tried anything else? No, because I was like 17 then.

Right. And there weren't, when I was 21, there was a club that opened up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Yeah. Just two hours away. And I moved there to start it. But yeah, between leaving high school, like I knew I wasn't going to go to college or anything. So I worked as a drywaller. I worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the local newspaper and another newspaper nearby.

Yeah. You still draw? Yeah. Huh. You still do cartoons? Yeah. Really? You sell them?

We're doing, you know, no, well, in a weird way, I guess, because Corner Gas, the TV show that I did, we're now doing the animated version of that. We're in season two of the animated version. So we're, like actually when I left high school- Getting a lot of mileage out of Corner Gas. Holy man. It's the, I'm like, I'm the new Gilligan. I'm like the Canadian Gilligan.

I'm going to be opening boat shows and stuff. But yeah, we're doing the animated version now. Listen, when somebody comes to you and says, hey, do you money you want to continue making a living well i mean okay so you start out and you're at that club in saskatoon yeah that's where i first so like you got a local crew there and then you got the canadian dudes that come through but it's not a breslin club right yeah it was oh was it yeah it was one of the yeah because like no one works without his you've got to be knighted by mark breslin yeah at the time that's how it was. I feel like he emailed me or somebody did.

But whatever, I know he runs Canada. Like he's the guy that runs comedy in the entire country basically. Ran. Ran. Yeah. No more. It's not that way anymore, no. No.

But it was that way for sure. For years, right? The notion that you could, you know, and it was very propagandized to the comedians too. It was like, you can't make a living outside of, you know, you have to do whatever we say because you can't possibly make a living outside of. Outside of Yucks. Yeah. And so, and after about four, four and a half years of me working with Yucks, I'd kind of had enough. There was me and a group of another, like 12, 12 comedians at Walt.

We all left at once basically. And so we, you have that fear of like, oh my God, am I ever going to be able to make a buck? And within a week, this is God's honest truth, within a week of me leaving Yucks, I was booked on A&E's Comedy on the Road. And I had HBO phone me at home to come do their audition for the Young Comedians. And both conversations started with, is it true that you have nothing to do with Yuck Yucks anymore? Why?

Because that was a good- So it was like I was on their radar, but if I got to deal with Yucks, I'm not going to bother. Okay, so tell me about that because that's not really something that ever really happened here. There was like here it was more of a tradition.

I mean, the improvs became a chain, but from my recollection and not necessarily from my experience outside of catch a rising star and the improvs which came later you know the club owner was a very specific type yeah and you had to deal with each one independently yeah you know yeah some you had to party with some you had to be nice to some you had to listen to those are the ones i could never on. The ones that wanted to pay you in Coke. Yeah. I was like, yeah, I don't, I'm really into paying my rent.

Yeah. Well, yeah, they got a few guys. You know who the guys are, you know, who got paid in Coke. But so you're starting in Saskatoon, you're doing, what, they have an open mic? Yeah. Thursday night. It was the first night in February 1988. I remember the- Yeah.

And then you stay in that area and you're kind of building your act. For a matter of months. Building the act. Yeah. So I was going down an amateur night and it was going well. So I got offered a couple of weekend spots, paid spots. And then they were like, hey, there's this guy coming through, John Wing Jr., who I'd seen on TV.

I know Wing. Yeah, he's a great guy. I saw him do a Canadian night at the comedy store. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Was it like Canada Day, July 1st? I think it might have been. I think it might have been.

But anyway, they said, this guy's coming through, and we need an opening act for him. He's going to go do a show at Diggers in Prince Albert. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, goddamn, I'll'll digger so there were independent clubs at that time there were independent clubs at that time outside of the well it was like a one but it was a one-nighter that was booked through yucks right so if you were the headliner that was coming in to play that club he really had it under wraps so he had so he had the clubs and he had the fucking one-nighters out in the boonies, right? Yeah, yeah. So he'd book a night at a bar or a hall and it would be a weekly gig. It was a one-nighter, but it was still Breslin.

Yeah. So you would, you know, you're booked to play the club Thursday, Friday, Saturday, let's say. And then maybe, you know, the Tuesday, Wednesday before before that you'd come into town you'd do you go drive out to the battleford and prince elvis you do these little towns all breslin gigs yeah so the payoff was you could do the club yeah yeah if you do this you can open at the club too yeah right but so what so there were just no other options didn't and no one would try to start clubs outside of breslin people would try to start clubs. And then he forbids you from working. Let's put it this way. This is all, for legal reasons,

this is my recollection of how it went down. Yeah. Right? Okay. Does that cover me legally? Sure. This is also the no one gives a shit anymore clause. Yeah, exactly. But, you know, as I recall,

you, yeah, you were basically told that you, you can't work for anybody that, you know, that was the one place that would book you. So other places would, other people would try to start comedy clubs, but they had no, they had very limited access to talent. To Canadian talent. Yeah. Because like, right. So because you're.

And then even out of towners, like if somebody like yourself wanted to come through and play that club, you would, the notion was, as I recall, you would be forbidden from playing. And that was the big change. So you don't want to piss off the big change so you could play one. Right.

But I think as a testament to the good thing that Breslin did was he was pretty loyal to Canadian comics. I mean, it wasn't easy for American acts to do yucks for a while, right? I mean, it was mostly Canadian acts, no? Yeah, but I don't know how much loyalty plays into that as opposed to just grabbing, oh, here's some schnooks off the street who will work for a soda. Well, I guess so, but he did give you the stages. Yeah, so it's one of those things. It's like, yeah. How long did the Iron Fist of Breslin?

