The Strange Things People Pay For
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2022 is here and it's gonna be freaking weird because the world is exploding and the numbers are all over the place again and they're locking down. Okay, the song is not complete, but Caitlin Green, Adam Karsh.

Our first official show of season one, episode 111. Welcome, you guys. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. I can't believe it's 2022, but I can. I know. I guess we're off.

To a good start so far? Question mark, are we? Question mark? I'm done with the notion of having like a good start or not. There seems to be a lot going on in the world. I think if someone would have told me the numbers, the numbers of the virus like a year ago, I would have been completely paralyzed in my home. And I'm sure I feel the same way as millions of others do, is you're kind of like, well...

I guess this is it. And we'll just wear our masks and social distance and keep doing our due diligence and go about the world. But I mean, to have seen numbers like 220,000 in the UK today, the States is roaring right along again. Canada's unprecedented numbers. Yeah.

But it doesn't feel like the harbinger of doom as much. Maybe I'm wrong about that. No, it doesn't at all. Thank you, vaccines. It really doesn't. Thank you, vaccines. That's what I keep saying, too. We're vaccinated. We're boosted. So it's not kicking us in the ass quite as much as it would have a year ago. So we're looking at a far different...

World. Yay science. Yeah, we've had this in the mix now for almost two years. So yeah, I mean, and honestly, when you're reading those numbers, I was like, oh, are the numbers there? I don't even know. I don't pay attention to them. I have a couple of people from the UK staying with me. That's why I'm acutely aware. Nigel and Charlie are both here. Oh, that's nice. And Charlie goes back. My longtime friends goes back on Friday. So they're actually just left

to go get the PCR test, which enables you to enter back into the UK. But apparently they're dropping that. So he didn't even know if he needed to get that today. And then, of course, they're tested two days after you land. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of stuff around, obviously, travel. But travel is overwhelmingly safe. I mean, the number of cases that are coming into Canada, nowhere nearly as big of an issue as the cases that are here.

Like we have incredibly high case count in Canada last I checked, which was a while ago. And then there are so many places around the world that don't really have the same amount of spread going on. So I feel like more and more people seem to feel okay about traveling if they're fully vaccinated. You know, you're wearing your mask the whole time and you have a lot of testing happening before you leave. And then again, when you land. So yeah, I don't know. I mean...

I feel like everyone's just kind of getting used to it. It's not going anywhere. This is an endemic. It's here to stay in one way or another. So I think people have to learn how to live with it. Can I ask how your trip was, Caitlin? It was great. Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

Yeah, it was great. It was absolutely just what the doctor ordered. And literally, because I remember talking about this with my therapist and my GP before we left. And I was like, I don't know, what do you guys think about this? And they were like, get the heck out of here. You need some sunshine. You've done everything you can do. I waited, my husband and I and a friend of ours waited in line for four and a half hours in the cold for our booster before we left. Because I was like, I'm not going anywhere without this thing. And so we did and I felt good. And it

It was great. It was lovely. Gosh, I miss the sun. Man, I miss the sun. Isn't the sun magical? It is. Is the sun not? It is an elixir. It is a balm for a weary soul. And then add on to the emotional baggage of the last couple of years. And then we've had a particularly hard winter so far. And we're only halfway. I know. Yeah.

I know. And I certainly understand why some people are going to look around and say, not the time. You know, I'm going to cancel my trip. I'm going to postpone it. You know what? You do you. But if you get into the sun and you taste the sweet elixir of the sky, you're like, this is also great. I'm going to write a song called Sweet Elixir of the Sky.

I'm going to work on that. Let's just hop right into some fun things going on in the world. It's Veganuary. Veganuary? Veganuary. Veganuary. Veganuary. Yep. And what they do every year, folks, and you've seen this on your socials, Instagram in particular,

They encourage people to go plant-based for 30 days. And there's all kinds of helpful hints. We're going to be talking about gas later on in the show because people always assume that a vegan plant-based diet is all beans and rice and legumes and you just fart all day.

Not the case. It's not the case at all. Chipotle has added a new option to their menu. And I have asked in Chipotle for the last two or three years if they've got anything like that. And they're like, no, we're going to. We get asked that a lot. But in the meantime, I just get the beans and the rice and all the other fixings. And I get my thing and I shut up and I go along my way. But now they have...

like a smoked paprika thing with olive oil and a protein, of course, from the peas that a lot of the Beyond Meat stuff, Impossible stuff, are using pea proteins. And they sound so delicious, but they're going to have five or six dishes. Yeah. So, which brings me to this next story that Caitlin so lovingly brought to the table. I had to because it's the weirdest story I've almost ever seen in my life. Caitlin, I'm going to hand it over to you. Okay.

Okay, so there was – I don't want to say star, but I would say known person from the show 90 Day Fiance. Have you guys ever heard of this show? Yes. It's been around for a while. Yes.

And so she was on 90 Day Fiance. Her name was Stephanie Maddow. And basically she wound up being rushed to the emergency room with what she thought was a stroke. That's what she described it as. That was the feeling. And the reason why is that she had been force feeding herself a diet intended to create stress.

