How Far Would You Go?
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Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Jan Arden Podcast. We are now in our second hundredth

of podcasts so we've completed why didn't we do anything for the big 100 did we even know it was going by i'm here with caitlin and adam by the way we should have had a party did we we we didn't did we mention it maybe we did i don't even think we mentioned it i don't think we said anything we didn't even play a sounder like a sad horn or something we're so modest yes well it's true that

That first hundred blew by. So now we're going into our second hundred. We feel confident. And I've been noticing lately that people doing podcasts are like, tune in for season four of the podcast.

season three of the like is there seasons in podcasts did I miss something there are and you want to know why and this is this is all for for you dear listener they all take breaks and so they break it up into season because they they go through a period you know a summer usually where they don't record but we are here for you each and every week without fail I'm the one who physically publishes the podcast well you don't have to rub that in no but I'm saying I enter all the

show descriptions and titles and the season number and I'm still entering season one so it's season one episode 104 that's a long season that is really funny season yeah episode 104 season one season one we're only in season one yeah well anyway congratulations you guys and if I ever do get to see you in person oh my god I'm gonna I'm gonna buy you a bowl of ramen please I love ramen I love ramen

Ramen is moving my world these days. Yeah. Like, I don't know what happened to me when I was young. If we got a generic package of Ichiban soup, I was in heaven. Like, I just, and mom would cut up things and put it into the soup to try and like stretch it out and make a meal of it. We were always fighting over the noodles. I'm surprised we didn't count noodles. You have nine noodles. I have seven noodles. But ramen is now, I go and I, now I'm dreaming about it. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm hungry. I'm drooling. And that's funny. I turned to my husband in an Uber recently, and I would say arguably one of the very best ramen places in the city of Toronto just opened up mere blocks away from us. It's called Oji Saichi. If you own this...

you know anyone who owns this my god it's the best thing i've ever eaten and i just recently turned him in the car and said we need to get this again because ramen is also a very comforting cozy delicious meal and so once the weather changes i just i want that all the time yes

If I were a noodle, I'd be a ramen noodle. Yeah. I'd be a fat, plump ramen noodle surrounded with a warm liquid. Oh, I am drooling all over this. Anyway, it is. I am. Wait, what did your mom put in ramen? What was your DIY ramen hack? Well, it was the itchy band soup. So-

In her defense, she would open up two packages. They were blue and yellow packages because they were generic. So it didn't even say Sapporo Ichiban. There was no...

It was just blue and, you know, you'd get your packet of seasoning. It didn't, I don't remember it specifying shrimp or chicken flavor or beef flavor. I never have been able to decipher the flavors of those anyways. Is that MSG? That's the flavor. If you can tell me that this is beef flavor and this is chicken flavor, it just tasted like salt. Yeah.

And she would cut up, sometimes we'd get lucky and she'd put a little can of shrimp in there and she'd cut up some sliced onion. And if she had, you know, leftover broccoli or something or pea shoots from the garden or a cut up carrot and she'd make like a pot of soup. So my mom in the 70s,

was kind of doing a ramen bowl for us without knowing it. So my mom was ahead of the curve. I have to say, I feel like MSG got a bad rap for a while there. And really, it's delicious. And if you have it in the right amounts, I don't know that it's as upsetting as people made it out to be for a while there. Like it was like terrible, something contained MSG. And I was like,

MSG should just stand for like magically delicious in your mind because it makes everything good. And it exists in, it's in Cheetos, it's in Doritos, that like, you know, kind of umami flavor that everyone likes. That's care of MSG. They put it in a, they put it in a Japanese mayonnaise that I'm obsessed with. And I, at first I was like, why do I like this mayonnaise so much more? Oh, it has MSG in it. Is that the QP mayonnaise? Yes. Yeah. Monosodium glutamate. Thank you. Whoever invented it. I don't have, you can't go overboard on it, but it's delicious. Yeah.

Yes, it is. Is it a preservative and does it have detrimental health implications? I mean, maybe, but you know, the poison is in the dose. So I'm going to say that if you have the right amount, it's probably fine. If you've just tuned in, we're not talking about vaccination. We're talking about monosodium glutamate. Anyway, it's just, that's the thing right now. There's so many trends that I'm seeing anyway in food.

And there's just like for a while it was tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos, tacos. It just they were just everywhere that every menu on every restaurant had like a taco bar, a trio that you could choose from.

Dumplings are making a comeback. There's all these dumpling hacks that I'm seeing on TikTok, that I'm seeing on Instagram. Anyone that's a chef is making dumplings. And this is the hack. You get wonton papers from your freezer section and you literally stuff them with anything. If you want to grind up peas or people are making pierogies with wonton wrappers. And I'm thinking, this is very interesting. It's like an Asian Ukrainian thing that,

And so if you do happen to walk by some wonton wrappers and you're looking for something simple, you can totally thaw them out. Your kids can stuff them with whatever. Some people are doing cheddar cheese and putting them in a broth like a tortellini. Oh, okay.

I'd eat that. You know, every culture has a version of a wonton or a dumpling. What's the Canadian version? Well, we don't. We don't because we have a slightly shorter history than, say, the Italians do when it comes to food. But

I will say, you know, they've got like ravioli, tortellini. Then you have like you have dumplings across all of Asia. You have momos. You have pierogies. I mean, everyone kind of has one. I'm a sucker for a soup dumpling. Oh, yes. I like that where they have to kind of pierce it and then a little bit of like some of the soup, the hot liquid comes out. It's really good. I forget. Is that shenzhen bao? Anyways, I forget. But there's a lot of them. Oh, no, those are the pan fried ones.

