Author Archives: Lizz Kerschbaumer

The Chair Company is making me laugh in unexpected ways

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Tim Robinson’s a goofy guy: his tenure at SNL, cult classic TV show Detroiters, and Netflix sketch series I Think You Should Leave have all been fabulously ridiculous and profane. The latter, I Think You Should Leave, does what a lot of sketch shows do, but Robinson cranks it up a notch, and then another, and then another. And then another. The rule of 3s isn’t real for Robinson, he’s not afraid to hit a joke a hundred different ways, or drop a punchline just once, under his breath or lost in the speed of a breathless rant. But his new show for HBO, The Chair Company, surprises me in new ways every week.

With The Chair Company, I find myself laughing in the tensest of situations. That’s not necessarily odd for me, I am well versed in modern cringe comedy like Vancouver-born comedian Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal, a comedy show in which Fielder blends real-world people situations with carefully placed actors that allow him to control and manipulate the world around him.

Conversely, The Chair Company is strictly fictional, and it’s framed like a thriller, steeped in suspense. Robinson stars as William Ronald Trosper, a man who stumbles his way into investigating a massive conspiracy after an embarrassing incident at work enrages him.

Much like in Bob’s Burgers, many, but not all, of the characters in Robinson’s Chair Company universe speak with a dialect unique to their show, giving the whole story an exaggerated air of mystique. People say and do crazy things: a member of the protagonist’s office, Douglas, hosts a cryptic “Mistakes Party” where he says he will encourage his coworkers to “make mistakes”, though as manager, William is not invited.

The strangest part is, despite the extreme tension, the dialogue still makes me laugh. In this week’s episode, Douglas returns to work after being crushed by a refrigerator, and explains how he survived trapped underneath it. “I couldn’t pick what I had,” he told the whole office, gathered around his wheelchair. “I just grabbed whatever I could touch. But I was able to survive, even though I couldn’t pick.” There is something hilarious about this creepy guy being so beloved.

Anything could happen at any time in the world of The Chair Company, the violence and confusion of the modern world around us is apparent even through the surrealist extremism of Robinson’s characters.

SFU Med School is opening in 2026

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The first new medical school in Western Canada will open in 2026. Simon Fraser University will be operating the program on an interim campus for the next four years before moving the program to its own campus in 2030. This is good news for me and countless other BC residents without family doctors. The lack of space in Canadian medical schools has left our provincial healthcare systems unable to keep up with demand for healthcare workers, many of whom have been suffering from burnout or adapting to new disabilities related to their infections of COVID-19.

SFU Medical will be open only to residents of BC and the Territories, and there are no spots for out-of-province or international students. The first class will have only 48 students, and they will begin the program in 2026. The SFU medical program will have a focus on primary and community care and an emphasis on Indigenous medicine and traditions. It’s a bit late, though not unwelcome, for BC residents, over a quarter of whom don’t have a primary care doctor.

It’s a 3 year program to be completed after a 4-year degree. That’s a year shorter than most medical programs offered across Canada, which could explain its price point, higher than other BC medical schools. Prospective students will be able to apply with their GPAs, MCAT scores, or both, opening the door for more returning students to build on their existing science degrees. BC residents will keep their fingers crossed that the program is able to grow in time: we need more doctors, and if this program proves viable, my fingers are crossed this will lead to an expansion of medical school programming in the province.

Comedian Michael Balazo to record new comedy album

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If you ask me, Michael Balazo is one of the country’s greatest stand-up comedians. You might know him from his podcast “Evil Men”, which he hosts with two of the other greatest standups in the country: James Hartnett (who I’ve loved since I was a tween watching him on That’s So Weird!) and Chris Locke (Mr. D, Run the Burbs). From Toronto, Balazo is known for his international appeal: his two shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe were very successful (Michael Balazo: International Lover, Michael Balazo: Thanks For Murdering My Grandfather, The Mafia! Not.) and he often travels to and from the UK to perform and see his partner Sooz Kempner.

I’m always telling people to see Balazo when they can. He’s hilarious, and his silly, sometimes sassy material ranges from the mundane to the absurd. I brought friends to see Balazo at Little Mountain Gallery just a few weeks ago, and I was so glad I did: he was a shining light, and he wasn’t the only comedy icon in the room, Canadian comedy legend Brent Butt was also in attendance!

It’s almost universally accepted that there’s something special to Canadian comedy, Hartnett theorized once on an episode of Evil Men that Canadian comics are fearless because they ‘don’t have to worry’ about American eyes on their work. For Canadian audiences, this is a special privilege. We get weirder, more authentic material from people who only care about one thing: being funny.

So don’t sleep on Michael Balazo, get in while you can, before he’s the hottest name in the country, and stay tuned for the release of his new “comedy CD”, which one can imagine will be released at the beginning of next year.

