Here we are in new glasgow, nova scotia!
[cheering & applauding]
Pictou county!
This place was a iron ore mining,
Coal burning,
Pulp milling, ship building,
Steel hammering heart of industry.
And though those days are long gone,
This community is still strong as steel.
[cheering & applauding]
Because people here love this town,
And people love their pizza brown.
[laughing]
[cheering & applauding]
Brown sauce on the pizza.
There's no point in even getting into it on tv
'cause it's impossible to describe the flavor.
Brown sort of describes it.
I loved it, but people here are crazy about-
I was in new glasgow for about 20 minutes.
I was at the grocery store picking up
A couple of things for my hotel room.
A woman stopped me in the aisle.
She goes, "oh, my god.
You, you do that comedy show on tv!"
I said, "yes, that's right." she said,
"we put brown sauce on our pizza."
[laughing]
When you grow up in a small town in newfoundland,
You see that people have a sense of humour
About hard times.
Check, check.
I turned that into a career and hit the road.
[announcer] mr. Jonny harris!
Now I'm on a mission to find the funny
In the places you'd least expect it,
Canada's struggling small town...
Towns that are against the ropes,
But hanging in there...
Still laughing in the face of adversity.
This is new glasgow, nova scotia.
♪
[cheering & applauding]
One might think that the birthplace of steel
In canada would be...
Hamilton, ontario, or perhaps sydney.
But the first pouring of steel happened in
Pictou county at trenton ironworks,
Not ten minutes from this very arena.
[applauding]
But I wanted to know more about the hard grind history
Of new glasgow.
I found the perfect guy to tell me.
Ask him about steel and he's beaming.
John ashton.
[cheering & applauding]
John told me he grew up in a neighbourhood here
Called rabbit town.
I was all ears.
[laughing]
I said, "how did it get that name?"
The story goes, is that there were so many kids over there,
They said they breeded like rabbits.
So not just the birthplace of steel!
[laughing]
For over a hundred years, maritime steel was
New glasgow's biggest employer.
200 people worked there at its peak.
Give me an idea of what, what steel products were made.
What was the steel used for?
They built the doors and the sidings for
The welland canal. -Is that right?
You name it. Anything big steel.
They were melting steel and making girders and beams and
Rail cars and even the rails for the railways themselves.
They had big bay doors there, and you would kind of look in,
And all, all you'd see was blue smoke.
The welding sparks, you'd see the
Glowing hot molten steel being poured.
If you can imagine brakes, if you're squealing brakes,
There's a smell coming off that.
And that's the smell that I could remember.
He said that smell was all over town.
And he said everybody who worked there smoked.
You had no worries of smelling like cigarette smoke.
You'd go on a smoke break to get a break from
Smelling like...
Smoking brakes.
[laughing]
You could hear the axle hammer at trenton ironworks.
You would hear it all over town.
You could hear the pounding of the ingots
Or forming the steel.
That was called the heartbeat of pictou county.
And then as contracts dried up,
It became more intermittent.
It would stop and start.
Bit like my heartbeat before I got my sleep apnea machine.
[laughing]
And then when that shut down the heartbeat of
Pictou county, that stopped.
People didn't know what to do.
You couldn't even listen to your heart.
The wheels of industry never stopped turning,
And they rolled out of town...
Out the trans-canada highway.
And then the steel industry stopped there in sydney
For a little while, but eventually...
It hopped a boat and ended up overseas in...
-[audience] port aux basques. -China.
[laughing]
Did someone say, "port aux basques"?
[laughing]
Wrong boat.
[laughing & applauding]
♪
Hi, there, how are you doing?
♪
Ten years before rosa parks refused to give up
Her seat on a bus in alabama,
Viola desmond refused to give up her seat
At the roseland theatre right here in new glasgow.
[applauding]
She refused to give up her seat.
And I got to speak to the chair.
[laughing]
The former chair of the viola desmond
Commemorative committee...
Henderson paris.
[cheering & applauding]
I met henderson over on viola's way.
The roseland is not a theater anymore.
But anderson told me the new owner wanted to spruce it up,
And also wanted to pay honour to viola's story.
He asked me if I would chair a committee
To select the artwork.
Lo and behold, I received over 500 submissions.
They chose a selection that would be mounted on
The outside wall of the theatre.
They're all, to us, they're breathtaking.
