Q with Tom Power

The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Neko Case has written her first memoir, titled “The Harder I Fight The More I Love You.” It traces her upbringing in the Pacific Northwest to moving to Canada and starting her career as a professional musician. Neko sits down with Tom Power to look back on her life, how music (specifically Canadian music) gave her a home, and why she wanted to write honestly...

For his first headline tour from Ontario to Atlantic Canada, the Juno-winning singer-songwriter Aysanabee is shining a light on local First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists in each of the small communities he’s visiting. Aysanabee joins Tom Power to talk about his call out for openers. Plus, he plays us his new single, “Edge Of The Earth.”

When the filmmaker and animator Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) decided to adapt Peter Brown’s kids’ book “The Wild Robot” for the screen, he threw a lot of modern animation conventions out the window. Chris decided to use hand-painted images instead of CGI and he centered the story on motherhood when mothers are mostly absent in kids’ movies. Now, “The Wild Robot” is n...

There’s a new production in Toronto that explores the very first musical instrument: the voice. “The Wolf in the Voice” features three singers, including the acclaimed Canadian soprano, dancer and performer Neema Bickersteth. She joins Tom Power to talk about the show, how it investigates the relationship between singing and the human voice, and the joy — and deep anxieties — faced by professional...

After decades stealing scenes as a supporting actor, Colman Domingo generated Oscar buzz for his first lead role in the Obama-backed Netflix film “Rustin.” In this conversation with Tom Power from a little while back, Colman talks about the weight of playing the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin (advisor to Martin Luther King Jr.), what he learned about vulnerability when he was a professional clo...

When Darcy Michael started a TikTok channel with his husband Jeremy Baer, he was a retired stand-up comedian who had spent nearly 20 years trying to find an audience. After Darcy and Jer (as they’re known online) started posting candid videos together from their home in British Columbia, millions of fans across the internet found them. Now, in two new streaming specials — “No Refunds” and “Happily...

Bob Geldof is a musician, activist and one of the organizers of Live Aid, the massive 1985 benefit concert that raised millions for famine relief in Ethiopia. Some of the biggest artists and bands of all time came together for that concert — but how did Bob convince them all to give up their time for free on the same day? Ahead of the Toronto opening of “Just For One Day,” a new jukebox musical ab...

Jully Black is a powerhouse singer-songwriter from Toronto who’s often called Canada's queen of R&B soul. Now, she’s embarking on her first cross-country tour in almost 17 years. Jully sits down with Tom Power to tell us how singing in church at age six put her on her artistic path, why she feels speaking out is always the right thing to do, and how this upcoming tour celebrates connection, re...

West Coast glam rocker Art d'Ecco joins Tom Power to set up the title track off his new album, “Serene Demon.” The song is an epic seven-and-a-half minute play about existentialism in four acts.

Rufus Wainwright is a difficult artist to categorize at the best of times. As a musician, he’s recorded pop songs, folk music, operas and stage musicals. But his new album, “Dream Requiem,” is a little different, even for him. It’s a religious work inspired by a range of subjects, including a poem by Lord Byron, the music of Giuseppe Verdi, and his beloved late dog Puccini. He also managed to recr...

The Toronto singer-songwriter and actor Lia Pappas-Kemps (best known for her role as Jane in “Anne with an E”) recently released her debut EP, “Gleam.” She calls the record a fragmented love letter to her teenage years, which isn’t surprising seeing as she wrote it all between the ages of 16 and 19. Lia joins Tom Power to discuss the EP and she introduces us to a track called “Switchblade.”

Tom Rooney is one of Canada’s most beloved stage actors. Over the last three decades, he’s taken on some of theatre’s most memorable roles, from Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet” to Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady.” But Tom has also played a big part in contemporary Canadian theatre, which is where we find him now. Currently, he’s playing Majnoun in Mirvish’s remount of “Fifteen Dogs,” based on the Gille...

The CBC radio show and podcast “Under the Influence” just launched its 20th season. Show host and creator Terry O'Reilly joins Tom Power for a career chat about his early days as an ad man, his experience working with some of the biggest brands and celebrities of our time, and how he pitched a show about advertising to a network with no advertising.

