Back in 2005, the artist Michael McMillan created his critically acclaimed installation “The Front Room.” It was a life-size imagining of the front room of a house belonging to Caribbean migrants to Britain in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Since then, Michael has recreated front rooms in places like The Netherlands, South Africa, Curacao, and France. Now, it’s Canada’s turn. Michael joins Tom to talk about his latest front room creation “The Front Room: Inna Toronto/6ix.” and what material things in the home can tell us about the migrant experience.

Stephen Sanchez’s hit song “Until I Found You” is approaching two billion streams, has been certified platinum five times, and made Elton John a fan —all before the release of his debut album. Stephen speaks with Tom about following up a once in a lifetime hit, his 1960s crooner sound, and tackling imposter syndrome.

“Nanalan,” a Canadian children’s show from the 1990s has had a resurgence recently thanks to its growing popularity on TikTok. Clips from the show are getting millions of views, and the puppeteers have even revived the character for online skits. The creators of “Nanalan,” Jason Hopley and Jamie Shannon, drop by Q to talk about the viral success almost 25 years later and what that says about the show. Plus, they bring the puppets that started it all.

Lily Gladstone had a tough task with her first major Hollywood film: she had to hold her own against Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro —and hold her own she did. Her character, Mollie Burkhart, is being praised as the star-making turn of Martin Scorcese’s latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Lily drops by Q to talk about the role of a lifetime, and the challenges in telling stories about murder and colonialism.

When Tony and Grammy Award winner Leslie Odom Jr. takes on a project, he puts everything he’s got into it. Admittedly a bit of a perfectionist, he’s tried to embrace imperfection on his new album of original songs, “When a Crooner Dies.” He chats with Tom about the album and reveals what it’s like to return to Broadway for the first time since his starring role in “Hamilton.”

Comedian Matt Rogers is one-half of the hugely popular podcast “Las Culturistas.” He talks to Tom about finding his confidence in comedy through podcasting, and competing for a job on “Saturday Night Live” against his friend. He also chats about his debut album “Have you Heard of Christmas?” and his ongoing quest to be crowned the “Prince of Christmas” by the queen, Mariah Carey.

Back in 2007, a video featuring 1,500 inmates in a Filipino prison dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was uploaded to YouTube, quickly becoming one of the internet’s first viral videos. The footage inspired a new Filipino-Canadian musical called “Prison Dancer,” created by Romeo Candido and Carmen De Jesus. Guest host Talia Schlanger speaks to Romeo about the production, and travelling to the Philippines to meet the real dancing inmates.

Jani Lauzon is a Métis multidisciplinary artist who says she can’t stop creating. Over the years, she’s eked out a living as a rock and roll singer, an actor on stage and screen, and a puppeteer for Jim Henson, among other things. She talks to Tom about turning to art as a way to cope with a turbulent childhood, and how all her talents collide in the new play “Prophecy Fog.”

When a wildfire ripped through Lytton, British Columbia, in June of 2021, the town burnt almost entirely to the ground. Meghan Fandrich lost her small business — the Klowa Art Café — to the fire, and turned to writing poetry for the first time in her life to help her cope with the loss. The result is her first collection of poetry, “Burning Sage: Poems from the Lytton Fire.”

What's it like working on a show with near universal acclaim? Danis Goulet is a Cree-Métis film and television maker who has first-hand experience with that after working on the beloved series “Reservation Dogs.” She talks about the show’s place in her career, watching it end on its own terms, and the wider legacy it leaves behind.