Do Canadians Complain, Letterkenny, and Lasso Moments with Al Grego

Al Grego: 00:00:00

Yeah, I think social media, I think it really has really been the bane of what's happened, you know, in the last ten years, unfortunately, which is too bad, because in the beginning it was.

It was great to connect people and there's a lot of really great things that have come out of it, but lately it's just been nothing but, I don't know, disinformation and just bad.

Danny Brown: 00:00:25

Hi, and welcome to Five Random Questions, the show where every question is an adventure. I'm your host, Danny Brown, and each week I'll be asking my guests five questions created by a random question generator.

The guest has no idea what the questions are and neither do I, which means this could go either way. So sit back, relax, and let's dive into this week's episode. Today's guest is Al Grego.

Al is the producer and host of the award winning Yes We Are Open podcast and Just Good Business podcast. In his spare time, he also produces The Produce Stand podcast. Al has achieved the dream of turning one of his hobbies into his career.

As Wayne from Letterkenny says, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life outside work. His interests include podcasts, movies, and music. So a true creative. So, Al, welcome to Five Random Questions.

Al Grego: 00:01:12

Thank you so much, Danny. It's a pleasure to be here.

Danny Brown: 00:01:15

It's a pleasure to have you, mate. And I feel for the non Canadian listeners, Letterkenny, I mean, they may know, but if they don't. Letterkenny, what is this?

Al Grego: 00:01:23

Well, it's funny because I think if you're non Canadian, you might know more than Canadians do because it's so Letterkenny is a Canadian sitcom based in, in rural Ontario.

It's a creation of a Jared Kiso, who's the star writer, showrunner of the show, and he's gone on now to produce a spin off called Shoresy. And it. And it all stemmed from these web shorts that he put out on YouTube years ago that. That got a lot of attention.

And then, yeah, Letterkenny became the first digital creation of the Canadian streaming service Crave tv. It was their first Crave original series and went for twelve seasons. And it's a great show. I highly recommend it.

Danny Brown: 00:02:06

And I'm gonna have to admit, I did not know Crave was Canadian for some reason.

Al Grego: 00:02:11

Yep. Yeah, it's definitely Canadian. They've got a lot of HBO content on it and stuff. But, yeah, Crave is definitely a Canadian show. It's by Bell.

It's owned by Bell.

Danny Brown: 00:02:21

Right, yeah, that makes sense now. Yeah. I mean, I know it for. And I only subscribe to it as well. I'm a bad person living in Canada.

I only subscribe to it for The Last of Us, and Chernobyl, which were made by the same production team. So. But I need to resubscribe because there's some really good, good stuff on there.

Al Grego: 00:02:37

There is. I mean, again, HBO stuff. I'm a big fan of most HBO content, plus Letterkenny, plus Shoresy, so there's actually lots of great reasons to. And.

And I mean, you know, I also subscribe to the other streamers, but. So I'm not. I'm not a Crave subscriber because I feel like I need to be as a Canadian. I actually do enjoy the. The shows that they have on there.

Danny Brown: 00:02:58

Yeah. And speaking of shows and speaking of origin stories, so to speak, I had a guest on. I recorded with a guest earlier this week as we record.

So we're recordeing this on December tenth. And I recorded yesterday with someone you know very well, Mike Boon or Toronto Mike.

Al Grego: 00:03:14

Oh, really? Toronto Mike was on. Yeah. Amazing.

Danny Brown: 00:03:16

Exactly. He'll be. His episode will be dropping probably about two or three weeks time, you know, from this recording. But he asked me to ask you.

Al Grego: 00:03:24

Right.

Danny Brown: 00:03:25

And I thought, okay, I shall do this. He asked me to ask you about your podcast origin story.

Al Grego: 00:03:30

Of course.

Danny Brown: 00:03:31

Over to you. This is not the random questions. This is like Toronto Mike's question.

Al Grego: 00:03:35

Yeah, he knows. He knows that. He keys in heavily on my origin story in podcasting. Yes. You know, Mike and I go back to the blogging days.

You know, I think we read each other's blogs. But I followed his journey from being just a. And a blogger to producing Humble and Fred's first show.

Humble and Fred, by the way, were a couple of Toronto disc jockeys that, you know, that, you know, had a really popular show in. In Toronto and then. And Mike was a big fan of theirs and he started producing their podcasts before they were even called podcasts.

They were just these, these online radio shows and they were. They were putting one out, you know, every Christmas. And then they started doing a regular show, which Mike helped set up.

And at some point, Mike decided, oh, that looks like something I can do, and he started doing it himself. And now he's on episode.

I'm sure he's almost close to sixteen hundred interviews that he's done in his basement in South Etobicoke, which is a suburb of Toronto.

It's crazy that the audacity this man has of insisting that his guests come into his basement because he's had some pretty big names visit him in his studio, and he's not exactly a known name, like, to. To most people, unless, you know, you were a follower of his, like, mine. Anyway, fast forward.

I met at a company I'm in corporate training, but I love podcast podcasts. I listen to a lot of them, including Mike's. And I reach out to Mike and I said, hey, I'm thinking of starting a podcast studio in my company.

