The hilarity slung by the fine folks at sketch comedy troupe Halfhandsome is to be applauded.

Adapting the nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic and wink and a nod to all the quirks of our island that made the likes of CODCO and This Hour Has 22 Minutes crew forever beloved, Halfhandsome continues to provide gut-bustingly funny entertainment fit for the masses.

But when the world collectively sheltered from an unseen global pandemic, the b’ys had to get creative.

“To kick it off it was like COVID hit, the theatres were closed. We didn’t know what to do and we knew we wanted to do something, but we knew we probably wouldn’t get the money back. And it was kind of like this logistical thing. COVID was such a logistical nightmare in the theatre world and the rules were kind of unknown at a certain point. We really didn’t know if we could do anything. So we were like ‘what else do we do?’” explains Halfhandsome’s Andrew Tremblett.

Innovation struck in the form of a podcast, but not just your mom and pops tête-à-tête on sports or politics kind, but hearkening back to the bygone days of storytellers and radio plays that crowded families around a sturdy signal for hours of can’t miss entertainment.

The Halfhandsome team

“We kind of hearkened back to these old British comedies on the BBC and even CBC. Podcasts are really a bunch of b’ys talking and laughing over each other and it’s like, who the f**k cares?” adds Tremblett with a laugh. 

“We were like, well, let’s do Almost Baymous, but in podcast form. So it was really kind of like to do something during COVID and we really didn’t know how to do it.”

With aid from producer and sound editor Spencer Bellows, and an addictive score by Adam Foran, the Halfhandsome team of Tremblett, Zac Cross, Elizabeth Hicks, Evan Mercer, Stuart Simpson, supported by the voice acting talents of Allison Kelly, Stef Curran, Spencer Bellows, and Devon Bryan and the iconic Greg Malone, all hands hunkered down in creative town to develop The Codcast, 10 episodes of riotous sketch comedy that poke at everything from “the dark side of Newfoundland tourism,” to a Black Mirror styled sequence where the listener becomes the subject of the entire episode. 

There’s tons of ideas, and they all stick.

“For this project, we had such a back catalogue of stuff from previous shows that we hadn’t done on stage, we hadn’t said in front of anybody. We had sketches that we just didn’t do. So there was a certain amount of that we were lifting from and going well, how do we turn this into an audio sketch?” shared Simpson, delving into the real challenge of taking a largely visual medium and adapting it for an audio-only experience. 

“I think it’s like a nod to how important those shows were and how important those teleplays and radio plays were and the new wave,” explains Tremblett. “It’s our little nod to old comedy and the new, and new form and old form and what’s that bridge. You can really reach. I don’t know, like it’s old radio man, it’s classic. And I love it myself personally.”

‘Come on We Goes’

With the debut episode, naturally titled “Come on We Goes”, hitting the airwaves this past May, The Codcast has already grown a local following, while also proudly gaining listenership across the globe, something the crew admittedly take great pride in.

“It’s not just for the hall anymore, it’s not for just people in town. We want, of course, Newfoundland, and that’s where our numbers are right now. Across Newfoundland there’s a lot. We did the sketch fest and stuff and we found that our humour really resonated in different places,” shared Tremblett, with Simpson explaining that, as a comedy troupe, the gang tend to hold their tried and true “salt beef lens” up to the world. 

“I always say that we are post-ironic Newfoundlanders,” he shared with a grin. “We lay into watta ya at b’y? and how she goin’? And all that stuff. And we always kind of say it as a bit of a joke, but then we do it so much as the joke that it just kind of becomes the way we get on. And so it kind of loses its joke, but it’s still kind of a joke, but like the whole thing is a joke (laughs). And with that, because it’s such a global kind of world we’re living in and all of the information is available to us all the time, we’re no longer this isolated province.

“The information we’re getting is global. It’s international. But we as this generation of post-ironic Newfoundlanders, when we create content, we’re always putting this filter over it. We call it the salt beef veneer. It’s this little lens that we look through that just has that little tinge of how ya gettin’ on? It has that bit of Newfoundland to it even if we’re talking about something that’s much larger than, it’s always got that little taste of Newfoundland in it.”

