Q with Tom Power

Two years ago, Rush frontman and bassist Geddy Lee joined Tom Power to talk about his memoir, “My Effin’ Life.” He discussed his experience as the son of Holocaust survivors, dropping out of high school, and what he remembers about the late Neil Peart’s audition to be the band’s drummer.

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Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, Ted, American Dad!) is a man of many voices. For more than 25 years, he’s voiced Peter and Stewie Griffin, Brian the dog, and their neighbour Quagmire on “Family Guy,” the adult animated sitcom he created back in 1999. But when Seth’s not recording a character for TV and film, he’s recording music. Now, the five-time Grammy-nominated vocalist is back with his ninth album, "Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements.” Seth joins Tom Power to talk about finding a treasure trove of unrecorded Sinatra songs, learning how to sing like Sinatra, and how he feels about the situation between Jimmy Kimmel and the FCC.

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Canadian film mogul Robert Lantos has spent his career bringing Canadian movies and TV shows to the screen. In fact, some say he kick-started the whole industry. Producing films for the likes of Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg and Sarah Polley, Robert has truly shaped Canadian cinema over the last 50 years. He sits down with Tom Power to talk about his latest project, “Rise of the Raven,” which is a historical drama about the Hungarian army battling the Ottomans. Robert also tells us how his first film nearly caused a riot when the censors ordered a sex scene to be cut, and what his mother said when he made a movie about her family’s past.

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What if the bad guy in your nightmare didn’t chase you, but tried to tickle you to death? That’s just one of the Inuit legends reimagined by the throat singing duo PIQSIQ on their haunting new album, “Legends.” Back in the summer, sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk Mackay of PIQSIQ joined Tom Power to talk about the record and why they’re embracing Inuit traditions in non-traditional ways. Plus, they set up their new song, “Mahaha: Tickling Demon.”

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Comedian Alex Edelman has had an exciting past couple of years. He won a Tony and an Emmy for his acclaimed Broadway show “Just For Us,” which then became an HBO comedy special. It recounts his experience as a Jewish man covertly attending a meeting of white nationalists in New York, and it earned him a spot on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2024. Now, Alex stars and writes on the new series “The Paper,” which is a loose spin-off of the hit sitcom “The Office.” He joins Tom Power to talk about his work and why joking about something doesn't mean you don't take it seriously. 

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Maggie Andrew is one of the most exciting artists coming out of the East Coast right now. She drops by our studio to set up the title track off her new EP, “How To Sing For Money.” Plus, she talks about the tension between art and commerce, and how to keep the magic of making music alive. 

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Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer, Peaky Blinders) doesn’t like to do a lot of interviews — that’s what people say. The Oscar-winning Irish actor now stars in the new Netflix movie, “Steve,” which follows a head teacher at a last-chance reform school. It’s set in the mid-1990s, over the course of one critical day in the life of a student named Shy. During this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Cillian sat down with Tom Power to talk about the film, doing right by overworked teachers and why he’s reluctant to talk about his work.

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Alyson Stoner is one of the most recognizable former child actors of the mid-2000s. They got their big break dancing in the music video for Missy Elliott’s “Work It,” before eventually appearing in successful film franchises like “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “Camp Rock.” But in their new memoir, "Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything," Alyson exposes the dark realities of child stardom, from working 80 hours a week at age eight, to learning how to distinguish fan mail from kidnapping plots, to grappling with eating disorders. They join Tom Power to talk about rebuilding their life.

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Celebrated filmmaker and actor Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems, Oppenheimer) did something outside his comfort zone when he made his latest film, “The Smashing Machine” — he directed it without his brother, Josh. Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt, the film tells the true story of former wrestler and mixed martial artist Mark Kerr. During this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Benny sat down with Tom Power to talk about his first foray into directing on his own two feet, what it was like working with The Rock, and why mixed martial arts is more than just pure aggression.

Back in 1967, Igor Stravinsky, the legendary classical composer, ignored his doctors’ advice and conducted the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in what would turn out to be his final public performance ever. Now, the TSO is honouring that concert and Stravinsky’s legacy with a new recording of his 1920 ballet, “Pulcinella.” Gustavo Gimeno, the orchestra’s music director, joins Tom Power to tell us about the record and why it was such a big deal for Stravinsky to do this performance.