I was wondering if I can. And I. My. My head office is in the Tower coast, so I thought maybe I can swing by just to see your setup. And he's like, yeah, sure, why not?

You complete and total stranger, come into my house and look at my setup. And I did. And it was. You know, I was. I met him in person and he sat me down, put the headphones on, and I listened to his.

He put on his theme music, and it was weird because I've been a listener for so long. It was just kind of an interesting sensation.

Even though he's not like, this famous celebrity, because I've been listening to him, he'd been in my ears for so long, it was like I was meeting a celebrity. Anyway, he was very gracious with his time and.

And his advice, and we've, you know, gone on to be good friends, and I've been on his podcast many, many times, and he. He's, he's, you know, big supporter of my podcast, even though he doesn't like Letterkenny or Shoresy. And. Yeah, it's. Yes. So.

Because he asked me to ask you so he could hear me say that. Yes, Mike is my podcasting mentor. I owe it all to him.

Danny Brown: 00:06:09

So there we go. We've got it live on recording now. When this episode comes out, we'll send it over to Mike, and I'm sure the Rockteys will soon be waving over that.

Al Grego: 00:06:18

Oh, yeah, I get paid in beer and lasagna, but so do all of his other guests, you know. So what can I do?

Danny Brown: 00:06:23

Exactly. Exactly. Well, now you've got. I mean, well, it's great beer as well, though. Great. Lakes, amazing beer brewery.

So, yeah, no, I just thought I should ask that. And as I mentioned, it's not part of the random questions, but there you go, Mike. I asked it for you. So I'll put the check.

Oh, you should put the check in the mail for me, actually.

Al Grego: 00:06:38

Yeah, I'll let him know. I'll let them know that you checked off that item.

Danny Brown: 00:06:43

Perfect. Well, speaking of checking off items, we've got five random questions to check off. So if you're ready, I'll.

I'm going to bring up the random question generator and let's see what brings up question number one.

Al Grego: 00:06:55

I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

Danny Brown: 00:06:57

Okay. I feel this, I feel this is an easy one and I just want to come into the episode with. All right, I'll. Question number one.

If you could be a member of any TV sitcom family, which would it be?

Al Grego: 00:07:10

Well, I mean, I would be way going, way against brand if I didn't say Letterkenny, because it was the beginning and it's one of my favorite shows and it's set in rural Ontario, which I grew up in rural Ontario, so I identified a lot with the hicks on that show. So yeah, it would have to be Letterkenny.

I would love to be, you know, one of the hicks sitting around the produce stand chatting about everyday life and, and making jokes and fart jokes and all that stuff. It's. Yes. So that's an easy one. I almost think you should just ask me another one.

Danny Brown: 00:07:43

Well, I'm going to expand on this a little bit then because as you mentioned, obviously you've got The Produce Stand podcast, which is, well, inspired by Letterkenny. So I'm going to ask you. Okay. Letterkenny isn't allowed. Okay, so. So any TV sitcom, which. Now let me just read this.

If you could be a member of any TV sitcom. Yes, it's a family. Then which family would it be? That's not the character, it's a family.

Al Grego: 00:08:05

Sure, sure. It's funny. This morning I had a team meeting and they did an icebreaker and it was a simple, it was a similar questions like if you could be best.

If you could have a best. Any best friend like of a fictional character, who would it be? And my answer was, was very quickly, actually Ted Lasso.

And it's a show that I loved and it came at the exact right time during the pandemic. I feel like the timing of that show, but also the writing on it and the performances and just I love that show. It's.

It's one of my favorite all time sitcoms and yeah, I would love to be part of that cast. Is such a.

Who wouldn't like that whole, whole thing is such a feel good group of people supportive and even when there's like drama, it's still, they still work stuff out and it's great. I love. So yeah, Ted Lasso.

Danny Brown: 00:08:53

Well, I think the thing. And I love that choice. I absolutely adore that show. My wife and I. We always saw the.

Before we started watching it, I think probably a lot of people did this. We saw that clip that was online, went viral about the dart scene. Right.

And I think that gave you the perfect snippet of Ted Lasso and what it was all going to be about. But, like, you see, like, the cast, the writing, the production, everything just seems on point.

And what I liked about it is it's also not afraid to take key characters and make you really dislike them as part of their journey. And then how Ted's actually affecting other characters, like Roy Kent. He even says he hates himself for becoming Ted Lasso, essentially.

Al Grego: 00:09:31

Yeah. It's so uncynically genuine. Right.

Which I think the timing, like I said, the timing of it couldn't have been perfect because we were all sitting, you know, locked in our homes reading the news and nothing but bad news coming at us from left, right and center. And. And it was just a lonely time for many people. And then you turn on this show and it was. It was a warm hug. It was a breath of fresh air. It was.

It was even, you know, you would think that a show like that, that's. That positive might. Might have lacked any kind of drama or tension that would, you know, make it just kind of fluff. And I. Maybe the.

The detractors would say that that's the case, but in my. I don't know, for some reason, I. It was just the right amount for me, and it was just the per. The timing was perfect.

It's what I needed at the time, for sure.

Danny Brown: 00:10:18

I do wonder. I feel it would still be as successful just because of the show. It is.

