Rick Mercer: Will They or Won't They?
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Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you find yourself in this great big world. I am Jan Arden. I'm the host of the Jan Arden podcast and show, perhaps, let's even say that. I'm here with Caitlin Green. She's in Toronto. Sarah Burke is in Toronto. Rick Mercer is our guest today. Rick, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, Jan Arden. It's been far too long. I just saw you last night. Listen, the girls...

Sarah sent me an intro for you. Like, I feel like I've known you for 20 years and I don't really need to do an intro. Well, I'm curious what the intro says. I know. Better say humanitarian. Just work it in to every sentence. Humanitarian, Rick Mercer. Okay. He's a longtime award-winning television host. I lost count after 30 awards between the Gemini's and the Canadian Screen Awards. I dare...

dare you to try and name an award show this man hasn't hosted? The Junos, the Geminis, the Giller Awards, the CCMAs. He's done them all. He is also a bestselling author and the holder of so many honorary doctorates that he's nearly a historian. Please welcome the one and only Rick Mercer. Humanitarian Rick Mercer.

Humanitarian. Thank you, Jan. That was very moving. That was very nice. And you're right. I have hosted all award shows in Canada. Not anymore, though. That's behind me. That was another. Now, of course, I travel the country with you spreading mirth. So we are like bards. We are like Shakespearean minstrels traveling the country. And what are we doing, Rick? From your point of view, what is the will they or won't they tour, which we are presently in the middle of? How do you think it's going?

It's exactly what you say. We are like birds spreading mirth, Shakespearean birds, except with catering and wake up calls and stuff. It's what was the question? What are we doing? We're just I'm having I don't know. I can't speak for you. I'm having the time of my life.

I wasn't reticent about the tour, but I was afraid because it's a real seat of your pants experience. And we don't really know what's going to happen every night. And I'm not used to that. That's not something I'm used to in front of an audience. And you seem more comfortable than I was. But now I'm very comfortable. And every night is a...

A revelation, you know, two nights ago, you and I talked about hotel rooms for 15, 20 minutes, and it was such fun. And the audience was screaming and you had such funny stories. You were on such a roll. And then we were like, I hadn't heard any of that before. And

Then we haven't done it since it's, it's really quite odd. And it's quite, I find it quite touching. And I just, I'm just enjoying it. And I think it's mostly in my, in my bones above all, I believe in show business. I like that's my religion is show business. It always has been the truth. And I just think it's a great show. It's a great show. It's not like anything I've done, but I feel like it's a great show. People are happy. So the show business gods are happy.

And people are laughing their fucking asses off. They are sitting in those seats. They are so excited. His people, and he does have people somewhere because girls, I got a person. You guys saw the video reel off the top of the show that we play. And, and as soon as our voice of God is Peter Mansbridge and it's like, hello, I'm Peter Mansbridge. So the other day, Rick gets this goddamn text or email from somebody from a woman who

that says, you know, it was so nice of Peter Mansbridge to do the voiceover. And I can't believe that you and Jan didn't at least have him out on the stage to say hello and to accept a few accolades. I'm like, do people honestly think that Peter Mansbridge is on the fucking bus with us traveling around and doing a live voiceover every night? He stands behind the curtain.

We give him a bun and a glass of water. Like that he's at home offended. No, he's thrilled. He's in Scotland. He's because he has a podcast empire, as you know.

And he's in Scotland podcasting up a storm. And he sends me a note because he keeps getting notes. He's very accessible. And he keeps getting notes from people watching the show saying, oh, it was so great to hear your voice. Because he starts off, good evening, I'm Peter Mansbridge. And that, of course, brings us back to a simpler, better time. Yeah.

It's true. It does actually, because we were there, we saw you guys at Roy Thompson Hall for the evening show on Sunday, on Mother's Day. And it harkens back to, I almost want to be like a simpler, funnier time for Canada. Like it just felt cozy and nice and intelligent. I really, really enjoyed it. I think you guys are doing a great job together. I think we're really...

Like the Zeke Geist, I just think the times ask for a fun night out. And I think that's what we're giving people and they're really enjoying it. Yeah. There's enough crap going on. I mean, I used to always say that. Yeah. But there's a lot going on now. The interesting thing is that Sarah...

She's not really familiar with the Mercer Report and the stuff that we did together. Familiar, just never watched on TV. But in the big scheme of things, you are not the person buying tickets to come and see the show. People are a little bit older than you, Sarah. I'm not slamming you being 22 years old, but you're not super familiar. You don't know all the gags. Yeah.

And I said to you, did it make sense hearing us regaling people with these stories? And you were like, oh my God. Yeah, it was completely... You didn't have to have that context. I agree. Yeah. You can pick it up for sure. Did you know which one was Jan and which one was Rick when we came out? Yes. Yes. In my 37 years of life, I've put that together. But thank you. Okay. No, you asked me. She leaned over and was like, which one's Jan and which one's...

You just said she was 22, Jan. Well, she's not. But she might as well be, like in my world. Well, remember you guys were talking about how at the beginning of all the Rick Mercer report stuff, Jan was uncomfortable and never knew what she was walking into with you. Well, on this tour, the tables are kind of turned and you don't know what you're walking into with Jan. Kind of like that.

