Sick Man Talking Podcast
A chronically ill man has been trapped in a room for the majority of his adult life, exploring the limits of agony, sanity, and time. Armed with failing wits, growing pain, Turner Classic Movies, and a variety of recording devices, he navigates his mind and the world as it exists to him. Welcome to Sick Man Talking.
Episodes
84 episodes
Episode 83
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 nightma...
Episode 82
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...
Episode 81
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 pla...
Episode 80
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...
Episode 79
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 ho...
Episode 78
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 ra...
Episode 77
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 anythin...
Episode 76
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 de...
Episode 75
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 no...
Episode 74
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 ju...
Episode 73
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 unc...
Episode 72
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 ...
Episode 71
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 ...
Episode 70
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 ...
Episode 69
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 ...
Episode 68
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. <...
Episode 67
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?
Episode 66
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...
Episode 65
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 fi...
Episode 64
In this episode, the Fake Cop returns in the explosive finale of the latest Fake Cop Trilogy. Will he find the Toucan Man? No idea. Will he continue getting used to his long-lost son? Maybe. Possibly. Te...
Episode 63
In this episode, the Fake Cop returns in the explosive second instalment of the latest Fake Cop Trilogy.Newmarket is dealing with a Froot Loops epidemic. The Fake Cop may be responsible. Will he fix it? Probably not. Will he take respons...
Episode 62
In this episode, the Fake Cop returns in Part 1 one of the explosive new Fake Cop Trilogy. He learns he has a long lost son - and for the first time in his life feels rattled. How does a corrupt, immoral, anti-social man built...
Episode 61
In this episode, the Sick Man launches a new series - or maybe not. He’s not sure yet; it depends on a few factors, mostly his own laziness, because a lot of research went into this. But he’s doing at least one episode called If They ...
