Acting Up 44:37

Hello, everybody. It's the Jan Arden Podcast. Those are all the wrong notes. I'm Jan Arden. We are here with Caitlin Green, Adam Karsh. They're coming to you live and in person from Toronto in their respective. Adam's still in his basement. He's still got weird stuff behind him on the wall. Is that behind you on the wall, Adam? I've wanted to talk about this. It looks like an old stereo that has like a cassette deck and a DVD CD player. It has a CD player.

It has a five disc CD changer. It has a double cassette. This is actually the first big purchase I bought myself when I got the job at Chum Radio all the way back in 1998.

So that's my old stereo that doesn't get used anymore because all my music is on my iPhone now. I know. I was going to say, why do you have it? Why do you have it? Just in case I want to break out one of my cassettes. I don't know. I love the cassette. You have to be a certain age to appreciate what you needed to do with a pencil and a cassette because I had this, I had this, I drove this Monte Carlo car and,

which was like a land barge, terrible on gas. I think it got like one kilometer per gallon. And the cassette deck always ate the tapes. You guys can relate to me on this. So you'd hear that sound. And then you'd like, you'd pull the cassette out and be like, son of a crap cassette.

The tape is stuck in there and then you'd have to get that out without busting it. And then you'd get the pencil and roll the tape back in. It was like the perfect size. I used to use my pinky too. I was just going to say that sometimes I would jam my pinky in there and it would have little like teeth marks on it afterwards. I still remember doing that. Oh my word. Well, I still have my cassette deck downstairs, Adam. So don't feel bad. I don't want to throw it out. I too have cassettes. And further to that, I have a giant plastic bin.

filled with songs that I wrote that are all on cassette, like hundreds of them. Oh, that's cool.

I used to buy packs of 10 at the co-op, those TDK 30 minute cassettes. And I probably still have a few packages that are unopened because I wrote a lot of songs and I put them on cassettes and I'd give them to my manager at the time, but I still have them. I want to sit down one day and go through them and stick those cassettes in and see what the hell songs are on there. I'm sure they're terrible.

I listened back to like even probably three or four years ago when I was on the radio. And I think I sounded terrible too. Like I can't hear the sound of my voice is different. Like we played an old bit from our, like a show two years ago on the air recently. And we have a relatively new producer and he said, Oh my God, like, is that KK?

Caitlin and like my voice sounds honestly quite different. It could just be the processing or the microphone we were using at the time, who knows, but it would be so funny for you to go back and listen to all those old songs, not just because of what you were writing about, but also probably because of what you sounded like. I don't disagree. I think anyone even leaving voice messages like on your answering machine or on your phone is

None of us really like hearing our voice. Hi, you've reached Adam Karsh. This is 555-917. I mean, you hear your voice and you're like, oh my God, is that what I sound like? Because we hear ourselves from the inside. So we're hearing our voice from the inside our head.

I've always thought I sounded annoying. And my singing voice has changed a lot. I mean, it has changed a lot over the years. You just sound young, I guess. A voice ages. Joni Mitchell's singing voice in Ladder Records, for one thing, she dropped complete octaves. But I don't know who I loved more, the older Joni Mitchell singing voice or the younger Joni singing voice. And I think Joni herself actually said she much preferred

Her voice as she got older, the timbre and the register of it. I mean, just if you got time today, go pull up two Joni songs, one from the 90s and one from the 60s, and you will not even believe it's the same person.

Yeah, I prefer my voice as I've gotten older a little bit too, because I felt like I sounded, I don't know, just not as smooth or like more nasally or I just didn't like how I sounded when I was younger as much as now. But I do worry that because I relate to the whole octave lower, because my voice sounds a lot deeper on there now than it used to. And I feel like I'm like, am I becoming like Stalker Channing or something? And I'm going to sound like

I've been smoking a pack a day by the time I'm 50. Like what's happening? And I have a low voice to begin with. Like I was the one alto girl alto in our choir growing up. I didn't have, I didn't have octaves to go down to, to begin with. So I don't know what's going to happen. I wanted to share a little story with you guys. It's was quite exciting for me, my friends, Nigel and Charlie who live in London. I might've mentioned them on this show before. Certainly Nigel flew to Bermuda yesterday.