It's a soup dumpling that's pan fried on the bottom. So the bottom is like crispy. The soft is top. The top is soft and inside there's soup and it's so good. Oh my God. It's a soup dumpling. Yeah. You bite into the dumpling and there's soup in it. Okay. If Russell Broome was here, there's apparently a restaurant in New York city. Mm-hmm.

that is famous. And I mean, 40 people deep lined up at all times from like five o'clock in the evening until two o'clock in the morning. And it's soup dumplings. Yes. They're delicious. And you, you, you, so you have this beautiful noodley dumpling and you bite into it and there's this release of a warm, um,

delicious, succulent liquid. If you've just joined us. And I crave nothing more in life than I get these very intense cravings for wonton soup. That's

That's my favorite. It's delicious. It's so good. Periodically, I have a few places that I love ordering from. And I have one place that I am willing to actually go far afield to get soup dumplings or their wonton soup, both of which are incredible. So it's just very... And also in Toronto, we're totally spoiled because we have so much incredible food. I mean, if you want a really amazing soup dumpling or wonton soup...

or a Tibetan Momo or whatever it is. It's here. Someone's making it and it's authentic and it's great. So we are a bit spoiled. How far would you go? This prompts me to ask this question. How far would you go if you're willing to drive a certain distance to get your Tibetan Momo? How far would you drive to see a friend?

Like what, what's your limit? Oh, well now a friend is not a soup dumpling. No. So are you saying you'd go further for a soup dumpling than a friend? Correct. You are not. I am. Okay. Let's just say the caveat. Oh my God. A friend in need. I'll go anywhere for a friend. Who's like, let's just hang out. Probably in Toronto going very far. I'm like, let's arrange a time to meet when we are both happenstance in a similar location.

Cause I don't drive. I don't have a license spoiler alert for everybody. I'm not legally allowed to drive. So it's a little different for me. I have to get, you know, in an Uber and get there, or I have to pop on the TTC. Uh, although that is limited here in the city, it's like a big tea bar. There's, it's not like when you go to New York or Paris or something and there's subways that'll take you everywhere. So yeah, it's a different story for me. I think if I drove, I might be a little more open to it, but you know, all right.

Not going too far. What about you? I mean, you get in, you drive everywhere. I'm asking Adam. I want to know because before I make my fool of myself. Okay. Okay. I'm lucky. Most of my good friends live fairly close to me. So, but I would drive anywhere in the GTA to see a buddy. That being said, going back to the food thing, I would drive to Montreal for a smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz's for sure. You would literally get in your car. How is that four hours? Maybe six.

I would drive to Montreal for a Schwartz's smoked meat sandwich. That's the best sandwich I've ever had in my life. They are very good. Feel free to sponsor us, Schwartz's. I mean, here's the vegan talking. Anytime we were in Montreal, we'd go to Mount something bagels, Mount Pleasant bagel. Someone will write it and tell me. And I did have a smoked meat sandwich sandwich.

with fries at Schwartzy's because this would have been, this would have been the early nineties. So I was still eating meat then. And I know that they had three versions. They had lean, lean,

and then full fat. You got to go full fat. I just, I looked at people getting the full fat and I was like, what is happening here? And you just had pots of mustard. Everyone put their own mustard on their sandwiches. Oh, that sandwich is life-changing. I'm telling you. It's so good. Oh my God. How do we go from ramen to smoked meat? Anyway. Well,

Well, we like talking about food on this show. Me, as far as driving, I would, there's no, I don't mind driving at all. I live in a rural area. So Caitlin, unlike you, I couldn't not have a license out here. I would be screwed. Mm-hmm.

So I drive to, there's my friend, Stephanie, her husband are about seven hours from here. I do that when I can. I think nothing of throwing a bag in a car with snacks and driving. I, during COVID, I drove to Vancouver four times this year, which is 12 hours, 11 hours. I just, there's nowhere in the city I wouldn't drive. I don't, it doesn't bother me at all. That's also a beautiful drive from Calgary to Vancouver is a beautiful, I've done it once. It's a beautiful drive.

My cousin Jim has driven a truck from Lethbridge. Gosh, he'd be on the verge of retiring, but I think 30 years, he goes twice a week from Lethbridge. And I think it's a freezer truck. I think he does haul meat. And anyway, you're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. We're talking about a lot of things today. Our guest coming up today is Brent Butt.

He's going to be here later talking about the corner gas legacy and a whole bunch of other stuff. Don't go away. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Jam on the Podcast. I'm here with Caitlin Green, Adam Karsh. This is season one, episode 172. No, but we will get there.

Brent Butt joins us today. He's such an amazing guy. Funny, funny, funny. And what I always like to say about Canadian guests, frigging nice. Nice guy. He's a nice guy. You know, you'd think he could be a real A-hole.

After the success that he has, obviously, he's had a franchise that's gone on for 20 plus years. And he's seemingly unchanged. But we were going to find out that when he joins us today. But we've been talking about soup and dumplings and food hacks. And boy, there's no end. There's no end to the stuff on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. I mean, food is still just as big as you like. I saw, what was it, a 40-layer video.

taco pie a couple of days ago. So it's tortilla shells. They used flour and each layer is cheese and it was ground round of some kind. You can use, you can use your favorite ground round. I would use beyond meat ground round and put it in there, but it was 40 layers high. So it was as high as an angel food cake. And you just keep adding layers, adding layers, adding layers. And,

holy, I'm going to make it. I'm going to make it. This is like the 100 layer lasagnas. Have you guys had those? Oh, what is that? It's just a big stack of lasagna, but it's very, very thin and they kind of cut it. Like when you cut it, it doesn't wind up being as big as you'd think. And it's delicious. And I've only had, I think I've had about two or three of them and they're so good. I mean, who doesn't love lasagna, but the 100 layer lasagna is really something. I love lasagna.

