TnT ready to explode with Canadianity

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This article was published 21/11/2017 (3105 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The first time I heard the Taggart and Torrens podcast was around two years ago — the 29th episode, to be exact. It featured a Canadian trivia game during which shots of maple syrup were the penalty for an incorrect answer.

It was the most oddly patriotic thing I had ever experienced; it was funny, silly and kind of gross. I subscribed to the podcast immediately.

Now, more than three years into its run, TnT (as it has been dubbed affectionately) has logged upward of 120 episodes, amassed more than 2.5 million downloads between iTunes and Soundcloud and has become a much-beloved series from coast to coast.

The format is simple: at its core, it’s just a recorded phone conversation between two friends — musician Jeremy Taggart (former Our Lady Peace drummer) and actor/comedian Jonathan Torrens (Trailer Park Boys, Mr. D, and, for us ’90s kids, Street Cents and Jonovision) — who talk about whatever the hell they want for about an hour.

Sometimes, they hilariously imitate Canadian musicians such as Gordon Lightfoot and Steven Page, sometimes they play party games, sometimes they create their own characters and worlds and go off into improvised skits. Other times, they get more personal, sharing stories about their kids and family lives, both happy and sad.

Regardless of the content, TnT is always a warm, inviting, uber-Canadian way to spend an hour.

“It is intimate — it is an intimate setting — and I like that about radio and I like that about podcasts,” Torrens says from his home in Truro, N.S.

“I’m used to using facial expressions to get out of a jam on camera, and you don’t have that luxury on a podcast. So it’s probably a bit of therapy for us, and as fun as it is and as much of a kick as it is to hear people get a laugh from it, the emails we get from people who, too, have lost a parent or who, too, are tangling with issues, or, like, ‘We just had a kid, I get to walk the dog for an hour a night and I’m exhausted but I spend it with you guys and it means more than you know.’ That stuff really resonates.”

“Canadianity” is one of many terms coined by the pair on the pod; it doesn’t have a specific meaning, but is more of a universal descriptor for the essence of what it is to be Canadian — the kindness, the strength, the pride and willingness to help out a buddy in need.

“‘Canadianity’ as a word is, you know, semi-facetious — but, man, we tapped into something we didn’t even know existed. It’s bigger than all of us,” Torrens says, explaining the strong connection podcast fans (known as “bahds”) have formed with the concept.

Canadianity is also the title of their new book, Canadianity: Tales From the True North Strong and Freezing, a semi-memoir, semi-beginners’-guide-to-Canada Taggart and Torrens wrote as a kind of partner piece to the podcast. It has the same overall tone as their conversations, but on paper.

“That was certainly our intention… on the pod we swing between sweet and salty and silly, and it was a challenge to figure out two voices, the chocolate and the peanut butter, into one kind of fluid thing,” Torrens says.

“I think for both of us it’s a real departure. We’ve never done anything like this before, and in a year that has been chock full of a celebration of this country, our timing couldn’t be worse,” he jokes.

The book contains autobiographical passages and anecdotes written by both Taggart and Torrens and is broken down into chapters by province. There are personal recollections, lists, quizzes and suggestions of things to do for each locale. In Manitoba, for example, there’s a list of notable “bahds,” including Anna Paquin and Nia Vardalos. Taggart discusses the hellish drive from Toronto to Winnipeg many bands do while on cross-country tours and Torrens praises the audiences in Manitoba for being intense and wonderful.

“(There are) a lot of bahds in Winnipeg, I’ll yell ya that for free,” Torrens reiterates over the phone.

Taggart and Torrens are on tour to promote the book and do some live podcast shows, and will be making a stop in Winnipeg Wednesday night at the Park Theatre. They also recently shot a pilot episode for a potential TnT television series, but Torrens is confident the recorded podcast will remain the anchor for the Taggart and Torrens brand, whatever that may evolve into.

“Do you know what I think it is? I’m about to sound like Grandpa: I think we’re in such a hurry nowadays and everything is so ‘instant gratification’ and ‘jolts per minute’” Torrens says.

“And nobody is really happy or content where they are. They’re always checking on, ‘What are you guys doing? What’s next? Should we go over there? Do you guys want to come here?’”

“I think what podcasts bring is the art of long-form conversation. It’s a warts-and-all environment and it’s the only place I know that we can swing from the death of a parent to acting like Joey Kramer in Aerosmith lighting a gas station on fire. And you can vacillate between those two buckets (and) it doesn’t feel forced or contrived. It’s probably the most authentic thing I’ve ever done.”

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @NireRabel