That's where my brother, that's where my family lives. I want to go so badly. How was it? Okay. He said it was fantastic. They boarded in Gatwick. He gave me his flight number. British Airways are still flying the routes because, and I said this to Nigel, how can they make money? He said there was 40 people on the plane. It's about an eight hour flight from the UK. He said it was, they got their...

They were in business class. There was four people in the entire business class. Everyone was masked. They had no interaction with the flight attendant, except for they dropped the dinner box off and then a little snack bag near the end of the flight. But they were not given any bottle service. If they wanted a drink, it came, I think, like a vodka soda was in a can. Mm-hmm.

And it would just be, they had gloves and a mask, but they had no interaction. They had to ring the bell to use the washrooms. And then you'd go in and use the washroom. And as soon as you came out, Nigel said, you've never seen a cleaner aircraft washing in your life. Remember how they used to be? There'd be urine everywhere. There'd be...

There'd be toilet paper that were stuck on the side there. It was disgusting. Flying and going pee in a, even peeing in an air. It was just got, we'd let it go too far. Now it's like, not just like I could eat. I could have eaten off that floor. I really could have. And he said, after you come out, they'd go in with like a little bomb thing and they'd spray it down. And the bathroom had to be shut for like 60 seconds before the next person went in. So it was quite, yeah, it was, it was quite the thing, but yeah,

He said it was a wonderful flight and they felt really safe. He said we were absolutely six feet away from everybody in our cabin. And when they landed, they got tested. Yep. And they had to go straight to their, they had to give their address and everything. And further than that, they had to apply for a permit to go to Bermuda. So they had to be approved and they had to be tested negative and show that to the Bermudians before. So there's quite a few tests involved and they had to pay for it.

Yeah, I know I'm going on and on here. And I know it sounds like a rigmarole. But Nigel said he would do it again in a second. So that's what I've been debating about, about doing the exact same thing he just did. Because those same rules apply for us. And we could go conceivably at any time to Bermuda, you get the test before you go and show that it's negative, you get on the flight, the flight procedures like that.

And then when you get there, you do the next test. And my brother-in-law and his wife and their three children live there. And they keep saying, please come visit us. Like stay for two months for crying out loud. And they have a beautiful house with a pool. And they said on the island, there are very few cases. They had to go into an extreme lockdown right away because they have very limited hospital space. So they weren't messing around for like months on end. They were very, very locked down, like New Zealand level lockdown. And so as a result, once you get there, it's very safe. So, and like we had thought about it

It's funny, though, that you mentioned how dirty airplanes used to be, because I honestly feel that my assessment of airlines pre-COVID is what has made me so apprehensive about returning to flying. Because I've gotten sick from being on a flight more times than I can count. And I find the flight, even when I was in like a, you know,

premium economy or upgraded to a different class like I still felt like I had to wipe down every single surface when I got on board and when I did my wipes would be like black when I was done with them and so it's made me scary to hop on so I'm really relieved to hear that he had a good flight experience and like WestJet runs direct flights to Bermuda from Toronto and honestly it's like just over two hours or something or three hours to get there and it's direct so it's a nice little short flight I mean we'll see how things go with our numbers I might do it eventually

Well, they got their tests back this morning. No, yesterday. Because they got tested as soon as they landed. You're given a number. You go down a hallway. There's two people there in hazmat suits. You get the nasal swab. You're given a number. Get your stuff. They went straight to their hotel. They had groceries delivered. So they phoned in advance and there was a grocery store that delivered to this house that they're renting. Their tests came in yesterday. They're both negative. They will be tested again in four days.

They still have to stay in the house. They can't go out to restaurants or anything. So the test in the four days, if it's negative, then they can go out into the town. And they have friends there. They've had friends there that have lived there for, you know, 100 years. Yeah. Their family's been there for a long, long time.

well, that was our take too. Like we would, we would basically get to our, like my brother-in-law's house. They'd obviously have everything set up. We'd, you know, until we wait that first 24 hour period for that initial test result, we'd be like away from them. Like I don't like a wing of the house or something. And then you wait. And when the four day test result came back, we could go to the beach. We could hop on their boat. We could do whatever. And I really thought about it during the dead of winter. I thought, I mean,

maybe we'll want to go. Yeah, we might. We honestly might. I'm really waiting to see how this next little bump of cases we have in Ontario right now pans out. Because I sense that if it gets worse in the next few weeks, nobody will really be hopping on planes for a little while. Hopefully then we flatten that out and come Christmas we'll be back in the, well, I'm like, I want to, is it red that you're supposed to go into? No, black.