There's a lot of passion went in that artwork.
We narrowed it down to the 18,
And we tried to put it in chronological order.
18 beautiful pictures.
Meanwhile, my wikipedia article
Got one photo and it sucks.
[laughing]
Anyways it not about me, I know, I know.
Henderson told me how this all started.
He told me viola's story.
This was the very building, formerly the roseland theatre.
Back in November 8th, 1946, viola desmond,
A hair salon owner, was driving through town.
Her car was giving her trouble,
And so she pulled into new glasgow and...
Visited a local garage just up the street here.
They said she was going to have to wait overnight
For them to get the parts,
So she decided to go take in a movie.
She went to the roseland theatre.
She bought a ticket and went and sat down.
Next thing you know the manager is at her side.
The theatre was segregated.
The main floor was for whites at the time.
Black people had to sit in the cheap seats
Up in the balcony.
So, she came out and, you know,
Tried to talk to the cashier.
You know, pay the difference,
If there was a difference in price.
They wouldn't sell her a main floor ticket.
So she goes back in, and goes right back to
The seat where she was.
Next thing you know the police have been called.
And so, they dragged her out.
So, it was aggressively that she was taken out.
Exactly just, you know, really like by force.
And the police forcibly remove her and
Drag her off to jail for the night.
She sat up all night on that bench in a jail cell.
She wore like long white gloves,
And I believe, like she sat there saying,
"you know what, you're trying to break me,
But you're not. You're not going to win."
So she stayed there until morning
When she had to go to court.
But they had to come up with something to charge her with!
What they said was, the main floor ticket
Should have cost 20 cents more than
The ticket she bought.
Even though they refused the extra 20 cents
When she offered it.
And of that 20 cents,
One cent would have been provincial sales tax.
They charged her with tax evasion.
Oh! [chatter]
Which amounted to a one cent difference between
The price of the upstairs and downstairs ticket.
She evaded one cent of tax.
Now, listen, it's easy for us to say that's petty and
Ridiculous, but this was the 1940s, right?
That penny, that would be worth easily three,
Four times that amount in today's money.
[laughing]
I mean, depending on the market,
Possibly even five or six cents.
I forget where grand larceny kicks in, but...
[laughing]
And in retrospect, viola having been...
You know, dragged out of that theatre,
Now there's artwork...
Hangs on the side of the building.
You know, we have made great, great strides.
But henderson also created pictou county's
Run against racism.
[applauding]
The idea was to raise awareness
Around racial injustice by running to
All five neighbouring towns of pictou county,
And pictou landing first nations community.
A good running friend of mine, he said,
"whatever you want to do, however far you want to go,
I'll... Be right there by your side."
A friend of his, doug,
Was helping him put it together, and he said,
"I'll go and drive it just to see how long
The actual route is."
And he said, "we might have a problem."
I said, "what's that?" he said,
"turns out it's 38 miles."
Remind me, how long officially is a marathon?
A marathon is 26 miles.
So, this is 12 miles longer.
38 miles!
Like from the days of viola desmond,
You know, we've come a long way.
I know we still got a ways to go, but 38 miles?
That's, that's an awful lot.
[laughing]
♪
We'd be running the roads, and...
As far back as you can see, there were runners.
Everyone wanted to join in,
So that gave me encouragement,
I could continue on and run through some painful runs.
And, at every community, when he got there,
They'd have a reception set up for him,
And he was expected to get up and speak.
He had to give a speech.
I've bet over 38 mile, I bet the speeches
Got a little bit shorter as you went along.
Right, I bet the first couple of towns it was real
Martin luther king sort of stuff.
I bet by the time you get to the fourth or fifth town,
It's a bit like...
[sighing]
"all right...
Are there any racists here?"
[laughing]
"show of hands, any racists?"
-[laughing] -"no?"
"good, good for you, alright."
[laughing & applauding]
♪
[children laughing]
♪
The next person I spoke to likes still standing,
But not as much as she likes sitting,
Staying, and lying down.
I'm talking about kennel master,
Andrea massingham.
[applauding]
This year's dog show was the 100-year anniversary
For the pictou county kennel club.
She introduced me to her german shepherd, mooin.
-He's beautiful. -Thank you.
She said his full name is...
Lucky strikes over the mooin at a rising star.
I said, "that's not a name." she said, "no, it is."
It turns out it's kind of like horses.
