#markcritch

Series creator and star Mark Critch needed to replicate the bridge of the original Star Trek Enterprise for a fantasy sequence on his St. John's-based sitcom Son of a Critch. The episode airs this Tuesday, January 16 on CBC. Who did Critch beam aboard to do the job?
None other that my guest this week on brioux.tv: the podcast, Mark Steel.
True, that name sounds more like a Marvel superhero than a  production designer. Steel, however, has been crafting the look of everything from phasers to flight decks as the production designer on the Toronto-based Paramount+ series Star Trek: Discovery.
Emmy nominated for his TV work, he was also the production designer of The Umbrella Academy and an Art Director on What We Do in the Shadows as well as Heroes Reborn and Beauty and the Beast.
Raised in Ottawa, Steel got his start back in the '90s as a set decorator on the original Kids in the Hall series, which he says was pretty much a great party every live taping.
Set phasers for stun as he talks about how he got into the business and  how he brought the Enterprise to Newfoundland, one retro scene at a time. As Spock would say, "Fascinating."

When he was asked to be president of the Toronto Film School a few years ago, Andrew Barnsley wasn't sure if he could take the job. After all, he was the executive producer of three network sitcoms at the time: Schitt's Creek, JANN and Son of a Critch. (A fourth, the reboot of Kids in the Hall on Prime Video, came later.)
The Emmy and Golden Globe award winner eventually figured it all out and now has his Emmys for producing Schitt's Creek on display at the Toronto Film School campus. It serves as an inspiration for the young TV and film students looking for a leg up in an industry that keeps booming in Canada -- even as Canadian broadcasters continue to reel from declining ad revenues.
Barnsley -- who has lived all across Canada -- is nevertheless bullish on our TV business. He offers encouragement to those entering that field. He also talks about that thrilling Emmy sweep a few years ago, seeing Son of a Critch take on the American market on The CW and the clever way Eugene Levy convinced nervous network executives to not change the name of Schitt's Creek.

Malcolm McDowell has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. 

Growing up in Liverpool in the early ‘60s, he took his girlfriend to see The “Silver” Beatles at the Cavern Club. By the end of the decade, he was one of the beautiful people swingin' through London as the star of Lindsay Anderson’s “If….” and "O Lucky Man." In 1971, he drew raves for his electric performance in Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange.”

Fifty years later, he feels like a "Lucky Man" all over again for landing in Canada on CBC’s breakout comedy hit, “Son of a Critch.”

McDowell loved shooting in Newfoundland and immediately bonded with his young British co-star, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth.  He praises the scripts along with the book the series was spun off from: Mark Critch's memoir about growing up eccentric on Canada's East Coast.

And what a life he has led in-between. Listen as McDowell tells story after story about the famous stage and film folk he has known, including three Sirs:  Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and John Guilgud. Other names dropped include Peter Sellers, Robert Altman, Robert Mitchum, Michael Caine and George Harrison. 

At 78, he's never been busier, having just finished shooting a movie with two actors he adores: Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

He's got stories about them, too. This is a podcast you don't want to miss.

You would be hard-pressed to find a more impressive cross-border comedy resume than that of writer-producer Tim McAuliffe. The Montreal native’s list of credits includes The Office, The Last Man on Earth, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, MacGruber, This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Corner Gas.

His latest production is co-creating Son of a Critch, which is already off to an impressive start on CBC. 

The Tuesday night sitcom stars Mark Critch and is based on his memoir about growing up in Newfoundland. McAuliffe and Critch first met as writers 16 years ago on 22 Minutes. After Critch wrote his book, McAuliffe said that is a TV show, and the two made it so.

McAuliffe did not set out to write for the likes of Critch, Will Forte, Jimmy Fallon, Brent Butt or Steve Carell. He was working in advertising when a video he made in an effort to unload his clunky ’88 Dodge Aires went viral. Soon he was helping to launch Video on Trial and other shows for MuchMusic.

Without an agent or a manager (or a Green Card) he managed to land a job writing for Fallon. It all started when he dropped off a package full of jokes at the 30 Rock reception desk in Manhattan. The rest of that story is one of the great eye openers of a fun conversation. Listen to it now at Brioux.tv the podcast.