Both sound terrible. Both are terrible color references right now. Well, they really are. I think, you know, not to be a negative Nelly, but I think they warned us of this. They said there's going to be a second wave. And so I'm not surprised by it.

You know, of course people drop their guard a little bit and then they, and you know, we've got all these kids back in schools and you know, all these things contribute. So I think we have to be careful once again, not to shame people, not to point fingers. It doesn't help anything. Yeah. It's difficult to see. I always worry about our medical, you know, frontline workers and the nurses and all the health practitioners. Cause of course it puts pressure right back on them. They just kind of came out of this.

But this was to be expected. So I think people need to keep that in mind. It's not like, oh, my God, nobody warned us. Nobody told us. This is completely unacceptable. We were completely told about this over and over and over again. And we were told about it in July. Yeah.

Yeah, I just hope the government enforces some common sense measures this time around because the fact that, again, here in Ontario, we had a horrible situation with our long-term care homes. Well, that was partially because the government decided to let people who tested positive for COVID but were asymptomatic go into work.

And then look what happened. They did the same thing with migrant workers here and they live in congregate housing there. So again, look what happened. That became a hotspot. So sometimes I feel like we get up and do these press conferences where the government's like, oh, I'm so upset with all the people and they pull the angry dad card. And then behind everyone's back, their policies don't match. So I hope there's some policy matching that happens this time around. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. We're going to be right back.

Welcome back to the Jan Arden Show and Podcast. Oh my gosh.

Did you guys watch episode one of the jam show? I did. I did. Oh, thanks. Not yet. I'm going to not yet, but I watched all the teasers and the trailers and I watched some of your press. That's all you need. Um, yeah, it feels so good to have it out there in the world. Uh, today, the reason I bring that up, you're probably thinking, oh gosh, she's just doing all the self promotion again. Um,

Deborah Grover, who plays my mom, Nora, is going to be on the show today. And Elena Watko, who is a Canadian idol, a Lemini, she plays Kale, one of my managers on the show. And she does a fantastic job. She's going to be with us today. And I'm going to be talking to them about auditioning

for the Jan show and kind of what that was like to go through. I'm very curious to hear what they have to say, but thank heavens that it's out there. And on another very self-serving note, ladies and gentlemen, I have a record out today. It came out yesterday. It's called Gems, Hits and Other Gems. And it's got some of your favorites on it from Universal Records and some things you haven't heard before. Just there's a really cool version of Insensitive on there that's

very much worth checking out. I do also a song by The Cure called Love Song with Scott Hellman. Oh, cool. Yeah, we recorded that in a hotel room with his band in a hotel room. So if you were the person beside us in that hotel room last year, sorry about that.

I love that song and I also love Scott Hellman. So that's really fun. Yeah. He's a great guy. So yeah, that, that came out yesterday. You can find that on all your favorite streamers, Spotify, iTunes. The cool thing I find, like, so I really love the first episode. I love last season of the Jan show as well, but like I noticed, I'm sure you guys caught the Emmys and you saw Schitt's Creek run away with like every single award this year. I was cheering like a maniac. Yeah.

- Loved it, it was such a great moment. And you know, they're all up there at Casa Loma and they had their viewing party there in the city. And apparently people in Toronto on Twitter were saying like they could hear the celebrations at Casa Loma and they were just so thrilled. It was just this great like local win for Canada.

And the tie in for me to your show is that, Schitt's Creek was so good and so funny for so long here in Canada. And we have this complex sometimes with Canadian content where we don't think it's as good as it is. And we are late to our own party. And I think that's what happens sometimes

with, you know, a lot of these great shows that get produced. And then, you know, this was a case of it gets picked up and carried on Netflix and the U S is all over it. And then can't like Canadians are like, Oh, should I start watching? I'm like, yes, give it a shot. If you tried it and you didn't like it, that's fine. But if you just were like, Oh, I don't know. It's Canadian. So you don't get into it. I'm like, I'm,

hello, our stuff is hilarious. And like your show is a great example. I'm like, don't sleep on Canadian comedies because we make funny stuff. Yes. I think even going back to the SCTV days, I cannot tell you that.