- 100%. And it's not so much every night of this tour, because now I know, but the first time we walked on stage together at Hot Docs, I actually, I contemplated strangling her as she was walking up the stairs because it was seven or 800 people and we didn't really have a conversation about what we were going to do. And every time I tried to bring it up, Jen kept saying, "It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. We're gonna have so much fun." Then she changed the subject.

And even when I went to her house before we went out on tour, I sat down, I had the laptop open. I was like, okay, so what are we going to do? And then she was like, could you like some hummus? And then she's making the hummus.

And then the hummus is out. This is like being her producer. Yeah. And then we're talking. Okay. So I thought maybe we could off the top of the show. Do you want some red pepper with that? And then you made me a grilled cheese. And then we looked at the eclipse, but we didn't do any work really. And here we are. And it's, and you know what? It's probably worked out for the best. The nice thing that happens when you're out doing this stuff is you have set points. And by set points, I mean,

I'm going to say there's five major markers within the course of the hour, 75 minutes. And that's before we take questions from the audience where I know where we are and it kind of, but the stuff that goes on and around that, that's the funnest for me. Like when we did, when we were talking about hotel rooms the other night, I'm not even going to give this story away, but

Basically, Rick and I have both experienced checking into a hotel very late at night and fucking walking in with our key card that the front desk guy has given us, who is 17, by the way, Caitlin.

And that's an inside joke. But anyway, and we open the door and there's people in the room already. Yeah. No. Yeah, we both had that experience. His is very much worse than mine. And it's late at night, so they're in bed. And Rick Mercer barges in. I've also had people walk in on me. And Jan and I talked about this. Jan, you put the lock across. I always forget. Tell your story. No, no, I can't.

Because it's for a comedy album that I'm going to be doing later in the fall. Oh. Caitlin, you have questions. Caitlin has some great questions. Go. Go, Caitlin. Okay. I want to know which one of you is the better kisser. We're not making out all the time. But you have kissed. I've kissed him a couple times. He's got extremely soft lips. And he's one of those guys that knows the length and the width of a pucker.

And there's no, there's no, it's just a really nice, it's like a wedding line. Like you're in the wedding line and you're congratulating people. So there's, there's nothing, there's nothing nefarious about it. We kissed like on one of the shows, but did we kiss on your show? No, I don't believe we did, but I'm just saying that even some guys that give you a quick peck of

on the mouth. It's like there's wet, there's like shit going on. They're like, what did you do with your mouth? No, you're very professional. I'm like a Greek god here. And I've got the lips. I've got the lips. When I was a little kid, I'd walk around like this because I was afraid because I had such big lips. But then as I went into show business, I realized that they were an asset. Yeah, they come in handy. Yeah, they called me Lips. Lips Mercer was my nickname.

It's close to Rick Lips Mercer. I really like that. Okay. So my other question is because, so Jon Stewart's back on the daily show. Everyone misses him. Everyone in Canada misses you. Is there a project that could get you back into television in some capacity? Like, would you take like one night of doing something or.

Is there anything that ever just sort of like tickles your fancy? There's no such thing as one night. Like the difference, what Jon Stewart's doing, doing one night versus doing, I don't know whether he used to do four or five. I can't remember. There's very little difference. I think five. You're all in or you're all out really. So I think, I bet, yeah,

he's working at least 80% as much as he used to work before. That's my guess. It's certainly taking up all his time is my guess. And no, it's a short answer. I can't really see going back, doing anything close to the Mercer report. There's projects I'd like to do, but live as a whole or live to tape is a whole other animal. And I just don't,

see that being as exciting as what we're doing with right now, what I'm doing with Jan. Like that's just so much fun. Can I pitch the two of you doing like a travel show together? Like Conan must go, but it's like Jan and Rick must go kind of thing. Well, you never know. I think there's, I think there's lots of things we could do together in terms of television. But then the bigger question is what is television? It's very different than it was five years ago, 10 years ago.

But yeah, we could do, there's lots of things we could do. We get along. Okay, so that's not a no. Yeah. And I like the idea of doing it with someone, with Jan.

Well, we seem to be hitting at the right time and Rick touched on it. It's like people just really need to have a laugh and a smile. And every night I get off stage and I'm like, are we doing a very new kind of standup? Because we're very used to, like Ellen DeGeneres went out on her speaking tour and Oprah Winfrey has done it countless times where she has an interviewer.

And the interviewer, they're sitting in chairs much like we are. And the interviewer obviously is taking a submissive role and just feeding questions. And, you know, and in a way we're feeding each other questions, but it's people laugh from the second they get in there to the time that they leave. Like I think when they leave, they're quite exhausted. I'm exhausted. My mouth, my head hurts from smiling. And it doesn't matter if I've heard versions of the story or if there's a twist to it.

Like I just, sometimes I think I'm sitting there and I'm going, my face must look so weird because I'm just sitting here laughing. Yeah. And I think you, you, you know, when you said it's a kind of a new kind of standup and you want to be careful because standups are very sensitive because, you know, they'll be the first one to tell you it's the hardest thing in the world. It's not standup. There's nothing harder in the world than standup. You're like, what about like digging a ditch? Yeah.

But... What about an astronaut? I think it's... So many people are consuming podcasts now that it's almost like a podcast recording. But...