But I do wonder if it being made, let's say, the pandemic had never happened, if it would have had the same impact because people weren't looking for that kind of release, that kind of positivity. It'd still be a success, but maybe, I don't know, it wouldn't have quite the impact.

Al Grego: 00:10:38

I think as a. You know, the world goes in cycles of cynicism and.

And, you know, I feel like there's like this wave, like a cynicism followed by irony, followed by, you know, back to being genuine again. You know, I mean, and it kind of goes in a circle. One begets the other, depending on what's happening at the time. And I think it.

I'm wondering, because I feel like right now things are very cynical and very kind of, you know, dark and gloomy times ahead, whether a show like that and. And we, you know, before we Started recording. You'd mentioned that there's a season four coming out and how I feel about that.

I don't know how I feel about that. I love the show, but.

But I, I also know that it's almost like that pet cemetery thing where if you force something to come back when after it's like expired, you may not like what you get. I'm worried we're going to get a version of Ted Lasso that's like, you know, I don't know, zombified or something.

You know, it's just not going to be, it's not going to be the same because I think they told the story they wanted to tell and now bringing it back, you know, unless they can come up with another great three season arc of some kind, I don't know if they'll be able to do. I hope they do. I'm cheering for, but it might not be the same.

Danny Brown: 00:11:57

That was an interesting analogy there. I'm going to have that on my mind now. Pet Sematary, Stephen King, Ted Lasso. So. And it's Jason Sudeikis, right? Yeah, it's Jason Sude. Yeah.

Well, hopefully Jason, if you listen to this podcast, because I know you love listening to this podcast and as your script writing do not bring pet symmetry vibes to season four. But we're looking forward to it. Okay, well, I feel like that was a fairly gentle one to ease in and it may all be gentle, who knows?

That's the beauty of this show. So let's take a look at what question number two is. Okay, maybe this follows on a little bit from the whole psycho stuff that happens in the world.

But question number two alone. Would you rather live permanently in a roller coaster park or in a zoo?

Al Grego: 00:12:43

Yeah, this one's pretty easy because I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to rides. I don't, I don't do thrill rides. So it would be a waste to be at a coaster park.

So I'd be at a zoo and you know, once you get nose blind from, from all the, the wonderful scents, I love animals and, and I'd have a blast. You know, I'd spend a lot of time with the penguins and the otters and the, and the real fun, the, the, you know, the monkeys and all that stuff.

But yeah, for sure. In a zoo.

Danny Brown: 00:13:09

Now would that be like a zoo kind of like the Toronto Zoo, or would it be more like the one that's out past Hamilton area?

Al Grego: 00:13:16

Oh, African Lion Safari.

Danny Brown: 00:13:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What would be an option There or.

Al Grego: 00:13:21

Well, I mean we love both. We, we like going, you know, when I was a kid we used to go to this both once a year.

I love the lion safari because it's more like you're, you're driving through it and, and seeing them in their, well, not in their natural habitat but, you know, as living as naturally as they can in southern Ontario. But I, I, I really enjoyed the line safari. Actually. The Toronto, I mean, yeah, Toronto Zoo is amazing. It's a really good zoo.

It's a lot of walking and a lot of hills. So the lazy part of me would be like, no, yeah, I'll sit in my own. And I like taking my own car.

Like safari, you have to do your own car so you gotta a take a junker. Because animals have no respect for whether you have like a nice new car or not. In fact, the newer shiner it is, the worse off you're gonna be. So.

But I prefer going in my own car than in the bus. But yeah, safari, I enjoy the safari.

Danny Brown: 00:14:16

I can attest to Toronto Zoo like the walking. As you mentioned before our daughter was born, my wife and I took our son.

I think he was about eighteen months, maybe two year old at the time we took him to the Toronto Zoo. This was maybe in August and it started out a real nice warm day. So it's just us in T shirts. He's in a little stroller pushing him along.

Then you know, the Canadian weather. Four seasons in one day completely changed, sleet and everything. This poor little guy shivering.

Would he like go to the gift shop, get him a big old jacket and what have you to put on there? Anywho, he caught the cold from that day, you know, because of the weather.

But as we were driving back from the zoo, we, we're tired and he's just singing Bruno Mars at the top of his head. You know, I have no idea why, but anytime like the zoo, word comes up, he'll say, hey, isn't that the Bruno Mars place? Who knows?

Al Grego: 00:15:04

That's weird.

Danny Brown: 00:15:04

I don't know where they get the connections from.

Al Grego: 00:15:06

No. I wonder if they were playing it on the loudspeakers somewhere on in the zoo or something. And maybe.

Danny Brown: 00:15:11

Yeah, it's possible. It's just, it was such a weird connection for that. But so, yeah, so you mentioned obviously you're the lion safari park.

I've never been, but so I'm guessing the animals just wander like freely climb up like monkeys Climb up in your car.

Al Grego: 00:15:24

Yeah, that's the fun part. Yeah, you can, you can sit in the. I mean, they don't wander free. There's different habitats from the different parts of the world, right?

South America and Africa and all, so on and so forth. So the animals don't all mingle because some of them can't. Right? Some of them are. Are predators and others are prey.