How many laughs those guys provided for me and I guess ironic well not so much ironically But having Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy that were you know part of the bat gang, you know late 70s that that Made Canada laugh for so long. We were all so proud of SCTV on so many epic epic sketches came out of that show on

And that began shooting in Edmonton of all places in a little studio. I remember a guy bringing me, I was doing press up there years ago. And he's like, this is like my favorite studio. They used to shoot us, see TV in here. And I was like, what? We all freaked out. And they, they had some of the old few little things in there after all these years, they've still saved some stuff. Yeah. This was the set for the blah, blah, blah. I was like thrilled. Anyway, Dan Levy,

made a great tweet a day or two after the Emmys.

And I'm paraphrasing here, but he said, hey, you know what? Thank God, you know, the CBC and Pop TV, this show would have been pulled after the first year for underperforming. And he said, you know, comedic shows, these types of shows need time to develop and for people to be endeared by these characters. And I love that tweet. I retweeted it and I'm sure I commented just thanking Dan for that.

for saying something like that shows do need time. I mean, we're in our second season and you know, anyone that thinks there's a lot of money to be made, certainly in Canadian television would be sadly mistook. And none of us are,

you know, making any kind of money. We're, we're doing it in hopes that we're being entertaining, that we can get out there and, and show the world. Like I know everyone on our set cast and crew included producers. We, we so want the world to see Canada and to see what we do here. Yeah. So thanks for Schitt's Creek. I thought, I thought we were being punked.

I thought the first hour of the Emmys there, I thought someone was going to come on and go, ah, we were kidding. But like, I, I just think, you know, again, you know, you've got Laura Michaels, Canadian behind SNL. You've got like, you know, Jim Carrey, of course, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, John Candy, John Candy for crying out loud. Like, I mean, like it's crazy.

crazy to me. Martin Short, who's like one of my absolute... Ryan Reynolds! Yeah, I mean, there's so much hilarious talent in here. And there's been so many... Brendan Fraser! Yeah, and they all get like, and again, same thing, think about like, I always think of like Trailer Park Boys. I found that show hilarious. Trailer Park Boys is so funny. I thought it was so funny. I remember like Jonathan Torrance, like when he would do like Jonavision and stuff. I thought he's so funny. Even you go back to like

Corner Gas, Little Mosque on the Prairie, The Red Green Show. We have so many Canadian comedies that, again, if you tried them out and they don't resonate with you, that's fine. You know, Working Moms, Baroness Von Sketch. Like, it's just really crazy when you don't even give it a try and Canadians almost dismiss it out of hand. And I'm like, we need to learn how something they've mastered in the U.S., which is marketing ourself and thinking that we're good because lots of crappy stuff comes out of the U.S. and people watch it in huge numbers. And I think it's just the success of marketing.

Well, even, you know, going beyond the comedy sphere, Avonlea ran for so many years. Aunt Hattie. Heartland is on season 14. Mm-hmm.

And, you know, they're in 60 or 70 countries about the West, you know, here, horsemanship and ranching and, you know, family. Letterkenny. Letterkenny. I mean, Letterkenny has had huge success in the southern U.S. And its success there almost kept it going here, which is crazy. Well, we have one minute left. Okay.

Adam comes up and he has, I want to say Adam's giving me the finger, but it's just, it's the middle pointing finger. No, it's the index finger. One minute, one minute. Now 50 seconds. Well, you guys will be glad that we have 50 seconds left because you know what I wanted to, I'm glad we talked about Canadian television because it is important. And congratulations to all our friends at Schitt's Creek. Yeah.