Well, if Yuck started in the 70s, and then so early 90s, I was living in Toronto by this time, Toronto Comic, right? Yeah. Because I started in Saskatoon, but within months I'd moved to Calgary, which was the kind of booking center for Western Canada. And then I was there for months. And then, uh,

another comedian by the name of Jamie Davis just called me up out of the blue. I barely knew him. I had met him once at a comedy competition. He said, listen, I'm going to Toronto. I, you should hop in my car and come with me because you should be seen by the people

who booked the clubs out there. Laugh Resort? No, this was pre-Laugh Resort. So I went out to Toronto. So I was living in Toronto. Long story short, I worked in the Yucks organization for about four years and then kind of had it. But there were other clubs in Toronto.

Yeah, so there was, at the time, myself and 12 other comedians basically said, we're leaving all at once. And there was another club that had started up a little before that called the Laugh Resort. And now suddenly they had the talent pool that they had previously, as well as this new talent pool of 12 other comics that they didn't have access to before. And it gave them enough of a talent pool to maintain an existence. And that was the beginning of the loosening of the iron glove.

Of the iron, the fist of Breslin. The Breslin iron fist of funny. Yeah, I didn't work yucks forever. I mean, I'd go up and do Montreal and do the Jimmys and go to these festivals. And I did the Laugh Resort. I didn't work a yuck yucks forever until like not too long ago I did that downtown one and I don't even remember what town was it much is it Toronto yeah yeah yeah so yeah I mean I like I said I haven't played I haven't I haven't been within the that organization since the early

90s so I don't even really know how it works anymore. Oh, so you're out out. Yeah, I mean, from the time I left. He wouldn't put you back, not even now, as big an actor as you are? Oh, no, for sure. I would always get, you know, like other headline comics that played his club, would all just come to me and go, listen, I think I could get you back into the room. I'd be like, why the hell am I want to? I'm the mind. Why the hell am I playing theaters?

Why the hell am I? Why would I go back there? But the theater shift came after the show, I imagine. Yeah. So there was other independent clubs, Rumors in Winnipeg and Laugh Resort. And there were clubs you could go around and make a living. Rumors is still around, right? Yeah, yeah.

It's a good club. Is it? I've done the Winnipeg Comedy Festival. And that was the only time I was in Winnipeg. Rumors is still around, right? Yeah, yeah. It's a good club. Is it? I've done the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, and that was the only time I was in Winnipeg. Rumors is a great club. It's kind of everything you want in a comedy club. It's that basement, low ceiling. Oh, yeah.

Fantastic sight lines, no pillars. It's like kind of an ideal. Really? The back of the room is tiered up, you know, on that second level. And it seats like whatever, 275 or 300 people or something so it's really huh fantastic setup i i think the last time i saw you actually maybe not we played

a curling rink that's exactly right then that was the gala in victoria victoria the blue blue bridge comedy festival yeah that was the big show because you could pack a lot of people in the curling rink. That festival? Yeah, that still goes on. I think that was like, didn't we do like the first one? I think it might have been. But the curling rink was terrible. I was watching.

Well, it was very echoey, right? Yeah, you couldn't hear. You couldn't time yourself. I was watching other people and they'd say something on the stage like three seconds later. You'd hear it in the back and then it would bounce off the fucking concrete. It's just not a good setup. Are they still playing? If there's any comedy bookers out there, curling arenas.

Not great. Not great. Are they still using that for the gala? I don't know. I would hope not. I couldn't say. It was one of the worst memories of my life. But you did well.

You did well. I do not remember doing well. Yeah, because you couldn't hear their laughter the same way you can hear your own voice. Couldn't hear anything. Everything was happening a second or two after it happened. Yeah, it is very kind of surreal. So you've got to disjoint yourself from what you're saying and what you're hearing. Yeah.

You've got to be two different things. Great. That's a whole other skill I need to, yeah, that's what I got to, if you're playing a curling ring. If you want to work, Victoria, my friend. I just remember seeing you and we had a long conversation about the Cheetos type of snack. Oh, yeah, Cheezies. Hawkins Cheezies. Hawkins Cheezies.

They're in my rider when I travel. Hawkins Cheezies. Yeah, you schooled me on Hawkins Cheezies. Because they're hard, crunchy. They are. They're cornmeal based. Yeah, they're very good. This is exactly the pitch you gave me.

Go on. They're made with real Canadian cheddar. Yeah. Not like some kind of weird chemical cheese. Yeah. Very high level of sodium. Yeah. But I think it's the crunchy thing.

They're like more satisfying Cheetos because you can taste that they're real cheese and it's real cornmeal. Yeah, it's real cornmeal. It's very crunchy. Yeah, you had me going on them. I'm not even that kind of. I should have, like as a good guest, it's real corn meal. It's very crunchy. Yeah, you had me going on them. Like I was, and I'm not even that kind of. I should have like, as a good guest, I should have thought to bring some down for you. Yeah, I mean, I'm not even a, you know,

a bag snack kind of guy. I'm not a chipser. What I recall of that situation was you were very begrudgingly, you didn't want to like the Cheezys. You didn't want to like the Canadian snack. You were like, I don't know about this. Yeah.

And then you could see the resolve in your face dwindling with each morsel. You were like finally like God damn these are pretty good. Yeah man. You didn't want to like the Canadian snack. So okay so you leave Breslin then you come down

here and you didn't get the HBO Young Communities but you did do comedy on the road with who? Beiner? Who was hosting it? Yeah John Beiner and i ended up later touring with john beiner in canada yeah he came through actually the guy who owned uh rumors comedy club he since passed away now but he he put together this show that was three canadian comedians opening for John Biner. Yeah. Well, John Biner worked as the host, really, what it was. And then he would put these three. Yeah. And he just took a bath on the tour, I remember. No one cared about John Biner?