So they do have them sectioned off, but you wouldn't know it. As you drive from one section to another, it's just like a fence.

And then you go into the next section, but there'll be people there making sure that, you know, a chimp isn't trying to hitch a ride into the next section on top of your car. But the fun part is, yeah, you can kind of sit there and the monkeys will jump onto your hood.

Again, if you're gonna take your own car, take a junker. You know, I had like a. A Dodge Neon, so I didn't care much about what happened to it. And. And they can sit there and. And you can.

You're face to face with them and they're sitting there staring at you. You're staring at them. Or, you know, we've had like, you know, lines. Walk right in front of our vehicle again and.

And you just see them, the majesty of them, how big and powerful they are. We've had. Because in certain parts of the park, you can even have your window open a bit, right?

So we've had a giraffe almost stick its head completely into our car. And it's, It's. Yeah, I feel like it's a little more interactive than your typical zoo. And so that's why I enjoy it.

Plus, you know, if you have kids, they've got a really great water park for afterwards and. And some interesting shows as well. A really cool Birds of Prey show. And anyway, and an animal, an elephant show, which. And actually one of my.

My fondest memories. And unfortunately, I mean, it's not unfortunate because if, you know, if they're getting rid of the elephants, you know, because it's cruel to have.

Have them, you know, in these enclosures. But when I was a kid, one of my. My fondest memories was in the picnic area at Lion Safari. They would bring the elephants out as we're.

As we're having lunch, and they would have a tug of war. One elephant. And they would line up fifty to a hundred people with the rope, and they would have a tug of war with the elephant.

And the elephant would be trained enough to, you know, take a few steps back, you know, pretend it's losing. And then as soon as the trainer says, okay, they've had enough of that, the trainer will say go or whatever.

And the elephant just starts walking forward and all the, all the picnickers, you know, fall, you know, they fall forward and you get to see how strong and how powerful these animals are. And then the elephants will go and bathe in the, in the pond and stuff. It's just a much more interactive experience, for sure.

Danny Brown: 00:18:05

Yeah, I won't try to get the kids down to that. I mean, they're getting older now. They're fourteen or twelve.

I don't know if they'd still enjoy it as much as maybe when they were eight or ten or something they might enjoy.

Al Grego: 00:18:14

So my kids really enjoyed the last few times to go there is. I'd have my daughter, who's ten, in my lap steering the car because you're driving very, very slowly through these safari.

So she just like driving the car through the safari and basically she has the wheel and was able to like, you know, steer us through and stuff. So something for them to enjoy.

Danny Brown: 00:18:35

I don't know if we kind of can wheel the car over, but. Okay, I'll take your word for a minute. We'll see how that goes.

Speaking of seeing how things goes, let's have a look and see what comes up with question number three. Okay, Al, question number three. And I'm looking forward to this one because obviously you're a very creative person in the media industry.

So I'm curious to see about this one. Question number three. If you were home on a rainy Sunday afternoon, what movie would you most want to see on television?

Al Grego: 00:19:04

Oh, wow. I mean, my favorite all time movie is Grosse Point Blank with John Cusack. To me, it's a perfect film.

It's funny, there's action, romantic, amazing soundtrack. I just, it's a, such a fun movie to watch. So that might be one. I mean, I've seen it a million times already.

Another one that I, you know, really enjoyed when I was younger was, you know, like A Few Good Men Love that movie. It's funny. What. But here's the thing. When it comes on tv, if it's, you know, back in the old days, anything on TV meant it's heavily censored.

And I remember this is probably my, my, my last memory of running to a Blockbuster was, was being at home and A Few Good Men came on tv. And as soon as that happened, I immediately stopped everything I was doing. I was young enough that I didn't have any kids to worry about.

I was like, I had the time.

And I was going to watch it, but then all of the bleeping, all of the editing just annoyed me enough that I actually got up, got in my car, drove to the nearest Blockbuster, rented it and put. Brought it home and watched it because I didn't want to have to sit through all the.

The dumb edits that they had to do back in the day for it to be on regular tv. Now you don't have to worry about that with streaming. But yeah, like, to me, the nineties were a golden age for, for movies. There were so many like.

And that's probably just me being an old man yelling at the clouds, but I feel like there's some. There's so many really, really good films in the nineties. Even, you know, during the pandemic, that's all I did is I went back.

You know, you're looking for something like comfort food, but in this case is comfort watching. And I went back and I watched all those old movies because I needed something to, you know, to keep me sane. But those were two of the big ones.

That one, you know, obviously Shawshank, that's an epic one if you have three hours to kill to watch that one as well.

Danny Brown: 00:21:02

It's funny. I was watching. I got. And I tend to disappear into YouTube rabbit holes.

You know, I'll start watching one video, but then YouTube being YouTube, obviously they put all these great recommendations in front of you and off you go. But I like looking at the comments on videos I really like.

And there was one that tied to your point there about the ninetiess being an amazing time for movies. And they mentioned ninety-four specifically and like rattled off about twenty movies that came out in ninety-four, and every single one was essentially a bonafide classic.

And you thought, holy crap, what was going on that year?

