Canada is Boring

In this debut episode of Canada Is Boring Presents: The Tinfoil Touque, Rhys and Jesse dig into one of Canada’s most famous “evidence of time travel” photos: a 1941 crowd scene at a bridge reopening in British Columbia featuring a mysterious man in wraparound shades, a logo sweater, and what looks like a modern camera. Was he really a time traveler… or just a fashion-forward hockey fan with a new...

In this premium “special friends” episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys shares a surprisingly heartwarming Disney-level story from his own Nova Scotia neighborhood: a mother black bear and her two cubs, one of which, soon christened Kelly the Bear, ends up roaming alone through suburbia and ultimately being “relocated” to a wildlife park. Rhys also announces their upcoming summer mini-series, “Tin Foi...

Picture this: it’s too hot to think, the news is depressing, and your brain wants something fun and strange that still feels entertianing. That’s Tin Foil Touque. This summer series is Rhys and Jesse taking a detour from “respectable” Canadian history into all the stuff your high school textbook pretended didn’t exist. It’s not the usual “9/11 was an inside job” sludge or hour-long Illuminati diag...

In this episode of Canada Is Boring , Rhys and Jesse dive into the life of David Thompson, the Welsh-born orphan who became one of the most important mapmakers in North American history. Along the way, they detour through tales of the Lake Louise Tea House, roast the bizarre social-media energy of Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry, and debate whether Thompson was more cat or rat on the Katy-cat/Katy-r...

When 33-year-old Christopher Hiscox ran out of money halfway across Canada, he didn’t rob a bank—he stole a truck, found a ranch, fed the cats and horses, did some laundry, made coffee, and settled in like he lived there. Rhys and Jesse dive into the viral “gentle crime” that captured headlines, what it says about desperation, comfort, and mental health, and why the weirdest part might just be the...

In this episode of Canada Is Boring , Rhys and Jesse wade back into Canadian politics to unpack Pierre Poilievre’s slow slide from “inevitable” prime minister-in-waiting to a guy desperately trying to stay relevant against Prime Minister Mark Carney. Through a series of clips, they look at PP’s shifting persona, from attack dog to awkwardly “human” and back again, his bromance moment with Joe Roga...

In this episode of Canada Is Boring , Rhys and Jesse dive into the bizarre, lucrative world of psychic mail-order scams led by one of Canada’s most successful fraudsters, Patrice Runner. Starting with his obsession with old-school magazine ads and get-rich-quick schemes, we follow Runner’s journey to partnering with celebrity psychic Maria Duval, licensing her name for North American “psychic pred...

In this special friends–only episode of Canada Is Boring , Rhys and Jesse dig into the story of how CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, allegedly spied on Indigenous and environmental activists protesting the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, and then shared that information with oil companies and the National Energy Board. They walk through the BCCLA’s decade‑long legal battle, heavily redacted court do...

Rhys and Jesse dive into the legendary Canadian documentary Project Grizzly and the life of its unforgettable star, Troy Hurtubise—the man who spent years and thousands of dollars building bear-proof armor so he could safely get face-to-face with grizzlies. They cover: Troy’s near-fatal first encounter with a grizzly and how it sparked a lifelong obsession The evolution of his absurdly overbuilt U...

Rhys and Jesse dive into the wild life of Red Ryan, a Toronto-born hooligan who grew into one of Canada’s most notorious early 20th‑century criminals. From leading street gangs at 10, to hard labor in Kingston Penitentiary, to a wartime desertion and a “most daring” prison break that even inspired Ernest Hemingway, Ryan’s story is packed with chaos. They unpack how Ryan pulled off a decade‑long sc...

Hosted by Rhys, a new Canadian with an outsider’s obsession for the country’s strangest stories, and Jesse, a proudly disengaged average Canadian, the show digs into the weirdest moments in Canadian history, politics, crime, culture, and folklore. From mystery tunnels and dead raccoon vigils to government “gaydar” machines, border brawls, Olympic snowboarders turned cartel figures, and the time th...

A Canadian Olympic hopeful walks away from the slopes and into the heart of a violent international drug cartel. Rhys and Jesse trace Ryan James Wedlake’s path from Thunder Bay ski kid to Sinaloa lieutenant, weaving together family privilege, failed glory at Salt Lake City, cannabis grow ops, Hawala money transfers, and FBI most‑wanted status—plus an eventual takedown that netted tonnes of cocaine...