Well, it was like, it wasn't that, I said to him on the tour, I said, I don't know who the hell you kind of think we are here. Who was it? It was me and John Rogers. Oh, yeah. I remember him. Me and John Rogers. I and, um, uh,

me and John Rogers. And I don't remember anything other than like, why is this guy? And Derek Edwards was the other guy on the tour. Do you ever see him? He's a Canadian dude who never ventured down here. Really? I don't know if I've seen him.

He, he's maybe, uh, the funniest dude walking the planet. No shit. Derek Edwards. Let me go. I gotta look at his face.

He's one of those guys. I remember when I did A&E's comedy on the road. Yeah. Um, that same year, he was on another, you know, they would take multiple nights. Yeah.

And so he was on it and you could see all the US managers snap to attention when Derek started talking. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And they were like, who the hell is this guy? Yeah, how's he doing?

But I don't think he's very ambitious. You know, he's like this slow talking Northern Ontario dude who just wants to be out at the cabin, really. That's all he wants in life. So I don't think-

Well, some dudes, if you get too comfortable, you stay there. What do you got to make your life miserable? Well, you get popular there, you want to come here and be nobody? Yeah. I think his notion was just, I want to make enough money doing stand-up

that I can go out to the cabin every year. Yeah. I mean, it's a nice one. And so he tours and plays theaters in Canada. And then he takes some time off cabin every year. Yeah. I mean, it's a nice one. And so he tours and plays theaters in Canada. And then he takes some time off. It's so funny. Yeah. And he's one of those guys that, you know,

I always said there's people who can be amazingly successful and not work that hard just because of their talent. Right. And then there are other people that maybe aren't that talented, but they can be successful because they just work harder than everybody. And then you get some people that are crazy talented who work really hard.

Yeah. And that's what he was like. He worked, he wasn't, I don't think he had great ambitions. Right. I'm talking like he's dead.

He doesn't have great ambitions, I don't think, other than he wants his act to be really good. Right. So that dude, he had so much natural ability to be funny

and then you'd see him at, you know, middle of the afternoon at a coffee shop with his notebook just hammering away at jokes. And you're like, God damn. You got to work that hard and be that funny? And he made a good life for himself. Yeah, yeah.

Without having to, you know, be the biggest star in the world. Yeah. Look him up sometime, Derek Edwards. I'd like to. I'm surprised I haven't seen him. He's good buddies with Wilmot. Him and Wilmot were like peas Are there cabins near each other? They would leave their wives behind,

go up into the bush and do God knows what. Yeah. And just come back haggard. What do you mean God knows what? I know Wilmot. I've seen him at festivals. I know exactly what he's doing. He's like a health nut now.

Is he? Good. Yeah. Probably had to be. Yeah, I think he had a bit of a health scare And then now He runs Oh good

He doesn't smoke I don't think he drinks He quit smoking and drinking Yeah Mike And he's like He probably weighs the same as you Well he's like about my age

Our age A little older than you right But he looked like he was No he was younger than me But he just Younger than me Right he looked like He looked

Hardcore Oh yeah Just talk like that all the time he was like that great kind of fun drunk uncle yeah hey you guys are so funny yeah so funny still funny healthy oh yeah he killed and he's so funny yeah oh that's great that he's uh he took he turned around yeah well i think he uh i don the details. I think, I get the vibe he had a health scare. Sure. And said, I got to turn this train around.

Good for him. And then he's got so much, he's got that intestinal fortitude to do it. Yeah, that's great. I don't know if I would. I think I'd be like, ah, you know, I should just lay down and die then. No, you wouldn't. I'm not going to go running. No, I know.

I know. I mean, you assume that, but you know, when the blood tests come back and it's sort of like, you know, you've got about one working heart valve, you're going to be like, all right, that's in my family too. The heart thing. That's what I got to look out for.

Well, are you getting checked up? Yeah. I started seeing a cardiologist preemptively to stay on top of, because that's my family's thing. How's your, what is it? Cholesterol or just,

uh, I don't know what it is. Yeah. I don't know what it is. My dad died at 68. All his brothers all died, you know, quite young, except for one of them. So you're on the statins?

No, I'm not on anything. Everything's working fine. Wow, that's good. I'm just, you know, and I quit smoking years ago. I smoked for up until, I smoked for 20 years. Yeah. I started when I was 17. When I was 27, I realized I've been smoking for 10 years

and I made a promise to myself, I won't smoke more than 20. Yeah. And so I took it right to the 20 years 37 to the day of so you do comedy on the road then you come back so how does like it's it's always been my assumption probably wrong so wrongfully uh that that if you're talented and you work hard in Canada eventually they'll give you a show. At least for a season. Socialized entertainment. Yeah. You know, there's, I know you're being kind of facetious, but there is a, there's not, it's not

that cut and dry. Right. But the notion is there, you know, it's a small pool of talent. And if you, if you, you know, are able to attain some level of success, they'll cry you out sometimes on things. But that's not, there's certainly not a blanket statement because there are a million really

funny Canadian guys who headline clubs and do great. And, you know, there was a time when, you know, the big knock against Canadian broadcasters was you couldn't get them to come out to the, I know like for me, the big difference between American and Canadian networks as a young comedian, when I was starting out, like when I was like 25, I had a lot of heat.

People were like, oh, this kid's a funny young kid from Canada. Yeah. And so the difference between American and Canadian executives, I couldn't get a meeting with Canadian exec, television executives and they knew who I was. I was like supposed to be the hot guy and I couldn't get to me. Come down to LA. I had meetings with NBC, CBS and ABC. Because they knew who I was. I was supposed to be the hot guy and I couldn't get to meet. Come down to LA, I had meetings with NBC, CBS, and ABC. Because they want the new guy. And they were all like, okay, who the hell are you? What do you do? We don't know anything about you. What's your deal? They don't want to miss out on- Right, exactly. We hear you're hot.