I tried a recipe a couple of weeks ago. I should have posted something. You put it in a muffin tin. So you boil the noodles. I know that some noodles you just put in hard and I love that. That's a great, easy fix. But these ones you actually boil, you roll it up and you put it in the muffin tin.

And you cut off a little piece so you have a bottom piece. Then you just add your, I made a big vat of sauce with tons of mushroom, onion. I put everything in there. And then you just fill the little cup up and then you do your vegan cheddar and stuff that on and you bake them for like 10 minutes at 425. And you let them cool and they pop out.

And you've got these frigging little lasagna cups that are so good cold. I don't know about you, but when I used to drink, oh my God, give me a cold pizza to solve all my problems. But these little lasagna, and there's probably myriad recipes out there for muffin lasagna cups. Oh, I bet. Why are we talking about this? What happened to us today? Because we're all hungry. And also we all just love food so much. And that made me think too, like Beyond Meat,

So there's a recipe for bolognese sauce that's from Bon Appetit. And I do really think it's one of the best bolognese recipes out there. You can just get it for free online. But if you just swap in the meat with Beyond Meat, my husband and I now opt for that, even though we are not fully vegan. And we opt for it over actually using the meat in the bolognese recipe because it's so good. Because there's something, you know, a bolognese recipe kind of has almost like a, there's in the end, like a creamy, like nutmeg-y,

kind of vibe happening there. It's really complimentary with the fact that the Beyond Meat stuff is kind of- It's not a lot of fat. You don't have all that greasy animal fat coming out. It's really good. And I do really like it. Now you mentioned TikTok trends being a thing for food. You guys remember the whole Dalgona coffee, the like whipped coffee?

Yes, I do. Yes. Okay. So this is, I don't know, maybe this will become a thing on TikTok, but I had a little preview this week of some of the Starbucks holiday menu stuff that's coming up. And I flagged this one to specifically tell you about Jan, because I know that this will be right up your alley. They have a very first ever non-dairy holiday drink option. And it is the sugar cookie oat milk latte. Oh,

Whoa. And it is so good. I tried the train. Stop the holiday train. It is so cozy and they do. It's like the, it's so good iced. So you could have it year round. A sugar cookie, oatmeal latte. Yeah. And they have little sprinkles on top of it. So it looks like a sugar cookie. And when you,

like have it warm or cold, even if you're kind of like a cold drink person, but you can smell it. It smells like a sugar cookie baking in the oven when you just, when you pull the cup towards you. And it's so, so good. And I, I like oatmeal. Who needs a boyfriend? Who needs a girlfriend? When you can pull, when you can pull a warm,

sugar cookie, oat milk latte towards you to hold, to snuggle in your bosom. That's right. It's warm and good smelling. To hold between your cold knees. I'm sorry. That is better than a person. How many people can you say are warm and good smelling all the time? No. I mean, it's not a guarantee. And you could kiss a paper cup with...

Passion. Have you had the peppermint mocha latte? Yes. Yes. Of course. Oh my God. It's Christmas in a cup. I ordered that with oatmeal because, well, they're pretty good about that now. PSL season, obviously pumpkin spice latte season is this big thing. I'm a holiday cup girl. I like the red cup. I'm a, I'm a red cup girl. I like the mocha coffee. I like this sugar cookie thing. I mean, I definitely, I don't know. I lean towards holiday over autumn. I think.

I went into, I don't disagree. I'm always very shocked when I try and order a pumpkin spice latte at the end of October. They're like, no, we've now moved on. Ginger, the chestnut. I've never attempted anything chestnut. I didn't know chestnut had a flavor, but apparently it does. Anyways, all that stuff is so great. I don't know about you, but I have my friend Leah, who does the Jan show with me. She's one of the main writers on the Jan show.

A trip to Starbucks with her is so event driven and it is a must. You cannot get into a car with her without going, but she does a hot and a cold. She gets a venti.

kiwi star drink with coconut. What? So it's the green coconutty thing. So she gets a venti of that and then she gets a grande latte. I'm not kidding you. She's very expensive. So her trip to Starbucks is like $13.10. Oh my God. 100%. I'm like, you're going to drink all that? She goes, I like a lot of beverages. Yeah. I like a lot of beverages. She alternates. Yeah. The hot, the cold. And the cold. And

And if you have a long drive, I mean, it's kind of nice. If you're driving to see a friend on a long drive. I like the app. I like that apps became this easy way to order things so you don't just go in there. And I don't know, but at every single coffee shop, this brings out my social awkwardness because without fail, I don't know what the way...

for your drink line is versus the go to order line. Who knows where they are? I never know. And then a very haphazard line forms and the perfectionist in me just wants to start hurting people like a sheepdog and be like, no, form a line here. Who got here first? Like it's overwhelming. So now with all these apps, you just order it and pick it up. It saved me so much social anxiety because I can just go in, leave like, you know, a thief in the night with my coffee and I don't really have to interact with people. I don't know if that's terrible, but I'm kind of over it.

Well, I found myself running down the street like two weeks ago because I saw this group of high school girls from a private school in their skirts and ties and their phones and talking, heading towards the same Starbucks as I was going to.

So I effing started running and I thought I can, they're going for the door. They're going to go on the door. There's going to be 15, 14 year olds ordering really complicated drinks. Oh no. Like super complicated. Half calf mocha, no whip caramel sprinkles. I went crashing by. I actually knocked into this one girl and she goes, excuse me. Really? And I,

I basically thank God I had the mask on so they didn't know who it was. And I said, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to get in behind you guys. You called it. And then about the girl fourth and she goes, I don't blame you, ma'am.

