November 18, 2025 • 8 mins
From his humble beginnings in sketch comedy with the Toronto branch of Second City, to his rise to fame in SCTV and Hollywood film classics like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Great Outdoors, and Uncle Buck, John Candy captivated audiences with his self-deprecating humour, emotional warmth, and gift for improvisation. Now, for the first time since Candy's tragic death, bestselling biographer Paul Myers tells the full story of the man behind the laughs.Drawing on extensive research and exclusive interviews with many of Candy's closest friends and colleagues, including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Steve Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, and many more, John Candy: A Life in Comedy celebrates the comedian's unparalleled talent, infectious charm, and generosity of spirit. Through ups and downs, successes and failures, and struggles with anxiety and self-doubt, Candy faced the world with a big smile and a warm demeanour that earned him the love and adoration of fans around the world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am the host of seventeen different podcasts. Now, try
to explain that to somebody who doesn't know where your
podcasts are. Well, it's on iHeartRadio. Oh, it's on Apple,
It's on It's on It's on I.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Can't find it.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Well, yeah you can. Everything is now on arrow dot
net A R R O E dot net. Paul, what
an amazing journey that you're presently on, because I'll tell
you what right now, especially there's a lot of stuff
on TV about John Candy. But the thing about it is, though,
is that what your book has done for me is
that it put me back onto that flat screen to
(00:31):
find John Candy movies. And I've got a new deep
respect for this man because of what you put in
this book.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you saying so.
And it's a pleasure to be here too.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well, there's a side of John that I guess I
didn't know until I found it within your paragraphs, and
that you know as much as we say, Oh, he's
one of the funniest men on the planet, he also
did some serious roles. I mean, when you go back
and watch him, even though it's a funny movie, those
moments where he gets serious. To me, is what reattracts
our attention as viewers.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Absolutely, It's something I've been referring to as the three
dimensionalness of his acting. He had an emotional intelligence, He
had empathy for his characters. He didn't punch down, he
didn't play a common man like. He didn't think of
that as a bad term. He brought dignity to these characters,
working people. And because he's a good actor, he could
(01:26):
also be funny as well as make it feel real,
so that he had that broad range of emotion. And
I think that's why we still talk about these comedies,
because they're not just comedies. They're kind of slice of
life films, you know, and it's all to John.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I think, well, you put so much research in this.
I mean, even talking with people who knew John or
still continue to know him in this modern day universe
where hey, they're just a conversation a way. You may
not hear them, but you can talk to them.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
That's a really that's a really insightful thing. Actually, tell
me more about that. That's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Well, I'm a firm believe. I'm sure that you watch
Russell Crowe in Beautiful mind where he was walking with
people beside him at all times. I believe we do
the same thing. And so when we go to a
John Candy movie and all of a sudden, you know,
I feel like that he's walking with us. It maybe
for an hour or two afterwards, it doesn't matter. He
made an impact on my soul and my steps growing forward,
So now it's like he's gonna walk with me for
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I think that's absolutely right. I think I think that
I think we all have.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Some call them angels, some call them, you know, just
guid guide, spiritual guides, and a lot of times, a
lot of times if an actor or a musician, like
I have this thing where sometimes Joni Mitchell or Neil Young,
for me, they're singing something that I relate to so
much that I feel like their song is with me. Yep.
And that's why we have these bonds with the arts
(02:49):
and the culture. And that's really what that's the social
glue of culture. It's why it's so important. That's why
the arts are important, even like the commercial arts are important,
you know, because.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It kind of shows us ourselves.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's you know, I could go serious time you here,
but art is a mirror of us, and it's a
mirror of us as as humans. And it's also the
slice of life from these eighties films tells us who
we were in the eighties and who we were in
the nineties.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And a lot of times there's a universality.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
University, universality, that's the word I'm trying to stumble through.
There's a thing that is never changed. Probably cave people
had the same emotions, you know. Maybe they had more
concerns like running from a dinosaur and learning how to
make fire, but the same fears, you know, place to sleep,
place to eat, you know, like those things, and that's
(03:41):
the primal thing that John Candy tapped into. So you're
onto something big, and I swear I'm completely sober right now.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Please do not move. There's more with Paul Myers coming
up next, the name of his book, John Candy, A
Life in Comedy. We're back with Paul Myers. The thing
about John Candy, I would like to see him being
chased by a dinosaur because I'll tell you what. He
would find out a way to turn it into comedy.
But at the same time he would say, can we
just sit down and talk? And that would be part
(04:09):
of the movie. We're just gonna talk. I just want
to know where you're coming from and why you need
to be chasing me so I can better understand my run.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Playing trains and brought to Sourts, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I had the opportunity to work with John at a
much different level because he had just started a national countdown.
And the way that we got to work with John
was that in syndication, you gotta do what you got
to do in order to survive, and that means personal
hygiene commercials. Well, we had to call John up every
week and say, please, please, don't do the personal hygiene commercials.
