Gord Deppe and Sandy Horne of Spoons (or is it The Spoons?) drop by. They been on Toronto Mike'd before, but this will be the first time the two of them visit the basement together.

Tuesday

Kevin McDonald of Kid in the Hall returns to Toronto Mike'd. This is his first appearance since Scott Thompson dropped by to tell me about all the censorship they endured while making the new season with Amazon. Also, John Cleese told me he's never seen Kids in the Hall, and I find that fascinating.

Wednesday

Banjo Duncan Fremlin returns and he's a dear friend of the podcast. I have a lengthy list of items I'd like to discuss with him.

Thursday

Phil Perkins from CP24 makes his Toronto Mike'd debut in the morning, then Jeff Rogers returns.

Friday

Dave Hodge drops by to share his 100 favourite new songs of 2026. This annual tradition is very near and dear to my heart.

As always, if you have a question and/or comment for any of these fine people, let me know!

This week, I dropped fresh Toronto Mike'd episodes every weekday. That's five episodes in five days. Each one was quite different.

Monday

Ieden Wall came over with his camera person and the listenership did not care for this guest nor his attitude. In the room, I couldn't tell if it was a work or a shoot, but I knew it was different. With the camera person taking 30 minutes to flesh out a television studio in my tiny basement and Ieden acting rather performative, the cherry on the sundae was me being advised Toronto Mike'd was very Q Morning Zooish. Yes, that happened, and controversy ensued.

Tuesday

Nick Beaton made his Toronto Mike'd debut and it was a great chat with a stand-up comedian who worked closely with Dave Foley and has found a new sweet spot delivering political commentary.

Wednesday

Musicologist Mike Daley dropped by to talk about Toronto's Yorkville music scene in the 1960s. I love Toronto music history episodes with a subject matter expert.

Thursday

Steve Simmons returned to discuss sports subjects of the day. Agree or disagree with the Toronto Sun veteran, I find him awfully entertaining and I'm already looking forward to his 2027 visit. This was a classic sports talk episode with a true character of the game.

Friday

The only remote recording of the week, I finally got to chat with my very first favourite author. I loved Bruno and Boots books when I was in primary school and had always heard Gordon Korman wrote This Can't Be Happening At Macdonald Hall while in grade sevent, but now I got to collect all the details, straight from the man himself.

So that's a controversial episode, a comedy episode, a Toronto music history episode, a sports episode and an author, all in one week.

Truly something for everybody.

On this 2014th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with author Gordon Korman about writing his first book This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall as a Grade 7 assignment, being a published author while attending Thornlea Secondary School, and all things Bruno and Boots.  This episode is exactly 1:13:28.

You can listen to this episode in a variety of ways:

• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Follow on Spotify
• Follow on Amazon Music
• Subscribe on Podcast Addict
• Subscribe via Overcast
• Listen on tunein
• Subscribe directly to the feed at https://www.torontomike.com/podcast/rss/

There is a version of Toronto Mike'd without programmatic ads available to all Patrons. Consider becoming one at https://www.patreon.com/torontomike.

Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Retro Festive, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Palma Pasta, Nick Ainis and Ridley Funeral Home.

Welcome to this week's Open Mike. I'm Mike and I'll be your master of ceremonies for the day.

Feel free to use this space to vent, rant,  share a story and/or ask a question of the FOTM hivemind.

On this 2013th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons about the Bob McCown episode, the problem with the Leafs, Rogers owning everything, Duane Ward, Cito Gaston, Roberto Alomar and when he'll retire.  This episode is exactly 1:47:33.

You can listen to this episode in a variety of ways:

• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Follow on Spotify
• Follow on Amazon Music
• Subscribe on Podcast Addict
• Subscribe via Overcast
• Listen on tunein
• Subscribe directly to the feed at https://www.torontomike.com/podcast/rss/

There is a version of Toronto Mike'd without programmatic ads available to all Patrons. Consider becoming one at https://www.patreon.com/torontomike.

Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Retro Festive, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Palma Pasta, Nick Ainis and Ridley Funeral Home.

Anthony Clark was the stand-up comedian who starred in the sitcoms Boston Common and Yes, Dear.

On this 2011th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with musicologist Mike Daley about his new book Yorkville: How a 1960s Coffeehouse Scene Rewrote Popular Music.  This episode is exactly 1:25:19.

