Q with Tom Power

Les Louanges (a.k.a. Vincent Roberge) is one of the defining francophone artists of his generation in Québec, and yet he’s almost entirely unknown to anglophone Canada. He’s got two Juno Awards for francophone album of the year, and now his latest album, Alouette!, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize. Les Louanges joins Q guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about the stories...

Grammy-nominated neo soul singer Glenn Lewis is considered one of the forefathers of R&B in Canada. Born in Kitchener and raised in Toronto, he broke through in the early 2000s with his debut album, World Outside My Window. Now he's back with his first new album in more than a decade, Overture. Glenn joins Q guest host Garvia Bailey to look back on the early days of his career, reflect on his...

From an early age, violinist Vijay Gupta seemed destined for classical music greatness. He performed at Carnegie Hall at just eight years old, studied at Juilliard and Yale, and joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at 19. But behind his success, he was struggling with anxiety, addiction and burnout. In his new memoir, Restrung, Vijay reflects on how an experience on Skid Row in Los Angeles changed...

DerRic Starlight is best known for his puppetry, taking his “Nuppets” (Native puppets) across Canada, mostly to Indigenous communities. But about a decade ago, he set his puppets aside to embark on a different kind of storytelling project: writing a book about homeless communities in Alberta in an effort to explore the root causes of Indigenous homelessness. DerRic tells Q guest host Gill Deacon w...

Maddy Kelly is a Canadian-born stand-up comedian, writer, actor and producer based in New York City. Named a “Rising Star” by Toronto’s Future of Film Showcase, she’s built a successful career performing in comedy clubs across North America and recently made her late-night debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She’s also written for the political satire series This Hour Has 22 Minutes....

If you don’t know Dawoud Bey’s name, chances are you’ve seen his work. One of the most influential photographers working today, Dawoud rose to prominence through his powerful portraits of Black Americans and young people. In 2017, he shifted his focus from portraiture to landscape photography, exploring the history and legacy of African Americans in the Southern United States. Ahead of his new sol...

When Meegwun Fairbrother first got wind of Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie reboot, the Ojibwe Scottish actor initially wasn’t hopeful. In his experience, historical dramas didn’t have room for mixed-heritage Indigenous characters who looked like him. Plus, the original series erased the Indigenous perspective entirely. But Meegwun quickly realized this production was doing something differen...

Canadian actor, writer and musician Rebecca Auerbach has turned her acclaimed one-woman show into a new CBC podcast called Discount Dave (and the Fix). Based on a true-ish story, it starts with a chance encounter with a man claiming to be Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, before spiraling into a deeper story about addiction, trauma and recovery. Rebecca sits down with Q guest host Gill Deacon to...

Reneltta Arluk grew up on a trapline in the Northwest Territories, living off the land with her grandmother and the legendary Arctic dog team guide Archie Larocque. Those nomadic early years shaped a career that took her from founding the first professional theatre company in the Northwest Territories to becoming the first Indigenous woman to direct at the Stratford Festival. Now a leader at the N...

When Sarah Leavitt’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she began documenting everything she could through drawings and writing. Those records became Tangles, her acclaimed 2010 graphic memoir, which was the first graphic narrative to be named a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. Now, more than 15 years later, Tangles has been adapted into a film starring Julia Louis...

Common is an award-winning rapper, actor and activist known for his socially conscious lyrics and roles in films like Selma and the TV show Silo. Common joins Tom Power to talk about season three of Silo, growing up in Chicago, and what it was like to be a ball boy for the Chicago Bulls as a kid and witness Michael Jordan’s first season in the NBA. 

Winnipeg’s sundayclub introduces their song, Blue Wave, in Q’s recurring New Music segment. Their self-titled debut album is out now.

Constance Wu stars in a new sci-fi thriller, The Outer Threat, filmed right here in Canada. Constance is most recognizable for her role in Crazy Rich Asians, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. She’s also the bestselling author of her memoir, Making a Scene. She joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about the new film, her craft, and her memoir. 

Halifax-based duo Moira & Claire introduce their song, no hesitation, in Q’s recurring New Music segment. Their new album, it’s all a mess!, is out now.

What’s in the perfect party lunch? What movie was bad enough to make you walk out of a theatre? And would you DJ your own afterparty? Filmmaker D.W. Waterson answers these very important questions — and more — in a rapid-fire round of Getting to Know Q with Tom Power.

Carisa Hendrix a magician, comedian, fire eater, and the creative force behind the character Lucy Darling, a glamorous socialite who’s become an internet sensation. Guest host Gill Deacon speaks with the multi-talented Carisa as she prepares for a performance at Just for Laughs Montreal. She talks about finding a community of magicians in Calgary, breaking into the male-dominated field of magic, a...

Oliver Jones died this week at the age of 91. In 2024, Tom Power visited the Canadian jazz legend at his home in Montreal to talk about his legacy in Canadian music, his relationship with his hero and role model Oscar Peterson, the time he played for Nelson Mandela, and the secret to playing music into your 90s. 

Weird Al Yankovic is a pop culture icon known around the world for his parodies of mega-hits by artists like Madonna, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson. His most memorable hits include Amish Paradise, Eat It, and the platinum-selling White & Nerdy. With five Grammy awards and seventeen nominations, he's one of only three artists to chart in the Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 in four consecutive deca...

For his latest film, Canadian director Clement Virgo adapted the true story of a teenage girl who escapes the Antebellum South into an Afrofuturist fairytale. The film is called Steal Away and focuses on the relationship between a sheltered teenage girl named Fanny and a Black refugee named Cécile, who’s taken in by Fanny’s family. As their relationship deepens, obsession and jealousy arises, and...

Ron Funches has built a career turning the things that once made him feel different into his greatest strengths. Once bullied in school for his soft and higher pitched voice, it’s now his trademark in standup, and helped launch his voice acting career. Ahead of a performance at Just for Laughs Montreal, Ron reflects on how fatherhood, his son’s autism diagnosis, and his own recent autism diagnosis...

As an actor and theatre director, Rebecca Northan is all about being alive in the moment. She’s known for inviting the audience into her creative process, pulling them on-stage and getting them to improvise with her. Rebecca joins Q guest host Ali Hassan to talk about bringing that spirit of spontaneity to Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach festival with two shows, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Goblin...

Luke Wilson stars in the new Netflix TV series, The Hawk, where he and Will Ferrell play rival pro-golfers. When the two work together, Will usually leads the scenes; but for the Hawk, Luke got to take charge. Q guest host Gill Deacon speaks with Luke about playing a smug pro-golfer on The Hawk and why working with Will Ferrell is both joyful and panic-inducing.

After blending traditional Indigenous perspectives with shoegaze music to create the unique “moccasin gaze” genre, Zoon is back with their third studio album, Happy Thought School. Speaking with guest host Gill Deacon, Zoon talks about how they use their creative expression to process childhood racial trauma and the legacy of the Canadian residential school system. 

Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, the actor you might know best as Appa in Kim’s Convenience, or perhaps Captain Carson Teva in The Mandalorian, is returning for season two of another massive franchise: the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Today on Q, he sits down with guest host Gill Deacon to talk about how he got his role, how he adapted a beloved animated character into live action, and...

Vancouver Island pianist and songwriter Elysia Biro introduces her new single, Reignite, in Q’s recurring New Music segment.