Gas. Intended to create gas. Intended to create flatulence. Because this woman decided that based on her notoriety and her social media following, she thought it would be a funny way to help publicize herself. And obviously she lacks all sense of shame to sell her...

in a jar. Like we're talking mason jars. And she started posting about it and she said initially I was just doing it for attention. But then all of a sudden people who are following her started paying $1,000 per jar. And very quickly this went from a joke to apparently a viable business plan. And you know she was making like $200,000 off of selling her jarred

And so, and then because though, but then she's created a monster because she had to start changing her diet to support the demand for the jars. I mean, did she not think of lying? Honestly. And just giving them an effing jar with nothing in it here.

He has a fart in a jar. How can you prove you have a fart in a jar? Remember stink bombs when you were a kid? I was like, lady, buy a bunch of these. Set them off on your balcony or in your backyard and put them in a jar and call it a day. What was in a stink bomb? I don't know. It was like sulfur. It was very sulfur based. Wasn't it a match, a wooden matchstick and it had something to do with like a Bic stick?

plastic pan and you'd have a hairpin and click it back. I'm having a memory come back to me. I'm like, you tell me. Apparently you've set a bunch of these off before. I actually don't know. I've smelled them. I've never set one off. Somebody set one off when I was in junior high school and it was funny, but the whole school absolutely stank. It was a thing in our school for a while. Anyway, she said that the fart business was both physically and mentally exhausting. What an idiot. So...

I just don't, I don't know how to comment to this except that money is a strange thing and what people will do for it. Yeah. I would, I, I mean, then there was that whole rumor about an ABBA poo. Remember that one? We've talked about that before on the show. What is this? I forget. I blocked it out of my mind. Someone followed one of the ABBA girls into a bathroom in the late seventies. Nope. Nope.

And sold little amulets that were apparently avocates. I can't believe this. And that was before the internet. That's something. That really is something. Because with the internet, you expect it. For that to have existed in the 70s is really... I think it's an urban myth myself personally. For sure it is.

I have never seen them resurface. I'm almost willing to make a tweet later. Does anybody know anybody that actually has an Abapoo amulet? Oh my gosh. And we'll see what happens. My apologies to all of our listeners who are trying to eat something right now. But...

These stories are true. We're not condoning it. It's just ridiculous that it exists. This woman shouldn't have been famous in the first place was kind of how I felt. And that's sort of what keeps happening is that people who I don't really think do anything of any sort become super famous and then they have to sell their own gas because they run out of things to offer to the general public. But who's buying it? Who's spending $1,000 on that? So weird.

Well, apparently it said men paid $1,000. It didn't say man. Men, multiple men. I don't know. Maybe we should ask the Twitterverse. Listen, are you one of the guys that bought this and what possessed you? I am not. Anyway, Meredith McNeil is going to be on the show a little later today. And I'm definitely at some point, whether in the actual show or in

I think we'll do some bonus content today with Meredith. Maybe it's better that we ask her in the bonus section if she would ever consider doing that. But stay tuned. If you haven't seen Baroness Von Sketch, you're missing out because I think Meredith is best known for that, although she was on The Sour House 22 Minutes.

But she's got a brand new show on CBC called Pretty Hard Cases. And she plays a feisty police officer that tackles some pretty great dramatic stuff. So she certainly shows her chops. And anyway, we're going to talk to her today. So you guys, new year, new you. What's happening? What's been – we have one minute left. Is that what you're saying to me, Adam? One minute. I thought it was two. Why does this always seem to be happening? I'm sorry. Okay.

What did you, can I ask you what you did New Year's, Caitlin? New Year's. Oh, it was funny. So we were waiting at home. We were randomly selected for an airport PCR test, which means once you get selected for it, you have to wait at home until you get your results. So thankfully we got our negative PCR results. And then we went and had a very quiet dinner with one of our, at one of our friends' homes. And, um,

just sort of hung out. And it was funny because we kind of had the king daddy topper of tasks before we went. Like we were like, ha ha, we have PCR results. Everyone else did rapid tests before they went, but we felt like extra good. Like we were going, like, yeah. So we just did that. It was really nice. Rapid testing, they're changing the whole way how people are socializing. We couldn't even fathom this.

like two years ago of everyone. We had a chain of people getting together new year's Eve and they all sent pictures of their rapid test stick. It was like, it was like a pregnancy test. Here's our little blue line. And you know, there's, there's nothing on here. Uh, you're listening to the Jen Arden podcast. I'm here with Caitlin and Adam. Meredith McNeil is going to join us in a little bit. Don't go away.

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Welcome to the Jan Arden Podcast again. Second segment, Caitlin Green, Adam Karsher here. It's New Year's. New Year's, new us, new...

take on life itself. Do you guys feel like you're being reset? Does New Year's do anything like that for you? Do you feel a sense of, okay, this is a fresh new start? Or is it just like,

You wake up, oh, it's Monday again. And on we go. No, the new year is September. I agree with you. Yeah. I like the September. September always feels like the new year. And I feel like we've talked about this before. I think we have. But it won't leave my brain and I'm done fighting it.

