Overview
Hot Snack Radio is a new Showcase.ca original comedy series created and directed by Matthew Eastman and produced by Toronto production company Sons & Daughters.
Told in a series of 10 webisodes, Hot Snack Radio is set in a wacky enclave of would-be Internet entrepreneurs who struggle with challenges of operating a bush league Internet radio station. Most of the action takes place between interviews with weight obsessed rappers and electro perverts, allowing ample time for love to blossom, jealousy to rear its ugly head and for some truly outrageous situations to unfold.
In addition to the video content, Hotsnackradio.com (hosted within Showcase.ca) will masquerade as a functioning internet radio station, complete with interviews and streamed music playlists featuring original tracks from a variety of indie bands and musicians.
At it’s core, Hot Snack Radio is about three indie rock nerds (Gavin, Nico and John C.) who run their own internet radio station, which just happens to go to air before a vastly more popular show hosted by an uber-cool and sexy female DJ (Sam).
The boys of Hot Snack are facing pressure to deliver bigger numbers to keep their sponsor happy. The need for more listeners leads them to pursue an interview with famous rapper Shoxxx, a performer from well beyond their regular comfort zones.
However, the storyline is a sort of McGuffin that allows us to concentrate on unrelated funny moments. Hot Snack Radio is an observational comedy about three guys (and one girl), their relationships and the little troubles they get into. Most of the show occurs when Hot Snack Radio isn’t live to air, and isn’t about music at all.
Episodes
1. The Rhythm & Blue Orthopedist
Gavin and Nico interview Dr. Gregory Gentle, a medical man who uses a bizarre practice, orthomusipedia, to treat ailments of the feet.
2. Lifecasting
Nico convinces Gavin and John C. to broadcast their lives to the Web 24/7. Their manager Jeff announces they will be interviewing the rapper Shoxxx.
3. Oscillate
Nico, Gavin and John C. watch Shoxxx video for his hit single, “Oscillate.” Sam walks in on an awkward encounter between Nico and Gavin.
4. Introducing Sam
Sam, the sexy female DJ who uses the studio after the Hot Snack crew contends with the unwanted affections of Gavin and Nico.
5. Granny
Gavin brings his Granny by the studio where she proceeds to make overt advances on Nico; Nico may well be interested.
6. Luxury Men’s Hosiery
Nico presents Gavin and John C. with the prototypes of his new anti-wedge underpants. Their impromptu fashion show heats up when Sam arrives in the studio.
7. Hector Duplassis
Shoxxx’s smooth talking label representative arrives in the studio with a pair of thugs to lay down the ground rules for his clients interview on Hot Snack Radio.
8. Reiki
John C. sustains an injury and Sam attempts to heal him using a healing touch technique. Gavin and Nico interfere, but with surprising results.
9. Sexual Outlet
Nico and Gavin interview acclaimed noise-electro musician Seb Ampere who admits to unorthodox inspiration for his cutting edge sound. Nico is a little too interested in his techniques.
10. The Party
A party at the Hot Snack Radio studio results in a romantic encounter as well as numerous strike outs. Shoxxx arrives in the studio for his interview the morning after.
Cast & Characters
Gavin (played by Tim Beresford)
Gavin is an intellectual rock journalist type who sports a beard, a vegan diet and an over developed vocabulary. Bearded and overly serious, Gavin is frequently the butt of Nico’s low brow jokes.
He longs for the sanctity of Gaya, the touch of a female hand and for his friends to actually listen to his advice for a change.
Tim Beresford was born in a hospital near a train station in the late spring. He now works as an actor and peforms with the rock band, Chinese Food. His favourite comedians are Gene Wilder and R. Kelly. He would like his ashes to spread in both lake Huron and Georgian Bay so that he may forever straddle the Bruce peninsula.
Nico (played by Mike Belazo)
The self-proclaimed bad boy of Internet radio, Nico sports a moustache and an overly cocky attitude. In truth he’s a little dimwitted and is not nearly as much of a hit with the ladies as he lets on.
Nico is also a half-baked entrepreneur and frequently attempts to bring foolhardy new product offerings to the Hot Snack business model.
Michael Balazo is a Toronto based actor, writer and comedian. As a member of The Gentlemen Callers musical comedy trio, Michael won the 2002 Canadian Comedy Award. In 2004, Michael was nominated as a stand up for the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award for emerging comedians. His writing has appeared on Canadian television and radio, most notably during his time as a staff writer for the Canadian Comedy Network’s popcultured with Elvira Kurt. Michael has performed extensively in Canada and has made successful appearances in New York, Los Angeles and London, England. In addition, he has appeared in over half a dozen television commercials for products as diverse as hamburgers and lottery tickets.
John C. (played by James Cade)
John C. is the webmaster and engineer who keeps Hot Snack Radio online and on the air. Not much of a talker, John C. is actually genuinely cool, in stark contrast to the overplayed antics of his two friends.