Live tape. Yeah, it's like a live tape. That's exactly what it's like. But there's nothing sloppy about it. That's the amazing thing. And that's what I was worried about, being not prepared. And then I realized there is nothing. There's no fat. It's incredible. I mean, in my business, that's what it's all about all my life. It's like, how do I get that...

five minute piece down to a ramp that's 130. Edit, edit, edit, edit. And same with writing half hour television shows. Like, get it down, get it down, get it down. Sketches, get it down, get it down. And I worry that if you're not prepared that it could be flabby. But there isn't. There's like, there's no fat. Like Jan says, and the laugh ratio is

just bang, bang, bang, bang. And that's just, I'm really proud to be a part of that. I feel like I'm a part of something that's new and it's a new kind of act. And we know each other, like we know each other well, but we're not, like we haven't hung out for 25 years, but

I think we both know each other well enough to protect each other too. Well, I think because also too, like my background is radio and there's so many, you see so many of these like kind of like radio marriages, so to speak, especially in the way they pair together, like morning shows, um,

So people enjoy to, they enjoy like platonic life partners. They get a kick out of it and there's a lot of room there and it puts everyone at ease. Cause sometimes when you have someone sit down for an interview and there's a live audience, you can get a little bit like anxious almost on behalf of either the interviewer or the person they're talking to, like, is it going to go well? But when you guys came out on stage, everyone's relaxed. So it's like, there's a vibe. You two are friends. You're both very funny. So like you said, in terms of the protection, you know that

The audience can even feel that one's not going to let the other one fall. And I think that makes the laughs come easier and it allows for like a little bit more ebb and flow and there's some more forgiveness. I just think it's nicer to listen to. It's why people enjoy listening to multiple voices on podcasts and radio, I think. And you know how far you can put. Well, I think it's interesting. But as you know, in radio, it's all about that team.

And of course, many times I can remember sitting down in a studio, I won't say which studio in Toronto for the most, one of the most anticipated morning radio revamps and two very large radio stars that were finally coming together. And I was in the studio and you could cut the tension with a knife, even though they were going through the motions, you know, did you go out last night? I did. And, but you could just see. And then later, uh,

One of the technicians told me like they'd been fighting over who got what chair for the first week and it just didn't work. And there's no, there's no crystal ball in show business. You just can't make these relationships work. And we just locked in. And I talk about this. I mean, Jan just came on the show and it was just like anyone else, except it changed everything. Like it just changed everything. And then she became a regular on a show that didn't have regulars. And had she had the schedule, uh,

She quite well ended up every week on the show or at least once a month, at least once a month, except, you know, she happened to go off and tour the country and the world and all that business. But, you know, having said that, that's probably why it worked too, is that it was something kind of special for both of us to get together, whether it was once every 10 months or once every year and do something ludicrous. I mean, I think very much what we're doing is based on respect because I would never do anything without

to, it's not a roast. And I think, Caitlin, you make a good point where when you talk about these adversarial things,

hookups that are kind of meant to make fun of people all that each other all the time or like you wouldn't look good in a top hat used. Just the way people are. And we're very respectful and we do have moments that are quite, you know, thoughtful. And when we're talking about parents and this crazy advice that parents gave us and stuff like that, but it's, it really is a special time. Like I'm really savoring it and really enjoying,

appreciating it. And I'm hoping that Rick and I, it's something that we can, you know, tap into when we need to lift ourselves to do this

every 18 months or something and go out and find, you know, six or seven shows where we can do it. I mean, there's so many, so many markets in this country where people have these community theaters, they have a hockey rink, they have things. And we now know that the concept of it, which is so simple, there's a little bit of video, there's a couple of chairs, there's, it looks really nice. You know, we have a, we have nice lighting and we have nice sound, but we could take it anywhere. Oh, it's very nice. Yeah. And Chris has done a great job. It looks quite elegant. Yeah.

Well, our friend Joel, um, you know, he, he's such a gifted graphic designer, but anyway, for me to be part of this and to leave with the laughs and to leave people feeling encouraged by a world that is very precarious right now, we're inundated with, you know, new stories that are, it's a flinching time. We're all flinching. Like what's next? There's

You know, but this is something where I know Rick and I are both very proud of it. So it's been a riot. Every time I walk out there, I'm like, this is the easiest thing I've ever done in my life. Don't tell them that, Jen. It's the hardest thing you'll ever do. It's been super hard. No, it's been hard. Well, listen, we don't want to keep you like forever today. It's your day off. So I got nothing today and I miss you desperately. I want you to enjoy yourself.

Well, yesterday we were in a car together for three hours driving to London from Toronto. But like a married couple who's been together forever, we didn't say much. We didn't talk. I texted her at one point. And that's why you're still together. Yeah. Well, we always ask each other how each other's day was, and then we don't listen to the answers, and then we just get on our phone. No.

That's marriage in case anyone was truly married. One closing question. Sarah, go. I want something that you were both surprised with discovering about each other on this tour, even though you've known each other for so long. I didn't know what it was going to be like. You know what? Being on the road with Jen is like being on the road with Bette Midler from Beaches, but they're near the end of the movie when her best friend is dead and her career is like...