This Canadian and these Canadians on this show could not be prouder of you. We are inspired. I think what you, what the Schitt's Creek gang has done for this country to put Canadian television, Canadian comedy back on the map where it should be. We thank you so much. I was going to talk about politics and,

because everyone looked at me and I was like, I really want to talk about Trump not wanting to step down peacefully if he's not elected. And Caitlin's eyes kind of looked up into the ceiling. Well, yeah, I have a few comments. Anyway, you guys, thanks for listening to the Jan Arden podcast. We've got so much coming up. Stay with us. Deborah Grover, Elena Watko are up next. ♪

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That was not me bearing down to have some kind of a weird bowel movement because that just sounded weird on the internet. I'm here with two amazing people. And I know we're segue ever. Two amazing people that I have gotten to know over the last couple of years and

Deborah Grover, who plays Nora on the Jan show. Yay, applause, ha, ha. And Elena Watko, who plays the diabolical Kale with a C, is here with, she's here today. Hi, girls. Hi, Jen. Hi, Jen.

So where am I speaking to you guys? Debra, where are you? I am in the kitchen of my house here in Toronto. Lovely. And Elena, you're in Toronto as well, right? I'm also in Toronto in my spare bedroom, but I've turned into a music room. I love it. You've got guitars back there and everything. I'm going to absolutely talk about you and your music, Elena. But first of all, I want to start, and I'll start with you, Debra. I want to start...

Just right from the beginning of the audition process to go into a show like Jan, you guys get these calls to do auditions. This was all new for me. I had no frigging clue how it works. And I remember flying into Toronto to be able to see some of these auditions. So I saw both of you women auditioning. I was sitting there at the table. So I'm going to shut up and I'm just going to let Debra speak to her experience first.

Well, Jan, it was, first of all, I had just finished your book the day, the morning of when I was going in for my callback, but it was like, oh my gosh. Yes. And it was like, oh my gosh, so full with emotion. But it was like, I'm going to walk into a room and meet this amazing woman, you, Jan Arden. And I'm going to have the opportunity for that first

Two minutes, five minutes to be with you, to experience you, who had just created this amazing work of art, let alone all the beautiful songs that you've written. But we were in awe. We were in the waiting room and there were other people in there, you know, having their callbacks. It's like, oh my God, we're getting to meet her.

And then you walk in and you try to be calm and you're calm. And I'm going, oh, my heart is beating so fast. Well, it's already nerve wracking coming to an audition, I would imagine. And I never thought about that. I never thought that, you know, sitting there might be a bit daunting. But you seem very cool and calm to me, Deb. Well, thank you for that. But it was like, you know, we wanted to...

The opportunity to meet you, Jan, that was it for me. And I thought, okay, the bonus is I'm getting to read for her wonderful mother. And then when you got up and then recognizing our dear Ron Murphy, our director who I've worked with before, and it was like, oh, this is okay. There are familiar faces here. And then you get up and you're going to read with me. Well, first of all, you give me this big, big hug.

when I arrive. - Remember when we used to hug each other? - Oh, I know. - Like you could hug people you don't even know. So in the audition process, just to walk everybody back, everyone that would be coming in to read for the part of Nora, they read the same piece.

So, so Kale coming in, Elena coming in would read the same piece for Kale that the other actresses would read as well. I was quite struck by how much you looked like my mom, Deb. And my mom was very, very petite and she was quite thin. I was the antithesis to my mother. I'm like the bull in the China shop. You know, my dad used to say, you're the sturdiest singer in Canada. I'm like, I don't know what that means. Yeah.

But yeah, you really, it was so nuanced and great. And I learned a lot that day to watch these words come to life. Both you and Elena were just, you made things come to life. It seemed real. It seemed like this is now happening. And you, because you stood up and you came and you read opposite me and you were right there. And there I went, oh, mother, daughter. And I looked into your face and I went,

oh my gosh, you are really here with me. You were so open and so giving and generous. And I went,

Wow. Can I ask you what the experience is for you, Kale, Elena? Like coming in and doing that, is it nerve-wracking? So nerve-wracking. Oh, shoot. Especially when they say Jane Arden's going to be in the room. I think I told you I practiced meeting you just so I wouldn't have-- Oh, God. I feel terrible now. And then just screw up the rest of my audition.

But yeah, it was, but there's something, you're so nervous going in because it's also the worst casting office in the city. Like, love you, Lisa, but it's a narrow, tiny little hallway with like blah walls. You're just, you're so close to everyone. It's so claustrophobic in that tiny room. There's no bathroom. And you're looking at other people that are coming in to eat. I met all the other, I think you guys saw 75 Kales. I like saw so many beautiful people.