I'm done. The new year does not start in January. It's always September. The end of the year is summer and it's the perfect end of the year. It's a nice relaxing wrap up and then back to school, back to work kind of, even though, you know, everyone's still working in the summer, but you tend to take more time off, go to the cottages on the weekends, et cetera, et cetera. So I find that, yeah, September to me is always like the fresh start feel. I have that every year in September.

I never got a chance to ask you this, Caitlin, about New Year's resolutions and if you even do any of that. Julie Van Rosendahl was our guest last week and we touched a little bit about kind of the negative aspects of resolutions and, you know, Julie was, she made so many great points about it always seems to be about body image and weight and somehow improving yourself when you're

the self that you have doesn't seem like it's ever quite good enough. And I was wondering how you felt about that. I feel the exact same. Okay. If it's something that is, you know, grabbed onto by a million magazine headlines, you know, if it's something that I think is used as clickbait, which New Year's resolutions to me often feels like they are. And if it's something that's like overly tied to like capitalism, I'm probably not going to take it on in my real actual life because

yeah, it's just like a way to convince people to go out and feel like they're not good enough. And I feel like you're not going to become a new person. And why should you want to feel like you're going to become a new person come January? You're, you're good the way you are. So all the stuff you need, you already have move on. There's a really interesting, wonderful musical artist named Mary Lambert that I follow. Um,

on Instagram. And you might know Mary from a few years ago, she had a massive hit and she's the young woman that was cut off from giving a thank you speech on the Grammys. Do you remember that? I do.

Anyway, she openly calls herself a fat woman and that the culture of fat shaming in particularly the United States where she lives is unbelievably difficult. And she told a really interesting story about going for an MRI, which seems relatively simple to all of us. The MRI wouldn't fit us.

her properly and the doctor was trying to make light of it and he goes oh this particular procedure is tight you know on everybody and she said not only was she you know worried about the medical thing that she was dealing with now she's dealing with this unbelievable humiliation

from being in an MRI that is formatted for a one version of a person. I don't know, I really felt for her. I thought about it all night when I went to sleep. I just thought what a ridiculous thing that we do to people and how that whole narrative about weight and what size you are

It just affects everything, how a person makes their way through life. I don't think it's right. I just don't think it's right. No, and I think that also it's...

it's all part of, and it spreads to so many different things. It spreads to, you know, clothing and, you know, obviously beauty and your job and your house and this like kind of rabbit hole of consumption and looking a certain way and feeling a certain way. And that that's some sort of associated with like winning. If you're like, if I'm thin and I'm in good shape and I have a nice house and I have the right clothes and I have the

the right everything, and I achieve all these things I've aspired to because I clicked on all the right things and listened to all the lists and did all the stuff and bought everything, then you're going to be happy and you're not even going to be. That's the thing I feel like I want to yell to everybody is it's like once you get there to this like imagined destination, you're not even going to feel good. The promise of happiness. The promise of happiness. 100%.

It's like if you told somebody to close your eyes and imagine what it would look like if you had the perfect happy life. And I think a lot of people would close their eyes and try to imagine themselves as being hotter or fitter or in a bigger house or having a nicer car. And I just feel like

Also, a lot of the times you get those things or you make those achievements and you realize, oh, this is kind of empty. I haven't really been doing the actual work to like bring meaning and purpose into my life. And those are the things that statistically, actually, there's data to support. Those things make you happy.

And not even like happy. Happy also isn't really a safe baseline to achieve anyways. It's not a baseline emotion, by the way. You're not supposed to feel happy all the time. You'd be a lunatic. You're supposed to feel happy sometimes, not happy other times. That's called life. So I kind of think you're just like you're got to like take all that pressure down a notch and like feel good with where you're at because where you're at is probably pretty good. I always try and remove myself from the really happy person at a party.

I'm like, I'm going to turn around and I'm going to walk in the other direction and just find the woman smoking in the corner, not speaking to anyone. I know. Because...

Go ahead. No, I really, I, this honestly, like, as you said that, I was like, you know what that woman would be? Joan Didion, who unfortunately just recently passed away. Oh, I loved her. I know. Same. And that, that, I don't know why that like hit me hard. And so anyways, cause I think I just love so much of her writing and,

And so much of it has been useful to me, especially in the last year of my life. It's been really helpful. So she's just been so great. And I was like, yeah, she'd be that cool woman smoking in the corner trying to tell everyone like you're not supposed to be sublimely happy all the time. And the quotes, I can't I can't pull one from my brain right now, but she's had so many amazing quotes on just sort of living life and and absorbing it and really being present in your own life and how valuable that is. And yeah, I just love her.