There's some rumor you can do something. What is it? Can I make a buck off it? I had meetings at these big networks. And what happened? And I well, I mean, nothing came of it, but they, you know, they took me in. They had me read for stuff and all that kind of, and I was like, why the hell? And even a year, it took years and years later before I finally pitched a show that got sold in Canada. But what's the answer to that?

Why the hell was it like that? I think it came down to individuals. I think that during that time, there was a lot of complacent executives who what was on tv at that time what were you guys watching what were you guys jealous watching american television yeah mostly no great canadian comedies kids in the hall was the big thing but that was you know lauren michaels produced that that was. But that was a big thing when we were grownups already. Yeah.

Right? Yeah. In our 20s. Yeah. Yeah. So how did it pan out? Like what? So you got, you come down here, you didn't get any traction and you're still doing clubs.

Well, I never really came to, I mean, I came down here for a matter of a few months. Right. To meet and shit. But I came back to Canada. I was busy. I was, the thing was, I just had a good live. I was making a living. Headlining. Playing clubs, you know. I was booked every week and I was busy. I was, the thing was, I just had a good, I was making a living playing clubs,

you know, I was booked every week and I was, so. How did it run? Like, so you go back to places three times a year?

Yeah, that kind of thing. Right, and there was about 20 places and that was your year? Yeah. Right. And a lot of one-nighters.

Sure. It was a good number of one-nighters. So, and I started doing a lot of corporate shows. Oh yeah? So I was just busy and you know, cause

I can work very clean for, I mostly work clean. I don't have a, it was never a conscious decision to, but, and then the weird thing now is because I've worked clean for so long, mainly people assume I'm a clean. So now I'll go. And then I had this success on TV with the show that the whole family could enjoy.

Really? Right. It was a primetime enjoy, really. Yeah, right. It was a primetime sitcom. But, you know. So now I will go do a show and there'll be, I look down and somebody's got their eight-year-old kid in the front row. And it's like, it's a stand-up show. It's the worst. It's the worst.

And yeah, I'm not filthy, but I might be talking about my taxes. I was in Vancouver and some woman brought a baby. And that turned into a whole and that turned into a whole turned into a very weird story. So how do you develop a show? So you come up with Corner Gas. The way it worked for me was

I was just going about my business doing stand-up and this director I know, David Story, who had directed a one-off comedy thing that I had done. He came to me. He called me up. He said, look, I'm in Vancouver.

Let's go for coffee. I want to talk to you about something. You were living in Vancouver? Yeah. I've lived in Vancouver for about 26 years or something. You live in Vancouver now? Yeah. The last 26 years or so. I didn't realize that.

I love Vancouver. Yeah. Why didn't I realize that? Did I see you in Vancouver? I don't know. You're a busy guy. I don't know. I saw you once in Vancouver. Yeah. Why didn't I realize that? Did I see you in Vancouver? You're a busy guy. I don't know. I saw you once in Vancouver at-

Oh, yeah. I was coming back from lunch with Kindler during the festival there. Oh, yeah. And we bumped into each other. But anyway, so this director says, let's go for coffee. I want to talk to you about something.

He says, I've been talking to the network. Yeah. And they want to know if you have any show ideas. Because I had just done, I'd been nominated for best comedy performance for the stand-up show I'd done on the CTV network. Right. And so they were kind of, oh, he's a funny guy. He just got some heat with the special. Yeah.

Nominated for an award. So this director had been talking to the network about some of his show ideas. They weren't keen on his show ideas, but they said, you know, you know Brent Bott. Yeah. Does he have any show ideas? So he came to me and said, do you have any show ideas? I said, well, the only thing that I wrote this treatment for a show about a gas station in the middle of Saskatchewan, but I can't imagine they'd be interested in that.

He said, well, I'll talk to them about it. He came back and said, yeah, they're interested. So flush it out a bit. So I flushed it out some more. You know, I had this four page treatment. I hammered it out some more. I had this four-page treatment. I hammered it out more, made it more detailed. Yeah. I kept thinking they were going to not be interested.

It was like it was just set in an isolated gas station. Yeah, the notion was it was just, it's kind of like, for me, the notion, well, what would my life be like if I hadn't pursued show business? I don't really have any marketable skills. I used to hang out at the gas station a lot. Yeah. And I thought that's probably the gas station a lot. Yeah.

And I thought, that's probably what I'd be doing. So it's kind of premised on the life of, if I hadn't pursued comedy, I would be running the gas station in a small rural Saskatchewan town. And that gas station has a little grocery and stuff? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And then there's a coffee shop attached. Okay, there you go. And so the coffee shop had always been run by this woman named Ruby. She passed away, and she willed it to her niece who is from Toronto and she comes out to this small rural town. So it's kind of a fish out of water.

Sure, but you're a local. Yeah, I'm a local. She's the only fish out of the restaurant. And it's like you're, is there a romance or is it like the Ted Danson thing where you're just, there's a romantic tension between you two. Yeah, romantic tension between you two. Yeah. Romantic tension between the two. And then we did six years of that.

And then we did a movie. And at the end of the movie, you find out that my character and her have been dating for two years and nobody in town knows it. It kind of goes against the trope of everybody knows everybody's business in a small town. Right. Everybody's like, what the hell are you guys doing? So the entire country was invested in this. Like this is, this is a unique thing

because this is a huge, this is a huge show. There are no Canadian hit shows. That's always been the rule, right? No, but like, I don't know the show. No, I didn't. But like in the sense that like

it was a huge success in Canada. You were on a series for six years. And we were, it's the only time in history that the number one comedy in Canada wasn't from America. It was the only, that's for me, that's the, I'm very proud of that. We were actually the number one.