Rhys and Jesse dig into the bizarre true story of Toronto’s 2015 “mystery tunnel” near York University. What started as a three‑metre‑deep, hand‑dug hideout with plywood supports, a generator, rosary beads, and a poppy quickly spiraled into global speculation: terrorist bunker for the Pan Am Games? Gang weapons cache? Something far worse? For premium content, socials, merch, to leave a voicemail o...

Rhys and Jesse return to with one of the most delightfully absurd Canadian stories ever told: the 2015 Yonge Street dead raccoon memorial. What begins as a sad little scene on a Toronto sidewalk turns into a full-blown public vigil—complete with Post-it notes, roses, sympathy cards, candles, a Jesus candle, a collection box, and even a parody Twitter account. It’s internet weirdness, and heartfelt...

When Jesse falls ill, Rhys steps in for a rare solo episode to issue a warning from lived experience. Drawing on his time in Wales during the 2016 Brexit referendum, Rhys explains how a seemingly fringe, “loonies and fruitcakes” movement blindsided the UK establishment, and what that means for rising Alberta separatism today. He connects the dots between economic inequality, media-fueled resentmen...

In this Patreon-only episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys and Jesse dive into the truly biblical 1874–75 Rocky Mountain locust plague that turned the Prairies and parts of the US Midwest into a “living eclipse of the sun.” They tell the story of swarms estimated in the hundreds of billions to trillions of insects eating everything from crops and trees to wool, leather harnesses, and even the pai...

In this episode of Canada Is Boring , Rhys and Jesse dive into the bizarre true story behind Amazon Prime’s The Sexiest Man in Winnipeg , following former Winnipeg TV news anchor Steve Vogelsang from 1990s local celebrity and “sexiest man” titleholder to financially ruined, depressed journalism instructor living in his truck and ultimately turning to a hilariously low‑yield bank robbery spree acro...

In this part two of the Tim Hortons saga, Jesse Harley and Rhys Waters dig into how predatory private equity and corporate ownership have hollowed out one of Canada’s most beloved brands. Building on examples like Friendly’s and Toys “R” Us, they explain how firms use debt-loading, bankruptcy, and aggressive cost-cutting to squeeze short-term profit from companies, and how that model hit Tim Horto...

Rhys and Jesse kick off a two‑part deep dive into how Tim Hortons went from a beloved Canadian community hub to something that feels strangely empty. They start with personal nostalgia: Jesse’s memories of the late‑90s Tim Hortons as a true “third place” where you’d just show up and see who was there, playing cards, smoking in the glassed‑off section, and chatting for hours. Rhys compares that to...

In this episode of Canada Is Boring , Rhys shares the unbelievable true story of Eddie Haymour , a Lebanese-Canadian businessman who tried to build a Middle Eastern–themed mini theme park—complete with pyramids, mini golf, restaurants, and a giant camel—on tiny Rattlesnake Island in British Columbia. After years of obstruction, permit battles, and discriminatory treatment from provincial authoriti...

When a 69-year-old Churchill, Manitoba resident hears screams outside his home, he steps out in pajamas, slippers, and armed with nothing but a snow shovel—only to find a woman in the jaws of a polar bear. In this episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys and Jesse dive into the incredible true story of William Ayotte, his split-second decision to attack one of the world’s most dangerous predators, the br...

In this unexpectedly heavy episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys and Jesse dig into a part of Canadian history many people never hear about: Canada’s 200‑year relationship with slavery. While many Canadians grow up hearing about the Underground Railroad and Canada as a safe haven, Rhys reveals a much darker past—from New France-era slavery to British rule, and the brutal legal framework that allowed s...

The story of John Graham, a Canadian diplomat in 1960s Cuba who became an unlikely spy during the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Because the United States had no embassy or formal presence in Cuba after the revolution, President John F. Kennedy quietly asked Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson for help. Pearson turned to Graham, a reserved career diploma...

In this episode of  Canada Is Boring , we dive into the bizarre and morbidly iconic death of Toronto lawyer Gary Hoy, a man so confident in shatterproof glass that he used his own body to prove it. From Bay Street law culture and 1980s Toronto skyscrapers to engineering failures and internet legend, we unpack how a routine office “party trick” turned into one of Canada’s strangest urban...

Rhys and Jesse dive into the unbelievable true story of Emma Edmonds, a New Brunswick woman who fled an arranged marriage, reinvented herself as Frank Thompson, and fought for the Union Army in the American Civil War. As a soldier, nurse, and spy, she infiltrated Confederate lines under multiple disguises, including as an enslaved labourer and as an Irish woman, gathering cruci...