Oh, that's kind of thoughtful. At least she knows what's up. That was nice. But I literally hip checked a child. A child. For a coffee. To eliminate standing me. Can you imagine? I would have actually gotten back in my car and left. Yeah. They were like, is that Canadian songstress, Jan Arden? Just blowing past them. Sorry. It was. I just, I hip checked her. And I'm like, sorry, I'm older and I've got bigger hips than you. So honey, you're not going to win this one.

Well, you're going to have to hip check people out of the way for your non-dairy holiday option now because it's here. It's arrived. And I love oat milk. I mean, I tried almond milk before and I'm not saying I didn't like it, but it separated more. I'm happy that oat is here. It also takes less water to produce oat milk than it does for almond milk because the amount of water they need to make almonds is a little bit unsustainable. So yeah.

I'm into it. I'm just going to throw this out before we have Brent coming on, which is about 20 seconds away. They are making a plant-based milk out of, drumroll please, potatoes. No way. Yes. I believe that. They're starchy. So I don't know what that is going to entail. I don't know if you cook them. Anyway. If a potato can be vodka, a potato can be milk.

Thank you, Adam. A potato can be, it's probably going to be jet fuel someday. Like you're just going to put a potato in and fly to Mars. The potato is the secret to happy life. I stand by that. And when they're using it to operate vehicles, listen, you can make a battery out of a potato. Yeah. That's

That's right. Remember back in the day, you could actually get electricity from a potato? Yes. You know, not only are we on season one, episode 270, but we are a very informative scientific program. Anyway, Brent Budd is up next, Caitlin and Adam, you're listening to the Jen Arden Podcast. Don't go away. Don't go to bed. I'll make a cup of coffee for your head. You're welcome home, Adam.

As promised, one of Canada's leading human beings, as far as I'm concerned. This gentleman had a very busy schedule that he cleared for us today. I'm sure there was myriad things. Brent Butt, who I feel like I want to launch into this lengthy introduction to you, but all I have to say is corner gas. And you have endeared yourself to millions of people all over the world.

And you have dedicated a huge part of your life, Brent, to this show. So tell me, how the hell did this start? I know you've probably been asked that before. Welcome, by the way. Oh, hi. Hi, Jan. And like, honestly, though, you have you dedicated to

a huge chunk of your life to corner gas, to the characters, to the stories. There's a lot of love poured into this show. It's kind of depressing when you put it like that. I didn't realize how much of my life has gone by. There's a tremendous amount of time you can't get back, Brent, that you've put into this show. No, but it's been an absolute blessing. I mean, what struck a chord with telling this story and that you could plunk down these characters in the middle of Saskatchewan?

And that in your mind, you thought, this is going to be really interesting. And people all over this planet are going to want to see what Canadians do. Like, I really do think you're representing such a swath of Canadiana. Every time I've ever watched the episode, and I'm sure I've seen every single one three times because you're on every channel I ever turn on. Yeah.

Well, it was kind of the opposite. When I first wrote the treatment for this TV show about a gas station in Saskatchewan, I just shelved it because I thought, well, surely to God, nobody's ever going to want to

listen to this nobody's going to want to watch this never mind produce it never mind sink a few mil into producing the thing so I just wrote it I'm a big I'm a big purger you know I purge things out of my head if I don't then I kind of obsess on them so if I have luckily I'm able to get things out of my head you know I can draw things if I have a picture in my head or if I have a

song in my head, I can do a, you know, a rudimentary chord progression and get a little tune out. And when I had this idea about what my life might be like, if I hadn't decided to pursue comedy, I thought, well, you know, I don't have a lot of marketable skills. I would probably be hanging out at the gas station. That's what I did my whole teenage years was just hanging out at the gas station and having coffee. So I thought that would probably be my life. And I thought, well,

I could see where I could see where that might have some, you know, I was off. I was often amused hanging out at the gas station. People would come in and say funny things and they'd be mad about goofy stuff. And I thought that might be entertaining. But so I wrote the treatment and shelved it. And I, it was the opposite of what you're saying. I just never thought anybody would be interested. Shelved it for how long?

Probably, probably more than a year. And then David story, who's a director that I had worked with on, he directed an episode of a TV show I did called comics. CBC had a show called comics where they would feature a different standup every week. And he directed my episode. And anyway, he was out in the West coast. He's an Ontario guy, but he was out in Vancouver where I live. And he said, Hey, let's go for coffee. And he said to me that he,

He said, you know, I pitched a bunch of ideas to the network and they didn't like any of them. And then, but they know that I'd worked with you and they're interested to know if you have any ideas for a sitcom. As a matter of fact, I said, well, the only one that I kind of that I'm sitting on is about a gas station in Saskatchewan. And I told him the broad strokes of it. And he told them and much to my surprise, he said, yeah, they're, they're interested. They want to talk more about that.

I just think sometimes we overthink things as artists and that we're always as creators looking for these grandiose ideas, something that's so fantastical and, and that, you know, there's sparklers shooting out of everybody's butts and, you know, there's everyone's on fire. That was my second pitch. If the gas station hadn't worked, I had a sparkler at the butt thing. And then you have something so universally simple that,

Like, I don't find that surprising that it has, you've endeared yourselves, like I said, to so many countless people globally. I mean, the show has, when did you realize it kind of had a life of its own? And by like season four, season five, you must've been going, wow, I guess we're going forward. And I guess these stories are, these people have vast stories to tell, like every character. Yeah.

Well, I think that's what makes it like if you look historically throughout television, the shows that have been really successful, all the kind of milestone shows that you think of when you think of classic television, the premises are so small. They're such small premises.

