In this episode: two CBC Tuesday night comedies for the price of one.
First up is Andrew Pfung and company from Run The Burbs. The sitcom returns for a third season with Rakhee Morzaria, who plays Camille, joining Phung on this round-table chat, along with showrunners Jennica Harper and Nelu Handa.
We start off talking yard sales, the focus of the season three premiere. “Almost all the ideas on the show come from a very real place,” says Phung.
Also noted is how the kids on the series (played by Zoria Wong and Roman Pesino) are growing up and are more involved in storylines. And, yes, hip hop neighbour Kardinal Offishall returns as himself.
Phung also says he was pleased by the response to the series last season in the U.S. on The CW. “We have such nice comments on the specify and the representation of this family.”
In the second half of this episode, meet standup comedian D.J. Demers along with showrunner Jessie Gabe, the team behind CBC’s One More Time.
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Demers worked at a Play it Again sports store his last three years of high school in Kitchener, Ont. The experience “stuck in my brain and I drew inspiration from it all these years later to make the show.”
Demers has worn hearing aides since he was four years old. Back in the sporting goods store, he learned to keep customers in front of him so they wouldn’t think he was ignoring them. “I didn’t want anybody going to my boss and saying, ‘What’s with that teenage asshole?'”
Like his character, he never learned American Sign Language.
“I grew up in a hearing family and went to a regular school, so I never was exposed to it,” he says.
Among the people he did hear from were the casting folks on Conan O’Brien’s former late night talk show, who invited Demers on three times. He’s also been featured at Just for Laughs in Montreal.
Also starring is Geri Hall (This Hour has 22 Minutes), Dan Beirne and Elise Bauman.
One More Time airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC, immediately before Run the Burbs. To listen to the episode, simply click on the white arrow in the blue dot above.
