Well hello. It’s been a while. We are back, but only to say goodbye, then take you with us. After almost three years of being independent podcasters with the Sound Off Network, we are moving over to Substack. Substack is primarily a writers’ platform, but you can host podcasts there too, so we are taking the existing episodes of Women of Ill Repute (all 95 of them!) and putting them up there. You can still listen to us on Apple and Spotify and all the places you already get your pods, but on Sub...
Oct 22, 2024•23 min•Ep. 97
Our Summer Throwback series continues. Is an ambivert a pervert? No, it’s most of us! Maybe we are all just less funny versions of Colin Mochrie, who reveals he is, of course, an ambivert, someone who feels comfortable in social situations but also really enjoys time alone. You may know Colin as an extrovert, but he’s often really introverted. He says he’s afraid his neighbours might think he’s a dick, when he’s really just shy. Colin is a famous improv guy, he was on the U.K. and U.S. versions ...
Aug 27, 2024•38 min•Ep. 96
Our Summer Throwback series continues. Even when playing old ladies, she’s beautiful. Sheila McCarthy is one of those people you feel like you’ve known forever. And maybe we have. She’s been in everything, and now stars in Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking”, the Oscar-winning movie based on a true story by Miriam Toews about Mennonite women and girls drugged and then raped by men they know in their Bolivian colony. It’s all about violence and women talking!!!! It’s important, and it works. Sheila ta...
Aug 20, 2024•38 min•Ep. 95
This week we go back to Episode 20 and the First Man. Rick Mercer was the first male to appear on our show. We decided to open up the floodgates and talk to anyone fearless and/or funny enough to want to talk to US, and no one fits that bill better than Rick. He’s been called a national treasure, Canada’s beloved comic genius, the scourge of Parliament Hill, and … the nicest man you’d ever want to meet. We love Rick for a million reasons, but especially because he works at the intersection of co...
Aug 13, 2024•45 min•Ep. 94
It's August and we are into some Summer Throwbacks! We go back to earlier this year and Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, a diva in the true sense of the word: a famous female opera star, with all the fierce discipline and flair for drama that that entails. But Measha is also a mother, a wife, a memoirist, a 7th generation Canadian descended from Black loyalists, on her way to finishing a Masters degree in practical theology. She does everything wholeheartedly, which is all the more inspiring when you ...
Aug 06, 2024•38 min•Ep. 93
Sometimes singers sing about singing, writers write about writing, and podcasters podcast about … yes, podcasting. This episode is actually a live off the floor recording of an interview we did with Sarah Burke, the founder of the Women in Media podcast and network. It takes place in Toronto at the Soundwave Summit, a conference and showcase for independent podcasters. Sarah tells us about why and how she started her pod, and then her network, and we all have a good chat about the ups and downs ...
Jul 10, 2024•34 min•Ep. 92
So Wendy never reads sports, but always reads Cathal Kelly, the sports writer at the Globe and Mail. He’s funny and fearless and clever, Cathal just happens to have chosen sports as the best vehicle. We pretended we were going to talk about the upcoming Paris Olympics, and we did! (Cathal loves the Olympics, aka 23-year-olds doing crazy, exceptional things, sometimes involving the River Seine) We also talk about his book, a memoir Cathal wrote a couple of years ago, called “Boy Wonders”. The boo...
Jul 02, 2024•33 min•Ep. 91
We both feel like we know her, Martha Chaves is after all the funniest Nicaraguan Canadian LGBTQ+ Stand Up Comedian in the World! We know her best from radio shows like “The Debaters”, and “Because News”. She also teaches comedy at Humber and Metropolitan Toronto University, showing the ropes to people just starting out. Martha tells us she’s heard and seen lots of sexism, racism and homophobia over the years in Stand Up, but she just pushes ahead. On her own at 17, (leaving Nicaragua is quite t...
Jun 25, 2024•35 min•Ep. 90
We love books and authors, we consider a lot of them for our podcast, but Vancouver Island’s Chelsea Wakelyn sent us an intriguing email. So we read her first book and got truly blown away. “What Remains of Elsie Jane” is a quasi-fictional story about losing her beloved partner, father to her kids, to drugs and addiction just as the opioid crisis began sweeping B.C. All while Chelsea was in her 30’s. It sounds like a gut-wrencher. And yes, it’s tragic and raw, but it’s also side-splittingly funn...
Jun 18, 2024•38 min•Ep. 89
There are many pathways to fame and fortune, but being exceptionally good at doing laundry is an unusual one. Enter Melissa Dilkes Pateras, whose knowledge of housecleaning tips and tricks has turned her into an internet sensation. Well, that, and her sly sense of humour and unblinking acknowledgement of her sexuality. A resident of Uxbridge, Ontario, and mother of three, Melissa started making videos during the Covid-19 lockdown to entertain herself, and went viral on Facebook, then TikTok, and...
Jun 11, 2024•38 min•Ep. 88
There’s no getting away from Ann Pornel, not that you would want to. She’s loud, she’s proud, she’s utterly glamorous and funny as hell. Ann’s a sketch comedian and an actress who is best known as the host of The Great Canadian Baking Show. Born in the Philippines, Ann moved with her family to Canada, then came up through the comedy ranks at the University of Toronto (yes, U of T is a hotbed of comedy). She’s written for Baroness Von Sketch and This Hour has 22 Minutes, and was recently recogniz...
Jun 04, 2024•40 min•Ep. 87
George Stroumboulopoulos is a man for all seasons. He’s everything: a media personality, broadcaster, former VJ, radio, talk and reality show host, social advocate and one time host of Hockey Night in Canada. Everyone knows George, and George know everyone, but what do we really know about him? He’s 51 and lives in L.A. now, where he does a show for Apple Music. He’s a vegan who embraces a straight edge lifestyle, rides a motorcycle and loves heavy metal. He’s single (we think, but who knows) an...
May 28, 2024•44 min•Ep. 86
We had to ask about the red hair, does one get ridiculed or admired? Loreena McKennitt has a mass of beautiful red curls but is mostly admired for her music. When Mo thinks of her, she sees mists and magic and fairy tales. Loreena’s sold more than 14 million albums and toured the world with her harp and her beloved band of fellow musicians. She’s a singer, songwriter and composer with a new album full of early Celtic tunes called “The Road Back Home”, and is going on tour where she hopes the aud...
May 21, 2024•34 min•Ep. 85
“Going to the coconut tree”. You hear it all the time on “Survivor”. What does that mean? Erica Casupanan spills the beans. She is the first Canadian to win “Survivor”, and the first Filipino. Tiny and Asian, she was tired of always being underestimated, so she used it on “Survivor 41”. Erika voted out her rivals, won over everyone else, and surprise, she won! More than a million bucks. A bit more than her previous salary as a communications manager, where she saw power dynamics at play. People ...
May 14, 2024•35 min•Ep. 84
Michael Smith is a Celebrity Chef who decided he had a problem with the Celebrity part. He’s kind of a big deal, has published several cookbooks, hosted TV shows on the Canadian Food Network, and wore the chef’s hat at some big-name restaurants around the world. Now, tired of Michelin-priced restaurants, he moved to Prince Edward Island and runs the 5-star “Inn at Bay Fortune”, where the farm is as sumptuous as the food. And there are oysters. Some nights he helps shuck 700 of them. Chef Michael...
May 07, 2024•31 min•Ep. 83
Ron James says comedy should never be mean, but he sure has a lot of opinions! You should hear what he says about Quebec comedians. Is there a geographic link to comedy, a humour gene unique to Eastern Canada? Ron says he learned the power of laughter at his father’s knee in Glace Bay and then Halifax. That’s why he loves to tour, he says laughs are truly the bottom line.Like so many comedians, Ron got his start at Second City in Toronto. Then he moved to Los Angeles, and hosted a TV show. Alas,...
Apr 30, 2024•34 min•Ep. 82
Jen Gerson of “The Line” readily admits to being a mouthy babe, but only when she writes, she insists she is actually shy. Jen says she’s just opinionated, not trying to change anyone’s mind. She argues that’s not a journalist's job, that only activists try to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”. Well, call us afflicted! Her writing makes us think. Jen has written for The New York Times, The Economist, Macleans, the National Post and The Globe and Mail. Now, she co-hosts “The Lin...
Apr 23, 2024•41 min•Ep. 81
You know you know Michaela Watkins, but you may not know why. Then you remember (or are told) that she’s been in over a hundred sitcoms, dramas and comedies, including a 2 year stint on SNL. And then you remember that you love her, and when you see her latest movie, Suze, you’ll remember why. In Suze, Michaela plays a woman who once wanted more for herself and sets about reclaiming it, with the help of her daughter’s abandoned boyfriend (played by up and coming Canadian actor Charlie Gillespie)....
Apr 16, 2024•25 min•Ep. 80
Ron Sexsmith says “I’m not really shy, I’m just Canadian”. He’s a singer-songwriter who has never had a top 40 hit, is not rich, but is deeply admired by the people he admires most. Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, and Gordon Lightfoot, are all, were all, huge fans. Sexmsith’s songs, like “Secret Heart”, have been performed by everyone from Rod Stewart to Feist to Nick Lowe.We spoke to him as he was about to headline at Toronto’s storybook Massey Hall. When Ron was a kid and couldn’t a...
Apr 09, 2024•33 min•Ep. 79
Award-winning director and cinematographer Dianne Whelan does not choose easy topics. She’s made docs about Mount Everest, and the Arctic, but this one, about being the first to tackle the whole Trans Canada Trail, takes the cake. Or in this case, the reheated oatmeal. Dianne has called her new documentary “500 Days in the Wild”, because that was the plan, to travel from St. John’s NL. to Victoria B.C., 24 thousand miles in 500 days. Only it took 6 years. Dianne burnt the original schedule and g...
Apr 02, 2024•35 min•Ep. 78
What IS the deal with boobs? Our preoccupation with women’s breasts isn’t just sexual, it’s social, historical, political and economic. No one knew that better than Carol Doda, a dancer and cocktail waitress, who, 60 years ago, dared to bare her nipples atop a baby grand piano as it descended from the ceiling of the Condor, a San Francisco nightclub. Somehow, it changed everything. Far from being exploited sex workers, Carol and her colleagues saw themselves as the harbingers of a revolution. Ma...
Mar 26, 2024•33 min•Ep. 77
When Tassie Cameron first saw the opening credits for Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, complete with the iconic DUN DUN sound effect, she felt a shiver up her spine. It was Cameron who was entrusted with the legendary series’ first foray beyond American borders, serving as show runner and head writer for the Canadian franchise. Tassie says Toronto is a natural fit, with its diverse population, distinct neighbourhoods and yes, rampant crime scene. There are differences, however, in our cri...
Mar 19, 2024•30 min•Ep. 76
It felt like Old Home Week. A few years ago Tracy Dawson was on the CTV comedy show The Dish Show, co-hosted by you know who. Yes, of course, it was Mo. And Tracy is still tempting trouble, mouthing off and cracking jokes, only now she’s in L.A. She’s a comedy writer who’s just written her first book, “ Let Me Be Frank: A Book About Women Who Dressed Like Men To Do Sh**t They Weren’t Supposed To Do”. Tracy got inspired after being told the TV shows she wanted to write for had “no female needs”! ...
Mar 12, 2024•39 min•Ep. 75
Why does the serious man movie always get the nod? On the eve of the Oscars, Johanna Schneller says some things don’t change. Hence Oppenheimer getting the glory and Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie getting snubbed. Wendy and Mo have different thoughts on the movie, but really? Barbie was huge! We talk to Johanna about Girl Power, why we love celebrities, and why Mean Girls may go on forever. But don’t worry, there are lots of reveals about getting famous people to open up. Johanna is one of the t...
Mar 05, 2024•41 min•Ep. 74
38 albums in, most of them gold or platinum, Bruce Cockburn is still Kicking at the Darkness. He’s a legendary singer-songwriter-activist who’s won 13 Juno awards, and is now heading out on tour with his latest, “O Sun, O Moon”, where he sings “In my soul, I’m on a roll”. Now 78, Bruce is still trying to make the world a better place. We talk about the one time “the suits” got a say (Franklin the Turtle lyrics ), about others having hits with his songs (Lovers in a Dangerous Time), and the story...
Feb 27, 2024•31 min•Ep. 73
Measha Brueggergosman-Lee is a diva in the true sense of the word: a famous female opera star, with all the fierce discipline and flair for drama that that entails. But Measha is also a mother, a wife, a memoirist, a 7th generation Canadian descended from Black loyalists, on her way to finishing a Masters degree in practical theology. She does everything wholeheartedly, which is all the more inspiring when you know her experience with cardiovascular disease, undergoing open-heart surgery not onc...
Feb 20, 2024•38 min•Ep. 72
Is being a woman just like in the ads? Blood is blue, and we all need supplements that make us smell like a pina colada? Jennifer Gunter is a Canadian gynecologist who also writes for the New York Times, hosts a podcast, and has written several bestselling books: The Vagina bible, The Menopause Manifesto, and now: BLOOD, The Science, Medicine and Mythology of Menstruation. She lives and practices in California, but her new book is the #1 bestseller in Canada. There’s lots of science, as she says...
Feb 13, 2024•41 min•Ep. 71
Alan Doyle says the best part of leaving, is coming home. And home is Newfoundland. His elders voted to keep Newfoundland a country, but they lost the 1949 referendum and joined Canada. Alan is the first generation Canadian in his family. We talk about his love of touring, of music, of acting beside Russell Crowe, and partying in pubs. Alan plans to keep performing forever. Why, he asks, would one ever retire? We tried to get him to confess to being secretly unhappy. It didn’t work. His new albu...
Feb 06, 2024•35 min•Ep. 70
Molly McGlynn has a lot to distinguish her: an accomplished writer and director, her first feature film Mary Goes Round won multiple awards at all the cool festivals, and she’s written for TV shows like Workin’ Moms, The Wonder Years and Grace and Frankie. Molly’s latest feature film, however, is a semi-autobiographical account of a teenager who discovers she was born wth a rare disorder called MRKH syndrome, which impacts the development of the uterus, cervix and vagina, and is sometimes classi...
Jan 30, 2024•38 min•Ep. 69
When she was 26, Emily O’Brien, a promising young woman (as they say) from Hamilton, Ontario made a really bad judgment call, and was sentenced to 4 years in prison for drug smuggling. That could have been the end of her story, as it is for so many, but Emily, given lemons, decided to turn them into lemon (and pepper and dill) flavoured popcorn. While still incarcerated, Emily started Comeback Snacks, a gourmet popcorn business that allowed her to not only reinvent her own life, but those of som...
Jan 23, 2024•35 min•Ep. 68