Al Grego: 00:21:36

Yeah, I mean, there was. Because a lot of big filmmakers came out of the nineties, right? Your Tarantino, your Spike Lee.

There's a lot of big names that started and who were heavily influenced by the, the. The big filmmakers from the seventies, right. And I feel like there's also a cycle there where it's like every twenty to thirty years you kind of get a.

Just like in music. Music cycles through every about thirty years in terms of styles. Movies, I feel like, do the same thing.

Like, but unfortunately, right now with streaming, not unfortunately, because streaming has made it a lot more accessible to watch. But my, My wife and I just had this conversation last night, actually, in terms of.

I can't think, like, because she took my daughter to go see Wicked at the theater. And that was her first time in the theater in a while. I can't remember the last time I went to a movie theater.

I've been to the Drive in because we have one nearby here. But a movie theater, I can't think of one. And I'm so over MCU and Pixar. But that's all that's going into theaters now.

There's nothing else they're not making, they're not putting those smaller films out in theaters anymore. So I'm just watching those on Netflix and on, on streaming on, on Amazon because those are kind of the movies that I'm drawn to right now.

And they're not putting those out in theater.

Danny Brown: 00:22:51

Although that's funny.

I, there's a Reddit group, like a movie group or subreddit, I should say on Reddit and they, they talk about that where it's, everybody's complaining. Well, people don't go to the movie theaters anymore. So now movies aren't getting made for the audience.

But if you're spending a hundred dollars plus just for tickets for a family of four almost, then the, the, the food on top and the drink on top and then you've got people chatting and on their phones and all that. And it just takes away from experience. But that's why people don't want to go. Right?

But it's like you say, maybe we're in a cycle where we need almost. You don't want people to lose their jobs and you don't want the places to shut down or anything.

But maybe we need a reset where some of the really massive cineplexes lose some custom so they realize we have to maybe not into cineplexes.

Maybe the movie studios, they realize that we have to now go back and make these smaller films, these character driven films, story driven films as opposed to the big super special effects, IMAX all over the place extravaganzas.

Al Grego: 00:23:54

Yeah, I think they're being made, but they're just going straight to streaming. Which again I, you know, that's fine. It just, but it does nothing for the, the movie theater industry, unfortunately.

Which is too bad because I loved, I loved that experience of going to a movie theater. But again, there's just nothing that's drawing me there right now.

I can't like, I think the last movie I, I could honestly say I would love and I to this day, if they re released it in theater, I'd probably go watch it in the theater is that RRR movie that came out in Netflix. I think twenty-two or twenty-three. It's an Indian film that won like the Oscar for the. That song. It's a triple. The name of the movie is just three Rs.

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's amazing. It's like a three hour epic, like action musical. Well, there's one musical number, so don't get afraid.

It's not a musical buddy cop kind of thing. It's just everything you can think of thrown in a movie. It put me in mind of like Indiana Jones films in terms of its scope and it's.

And it's a gorgeous movie to see on like my big screen here at home. I would love to see it at a movie theater, but they would definitely have to throw in an intermission because it's like three hours long.

Danny Brown: 00:25:08

Yeah. And maybe that's what they need as well, like intermissions.

I used to, like the old theater I used to go back to in the uk, we'd stop even just for two hour movies. Or you'd have an intermission, an hour.

You'd go up to a little bar at the side, have a beer somewhere, snacks, and then sit back down and there you go, you're off again.

Al Grego: 00:25:21

Yeah, I actually, it was Sunday night, day before yesterday. I went to the Royal in Toronto. Not for a movie though, it was for a comedy night. But it was one.

It was, it's one the world's really cool kind of old kind of art deco theater on College street. And they had an intermission between acts.

Like they did a first half and then the second half with the headliner and you could get up and go get a drink or you know, use the bathroom before. It's perfect for, I guess, middle aged people who are there. But anyway, I thought it was kind of.

Yeah, maybe movies need to go back to that, like have like an intermission in between because that would also maybe help them with concessions, you know, but maybe bring the price of those goddamn concessions down. Like popcorn doesn't cost that much money.

Danny Brown: 00:26:06

No, exactly.

It's like going to the TFC game or one of the sports MLSE games and you're paying fifteen bucks for a can of beer and like twenty bucks for a horrible frozen burger.

Al Grego: 00:26:15

Yeah, it's bad.

Danny Brown: 00:26:16

Not fun. Well, what is fun, hopefully, is seeing what comes up with question number four. Okay, question number four.

If you could disinvent one thing, what would it be?

Al Grego: 00:27:43

Wow, that is interesting. I mean my, my first inclination was going to be like the Internet, but so many amazing things have come from it.

And so maybe specifically social media, I feel like.

And, and I mean, I'm in the process right now of rebuilding my, my blog because I, like I said before, like off the top, I used to be a blogger and then I got rid of it because social media came, came about and people stopped visiting specific websites and only went to the big three, right. Facebook, Twitter and whatever. And so it didn't make any sense to have your own site anymore because it was all.

Everything was being directed to these, these aggregators, now the social media sites. And now we've seen kind of the damage that these sites have caused.