We weren't the number one Canadian comedy. We were the number one comedy. Yeah. We were ahead of, you know, all the big. People were probably proud almost. There's probably a national sense of pride. It seems to be like when people talk about it. Yeah.

You know. Because these were Canadian people. Yeah. Yeah. But I think one of the reasons it had success or connected with people is that, you know, we weren't hiding the fact that we were Canadian, which some shows would do. Right. They would be nebulous as to where they were to try and appeal to a US market.

Right. We weren't that. We said we were Saskatchewan. Yeah. But that's all. It was never about being there, really. It was never about Saskatchewan. People would say, it's a show about Saskatchewan.

You go, no, it's not. It's a show about. And that's why it had this appeal. It played in 26 countries. It did? Yeah. You know, we had guys. Yeah.

I would have guys from Swedeneden say it's just like the village i grew up in sweden right i would have guys from manhattan say this is just like my neighborhood uh-huh because it had a real universality it had a run here yeah it came on wgn superstation okay for a couple years or something and now it's on it's right as of so now it's in 60 countries, the original series, not the animated one, although we're hoping that that'll launch in the US soon. The original 107 episodes plays on Amazon Prime.

So, and it's taken off there. No shit. It's, the numbers are, you know, you have experts going into it who are saying like, you could do, expect X amount, X amount. It's blowing all those experts out of the water. So do you get, you still get the residuals? No, we don't really do a residual system in Canada.

Ah. Which for, in 99% of the time, that's a good system. They do a buyout system. Yeah. The only time it's not a real good system is when you have a hit. Yeah. So now you just sit there and watch it have this life. But you, you know, you just kind of, I've done well by the show.

You know, once it's a hit show, you know, you know, you negotiate your fees forward instead of backward as well. No, I get it. But like, you know, here, I guess. Yeah. I'll never be Jennifer Aniston. This is one of the appeals of coming to the States is that, you know, Jerry Seinfeld's a billionaire.

Yeah. And I have no problem paying my hydro bill. That's the difference between, that's Canadian success. Yeah. So, okay. So this ran for five or six years. It did a hundred and how many? Six seasons, 107 episodes.

And then I wrapped it up. The network wanted more shows, but I was like, we've got to do something else. Yeah. We're all getting older. So five years later, the idea was let's come back a few years later and do a movie. And that'll be the cherry on top. Yeah. So we did that.

We did the movie. Was it successful? Theatrical release and everything. And then it was like the most watched. It got the award that year for most eyeballs or whatever. Right. Yeah. And so the movie did great.

See, that's where we call those ratings. Yeah. But we don't know the technical term of it. We just call it. Eyeballs. Yeah, but we don't know the technical term of it. We're just calling it. I love it. But it sold out theaters.

Like my brother called me. I was like, I can't get into your goddamn movie. And he was all mad. Elmer? Lloyd. Okay. And so anyway, and the theaters, it was supposed to have a limited run. The success was it was drawing enough numbers of theaters negotiated with the network to have a longer window so we could keep it in theaters longer.

It did great business. And so then they, so then the network, you know, called me up again and said, listen, there's clearly still an appetite. Do you want to do something? You want to do more episodes? And I just didn't think it was the right thing. Me and my partners, we didn't think it was right to just go back and do more episodes. But you like the idea of having a gig so what could we do differently and i i have this history of illustrating and cartooning yeah and we had talked about we had kicked around the notion of doing an

animated scene in one of the episodes and so you know we said well what if we did an animated version of the show let's Let's kick that idea around. And so I was in the fortunate position to know a guy named Norm Hiscock. Do you know Norm Hiscock? He's a comedy writer. I feel like I've heard his name. He wrote in Kids in the Hall on Saturday Night Live and everything. He was one of the writers on Corner Gas.

Yeah. And he was a writer on King of the Hill. So here's a guy who knows our show and knows primetime animation. Right. So I went to him right away and I said, listen. Is he Canadian? Yeah. Yeah. So here's a guy who knows our show. Yeah. And knows primetime animation. Right. So I went to him right away and I said, listen. Are you Canadian? Yeah. Yeah.

I said, we're thinking about doing an animated version of Corner Gas, primetime animated. Yeah. What would we change? What would we do different? And he just emphatically said, don't do anything different. This is the perfect show to animate.

Yeah. Just let's, so we brought him on to help develop the show to make an animated show. And where's that at now? How amazing. So season one was big hit. Broke the record for, what did you say? Ratings?

Eyeballs. Eyeballing? Yeah, eyeballs. The most people. Most eyeballs? We broke Charlie Sheen's record on the Comedy Network. The biggest debut of a show was Anger Management. Uh-huh.

And so we got that. Now it's Corner Gas Animated. That was built to syndicate globally and no one watches it here. So we, anyway,

it's a big hit and so we got the second season. We're in the works of that now. So that's amazing. Like, it's like,

and in Canada, I guess, well, you have all the stuff. You have streaming and everything else, but there's still a pretty lively,

just basic TV audience like for cbc stuff or is it yeah you know i think so it's the it's across the board it's declining like everywhere else yeah it's a network show i mean the animated version airs on cable first on the comedy network which is like the canadian version of comedy central yeah comedy network there's their first and then airs in the summer on the main network, CTV. So you. And then it streams in Canada on Crave, which is a Canadian streaming service.

Yeah. But outside of Canada, it's on Amazon Prime. I got to watch, now I know where to watch it. But not the, the animated isn't streaming outside Canada yet. Okay. Only the original. The original is on Amazon Prime.

