Up North And Personal: A Spotlight for Canadian Talent

In this edition of Up North and Personal, I chat with Mark Askwith, a pioneer in the Canadian comic book industry and a legendary interviewer (among many, many other things). We talk about his work in comics at Toronto's Silver Snail in the 80s, the show Prisoners of Gravity and the interviews conducted for it, how he stumbled onto working on the Power Stone anime, and his various run-ins with comic legends like Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Alan Moore... this guy's been around, and I'm flattered he got to share some of his many tales with me.

Today we sit down and "Keep it Weird" with actor, writer, editor, all-around weird guy Marcel St. Pierre. Whether you realized it before or not, his work has had a huge impact on millions of folks across the country over the last quarter-century, and it's high-time more people knew about that work! He's got stories from working for all the big Canadian networks, dubbing anime, writing for YTV's Whoa! Magazine, and so much more!! Marcel's Stuff: https://books2read.com/shortweird https://www.instagram.com/shortweird/ https://www.shortweird.com/ https://bsky.app/profile/shortweird.bsky.social YTV Whoa Magazine Blogspot: https://ytvwhoamagazine.blogspot.com/p/welcome.html

On this edition of Up North and Personal, we're sitting down with Scott Caple. He's done a heck of a lot, from Nelvana shows and movies (Inspector Gadget, Rock and Rule), to stuff outta Don Bluth's wheelhouse (All Dogs go to Heaven, Rock-a-Doodle), and a fair bit of stuff during the Disney Renaissance (Hunchback, Tarzan, Mulan). If that wasn't enough, he's even done stuff for Pixar, including concept design for their tie-in games (Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up), had a Blue Sky (Ferdinand, Nimona) and somehow, he's lowered his standards enough to speak with me today. If you fancy yourself an artist of any kind, you're gonna love hearing Scott's stories!

NOTE: The following episode contains coarse language and immature subject matter. Listener discretion is advised! Whether you know him as the creator of YTV's Freaky Stories, his work on the original Inspector Gadget or The Magic School Bus, his accomplishments in puppetry and breaking world records, or hey, you may not know him at all! But I assure you, there's no one out there quite like him. Join me as I sit down with all-around creative and professional lunatic, Steve Schnier! Originally recorded November 21st, 2023 Check Out Steve's Stuff: https://puppets-cool.com/

In this episode, I get to speak with husband-wife creative duo Alison Snowden and David Fine, known worldwide for their work in animation and film-making. They're the creators of Bob and Margaret, Ricky Sprocket, and had a big hand in global icons like Shaun the Sheep and Peppa Pig, among a countless list of other stuff. They're also just plain delightful people, so I hope you enjoy listening to us talk dorky about cartoons.

In the debut episode of "Up North and Personal", we sit down with Alana Bridgewater. You may know her from Cuphead as the gamest in the land himself Mr. King Dice, but there's so much more you might not know about. From her work in stage plays and musicals (We Will Rock You), to voice overs in Canadian animation (Total Drama, Mysticons), live-action work, and the fact that... she's my cousin? Yeah, no joke. Hope you guys enjoy hearing our little chat together!