Episodes

  • Chris Sanders: Why The Wild Robot is the perfect children's fable for our time
    Feb 12 2025

    When the filmmaker and animator Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) decided to adapt Peter Brown’s kids’ book “The Wild Robot” for the screen, he threw a lot of modern animation conventions out the window. Chris decided to use hand-painted images instead of CGI and he centred the story on motherhood when mothers are mostly absent in kids’ movies. Now, “The Wild Robot” is nominated for an Oscar. Chris joins guest host Gill Deacon to tell us more about the film and how he made it.

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    25 mins
  • Neema Bickersteth: What happens when a professional singer has a frog in her throat?
    Feb 12 2025

    There’s a new production in Toronto that explores the very first musical instrument: the voice. “The Wolf in the Voice” features three singers, including the acclaimed Canadian soprano, dancer and performer Neema Bickersteth. She joins Tom Power to talk about the show, how it investigates the relationship between singing and the human voice, and the joy — and deep anxieties — faced by professional singers.

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    23 mins
  • Colman Domingo: How the veteran actor honed his craft in the circus
    Feb 11 2025

    After decades stealing scenes as a supporting actor, Colman Domingo generated Oscar buzz for his first lead role in the Obama-backed Netflix film “Rustin.” In this conversation with Tom Power from a little while back, Colman talks about the weight of playing the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin (advisor to Martin Luther King Jr.), what he learned about vulnerability when he was a professional clown, and why acting is a form of service to the public.

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    25 mins
  • Darcy Michael & Jer Baer: What it’s like living out their love story on the internet
    Feb 11 2025

    When Darcy Michael started a TikTok channel with his husband Jeremy Baer, he was a retired stand-up comedian who had spent nearly 20 years trying to find an audience. After Darcy and Jer (as they’re known online) started posting candid videos together from their home in British Columbia, millions of fans across the internet found them. Now, in two new streaming specials — “No Refunds” and “Happily Ever Laughter” — Darcy and Jer open up about living out their love story in public. The two sit down with Tom Power to talk about those films, and how going viral changes a relationship.

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    24 mins
  • Bob Geldof: How he convinced Queen’s Freddie Mercury to do Live Aid
    Feb 10 2025

    Bob Geldof is a musician, activist and one of the organizers of Live Aid, the massive 1985 benefit concert that raised millions for famine relief in Ethiopia. Some of the biggest artists and bands of all time came together for that concert — but how did Bob convince them all to give up their time for free on the same day? Ahead of the Toronto opening of “Just For One Day,” a new jukebox musical about Live Aid, Bob sits down with Tom Power to share some of the stories from behind the scenes of Live Aid, including how he got Queen to participate and why David Bowie insisted on the use of some CBC footage as the one condition of him playing.

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    48 mins
  • Jully Black: Why Canada's queen of R&B soul raises her voice for others
    Feb 7 2025

    Jully Black is a powerhouse singer-songwriter from Toronto who’s often called Canada's queen of R&B soul. Now, she’s embarking on her first cross-country tour in almost 17 years. Jully sits down with Tom Power to tell us how singing in church at age six put her on her artistic path, why she feels speaking out is always the right thing to do, and how this upcoming tour celebrates connection, resilience and joy.

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    34 mins
  • Quick Q: Art d'Ecco makes an existential statement on his new album
    Feb 7 2025

    West Coast glam rocker Art d'Ecco joins Tom Power to set up the title track off his new album, “Serene Demon.” The song is an epic seven-and-a-half minute play about existentialism in four acts.

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    11 mins
  • Rufus Wainwright: Mourning the death of the American Dream with his first requiem
    Feb 6 2025

    Rufus Wainwright is a difficult artist to categorize at the best of times. As a musician, he’s recorded pop songs, folk music, operas and stage musicals. But his new album, “Dream Requiem,” is a little different, even for him. It’s a religious work inspired by a range of subjects, including a poem by Lord Byron, the music of Giuseppe Verdi, and his beloved late dog Puccini. He also managed to recruit Meryl Streep to narrate the project. Rufus joins Tom Power over Zoom to talk about the different influences behind “Dream Requiem,” his upbringing in Quebec, and how this project really mourns the death of the American Dream.

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    25 mins