And I think sometimes people, writers and, you know, broadcast executives, they kind of get hung up on finding a cool hook. Like what's the cool premise. What's the thing. But people are as much as, you know, the cynical side of us wants to say otherwise people are hugely interesting. Yeah.

And if you just find, if you could stitch together any, cobble together any half-assed reason to get them, to get people in conversation. I agree. It's going to be interesting somehow. And then if you can populate that with,

actors who make these people seem real well now you've got something you know and um but who knows who knows why it works i mean for for us the like i thought we were going to do these 13 episodes over the summer and then walk away and nobody was going to watch and you know it was a nice thing we got to do uh put some shekels in my jeans and this was terrific

And then the very first episode got over a million people watching. It's just... So then I thought, the network called and told us that. And I thought, okay, well, that's fantastic. A huge surprise. But it's probably a direct result of this...

we did kind of a clever marketing thing that the network had come up with. Mike Cosentino at CTV came up with this idea of us giving gas away at gas stations around the country. We did that. And so I thought, okay, that the million viewers is a direct result of that. And then that'll taper off. And it didn't, it tapered up. Is that a thing? It tapered up. Oh yeah. And so, and then there was a moment when after CTV,

season one, I had gone to Toronto to do some publicity and I was coming in from the airport in a cab and we got downtown on the way to the hotel and I saw a guy walking down Yonge Street wearing the blue Brent work shirt. They were selling the merch and

And just to see that in real life, like just somebody going about their business, they had the show meant enough to them that they bought the shirt and they were wearing it walking around. That's when I thought, oh, this might be clicking with people. Well, it absolutely did. And I want to talk to you about, you know, just when you think, okay, here's the series we're going to do. We're wrapping up the series finale after all these years. So bittersweet.

Then you have this animated version of Corner Gas that has been another runaway success where people are still like, no, we're not done with this yet. Brent, but stop it. I mean, entering it, have you got any experience like with animation? Like were you what what I mean, how did that all come to be?

Well, it kind of came to be because like after we did the series, the live action series, we thought, wouldn't it be great if we could come back in a few years and do a movie? A Christmas special. We came back and we made a movie. We made a theatrical feature film. And the response to the movie was overwhelming. It was.

We were like physically selling out theaters and Cineplex called the network, asked if they could have it for another weekend. And my brother called me from Calgary. He's like, I can't get into your stupid movie. And so the result was, you know, the response was so big that the network phoned up and they said, look, clearly there's still an appetite for stories about these people in the small town. I don't think it'll ever go away. And I, I don't think it'll ever go away. I think people want nostalgia. They want nostalgia.

You're part of the fabric of Canadian heritage. I don't know how to tell you this, Brent, but it's almost, you know, I liken it to, you're the VC Andrews of our times with the prairie flowers in the attic type thing. Do you remember that?

I forgot the name. The flowers in the attic thing, when you put that together. Oh, yeah, V.C. Andrews. I just don't think this is ever going to end for you. Listen, I have you for another whole segment, and I have some very, very deep things that I want to ask you about the comedy world these days. We are talking to the unbelievably talented, funny, charismatic, and very kind Brent Butt. We will be right back. Don't go away. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. Yeah, you think there's not a lot

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A cola or a cream soda, root beer, yes indeedy. And they've got their limited edition summer flavor, which will take you right back to the second grade. You gotta try the ice pop one. Head to janardenpod.com to find out where the closest place to you is where you can go and buy Cove. Go right now. Welcome back, everyone. We're here with Brent Butt. You are an amazing standup comedian.

And you probably, you, you really are. And you're one of those guys that hasn't, you don't resort to this crass kind of shock comedy. And I wanted to get your opinion on what standup kind of looks like these days. I mean, we've heard so much about Dave Chappelle, you know, somebody is always in trouble in comedy. We look at people like Amy Schumer or Ricky Gervais who pushes so many buttons. Um,

CK Lewis, there's, there seems to be a lot of controversy swirling around comedy and how far people take it. And I just wanted to get your thoughts on how you navigate your comedy world. Well, I think it, you know, it, at the end of the day, comedy really is making fun of things. That's the kind of the nuts and bolts of it. If you boil everything away, but comedy,

But you, as the comedian, it's up to you to decide what to make fun of. And you can do comedy that hurts people needlessly, or you can do comedy that doesn't hurt people needlessly. And this notion that in order for comedy to be valid, it has to be some kind of edgy, dark. Yeah. You know, I think that's for my money.

Most of the time, people who go out of their way to talk about how edgy and dark and envelope pushing they are, if you look at what the actual material is, it's usually fairly hackneyed. Like the notion of making fun of a section of society that is already being made fun of.

that has historically been vulnerable and marginalized for you to come up as an artist and go, Hey, I could, I could kick them in the ribs too. Yeah. You know, one of my, my kind of philosophy about comedy has always been, if you, if you're doing this, if you're getting up on stage and asking people to pay money to sit in the dark room and listen to you talk, you should be putting some effort into doing things in a way nobody else can. And, and,

History has shown that making fun of marginalized people is any, any idiot can do that. And so why do it? Why, why not, you know, take a shot at the people who are pulling the strings and controlling the situation, right? Why don't you, that's a better place to put your energies, I think.

But I've just never had any interest in really hurting. I've just never had any interest in hurting people's feelings. If they're not being jerks, why do something to hurt them? Do you think that's a Canadian thing, Brent? No, I don't think so. I don't think so at all. I know, you know.

many American comics who feel the same way. And it's just, you know, and you can look at it as being soft or something, but I think it's just, you know, being a bit more human. Right. Well, people seem to be lining up. I mean, Dave Chappelle just seems to have no end to what he can do and the buttons that he can push. And he just has people lining up to see that kind of humor and

And I guess Eddie Murphy, when I think back to some of his standup stuff in the eighties, it was, it was a lot of profanity. There was a lot of sexuality. Like sometimes I'll see old or, or hear clips of course, driving around.

