I’ve started doing some hosting on CBC Radio 3. It’s a great place to listen to and discover Canadian music. It’s also a cool online community. I’m on again tomorrow (Tuesday, Aug 17) from 10AM-2PM E.S.T. You can listen in and join the conversation at CBC Radio 3, or on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 86.
I will be sitting in with the lovely and talented Craig Norris for The Craig Norris Hour from 10am-2pm E.S.T. Thursday morning. Craig’s a funny guy, and I think we’re on the same wavelength. Please join us. You can listen to the show on Sirius channel 86, or if you’re one of those lucky people who have access to a computer, you can just click on CBC Radio 3.
And while we’re on CBC, don’t forget to check out the comedy segment I put together. Subscribe to CBC’s The Know-It-Alls.
I got myself a second microphone, and invited media man Chris Mavridis to stop by for the show. We talked about all sorts of stuff from hockey to television. Oh, and some radio shop talk. Enjoy.
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A brand new podcast covering a variety of topics. Here’s the rundown?
Have a listen, or subscribe on iTunes. Thanks!
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Many people in Toronto might identify Eric Tunney as the guy who co-hosted Ed The Sock for a stretch of time. These people aren’t a part of the comedy community, especially in Toronto. Eric was a favourite among audiences and comedians during the mid-90s, both on and off stage. There’s a whole generation of comics who were inspired by, and guided by Eric, who was always there to offer encouragement, helpful advice, or a funny story. Eric Tunney passed away yesterday. He was in his mid-40s.
I loved Eric’s comedy the first time I saw it. I was a regular both performing and watching amateur nights at The Laugh Resort Tuesdays in the 90s. The Laugh Resort was on Lombard Street, three floors up. Eric was one of those comedians who I could see over and over, and still laugh at the bits I’d heard dozens of times. It wasn’t just the brilliant writing, it was the guy, the persona, that made me laugh every time. As funny as he was onstage, he was genuine, friendly, caring, and gentlemanly offstage. I was a huge fan of Eric’s, and would go out of my way to see him every time he headlined at The Laugh Resort, and along with many up-and-comers would hang out with him after the show at the pub just a floor down from the Resort. At the time, I was reporting on comedy for a radio show called Live in Toronto. The studio was not far from Eric’s home in the Annex. He became a regular, and I’d have him on as often as they’d let me – pretty much whenever he had a show booked. I recall on one occasion, he walked down to the station wearing what he called a “union suit.” It was basically grey coloured, one-piece, long underwear. Of course he wore a stylish hat, and had his ever-present cigar in hand. That’s another thing that made Eric stand out. He had Mad Men style, long before the show was even conceived. He evoked another era, with his stylish suits, neat, slicked back, slightly pompadoured hair. You’d often see him cruising around town in an immaculately maintained classic car, just loving life. He welcomed me into his world, and invited me to his place on occasion, and I felt a little starstruck. I don’t think he ever had a bad word to say about anyone, nor do I think anyone had anything but nice things to say about him.
His talent didn’t go unrecognized. He was featured on the prestigious HBO Young Comic’s Special in 1995. It was recorded at the Aspen Comedy Festival, and was hosted by Garry Shandling. It was HBO’s yearly paen to the best-of-the-best up and coming comedians in the world. Eric shared the stage that year with Dave Chappele, Louis C.K, Dave Attell, and Anthony Clark. It was around that time that he taped a pilot for a talk show. It was at a theatre at harbourfront, filled with fans, family and friends….and he was fantastic.
Eric moved to Los Angeles in the late 90s. I stayed in touch for awhile, then eventually lost contact. Every now and then I’d try to google him, or facebook him, but couldn’t find much information. I lost touch for many years. Just over a year ago, there was a Facebook announcement that Eric Tunney would be doing a one-off Toronto show. I was excited, but frustrated. I was stuck in Washington, DC house/dog-sitting. I wouldn’t make the show. It did however bring back fond memories, and once again, I tried through facebook to get some contact info through other comics and friends. I was unsuccessful. In a slight bit of irony, I was browsing through the HBO on demand at the house I was at, and came across the 1995 Young Comedians Special. I watched it, and though the material was familiar, it still made me laugh as much as the first time I heard it.
Thanks for everything you’ve done, for me, for your friends, for the comedy community, for everyone you touched, not just with your comedy, but by being a genuinely great person.
You can watch Eric’s Comedy Now special here.
And listen to or download the audio here:
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I was interviewed recently for a radio industry website. Here’s the transcript:
How did your radio passion begin?