Parting thoughts? Tune in, have a laugh, and spread the good word of Halfhandsome. “Go and listen. Give us a download. Give us a share. If we can reach out to the readers of The Herald, it all helps,” explains Simpson in closing. “It spreads the word, the good word of Halfhandsome.”

Find The Codcast on your go-to podcast provider and follow Halfhandsome on their official social medias

Kathryn Taylor knows the setup. She’s had her share of stints on the other side of the questioning. This time, though, Taylor is the author opposite of an interviewers line of questioning. 

Taylor, the longtime host and producer of Let’s Get Writing and Exploits Central with an extensive background in communications, sits down with The Herald in the wake of the release of her debut novel Misty’s Misadventures, a romantic comedy described as Bridget Jones meeting The Gilmore Girls.

The scale of a book

“I felt a bit like a fish out of water myself, which sometimes my character Misty feels like,” Taylor begins honestly.

“When I first started this journey, I started asking people, how do you write a book? How do you do this? I know I’ve written for newspaper, I’ve written a gazillion press releases and profiles, but I haven’t thought about the scale of a book. And the biggest piece of advice I got was write about what you know.”

Taylor would do just that, channeling her background in television production, hosting and writing, as well as the ingrained knowledge and wisdom of raising children and the movement through time that brought the Grand Falls native back to Newfoundland and Labrador after 25 years to conjure Misty Muldoon, the protagonist of her debut novel Misty’s Misadventures.

“All those feelings were raw and fresh in my mind. So I tapped into them,” she shared. “Those were things I drew into the book, but not autobiographically, because Misty definitely had different things going on (laughs).”

Set in Charlie’s Cove, NL, Taylor’s debut novel finds Misty, a divorcee who reluctantly returns to her roots, beginning again with a new sense of belonging, and a new love interest to boot. 

Laugh at life

There are of course challenges and tribulations along the way, with Taylor introducing readers to a whole slate of colourful characters ready-made for a  guilt-free popcorn flick rom-com or fireside binge read.

“I think the idea came so long ago when I was coming home and was so resistant to the idea. I felt like, oh, goodness, moving back to an island? I’m moving back to a lot of things that I felt I left behind,” Taylor shared honestly. 

“Moving back to my hometown. I was used to being in a city and not a town. So I think the ideas started bubbling then, but it took a while for it to perk. I think there was always an idea to set it here and I’ve always felt the Newfoundland had such an amazing culture,” she adds warmly. 

“When I grew up here I was very involved in theater and writing and performing. It was just so much fun. And then when I came back and landed in the middle of the dental practice and started to interact with people from all the small communities that would come in, right from the person who lays their dentures on the counter-top and says ‘what can you do for me?’ To one that comes in and the woman gets the new teeth and looks at her brother and he goes, ‘well, now you fixed your teeth. What can you do for her face?’ (laughs). So that really cemented it. I think the two years when I first came home, I just really saw with fresh eyes the humour. And I love humor. I love writing funny things, and I like to laugh at life and I like to see the humour in things. So that switched me.”

Seedlings planted

Joking that she’s “very good at getting the spotlight on other people,” albeit “much less so” for herself, Taylor navigates the at times taxing role of an author, and all the pitfalls of the literary game.

“I feel a little more reserved because you always have that thing, well what if people don’t like it? What if they don’t like what I’ve done? And you take it so personally because what if they don’t like it turns into what if they don’t like me? And it’s crazy to feel like that, but I think that bit of insecurity comes to the surface despite all the things in my life that I’ve done successfully, when it’s your own stuff that you put out there.”

Though with a successful launch in her back-pocket, seedlings planted to make Misty into a series and even a planned screen adaptation, there’s plenty to be optimistic about for this first time author with imagination to spare.

“I’m still learning this game and learning how to write. When I think of someone or some of the authors I interview, they figured out kind of this formula of what makes a book and how to create the characters. When I wrote this, I wrote it by the seat of my pants,” she laughs. 

A blank canvas

“I think when you figure out who your readers are, you write your stories, but you write for them, too. And that’s what helps you write those other books, because you kind of know and you’re not just looking at a blank canvas, you kind of know that here’s who’s reading and here’s what I’d like to write for them.