She's the legacy act everyone loves and she's a normal person not the crazy person She was in her early life and so she Janice walks in she commands Like attention in these rooms and she knows exactly what she's doing. You know, she gets on the microphone She's like, can I get 20% more gain, please? Can I get 20% 20% Okay, that's good. And then they go Rick and I'm like what she said and

And my mic started cutting out. My mic started cutting out. And I was like, they figured out I was holding my mic wrong. Like the mic, the thingy, whatever it is, antenna. The receptor, the little. The receptor is built into the bottom. And I was, I had my hand over it. He's on the antenna. I'm on the antenna. And I'm like, I made it to Roy Thompson Hall. I'm doing two sold out shows. I don't even know how to. Oh.

All the mic without blocking the antenna. So Jan has taught me all this. So it's just, yeah, Bette Midler and the Beaches, life together, best friend dead. Best friend, long gone. The thing about Rick, the way he carries his suit around, he's so fastidious. He's so clean. He's shaved. His teeth are brushed, polished up. His shoes, I swear to God, I think he could look up my pant leg with those shoes. They're that shiny. I have to think about it. You're used to talking with musicians.

He rubs a face cloth on his face. He comes in. He's after bathing. He's after bathing every day. If that. I went out with a roadie. I worked with him for 15 years, Rick. His name was Danny. And he had long, long hair. He was a roadie. I don't even know what he did. And I said, Danny, where's your suitcase? Just wearing what I need. And he had a toothbrush in his pocket. And we were out for two months at a time. Oh.

Anyway, but you are, he's such a consummate professional. The stories are slightly different every night, but I didn't know he was such a clean fanatic and so organized and type A. Everything's like a type A for sure. And that you're so nice to people and you're like, you're just very, very kind. So I'm always proud of him for that. There's nobody that ever

feels anything but loved and appreciated. And that's important because I fucking have known people over the years where I'm just rolling my eyeballs. I'm like, be a decent person. So anyway, he's a lot nicer than I am. I have wait one last, very last question because it's Rick's day off. What's Rick Mercer's ideal day? Like, what do you do? Yeah. Perfect day for you. Oh,

Shining shoes. The ideal day. I never take for granted a day where I don't have to do anything. Like a day where I don't have to do anything is so good. I just love that so much. And the feeling, if I don't have to do anything the next morning is even better. But of course that's blown now because I'm going to be seeing Janet. What an ungodly hour. Were we being picked up at six? I got into show business because I thought no heavy lifting. And also you'd never have to get up.

It's just be so, and then it's just all early mornings. That's simply not true. But I'm not complaining. What have you done today? I bet you like worked out. Not yet. I'm going to work out after we record and then I'm going to go take myself to the movies. I'm going to see for most, yeah. Or it's the new, uh, Mad Max franchise. Oh, Furiosa. Furiosa. So I'm going to go see that and I'm gonna need a big popcorn.

and maybe I can talk one of these girls into coming with me. I doubt it. But anyway, I'm so appreciative of you, Rick, and thank you for entertaining Canada. Thank you for doing the same. And thank you for having me on your podcast. It's so nice to see you, Sarah and Caitlin. Go get ready for bed because we're picking you up in three hours. Okay. Hey, welcome back. What a great guest. What a great guy. It was very nice of him to do this because I know what it feels like to have a day off and then be like,

Well, you don't actually have a whole day off because I need to see you tomorrow morning to do the podcast. But I said, we'll only keep you for like 25 minutes. Okay, Jan Arden. He always calls me Jan Arden. I think if Rick Mercer was interested in women, I would be interested in him. I would flirt with him. Oh, Rick Mercer. Did you hear that? He's very handsome. He has a good personality. He's very sharp.

which I enjoy. When you talk about chemistry, we have really great chemistry. Yes. We do. When we walk out, it's very electrifying and there's so much excitement. Rick chose our walk-on music, which is Raise a Little Hell by Bachman Turner Overdrive. And people are clapping, the spotlights are doing, you know, that atypical, stereotypical swinging around. You think like, what's happening? Is this the opening of a new Housewives franchise in Hollywood? Like that's what it feels like.

And, uh, it's really exciting. And then when we sit down, I can feel this crinkly sparkly thing coming at us from, you know, 2300 people. It's crazy. I know we saw, so Sarah and I saw you at Roy Thompson hall, as I stated before, it was a mother's day. And, um,

people were so excited. When you walk in the doors of Roy Thompson Hall, they are flooding in. They're talking to each other. They've all got this night out planned. It looks like everyone's kind of like dressed up, like maybe they had dinner together before that. And then there's some merch and people are lining up. They're buying books. Some are buying his book. Some are buying your book. Like it's just, it's a very nice feeling. And it honestly reminds me a little bit

of when I went to go see Come From Away. Oh, it's so Canadian. It celebrates us. Yes, it is so Canadian. It's intelligent. It's funny. It's heartwarming. And it's the type of night that does make you feel really good. And people are looking forward to. So it's it reminded me a lot of that. And I saw that play three times. I've seen it a couple times, too. I've seen it a couple times.

Well, like I said, it's nice to travel with someone who's just

Really easy. He's easy to travel with. He's on time. There's something to be said for someone. If Lobby calls 5.30 a.m., he's there at 5.23. And I remember traveling in bands. Fuck, and guys coming down, and it's 5.41, and we're holding the van. Sorry, I didn't... And Danny was one of them. Danny... I lost my toothbrush. Sometimes we had to go looking for Danny. I wonder how well he's doing these days, but...