I loved listening to the radio as a child. It started with CHUM FM, when it was still a rock station. I remember calling up the morning show as a little kid with a joke: “How can you tell Ronald McDonald at a nudist camp? By the sesame seeds on his buns.” I loved Dr. Demento and the Sunday Funnies with Rick Hodge. In my teens, it was CFNY, and CFRB. CFNY was one of the first great heritage alternative stations in North America. My parents listened to CFRB, one of the great heritage talk stations at the time. I suppose it was lucky to be in the Toronto market when I was young. I loved talk radio, and often called up the ‘RB talk shows during my teen years; mostly Wayne McLean and Ed Needham.
Tell us how you landed your first radio gig?
OK. I’m going to give you a bit of history here. Bear with me. In high school, my goal was to become an actor/writer/director for television or film. It was almost a mantra. I was always involved in theatre and public speaking. Even though I loved radio, and was passionate about it, my main goal was TV and film. I considered going to USC for their communications program, but the tuition for foreign students was pretty huge money. I also wanted to get out of the house and go to a residential university. The program that most matched what I was after was at Windsor. I took a split Communications Studies/Drama major. My first radio show was Tuesdays 6 AM-Noon at CJAM, the university radio station. Totally open format. Strangely, it made it harder to do a show, because I’d have to program a 6 hour music shift working with vinyl. Years later I listened to some of those early shows, and I sucked. It’s one of those situations where I look back and think, if only I knew then what I know now. I think the main thing was the lack of energy in the delivery. In the middle of first year at Windsor, I decided to apply to Ryerson’s Radio and Television program, and was accepted.
The goal was still to write/act/direct for television or film. First year at Ryerson was all about radio. I won the prize for best first-year documentary for a 12-minute piece I did on “shock” comedy. It focused on Andrew Dice Clay (before he was washed up) and the type of comedy he was doing at the time. In the late spring, Clay was set to appear on Saturday Night Live, and there was controversy because cast member Nora Dunn was going to boycott the show. Opportunity knocked. At the time, CFNY (my favourite station) had a half hour newsmagazine show that ran weekdays at 9:30 AM. I cold called Mary-Ellen Benninger, the host of the show, and mentioned I had a timely documentary. She encouraged me to send it over. After listening to it, they invited me out to Brampton. Rick Charles, the news director at the time, and Mary-Ellen were impressed with the work. They said it had changed the way they’d thought about presenting news. I was pretty flattered. At the time, nobody was doing it montage-style with pop/rock music and interview clips, all with overlap — a more produced sound. They ended up airing the piece pretty much uncut the Monday after the SNL appearance. Late in 2nd year, I started pestering the folks at CFNY for a summer gig. Right around the time I was finishing up for the summer at Ryerson, I was encouraged to apply for a full-time job that was coming open in the creative department. Maureen Bulley was the creative director, and at the time it was the most awarded creative department in Canadian radio. I sent in some samples of my work, and wrote some sample scripts from information they provided. They liked my stuff better than anything else they got, and were prepared to offer me the gig with the option of going back to school, or staying on full-time at the end of the summer. I was ecstatic. I got a gig with my favourite music station. It was an incredibly fun summer, and introduced me to the radio lifestyle. I even did some on-air work, as comedy reporter for Live in Toronto – at the time hosted by Maie Pauts. I didn’t think it could, but the summer was about to get even more interesting.
This time around I talk about a variety of topics:
You can listen to the podcast here or get it through iTunes. Please subscribe!
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I had intentions of covering a wide variety of topics on this cast, but was surprised this morning by major changes to the Toronto Maple Leafs. On this episode I talk about:
You can listen to it right here, or head over to iTunes and download it.
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Welcome to another week of audio magic – more Doug Henning than Chris Angel. On today’s episode, I talk about my dating life (flatlined,) dating shows (Conveyer Belt of Love, Dating in the Dark, Change of Heart, Temptation Island, Blind Date,) and dating websites (Plenty of Fish, Match, Date the Rich, Beautiful People.) Stand-up comedy from David Cross. Also man’s (my) quest for the perfect place to sit (down to do my business.) Looking for a clean, quiet, low-traffic men’s room at my new gig. Plus, why I like Florida. Hint: not the strip malls. You can get the podcast on iTunes, or listen right here to Josh Holliday Show #5:
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It’s a brand new podcast. It’s the lull between Christmas and New Years, and here’s what we talked about on this weeks’ show:
Here it is!
Enjoy, and please spread the word. Thank-you. Josh Holliday Show Podcast #3:
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