Chatter that Matters

In the summer of 1972, a group of young, largely unknown performers gathered in Toronto to stage Godspell. The cast included Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, Dave Thomas and Jayne Eastwood, with Paul Shaffer at the piano. What happened in that rehearsal room would help shape comedy for generations.
I sit down with director Nick Davis and writer Jane Mendelsohn about their documentary, *You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way). We explore how an ensemble built on friendship, trust and joyful experimentation became an incubator for extraordinary talent and how Martin Short's hidden audio recordings helped preserve a production for which no film footage exists.
The conversation also honours Gilda Radner's enduring spirit, reflects on Avril Chown's more painful experience in show business, and asks whether such an unguarded creative community could emerge in today's era of personal brands and constant cameras. It's a moving story about collaboration, risk, memory and the rare moments that change culture before anyone realizes history is being made.
CHATTER THAT MATTERS is live at TIFF with ODIENCE, an exciting and immersive content platform created by Montreal-based Summit Tech.
 
To learn more about:
The documentary: https://tiff.net/films/you-had-to-be-there
RBC and TIFF: https://www.rbctiff.com
Odience360:  https://www.odience.com

What if the moment that broke you was also the moment you began to wake up?
Aymie Daniels, author of An American Awakening, shares her raw and deeply personal journey through depression, addiction, psychosis, misdiagnosis, and spiritual awakening. Together, we explore the fragile line between revelation and delusion—and ask whether a mental health crisis can also be a profound search for meaning.
Aymie's story exposes the cracks in a mental healthcare system that can leave people feeling controlled, overmedicated, dismissed, and misunderstood. It also reveals what may become possible when compassionate guidance, personal agency, and hope replace fear and judgment.
Blending lived experience with reflection and practical mental health awareness, this episode challenges what we think we know about sanity, consciousness, healing, and transformation.
This is more than one woman's story. It's a powerful conversation for anyone who has ever felt unheard—and a wake-up call for a system that claims to care.

In Finding Grace, Rocco Rossi's brilliant new debut novel follows a ruthless executive who survives a fatal plane crash, only to discover a stranger walking the Camino de Santiago under his abandoned birth name.  What inspired this book was the sudden death of his mentor, which forced Rocco off the corporate ladder and onto a 1,000-kilometre walk across Spain . Rocco shares his transformation from an executive chasing wealth to validate his immigrant parents' sacrifices to a man who has dedicated 24 Camino walks to those who couldn't finish their own journeys .

Tune in to discover how intentional stillness can chip away at the inauthentic parts of your life and reveal the true path you are meant to walk .
 
 
 
To purchase Finding Grace:  https://www.amazon.ca/Finding-Grace-Camino-Santiago-Story-ebook/dp/B0H37XH472

What if the parts of your story you most want to escape are the very parts that can lead you toward purpose?
Growing up, Peter H. Bailey always felt that something was wrong, and somehow, he was it. After a brain hemorrhage and unsuccessful surgery transformed his father from a heroic Navy pilot into a man with significant disabilities, Peter carried a painful mix of embarrassment, confusion and shame. He was even ashamed of feeling ashamed.
Being the smallest kid in his class intensified what he calls "the disease of comparison." Dangerous stunts, alcohol and drugs became ways to earn acceptance and escape what he didn't know how to feel.
But Peter's story didn't end there.
In this deeply human conversation, Peter explores how travel, adversity, his wife's cancer journey and Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey helped him reframe his past and discover a more purposeful way forward.  He shares excerpts from his bestselling book, The Epic of You.
I ask Peter the question we often ask ourselves. How do we find genuine meaning in a world engineered to distract us, compare us and keep us numb?
Some fantastic takeaways on how to realize that the epic is you.
To learn more about Peter and to purchase his book: https://www.peter-bailey.com

I fear retirement. Work is where I find my passion, purpose and pursuit. Much of who I am is tied to what I do. Not easy to write, but the truth.
And here is my reality and yours: many of us could spend as many years after our careers as we spent building them. Think about that.
My guest, Mehbs Remtulla, achieved financial freedom and stepped away from work at 50. What his success hadn't prepared him for was the loss of identity, connection, inspiration and a reason to get out of bed.
Mehbs turned that struggle into What's neXT50, a global community that helps people use their experience and wisdom to create a meaningful next chapter.
I then chat with Tammy Vigue, who explains why financial readiness is only half the journey. We must plan not only for what we're leaving, but for the life waiting on the other side.
This conversation is not only for people contemplating retirement, but for a world where AI and Robotics will take away many jobs, leaving many to navigate change, search for purpose, or ask: Who am I, and what am I here to do next?