“I wanted a book that I knew that women might pick up and read and have a laugh. Nothing too heavy. They’ve dealt with the kids, they’ve dealt with whatever, and they just want to escape for a while. And I wanted to do that and I wanted to put it in the Newfoundland setting.”

For more on the works of Kathryn Taylor including Misty’s Misadventures and Let’s Get Writing visit kathryntaylor.ca

Matt Wells knows his way around a story. An artist, actor, musician and longtime television personality and host, the Newfoundland native owns credits across MTV, MuchMusic, Bravo and The New Music across decades in the entertainment industry.

Now, Wells has made the transition to the land of podcasting, and he’s doing so with the aim of spreading good.

“I had been flirting with the idea of a podcast for a long time because there are 45 billion podcasts,” Wells joked in a sitdown with The Herald. “And I’ve had this conversation a couple of times now, and my answers vary because I’ve had people ask me when I’m doing interviews about this. And the answer that I’ve come to now is something I’ve learned from doing the podcast. 

“One of our guests, Sharon Lewis, this wonderful producer and director, she said something like one of the things that she has grown into or helps her get through what it is she wants to do and motivates her through her life is asking herself the question, ‘how is it that I can be of service today?’ And that really hit me, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

Wells, a devoted husband and father, explained that listenership and advertising dollars came second to a desire to share inspiring stories of triumph and perseverance, aiming to throw out some good vibes and positivity into the ether with Good Things with Matt Wells.

“My motivation for doing it truly was observing how hard we are on ourselves, observing how difficult it is for all of us, no matter what age we are, to live through this filtered existence where we’re comparing ourselves to what we see on our phone of people living through a filtered life. Perfect skin, staged photos, staged days. And as a dad, I’m very acutely aware of that,” Wells shared, impassioned. 

Darkness before light

“I wanted to create a space on this podcast where I could use the connections I had built over the years to get folks who are well-known on the podcast, who perhaps are admired by some people, to talk about those low moments before the high moments. To talk about the darkness before the light. Because I believe that, at least for me, hearing other people talk about it makes me feel a little bit better about my own journey.”

Across a dozen episodes and counting, Wells has swapped stories and memories with a who’s who of the entertainment world and beyond, from Canadian sports icon Clara Hughes to NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, Big Brother Canada host Arisa Cox, and Great Big Sea’s Séan McCann, to name a few. 

“What I wanted to do was create a space where people could hear those types of conversations and understand that we are all connected by the struggle, the daily struggle. Some have it worse, some have it not so bad. But we all have it and good things are coming,” Wells explained. “They’ll hear conversations with Jagmeet Singh or Clara Hughes or Séan McCann, about the low, low moments. But they’ll go, they got through them, good things are coming.

‘Transcends colour’

“I want people to be able to relate to it,” he adds. “So it could be a music executive, it could be a musician, it could be a politician, it could be a TV host, it could be an author, it could be a chef. I wanted it to be a way to show that this transcends career choice. This transcends colour. This transcends anything. This is a very human idea that things get sh***y, but if we can somehow find a way to not give up, they’re not always going to be sh***y. And that affects everyone.”

Combining past reflections of his over 1,100 pro-interviews across television over 12 years, with names ranging from Chris Cornell and Ozzy Osbourne to Katy Perry and Mariah Carey, Wells balances insights and stories and weaves connections through his current crop of guests, finding theme and meaning in a rarer form of conversation, the often forgotten deep dive.

“So what I’ve done in the podcast is that before each interview starts, I recall a moment I’ve had through from the past and I connect it to the interview I’m going to do,” Wells explained, sharing that his own personal bucket list for guests continues to grow as he embraces this new and seemingly boundless format.

“Because I’m revisiting this after ten years, the list is limitless, it’s endless right now. If I wanted to throw a couple names at you, I wouldn’t mind interviewing Stephen King. I’d like to interview Paul Simon. I’d like to interview Lauryn Hill. I’d like to have those deep dive interviews with someone like that. That’s what the podcast allows me to do.”

Still learning

Explaining that he’s still learning on the job – modest for the seasoned interviewer – Wells admits that, as long as there’s a need to absorb some positivity, he’ll continue to explore Good Things.

“This was just an idea that I wanted to throw out into the universe. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t know if I would do more than two episodes, and all of a sudden it turned into something way bigger than I ever imagined it would. So I’m going to just keep going with it, because as long as people are connecting with it, it’s worth my time. And that’s all that really matters to me.”