Kale's in the waiting room. We're all like giving each other a thumbs up. But if there's something when you just go into the room, something takes over and you're just in it. And I remember getting to read with you, but also how fun it was getting to read with Jason Blicker.

I'd never done it before. Well, you know, fast forward, Jason Blicker, who plays Todd, the irony of that, you guys reading together, is that Jason got the part of Todd. Yeah. So that was just a serendipitous pairing. I wish I would have known more about the process. I wish I would have known, you know, maybe me being there was a bit of a detriment, but I felt like I needed to see everybody. No, no, no, no, it's not.

No, no, no, no, no. What I've since learned is, you know, everyone keeps telling me it doesn't work this way, Jan. It doesn't work this way. This isn't how it happens. So I think being naive going into making a television show can be quite beneficial. Tell me about the call you received when you found out you got your respective parts. Deb?

Oh, I was at the cottage. My daughter and her guy had just gone off in the kayak and I'm sitting there and we've been waiting for a few days going, okay, is it me? Is it three other people? How many people are up for Nora here? And then I get the call and it's like,

And I'm waving to them, come back, come back, they gotta hear my news. Because then two days later, we were on a plane and we were going to Calgary. So it was like it happened that fast. You had two days? I had one. Well, maybe it was just one. No, maybe it was just one. Elena, where were you?

I was in Toronto, I was heading to a cottage for the weekend. I had prepped, 'cause I was like, "Oh, I don't think I got Jan. "That's okay, I'm gonna move on, it's gonna be great." And I got the call early in the morning and it was like, "Can you be on a plane this afternoon?" And I was like, "Laundry, I need clothes, I can't, "I need to do laundry." - Is that normal for it to be pushed so close to rehearsals and shooting? - Sometimes yes, sometimes no, depending on the project.

Yeah. And everybody has to have their say in terms of approval, you know, network approval. You may like us, the director may like us, but do all the producers and then it goes somewhere else. So it's quite a process. So it takes time. It does take time. I can assure you that we as a team got every single person we wanted. Yay!

So kudos to CTV. Yay, thank you, CTV. Yeah, but like you said, Deb, there are a lot of levels to casting a show, especially a mainstream contemporary scripted comedy. And there is a lot of people that want to throw their hats in the ring as far as their opinions. But CTV, and I'm not saying this just because we're on CTV, this group of people

championed every single person that we said, we really want this person. We didn't get it. We did not face opposition. We did not face someone going, no, we're not doing that. You've got to do him. You've got to do her. And so I guess I was naive. I was like, gee whiz, that was such a nice process. But on the other hand for you, they gave you this amazing trust. Exactly. That's what I was going to say. Yeah. They said, okay, we trust your vision.

We trust who you see playing these parts. And I had the feeling when I walked in the room that I went, oh my gosh, she is just so focused on who we are. And you knew. I think the feeling I got was that you knew when we walked in the room, yes or no. I pretty much did. And Ron Murphy, with both you and Elena, Ron was, you know, I remember him saying about Elena, you know, she can...

She takes direction. And now I've learned what that meant. We've got so much to talk about. Thank God we're going to come back with these two incredible actresses that are just, they make the show. We hang so much emotion off of both of these women. You're listening to the Jan Arden Podcast. I'm here with Deborah Grover and Elena Watko. Don't go away. Don't go away.

Hi everybody, welcome back to the Jan Arden Podcast. I am here with Deborah Grover, who plays Nora, who plays my mother on the Jan show on CTV, Monday nights at 8 p.m. And also Elena Watko, who plays the fierce and somewhat annoying but somewhat endearing Kale with a C, who is my manager. Hi.