You can listen to this episode in a variety of ways:

• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Follow on Spotify
• Follow on Amazon Music
• Subscribe on Podcast Addict
• Subscribe via Overcast
• Listen on tunein
• Subscribe directly to the feed at https://www.torontomike.com/podcast/rss/

There is a version of Toronto Mike'd without programmatic ads available to all Patrons. Consider becoming one at https://www.patreon.com/torontomike.

Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Retro Festive, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Palma Pasta, Nick Ainis and Ridley Funeral Home.

Stacy Keach was the actor best known for his roles in The Bourne Legacy and Blue Bloods. He also played private detective Mike Hammer on the sitcom Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination in 1985.

On this 2011th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Nick Beaton about his career in comedy.  This episode is exactly 1:33:19.

You can listen to this episode in a variety of ways:

• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Follow on Spotify
• Follow on Amazon Music
• Subscribe on Podcast Addict
• Subscribe via Overcast
• Listen on tunein
• Subscribe directly to the feed at https://www.torontomike.com/podcast/rss/

There is a version of Toronto Mike'd without programmatic ads available to all Patrons. Consider becoming one at https://www.patreon.com/torontomike.

Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Retro Festive, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Palma Pasta, Nick Ainis and Ridley Funeral Home.

Bob Boone won four Gold Glove Awards in seven seasons as the California Angels' catcher in the 1980s. He made the AL All-Star team in 1983. In 1983 and 1988, he was voted the Angels' team MVP by the local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Boone's 962 regular-season games at catcher still stand as the Angels' career record.

On this 2010th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Ieden Walll about his Omni TV show JWeekly Canada and how he got there. And then, it gets awkward.  This episode is exactly 1:20:00.

You can listen to this episode in a variety of ways:

• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Follow on Spotify
• Follow on Amazon Music
• Subscribe on Podcast Addict
• Subscribe via Overcast
• Listen on tunein
• Subscribe directly to the feed at https://www.torontomike.com/podcast/rss/

There is a version of Toronto Mike'd without programmatic ads available to all Patrons. Consider becoming one at https://www.patreon.com/torontomike.

Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Retro Festive, Electronic Products Recycling Association, Palma Pasta, Nick Ainis and Ridley Funeral Home.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but Men Without Hats are not a one -hit wonder. Yes, "The Safety Dance" was their biggest song, but by no means was it their only hit.

"Pop Goes The World" was seemingly everywhere in 1987. I know this because I was there. It was huge in Canada, on high rotation on Top 40 radio, like Toronto's 680 CFTR, but it also peaked at #20 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

This term "one-hit wonder" requires specific parameters. For starters, are we talking about Canada or the USA? Alannah Myles is a one-hit wonder in the USA, but not in Canada. Men Without Hats is not a one-hit wonder in either country.

For more about Montreal's Men Without Hats, listen to my conversation with lead singer and founder Ivan Doroschuk on Toronto Mike'd.

Richard Lloyd was a guitarist and songwriter, best known as a founding member of Television.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Mark Carney made this statement on social media:

In Budget 2026, we’re backing the Canadian artists who tell our stories. That means if you’re a Canadian artist, you won’t pay tax on up to $45,000 of income derived from your creative work.

I am a Canadian who tells our stories via an artform called podcasting. It will be interesting to realize I don't qualify for some reason, even though I literally craft and record 100s of hours of original audio content each year with the bulk of that commited to telling the stories of notable Canadians.

There are vastly more differences between Katie Dauson and Bob McCown than there are similarities. Katie is a singer songwriter who is making a go of it on her own while Bob is a longtime sports media personality best known for hosting Prime Time Sports on The Fan 590.

Their similarities begin with the fact both Katie Dauson and Bob McCown were recent guests on my podcast. Bob was my guest for episode 2000, and Katie dropped by yesterday for episode 2009 of Toronto Mike'd. I enjoyed both conversations.

But these two have another commonality, and it's regarding their use of masks. When the red light was on, Bob McCown assumed a curmudgeonly persona. Even with me, he was wearing this mask, because the red light was on.

Katie Dauson, who tells me she's extremely shy, is not actually a Katie Dauson. That's her stage name, and when she's performing, she's assuming the character. This has helped her deal with and heal from PTSD resulting from severe childhood bullying.

Katie and Bobcat are strange bedfellows, but far more alike than you'd think!