But I cannot stress enough how many women and men, I don't want to disclude men in this conversation, live in a perpetual state of worrying about their weight, worrying about their clothing, worrying about, and Adam's pointing at his chest. Adam, yeah, you relate. I obsess over this. And it's not a healthy thing to do. I obsess over this.

food and weight tell me why i want to be thin i feel better i do it for me it's not i do it for me i feel better when i'm thin and i've struggled with weight all my life i was a fat kid then i lost weight and i was really fat in university and then i lost weight then i got married and i gained weight and then i lost weight and like i think i'm in a pretty good place right now but i obsess over what i eat i obsess over my weight i obsess over feeling good in my clothes all those things and it's

Do you think the media, mainstream media, has anything to do with...

The optics on what you see day after day, magazines, ads, clothing, how you're sold that. I think men are starting to feel that as much probably as women are now. Big time. That's for sure a part of it, for sure. Absolutely. But it's also for me. I feel better if I feel good in my clothes and I feel like I'm not bloated or I feel – again, it's not about being super thin or anything. I just want to like, quote, look good.

You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but what is your wife's take on this? Because when you're in a partnership and your wife obviously knows you much better than Caitlin and I ever will, that it's an ongoing thing for you.

And are you looking for her to say, no, you look good, honey, all the time? Like, do you think you wear her out a little bit with your obsession with your weight? I say this lightheartedly, like she thinks I'm nuts because I have to talk about food all the time and like what I ate and like, what are we going to have for dinner tomorrow? Because I need to know what to eat today to accommodate that. Am I going to treat myself? Am I not going to treat myself? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, I could go. I mean, we only have a minute left in this segment. Now we're the one giving you the one finger. No, I love food and I love to eat. And it's not like I restrict myself. You do. I eat everything, but I obsess over what I eat. But I love hearing the male. I love hearing the male perspective. And I know there's, you know, our male listeners out there are non-binary listeners. All our listeners, people, human beings in general, um,

not to be gender specific at all, but human beings from every walk of life are struggling with the idea that they are not

Good enough. This could be a whole other show. I'm definitely not going to talk about this with Meredith because we have so many other things to talk about with her. I am going to talk about the gas thing, though. I'm going to find a way to bring that up with our very special guest. Don't go away. Meredith McNeil from Baroness Von Sketch is up next. And she's absolutely amazing and terrific. Don't miss it. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. And thanks for that, Adam. Thank you for sharing that with us.

Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast. I am Jan Arden. As promised, with us is Meredith McNeil. And I have to tell you, one of the funniest women I've ever seen. I had the opportunity several years ago to be somehow miraculously invited to see Meredith and her Baroness Von Sketch performance.

teammates doing one of their sketches on a beach somewhere in Toronto. Do you remember that, Meredith? Yeah. Great intro. Love it. Thank you. Let's be best friends. And also like you, like I'm not a Toronto gal, but I feel like if I get it wrong, people from Toronto, please write to the Jan show and tell me how I got it wrong. I think it was Cherry Beach. I think it was there. And I remember we were so thrilled to have you there.

And it felt like it was like a girl hangout, but also we just, cameras happened to be there, but like a girl hang on a wild way. Like, do you remember there was like purses being swung around our necks and,

It was the funniest bit. It was a very beautiful man, scantily clad. And then you guys were doing something. I think it all started with having your name incorrectly called at a coffee place. And then trying to picture what your life would be if you were Mandy or Mindy or whatever.

Tiffany or whoever they called because we've all had the wrong names called and so I was transported through that sketch onto the speech anyway um Meredith McNeil Canadian actress I'm just gonna this is like the proper intro oh no I felt like we did good when you said I was your favorite it's great it's great no you didn't say that you were I feel like you were saying I'm your favorite person so we could you are that one and I'm down there's no doubt that you are

My favorite person. Actress, comedian, writer. I think it's very important for people to know that you write. Yeah. And that often gets overlooked. You're a thinker.

um and if you haven't seen Baroness Von Sketch you should be in jail and incarcerated um there's a list of stuff this hour has 22 minutes uh the confetti movie which I freaking loved um Man Stroke Woman and of course most recently Pretty Hard Cases and I want to touch on that because then I want to launch into a whole bunch of other questions but Pretty Hard Cases brand new show um

really diverse cast. It's fun seeing you as a cop and this nutty version of law enforcement. Yeah.

I feel like when that offer came through, so it's with Cameron sisters, Amy and Tassie, who are incredible, who I adore. They were like, you sign up to play a piece of poo and be poo. I'd be like, yeah, sign me up. And then Sherry White, incredible writer who wrote it with Tassie, when they said, would you be interested? First of all, I thought it was almost a joke. I was like, yeah, have you seen there?

even though my background had, I hadn't ever done a lot of comedy before. That's crazy to me. Well, you know, from the East coast, you're having a bad day. You're going to make a crack about it. You know what I mean? So when they offered me, I was like, are you sure this is where the way you, okay. And to be able to sort of,