She, in season one, battled it out with Todd Blicker, or sorry, Jason Blicker, who plays Todd. That was Freudian. And, you know, so we find ourselves back in Jan's world again for season two. Where were you guys for episode one of season two? Are you excited to finally air it? Because we did finish this season last October. So it's been a long wait because of COVID. I've talked about that a lot on the show of,

how we were March, then we were May, then we were August, then we were September. Where were you, Elena? I was at home with my dog, Samson, cuddled on the couch. And I was, like, oddly nervous. Like, I was so nervous for the first time. I don't know why. I think it was because we filmed it so long ago that I just didn't remember. It's probably as new to you guys as it is to the audience. I was looking at it going, I don't even remember learning these lines. LAUGHTER

too many to learn you gotta remember them and then just get it out of the brain as you yeah yeah yeah for sure yeah Deb were you at home with your family I was at home just with my husband my daughter um uh Tess and Jordan they were watching in their own home well so they said so they said yeah but it was like um yeah my husband and I in the dog in the living room and it was

Like Elena said, it was like, oh my gosh, what did we do? What was that first episode about? Oh my God. And then you go, oh yes, the Sarah McLachlan episode. So, oh, Jan, to see you and Sarah on the screen together today,

It was like, it was like so wonderful to see you two singing Canadian dynamos on the screen together, fighting about a scrunchie. That was unbelievable. Well, you know, it's a heritage moment, isn't it? You know, when, and I, I think this whole show hinges on everyone being able to make fun of themselves. So even when we have guest stars, and I think you guys would agree.

They come in and they're willing to make fun, even though they're playing themselves. They're willing to make fun of themselves. And Sarah was a great sport. And thank God we had stunt people. God bless them. God bless stunt people. I heard on this, what is it, the puppet video? I can't remember. Which is amazing, by the way. Mitty's such a star. But the two stunt women, Shauna and Megan, it looked too real the first time they did it. It looked too violent.

It was very violent. Because they're both strong women. Like Megan is an MMA, like she's trained to do an MMA fight. She won her first fight by a rear chokehold. Like I saw that video. She's, she's fierce. You've got a fierce stunt double. So like, I love. That sounds like a Tinder date that I went on, but anyway. Yeah.

Yeah, the old rear chokehold. It's the only way to get him to pay for dinner. Right? So we have such, we have big plans. And I think that's what I love about everybody on this show is that everyone has been so positive. And what I've learned from you guys has been, you've been so generous of spirit. You know, I came into this not knowing a thing.

And I don't know if it's always like that on sets, but the kindness, the generosity, everyone willing to help. No one has been, no one's even been like bossy or I want different water. Like, is it always like this on sets? Not necessarily, but I will say that on day one of season one, you came in and you set the tone. You walked into the makeup and hair trailer and you just went,

What is it with you guys? We're here at 5 a.m. in the morning? I'm in the reception. Oh, gosh, thanks. You set the tone then. It was like, welcome aboard. We're going to laugh and have a wonderful time. I've been acting for all of, oh, 30 seconds now. But those were your very words. And I went, oh, my gosh.

We're just gonna play we're just gonna hang out together and play you gave us permission Thank you so much for that. I would be remiss Elena if I didn't mention that you were on Canadian Idol, I would be remiss to say that you are an incredible singer an incredible musician we

Tell me about that experience a little bit about Canadian Idol because I've actually heard people when we're out, I remember somebody recognizing you going, "Hey, you were in Canadian Idol and you were very gracious about it." You're like, "Yeah, it was like 40 years ago, but I was there." Elena, how old are you? I was 18 when I tried out and I thought I was going to be a doctor and make my mother's dreams come true.

So I think I went in and I was like, okay, if they tell me I suck and I become one of those joke auditions, then I'll know I can go and do this. It was never meant to be. And then I just got further and further and further. And I was like, oh, my God. Like, I can do my passion. I can do what I love for a living. So that was amazing in itself. I think your mom is cheering you on now, though. She is.

She is. You know, I wish I had recorded the phone call I made to her when I booked Jan. Like, I've never heard her scream like that. It was just so exciting. And usually like I don't usually share auditions with my mom because I don't want her to get upset if I don't get it. You know what I mean? But I did after the callback actually was with you and with Jason. I was talking to her and I was like, you know what, mom, I'm just gonna tell you I had a really great day today.

I got to audition for this great show. I met Jan Arden. And it felt so good. And no matter what happens, it was just so awesome. And she was so happy for me. And so when I booked it, she just let out this big scream and this maniacal laugh. Like, oh my God! I wish I recorded it. I love that those moments of joy exist because I know both of you could probably talk to me for two hours about very difficult auditioning

I think people need to understand what people, what actors go through to get these parts, to be on television, to be in theater, to get movie parts. It's so arduous. And sometimes when you're on the third callback and, you know, you feel very scrutinized. And I think especially as women, as we make our way through lives, you guys have really put yourself in harm's way, I think emotionally. So I really commend you for that.