Yeah. The original Corner Gas. Now, what was Hiccups? Hiccups was the follow-up. After I kind of said, we don't want to do any more Corner Gas, they said, well, would you like to do another show? You're a bonafide comedy star. Yeah, let's see if you can do it again.

Yeah. So, yeah, so we did, I came up with this other idea for a show called Hiccups, which is about a child, a very popular children's book author who has emotional issues. She has anger management issues and other emotional hiccups. And so that's what we did next. We did the series with that. That's with your wife? Yeah. So Nancy Robertson, who was an actor that we hired to come on Corner Gas and play the retail assistant Wanda on Corner Gas,

she and I headed off during the filming of Corner Gas. That's nice. And we ended up getting married. Show business couple. Yeah. Canadian power show business couple. Power couple. Yeah. Damn straight.

Show business power couple. Now tell me about the Peter Ustinov Award. The Peter Ustinov Award is an award that the Comedy Network gives out at the BAMF Television Award, I guess. And it signifies a significant body of comedic work. Like a lifetime achievement type of deal. Yeah. And you got type of deal. Yeah. And you got one of those. Yeah.

Was Peter Ustinov Canadian? No, but he spent a lot of time in Canada. Oh. He loved Canada. He always said Toronto is like if New York was run by the Swiss. That was his famous line. So, like, all said, you know, you've got a great life and a great career, but here in the States, you know, you've got a great life and a great career and, and, and, but here in the

States, you know, you're fairly obscure. Yeah. You know, I know you from working in Canada, but is that ever something that, that haunts you in any way? Do you wish that, uh, cause I know there are cats that, you know, come down and for even from England or forever, and they try to get some traction here and they just, they really want it and it doesn't necessarily happen. Do you have that experience? No, not really. I mean, I would, I would love to be a huge, it's a big market. It'd be big money if I was a big star here. Stand up, yeah.

But I, when I came down to LA, I kind of did that, I chased the showbiz thing for about six months down here. Yeah. And there was real palpable opportunity. You could see it. And I had some, I had interest from managers. Jimmy Miller was like a big champion of me for a long time, really helped me out.

And, um, and Mike McDonald, God bless him. He, he introduced me to club owners and stuff. And he was a big supporter. Um, but what I found was when I was down here, I, I, it's hard to put my finger on it. If I was myself on stage, it would go okay. Yeah. But I think, I think I have a strange Canadian accent where it's, it's not like real strong East coast Canadian accent or something. It's not that real kind of tight Ontario accent.

Yeah. It's not real Fargo-esque. Right. It's the closest thing that like. Midwestern. Yeah. Like when I watched Fargo, I couldn't stop laughing because everybody just sounded like my

dad. Yeah. My dad would like, especially on the phone when the, uh when the William H. Macy character would be on the phone. Yeah. I just, my father on the phone, this was him all the time. Oh yeah. Right. Real good.

Yeah. Real good then. Okay. Right. Yeah. All right then. Real good. Oh yeah.

Real good. Right then. So I was just cracking up during Fargo. But I think my accent. Was it obstacle? Obstacle was just different up during Fargo. But I think my accent, was it obstacle? Was just different enough that people, they were spending the whole time in my act going, where the fuck is this guy from? Right, right.

It was not American. Yeah. But they couldn't figure out where. But it wasn't like a thick Irish brogue. It wasn't a caricature. It wasn't Yakov Smirnoff. Right. So it was, and if I would dial it back and talk more American.

Yeah. I would do much better. Yeah. But I didn't enjoy it so much. Right. I felt I wasn't being myself. Sure. I felt I wasn't being, the whole time I was on stage,

it was just consciously, it was like you playing the Victoria curling rink. You're like, you're a heady, it's not natural. And so I, and then eventually I didn't have the paperwork to stay here and work. Right. So I kind of had to make the decision, what am I going to do? Am I going to pursue this? And it kind of coincided with me getting a lot of traction in Canada and being busy.

Yeah. And I kind of feel like the decision was made for me a bit. And I just think internally there's part of me that as a little kid, I always, because there wasn't a lot of Canadian TV and I only grew up with two channels, I'd get CBC and CTV and it was mostly American shows. Yeah.

And if I ever saw anything Canadian, especially Canadian comedic, I was raptured by it and I wanted more of it. And so I grew up kind of wanting to make canadian comedy yeah and as like a patriotic thing something i didn't have much of growing up sure and then people always said well you can't we don't do sitcoms in canada i always said well there's no reason we couldn't i mean i get them i get the economics of it a hit show in the states will pay for 50 failures yeah right we don't have that economic yeah you get one shot yeah one shot every five years at the sitcom and then so the the you

know you got about a thousand and who writes a thousand so we just happened to come up with a show that um worked the show really liked. Well, yeah, congratulations. So now you're doing the animated thing, and you're on the road a lot still? Yeah. You do theaters. You're a star in Canada. How often you got to turn over your hour?

What are you generating? How often should I turn it over or do I turn it over? Well, I mean, I have to assume. I don't. I have spent so much time on production and writing scripts for the animated show now that I can't turn my act over as much as I would like. But does that eat at you? I can't deal with it.

Or you go out, you were just there like six months ago, and you go out with the same act? It bothers me until you go out and it's working. If it gets big laughs, then you forget all about it. And so far, it keeps working. I mean, I've been doing stand-up for 30 some years. I got a big tickle trunk as we would say in Canada of material.