I don't know. I just don't feel like I would be the regular, I don't want to crap on myself, but I don't think I'm your regular procedural lead. So, you know, even like that, I was like, I feel like this show is going to be different. And obviously from Baroness and my background and a bit like you, it's like, I'm attracted to projects. I'm always love a project that you're like, is this going to work? So, um,

it has to have the equal amount of terror and enjoyment for me to sign up immediately. Am I going to get diarrhea? Yeah, I'm in to sign me up. I mean, it's, I think it's better than being almost typecast again and again and again. Okay. This is what she does really physical comedy and this over the top, you know, characters. I think it's really flattering and, and, and,

and really honoring your, how diverse you are as an actor for the girls to come to you and say, we, we know you can do this. You're the, you're the person we want. Yeah. And I, I don't want to, I agree. And I found it exciting one that the offer, cause it was for me. But in general, I feel sometimes artists and actually in every walk of life for so it's so,

easy to box everyone. And I know that there's a level of safety and sort of human instinct to feel protective. But I think more and more sort of as people and then when working with other artists, especially in Canada, we're so weird, we're so wonderful, and we work so hard. So most Canadians are multifaceted in terms of the talent that they have.

And just to open that up and being like, yeah. And I knew that I had dramatic background that I was classically trained, but the fact that they would give me an opportunity to actually do it on the floor and was so rare. And then to be paired opposite incredible Adrian Moore, like from Orange is the New Black, very lucky.

How is it you have such a long kind of history with CBC? And are you working with similar people in an administrative way? Do you find them easy to work with? I want all the dirt on CBC. And are you making $400,000 an episode? Because Canadians want to know. Well, let's be straight about the money first of all. No. I mean, have you worked with CBC before? No.

Uh, my very first check I ever got, uh, was a check for $4 and some odd cents from the CBC. So there we go. Um, and then in terms of like a creator for the CBC, it's weird. We did Baroness. It's weird because the CBC has changed, uh,

in the upper echelons, even since I came back from the UK. So, and it felt like every show was different as what my first job with them was like fresh home, single mom, living in my parents' basements.

feeling great about having to borrow my sister's underwear. Cause all I had like feeling good about life, like starting from there and at 23, like didn't really talk to anyone. Do you know what I mean? And then Baroness, uh, which now when I look back, it made so much sense to me that of course they were, I had this real cockiness with Baroness, but I think cause I had nothing to lose in my parents' basement. I was like, this sounds, this is a great idea. Um, that we had a little bit more involvement with the upper echelons, uh,

And, and then, but, but we were like executive producers. And like you said, writers where I'm pretty hard cases, again, I'm not much. So it just depends on the job. Are you enjoying it? Like, are you, are you having fun on this project? Would you say that you're having fun? Do you, or is it trepidatious? Do you find it to be, um,

that you would like to do 10 seasons of? I'll tell you this. Before the show started, you get used to your own patch a bit. So I think Baroness was a very particular experience because that was that experience and we created the show before. So having that type of control in it felt like now I couldn't believe the stuff. I didn't really understand the

what we were allowed to do with that show. People would always say in other shows, like, how do you guys get away with that? That's the truth though. We'd do sketches about rape. We'd do sketches with domestic abuse. We'd show period blood on the show. And we were having like real conversations with,

the people like the vice president, the president of the CBC, like real discussions about. So I didn't really understand. And then now I have a different type of respect for the barriers that come up on different shows. And I think for when I was doing Pretty Hard Case, it's like what we talked about earlier of like, you weren't sure you want me. And also just my own personal development, even my 40s where I'm like self-love is everything now. I literally won't lie, Jan. I was like full vomit when the offer came in. It's so funny because people, the perception people have is,

that creators, actors, singers, what have you, are these intrepid people that just take on everything and they, there's absolutely no hesitation and no fear. And what I found in my life is that, um, I can have confidence, but no self-esteem. Does that make any sense? I think you just wrote the title to my biography. Okay. I totally hear you. And it's true. When I met you as a person, the way you write, the way you sing in this incredible field,

fearlessness that it seems that you have. But one of the reasons I feel that makes you so vulnerable is that you have the real, your vulnerability makes you relatable. And it took me into my forties to understand that that's what it was like in Baroness or even with Sam on Pretty Hard Cases. And I don't know how you feel about your experience, but I kept those things. I thought I kept them separate, but I'm like, Oh no, that's the superpower of a creator and

Of trying to be your own boss of like trying to believe in the message and what it is of like combining that together of what like vulnerability is and being able to share it and show it. But then at the same time, Jan, which I, again, the vomit and diarrhea, let's fully circle back to body. It's like, how do you protect yourself? Do you know what I mean? Like, how do you like, you're going to laugh at this, like doing pretty hard cases. I was so afraid of talking about the show because of what it dealt with.

Not particularly funny. Yeah, like the serious nature that they were taking on. I struggled with how smart I was just as a person as Meredith. I struggled with trusting my opinions. I struggled with, you know, and it was a new avenue and I really wanted to, it wasn't my show and I felt this responsibility to uphold, you know,

So I literally was like sweat panicking. I love Amy Cameron. I was like, Amy, like fully in tears. And they got me media training. Well, you don't need media training here. We're so happy to have you on the show today. You're listening to the Jen Arden podcast. I'm here with Meredith McNeil. We're talking about pretty hard cases and a whole bunch of other stuff. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Every post you make, every pick you take.

