Q with Tom Power

Recent episodes

1. Little House on the Prairie reboot doesn’t skip over Indigenous history

   Jul 31, 202624 min

   When Meegwun Fairbrother first got wind of Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie reboot, the Ojibwe Scottish actor initially wasn’t hopeful. In his experience, historical dramas didn’t have room for mixed-heritage Indigenous characters who looked like him. Plus, the original series erased the Indigenous perspective entirely. But Meegwun quickly realized this production was doing something different. He tells Q guest host Garvia Bailey about his character, William Mitchell (an Osage family man, homesteader, and the bridge between two communities), and the deep pride he felt in working with Osage cultural consultants to finally get the story right.

2. A fake David Lee Roth changed her life

   Jul 31, 202625 min

   Canadian actor, writer and musician Rebecca Auerbach has turned her acclaimed one-woman show into a new CBC podcast called Discount Dave (and the Fix). Based on a true-ish story, it starts with a chance encounter with a man claiming to be Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, before spiraling into a deeper story about addiction, trauma and recovery. Rebecca sits down with Q guest host Gill Deacon to talk about blending memoir with fiction, and why telling this story was essential to her healing. Episode 1 of Discount Dave (and the Fix) is an official selection of the 2026 Tribeca Audio Festival.

3. Reneltta Arluk on the artist as nomad

   Jul 30, 202623 min

   Reneltta Arluk grew up on a trapline in the Northwest Territories, living off the land with her grandmother and the legendary Arctic dog team guide Archie Larocque. Those nomadic early years shaped a career that took her from founding the first professional theatre company in the Northwest Territories to becoming the first Indigenous woman to direct at the Stratford Festival. Now a leader at the National Gallery of Canada, she joins guest host Gill Deacon to talk about carrying stories forward from the trapline to gallery walls.

4. What does Alzheimer's look like? This cartoonist drew from her experience

   Jul 30, 202623 min

   When Sarah Leavitt’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she began documenting everything she could through drawings and writing. Those records became Tangles, her acclaimed 2010 graphic memoir, which was the first graphic narrative to be named a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. Now, more than 15 years later, Tangles has been adapted into a film starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld, Veep), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) and Wanda Sykes (The New Adventures of Old Christine). Sarah co-wrote the screenplay, and the film premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it received a lengthy standing ovation. Q guest host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe caught up with Sarah to talk about it.

5. Common shares the advice that changed his life

   Jul 29, 202632 min

   Common is an award-winning rapper, actor and activist known for his socially conscious lyrics and roles in films like Selma and the TV show Silo. Common joins Tom Power to talk about season three of Silo, growing up in Chicago, and what it was like to be a ball boy for the Chicago Bulls as a kid and witness Michael Jordan’s first season in the NBA.

6. New Music: sundayclub

   Jul 29, 20268 min

   Winnipeg’s sundayclub introduces their song, Blue Wave, in Q’s recurring New Music segment. Their self-titled debut album is out now.

7. Constance Wu says her confidence is hard-earned

   Jul 28, 202624 min

   Constance Wu stars in a new sci-fi thriller, The Outer Threat, filmed right here in Canada. Constance is most recognizable for her role in Crazy Rich Asians, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. She’s also the bestselling author of her memoir, Making a Scene. She joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about the new film, her craft, and her memoir.

8. New Music: Moira & Claire

   Jul 28, 202612 min

   Halifax-based duo Moira & Claire introduce their song, no hesitation, in Q’s recurring New Music segment. Their new album, it’s all a mess!, is out now.

9. Getting to Know Q: D.W. Waterson

   Jul 28, 20267 min

   What’s in the perfect party lunch? What movie was bad enough to make you walk out of a theatre? And would you DJ your own afterparty? Filmmaker D.W. Waterson answers these very important questions — and more — in a rapid-fire round of Getting to Know Q with Tom Power.

10. Some run away and join the circus. Carisa Hendrix built her own

    Jul 24, 202632 min

    Carisa Hendrix a magician, comedian, fire eater, and the creative force behind the character Lucy Darling, a glamorous socialite who’s become an internet sensation. Guest host Gill Deacon speaks with the multi-talented Carisa as she prepares for a performance at Just for Laughs Montreal. She talks about finding a community of magicians in Calgary, breaking into the male-dominated field of magic, and the unlikely journey from sideshows and circus stages to the Guinness World Records and the legendary Magic Castle in Hollywood.

