The Champagne Room

Desmond Cole is one of Canada's most important - and controversial -- journalistic voices. A former Toronto Star columnist, author, activist, and broadcaster, Desmond has spent years challenging the institutions that shape how Black stories are told and suppressed in Canadian media. In this episode of The Champagne Room, he sits down to talk about journalism: what it demands, what it costs, a...

Join us as we sit down with filmmaker and producer Blake Mawson to discuss his unique approach to storytelling, the art of drag performance, and his journey into directing horror cinema. We explore how he uses genre as a tool for deeper social commentary and hear his thoughts on queer representation in film. Plus, a special check-in with his mom!🍾🥂🍾🥂 Join our patreon for the FULL uncensored cu...

Jay Baruchel — How to Train Your Dragon, Blackberry, Goon — steps into The Champagne Room. And he didn't come alone. His wife Rebecca Baruchel Dunham is in the room too, and the two of them together are a completely different interview than anyone expected. The girls put the lovebirds in the velvet hot seat and talk the infrastructure holding Canadian creatives back, why Jay keeps choosing to...

Welcome to The Champagne Room, Téa! Téa Mutonji is a celebrated poet and fiction writer based in Toronto. Her debut collection of short stories, Shut Up You’re Pretty was nationally recognized, winning both the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award and the Trillium Book Award. Téa received the Jill Davis Fellowship at New York University where she is completing her MFA in fiction. She is currently cele...

Welcome to the Champagne Room - Bruce! Bruce sat down with dancers Tony and Nikki to talk about his film discography, strip club experiences, Incel-ebrities and more! Bruce LaBruce is a Canadian filmmaker, artist, photographer and queer icon based in Toronto. He is notable for being a pioneer of the queercore punk rock movement. His films include Raspberry Reich, the Misandrists and most recently...