We can't do that. And so we finally, after weeks
(04:42):
and weeks, decided just splice him out, just to just
splice him out. And we're not going to take him
out because I need to make the money. But we're
not We're not going to take them out.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Wow, that's those the challenges everyone has, right Well, I
think that if anybody were to really dig and go
in there and listen to what he puts into those countdowns,
we're talking to a man that really brought a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Of his passion for music. It opened up my eyes
to see a different person behind that microphone on that countdown.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah. He he loved radio.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
By the way, John Kennedy had his own radio show
for two different radio shows actually, and.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
He would do his characters.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
He actually liked doing characters on radio because you didn't
have to be in the makeup chair so long. And
I talked in the book to Doug Thompson, who produced
his syndicated radio show Radio Candy, And he also brought
musicians in like you would have Zevon Helm and Clarence Clemens,
you know, and different people like I was really surprised
to hear about it, and you know he was. He
(05:40):
was did the Wilbury's video and you know he's like
music was a big part of his life too, and
that's something that SETV had too.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
But he loved radio.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I think he started doing commercials in Toronto for you know,
tire companies and stuff. So you know, an actor's life
takes them through so many different jobs, right wow, So
it's just always fun.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
How did he break that Canadian mold? I mean, because
you had the guests who had who had to send
a forty five across the borderline and say, well, you
guys guess who it is. But yeah, but yeah, when
when it comes to John Candy, he was everybody's actor.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I mean, I would say that there's this whole Canadian invasion,
if you will, where Lauren Michael's from Toronto creates Saturday
Night Live and imports dan Ek right down there and
kind of re imports Gilda who had come from Detroit
via Toronto and uh and so there's this whole beginning
(06:37):
of a beachhead there and then SETV gets on down there,
and I think that by that time everyone starts to
you know, everyone starts to know who these people are,
just as you know North American stars and Canadians typically
do that, especially in that day and age. As you
recall with the guess who like the It's pretty common
(06:58):
in our history to have people like Donald Sutherland have
to go to the States to make it or go
to England sometimes, you know. And it's interesting because what's
been happening in Canada now is there's a lot of
stuff that happens up here that is for Canadians only,
and they don't seem to they don't seem to care
of it goes anywhere else or but then it does,
(07:18):
like letter Kenny. So it's hard to know. So we're
constantly re exporting, a reimporting, and I don't know, it's
a really interesting time for us.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Wow, where can people go to find out more about
all of your writing, because I really love the idea
that you're into sharing the past with the present so
that we have something in the present to really hook into.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, you know, one of the fastest ways to find
out about me is I guess you could follow me
on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
It's like pull my ears with one L. But just
google Paul Meyer's.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Author and there's a couple of all ours authors, but
look for the one who wrote The Kids in the
Hall and Todd Rungren and John John Candy. A Life
in Comedy is the name of this one, and it's
out now and we're already in the bestseller list.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So it's really cool.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
And so I'm really excited about the attention the books
getting and I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, you got to come back to this show anytime
in the future. The door is always going to be
open for you.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Paul.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Thank you, Eric Will, you'd be brilliant today.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Okay, thank you. You two have a great day.
I am the host of seventeen different podcasts. Now, try
to explain that to somebody who doesn't know where your
podcasts are. Well, it's on iHeartRadio. Oh, it's on Apple,
It's on It's on It's on I.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Can't find it.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Well, yeah you can. Everything is now on arrow dot
net A R R O E dot net. Paul, what
an amazing journey that you're presently on, because I'll tell
you what right now, especially there's a lot of stuff
on TV about John Candy. But the thing about it is, though,
is that what your book has done for me is
that it put me back onto that flat screen to
(00:31):
find John Candy movies. And I've got a new deep
respect for this man because of what you put in
this book.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you saying so.
And it's a pleasure to be here too.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well, there's a side of John that I guess I
didn't know until I found it within your paragraphs, and
that you know as much as we say, Oh, he's
one of the funniest men on the planet, he also
did some serious roles. I mean, when you go back
and watch him, even though it's a funny movie, those
moments where he gets serious. To me, is what reattracts
our attention as viewers.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Absolutely, It's something I've been referring to as the three
dimensionalness of his acting. He had an emotional intelligence, He
had empathy for his characters. He didn't punch down, he
didn't play a common man like. He didn't think of
that as a bad term. He brought dignity to these characters,
working people. And because he's a good actor, he could
(01:26):
also be funny as well as make it feel real,
so that he had that broad range of emotion. And
I think that's why we still talk about these comedies,
because they're not just comedies. They're kind of slice of
life films, you know, and it's all to John.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I think, well, you put so much research in this.
I mean, even talking with people who knew John or
still continue to know him in this modern day universe
where hey, they're just a conversation a way. You may
not hear them, but you can talk to them.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
That's a really that's a really insightful thing. Actually, tell
me more about that. That's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Well, I'm a firm believe. I'm sure that you watch
Russell Crowe in Beautiful mind where he was walking with
people beside him at all times. I believe we do
the same thing. And so when we go to a
John Candy movie and all of a sudden, you know,
I feel like that he's walking with us. It maybe
for an hour or two afterwards, it doesn't matter. He
made an impact on my soul and my steps growing forward,
So now it's like he's gonna walk with me for
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I think that's absolutely right. I think I think that
I think we all have.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Some call them angels, some call them, you know, just
guid guide, spiritual guides, and a lot of times, a
lot of times if an actor or a musician, like
I have this thing where sometimes Joni Mitchell or Neil Young,
for me, they're singing something that I relate to so
much that I feel like their song is with me. Yep.