Balazo’s new comedy album will be recorded at Comedy Bar Bloor in Toronto over the course of two shows on November 28th and 29th.  Tickets are available at comedybar.ca.

English Bay turned tropical last week for a “Social Network” sequel… but who will watch it?

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Writer and director Aaron Sorkin brought production for his new movie, The Social Reckoning, to Vancouver last week. The sequel to The Social Network had crews assembling a tropical beach set on English Bay last week, and boasts big celebrities like Jeremy Allen White (The Bear), Mikey Madison (Anora), and Jeremy Strong (Succession, as if we’re just clamouring to see more of him in board rooms). Apparently the film will continue following Mark Zuckerberg after his website, Facebook, originally launched to voyeuristically rank the looks of his female Harvard classmates from the privacy of his dorm made global strides and established him as one of the most influential men in the world.

My biggest question is: why would anyone choose to watch this? The Social Network won Best Screenplay at the Oscars, but that was 15 years ago, and public opinion has shifted.

The Social Network lionized Zuckerberg. Yes, he was flawed in the movie, but it presents him as any genius is presented in a biopic. He was simply too much of a visionary to respect others, and in the end, it all works out for a guy like that, just like in real life.

We all know what happened after The Social Network. Facebook became overrun with ads and misinformation. Long before the days of AI, many young people considered Facebook unusable long before it was accused of tampering in the U.S. elections. Then, when the Canadian government asked Facebook to hold any responsibility for the content run on their site, their parent company (also owned and lead by Zuckerberg) retaliated by barring Canadians from all verified news content across Facebook and Instagram. The most ironic part of this, of course, is now only dubious news sources make their way across Canadian users’ feeds in an era where many use social media as their main news aggregator, leading many to have watered-down or sensationalized views of world events.

We all know what happened after The Social Network because we all lived it. We are still facing the consequences of the events of The Social Network. It isn’t fun, and it isn’t cute, a billionaire is controlling our access to information like he’s some sort of king. I don’t hold faith Sorkin will hold Zuckerberg accountable, why would he? This “reckoning” Zuckerberg experienced still leaves him owning over 2,300 acres of land on Kauai, and countless Canadians out of work from Meta’s aggressive business practices.

Vintage Hudson’s Bay blankets and paintings go to auction, what does this say about us?

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The now-defunct Hudson’s Bay Company occupied different places in Canadians’ hearts. A staple of every major Canadian city, the Company owned a lot of our most valuable real estate, and sold us a lot of our most treasured holiday gifts. The Bay’s long history of colonial fashions created quite a striking visual brand, recognizable across decades. Frances Ford Coppola was photographed wearing a coat with Hudson’s Bay stripes while filming The Godfather Part II in 1974, but you probably know the stripes from the blanket on the back of your aunt’s couch.

The Hudson’s Bay Company was the oldest corporation in North America. It was founded in 1670, and for many, the colonial history stained every blanket. Though professor Paul Hackett from the University of Saskatchewan said he never found evidence the HBC purposely infected blankets with smallpox during early trade with First Nations people, he also said he can’t guarantee it never happened. Regardless, early trade histories between the first Canadian corporation and First Nations left the blanket fraught with controversy for many: the Hudson’s Bay Company stripes appear often in contemporary works by Indigenous artists, including the work of Rosalie Favell.

The blankets for sale in the HBC’s upcoming liquidation auction aren’t nearly as old as those that may have spread disease in Canada’s establishing years, but some date back as early as 1900. They will help the now-over Hudson’s Bay to repay their creditors, and are only worth about $300-$500 each. More valuable in the auction will be the paintings, some of which are expected to sell for up to $600,000. It’s worth noting that one of these paintings is of “Frobisher Bay”, now known properly as Iqaluit. British “explorers” named the Bay themselves, without a single care for the people who came before them.

There is a quiet poetic justice in the shuttering of the Hudson’s Bay, the undignified segmenting and sale of its parts, a certain symmetry to the colonizers’ chopping and skewing of this land. Canada has outlived the need for its oldest corporation, and I think we should ask ourselves: would running Canada like a business actually do us any good? Even the greatest corporation our country has ever known, the one we built all our trade laws to benefit, was unable to keep up with the ever-changing world.

Canadians still reeling from MLB loss

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Everyone I know is still hurting from the Toronto Blue Jays’ World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 on November 1st. With only one Canadian team in the MLB and the Dodgers’ polarizing repute among American sports fans, it felt like the whole world was cheering for our team, to the point where I was genuinely surprised when my LA friends cheered for their home team! Canadian sports fans are pretty good sports (when it doesn’t come to hockey), but the highs of this year’s World Series were so high, sports fans are still feeling the loss nationwide eight days later.