Every tweet you make, every heart you break, I'll be stalking you. Welcome back. It's Jan Arden. I'm here with Meredith McNeil, who has taken media training. I've taken media training.

You'll probably be able to tell because the producer told me not to swear and not to say the fuck word. So no fucks. Wow. Okay. Well, if you guys are hearing beeps, you know that this is going really, really well. Media training. On the break a little bit, we were talking about social media and how Meredith McNeil avoids social media. Because why, Meredith? It's hard for even me to look at because...

I feel like my job as a writer and a creator, I want to live in the world where I'm communicating about things that matter to me. With real people. And then there is this, there are several platforms for me to do it. And I panic and I don't know how. And as I was saying earlier to you, I have such an appreciation and value people and women like you that use it. And it empowers me.

But it also terrifies me at the same time. Like, and I think what I want to ask you is, do you care? How do you not care? What was your journey to not caring?

I absolutely don't care. I love that. I don't think, you know, this would be a lie if I said I didn't, there hasn't been some point in my life where I absolutely feel crushed about criticisms about music and stuff. And then I just thought, oh my God, this is about me liking what I'm doing. And then you suddenly realize as social media took hold that, you know, this last six, seven years especially,

Um, that people, it just, you're not going to please them all the time. Meredith, you're just not going to even the most benign statement. You're going to have someone who opposes it. Oh, you love bunnies. Well, great. Cause they're stupid and they're violent and they bit my three-year-old. So there lady.

I mean, seriously, you cannot win. So I do tell people to F off. Do you find the conversations are more intelligent online? Like, are you having, are you kidding me? An intelligent online conversation? Well, not, not in 230, uh, you know, letter increments. No, I think you just, you, you hurl the wittiest insults you can, and then you just stand back and watch the fallout. Okay. Now I find this intriguing.

So someone like me, I'm enjoying what you're saying on social media. It's really helpful to me. I'm loving it. But most of the time, I wouldn't comment on it. We just have that as a takeaway, right? So here you are in a ring and what you're getting back, if what I'm hearing correctly, is ridiculous. It's vitriol. So for you, are you like, well, I know there's people that I'm starting a conversation with that I am helping.

I'm not hearing. So that's what you're like. So this is good. Even though 90% I'm making this up, you'll have to correct me is all like just ridiculous poo being thrown at you. It is. But then you're supported. Most of it is, I think spam accounts. Most of it is people. And I make this generalization of people, you know, living, you know,

somewhere with a parent, you know, eating cheesies and doing video games all day that literally are looking for celebrity people to interact with to get a rise out of them. So there's a great majority of that. If you go in, I always click onto their profiles to see who's saying this to me. What can I glean from their...

their, uh, little tiny bio that they may or may not have. Do they have a picture? Is it of another celebrity? Is it of a truck? Is it of a rebel flag? Is it of Donald Trump? Is it of make Canada great again? Like then I know who I'm dealing with and I usually immediately block them, but not before I send some kind of

that makes me laugh hysterically in the privacy of my own home. And then I wait and see what the, you know, my, my supporters do. And usually it's,

so funny and so enjoyable. Twitter, I love. I love how it works. I love the interactions. But it's also really positive, Meredith. It is shameless self-promotion. Anything that I do, any project, any record, any book, I'm in there putting pictures on. I am a shameless self-promoter for sure. I don't feel shame should be attached to that.

I feel like your product, it is helpful. You're right. You can tell someone's been in therapy in their mid forties. No, I need help. And this is free. I feel like for me, learning about your content on social media, media is helpful. So it is promotion, but it's needed. I mean, obviously there's some stuff that you're like, it's not for you, but in general, I don't have a problem with people promoting their product because a lot of the time now that's where I hear about it.

And I don't think people should be embarrassed by it. Just like it is what it is. It is what it is. And it's here to stay. And I, and I think, um, you know, it's, it's all about those, the freedom to say what you want without, how can I say this? I mean, it can't be hate speech. I don't think, I mean, Caitlin, you can correct me here. Donald Trump still hasn't been reinstated in Twitter. And, uh, what's her name? Uh, Ms. Green from the Republican party has just also had her Twitter account, uh, removed, uh,

permanently, but Donald Trump cannot interact on Twitter. The guy, it was his, Twitter was his balls. Literally. I know when that plot got taken away, I felt the world was breathing easier. It felt a general consensus of like, things are going to be okay. My thread for four years was that guy. Anyway, I want to ask you this. This is a little bit of a sidebar, uh,

right turn here, no pun intended. How do you feel about the Canadian star system? I know it's got to be a question you've been asked before. Baroness could not have been a bigger show. I mean, you went international, you went into the United States. And I mean, I still don't feel like

We appreciate making stars out of our own people here. Yeah. I don't even think it exists. Like I wouldn't even know how that would happen here. I don't understand. Why? I don't know. I mean, it's weird because if you remove the word star from it, so if you just say, Oh, I celebrate this person's achievements in Canada, just that, that, that, that is even a struggle.

