House of Crouse

On the Richard Crouse Show Booze & Reviews Christmas Special, I'll share movies to enjoy over the holidays and the perfect cocktail to sip while watching. Then, I'll tell you all about the booziest Christmas song of all time.

On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show we get to know Teddy Wilson, co-host of “The Mightiest,” a six-episode docu-series, airing on Wednesdays on the Discovery Channel, that examines the science and ingenuity behind some of the biggest and most complex planes, trains, and ships that humankind has ever made and operated. From re-engineered Chinook helitankers fighting wildfires 24/7 in Southern California, to a train that helps sustain life and connect communities, the series gives viewers an all-access pass to every aspect of the vessels and the people around it as they embark on new and dangerous journeys.

Then, we meet Enuka Okuma. You know here as detective Traci Nash in the police drama series, Rookie Blue. She is also known for her work on the television series Madison (and Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye. Today we talk about her work as one of the stars and writers of the hit CBC show Workin’ Moms.

We’ll meet meet Humble the Poet. He is a Canadian-born rapper, spoken-word artist, poet, internationally bestselling author, and former elementary school teacher with a wildly popular blog with over 100,000 monthly readers. After the international best-selling success of his book “Unlearn,” Humble The Poet is back with a new book, “How to be Love(D).” With short chapters filled with insight, advice, and personal anecdotes from his own journey, this book is a guide to self-love that helps clarify your path inward toward the inherent love and value that is within each of us… perfect reading for the start of a new year.

As we get closer to Awards Season, there is an embarrassment of riches of movies playing in theatres this month. IN this segment, we meet two of the stars of two of the season’s best movies.

First, we meet Brendan Fraser. In his first leading role in a decade, he is garnering Oscar buzz for playing a 600-pound man trying to reconnect with his daughter in “The Whale.” The specter of death hangs over every frame of “The Whale,” and yet Fraser manages to bring optimism to a character not long for this world. He's looking to set things straight and make sure Ellie will have the tools to have a decent life after he goes. It is a tremendous performance that soars, transcending the stage-bound nature of the story.

Now let’s meet Janelle Monáe. The Grammy nominated singer, rapper and actor is one of the stars of of “Glass Onion,” the sequel to the 2019 hit “Knives Out.” In the movie tech billionaire Miles Bron, played by Ed Norton, invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, is put on the case.

On this episode of the Richard Crouse Show we get to know, all the way from Cornwall in South West England, Jeremy Brown and Jon Cleave, two of the founding members of the sea shanty singing group Fisherman’s Friends. They have incredible story of being discovered by a music producer who visited their small fishing village of Port Isaac, and propelling them to stardom. Their recordings of traditional sea shanties have topped the charts and they’ve played on the main stage of the Glastonbury Festival in front of 100,000 people and for royalty at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Their story has inspired two films, “Fisherman’s Friends” and the sequel, which is in theatres now, “Fisherman’s Friends: One and All,” starring James Purefoy and now it’s a stage show called “Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical which has just touched diown at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto after a successful run in the UK.

Then, Enrico Colantoni stops by. You know the talented actor from portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom “Just Shoot Me!,” Keith Mars on the television series “Veronica Mars.” On the big screen he has appeared in the films “Galaxy Quest,” “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” “Contagion,” and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Today we talk about his latest film, a comedy about four stoners, the self-proclaimed "Vandits", have a bright idea to knock over a senior citizens bingo hall on Christmas Eve. In this segment we talk about the unusual way he paid for theatre school in New York City and how the cast and crew of “Vandits” persevered after all their equipment was stolen the night before they were to start shooting.

Finally, we’ll meet Elegance Bratton, the film director who turned his story of being a young gay man, who found unexpected strength, camaraderie and support when he joined the Marines, after being rejected by his mother, into a critically acclaimed film called “The Inspection.” It is a classic against-all-odds story that paints a vivid picture of life inside the boot camp, the dehumanization, the violence, but also the brotherhood. The movie carefully builds the world of the boot camp, creating a palette of claustrophobia, brutality and tension that adds layers to the telling of his survival story.

This week on the Richard Crouse Show we meet Linwood Barclay. He is the best selling author of thrillers like “No Time for Goodbye,” “The Accident”, which was turned into the six-part television series in France and “Never Saw It Coming” adapted into a movie, starring Eric Roberts and Emily Hampshire, have made him a favourite writer of thrillers. So much so, that Stephen King calls him, “a terrific writer. 'A suspense master. 'In a class of his own.'

Today we’re talking about his latest novel, “Look Both Ways.” In the book he envisions a world in which automotive technology outpaces our wildest dreams—and our darkest nightmares—as self-driving cars become sentient.

Then, we’ll meet Yannick Bisson. You know him from sixteen seasons as Detective William Murdoch on the very popular “Murdoch Mysteries.” But did you know he is also a director? We talk about “Baking All the Way,” a new holiday movie he directed and stars in, playing in theatres for one night on December 5, then premiering on Super Channel Heart & Home on December 10.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show we meet Billboard’s Top New Country Artist of 2021, and CMT’s 2022 “Breakout Artist of the Year” Lainey Wilson. Her highly anticipated album “Bell Bottom Country” is out now and she recently announced a 27-city headlining tour, that will visit Vancouver and Edmonton next year.

“Bell Bottom Country” draws its title directly from the name people use to describe the Louisiana native’s unique sound, style, and aesthetic — it’s Country, but with flare, mixing in elements of ‘70s Rock, Funk, and Soul.