It’s strange, though: when Americans comment on Canadian life, they always resort to wintery stereotypes, even when they’re talking about fans of a summertime sport. Former Philadelphia Eagles centre Jason Kelce issued a statement apologizing for reducing the Blue Jays to a “Canadian baseball team” on his podcast, “New Heights”, which he cohosts with his brother Travis Kelce. He questioned why he would care if the “Canadian baseball team” went up against a team who could buy and sell the rest of the league: in his clarification he stated he was dismissing the inequity of the investments behind the teams, not intentionally reducing the Jays. But before the correction, he wrote some extremely reductive crap about our national identity: “How could I not love poutine, maple syrup, and beavers!!”

How important are poutine, maple syrup and beavers to the Toronto Blue Jays? How important are these things to Canadians? The first is a great lunch, the second a profitable contribution to the food industry, and the third are a keystone species in our ecosystems, once almost wiped out by colonial hat fashions of the Victorian era.

These things are important, but we’re more than that. Canadian baseball is more than that. It’s lifelong fans, it’s patriots who are just happy to stand a chance against the U.S. in a game as American as apple pie, and it’s a hell of a lot of hard work, dying of heat in the sun to pursue greatness. Canadians are cute, and our interests are sweet, but we’re serious competitors. If we can stand a chance against the richest Americans at their own game, we should stand tall and proud: we gave them a home run for their money.

Many Canadians receive Grammy nominations

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The nominations for the 2026 Grammy awards were announced Thursday, and it’s a big year for Canadian artists! Canadians are represented across all genres as our cultural exports continue to inform our (and to a lesser extent American) national identity.

Joni Mitchell was nominated for Best Historical Album for “Joni Mitchell Archives – Volume 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980)”, a compilation of her work in the late 70s. This nomination celebrates her impact then to come on the global music industry.

Drake appears to be no longer boycotting the Grammys since accepting nominations 2023, and is nominated again for Best Melodic Rap Performance. Tate McRae received her first ever nomination this year. Her song “Just Keep Watching”, which has been all over Canadian pop radio, is in the Best Dance Pop Recording category.

With seven total nods, Cirkut was the most-nominated Canadian artist this year, twice in Record of the Year and Song of the Year. A close second is Serban Gheana, who accrued six Grammy nominations for producing multiple pop Album and Record of the year noms.

Justin Bieber has four nominations this year, and is among the nominees for Album of the Year. The 8-time Juno winner has now been nominated for Grammys as many times as he’s been nominated for Junos: he’s had 23 Grammy noms over the course of his career, two of which he’s won so far. Vancouver jazz singer Laila Biali was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Victoria metal band Spiritbox’s song “Soft Spine” earned them their third consecutive nomination for Best Metal Performance! Yannick Nézet-Séguin was nominated for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Opera Recording, Pianist Mary Dawood Catlin received her first-ever nomination for Best Classical Instrumental.

I can’t help but notice that many of the big Canadian pop producers are nominated for their works with American artists. It seems Canadian vocalists like Justin Bieber’s accomplishments are most celebrated when they work with American producers as well. I wonder if international collaboration is the key for major modern Canadian artists to break through to American audiences.

Either way, I know myself, I’m going to forget about the 2026 Grammy Awards February 1st, I always do. I’m going to be super mad when my favourites don’t win anyway, and post a million Tweets about how awards don’t matter. But they’re a reflection of cultural impact, and they say a lot about who the industry is listening to. I just hope they keep listening to Canadian artists.

Vancouver Christmas Market reopens Thursday

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The days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting longer… anyone else craving Glühwein? One of my best friends becomes a living Christmas countdown this time of year. Lucky for us, the Vancouver Christmas Market is just around the corner! On Thursday, November 13th, The Vancouver Christmas Market will be back for its 15th year! The festival will take return to Jack Poole Plaza (next to the Vancouver Convention Centre).

Known for its authentic European village feel (my German-Austrian family love it), the Market surrounds a beautiful multi-story gazebo, the “Christmas Pyramid”, for 360-degree views of musical performers performing carols. There’s a large selection of drinks that can be bought beneath the Pyramid, from Glühwein and Pilsners to non-alcoholic options like apple cider or their new hot chocolate. There is food everywhere, too. My favourite is the gulasch, served in a bread bowl, and I always leave with a pretzel for the way home.

You can get all your holiday shopping done in one visit to the Vancouver Christmas Market! Over 90 total vendors of unique goods and specialty foods will be at your disposal. Their stunning selection of Christmas ornaments is out of this world, with shimmering glass baubles for every tree.

The Market is so fun for families, with an stunning free carousel and storytelling events. If you don’t have a tree at home for your family photo, fret not! There will be photographers for hire and free photo ops everywhere, including the iconic walk-through Christmas tree.