He literally did not have a suitcase, a knapsack, a granny bag. He had a toothbrush in his pocket and a comb. He had really long hair. He sounds like he's like an old-timey hobo with a bindle, like riding the rails. He's an old-timey roadie. And they don't make him like that anymore. It's very hard to get road people now and to get crew people anymore.

Anytime I go on a tour or see a show, I know crew guys, whether it's Madonna, whether it's the Taylor Swift people, we know a bunch of guys that are out with that tour. And, you know, you lose people because you're like, oh no, she's on the Swifty tour for, they're out there for 10 months. And you can't get guys, especially when I mount something that's a little bit bigger that requires, you know, sometimes I'm out with 25 people. Sometimes I'm out with eight people.

It just depends what we're doing. You let us know if you need heavy lifting. Oh my God. You guys would hate it. I would. I don't like carrying things. We were talking about this yesterday in the car. We were talking a little bit, but we're also very respectful. If someone's got their eyes shut, they're trying to just relax a little bit. But we were talking about moving around and how hard it is

to get a body from A to B. Like, and I always get these messages. People are like, weren't you just in London? Like, it seems like you were just in London yesterday. And I'm like, well, no, that was five days ago. And now we're here. But the movement of a body is something else because like, for instance, coming Ottawa to Toronto the other day,

Our flight was canceled from Ottawa. That's why we were up at 5.30 in the morning. We had to get the rental car, pay $1,500 to drop it in Toronto instead of dropping it at the airport in Ottawa. It was $1,500. And we all packed in there, sitting around, suitcases and gear and all this stuff. But we got there, and we had two shows that Sunday. But we left Ottawa at 5.30.

I think it took Chris eight minutes to make the decision. We're driving. So let's go. I feel like when you guys are out and you, you, you mentioned this when you were chatting with him, but you're like, my, my face hurts from like laughing and holding it in the same position. Like my head hurts. It seems like something that to me would be very energetically depleting, like fun. And it gives you a lot, it gives you some purpose and it's exciting and all that stuff. But

I feel like at the end of a day where you had two shows, I cannot imagine being so spent. I'd be like, don't like no one talked to me for a week. We're still laughing when we come off stage, we're kind of doing a recap. And I'm like, haven't heard that one before. Like,

just our hotel room, just talking about hotel rooms over the years, the last 35 years and where you stay and, you know, having a hot tub at the foot of your bed, that's got an inch of water in it that you're like, where am I? What is happening? Where am I? You know, and the hotel is so proud because they're putting you in the honeymoon suite, like in

Smithers British Columbia and it's the nicest room they have in the whole town and you're just like oh god I'm not getting into that tub for love nor money Canadian media is not glamorous like people like I feel like they think it is sometimes and you're like certain cities maybe have a bit of joie de vivre but other places uh-uh it's such a diverse culturally expansive place and

You don't think about it. I'm certainly people that have really not left their provinces. They've never left BC or Saskatchewan. I've been everywhere. I've been to the North. The one place that I've always wanted to go is Nunavut. And I do want to get there because I haven't been in the Arctic. I've been to Yellowknife. I've been to Whitehorse. I've been to Churchill, Manitoba. I've been up in that area around the Hudson's Bay. The pendulum that swings, it's not anything you recognize or know about.

And that happens when I'm in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island. I'm like, where am I? It's so different. You know, it's different. The culture. And, you know, coming to Toronto, this is one of the biggest cities on the planet. It is one of the biggest cities on the planet. It is a fast moving, fast paced. And I have a hard time keeping up here. Yeah. Toronto's exhausting. It is something else, you know, but I'm, uh,

I'm very proud to have the opportunity to move across the country and see so many different things, meet so many people. But yeah, exhausting in a great way, Sarah. I also really enjoy that when you do go on tour, we get to see you because we all had dinner together. Let's talk about that. We had our Christmas party and our like company quarterly all at the same time. Our first company dinner.

Yeah, it is GIA, G-I-A, Stacey and Jenny. Shout out to you guys. What a fantastic goddamn restaurant. One of the best meals I've had in such a long time. I loved it so much. Incredible pasta. And I went immediately from our dinner to an event. And when I was at the event, a bunch of people had already seen, like I posted it on Instagram. They were like, where were you having dinner?

I was like, Gian, Dundas West. And everyone right away goes, oh my God, did you have the focaccia? And we were like, yes, we did. I was like, yes, Jan made us get the bread before the pasta and it was worth every calorie. So it's very plant forward. They don't do any meat.

The, you know, Stacy, she's right up front with you. You can veganize almost anything on their menu. You just have to put your hand up and go, do you mind not putting the Parmesan? So they do a bit of dairy, but it's not heavy. But she said it would be hard, you know, catering to such a diverse audience.

um, clientele without having a little bit of this. But one thing people do go in there to have the opportunity to, to experience is that vegetarian is really awesome. Oh, it's so good. But the focaccia and for me to go in there, I can pretty much have anything because you know, it's, it's great, but what delicious food, the kitchen's open. You can see the chefs working. You can see them preparing things. We got there at 5.30.