Yeah. We used to have a show in Canada called Mr. Dress Up. It was like Mr. Rogers. Yeah. And he had a tickle trunk. A tickle trunk. Yeah, where he'd pull costumes out

and let's see what's in the tickle trunk. Well, it's funny though when you're sort of like, you know, when I did that bit, people didn't really know me. So there's a lot of people that have never heard that bit. Yeah, well, there is some of that. Sure. Yeah, I mean, you're sort of like, you know, when I did that bit, people didn't really know me. So there's a lot of people that have never heard that bit.

Yeah, well, there is some of that. Sure. Yeah, I mean, you're like, that was a great bit. I spent six months making that bit work, and then I put it on TV, and I fucking buried it. I'm pulling that out. You can retool some stuff. Like, I just started redoing. I was going through an old notebook of mine because I had this concern.

I was like, God damn, I got to start pulling some different stuff out. Yeah. Because I was playing a show at this casino where i kind of come back every year yeah and i was like ah i think they're going to start hating me if i don't come up with something new so i was going through a notebook and i this is when it kind of hit me sometimes you see a reference and you realize how long you've been doing it i had a bit in my act about push button phones sure and i was I was like, holy Jesus. How long have I been doing this? Yeah.

Anyway, I ended up kind of retooling that into being a bit about how long I've been doing stand-up. Sure. Oh, great. And I kind of told that story, but I had a bit in my act about push button phones. And you could do the bit. So it's a bit of a cheat kind of, but it works. Sure. I like the story of it.

Yeah, yeah. As long as there's some kind of authentic grain to it. Oh, yeah. And as you get older, you get more grounded in yourself and you can talk a little freer about yourself. Yeah, and I think you have, for good or bad, I think you start to get less hung up on all those little kind of anxieties. little kind of yeah anxieties and yeah you're certainly i have found that like i don't have the same fears but that one fear of repeating myself is is a real one you know like i and then you start to realize like well like just even five years ago i wasn't selling the amount of tickets i've been selling now and like you you think all these people have listened to every

one of my records or seen any of my crazys? You're crazy. There's one special that you can't even find the fucking thing. Yeah. So I'll fold that in, man. Yeah. Don't let that go. No, I know.

It's like, it is kind of crazy. But then like, because of that pressure I put on myself, meself. That thick Irish bro that Marc Maron is known for.

You know, I eventually somehow churn out, you know, a good new hour every year and a half or two years just out of compulsion but is it really good though mark it gets there it gets there it gets but that's the that's the two there's one of the one of the insecurities that i think all stand-ups have especially if you you know once you've had some success and you're a guy who can go out and get big laughs right you're that guy yeah you're used to some success and you're a guy who can go out and get big laughs. Right. You're that guy. Yeah. And you're used to it.

Yeah. And you're hooked on that. Right. Now you go out and you got a bunch of new stuff and it's maybe not as honed. Yeah. It doesn't have 10 years in the clubs behind it. And it's not getting the laughs you're used to. You just bail on it.

Yeah. You throw down a smoke pellet and haul out the old bits. Yeah. I don't do that as much because what I'll do is i'll do like uh i'll get a small space and do like a workshop like a uh instead of doing it on the road i'll do it at a like a residency at a theater once a week you know for a month or two where i'll just like you know have make sure it's my fans low expectations i'll ramble through an hour and a half and try to keep breaking it down because you try to kind of yeah yeah once you start sandwiching those

half-baked bits into the well-worn ones you know you can always another great canadian snack the half-baked bits if you ever get a chance to made with real canadian bits yeah you know that's just the job but no matter what i'm doing i do that too like i you know vancouver's got a great club called the comedy mix and yeah you know it's not a big club it's all that little play that's great yeah i'll go down there and work on new bits It's a little club. Oh, that little place. That's great. Yeah, it's a little club. So I'll go down there and work on new bits. That's the way to do it, right?

That's fantastic. And then no expectations. No one's paying the big bread. And I pop up unannounced, so nobody has paid a ticket to see me. I just come up and do 10 or 15 minutes of new stuff. Isn't that rewarding, though? Even if it doesn't work as good? Yeah. Because I miss playing the clubs.

Well, and the other thing about that is, is that like, you know, there is that thing where you have bits that, you know, work, but then you're doing the new bits and they're not quite there yet. But that first time that, you know, you, you, you know, low pressure situation and it hits, that's, that's the real fucking laugh. Yeah. That, that, you know, it's not, it's not just doing the job. That's the, uh, I'm still funny.

Yeah. I still got it. Yeah. It's like, whew. Yeah,'s the, I'm still funny. Yeah, I still got it. Yeah, it's like, whew. Yeah, exactly. Because I think there is that fear. That's one of the insecurities. Can I still do it?

Yeah. You know, I put out a tweet a little while ago where I said, you know, I was just up early in the morning. I'm having a coffee. And I tweeted out, nothing says I'm a vibrant contemporary part of the comedy scene like being up at 7 a.m on a sunday morning for no reason yeah like the notion of that when i was 30 yeah of being up at 7 a.m on saturday for no sunday for no reason yeah because i would have gone to bed at four or five well now it's just an old guy and i'm just old dude yeah you get up my wife and i go to we hit the sack about 10 we watch a miss marple Marple and then I'm up at seven.