Adults will have a blast too. There’s karaoke, music bingo, and trivia events all over the schedule. Whether you bring your friends for happy hour or bring your partner to sneakily buy them exactly what they want, the Vancouver Christmas Market has everything you need for that festive feeling.

Tickets are discounted this year to celebrate the 15th anniversary. November passes are sold out, but season passes are still available for $32.99, and single-day advance tickets are only $6.99. There are also workshops from $29.99 and a Breakfast With Santa event is $69.99/adult ($10.99/child).

I can’t wait to get in there for a big bowl of gulasch… I might see who I can convince to come out with me Thursday night, any takers?

Where to go for Remembrance Day Events this year

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Remembrance Day is on Tuesday, November 11th, and with over 30 different memorial events throughout the Lower Mainland, there are quite a few to choose from. In these uncertain times of geopolitical strain, Lower Mainland residents will benefit from reflection on the universal devastation of war.

Burnaby

There will be parades in both North and South Burnaby. North Burnaby Remembrance Day parade will begin at the McGill Library at 10:00 am, after which there will be a ceremony at Confederation Park Cenotaph. The parade in South Burnaby usually begins at Legion #83 and will end with a service at the Cenotaph at Nelson Avenue & Jubilee Street.

New Westminster

The New Westminster Remembrance Day parade starts at the Royal Westminster Regiment Armouries and walks to the service, which will be at City Hall Cenotaph on Royal Avenue. There will be no public indoor ceremony in the Armouries this year, instead the outdoor service will begin at 10:25am and go until 12:30 pm, and have a wreath laying and two-minute moment of silence.

North Vancouver

The parade for North Vancouver’s Remembrance Day service will travel from the Armoury at Forbes Avenue & 15th Street to the Victoria Park Cenotaph. The District of North Vancouver will also run a second, concurrent ceremony at Cates Park, in partnership with the Burrard Yacht Club. The second ceremony will allow spectators to gather not just on land, but from ships on the nearby sea as well.

Surrey

The city of Surrey offers multiple Remembrance Day ceremonies, at Legion branches in Whalley, Crescent Beach, Newton, Port Kells, and also at the Surrey Centre Cemetery. The largest, hosted by the Surrey Museum, will take place at the Cloverdale Cenotaph and the precession will begin at 10:00 am, followed by a service at 10:25 am. In past years, the Surrey Museum has opened to the public on Remembrance Day to allow spectators to further explore our history.

Vancouver

The three biggest Remembrance Day events in Vancouver will take place concurrently. The largest, the Victory Square Cenotaph ceremony, boasts as many as 15,000 attendees each year. The event starts at 10:00 am and will feature performances by the Vancouver Bach Choir. The Stanley Park ceremony will begin at the Japanese Canadian Cenotaph from 10:30 am until 11:30 am. You can also watch them online on the Nikkei Museum’s YouTube channel. UBC’s Remembrance Day event takes place in the War Memorial Gymnasium. Doors open at 10:00 am and the event starts at 10:45 am, and it will also be livestreamed.

Trailer Park Boys’ Mike Smith charged for 2017 sexual assault, and I wonder if anyone will remember

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The movie Yesterday was a big deal. Imagine being the only guy who remembers the Beatles! Recalling something nobody else does can be magical. It’s a little less novel of an idea for female fans of Canadian comedy. We’re kind of used to feeling like we’re the only ones who remember things.

Miles Klee calls it an “amnesiac culture”, a socially-elective forgetting of wrongdoings by celebrity personalities that keeps them coming back to entertainment. I can see how this amnesia protects people in the audience: they get to keep loving the things they love. But it also protects predators: nobody cares what you did if your work still makes them feel good.

I heard about Mike Smith’s 2016 arrest for domestic battery the year I graduated high school, and I remember trying to broach the subject with my friends. The first challenge was explaining who he is: Smith enjoys one of the great protections of the entertainment industry, anonymity behind his character. He’s Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys! The next challenge was trying to get them to disconnect his character from his actions. He’s funny! He’s harmless! I think it’s interesting that people who pride themselves on separating art from artist have trouble disconnecting artists in this way.

I recall a Vice article from 2019, when their investigative team raised allegations from an 18 year-old who alleged she met Smith while underage in downtown Halifax. Police didn’t press charges when she told them he sexually assaulted her in her home, shaming her for underage drinking, even though Smith has allegations going back to 2005.

I was 21 in 2019, and I thought my friends would be just as repulsed as I was: another allegation for the Canadian icon should surely be the last straw. We all heard how the women on the show left on bad terms, that Corey and Trevor were bullied onset, treated like Corey and Trevor were on the show. But the people around me didn’t seem to hear me, and kept streaming Netflix’s new seasons of Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series. Maybe they didn’t believe me, or her, or forgot as soon as I told them… If you’re the only one who remembers the Beatles, you can get a record deal. If you’re the only one who remembers the allegations, you can see how little people care about young women.