It was packed at 6.05. The drinks were great. The wine was great. The atmosphere is really lovely. And it was so nice to actually meet Stacey, who was there for a minute. And she was talking about some other projects that she was going to be working on. Stefano's Burgers. We'll put some links in the show notes if you want to check them out. I've got a burger coming in 15 minutes. I just remembered it now. Thank God you said something to me. Fairly recently, I had noticed...

a lot more sort of health accounts that I follow on Instagram, highlighting that all the blue zones in the world, you know, places where people live the longest, they don't consume meat that often. It's not to say that they're entirely vegan, but I think they sort of circled around, you know, maybe they'll have meat like five times a month.

And other than that, they're vegetarian. And so meat the way that we're eating it is not good for us. Sustainable either. It's not sustainable for the planet. Well, it's just gotten out of control. It's gotten out of control. And it's convenience. It's convenience. You know, fussy. My kid's a fussy eater and blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, you're right, Caitlin. It's just... I would have never even have known any of those things were vegan. Everything was delicious. Everything had the right texture. Like, it was amazing. It was truly one of the best meals I've had in such a long time. And I dine out a lot and I eat Italian a lot. And it was so, so fantastic. That truffle thing? Oh, they did a truffle. The truffle agnolotti was so fantastic. You can kiss my arse and call me daddy because that is good. Wow.

Yeah. And the vibe is good. I mean, and dining out is increasingly expensive. So when you go out, you really want to know that you're going to be in a nice environment. You're going to be treated well and you're going to have a good meal. And so that checked every single box. And if you're not drinking, have a Tom Ford.

I know. And the mocktails. The Tom Ford. I don't know. I felt like I was drinking me some Tom Ford. That's all I can say right now. You also had a non-alcoholic Aperol Spritz. I had to like check myself at the door. Like, is this got, is this boozy? Like I had to just really, am I feeling anything? Am I feeling more attractive all of a sudden? No, no, it was not boozy. It was, it was delicious. But anyway, thank you to the Gia folks. Yeah. Thank you.

We had dessert after that you left. We ordered the vegan vanilla ice cream that you pour espresso over. Oh, my God.

And the tiramisu had a little bit of dairy in it. I had a little taste of it. I just thought, oh, I'm going to be respectful here. And I had a little taste of it, but it wasn't vegan. But the ice cream, out of this world. And Stacey, not only do they have these Stefano sandwiches that I'm going to experience and take a picture of for you, but she's also working on doing a dairy bar, like a

Yeah. Soft serve. Yeah. So in the summer, cause Toronto loves an ice cream moment in the summer, we will, Torontonians will line up for half an hour for ice cream. And so this is going to be like a, a single kind of, I think she said it was like one flavor at a time, vegan ice cream. And I was actually talking about this with Jan, you,

one of your friends, Aaron Ireland, we were DMing about the meal at Gia's. About ice cream. About ice cream. And she was, I was telling her all the stuff that we were just discussing. She's got soft serve at her bakery. And she does. Oh my gosh. I cannot wait to go to Vancouver and try her bakery. I'm telling you it is out of this world. And I went there at 9.15 in the morning once. My friend Leah took me because I thought I got to get some stuff to bring home. And it was my last day in Vancouver. I had soft serve. I said, is the machine going?

And Aaron's like, guys, is the machine up? And I had a soft serve swirl. So I had chocolate and vanilla and it was so good.

satisfying to have ice cream for breakfast. I don't really know how to explain what happened to me. Well, Erin said that there's another vegan ice cream place in Toronto that has the best vegan ice cream she's ever had in her life called Honey's. It's called Honey's Ice Cream. I'm going there today. Yeah. So I was like, that's what I was going to say. I think it would be a great place because it's hot as heck today. It's absolutely a beautiful, stunning day in Toronto as we record. And it would be the perfect day to go for a walk and get some ice cream before you see Furiosa. Yeah.

Also, Jan, I want to let you know that I am going to convert you to the world of reality TV. Let's talk about this. So Caitlin had a hard out. She had a hard out at our dinner at seven, which was great. We had 90 minutes to sit and hang out. You were off to the Soho house for a, a,

meeting someone from the Below Deck franchise, which you're nutty about. No, from Summer House. Oh, Summer House. So talk us through that. Summer House is a show about a bunch of young, hot professionals in New York City. And a big thing in New York that they do is people will rent what they call a share house in the Hamptons. So you rent a house with a large group of people. You split the cost because it's usually very expensive. And you go there every weekend and you party in the summer. It's this whole social scene.

So this started years ago and there is a brand new cast member and his name is West.

and the Hey You brought him to Toronto for a screening of the newest episode and to do a little meet and greet and some promo and stuff because he's like, he's so much fun. He's this amazing, fun, charismatic guy that's just joined the cast. So I had a chance to meet him and to hang out and watch an episode and he sat there and watched the episode with us and you get to kind of like talk to him and ask him some questions. I got to ask him about like what was, what's it like being on reality TV because he was just a regular old civilian like the rest of us until this year.

So it was cool. It's been cool to see someone like not, they're not famous and now they are very famous in the world of reality TV. Plus, but he's now, he's in sports. Like he was a college football player in the U S and then he was working as a sports journalist in some capacity. Now he works for complex on the side. He does like digital stuff for them all to say his previous demo was like a 25 year old guy. And now he's talking to like a 35 to 45 year old woman on average. Okay.

So it's a big demo shift. So it was fun to talk to him about that. But I'm good friends with everyone who runs PR for HeyYou. I love HeyYou. They were the ones that obviously keep inviting me to all this stuff because they know that I have a disorder. And so I think they're going to send you a code to give you some free months of access to HeyYou.

