Q with Tom Power

Andrea Martin is known for her work in Godspell (1972), SCTV, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and her Tony-winning performances in Pippin and My Favourite Year. She is now being honoured with the ICON Award from The Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment Canada. She joins Tom Power in-studio to look back on her long career.

Hardcore punk godfather Joe Keithley (a.k.a. Joey Shithead) of D.O.A. fame is the focus of a new documentary called Something Better Change. The documentary covers his impact on punk and his political work. Since 2018, Joe has been a city councillor in his hometown of Burnaby, B.C. He tells Tom Power about pioneering the hardcore sound, his life in politics, and what it means to truly be a punk.

Katie Dippold created a new TV series that puts a comedic spin on classic horror tropes. Widow’s Bay is about a small island town off the coast of New England whose mayor is desperately trying to turn it into a tourist destination — despite the locals’ belief that the island is cursed. Katie mainly comes from a comedy background, having written the Ghostbusters remake and The Heat, as well as for...

After reading Ariana Harwicz’s novel, Die, My Love, in his book club, Martin Scorsese sent a copy to Jennifer Lawrence, telling her he imagined her as the main character. The Oscar-winning actor then starred alongside Robert Pattinson in the film adaptation of the novel, directed by Lynne Ramsay. The story follows a young mother struggling with her mental health after the birth of her first child....

Casper TNG has been making waves in Toronto’s underground hip-hop scene for many years. But as his music career was taking off, he was getting more and more involved in organized crime, which landed him in prison for three years. Now that he’s out, he has a new perspective on his music, especially after becoming a father. His new single, The Market, is racking up millions of views on YouTube and T...

Italian-Irish comedian Vittorio Angelone was just in North America touring his new show, you can’t Say Nothing any more. It’s a look at whether comedians have a responsibility to speak out on topics and issues of the day. People have called Vittorio both a “woke snowflake” and a “right-wing edgelord.” Vittorio tells Q guest host Garvia Bailey why he likes that ambiguity around his comedy.

As a kid, Kane Parsons liked to 3D animate YouTube short films. When he stumbled upon a creepy image online called The Backrooms, it inspired him to create a short film about this spooky, liminal space in a vacant furniture store. His short caught the attention of A24, who hired Kane to direct the feature film, Backrooms, about this strange space. At 20-years-old, Kane is the youngest director in...

Paul Gross is taking on Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot this year at Ontario’s Stratford Festival. You may know Paul as Mountie Constable Benton Fraser from Due South, or from his roles in Slings and Arrows, Republic of Doyle and Passchendaele. The Governor General’s Award-winning actor and director joins Tom Power in the Q studio to talk about Waiting for Godot and why he wanted to take on the...

Canadian singer-songwriter Daniela Andrade introduces her new song, Cohete, in Q’s recurring New Music segment. Daniela’s new album, Oda, is out now. 

Colm Tóibín is one of Ireland’s most renowned living authors. Novels like Brooklyn, The Master and Nora Webster have firmly placed him on the literary map. Now, he is back with a new short story collection, The News from Dublin. He joins Tom Power in the Q studio to talk about how the loss of his father at age 12 prompted him to write, and why he needs to start a story with an image. 

Andrew Phung is hosting this year’s Canadian Screen Awards, the country’s version of the Oscars. He is an eight-time CSA winner for his roles on Kim’s Convenience and Run the Burbs. Andrew joins Tom Power to talk about what he’s most excited for as CSA host, and to play a little game of Getting to Know Q.

Julie Kim gave up life in the corporate world to follow her comedy dreams. Now, the Vancouver comedian has toured with Ronny Chieng and Rick Mercer, and written for shows like Kim’s Convenience and Run the Burbs. She also penned Simu Liu’s famous “I am Canadian” parody speech at the 2022 Junos. Julie joins Tom Power in the Q studio to tell him why she doesn’t regret pursuing her comedy career, des...

Jera Wolfe is a Canadian dancer and choreographer whose world premiere mainstage production, Kismet, will open with The National Ballet of Canada later this month. Jera speaks with Tom Power about the themes of destiny and ambition in Kismet, what he looks for in the music he works with, and why it’s okay if audiences don’t fully “get” contemporary ballet.