And, you know, they'll have clips on serious radio of old routines and you're just like, oh my God, that is so... Could a person get away with doing that now? I mean, obviously there's a bit of pushback, the walkout at Netflix when, you know, Dave did mention transphobic stuff and things like that, but...

It is interesting to see, you know, everyone's different of what they think is funny. Like what you think is funny. I probably would think is funny because I love what you do. And I guess it's just finding that with the people that you pay money to see that common ground. Yeah. And this notion that.

like comedians whining about cancel culture and all this kind of thing. If you follow, you know, Cliff Nesteroff, he's like the, he's the top comedic historian in the world. He knows more about comedy and the history of comedy than anybody. And throughout this whole latest fracas of, of comedians moaning about cancel culture. And we're not allowed to say anything anymore. He's just been steadily posting feeds of comedians saying the same thing since the

since vaudeville days through the 30s the 40s oh no and it's like take my wife please it's hilarious the the defense the defenses of those bits like oh we can't make fun of the negro anymore where the comedy is over the negro and it's like you could just take whatever whatever um

A group of society that they're mocking and replace it with the same thing today. And it's the exact same pitiful, whiny money. We can't say, you know, and the notion of, you know, somebody being canceled while making a hundred million dollars and being able to talk on any media platform they want.

hilarious to me. Who are some of your favorite comedians? I used to love listening to Joan Rivers, but there's another classic, a female comedian that really pushed buttons and had so many Jewish jokes and so many jokes about death and suicide because her husband Edgar had committed suicide. You'd literally hear these giant groans coming out of thousands of people sitting in the audience. She goes, what? What? What?

You know, and she just would be so. But do you have favorites that you that have inspired you over the years or do they change? Do you have any new people you're following? Yeah, I mean, I think we're in really good shape comedically. There's there's some really funny, interesting, original minds out there in the comedy scene, because I think what's what sort of happened when I came along in the late 80s doing stand up was.

It was a real comedy boom. And there were more comedians than there were chicken wing huts, you know. And anybody with four minutes of knock-knock jokes had a business card that said comedian on it. And it kind of watered down the craft and it made people sort of turn against comedy because it was very hackneyed and bland. And as a result, the bubble kind of burst.

And there was less money to be made. And so a lot of people who shouldn't have been in the business in the first place got out. And what happened was there was the next generation of comedians came up thinking, well, we can't make a living doing this anyway. So let's just do what we think is funny and creative. And there's this whole, like if I go to a club now to do a spot to work on some new material,

I see all these comedians that have been doing it five, four or five, six years that I've never heard of that are so they're just flooring me because it's such have funny original takes on things. And, um,

To me, that's what I've always looked for is I've always looked for, I love comedy. When somebody comes up with something that I know, if I'd been given a million years to come up with that angle on the thing, I never would have. That's what I love. And there's a lot of that going on now. What do you eat out on the road? Like whenever I'm traveling on the road, Brent, I'm like, oh my God, just looking for something decent to eat is always like,

The holy grail of the day is we're all wandering around. Where do we eat? Oh my God, not another Subway. And Subway, if you want to sponsor the show, please, by all means. So what do you like to eat on the road when you're out there? What are you and Nancy? Nancy, your wife, whom I'm a huge fan of, was one of the nicest, funniest, charismatic, most beautiful souls. And I don't know how you managed it, but you guys are both, you guys are the best couple. You really are. You're just amazing.

Your energy together is very envious. So what do you guys like to go have a favorite meal or. Well, she doesn't come on the road with me. She did once when we first got together. No, she, the first time, like when we, you know, early on dating, she came on the road with me for a run of shows and she was like, yeah, I'm not doing that again. The notion of getting out. I had visions of her being out there with you. No, no.

Somebody's got to stay behind, look after Oliver, our dog. Yeah, the dog, the dog. Yes, yes, yes. But anyway, she doesn't like the notion of going on the road, like being in a different town every day. And not, you know, she's a performer, so not performing. Like when I go on the road, it's kind of tiresome, but then you do a show and it charges your batteries. You know what it's like. Like you get to the energy from the show, right?

recharges you and you're good again for the next day. You guys can live on hot dogs and chocolate milk. Hot dogs and love. Yeah. So, I mean, I try to, you know, I'm in my fifties now. So how I eat on the road is a lot different than when I was in 26, when I would just be like, well, I'll go back to the room and order a large pizza by myself and wash that down with a hellacious amount of whiskey and get up and do it all again tomorrow. And

Now it's much more like, well, how much, how many is this? How much sodium is in this salad? Brent, the thing I wanted to ask you too, that we ask so many people on this show is, I mean, we all trundled off to school with a lunch kit and I was just wondering what the hell was in your lunch kit. Like, did you have a lunch kit? Not a lunch kit. I had, well, I mean, when I was a little kid, I had a lunch, I had a lunch kit when I was a little kid, I had a Wiley coyote. Oh,

Um, and then, but you know, it cracked because you're walking to school minus 42 and your little plastic Wiley coyote thing. But then it, yeah, it became just a satchel and I, it was, uh, you know, I was a born food abuser, so it was a ridiculous, hellacious amount of sandwiches.

And I was such a food abuser too. I would sometimes, so I'd have a big breakfast. We'd always have a big breakfast. Then mom would make me only sandwiches to take to school. I would eat the sandwiches on the way to school and then tell the teacher I lost my lunch. And she would make the other kids give me some of their lunch. And they would be like, he does this all the time. He already ate his sandwiches. Yeah, just give him some of your sandwiches. I was such a little fatty food abuser. Get in line.

