Please Explain Toronto To Me

Tom Henry is a very funny and singular comedian who has a new special available on Crave called "66 Jokes". He explained Toronto to me, Brendan Flaherty.

Things explained: the solace of Survivor in these uncertain times, the cost-benefit ratio of Cameo, Tom's upbringing in a Greektown housing co-op, the scam of coupons, that time he was featured as an audience member on Much On Demand, Speaker's Corner as proto-YouTube, commercial auditions as an opportunity to go for lunch with friends, Tom's JPM or jokes per minute, places to get food (shout out to La Bella Managua), and other sundry topics. 

We also play a Covid edition of Truth or Folly, the game that's taking the world by storm. 

Watch 66 Jokes here: https://www.crave.ca/en/tv-shows/tom-henry-66-jokes

Follow Tom Henry on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomHenry

Follow Brendan Flaherty on Twitter: https://twitter.com/flahertytweets

Follow Brendan Flaherty on Instagram @value_dog

Follow PETTM on Instagram @explainTOpod

Here's another never-before-released episode of my old show, This Night Will Change Your Life, a Saskatoon-focused search for the universal muse. Enjoy this interview with the musician Aurora Wolfe, who also plays in the band Dump Babes, who sat down with me on October 23rd, 2018 for a chat. 

We talk about her Mortlach life, touring with The Faps, growing up on a sheep farm, "muttonbusting", the influence of the Grand Ole Opry, the usage of shtick to examine identity, who or what The Lancasters might be, dystopian rock operas, recording plans, her Dad's musical past and present, tequila in ramen water, learning beadwork and subsequently teaching those skills, the conundrum of self-promotion, and other topics. 

Music in this episode: Dump Babes - "Fear"

Check out Dump Babes on Bandcamp here: https://dumpbabes.bandcamp.com/releases

Things explained: reasons to get inked, the best thing about Love Island, the importance of having favourites within the city in which you live, the nexus of love and rent, where to stash your night beers, the 4th date feeling, how basketball is like dancing, how to ruin a town, the existence of Apocalypse Pooh, the subjectivity of gatekeeping, the role of personal growth, whether or not Todd is meta, the basement vibes of OCAD, which island is closest, and Todd's favourite joke. 

There are some issues with the sound on this episode. It is presented in the most complete form possible, given the circumstances. 

Recorded live at Folly Brewing on February 18th, 2020. 

Buy Sabrina Benaim's book here: https://buttonpoetry.com/product/depression-other-magic-tricks/

Follow Sabrina Benaim here: https://www.instagram.com/badass_sab

Listen to Todd Graham's album Busting Loose here: https://smarturl.it/ToddGraham

Follow Todd Graham here: https://twitter.com/idiotgallant

Discoveries include: the usefulness of the term singer/songwriter, Merival's origins in Guelph, preferable fonts to Chiller, Toronto's relationship with anxiety, the continuing closure of local music venues, the power of writing from your own perspective, the problem with comparisons to Joni Mitchell, why I can't base anything off of one conversation I had one time, the catharsis of creation, Jennifer Alicia's process of gathering stories and family histories, the tradition of tall tales, the delight of Vesuvio pizza (RIP, unfortunately), the sound of Toronto right now, where the writers are writing, Richard's circuitous route through Martini Boys, how Channel Zero owns channel 11, how to game a record review, how the music scene got here from the Broken Social Scene era, and more.

We also play Been There Dundas, the inaugural edition of Bests, and a special bands edition of Truth Or Folly.

Richard estimated that this would come out a month down the line. So.. 3 months. Not bad, huh? Not bad.

(Music: "Sinner" by Merival)

Listen to Merival aka Anna Horvath (and download her new EP) here: https://merival.bandcamp.com/

Follow Jenifer Alicia on Instagram, and visit her webiste: https://www.instagram.com/eastcoastjam https://www.jenniferalicia.com/

Read Richard's NOW output here: https://nowtoronto.com/topics/richard-trapunski/

And here's the 2020 edition of the Sound of Toronto feature that we talked about: https://nowtoronto.com/music/features/toronto-music-2020-sound/

We’re in the mist of this global Covid-19 situation and we’ve all gotta do the best we can to keep our distance. That means no shows. And while I figure out what the heck that means for this podcast, I’m sitting on a few recordings that we’ll call the Bonus Vault. First up, my interview with Anna Haverstock, conducted on October 23rd, 2018 and never before released.

We talk about band lineup changes, our retail history, my ineptitude at knowing things about Lady Gaga, drawing hunks, practical FX, the inception of Six Moons Later, alive and dead rappers, Anne of Green Gables on Soundcloud, that time we were in a band together, the etiquette of sharing gear, sea foam green, early Twitter tweets, how Anna's family all works at one school, the Canadian music touring ecosystem, passing gas at Sask Place, Anna's album "Coasting In Dreams", karaoke and swears, and more.