These algorithms that, you know, channel your echo chamber to you at all, at every turn. So you don't get.

Yeah, I think social media, I think it really has really been the bane of what's happened, you know, in the last ten years, unfortunately, which is too bad, because in the beginning it was, it was great to connect people and there's a lot of really great things that have come out of it, but lately it's just been nothing but, I don't know, disinformation and just bad. I, if I could, if I could leave it altogether, I would.

Unfortunately, having two bands, three podcasts, I'm kind of tied to at least having a bit of a presence so that I can promote these things. And, you know, but I am starting to build my home on, on the web again because I feel like, you know, doing everything just via social media.

And I, I believe. Oh, what's his name from Pod News says it all the time.

You're kind of building on rented ground, you know, James Cridland, it's one of his favorite sayings.

Danny Brown: 00:29:42

Right.

Al Grego: 00:29:43

If you're building on rented ground, it can be basically, you know, pulled out from under you at any point, and you have not. You can't do anything about it.

So I'm kind of going back to building my spot on the web and, and still aggregating to these, you know, whatever is the, the new thing. But always coming back to my home on the web, if you want to learn about my work, that's where you're going to go for it.

And that way it's always there, you know?

Danny Brown: 00:30:10

Well, it's. It's like you say, it's almost like the devil, you know, the devil. The better you know, the better you don't. I can't remember.

There's a phrase that I'm completely butchering at the moment. But, yeah, I remember. I mean, I've been on social media probably like you, mate, because we're very similar in age.

Yeah, I'm a bit older than you, so I'll put that out there for the listeners, just to make sure you're not the old person on the. On the chat. But yeah, I remember being like a user of Twitter Back in two-thousand eight, two-thousand nine, when it's all new.

And it was amazing because Twitter was the place that you went to when it broke the. The plane that landed in the Hudson River.

Yeah, in New York, you know, and you had like the Arab Spring, like the information getting spread about the Arab Spring and how to, you know, what was coming out there. There was amazing stuff. And you don't get that now, you know, And I feel maybe that's why a lot of people are like.

I know a lot of people are migrating over to Bluesky because that's more like an open ecosystem where there's no. Well, they say there's no algorithm, there's no, you know, corporate owners above it, etc. Hopefully, if that's the case, that continues.

Because I've been. I don't know if you've been checking it out lately, but I've enjoyed a feeling there.

Al Grego: 00:31:15

I have too. And honestly, you know, the followers we have on Blue sky are maybe half of what we have on Twitter, although half already.

Like, we just started like about a month ago on bluesky, you know, in. In earnest. So we're already at half the numbers I. I had, you know, on Twitter building that up for thirteen years or something crazy like that.

But the engagement on Blue sky is way higher than it. It has ever been on Twitter, and that's a part of that is because of the algorithm. I love that.

The fact that, you know, you can link out to your work on Blue sky without worrying about it being blocked or. Or not being supported. It's. And because Blue sky is really just an app because this is all part of the Fediverse now. Right. So it's just an app that.

That serves this data, but if it went away, your data is still there and I guess you can use different apps. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the Federals, but I'm kind of understanding it. It's not. It. It's not on Blue Sky. It's your stuff.

Blue sky is just an app that can access your stuff. Other companies can also build their apps that can access that same stuff. So that's all interesting to me.

And it looks like it's the way things are going and it kind of goes Back to it kind of falls in line with what I'm trying to do here. Building my own home again online where all my work can be showcased and just having it out wherever it needs.

Danny Brown: 00:32:43

To be, well, I think that ties back. You mentioned you're like rebuilding your own site and you're on your own property and getting that back up and running properly.

And that's what I like about Bluestream sky, is to verify. You don't pay an eight bucks a month to be verified with a blue checkbox or whatever.

You just upload a text file to your domain register and that's you. You're done, you're verified. But now you can take that no matter where you go. So Blue sky goes away and there's another one you want to take it to.

You take your community with you. Right? You don't lose and start again, etc. So I think that's pretty awesome.

And like you say, the engagement's really good because there's no algorithm. It just feels fun and conversational again.

Al Grego: 00:33:18

Yeah, it feels. Yeah, it feels like Twitter about 10 years ago. And who knows?

I mean, it could again change, but again, this time around, I'm not putting all my eggs in the one basket, but I'm enjoying the ride and it's been. It's been great so far.

Danny Brown: 00:33:33

And the cool thing about Blue sky, and you've created a really cool one, is a starter pack. You can create starter packs.

So your recommendations of people that you want to follow, and you've got a great one for Canadian podcasters, which is awesome. So that's another great thing. If you've not tried out Blue Sky, I highly recommend it. And as I always done, create a starter back and share that.

Recommend that.

It's a great way to put people you like and trust and respect in front of other people, which is a great way to give them back for the content and stuff they've given you.

Al Grego: 00:34:00

Yeah, you can build starter packs, but also your own feeds. I've already created, I've built a feed as well for my.

For my podcast Blue sky, with their produce stand, where it's all just Letterkenny and Shoresy content.