Good Things with Matt Wells is available on your go-to podcast provider. Stay tuned for our deep dive sitdown with Wells and bandmate Mike Rowe for our reunion interview with NL rockers Bucket Truck!

There’s this saying about best-laid plans. Interwoven with those adages of counting your chickens is the core idea that one doesn’t have a lens to the future, and nothing in life is guaranteed.

Dave Whitty knows that more than most. A career singer-songwriter whose passion for music is palpable, Whitty has had to pivot to new avenues of expression – and bringing home the bacon – once the touring landscape for artists as we know it halted in March of 2020. 

“It’s been an interesting year, obviously,” Whitty begins in a sitdown with The Herald. “When the first wave hit I was in Mexico. I never got home until March 23rd. I mean by the 16 or 17 everything here was kind of shut down. You know, I came home and quarantined for a couple of weeks, but I had originally booked a full tour out in Alberta.

“I bought a new cabin in Green’s Harbour a year and a half ago. So I said, you know what, I’m going to just spend some time up there working on the cabin and I’m going to do my gigs. You got to pay your bills and stuff like that. But I didn’t want to drain myself. I found in years past, especially in St. John’s over the summers, I’ve just worked so hard that in September I’m just completely roasted man, completely burnt out, fried. Because you’re spending six, seven nights a week at bars and pubs. You’re dealing with tourists every night. And it gets exhausting, but you kind of had to do what you had to do. And there was no touring and we weren’t leaving anywhere.”

With the benefit of time for reflection and ingenuity to kick in, Whitty set to work on fulfilling a desire to break into the world of podcasting.

“I was doing some work with Peter Green, who’s a great friend of mine. He was over at my place here and we were working on some songs. And I said, man, I’m really thinking about doing a podcast, I’m not really familiar with a lot of the recording process. I just wasn’t really super familiar with it. Over the years I had I bought a ton of equipment to really set myself up for this, and I never really used any of it. But then when I wanted to pull the trigger, I’m like, damn, I got all this stuff here. So this is perfect, right?”

GROOVE IN A NEW AVENUE

With Green’s guidance on the technical end, Whitty soon formed the blueprint of what would be The Dave Whitty Show, with the multi-talented Green himself serving as the first guest.

“It was a good way to kind of break the ice on it because he’s a close friend of mine,” Whitty recalled. “I felt really comfortable just chatting with him and it just kind of rolled on from there.”

With over a dozen episodes banked with guests that range from trailblazers of the industry to actors, artists, and comedians, Whitty has found his groove in a new avenue that makes the most of his talents. 

“With the idea of the podcast,  I didn’t want to just feature musicians. I really wanted to feature different people in the community who do different neat things. It has been really fun because I learned so much,” he explains.

“It’s been super fun and rewarding and challenging. It’s definitely been a fun year to pivot. I think a lot of people have used that word. It’s been a different change of pace for me, too. I got to say, I really enjoyed it and it’s really made me adapt and learn how to use technology a bit better.”

INCREDIBLE SUPPORT

Whitty, who plans on getting to work on a follow-up record to his acclaimed Talkin’ Back Fool this summer (with a special side-project on deck), tips his cap to fans and friends, who have helped him and fellow locals artists stay the course during the turbulent times of COVID-19.

“I got to hand it to people. Those virtual live shows were an honest lifeline for me. I mean, I don’t know honestly if I would have been able to make it out of it without those because the support I got from people was incredible, absolutely incredible. Not just like from the mental support of it, but the financial support. Honestly, people were so happy to donate and to be generous in that sense,” Whitty explains, who has mixed online performances with a scatter local gig during the past year.

“It was great to just be able to kind of tune out everything that’s going on in the world and sit back and crack a couple cold ones and just watch some tunes for a couple hours. It really just brightened our day, which I mean, you can’t ask for anything better as an artist. That’s kind of the goal right there, you’re trying to make people happy and you’re trying to make an honest living.”

The Dave Whitty Show is available to stream on platforms including Spotify & YouTube. For more on Dave Whitty visit davewhitty.com.

Visit our new Instagram page for story updates as they happen!