Putting your hearts out there, it's very risky to put yourself in vulnerable positions. And as an actor, you'd probably agree, Deb, you have to be vulnerable. You have to have that sternum cracked open and let people see who you are or no one believes your part. Absolutely right. And it takes time to get there.

As a person in my own life, when I first started out as a young actor, I felt things were on the surface and I wanted to be this young, sparkly kind of gal. And then as you age, thank you. Thank you. Hallelujah. I'm with you, Deb. I'm still here. I'm with you, Deb. I'm still here. You go, all of that drops away. All of that drops away. You go, I'm just going to come.

and be open and show up to this magnificent party that you're asking me to be part of. So that is the gift that I am, that I've been given, that I, man, I continue to work, holy smokes, as an actress, as an actor of our certain age, which I definitely am. You know, I've got a few years on me, Jen, I do. But that,

I am being allowed to continue doing what I love. Holy smokes. Debra, you're responsible for all the teary moments, I think, in the Jan Show. Elena would agree with this. We hang a lot of the drama on you. Elena and I get to kibbutz and try dresses on and be at award shows. And we hang an awful lot of tears on you, Deb. And you are...

Like both you guys, Elena, you're part of Kale. You have a really, and people saw that in season one, very dramatic. You know, the person that you've created is gosh, it's so much better than even it was on anything in my deepest imagination of what you've done with Kale because she's tough to play. Isn't she? She's fun to play. I love so much fun with her.

But she's got a stick so far up her butt. I know, I love her for it. I love it. It's so much fun playing her. I think that's the thing. Acting gives you such freedom to explore someone else's life and circumstance and how they respond to things. Yeah. And everyone has commented on both you guys so many times. The sense of pride that I have

walking around in the world, going to the airport and the comments that people make about the whole cast, they'll say, Oh, I love your show. And then they'll talk about Max and Dave and Kale and Todd and Nora and Charlie. And everybody has their favorite characters. And I, do you guys find that like, it's great that everyone loves the family. Like we have created this family of,

And people come up to me and they just are dying to know. They're like trying to get stuff out of me. And I'm like, I can't tell you. I love that. We're trying to get out of you for season three. Oh, gosh.

We are writing season three of the Jan show. For those of you that just joined us, I'm with Deborah Grover, who plays Nora, my mom, and Elena Watko, who plays Kale, my manager. We always do this in the show. I've started this a few weeks ago. I'm really curious. I'm going to ask you guys in these last couple of minutes, what was one of your favorite school lunches when you were kids? Like, I just, I got it. I think it's so interesting to find out what the hell people's mothers put in their lunch kit or what you wanted, Deb.

Oh, well, you know, I'm just, I'm just a normal peanut butter gal, you know, sometimes, sometimes. Yeah. I was the peanut butter sandwich gap. That's perfect. And with, with a few little cheese strings on the side and that was it. That was it. But the bologna sandwiches, I didn't like it. Okay. I really didn't. Nobody wants nostrils in our. You're right. Elena. I love this question. I'm reaching my head. Like,

Well, you're ending the show with your answer. So there you go. I always have one of those lunches that the kids would be like, what is that? I,

I loved like leftover Chinese food, like thick rice noodles, the beef and the Chinese, like the bok choy. Like I love, I love like noodles. And there was this thing. Oh, I love that. It was like a Filipino purple coconut thing. It was like, looked like a pancake. I don't even know what was in it, but it was like my favorite. You peel over. It was just so like little, and little lychee cups and stuff. But I, I love that stuff.

I like she kept you were the only kid. What a pleasure. And you're and you but you're

You're special and you deserve light cheese. I wish I would have had light cheese in my lunch. You've been listening to the Jan Arden podcast, Deb Grover, Elena Watko from the Jan show Monday nights on CTV at 8 PM. We'd love for you to come along on this ride. I'm so grateful to you women. Um, stay tuned. We, we love our listeners. Thanks for tuning into the podcast. Um, we, uh, we will see you next time folks. Totally do.

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