And that's why we have these bonds with the arts
(02:49):
and the culture. And that's really what that's the social
glue of culture. It's why it's so important. That's why
the arts are important, even like the commercial arts are important,
you know, because.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
It kind of shows us ourselves.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's you know, I could go serious time you here,
but art is a mirror of us, and it's a
mirror of us as as humans. And it's also the
slice of life from these eighties films tells us who
we were in the eighties and who we were in
the nineties.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And a lot of times there's a universality.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
University, universality, that's the word I'm trying to stumble through.
There's a thing that is never changed. Probably cave people
had the same emotions, you know. Maybe they had more
concerns like running from a dinosaur and learning how to
make fire, but the same fears, you know, place to sleep,
place to eat, you know, like those things, and that's
(03:41):
the primal thing that John Candy tapped into. So you're
onto something big, and I swear I'm completely sober right now.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Please do not move. There's more with Paul Myers coming
up next, the name of his book, John Candy, A
Life in Comedy. We're back with Paul Myers. The thing
about John Candy, I would like to see him being
chased by a dinosaur because I'll tell you what. He
would find out a way to turn it into comedy.
But at the same time he would say, can we
just sit down and talk? And that would be part
(04:09):
of the movie. We're just gonna talk. I just want
to know where you're coming from and why you need
to be chasing me so I can better understand my run.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Playing trains and brought to Sourts, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I had the opportunity to work with John at a
much different level because he had just started a national countdown.
And the way that we got to work with John
was that in syndication, you gotta do what you got
to do in order to survive, and that means personal
hygiene commercials. Well, we had to call John up every
week and say, please, please, don't do the personal hygiene commercials.
We can't do that. And so we finally, after weeks
(04:42):
and weeks, decided just splice him out, just to just
splice him out. And we're not going to take him
out because I need to make the money. But we're
not We're not going to take them out.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Wow, that's those the challenges everyone has, right Well, I
think that if anybody were to really dig and go
in there and listen to what he puts into those countdowns,
we're talking to a man that really brought a lot.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Of his passion for music. It opened up my eyes
to see a different person behind that microphone on that countdown.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah. He he loved radio.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
By the way, John Kennedy had his own radio show
for two different radio shows actually, and.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
He would do his characters.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
He actually liked doing characters on radio because you didn't
have to be in the makeup chair so long. And
I talked in the book to Doug Thompson, who produced
his syndicated radio show Radio Candy, And he also brought
musicians in like you would have Zevon Helm and Clarence Clemens,
you know, and different people like I was really surprised
to hear about it, and you know he was. He
(05:40):
was did the Wilbury's video and you know he's like
music was a big part of his life too, and
that's something that SETV had too.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
But he loved radio.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I think he started doing commercials in Toronto for you know,
tire companies and stuff. So you know, an actor's life
takes them through so many different jobs, right wow, So
it's just always fun.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
How did he break that Canadian mold? I mean, because
you had the guests who had who had to send
a forty five across the borderline and say, well, you
guys guess who it is. But yeah, but yeah, when
when it comes to John Candy, he was everybody's actor.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I mean, I would say that there's this whole Canadian invasion,
if you will, where Lauren Michael's from Toronto creates Saturday
Night Live and imports dan Ek right down there and
kind of re imports Gilda who had come from Detroit
via Toronto and uh and so there's this whole beginning
(06:37):
of a beachhead there and then SETV gets on down there,
and I think that by that time everyone starts to
you know, everyone starts to know who these people are,
just as you know North American stars and Canadians typically
do that, especially in that day and age. As you
recall with the guess who like the It's pretty common
(06:58):
in our history to have people like Donald Sutherland have
to go to the States to make it or go
to England sometimes, you know. And it's interesting because what's
been happening in Canada now is there's a lot of
stuff that happens up here that is for Canadians only,
and they don't seem to they don't seem to care
of it goes anywhere else or but then it does,
(07:18):
like letter Kenny. So it's hard to know. So we're
constantly re exporting, a reimporting, and I don't know, it's
a really interesting time for us.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Wow, where can people go to find out more about
all of your writing, because I really love the idea
that you're into sharing the past with the present so
that we have something in the present to really hook into.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, you know, one of the fastest ways to find
out about me is I guess you could follow me
on Instagram.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
It's like pull my ears with one L. But just
google Paul Meyer's.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Author and there's a couple of all ours authors, but
look for the one who wrote The Kids in the
Hall and Todd Rungren and John John Candy. A Life
in Comedy is the name of this one, and it's
out now and we're already in the bestseller list.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So it's really cool.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
And so I'm really excited about the attention the books
getting and I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, you got to come back to this show anytime
in the future. The door is always going to be
open for you.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Paul.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Thank you, Eric Will, you'd be brilliant today.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Okay, thank you. You two have a great day.
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