The RIFF Toronto

The RIFF S2 ep.6 -Cliona Furey Final YouTube Description She won an Oscar for Frankenstein and has spent 15 years as Guillermo del Toro's go-to hair designer — and today she's telling us everything. On this episode of The Riff, Oscar and BAFTA-winning hair designer Cliona Fury (Crimson Peak, Nightmare Alley, Priscilla) joins hosts Gary and Jeremy for a candid conversation about building...

Walter KlassenFX - The RIFF-S2 ep5 - Ever wonder how your favorite movies fake it — and make it look real? In this episode of The Riff, we sit down with Taku Desai, Chief Creative Officer of Walter Klassen FX — a Toronto-based special effects studio that's been behind the magic of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, The Boys, The Handmaid's Tale, Captain America, Star Trek, Shazam, T...

The RIFF S2 - ep5 -Dawn Dwyer Pappas What is it actually like working with major artists behind the scenes? In this episode of The Riff, we sit down with an experienced music publicist who has worked at the highest levels of the industry. This conversation goes beyond theory and into real moments from the road, from press days to high-pressure situations where everything is on the line. These are...

Johnny Ross - The RIFF S2 ep3 Johnny Ross, frontman of Canadian rock band Learhaven , joins Gary and Jeremy on The Riff Toronto for one of our most honest and entertaining conversations yet. Johnny breaks down the wild chaos of touring Spain and Switzerland (burst pipes, gear crashes, and empty venues that filled up in 5 minutes flat), the story behind "Soulbreaker" landing on Hockey Nig...

Dontoverthinkitchip  - The RIFF S2 ep2 He quit a 6-figure insurance job with only $500/month coming in — and went $75K into debt chasing a dream. Three years later, he's landing brand deals with PlayStation, Nissan, the Toronto Blue Jays, and Chipotle, with 16 million views from nearly 6 million accounts. This is the story of @dontoverthinkitchip. In this episode of The Riff, Gary and Jeremy...

Andrew Stasiw - The RIFF S2 ep1 Toronto's underground EDM scene has a new king — and he built it from a laptop during lockdown. Andrew Stasiw of King and Queen Events joins Gary and Jeremy on The Riff to pull back the curtain on how he went from bedroom producer to booking global heavyweights like Danny Avila, Maddox, and Sam Pacho at iconic venues like Coda — all as an independent operator c...

She climbed into a coffin full of biting worms — and kept singing. 🎵🐛 In this episode of The Riff, Gary and Jeremy sit down with EMM — a classically trained, award-winning artist from Traverse City, Michigan who grew up surrounded by musical prodigies, moved to New York before high school, and built an independent music empire with 200 million streams entirely on her own terms. Now signed with S...

What happens when a kid hears Rush for the first time and his entire life changes? We found out. Kevin Comeau of Juno Award-winning prog duo Crown Lands sits down with The Riff to talk about the moment A Farewell to Kings rewired his brain at 14, hitchhiking across Canada and down the California coast after reading Jack Kerouac, accidentally joining a reggae band in a Hollywood guitar shop, and ho...

🎙️ What does it take to become one of the most respected names in the food world? In this episode of The RIFF, we sit down with Afrim Pristine, internationally recognized cheese master, entrepreneur, television personality, and one of Canada's leading voices in food culture. From building a world-class business to appearing on major television shows, Afrim shares the lessons, challenges, and...

Pete Bowman — Canadian fishing legend, TV host of Fishin' Canada (3.5M viewers), and Hall of Famer — sits down with The Riff for one of the most entertaining fishing conversations you'll ever hear. From stunning a fish with a boat oar to get his lure back, to revealing how a laid-off electrician accidentally became one of Canada's most beloved TV personalities, Pete holds nothing ba...

What happens when a Michelin-trained chef shows up to a food bank with no set menu and two hours to feed 100 people? Pure magic. This week on The Riff, hosts Gary O'Brien and Jeremy sit down with Toronto's most fascinating chef — Maddy Goldberg. With 160K+ Instagram followers, viral food content, and a background in social work, Maddy is redefining what it means to be a chef in 2026. We...

What if your favorite song could pay you every month — forever? Most people have no idea that music royalties exist as an investable asset class. In this episode of The Riff, hosts Gary O'Brien and Jeremy Green sit down with Tim Gallagher — founder of Music Royalties Inc. and former Chairman & CEO of Metalla Royalty — to pull back the curtain on one of the most overlooked investment oppor...

🎭🎵 She learned accordion in 8 days and booked a Broadway national tour. No big deal. In this episode of The Riff , hosts Gary O'Brien and Jeremy Green sit down with the extraordinary Donna Garner — actor, singer, pianist, multi-instrumentalist, voice coach, music director, AND founder of Garner Theatre Productions . Oh, and she's the youngest of 13 kids raised on a dairy farm near Stra...

Including SpongeBob's Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, Darin Bristow has 30 years of experience in animation and media and has spearheaded major projects for Nelvana, Pipeline Studios, PBS Kids, Nickelodeon, and Netflix. Darin has produced music videos for Kim Mitchell, Big Sugar and Sammy Hagar of Van Halen, blending his talents across the entertainment industry.  A triple gradu...

Gino Del Sole is a seasoned guitarist with over 20 years of experience performing in the theatre pit for the shows Beetlejuice, Moulin Rouge, and In Dreams (Mirvish Productions), as well as Come From Away, Kinky Boots, and Legally Blonde. His genres span across Rock, Pop, R&B, Jazz, and Country. He’s played thousands of live shows, including 800+ aboard the Norwegian Breakaway in productions l...

On this episode of The Riff Toronto , we sit down with one of Canada’s most celebrated bassists, Rich Brown — fresh off his Juno Award win and the release of his stunning new album, Nyaeba . Rich opens up about his creative process , his approach to composition , and what continues to fuel his lifelong love of music . We also dive into his long-time friendship and musical chemistry with co-host Je...

Rick Menary is a singer and guitarist, currently the creator and member of the blues-rock band, "The Spitfire Kings": A band with a faithful Toronto following. Menaryhas been highly active on the Toronto music scene since the early 80s. Menary's entrepreneurial skills within the competitive world of the music biz spans every genre and generation. His street-borne education earns him...

Classically trained, yet fuelled by Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Children of Bodom, and Forteresse, she’s spent nearly 20 years tearing up stages across classical, blues, rock, and extreme metal. In 2024, Sam brought that same hunger for heavy, high-impact sound to the decks of Toronto as a DJ. Her sets swing from the warm, rolling pulse of terrace-ready tech house to the shadowy, hard-hitting techno and ha...