And to be honest with you, I don't really know. I mean, I can get into how shows sold internationally and how some countries, you can only own this release date and protect the social media footage and the difference of when we sold to the States and what happened to our footage on Facebook when you couldn't share it. Like there's that. But on that level, Jane, like, is there like...

Besides you and I mean, is there any stars in Canada recently? And what are your thoughts on it? Because I think in a way it would only be helpful to all industries if we celebrated their artists for what they can do and bring in financial aid and platforms where we can hire more people. So it's a really strange thing where we

I don't know. What do you think? And you can be on top of your game. You're like, oh, I just don't work anymore. I don't know. I'm not sure. It feels like to me that you have to go away to be famous. I mean, you look at someone like Ryan Reynolds, who my love.

And I love his wife and I love everything he does, but it feels like he had to go away, become very famous in the United States. And then all of a sudden in Canada, we're like, Hey, he's Canadian. We do that with Keanu Reeves. We do that with these Ryan, Ryan Gosling, I believe is a Canadian guy. And there's, there's all these famous Canadians, but they, they live in New York or they live in LA now, but they were from here.

or they slept with someone who was Canadian. Very important to do that. So if you, yeah, I think if you were to sleep with Ryan Reynolds, then we'd have. Well, I'm single. So I could like, and do it, not hurt anyone except his wife. That's would be. Yeah. Okay. We, we, in this last minute, I feel so I, can we not bring Meredith back for another? Yeah. Let's bring me back and then let's like fly out and hang out.

Yes, we can do it live somewhere. I want to ask you, this is really random now. We always talk about food on this show and I want to know in 40 seconds or less, what did you have for lunch in your lunchbox in junior high? Oh, we had to walk home.

We walked home. And then sometimes if I, we didn't have like, like sometimes I had 50 cents, I get like a warm cookie and I would hold on. I used to run home down Clarence street and sometimes it would be my, a can. Did you have this where it was like a can of mushroom soup with rice mixed in? Who did that? Your mother? Dad. Your dad. And he mixed the rice in with oil. He would like come home from work. So he worked down the road and my mom worked at the hospital.

Meredith McNeil. I just, maybe we need to do like bonus material with Meredith. Anyway, Jan Arden podcast. Thank you so much. Adam, Caitlin, Meredith, me. I adore you. Thank you. Four people can't be wrong. This is the first show of the new year. Ladies and gentlemen, the first show of the new year we had, we had new years, but now this is officially the first show of the new year. When,

Out on the street today, the Canadian dream was as far away as it's ever been.

Welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast. We are here with Meredith McNeil, actor, writer, comedian, Baroness of Musquash. She was never in any of the Lord of the Rings stuff. I know she gets asked that a lot. That was not her. I'm like, I'm not the goblin. No, she wasn't Lady in Cloak behind counter in that one scenes. And

Anyway, this is the bonus round now, Meredith. This is when there's no holds barred. Do you think you'd ever go into politics? Oh my God, no. Okay, good. Do you feel like you would ever? No. God, no. I'd have to move to Ottawa, wouldn't you?

First of all, I have to move to Ottawa. They sell great – I got some great cheese curd from there. I do have to say this, though. I feel like I want people like you to go into politics. I think Canada would be better if Jan Arden was in politics. I don't speak French. I can say fromage et toi, which is cheese for three. So I could say that to foreign diplomats. Okay.

Cheese for three. Anyone? I could probably say oof. Would anyone like an oof on a piece of toast? Yeah, you could do that. That would be... I mean, are you sure? I feel like this is a strong resume. Thank you. So no political ideologies at all. It's never interested in you. Do you vote? Oh my God, I totally vote. I'm extremely interested in politics and I do feel there should be a shakeup. Do you feel...

I love being in my forties and I love where I'm at. How is it that you're interviewing me? How did this, what's happening? It's so rare that you get women that have created their own product and have been allowed to, and have had success with that. And also do it in a way that speaks to me and Canadian and all those things. And one of the reasons I keep in politics, I'm like, it's so weird. Maybe I'm,

I feel like it's not even an opening yet because I still feel as a creator and just trying to get your message out there is always such a battle and a struggle. And do you feel with what you've done? I mean, your show, your music, your platform, do you feel like it's getting easier for you or do you still feel like it's a struggle to be like, Hey, I have something to say. Where can I say it?