Also, I go off on a tangent about comedy shows for way too long.

The songs of Anna's included are "Think" and "In My Heart". 

Buy Anna's music here: https://annahaverstock.bandcamp.com/album/coasting-in-dreams

Discoveries include: the cost of parades, how to get ahead, how it gets from your iPad to that iPad, what instrument Vin Diesel probably plays, Toronto’s corporate overlord, the inevitability of classic Hollywood malarkey, the impetus behind the Canada Comics Open Library, the dryness of a Grandpa burger, the importance of kicking people off stage at Late Mic T.O., when swearing can feel weird, the taxonomy of the Toronto comedy scene, what’s not the same as it used to be, and what is the same.

Toronto was explained to me by Loretta Yu, Jordan Reg. Aelick, and Everardo Ramirez.

We also play the first instance of Role Reversal and another edition of Truth or Folly.

#thisisimportant

Watch Loretta in Blood and Water on Omni.

Follow and read Jordan's daily comic on Instagram and visit the Canada Comics Open Library. 

Follow Everardo on Twitter and Instagram, and maybe find him at Eataly. 

Discoveries include: the variety of reverb settings, UK shininess, the boldness of this very podcast, Nick Flanagan's recording acumen, being undercut by the internet, the veracity of newspapers, David Lynch's nightmarish imagination, the importance of radio bed music, the geography of Southern Ontario, aligning creativity with mental illness, the visual appeal of The Missing Scarf, the usefulness of potato chips, the power of warm and fuzzies, election day hangovers, the qualities of Thunder Bay, Toronto as Dr. Skipper, where to go for a Persian (the baked good), how to assume the roles of actor and director, accessing alternate universes, the Pitbull cinematic universe, and more. 

Toronto was explained to me by comedian Nick Flanagan, comedian (and designer of the logo for this very podcast) Luba Magnus, and musician Coleman Hell. 

We also see the return of the game Truth Or Folly and the first real edition of the game Been There Dundas. 

Subscribe to Nick Flanagan, Weakly.  Check out Luba Magnus' website.  Follow Coleman Hell on Instagram. 

Discoveries include: what the last federal election was all about, how Canada is fake (and sucks ass), the coolness bequeathed by the Toronto Raptors, Ian's work on projects (including a recent Big Wreck music video), poetry slam memories, various Doctors, the power of names, the frequency of young people, RISE, Toronto as "comedy city", mayor John Tory not paying the cover charge, the meaning of Markham, and much more!

Toronto was explained to me by Tannara Yelland, Ian Ketaku, and Erika Ehler. 

We also play the first edition of Truth or Folly and almost play a game called Been There, Dundas. 

Recorded live on September 24th, 2019 at Folly Brewing.

Follow Tannara on Twitter at @tyelland

Buy Ian Ketaku's book and watch his videos. 

Check out Erika Ehler's standup dates and follow her on Twitter. 

Brendan Flaherty and friends convene at Folly Brewpub for the very first episode of Please Explain Toronto To Me. Guests include Jenna-Lee Hyde (Second City), poet and collage artist Andre Prefontaine, and a mystery guest!

Discoveries include: the fact that the nickname for Toronto spells a dirty number, why not to care, the power of a Werther's Original, the rite of passage of a stash running dry, what kind of underwear Calgary is like, the lessons of two strikes, John Tory's deal, and much, much more!

Recorded live at Folly Brewpub on August 20th, 2019. 

Not sponsored by A&W, yet. 

See Jenna-Lee at Second City here: https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/house-co-presents/

More of Andre here: https://www.instagram.com/prairiefountain

It has certainly been a while, but we are back! This podcast began with a specific vision. Over time, circumstances have aligned in such a way as to make that vision difficult to fulfill. So, I played with the format a bit, and will continue to as time goes on. In the mean time, I'm sitting on a backlog of unproduced episodes that deserve to be heard. First up: visual artist David Stonhouse! We chat about his installation Liquid Luxury, breakfast sandwiches, lipsticks and push pops, the value of libraries, the lucrative investment potential of milk cartons, being a mercenary teacher, his work at the Remai Modern and with the Bridges Art Movement (BAM), the roots and inception of BAM, his experiences at the Banff Centre, spa culture, my sneezes, textures and dirty hands, the marvels of the Internet, and sundry tangets as is custom.  Recorded in late December, 2017. Not sponsored by A&W, though we did eat some food from there.  Take a look at David's work here: http://www.davidstonhouse.com/ Thank you to Wizards for the theme song and Stephen Rutherford for the snazzy logo. Recorded and engineered by Brendan Flaherty (that's me!). Happy holidays or whatever.