So basically, you're essentially creating your own algorithm, but you're in control of that algorithm, you're in control of that feed however you want to do, and you can create as many feeds as you want and share them out and everyone can use them, or you can just create them for yourself. It's just right now it's very democratic, it's very, you know, User friendly in terms of it's user centric.

It's not company centric, which I think X has just become way too company centric. Right. It's all about X on X and Blue Sky. It's all about the users. So that's good.

Danny Brown: 00:34:43

Well, long may it continue. And speaking of long may continue, which was the worst tenuous link ever, but we're going to continue on and take us to question number five.

Okay, question number five. If your food is bad at a restaurant, would you say something that's a good one?

Al Grego: 00:35:03

Because I'm generally, I'm too Canadian to complain because I'm also kind of worried that what they'll do to my food if I, if I send it back. But if it's unedible, I mean, it's unedible. I can't. Yeah, I'm not, I'm like, I'm not going to eat that. But I'm also not going to ask for other food.

I'll just say, yeah, just whatever, what do I owe you? And, and leave.

But yeah, you know, thankfully it doesn't happen often, but when it does either, you know, depending on, you know, how much I'm out, I'll either politely say, yeah, check please, I gotta go, or if it is something that's just egregious, I'll, yeah, I'll send it back, but I'll opt to get my money back and, and go somewhere else.

Danny Brown: 00:35:47

Now, would you be the person most likely to complain? Would it be your wife or is there neither here nor there?

Al Grego: 00:35:54

I think my wife probably, yeah, I think she would be the one to complain because she's also very particular about things. So sometimes, sometimes I can overlook things like. But she'll, she'll be more like, yeah, no, take that back. I don't want that.

I'm not gonna eat that. And I'm more of the guys like, careful what you say. Who knows what, what they're gonna do to your food when, when, when you get it back.

So, yeah, again, I don't think we generally eat at places that we don't have to worry about. That's funny. One of the best customer service experiences I've ever had was at a.

I want to get the, the chain right, because I want to make sure I give them credit. I think it was Moxies.

And it was early on when, when they were first told, you know, the first one that opened up locally here in Newmarket near where I live, and I remember going and, and it was a great meal. Except my wife who ordered steak? It didn't come like, I think she ordered it medium or medium well, and it came medium rare.

So it didn't come exactly as she. You know what I mean? And I remember the. The waiter came, but she was eating it still.

And the waitress came by, asked how, you know, how the meal was, and we said it was fine, but my wife kind of hesitated before saying that. And literally five minutes later, we had a manager at our table apologizing and offering a comp meal to my wife because it wasn't exactly how she.

And it was. So we had, we didn't even complain, though they, they proactively did it. And I thought, wow, that's. That's amazing.

So I will always speak highly of that chain, although we haven't eaten there in a while, so who knows what it's like now. But back then it was, it was an impressive display of customer service, for sure.

Danny Brown: 00:37:37

Well, that says like, you're. You're saying you're aware of what you're. You're looking for the customer reaction. Right.

Which is great customer service right there, because you want that person to enjoy, you know. And even though, like you say, your wife didn't really complain, the waiter, waitress knew something's not right. What's going on here?

Al Grego: 00:37:54

Yeah, yeah. And I think it was a new restaurant too, so they were probably trying to be, you know, on their best behavior.

But anyway, it was just like when it's funny, like we're all quick to complain and to write the, the, the Yelp reviews when we've had a poor experience that I feel like we need more of that. No, that was a great experience and we want to give you kudos for that, so well done.

Danny Brown: 00:38:16

There was a moxie. I used to work at olg, which is the Ontario Lottery and Gambling Commission for people not from Ontario.

It's basically the legalized government owned or government run gambling lottery organization. And that was up in North York and on. Not York street, the one that goes parallel to York Street. I can never remember what it's called.

They had a Moxie's there. We went for a staff dinner and the food was amazing then. Service was amazing. It was just a really nice experience.

I feel maybe that's like a, hopefully a moxie's culture that's embedded in, you know, from the top down. So. Sounds like it was a great experience there too.

Al Grego: 00:38:52

Yeah, I mean, it was a while ago now and things change, obviously, but I hope, I hope they've kept that, that standard for sure. Of service. For example, A keg restaurant, you can't go wrong almost. We've never had bad customer service at a keg.

They've just been consistently good and so and I still to this day, like, it's still one of our go to places because of that, so.

Danny Brown: 00:39:14

Well, that's what I like to hear. You always want to hear, you know, the feel good stories as opposed to like say it can be negative.

And that's why we want to get rid of social media as well and this event that just tying it all together there. So we've reached the end of the five random questions for you, as is the customary, you know, permission and that's the wrong word.

I put you on the spot for the last thirty, thirty-five minutes or so. It's only fair that you get to ask your own question. So I'm going to pass over the question and baton to you, good sir.

Al Grego: 00:39:43

I should have, I should have kept my question that I asked before we recorded to now, like, I mean, you know, knowing where you live and in relation to where I live, you know, how does a Scott, you know, get along in Muskoka? I mean that must be different weather for you.

Danny Brown: 00:40:01

It is, it's. I mean it's really like I, I love the winter anyway. Growing up in Scotland, I mean I was never in like the, the little rural areas of Scotland.

