The Todd Donald Show

From my hometown Kitchener/Waterloo to me in the Arctic, a fantastic person by the name of Allison was on this podcast via a phonecall recorded to voice-memo, while I recorded myself on Garageband; simple patch-work later brings you this very warm and nice-vibed chat between a couple of Canadian artists, dig it. For ALLISON POPROCKS, a piece of her heart lives in the Yukon, she’s a visual artist, occasional model, tattoo-getter, hair stylist, coffee enthusiast… and she was appreciatively game for chatting me up about all of these passions. You can find her first author credit (‘Dill and Daddy Llama’’) if you give her a follow on IG, expect her next (‘Avocado Rainbow Remix’) soon!

Derek’s Dead (Which you can pre-order on Apple TV now! Links below! Available one week today!) is the new feature-length comedy by writer, director and star Curt Neill! Curt first won me over in countless shows on Channel 101, scenes in Our RoboCop Remake (2014), and recently-to-now, 2015’s On The Rocks (holy shit what an amazing flick!). Derek’s Dead looks like a beast so we dove into it about that, plus, Curt was willing to go into the weeds with me about life in general, living in Oregon or leaving Los Angeles-depending on the angle… and of course all the good and bad stuff that making a big project can bring. I really enjoyed chatting with’m and I hope you devote your full attention to us.. or whatever, maybe you’re making breakfast or feeding the cat too.. Enjoy!

L.A.’s Willy Roberts, a man with a millin dollar smile and a creator, writer, actor and so much more on projects and shows in and out of Channel 101. He’s certainly done allot of 101 shows, iconic ones to boot, and this is how/where I fell in-love with his work. He co-hosts the podcast Real Life Sci-Fi with his longtime friend Wade Randolph (another longtime 101’r), where they talk about aliens, ghosts, sasquatch, conspiracies and more… I believe there’s no end to wonderful output from this dude, and here in this moment in time, Willy and I are here to reflect on life, creativity, television and y’know, whatever always welcome digressions happen. Fondly. Enjoy!

Produced, edited and hosted by Todd. V/O by Milo Axelrod. Theme music is excerpts of “Makie Elkino” (Live) by William Chernoff. Piano outro music by JP Sunga. Presented in part by Afternoon Tea - Artist Collective + Record Label. Born of the Shun Club. Shunned since 2012. afternoontealabel.com

I’m honoured to have had the chance to chat with “digital fusion” musicians and composers Aivi “Aivi” Tran & Steven “Surasshu” Velema. The recording was semi-fresh off the release of their video game soundtrack for the new game Ikenfell. They started by creating and releasing their first album ‘The Black Box’ in 2013, went on to compose and collaborate on Award-winning music for the Cartoon Network show Steven Universe, and continue making music for video games which I have to say is all brilliant and enchanting work. They were game to be on this podcast, and I had a delightful time chatting with them in and out of sequence, about their music, marriage and more. Please enjoy!

This is a quick interview I was delighted to have with Amy Walker (a wonderful multi-talented artist & performer), who co-produced, wrote and starred in “Into Light”, an important story about the late Inez Milholland who literally dedicated and gave her whole life to human rights, and as seen in this vital short independent feature - women’s right to vote! We talk about the genesis of the film, and the journey it’s taken so far.. see below where you can find it!

Writer, director, film-maker Alex Kavutskiy is one of the L.A.-based Channel 101 show makers I’ve been a fan of since I got into it. He’s got dark-humour in his stuff, and dark stuff, but is a super kind and bright guy who was incredibly nice to chat with. We chat about his work, how he got into film-making and what it’s been like up until now in and out of the biz. I give you credit in assuming you’ll listen and be able to define the conversation for yourself better than I could write this paragraph. I started off by updating you on all things voting, from the Presidential Election to the most recent Channel 101 screening (on Twitch), meaning I goofingly say a couple things about the first one, and sentimentally talk about the other. Alex has a new short called Ear Ache, which is amazing and stars the legendary DeMorge Brown. Check out Alex, DeMorge and others’ stuff on Channel 101, and check out Alex’s non-101 stuff on his website; links below!