To see if we can wet your whistle. Yeah, to convert you, to see if there's any way to convert you. I said the best chance I believe at converting anyone is to start with Below Deck. I think that's an easy entry point franchise. Plus you follow and she follows you, Captain Sandy from Below Deck. Captain Sandy. So I think we should start with the Captain Sandy season of Below Deck and see where we go from there.

Come talk to us sometime, Captain Sandy. I know you're listening. I know you are. Craziest reality TV thing. Would you be familiar with Kwame from Love is Blind? I don't know if you watched that, Caitlin. I don't.

I did watch Love is Blind. Cynthia Loyce forces me. But I've only seen season one and like the latest season that I watched with her. But did I finish? Yeah, I did finish it all because we got to the final when they all sit together on the couch. I just thought you guys would laugh at me for this. I had no idea. This man booked a podcast consult with me, okay? No. So I had a podcast consult with Kwame from Love is Blind having zero idea that he was from a reality TV show.

Go about the meeting. I suggest him to a colleague of mine because it's not really the best fit for the network, whatever. Right. But gave him some pointers. Sure enough, podcast launches. And I'm like, that man was from love is blind. What? Yeah.

I had no idea. And I'm talking to the colleague. Did you know he was on Love Is Mine? No. Anyway, so the podcast, if you want to check it out, is Beyond Influence. So he's talking about like becoming like a reality TV influence and talking to other content creators who are influencers. How was he? Was he like charismatic or charming? He was so nice.

He's very nice. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. That's what I find. Like you meet, I've met a few reality stars now and there are some where you just think to yourself, of course you, you are on reality TV. And then there's others where I'm like, I don't really want to watch or hear anything from you actually in real life at all.

So a couple administrative items. Shall we play a couple voice notes for the long weekend? Oh, I'd love to. We haven't done a voice note for a while. Hi, Sarah, Caitlin and Jan. I have been listening to your podcast since the beginning of COVID. Caitlin and Jan, I look forward to your podcast every week. You help me get through that hard time and help me laugh and understand what was going on in the world. And I'm so excited to be here with you.

And Caitlin, I have an eight-year-old son, William, now. And listening to you go through all that you did with the excitement leading up to Sam's birth and then the horrible tragedy of his loss really was powerful. And thank you for sharing. And your support and love was flowing from me to you and out there in the world.

And Sarah, the reason why today I finally decided to leave a voice note was when you mentioned that you're going through your ADHD diagnoses. Last year, my son William, we went through a diagnosis process and he is ASD with ADHD and also gifted. So I started doing a lot, a lot of reading and which led me to my ADHD and spectrum diagnoses. So

Sarah, I highly recommend David Archer's book, The ADHD Advantage. It's a great read and very powerful. And I'd love to hear the book that you mentioned on today's podcast or this week's podcast that you were reading. Anyway, I want to thank you three intelligent, incredible, inspiring women.

It's a great journey and I love listening to you when I run every week. Have a great week. Keep putting out these podcasts and making us smile and laugh and also think because you've had some very thoughtful podcasts as well. As well, Jan, I just wanted to let you know that yesterday was Mother's Day and I played Good Mother for my mother like I do every year. We stood together and danced in a circle for the entire song. It means so much to me and I've seen you, we've seen you several times.

Thank you for sharing Good Mother with us. - Hey, Jen, Caitlin and Sarah. My name's Doug Barker. Mitchell did a great job sewing up what's happening with the CDB and with disabled people and maid.

And although our stories are not exactly the same, most people with disabilities are running along the same problems that Mitchell has. I broke my neck playing hockey in 1993. I've been in a high-level quadriplegic for 31 years. It seemed like what was being promised just didn't make a lot of sense.

for what they delivered. It's like they're still out of touch, I can't believe it. But thank you guys for getting involved and I hope you can use your platform to advocate for us. And I'm out of Manitoba, just FYI. Okay, I'm going to try this one more time. Some time being 77 years old just really sucks.

I am trying to leave a message for Ms. Sarah Burke and say that on the last Jan Arden pod, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing so much from you. You're normally the more quiet of the three.

And this was just really wonderful to hear you talk so much. I'm going to declare myself your illegal unofficial grandmother because I'm sure I'm old enough. And I also want to say that I was surprised to hear you say you think you have ADHD. And I'm so glad that you're going to get help with that. Your unofficial uncle, my younger brother,

Was severely ADHD, but of course this was in the middle of the previous century since we were born in the 1940s. And it was a real production holding him down. So good luck with that. But I certainly wouldn't have guessed it from looking at you. You're always calm and focused. I would never even think for one moment you had any attention deficit issue. So wonderful to talk to you all. I'm sure this is over with by now.

We are so excited to welcome another new sponsor, our friends at Cove Soda. Have I pestered Cove enough to come and join us here at the Jan Arden podcast? I love them so much. They are Canadian, first of all. They are a natural, certified organic, zero sugar soda, which includes, get this, one big

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while putting a gut-friendly, guilt-free drink in your body. Cove Soda is available in 12 delicious flavors all over North America. So for our American friends, you can find it. They've got this fruity lineup that's fantastic. I drink those all the time. They've got the classic lineup if you like

A cola or a cream soda, root beer, yes indeedy. And they've got their limited edition summer flavor, which will take you right back to the second grade. You gotta try the ice pop one. Head to janardenpod.com to find out where the closest place to you is where you can go and buy Cove. Go right now.