I grew up in Edinburgh. There's a big city obviously, right. But we used to get big winters when I was a kid, you know, so I always loved the winters. I love the snow.

Al Grego: 00:40:19

Oh, it's a big winter in Scotland. Forgive my, my ignorance. Do you get.

Danny Brown: 00:40:22

No, no for sure.

Well, when I was a kid, and it's probably different now, but when I was a kid, a big winter in Scotland would be snow from December through to mid February. Okay. And snowbanks that were probably, you know, as a ten year old, they were up to my shoulder. So I don't know what that is. Three foot, maybe four.

Al Grego: 00:40:39

I mean, so that's, that's a good amount of snow.

Danny Brown: 00:40:41

Yeah, it's a good chunk of snow. So I moved to Canada. The first time I came to Canada was in December two-thousand six.

I arrived in wintertime totally unprepared, thinking I knew what Scottish winters were like. I'll be fine. We're good. Totally unprepared. I quickly bought toques, big Parker jackets, snow boots and the works.

But Muskoka, yeah, it's very different. Last year was really mild. We got very little snow. Mild winter. I feel that was the same pretty Much all over Canada this year is a lot different.

So I like the snow, I don't like the cold. If it's be below minus ten, that's not good for me. I have like. I'm old, you know, I get achy joints and stiffness and stuff.

And I'm the one that does all the shoveling and the snowballing. I gotta get the kids out of that. So, yeah, I like it.

And I'll put up with horrible weather to get nice summers and, you know, just sit in the backyard and you don't hear any planes or cars or anything. It's. It's a trade off, right?

Al Grego: 00:41:41

Yeah. I mean, growing up in a big city like Edinburgh, I mean. Yes. Muskoka is the complete opposite there. Right. It's. It's very quiet.

Danny Brown: 00:41:49

Yeah, well, and that's it. And like we were speaking beforehand in the green room.

I used to live in Burlington, which is, you know, a lot of shot, a lot shy of Toronto, a lot west of Toronto. And that's another big city that's about, I don't know what's now, two hundred fifty thousand people, I think live there. Whereas where we live now we've got eight hundred families.

I don't know what that equates to. Let's take the average family as four people. Yeah, three thousand people. So that's a big drop.

Al Grego: 00:42:14

Yeah, yeah. I mean growing up in kind of a rural Ontario for myself, I think it would be too quiet for me. I kind of. I'm attracted to the city.

I don't know if I'd want to live there because I like, you know, where I live. I like kind of driving out of the city. But I do love visiting the city.

So I feel like going even further than where I am right now would be a nonstarter for me anyway.

Danny Brown: 00:42:36

One, I think Newmarket. It's that good middle ground right between rural and big, you know, like Metropolis.

Cities like Toronto and you know, I guess Ottawa on the same kind of front, etc. And new market, obviously you've got New Market or Market Brew.

Al Grego: 00:42:51

There is a market Market brewing. That's right. They're, they're. I've been there many, many times. My band's played there a few times too. It's a, it's a cool spot. I'm.

My hometown's Bradford though, so it's just, just northern. So I haven't gone very far from. From where I was born and raised. But yeah, I mean, this is my area. This is my, my world, I guess.

Danny Brown: 00:43:10

Well, speaking of your world and thank you for that question. I appreciate it.

Speaking of your world, for people that want to hear one of the three podcasts that you do or check out some of the production work that you offer, come to see your band if they're in the area, or even maybe stream your band's music elsewhere. Where's the best place to connect with you? I'm going to assume it's your home site where you were talking about and check everything out before.

Al Grego: 00:43:32

You know, a year ago if you'd asked me this question, I would have had to given you like a link tree site or whatever with all my different links. But now it's so easy.

It's my name Alan Grego.com a l l a n g r e g o dot com that's where I have all my work, all my podcasts, all my musings and stuffed in my head. I, I'll spew it out onto my It's a blog. It's. It's a. I know people like there's now fancy names for them like substacks and, and newsletters.

It's a blog. They're all blogs. They're all, some of them get mailed out, but they're all online and that's what it is. We're back to that again.

I feel like that cycle's coming around again and people are realizing I need a home online. So I'm rebuilding that. I wish I hadn't gotten rid of my old one, but here's where I am now. But yes, Allan

Al Grego: 00:44:19

Grego.com you can find any of my work there.

Danny Brown: 00:44:23

Perfect. And as always, I will leave links to that in the show notes.

So if you're listening on your favorite podcast app, also online at the show website, be sure to check out the show notes and that'll link straight through to the website. You can find all the cool stuff that I was doing. So again, thank you for appearing today on Five Random Questions.

Al Grego: 00:44:39

Thank you, Danny.

Danny Brown: 00:44:41

Thanks for listening to Five Random Questions. If you enjoyed this week's episode, be sure to follow for free on the app you're currently listening on or online at 5randomquestions.com.

And if you feel like leaving a review, well, that would make me happier than finally putting aside my dislike of the community platform Discord at the invitation of today's guest, no less. Because of that, I have joined a fantastic community of Canadian podcasters. Just don't tell Al I said that.

But seriously, if you want to leave a review, it would make my day. Until next time keep asking those questions.