Honestly, do you guys have like favorite meals? What do you, were you like food crazy during COVID you and Nancy, thank God you and Nancy and Oliver, you guys had each other. Were you baking shit like that? Like,

Nancy bakes a bit. I don't bake at all, but I cook a lot. So we're a pretty good team at home. So mostly I cook and then she'll tidy up afterwards. That's generally the way it goes. And vice versa, if she cooks a meal, I'll tidy up afterwards. That's foreplay right there. You tell her that. Don't tell me. You're wasting your breath on me. I'm on board. But yeah, I like to make...

Like the issue is pasta, right? I could just have pasta three times a day. I would never get tired of it. Like sometimes I think to myself, how many days in a row would I have to have pasta before I was like, you know what? I don't think I want pasta today. I can't even imagine getting there because you can have it so many different ways. It's always so hugely satisfying and delicious. You can have like fresh light pastas. You can have big heavy bulls and Bolognese a million different ways. And so,

There's so many shapes. So many shapes of pasta. We've been sold. The fact that they were able to sell us on different shapes of the exact same thing is pretty savvy. Here's a lesson in that. Here's the same thing. Flour, water, salt. It's just in a different shape. Here's some dinosaur ones. Enjoy. Line up to buy it. What kind of shape is your... If I was to open your pantry...

right now what what would i be looking at if i opened up your pantry fusilli the little corkscrew shape that's the best because it holds whatever sauce the best adam is giving you a thumbs up he's like if you see yeah screw spaghetti everything falls off of it the stupid spaghetti

I prefer linguine to spaghetti. Okay. But I'm not against spaghetti. Don't get me wrong. It's all good. It's different degrees of fantastic. Were you a funny kid in school? Do you remember the first time? I certainly tried to be. Yeah, okay. When the kids were like, oh, Brent, let's... Was it a form of shyness or was it a form of...

I don't know. Like I've often wondered, I I'm sure that there's any manner of neuroses and psychoses behind it, but I loved, I love getting attention. Maybe it's cause I'm the youngest of seven kids.

but I don't feel like I was neglected at home. But I do remember this. We grew up, we didn't have much money. There was nine of us in the house and dad made 110 bucks a month or whatever he was making, running the boiler room at the honey plant. So we really had to entertain ourselves. And I grew up in a funny family. My parents were both funny in very different ways. And my brothers and sisters could all make me laugh. And that was a big part of growing up. And so

I grew up in that environment. And then I remember very clearly trying to make my brothers and sisters laugh, my older brothers and sisters laugh. And if I could, the feeling was so fantastic because you, because they didn't give it up easily. I often would try to make them laugh and they'd go, you're just being stupid, you know? And if I ever made them laugh, I knew it was legit and it was the best feeling in the world. And I think that kind of hooked me, but for whatever reason, I was just fascinated with comedy as a little kid, I would watch,

you know, any, anything that even claimed to be comedy on TV. And I would try and I was fascinated in old movies too, like old comedy movies or even old drama movies. I was just fascinated by show business really. Did you do comedy? Just drew me Brady bunch and Partridge family and kind of the episodics like that. Could you, could you have ever imagined in your wildest dreams what has happened to you in the last 20 years?

I always imagined it in my wildest dreams. But I thought that that's where it was ending. I thought it was just going to be in my dream, but I dreamt it all the time. Like being...

I mean, my main focus was to be a stand-up. I love doing stand-up. And like the first time I saw a stand-up on TV, that changed my world. Like I was 12 years old and there was the old Alan Hamill show. Oh my God, yes. Afternoon talk show to Vancouver. And they would have comedians on two or three times a week. And I'd never seen a stand-up before. I'd seen sketch comedy and sitcoms and stuff.

But they said, please welcome Kelly Monteith. And this guy came out and stood there and talked and was funny. He just stood there talking. And I was just like, that's what I try to do with my friends all day long. This is, it changed my life. Once I realized this is a thing you could pursue. And I went out and told my mom, 12 years old, I said, I want to be a comedian.

I just love that. And I love that, you know, thoughts are things and that you can manifest a life and say what you will about Canadian culture. I think we have really funny people in Canada, genuinely like funny people. And they make me laugh. They sure make me laugh too. And I just, I can't wait to see what you do next. Like, do you have anything sort of in the back burner right now? Am I allowed to ask that? Is it,

Yeah. It's funny because it's kind of a non-comedic thing. During the pandemic, one of the things I've always wanted, I've had a list of things I wanted to write my whole life. And I've been fortunate enough that I've been able to tick off the list. Comic books, sitcoms, movies, stand-up. And on the list was also a novel. I wanted to see if I could write a novel. And so I did that. I sat down in the pandemic. I thought, well, let's see if I can do this and see if I enjoy it. And I loved it. And I wrote...

The background of the story is comedy, but it's a dark psychological horror story. It's a dark, scary story. And people who've read it seem to like it. And we're talking to agents publishing right now. That's unbelievable. I might become a horror author now. He said horror, ladies and gentlemen. Horror. A dirty old horror author. Yeah.

That's fantastic. It is so fun to write. And the whole time you're doing, when you're writing, you're like, this is such a piece of crap. No one's ever going to read this. And then when you start letting your friends kind of in on it, it's amazing. The responses. Oh my God, that's so great. How do you think of that? How do you write something like that? Do you just make it up as you go? Like, do you have a storyboard? I mean, I'm always asked this. Do you put post-its up? Like, how do you remember everybody's names?