The Canadian actor and playwright Ins Choi is best known as the creator of “Kim’s Convenience,” which started as a play in 2011 before it became a hit sitcom in 2016. This month, “Kim’s Convenience” is back at Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre Company where it was first professionally staged in 2012. Ins sits down with Tom Power to talk about the ups and downs of adapting “Kim’s Convenience” for TV, th...

For a time in the ‘90s, there was no band on earth bigger than Bush. Their debut album, “Sixteen Stone,” had singles that were in heavy rotation on MuchMusic, MTV and every rock radio station. That record also turned singer Gavin Rossdale into a star. Ahead of Bush’s cross-Canada tour this spring, Gavin joins Tom Power to look back on the band’s early days, what it was like breaking out of Britain...

Mikey Madison is up for an Oscar for her role in Sean Baker’s Palme d'Or-winning film “Anora.” The story follows a sex worker from Brooklyn who meets and marries the son of a Russian oligarch. But their fairytale romance is threatened after news of their shotgun wedding reaches his parents in Russia. A few months ago, Mikey sat down with Tom Power to talk about her deep research and preparation fo...

The Canadian actor Amrit Kaur is one of the breakout stars of Mindy Kaling’s HBO Max series “The Sex Lives of College Girls.” She joins Tom Power to talk about getting into acting for all the wrong reasons, being inspired by her character Bela, and how acting eventually helped her overcome her self-loathing.

When you were growing up, did you get along with your sibling? Did your parents want you to get along better than you did? When Leela and Jay Gilday were growing up in Northwest Territories, their dad wanted them to sing together more, but it wasn’t until decades later that they did. Leela and Jay both have distinguished music careers on their own, but more recently, they’ve come together as the c...

In Sook-Yin Lee’s new film, “Paying For It,” a couple whose romantic attraction is waning decide to open up their relationship. While Sonny explores dating, her introverted boyfriend, Chester, opts to hire sex workers. The story is based on Sook-Yin’s real-life former relationship with Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown, who released a bestselling graphic memoir of the same name in 2011. It reflect...

Denis Villeneuve’s massive sci-fi epic “Dune: Part Two” is up for best picture at the Oscars this year. Last year, around the film’s Canadian premiere, the Quebecois filmmaker joined Tom Power to discuss his vision for the second installment, the challenges of shooting in the intense heat of the desert, and how politics and religion in Quebec play into the film more than you might think.

The Brazilian film “I’m Still Here” looks at one of the darkest chapters in Brazil’s modern history. It tells the true story of Eunice Paiva, whose husband was apprehended, tortured and executed by the military in 1971. The film’s star, Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres, is nominated for best actor at the Oscars for her performance. She joins Tom Power to talk about the responsibility of telling a r...

Jaylene Tyme is a Vancouver drag legend, a community leader, and a proud two-spirit Indigenous trans woman. She recently competed on Season 5 of “Canada’s Drag Race,” where she not only won the title of Miss Congeniality, but also used her platform to send powerful messages about truth and reconciliation, missing and murdered Indigenous women, and her experience as a survivor of the Sixties Scoop....

The Montreal comedian Sugar Sammy refers to himself as an “equal opportunity offender.” As a comic, he says the only thing worse than outrage is silence. Ahead of his 20-city Canadian tour, Sammy sits down with Tom Power to tell us what’s on his mind, why our changing world is a goldmine for new material, and how offensive jokes can actually unify us. Plus, he reveals the four components he believ...

Lita Fontaine is a Winnipeg-based artist who has a new exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq. It’s called “Winyan” (the Dakota word for “woman”) and it celebrates the role and influence of Indigenous women in their families, communities and cultures. Lita joins Tom Power to talk about her life and work, why the walls of her new exhibit are painted pink, and why she wanted to celebrate femin...

The Canadian comedy legend Tom Green has had an incredible career, from “The Tom Green Show” to “Freddy Got Fingered” to his many stand-up tours. Last year, he was honoured with the Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award from the Banff World Media Festival. Tom Power caught up with him live on stage in Banff for a special career-spanning conversation about his journey in comedy, the terrifying cancer diag...