For someone who was resistant to host a game show in the first place, Howie Mandel has risen the ranks as one of the most popular and long-standing judges on both America’s Got Talent and Canada’s Got Talent. He talks to Tom Power about what he sees in these performers and how he is trying to encourage them to find joy on stage, even when it feels messy.

Nova Scotian musician Laura Roy introduces her new song, Author, in Q's recurring New Music segment. Laura’s new album, Late Bloomer Season, is out now. 

Comedian Robby Hoffman’s career keeps growing, with her memorable roles in hit shows like Rooster and Hacks. When Tom Power spoke to Robby in 2025, she was just nominated for an Emmy for her role in Hacks, and her Just For Laughs show in Montreal had sold out. But Robby hasn’t had a conventional path into comedy. From leaving an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community in Brooklyn as a kid to living in Mo...

Sheng Wang is a comedian and writer from Houston who has spent 20 years quietly refining his craft at comedy clubs in San Francisco. His second Netflix special, Purple (directed by longtime friend Ali Wong), is a collection of jokes about the small, mundane parts of life that most people don't give a second thought. He talks to Tom Power about his comedic inspiration, the process of writing a good...

Boots Riley is a writer, director, rapper and the frontman of the legendary Oakland hip-hop group The Coup. His new film I Love Boosters follows a crew of retail thieves, a.k.a. Boosters, trying to take down a fashion mogul. He talks to guest host Garvia Bailey about why he doesn’t just make art to entertain, but to inspire a revolution.

Devin Cuddy is a Toronto-based singer-songwriter and the son of Blue Rodeo front man Jim Cuddy. His roots-driven sound draws from country, blues, jazz and classic North American songwriting traditions. He recently released his fifth project, Livin’ Hard Ain’t Easy. He talks to Tom Power about his new project, why he wants more songs about Winnipeg and how he grew to love the piano.

Antoni Cimolino is beginning his final season as the artistic director of Ontario’s Stratford Festival, the largest repertory theatre company in North America. Antoni started working at Stratford as an actor in 1988, eventually becoming a director at the festival, and then moving up to the role of artistic director in 2012. He joins Tom to talk about his life in theatre, the challenges he’s faced...

Louisa Levy had never even been to a hockey game when she was offered the job to showrun Off Campus, a steamy hockey romance TV show. Before that, she had been a writer and producer on other critically acclaimed shows like The Flight Attendant, Stumptown, and Death and Other Details. Louisa tells guest host Gill Deacon how she developed a love of hockey and why she thinks the hockey romance genre...

Canadian content creator Jasmeet Raina is back with the third season of Late Bloomer, a half-hour comedy series inspired by his own life as a turban-wearing Punjabi Canadian millennial. He talks to Tom Power about learning the world of television, how he’s evolved from feeling like an “imposter” in the industry, and what it’s like to receive over a dozen Canadian Screen Award nominations for a sho...

Arizona O’Neill is a Montreal-based writer and illustrator whose work has appeared in numerous magazines and outlets. In her debut graphic novel Opioids and Organs, she takes a deep dive into the history and ethics of organ donation and transplantation. Arizona tells Tom Power about how her father’s death and subsequent organ donation a decade ago led her down the path to making this book. She als...

Since the 1960s, Bruce Allen has been one of the key architects of this nation’s music industry. His management roster reads like a history of Canadian popular music: Bryan Adams, Anne Murray, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Michael Bublé. As he receives a Lifetime Achievement Award at Toronto’s Departure Festival this month, Allen tells Tom Power about his journey from Vancouver club booker to indus...

Chloe Tang began her music journey as a classically trained pianist and vocalist. But the Canadian musician yearned to be the next Avril Lavigne. When she moved to L.A. to pursue her pop music dreams, her parents weren’t supportive. But the risk paid off: Dua Lipa asked Tang to open for her. Now, Tang is a fully independent artist with over 10 million streams of her music. She joins Tom Power to t...