And which is something that I always thought, you know, read Game of Thrones folks, like the way back when's before it was the show. You're like, there's 400 people in here to remember. Did you have any trouble with characters that you're creating on your way through? You're like, man, I should have like post-its up everywhere. I need to know what that really. Okay. It's a, it's a fairly claustrophobic story. It's about two standup comedians and,

One from Chicago and one from Ireland that are on very different paths, different ends of their career. One's thinking about getting out of the business and the other one's a hot newcomer. Anyway, they get booked on this rather sketchy run of shows through rural Canada, through Manitoba and Ontario. And they start to realize the guy who's been booked to be their opening act and do all the driving, he's this big bruiser of a kid. And they start to realize he's

not wired up right. And he's, they, he's clearly prone to violence and things escalate to where they're just worried about whether they're going to get off the road alive or not.

And it's sort of based on, you know, that notion of like, oftentimes I would be on the road with some comic you don't know. Yeah. Do you really know anybody? You're driving across the middle of Alberta or Saskatchewan at two in the morning with this guy. And he's talking about stuff that makes you go, I'm going to hide my body in a ditch somewhere. My mom and I would often go visit my brother in jail. And he was about an hour and a half from here. He's out of jail now, but.

He was in there for 28 years, but this one time, of course, there's always this one time story. There is a woman, she was hitchhiking and she was, you know, we went past her and I said, mom, that was a young woman. Well, you go, let's go back then. And so we circled back and she was, you know, probably five foot high and she had a little plastic bag in her hand and I picked her up and she's like, oh, thank God. I'm trying to get to a Thanksgiving thing in Banff. And

Banff was like an hour from where we were going. And I just thought, I'm not dropping her to truck stop. I said, I'll take you. And my mom was up for an adventure and we thought we'd get coffees. But anyway, this girl was just had this little tiny bag. And then she said, I just got to grab my stuff. So she ran down into the ditch and she grabbed what looked like a vacuum pack side of beef and

And she's dragging it up this embankment. And I literally am like, well, we need to open the trunk and put this in. And it was, it was like lamb ribs or something. It was vacuum packed. And she was, she was taking, um,

Is it a butcher course? What do you call it when you're becoming a butcher? Is there another name for it that I'm missing? Anyway, it was offered at Olds College. Her car had broken down. It was sitting in the ditch there. But I remember getting into the car with her rolled up knives because, of course, all these people have all these knives and sharpeners and special stuff. And here's my mom who was like well into her late 70s. We're driving an hour away with this woman in the backseat.

bag of knives and meat she goes I appreciate it and then she had a huge Tupperware thing filled with soup and I just thought this is the weirdest day you don't know how to travel well she doesn't know how to travel well I mean what are the chances your car breaks down and she's like I was really worried about what people would think with you know all these meat cuts I'm bringing them to my sister and brother-in-law and earn her knives anyway we got her there we drove her to Banff and

I still keep in touch with them to this day. Once in a while, I'll get an email from her sister. Hi, we're the blank sisters. You drove my sister to BAMF with her side of meat. And I'm like, Oh God, but I know what you mean by being in a car and wondering, I mean, back in the day, I don't know about you guys in Saskatchewan, we hitchhiked everywhere.

No, I never did. I've never hitchhiked anywhere in my life. Well, that's not true. When I was a little kid, I hitchhiked across Tisdale from what I was supposed to be home at a certain time. And I was walking and I'd left my buddy's house too late. And I stuck my thumb out and got a ride with a guy like eight blocks to and he knew who I was. He's like, hey, you're going home. Why are you at your thumb out? I was like, I'm supposed to be home in two minutes. All right.

But I've never hitchhiked outside my own community. No, I mean, I wouldn't do it now. Even seeing people hitchhiking on the TransCanada. But I was never very adventurous. I was always kind of like, and my older brother, who's like next, like I'm seven of seven, he's six of seven.

He, he was the opposite. It's like such a Yahoo. He was like, he would jump a train and take it to another town, you know, just nothing, nothing scared him. And I was always like, I could envision things going sideways way easier than he could. I'd be like, Oh, we might, what if we twist an ankle jumping off the train? I'm just going to put this out to you, Brent. I think you and I,

and Nancy, we should do a show, maybe like a limited series of you and me and Nancy hitchhiking across Canada. And we'll just do it all on our iPhones and we'll make a little reel and we'll submit it. It'll just be the three of us out there. We'll start wherever you want to start. And let's just see how far we get. I think this is more of a you and Nancy thing. And I'll touch base. I'll touch base for a moment. Okay. All right.

I've just told you I'm not adventurous. Well, I don't know. And your proposition is that I go hitchhike across the country with you guys. Well, listen, thanks for hanging out. This has been an extra added bonus material, folks. I hope you really appreciate it because Brent, his phone keeps ringing. I bet you were like, listen, if Jan keeps me on too long, just start phoning in. I am supposed to be doing an interview. Okay, okay, he's got to go.

I forgot. Okay. I love you. I love you too, Jan. All the best. Thanks for having me. I just want you to know that you've inspired so many creators and so many people like myself, so many people. I don't know one single person that hasn't frigging laugh their butt off watching the show and feeling included and feeling like, you know, the world is a better place because of your work and your writing and your

the way you somehow cheered people on in Corner Gas constantly, the animated thing. I was lucky to say that I was in the real version of the show, like the live action, and I was also in your animated show. Yes, you were. So thank you for that, and thank you for being on the show today. My pleasure. And just keep doing what you're doing. I hope there's a Christmas special, an Easter special, a Thanksgiving special. And honest to God, though, Brent, I can't wait to see what you do next because you are amazing.

You're just, you're good people and you just deserve the world. And you and Nancy, I hope we do get to go for dinner sometime. I would love that. Well, thanks, Jen. Thanks for the kind words and lovely to talk to you. This has been the Jen Arden podcast. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.