We talk about her new record, what influence Hannah Montana had on her career… it’s not what you might think, and why she only wears bell bottom pants.

We’ll also meet Fab Filippo, co-creator, executive producer, co-showrunner on the CBC original series “Sort Of.” We’ll talk about the hit show and how the stories in “Sort Of” resonate across all genders, races, and ages – they are universal no matter how one identifies.

Then, we’ll meet Barry Avrich, director of “The Talented Mr. Rosenberg,” a new documentary about a lifelong con artist with a stunning history of heartbreaking betrayal, outrageous lies and elaborate masquerades.

On this episode of the Richard Crouse Show we’ll meet Bryan Trottier. He is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders, two with the Penguins and one as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche.

His new memoir, ‘All Roads Home: A Life On and Off the Ice,’ is a poignant and inspiring memoir of the people and challenges that shaped his life and career. In this interview we talk about growing up in a town of 500 people and how he celebrated his first Stanley Cup win.

Then, we’ll meet Eric McCormack. You know Eric McCormack as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom “Will & Grace,” or maybe as Grant MacLaren in Netflix's “Travelers” or Dr. Daniel Pierce in the TNT crime drama “Perception.” In the new coming-of-age movie, “Drinkwater,” he plays Hank, a small-town dad who didn’t live up to his potential. With its subplot about a Wayne Gretzky rookie card some physical comedy in a Tim Hortons drive-thru and a great Zamboni scene, it’s the most Canadian movie to come out so far this year.

On this episode of the Richard Crouse Podcast we meet Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Urbina, host of “The Outlaw Ocean.” The project began years ago as a series in The New York Times, where he was a staff writer. Between the articles, a book on the subject and now the podcast, the journey took more than four years, spanning 40 cities and every continent, and over 12,000 nautical miles across five oceans and 20 other seas.

In the podcast Urbina explores a gritty and lawless realm, populated by traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways. “The Outlaw Ocean” is brought to you by CBC Podcasts and the L.A. Times.

Learn more about The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organization that produces investigative stories about human rights, at theoutlawocean.com.

Then, we’ll meet Scott Goodson, the author of “Activate Brand Purpose: How To Harness The Power Of Movements To Transform Your Company” and founder and CEO of advertising and marketing agency StrawberryFrog. He Zooms in, from New York City, to talk about purpose driven companies and why consumers care about what a company stands for and what its values might be.

On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show Podcast we meet award-winning journalist and editor-in-chief of The Hamilton Spectator, Paul Berton. His new book “Shopomania: Our Obsession with Possession,” is a thought-provoking and provocative challenge to consumerism. It is a sassy and satirical look at today’s consumer culture that asks, Do we really need all our stuff?

We’ll also meet Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund. His film “Triangle of Sadness” received an eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the top prize, the Palme d'Or. It is a very dark satire, an over-the-top tale of hypocrisy, greed, and ambition that is about as subtle as a punch to the face, but it is memorable and for lovers of adventurous film, a must see.

Then, Metis author Willie Poll stops by to talk about her er new book for kids, “Together We Drum, Our Hearts Beat As One.” It’s a simple story of a little Indigenous girl who comes up against a monster called "Hate.”

On this special Halloween edition of the Richard Crouse Show we meet Ainslie Hogarth, author of “Motherthing,” darkly comedic novel about a woman who must take drastic measures to save her husband and herself from the vengeful ghost of her mother-in-law.

Then, David Cronenberg stops by. The director of “Eastern Promises,” “A History of Violence,” “The Fly” and “Videodrome,” among many others, talks about “Crimes of the Future,” an all-star story of eroticized human evolution starring Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux and we’ll find out whether he likes the nickname for his fans!

We go to the vault to find an interview I did with Daniel Radcliffe the night after I hosted the Canadian premier of his first post Harry Potter movie, a brooding gothic horror film called “The Woman in Black.” In the film Daniel plays a recently widowed layer who is grieving the loss of his wife when he is sent to a remote village on business. Once there he discovers his client's house is haunted by the spirit of a woman who is trying to find someone and something she lost, and that no one is safe from her terrible wrath.

We’re talking horror, and who better to talk to than John Landis. As the director of An American Werewolf in London and the groundbreaking music video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller," he knows a thing or two about how to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. In this conversation we talk about The Exorcist, The Omen, ghosts and one of th4e scariest scenes he’s ever seen in a movie. Ninety years ago Charles Laughton starred in The Island of Lost Souls as Dr. Moreau, a brilliant surgeon who performed vivisection on animals with the goal of turning animals into half human beings.

On this week’s Richard Crouse Show we meet Douglas Stuart. His first novel, "Shuggie Bain," won a shelfful of major awards, including the Booker Prize, in 2020. It told the story of an alcoholic single mother and her children living in a Glasgow tenement in the 1990s. His new novel, "Young Mungo" centers on a romance between two teenage boys - one Protestant, one Catholic. It is a gripping and revealing story about the meaning of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by so many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much. In this interview we talk about growing up in Glasgow, how writing became his second career and why he named his main character after the patron saint of Glasgow.

Then, we’ll meet Tegan and Sara, the Grammy and Academy Award nominated, identical twin sisters behind the earworm “Everything is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie” and many ither hits. But we’re not talking about music today. We’re here to chat about their latest project, a new television pm Amazon Prime show based on their memoir High School.