That said, he is frequently a party to their foolishness, if only to goad them onto to greater levels of outrageous behavior for his own amusement. He is also responsible for the show’s namesake hot snacks.
James Cade has appeared in numerous plays within the Toronto area, most recently Single Threat's Production of A Quiet Place. Other film and television credits include the feature length film "Dakota" and CTV's Sue Thomas F.B.Eye. James is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.
Sam (played by Joanie Wolkoff)
Sam is the it-girl of the local indie rock scene. She is beautiful, smart and hip. She is a singer in her own band and hosts Hot Snack Radio’s vastly more popular sister show, The Crazy Nines. She is used to Gavin and Nico hitting on her and is an expert at dodging their advances with a combination of back handed insults and cold-eyed stares.
Joanie Wolkoff was born in Toronto, 1981. She attended Claude Watson's illustration-heavy arts programme before emigrating at nineteen to Europe, where she was based in Paris for the next five years. With a BA in comparative literature, she taught English in the politically fraught "banlieux" skirting Paris, worked with children in West Africa, and averted the fashion industry's siren call during a catastrophic sojourn in Tokyo. She also endeavored chandelier assembly, millinery apprenticeship, translation, PR for ladies' Jeu de Paume, and drafting for a noted Belgian conceptual artist on a pig farm in China. Wolkoff now lives in Brooklyn, where she has obtained her barbering license and recently worked on two short films. Thrilled to be included Hot Snack Radio's cast, she dedicates her performance to Molly Picon (wife to her paternal grandmother's cousin Shia Rekhchay), who was best known to North American audiences of the 1950s as TV's "Mrs. Molly Goldberg."
Shoxxx (played by Les Seaforth)
Shoxxx is a Southern bounce rapper signed to prestigious hip hop label Banana Dap Records. Although he is now a burgeoning hip hop star, his first show biz excursion was as the child star of Baby Grits. Shoxxx played Baby Grits himself, the son of a Cordon Bleu chef in New Orleans.
As famous for his gigantic appetite as he was for his catch phrase (“but I’m so hoongry!”), the role eventually led Shoxxx down the path of obesity and self-destruction. His new hit single, Oscillate, is a testament to his struggles with his weight.
Originally from Toronto, Montreal resident Les Seaforth is a DJ, Producer and Emcee under the moniker More Or Les. With two albums under his belt, I only stop for the Red Ants (2003) and The Truth About Rap (2006), Les’ upcoming projects include a mix tape for the young adult novel Break On Through by author Jill Murray, a release with DJ Killa-Jewel and Producer Fresh Kils called Kil / Les / Kil, and appearing on the next album for UK Hip Hop band The Herbaliser. Les and his love for beats, rhymes and brunch can be found on http://moreorles.ca/.
Additional Characters
Dr. Gregory Gentle (played by Luke Langsdale)
Jeff (played by Kristian Reimer)
Shoxxx Posse (played by David Lazar, Mike Dufays, Ali (I have to find
his last name)
Granny (played by Hazel Tawes)
Hector Duplessis (played by Neil Green)
Thugs (played by Vernon Lumsden, Mike Sullivan)
Seb Ampere (played by Nick Flanagan)
Creators
Matthew Eastman, Director/Creator
Matt Eastman won the Saatchi & Saatchi First Cut Award in 2002 for best new commercials director in Canada. That same year, he was profiled in Boards magazine’s Directors to Watch issue and in Creativity’s New Directors special. He developed a hugely successful career as a very busy local Toronto director working on some of the most noticed spots for the Canadian market, and parlayed that into a global career with work flowing out of many international markets.
Matt lived briefly in Singapore, where he helmed spots for air in Japan, Australia, and China. Eastern Europe was next on his agenda, mainly Kiev, where Matt found himself in the midst of the Orange revolution. Matt’s music video output is not to be ignored either, where he has directed for some of Canada’s top acts. He netted an East Coast Music Award for best video in 2004. Matt is now repped by Sons and Daughters and is firmly entrenched in the deeps of the Toronto scene once again.
Sandy Hunter, Production Executive
Sandy Hunter began his career as a journalist working on the start-up of Boards Magazine, where he was charged with covering the international culture of creativity surrounding contemporary advertising. After traveling the globe in pursuit of the most ground breaking new directors and creative ad agencies, Sandy was eventually hired by New York-based RESFEST, where he held a dual role as an editor of RES Magazine and senior programmer of the world-renowned digital film festival. A stop along the way included the founding of Toronto-based production company Soft Citizen, where he produced music videos that won Best Video accolades at prestigious international festivals including South By Southwest and the Annecy Animation Festival.
Sandy now works as manager of the website for Canadian cable network Showcase, where one of his tasks is helping bring Hot Snack Radio to the (really) small screen.