The Women Of Ill Repute Maureen Holloway and Wendy Mesley

“Going to the coconut tree”. You hear it all the time on “Survivor”. What does that mean? Erica Casupanan spills the beans. She is the first Canadian to win “Survivor”, and the first Filipino. Tiny and Asian, she was tired of always being underestimated, so she used it on “Survivor 41”. Erika voted out her rivals, won over everyone else, and surprise, she won! More than a million bucks. A bit more than her previous salary as a communications manager, where she saw power dynamics at play. People are treating her very seriously now.
Mo tried to get Wendy to try out for Amazing Race Canada, but Wendy couldn’t imagine life without her special pillow. Then Erika said she was only allowed to wear underwear for the whole show. That had absolutely nothing to do with Wendy’s decision. Really. Erika now does a podcast, called “Happy to See Me”, where she is not so secretly trying to make the world a better place. And to hell with the trolls, winning “Survivor” taught her she can do anything. As for the million bucks, Erica’s only bought one pair of fancy shoes.
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Michael Smith is a Celebrity Chef who decided he had a problem with the Celebrity part. He’s kind of a big deal, has published several cookbooks, hosted TV shows on the Canadian Food Network, and wore the chef’s hat at some big-name restaurants around the world. Now, tired of Michelin-priced restaurants, he moved to Prince Edward Island and runs the 5-star “Inn at Bay Fortune”, where the farm is as sumptuous as the food. And there are oysters. Some nights he helps shuck 700 of them.
Chef Michael got married, had kids, and embraced his inner tree hugger. He’s a nutritional activist, who says he went through a preachy period, but now he’s just trying to be “real”. We talk to him about tipping (he’s not for it), the show “The Bear” (he loves it), and living on the Island. We didn’t ask him for any potato recipes. Although He’s 6.5 –that would be a lot of potatoes.
You can watch this episode on YouTube.
A Transcription of this episode is located on our episode page.
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If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Wendy and Maureen at womenofir@gmail.com
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Ron James says comedy should never be mean, but he sure has a lot of opinions! You should hear what he says about Quebec comedians. Is there a geographic link to comedy, a humour gene unique to Eastern Canada? Ron says he learned the power of laughter at his father’s knee in Glace Bay and then Halifax. That’s why he loves to tour, he says laughs are truly the bottom line.Like so many comedians, Ron got his start at Second City in Toronto. Then he moved to
Los Angeles, and hosted a TV show. Alas, the show was short-lived, so Ron moved back and wrote a book called “Up and Down in Shaky Town: One Man’s Journey Through the California Dream”. It got turned into a CTV special, then he wrote and hosted “Blackfly” on Global, and “The Ron James Show” on CBC. And he tours! Ron has been selling out theatres across Canada for years.
Book or go see Ron James here.
You can watch this episode on YouTube.
A Transcription of this episode is located on our episode page.
We love writing and would love for you to read what we write. Sign up for our Substack Newsletter.
If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Wendy and Maureen at womenofir@gmail.com
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Jen Gerson of “The Line” readily admits to being a mouthy babe, but only when she writes, she insists she is actually shy. Jen says she’s just opinionated, not trying to change anyone’s mind. She argues that’s not a journalist's job, that only activists try to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”. Well, call us afflicted! Her writing makes us think.
Jen has written for The New York Times, The Economist, Macleans, the National Post and The Globe and Mail. Now, she co-hosts “The Line” on Substack with Matt Gurney, and is writing a book about the Satanic Panic! We ask her about the Q-Anon Satanic cult accusations now being slung at the Democrats, and the ongoing attraction of moral panics and conspiracy theories. It seems we eat up all the sex and violence. Amongst all of this, we talk about the changing views on immigration, and how it’s catnip for both Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre.
You should subscribe to The Line's Substack, and their podcast.
You can watch this episode on YouTube.
A Transcription of this episode is located on our episode page.
We love writing and would love for you to read what we write. Sign up for our Substack Newsletter.
If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Wendy and Maureen at womenofir@gmail.com
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You know you know Michaela Watkins, but you may not know why. Then you remember (or are told) that she’s been in over a hundred sitcoms, dramas and comedies, including a 2 year stint on SNL. And then you remember that you love her, and when you see her latest movie, Suze, you’ll remember why. In Suze, Michaela plays a woman who once wanted more for herself and sets about reclaiming it, with the help of her daughter’s abandoned boyfriend (played by up and coming Canadian actor Charlie Gillespie).
Like Suze, Michaela is a woman whose long overdue time has come. We talk about how she so often plays the friend or the sister to the main character (like her real life pal Julia Louis Dreyfus.) How important kindness becomes as you get older. Coping with menopause, oh, and the trails and tribulations of having ADHD, or working with someone who does. Ahem.
Suze is available on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.
A Transcription of this episode is located on our episode page.
We love writing and would love for you to read what we write. Sign up for our Substack Newsletter.
If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Wendy and Maureen at womenofir@gmail.com
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Ron Sexsmith says “I’m not really shy, I’m just Canadian”. He’s a singer-songwriter who has never had a top 40 hit, is not rich, but is deeply admired by the people he admires most. Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, and Gordon Lightfoot, are all, were all, huge fans. Sexmsith’s songs, like “Secret Heart”, have been performed by everyone from Rod Stewart to Feist to Nick Lowe.We spoke to him as he was about to headline at Toronto’s storybook Massey Hall. When Ron was a kid and couldn’t afford a ticket, he’d hang outside to see his heroes, now he’s on the same stage. There’s no Taylor Swift action, but if you look carefully, he does move his hips!
And Ron is happy. He left the bright lights of Toronto and moved to Stratford where he just recorded his 18th album, “The Vivian Line”. Ron’s wife Colleen had to plug in his computer, but you should see him on Twitter/X. The puns are excruciatingly funny, or maybe just excruciating!
You can listen to his new album HERE on any one of the many ways to get music these days.
You can watch this episode on YouTube.
A Transcription of this episode is located on our episode page.
We love writing and would love for you to read what we write. Sign up for our Substack Newsletter.
If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Wendy and Maureen at womenofir@gmail.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices