Sick Man Talking Podcast

In this episode, the Sick Man descends into Dante’s Inferno. 

Nine circles. Demons. Fire and ice. It’s one of the most famous stories in literature - and one of the most misunderstood. 

Beneath the nightmares, it’s a story about being lost… about the moment the person you thought you were and the person actually making your choices become strangers to each other. And about what refuses to let you st...

In this episode, the Sick Man returns to ancient Greece to tell the myth of Demeter and Persephone. 

On the surface, it’s a story about the changing seasons. Beneath that, it’s about the moments that divide life into before and after - the experiences that change how we move through the world, even when the world itself appears unchanged. Along the way, he explores grief, transformation, identity, and why some of th...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks about the Canadiana Roller Rink.

For a generation of kids growing up in Aurora, Newmarket, and the surrounding area, the Canadiana Roller Rink was more than just a a place to skate. It was a place almost everyone seemed to pass through, and decades later it’s still one of those places people immediately start talking about when it’s mentioned.

Along the way he explores t...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks about space.

He follows the history of how human beings have looked up and tried to figure out what exactly is going on up there - from early humans sitting under the night sky making sense of patterns, to ancient astronomy, Greek cosmology, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo, telescopes, modern space exploration, and where all of that leaves us now. 

Along the way he talks about how people assign m...

In this episode, the Sick Man examines an old Chinese parable called “We’ll See”. If nothing else, this is a great episode for sleep therapy. 

What started off as a powerful philosophical meditation on an old Chinese parable about how good and bad events may not mean what we think they mean, quickly spiralled out of control to the point where the Sick Man’s audio engineer phoned him and literally asked, ...

In this episode, Fake Cop returns in an absurd satire of the 1976 film Taxi Driver. Working nights as a deeply unqualified Uber driver in Newmarket, Ontario, Fake Cop descends into obsession as he battles unleashed dogs, a collapsing Uber rating, local politics, hockey players, and his own increasingly questionable grip on reality. 

A tale of loneliness, delusion, civic responsibility, room-temperature water, shoe polish abuse,...

In this episode, the Sick Man returns with the shocking and explosive finale of the latest Fake Cop Trilogy. 

The Toucan Man is still on the loose and Fake Cop can’t find him. So he does something he hates more than anything: he gets introspective. 

So he’s going to do what he usually does: double down in the worst possible direction. Going deeper. Not into the streets, but into whatever the hell is going on ins...

In this episode, the Sick Man returns with part two of the shocking, explosive, new Fake Cop Trilogy. 

Will Fast Bobby return with information about the Toucan Man? No idea. Will Fake Cop finally confront his role in the death of his son? He doesn’t really know how to, so probably not. Will the Bonanza survive the night? Unlikely. Most importantly, will any of this actually lead somewhere … for once? Maybe. Depends...

In this episode, the Sick Man returns with part one of the shocking, explosive new Fake Cop Trilogy.

Will Bobby find information on the Toucan Man? Probably not. Will Fake Cop finally confront his role in the death of his son? Probably not. Most importantly, will he finally get rid of that body in the trunk? Same answer. 

This is the Last Breakfast.

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Host: Brad Cartner 

Show Producer: Greg O’Brien 

So...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks about a story we all think we know; Pandora, the box, and the moment everything went wrong. But instead of telling it the usual way, he slows it down and looks at what actually happened in that moment. Not just what escaped … but what stayed behind, and why that matters. How does hope actually survive?

From there, he moves into the modern world and the “boxes” we deal wi...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks about the ancient Greek concept of hubris; an excess of pride that distorts judgment and pushes individuals and systems beyond their limits; how certainty can override caution, and how ambition, when left unchecked, begins to reshape reality in ways that can’t be ignored. Using myth, literature, history, and personal experience, this episode looks at hubris as both a personal and collective...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks about the invisible choreography of modern life. 

Navigating bureaucracies has reached the level of an Olympic sport. Government agencies, banks, corporate offices, and customer service all insist you follow rules that change while you’re watching. Let’s explore the absurd perfection of these systems and what it means to try to stay human in a world that already assumes you’...

In this episode, the Sick Man steps onto the ice to talk about one of hockey’s strongest traditions: fighting.

How it began. How it survived. Who does it. And why the sport that prides itself on speed and skill still makes room for a man whose job description includes punching people in the face. 

Along the way, he examines the culture that produced it, and the enduring legend of the “Polite Canadian.” 

Fea...

In this Very Special Episode, the Sick Man talks about the summer of 1987, and his very first job working for a printing factory in Toronto’s Financial District. 

Before there was ambition, before there was a crash, before there were podcasts recorded in basements, there was ink. Industrial ink. The perfume of capitalism. And there were cigarettes. Lots and lots of cigarettes. 

A coming of each story about paper, pani...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks about childhood myths from the 80s; paying extra attention to one that still haunts him.  He also flips the 80s on their head, and presents them from a different perspective. 

TRIGGER WARNING FOR GEN X LISTENERS: I know Generation X doesn’t believe in trigger warnings, but this one is necessary.

This is the Lost Nut. 

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Host: Brad Cartner 

Show Producer: Greg O...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks about fear; why it happens, what it does, why we need it, and how it has evolved. He then shares some of his own personal fears, many of which are irrational, contradictory, or just plain weird. 

This is the Fear Episode.

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Host: Brad Cartner 

Show Producer: Greg O’Brien 

Sound Engineer: Derek Welsman

Music: Brad Cartner 

Officer Wilfert: Adam Carter 

FOR FUL...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks (melts down) about technology. 

Who are these people? What are they doing to us? Why are they doing it to us? Do we have any choice in it? Will there be a Borg appearance?

Then he traces his own history with technology, detailing his many psychological breakdowns, while suffering several more during the episode.

This is the Technology Episode.

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Host: Brad Cartner...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks about sleep deprivation. What it does, why it happens, and how it feels. He gives a history of his own problems, tracing them back to before birth, and reenacts a scene from a hospital room that just couldn’t contain him.

This is the Sleep Deprivation Episode.

Support the show

Host: Brad Cartner 

Show Producer: Greg O’Brien 

Sound Engineer: Derek Welsman

Music: Bra...

In this episode, the Sick Man talks about vengeance. He traces it back to Ancient Greece through an old myth, examines its philosophical and legal roots, questions whether it has any place in justice, looks at how it’s portrayed in film, and finally turns inward, confronting his own complicated relationship with it. What does vengeance actually do, and who does it really serve? Does it deliver what it promises?

This is the Ven...