11. Remembering Oliver Jones, a Canadian jazz legend

    Jul 23, 202615 min

    Oliver Jones died this week at the age of 91. In 2024, Tom Power visited the Canadian jazz legend at his home in Montreal to talk about his legacy in Canadian music, his relationship with his hero and role model Oscar Peterson, the time he played for Nelson Mandela, and the secret to playing music into your 90s.

12. Acting like a maniac never gets old for Weird Al

    Jul 23, 202624 min

    Weird Al Yankovic is a pop culture icon known around the world for his parodies of mega-hits by artists like Madonna, Taylor Swift, and Michael Jackson. His most memorable hits include Amish Paradise, Eat It, and the platinum-selling White & Nerdy. With five Grammy awards and seventeen nominations, he's one of only three artists to chart in the Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 in four consecutive decades — the others being Madonna and Michael Jackson. Weird Al joins guest host Ali Hassan to look back on his illustrious career and discuss his current tour, Bigger & Weirder.

13. Why this director tapped into feminine energy for his new film

    Jul 23, 202626 min

    For his latest film, Canadian director Clement Virgo adapted the true story of a teenage girl who escapes the Antebellum South into an Afrofuturist fairytale. The film is called Steal Away and focuses on the relationship between a sheltered teenage girl named Fanny and a Black refugee named Cécile, who’s taken in by Fanny’s family. As their relationship deepens, obsession and jealousy arises, and picks at themes of class, immigration and womanhood. Clement stops by the Q studio to chat with guest host Garvia Bailey about why he wanted to challenge himself to tap into feminine energy to tell this story.

14. Ron Funches on his post-Traitors autism diagnosis

    Jul 22, 202621 min

    Ron Funches has built a career turning the things that once made him feel different into his greatest strengths. Once bullied in school for his soft and higher pitched voice, it’s now his trademark in standup, and helped launch his voice acting career. Ahead of a performance at Just for Laughs Montreal, Ron reflects on how fatherhood, his son’s autism diagnosis, and his own recent autism diagnosis after appearing on The Traitors, have changed his understanding of himself and the unique gifts that shape his comedy.

15. Rebecca Northan wants you to give yourself permission to play

    Jul 22, 202619 min

    As an actor and theatre director, Rebecca Northan is all about being alive in the moment. She’s known for inviting the audience into her creative process, pulling them on-stage and getting them to improvise with her. Rebecca joins Q guest host Ali Hassan to talk about bringing that spirit of spontaneity to Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach festival with two shows, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Goblin: Oedipus. Plus, she talks about the joy of giving up control, trusting the crowd, and how improvisation has made her a “nicer human being.”

16. Luke Wilson reflects on his comedic chemistry with Will Ferrell

    Jul 21, 202623 min

    Luke Wilson stars in the new Netflix TV series, The Hawk, where he and Will Ferrell play rival pro-golfers. When the two work together, Will usually leads the scenes; but for the Hawk, Luke got to take charge. Q guest host Gill Deacon speaks with Luke about playing a smug pro-golfer on The Hawk and why working with Will Ferrell is both joyful and panic-inducing.

17. How this artist created the “moccasin gaze” genre

    Jul 21, 202614 min

    After blending traditional Indigenous perspectives with shoegaze music to create the unique “moccasin gaze” genre, Zoon is back with their third studio album, Happy Thought School. Speaking with guest host Gill Deacon, Zoon talks about how they use their creative expression to process childhood racial trauma and the legacy of the Canadian residential school system.

18. He didn’t know he was auditioning for Avatar: The Last Airbender

    Jul 20, 202621 min

    Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, the actor you might know best as Appa in Kim’s Convenience, or perhaps Captain Carson Teva in The Mandalorian, is returning for season two of another massive franchise: the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Today on Q, he sits down with guest host Gill Deacon to talk about how he got his role, how he adapted a beloved animated character into live action, and how he remains humble.

19. New music: Elysia Biro

    Jul 20, 20269 min

    Vancouver Island pianist and songwriter Elysia Biro introduces her new single, Reignite, in Q’s recurring New Music segment.

20. Shania Twain takes Timmins, Ontario with her everywhere she goes

    Jul 17, 202643 min

    Shania Twain is one of the best-selling artists to ever come out of Canada. Her new album, Little Miss Twain, revisits her early years growing up in Timmins, Ontario, performing in bars, and being managed by her mother. Tom Power travelled to Los Angeles to sit down with Shania in a career-spanning interview that starts in Timmins and traces her path to global stardom. Shania opens up about the difficulties of her childhood, losing both her parents in her early 20s, and why Timmins is still in her no matter where she goes.