I had the good fortune of getting in-touch with currently-Montreal-based, Singer/songwriter Dana Debolt this summer. Immedietely after hearing her music for the first time I was a big fan. “With You I Rise - Single” available now, as well as “Record Store”. It’s edgy, raw, fun and she’s got limitless potential yet.. So it was a must.. I had to talk to this genius, and she was great about it! Do you HATE awesome music and the artists who make it? If so, avoid this episode. I start off with some update-y kinda tings, including a big shoutout to the awesome monster that is the un-filtered shenanigan wagon of Kitchener Famous with Jesse and Jay. Also in the update: Much love for all of my American friends on this scary and historic day, and my lil’ 30 Podcasts photo + essay project.

Guelph-Ontario’s Lauren Stein is an Improviser, who performs and can give all of the gifts a spectator desires; but when she’s not performing, is creatively or academically doing all she can to give the gift of what’s happening on-stage, to everyone (whether they know they need it or not). Her authorial debut ‘Improv At Work: Transform Your Career with Improv’, is the study of what Improv and Expressive Art offers by way of therapy, citing herself as the amazing example she is. Throughout, are improv games, documented experiences in teaching and participating, as well as a brief history of improv (what up, my nerds!). As a guest, great, I’m stoked if I can call her a friend and it truly did feel like having a warm chat over a “coffee” WITH a friend. Not only did she roll with the questions and conversation like a seasoned pro, but I felt more than warmly received as the the shambling mess I tend to be as a host. We both got to be hosts AND participants, and IN that, we got to know more about the positive impacts Improv (and it’s groovy fundamentals) has had on her development and that it can have on the world at large. Fun fact: Along with JP Sunga, Katy Topham and roommate Laura Bailey, Lauren is one of the only four people who’ve been a guest on the show in 2020, that i’ve seen-in-person (6 or more feet apart) this year!

Jonah Ray does comedy, music, and talking… SO good. ‘Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Return’ came on Netflix in 2017, and I’ve been a Jonahphile ever since. I became an instant fan of SeeSo original ‘Hidden America w Jonah Ray’, CC’s ‘The Meltdown w Jonah & Kumail’ and a fan of nothing more than the podcast Jonah Raydio, where he (a ‘Nerdist’ alumn) along with his friends Cash Hartzell & Neil Mahoney hangout, talk about music and jab each other silly. Through this podcast I discovered Jonah’s musical prowess (oh, a contributor for SPIN! btw) and bought his DOPE “You Can’t Call Me Al - EP”, a tribute to Jonah’s friend and icon Weird Al Yankovic. Have I given the interweb-bots enough career titles?

David Seger, LA Actor, Director, Writer and more; Recently jumped back into primetime on the Channel 101 website, with he and Alex Kavutskiy’s ‘Trading up’. Stupendous! He has upwards of 10 hours of 5 minute episodes on there now, probably… dating back to the mid-2000s; classics such as ‘Car Jumper’, ‘Ikea Heights’, ‘Making Mistakes’, ‘Bleeding Out’ and ‘Water and Power: Miami’. Outside of 101, David has created original online videos for Community (NBC) & Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central), produced & edited the epic ‘Our RoboCop Remake’ (2014) “a fan-made remake of the 1987 Paul Verhoeven classic.” and put his magic touch as a commercial director on spots for: Zipcar, Redbull, MTV and Six Flags Theme Parks.. to name a few. We ended up focusing on how he got started, creativity, collaborating with people and of course Channel 101, which is always fun and interesting too! I think David’s work has always been/still is, razor-sharp, super fun and I know i’m not the only person who’s thrilled to see the newest episode by, starring and/or co-created by’m. Please visit any of the links I provide below (I know you have time to watch stuff *wink*) and enjoy an all-you-can-see buffet of Seger classics.