Ooh. Ooh. Announcement. We do have an announcement. We have an announcement to make. Our partners, Intact Insurance, if you've been living under a rock somewhere, Intact has been such a valued partner for the Jan Arden podcast. And they're back. Yeah, and we're back. We're back together. We're doing stuff together. And because it's the long weekend, what a perfect time to remind you

how to prepare for a long weekend trip. They've got this great blog. I've been on there a half a dozen times and it's good habits for safer driving, which I need constantly. I'm always distracted. I'm always doing stupid stuff. Sorry for texting you when you're on the road.

Yeah. Well, and I don't, I usually do voice to text, but intact will be there. Just if you've got kids, keeping kids safe in the car. I mean, I always laugh because when I get out of my car, they're like, check the back seat. I'm like, what, what do I have? And if I've got a bag sitting back there, or if I've thrown some stuff, my dry cleaning, my car tells me there's something in the back seat. Apparently, occasionally people will forget about their children in a car.

This is a real thing that happens. Actually, my mom did that one time with my sister. Intact insurance, please don't leave us. These people do not represent this show. And things you don't even think about, which is very typical of all of us. There's one called 10 tips to protect your home, even when you're away. Lord knows I need that so much because guess who's away? A lot. Yeah, you are. We've got all these blogs linked at Jan Arden.com.

pod.com. That's our website. So go check it out for the long weekend. And thanks so much to our friends at intact insurance. Uh, I hope you girls have a wonderful weekend. You too. Oh, and a quick shout out to odd burger, odd burger. Who's in London, Ontario. They have one in Calgary. They they're popping up all over the place. They are a vegan junk food.

I love me some vegan junk food. The fries were amazing. The burger was amazing. I don't know what to tell you, folks. You could buy it for your friends at an outing and they're not going to know. Don't even tell them. I don't tell my friends when they come to eat at my house. I give them a goddamn hamburger. That's whatever. And they're like, oh, this is delicious. Thank you. Yes. Now shut up and get out of my house. That's what I say.

But anyway, odd burger, odd burger. You're touring with Rick for the long weekend. Yep. And then Sarah, are you going to the cottage for the long weekend? Yeah. I might actually skip up there after we finish this recording. So I, yeah. So I just avoid all the Friday traffic and drive on Thursday instead. Yeah. Smart. And,

And how's young Will? Young Will is good? Oh my God, he's so good. I just love, I just, I can't get enough of him. What have you planned for the long weekend? So we have a little play date with some of our friends to hang out in the backyard and get some sprinklers going and enjoy ourselves. He'll probably get some ice cream cones. I love that. He is enrolled in soccer called Little Kickers. So they all run around. Little Shit Kickers is what they should call it.

Yeah, little not kicking the ball actually and just trying to escape the whole time. But they look so cute in their uniforms and they look like little penguins the way they run around. They're just, they're, I mean, they're adorable. And yeah, so probably doing that. And then when he goes to bed, I will look through my camera roll at photos and videos I've taken of him like a complete psycho. I can't wait to see them. I just can't stop going through

photos and videos of him. I was like, I'm just, I'm just now at that point where I'm like becoming a weird fan of his. I was like, I have to stop. I need to. No, you don't. Just so you know, I have eight pictures of my fucking childhood because I was born in 1962. So I have like, and, and usually half my face is cut off. I'm like, well, I thought I could see your whole head in the camera. Jan, you didn't take pictures back then. You just didn't take pictures. My mom took pictures for three years on this, on this disposable camera.

And, you know, yeah, there was 12 exposures that she had. But for the following three years, whatever she was clicking, well, the thing kept spinning around. I don't, you know. In fact, on her deathbed, practically, I'm exaggerating slightly. It might have been like a year before her deathbed, but still it's better for the story that I explain it that way. On her deathbed, she was saying, these were her last words. I wonder what was on that film. Yeah.

Yeah. And then, and then she flatlined. You should buy a disposable camera. They still have them for you and Rick Mercer and just fill it up on the tour and then get it developed later. It'll be a nice surprise. No, we'll put it in time capsule at your house under concrete and we'll dig it out in a year. Okay. We can do that too. Listen,

It's fantastic. It was great seeing you guys. I feel like I've seen you. It was so nice to have our company dinner. We'll do it again very, very soon. But yeah, we'll see everybody next week. You can subscribe to the Jan Arden podcast and it'll just pop up on your phones. We have another friend joining us next week. Zaya Tong. You are filling up with plastic. You are filling up. Your body has got microscopic planet cells.

Microplastics. Microplastics. And that's exactly what I was going to say because of my scientific background. It's because your brain is made of plastic now. And that's what her new documentary is about. I rest my case. But apparently it's showing up in amniotic fluid. It's showing up in people's period blood. It's showing up in the fish that you eat. Like if you're having tuna, there's microbes.

Whatever you, what Sarah said. There are screenings like across Canada. The film is called Plastic People. And yeah, we will talk a lot more about that next week. Just on that uplifting note, thanks for listening to the Jan Arden podcast. And we will see you soon. Look after yourselves. Have a great, great long weekend. Toodly-doo. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.