Oh, I think the struggle is absolutely there. I think, you know, even, and I can say this going into the Jan show, we, you know, we finished our third season, you know, going forward is there's a lot of trepidation with the entire team of, you know, the financing's a headache, you know, how CTV, whatever.

wants to position us. I mean, so anyone that thinks it's easy, it just gets increasingly more difficult, which I don't mind because it's called the entertainment business. Right. And so it's not supposed to be, I mean, I have my 15th record coming out, 15 records. I never thought I'd even do one on the 29th of this month.

and it's always an uphill slog doing it. It's always, not with my record label, Universal is fantastic. I've been with them 30 years this year. 30 years I've been with Universal. That's incredible. But it's still that difficulty of...

you know, getting the songs together and get it produced and always, always, always trying to find the financing. Always. And do you feel like the Canadian thing, like this is where I have only worked in Britain and in Canada and the financial struggle is real in the arts. I mean, that's not a shocker to anyone, but I mean, I think it's, I think it's everywhere.

I would imagine it is. I think in the arts, it's definitely a cog in the machinery. It's a weak point with the arts in general. I mean, talk about funding. There should be more lottery money available. There should be... I mean, and right now, you look at any Canadian program, Meredith, you know this better than me. At the end, all the accreditation that takes place of who funded what and what section of it. I mean, sometimes there's 20 people listed as...

where people have gotten their funding and their grant money from Canada's all grant money, grant, grant, grant money. Well, I was learning this the past few years of like how, you know, trying to create my own product and trying to do it my own certain way. And what I learned from Darren S and I was like,

And learning just the ropes of what that is, grant money. Like I used to say, if anyone talks to me about the envelope anymore, I'm going to cut my throat with it. And who is Grant? I want to go out with him. Does he need me to touch him inappropriately? Will that help us? Listen, we were born in the 70s. You were born in the 70s. I was born in 1962. I'm going to be 60 years old in a few months. You are? Yeah.

Yeah. This is where everyone says, Oh Adam, you can insert some sound effects of no. What? Stop it. No way. Come on. You must love it though. You look like you, who you are and what you do in credible. And also like, I know, I don't know if you're single or not. I'm very single. I've been alone, alone for six years and that's fine. Cause I was never alone before. But,

I'm single, but sometimes I managed to have sex and I do find that's way better with age. Oh, well, good. Are you alone when you have sex much like me or do you actually have someone with you? I was now I'm alone, but like before I had someone, but I'm a single mom. So that person was kind of at a distance. Do you know what I mean? That's just the choice I made. Yeah. How old is your person now? Your little person? She's 11.

It's so weird. She's really into being a witch and is learning Italian today with my parents. I'm obsessed. She loves Dungeons and Dragons. I'm like, yes, please. She was like, when I came home from the UK, I was a single mom. And that's when, you know, 22, that's when the career sort of started over here. So it's been an incredible journey. And to do it like with her as a single mom has just been the most, everyone was like, was it a struggle? I'm like, no, it made my decisions really clear. It made me commit on a level that was,

insatiable and I can't let go of it also made me take risks that I never thought I would have done with her because I had nothing to lose I was like if you're going to say something you might as well say it now what does it matter I love that it kind of only fed my career and it also limited things like you know we talked about going to the states traveled like

She travels with me between two provinces. She goes to two different schools, but I can't introduce the third thing. So in a way I have this thing of like, I'm going to make Canada for me, the place I'm in love with to create. I love that.

I love that. So in order to have a star system here, you'd agree we have to stay. We have to stay and create it. And I become a single mom. Okay. There's no reason I can't have a child at 59 and three quarters. Anyway, I won't keep you because your publicist is going to like drag you off. One last question before we go. Bonus question. Would you put a fart of yours in a jar and sell it?

on the internet for any amount of money? I would put a fart in a jar just to do it and like just to show people and bring to a dinner party and be like, guess what this is? My fart in a jar. Like today, even on the boardwalk in Halifax, I might fart in a jar and be like, no, I just fart in a jar because that's hilarious. I don't know if I would sell it. I'd be like, you know what? I'd set up a booth with a bunch of farts in a jar and be like, for free. Whose is this? I would give you one of my farts in a jar.

I would do fart in a jar and then just one where it's a period in a jar. A fundraiser. A fundraiser. Five, Adam. Next show, if you guys need to go for a fundraiser, we'll have fart, jar, table, and period jar. So you want to write that down, producers of the show. Oh, God. Well...

What a, what a, what a climactic finale to this conversation with Meredith McNeil. I hope we get to work together someday, Meredith. I didn't want to like bring that up. Cause I didn't want to be like, I mean, I'm kind of, I'm well, I'm totally fangirling and I'm slightly obsessed by you, but if we could make that happen in any way, anyone listening to the podcast, if you have ideas, we're I'm now bringing you into this. We're totally open to them. Do you need a cadaver on your brand new show?

on hard cases. I thought you were picking yourself. I was like, come on, Jan. No, do you need a cadaver? Because I would, I would lay out possibly even topless with, if my arm was placed strategically over myself with a head wound. I'll tell you what, I don't have control of this show, but I'm going to ask them that Jan's going to go topless and be a cadaver on the show. So just leave it with me. Leave it with me. Okay. Well, you've been once again, listening to the Jan Arden podcast.

Meredith, Adam, Caitlin, truly do. We'll see you next time. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.