Yeah. I get that thing where it's just sort of like, you know, when I've got to start from scratch, you know what I mean? Where I don't know, like that moment where you're like, where does it come from? How do I do this? Yeah. Well, I think part of the thing is when we were, you know, just in the clubs every night doing it every night. Yeah, just just making a scribbling all the time you're never really it maybe i'm just

speaking for myself but it never felt to me like i was you didn't have that workload of like sitting down and just put three hours today and hammer some stuff together because you're doing a show every night so you're just kind of you're going and doing the show having a couple drinks hanging with your buddies and then wandering around yeah then wandering around. And that's the work. Yeah, then wandering around all day. Thinking. But the work, that's not the work anymore. No. Because we're not in the clubs every night. That's true. So now the work is, oh, I've got to sit down at the kitchen table and really do some actual writing. Yeah, I can't stand it. Like, you know, like when I have, like, I have a day off from shooting and I don't have any

interviews or whatever where I don't have anything to do. I'm like, this is what I was working for. Yeah. This is how I spent most of my life. Because, yeah, you're in the clubs, you're doing shows every night, but you're also doing nothing. Yeah. You're just wandering around with your notebook and then you'll have coffee and then you'll

walk a few blocks and be like, oh, shit, I'm going to write that down. And that's that. But you're also driven by the fact that you- To get up on stage. They're about to cut your phone off because you haven't paid the bill in two months. And now your bills are paid. Yeah, yeah. You don't- Yeah, sure.

You've put in these years of battling. You become the old polar bear. Yeah. You know? Yeah. You can put the battle armor down. I wish I- Yeah, I have.

And I do. But thank God my brain's still a fucking mess. Yeah. That's your bread and butter. Yeah. That's right. Don't ever lose that. Well, that's one of my things is like, and I don't know if I'm, it makes me question whether my whole life isn't just a load of bullshit

because you always hear about, oh, the best comedy comes from angst. And I just never had any of that. I grew up very, you know, my parents were pretty cool. My siblings and I got along. But you do have the, yeah, failure's okay. So that's just as good as angst. You know what I mean? Like the sort of defeatism.

I've pre-defeated myself. Right. That's the other way. You're going to be onto something. This could be a whole revolutionary angle of psychotherapy where you just say to people listen just pre-defeat yourself and you'll get rid of the anxiety you're already a failure sure sure dread i you know i'm a big dread fan like i'm not gonna go to like that's gonna be terrible what do you i don't even what is it about

see i don't but i just don't i don't have that i'm i don't want to bomb but i'm fine with bombing at the end of the day it's like it's not i don't have somebody's child's life in my hands you know sure if i i remember when i my i was dated this girl years ago and i went on a double date with her friend and her boyfriend her Her boyfriend was like this vice cop in Toronto. Right. And I remember him saying to me, well, I would never have the nerve to do what you do. And I was like, didn't you kick in the door

to a crack house today? Like, how do you, where does that, like I never take a shotgun blast to the chest. Like if I'm having a bad day, if I make the wrong decision, you know, I get up tomorrow, try it again. You'll beat the shit out of yourself a little, but you're not going to take a shotgun. But I don't know.

There's something about, I've never, I've always wanted to do well, but I've never put too much gravity on it or something. Oh, that's good. That's a good, that's a good way to go about it. But I wonder if it isn't like some sort of bullshit mask. Because especially when, because I hear that from people. What do you mean? You think there's something?

People say to me, oh, you know, you're very grounded and you're very calm. And I feel like that's the case. But then sometimes I think, well, is that just, you know, do you ever, that's my anxiety. My anxiety is, am I really this calm? Is this all bullshit? They don't have therapy in Canada?

Yeah, but it's socialized and it's not, you know. Everybody's got to work as, as a therapist for two weeks. So they're not good at it. It's some guy who was a milkman the week before. Well, you do discover things about yourself. I mean, it's a matter of wanting to, maybe, maybe you shouldn't question it too much. It seems to be working for you. For me, I just wanted to laugh. I just liked the laugh. I don't think there's more to it than that for me. Also, you were the last kid. Was there a struggle for attention? I think so.

I think there's that. Yeah. And if I could make my older brothers or sisters laugh, that was a great, because it didn't come easy. They wouldn't give it up easy to the kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you made them laugh, you knew it was legit, and that was a high. See that?

You learned your craft by wanting to be liked by your siblings. Yeah. There you go. Let the beatings stop for two minutes. That's the next special title. I'm planning on doing a special this year because I've never done one. And almost for posterity's sake, I want to get it out to say I was here. Sure.

That's what I did. And Corner Gas is partly that bit of posterity, part of my stamp. Yeah, yeah. But I'm a stand-up, so I want Bit of Poster. Part of my stamp. Yeah, yeah. But I'm a stand-up. Sure. So I want some of my stand-up out there more. So I'm going to do a special this year. So I'm kicking around titles.

Well, good, man. Well, I'm glad that this Corner Gas is something you can do for the rest of your life. It's great. Here's hoping. And that's one of the things about doing it animated now, right? Yeah, yeah. It doesn't matter how old or bald or fat. As long as I kind of sound the same.

Great. That's why I love doing this. and I can do it in my house. Yeah. Well, I'm glad we got it done. What are you doing down here? I had a couple of meetings. I have an agency down here. We're talking about some stuff.

Corner Gas American style? Well, you know, the notion is to get Corner Gas down streaming in the state. The animated version is streaming the way that- Oh, good. So there's interest in that. Yeah. Just talking about stuff, keeping the machine going, you know.

All right, man. Well, I'm glad we made time for this, Brent. Me too. Thanks for having me. Sure, I'll see you up in Canada. There you go, Canada. Me and Brent Butt, and I'm talking to you right now from Hamilton, Ontario.

It's all coming together. It's Canada Day here a few days early. You can subscribe to Brent's YouTube channel, The Butt Pod. You can also find him on Twitter, Instagram, and at brentbutt.com. His show, Corner Gas, I believe is animated now. And you can go watch that somewhere. Oh my god, you guys. Shooting is tiring.

I know, again, these are what they call luxury problems in the recovery racket, but I'm going to go out. It looks like I have a little time, so I'm going to go enjoy Hamilton. The Hammer. Boomer lives! Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing.

With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store

and ACAS Creative. It's a night for the whole family. and ACAS Creative. courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com.