The RIFF Toronto
Welcome to The Riff, Toronto’s creative culture podcast brought to you by my-toronto.ca, where two internationally acclaimed artists (painter and animator Gary O'Brien and jazz fusion guitarist Jeremy Green) dig into Toronto’s entertainment scene. They’ll be hanging out with all sorts of creative minds...from music, comedy, sports, theatre and everything that lurks in between.
Episodes
Walter KlassenFX - The RIFF-S2 ep5 - Ever wonder how your favorite movies fake it — and make it look real? In this episode of The Riff, we sit down with Taku Desai, Chief Creative Officer of Walter Klassen FX — a Toronto-based special effects studio that's been behind the magic of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, The Boys, The Handmaid's Tale, Captain America, Star Trek, Shazam, The Shape of Water, Reacher, and many m...
The RIFF S2 - ep4 -Dawn Dwyer Pappas
What is it actually like working with major artists behind the scenes?
In this episode of The Riff, we sit down with an experienced music publicist who has worked at the highest levels of the industry. This conversation goes beyond theory and into real moments from the road, from press days to high-pressure situations where everything is on the line.
These are grounded, human stories about ...
Johnny Ross - The RIFF S2 ep3
Johnny Ross, frontman of Canadian rock band Learhaven, joins Gary and Jeremy on The Riff Toronto for one of our most honest and entertaining conversations yet. Johnny breaks down the wild chaos of touring Spain and Switzerland (burst pipes, gear crashes, and empty venues that filled up in 5 minutes flat), the story behind "Soulbreaker" landing on Hockey Night in Canada, and why his obsession wit...
Dontoverthinkitchip - The RIFF S2 ep2
He quit a 6-figure insurance job with only $500/month coming in — and went $75K into debt chasing a dream. Three years later, he's landing brand deals with PlayStation, Nissan, the Toronto Blue Jays, and Chipotle, with 16 million views from nearly 6 million accounts. This is the story of @dontoverthinkitchip.
In this episode of The Riff, Gary and Jeremy sit down with Toronto-based con...
Andrew Stasiw - The RIFF S2 ep1
Toronto's underground EDM scene has a new king — and he built it from a laptop during lockdown.
Andrew Stasiw of King and Queen Events joins Gary and Jeremy on The Riff to pull back the curtain on how he went from bedroom producer to booking global heavyweights like Danny Avila, Maddox, and Sam Pacho at iconic venues like Coda — all as an independent operator competing against the m...
EMM - The Riff ep 12
She climbed into a coffin full of biting worms — and kept singing. 🎵🐛
In this episode of The Riff, Gary and Jeremy sit down with EMM — a classically trained, award-winning artist from Traverse City, Michigan who grew up surrounded by musical prodigies, moved to New York before high school, and built an independent music empire with 200 million streams entirely on her own terms.
Now signed with Sony/T...
Kevin Comeau - The RIFF ep 11
What happens when a kid hears Rush for the first time and his entire life changes? We found out.
Kevin Comeau of Juno Award-winning prog duo Crown Lands sits down with The Riff to talk about the moment A Farewell to Kings rewired his brain at 14, hitchhiking across Canada and down the California coast after reading Jack Kerouac, accidentally joining a reggae band in a Hollywood guitar shop, and h...
Afrim Pristine - RIFF S1 ep10
🎙️ What does it take to become one of the most respected names in the food world?
In this episode of The RIFF, we sit down with Afrim Pristine, internationally recognized cheese master, entrepreneur, television personality, and one of Canada's leading voices in food culture.
From building a world-class business to appearing on major television shows, Afrim shares the lessons, challenges, and mindset that...
Pete Bowman - The RIFF -S1 ep.9
Pete Bowman — Canadian fishing legend, TV host of Fishin' Canada (3.5M viewers), and Hall of Famer — sits down with The Riff for one of the most entertaining fishing conversations you'll ever hear.
From stunning a fish with a boat oar to get his lure back, to revealing how a laid-off electrician accidentally became one of Canada's most beloved TV personalities, Pete holds nothing back.
In th...
Maddy Goldberg - The RIFF S1 ep8
What happens when a Michelin-trained chef shows up to a food bank with no set menu and two hours to feed 100 people? Pure magic.
This week on The Riff, hosts Gary O'Brien and Jeremy sit down with Toronto's most fascinating chef — Maddy Goldberg. With 160K+ Instagram followers, viral food content, and a background in social work, Maddy is redefining what it means to be a chef in 2026.
...
Tim Gallagher - The RIFF - S1 ep7
What if your favorite song could pay you every month — forever?
Most people have no idea that music royalties exist as an investable asset class. In this episode of The Riff, hosts Gary O'Brien and Jeremy Green sit down with Tim Gallagher — founder of Music Royalties Inc. and former Chairman & CEO of Metalla Royalty — to pull back the curtain on one of the most overlooked invest...
Donna Garner - The RIFF - S1 ep6
🎭🎵 She learned accordion in 8 days and booked a Broadway national tour. No big deal.
In this episode of The Riff, hosts Gary O'Brien and Jeremy Green sit down with the extraordinary Donna Garner — actor, singer, pianist, multi-instrumentalist, voice coach, music director, AND founder of Garner Theatre Productions. Oh, and she's the youngest of 13 kids raised on a dairy farm near Stratford, Ont...
Darin Bristow - The RIFF -S1 ep.5
What do SpongeBob SquarePants, Sammy Hagar, Eddie Van Halen, and Kim Mitchell all have in common? Darin Bristow. In this episode of The Riff, Gary O'Brien and Jeremy Green sit down with one of Canada's most versatile creative minds — an animation producer, director, educator, and musician with over 30 years of experience bridging the worlds of art, music, and storytelling.
Gino Del Sole - The RIFF S1 ep.4
What does it take to play 800 live shows on a Norwegian cruise ship, hold down a pit chair for Mirvish's biggest Broadway productions, and dress as Angus Young for a living? Guitarist Gino Del Sole has done all of it — and he's here to tell you exactly what goes on behind the curtain.
In Episode 4 of The Riff, hosts Gary O'Brien and Jeremy Green sit down with Gino for a candid, h...
Rich Brown - The RIFF S1 ep3
What happens when one of Canada's most accomplished jazz bassists sits down with his oldest musical friends and just gets real? This. Rich Brown — Juno Award winner, educator, bandleader, and one of Toronto's most versatile musicians — joins Gary O'Brien and Jeremy Green for an honest, hilarious, and deeply inspiring conversation that every musician needs to hear.
Rich walks us...
Staying a working musician for 30-plus years is harder than most people think — and Rick Menary has lived every part of it. In this episode of The Riff, we sit down with Rick, singer, guitarist, and co-founder of the Toronto blues rock band The Spitfire Kings, for one of the most honest conversations about the music life you'll hear anywhere.
Rick shares how a childhood Kiss performance sparked everything, how he learn...
SamIAM - The Riff S1 ep.1
What do classical guitar, extreme metal, six languages, and Toronto's underground DJ scene have in common? Meet Sam Green — known on stage as Samiam — and this episode will completely change how you think about what it means to be a musician.
On this episode of The Riff, hosts Gary O'Brien and Jeremy Green sit down with Sam, a multidisciplinary Toronto artist who started playing p...
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