They can have long, weird names.
So, the breeder that bred him,
Their kennel name is lucky strike.
-Breeder's name first. -Yeah.
Lucky strikes over the mooin at-
-A rising star. -And you're "rising star"?
We're "a rising star".
But I wonder if it's like kids.
I wonder if you only use the full name
When you're really angry at them, right?
Like, "who got into the garbage?
It's everywhere!
Lucky strikes over the mooin at a rising star,
Was that you?"
[laughing]
♪
Mooin is a show dog,
So he competes in the confirmation ring.
And that's where the judges evaluate them,
Make sure that they're groomed and healthy.
To make sure they don't have floppy ears or disqualifying
Marks on them like white toes, or...
They check their bite.
I thought, my god, like white toes and bad teeth?
My dad is from England, I wouldn't have a prayer.
[laughing]
So they're checking his gait?
-Yes, his testicles... -His testicles?
Make sure they're both there.
For the males, you gotta make sure
Both testicles have descended.
Like for me, both my testicles have been
Descended as long as I can remember.
But I swear to god, to this day,
Every now and then one of them kind of...
[lip smacking] ...Pops up.
[laughing]
Sort of got to push on your abdomen, and like...
It pops back down, then its fine.
Why are the women laughing at this more than the fellas?
[laughing]
The judge is also checking the temperament of the dog.
They're supposed to be aloof,
Not be too overly engaging.
So not unfriendly, but not overly excitable either.
Competing in the show dog circuit
Sounds a bit like the dating circuit,
Do you know what I mean?
Like you're being evaluated.
You're being held to a certain grooming standard.
You should ideally have both testicles.
[laughing]
And you're better off playing it a bit aloof,
That's where I get dating wrong.
On a first date, I get excited,
I start running around the room.
Then I lie down on my back with my belly exposed
And my tongue hanging out.
[laughing]
[applauding]
Another one of andrea's german shepherds, ace,
He's working line, not show line,
And he's getting trained for the carting competition,
Where the dogs, they pull around these adorable carts.
You hook him up to the cart, and you have to
Walk your dog through that course.
It's kind of nice that they have that 'cause the dogs
Don't have to be quite as perfect.
Let's go: Forward.
Like ace, for example, he's only got
One testicle descended...
[laughing]
So he can't compete in the show ring.
But as a working dog...
-Good, you're getting it! -Good boy.
Over, over, over, ace.
Good boy, good boy.
I know it seems unfair, but I kind of get it
That he can't compete in the shepherding group
Because shepherding dogs should be able-
Like, if you can't keep your own two testicles
Grouped together...
[laughing]
...Maybe shepherding is not what you're best at.
[laughing]
Good boy.
-This is pretty good! -That's it.
But there were so many gorgeous dogs there.
I was so impressed.
Like I thought when I got there, it would be chaos.
I thought there'd be a cacophony of barking
And clumps of hair blowing everywhere.
And, I never saw a single poop
The whole time I was there.
And interestingly enough, andrea told me-
'cause I was like, what if they gotta-
What if nature calls?
In confirmation, which is show line,
You can have an accident in the ring and they just call,
"clean up on aisle 9," kind of thing.
Okay.
But, if you're into the cart and your dog goes to
The bathroom, they're disqualified.
Like, you can't be going around with the cart
And then just suddenly take a pee.
Same thing at your sobeys, I found out.
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
When I heard about the boat races here on the river,
And that there was a team of paddlers made up
Entirely of breast cancer survivors,
I knew I was going to struggle to keep up.
I can't even keep abreast of the times.
[laughing]
I spoke to sisters from different misters...
Faye visser and elizabeth chenell.
[cheering & applauding]
Faye and elizabeth told me about their dragon boat team.
[cheering & applauding]
Every member of the team is either a breast cancer
Patient or survivor.
Everyone in the boat...
Is in the same boat, so to speak.
The doctors and the nurses
Know the scientific parts of it,
But we know the headspace.
You know, like what's going on in their head.
Can I do this? Can I do that?
You know, like, is my life over?
No, there's a great life after breast cancer.
Now you have these women all over the world
Who are showing the next generation that there's
Life beyond a breast cancer diagnosis.
And it's the best thing to do.
I mean, it's intense physical exercise.
It's group therapy with people
Who've been through the same thing.
We've had paddlers paddle all the way through
Their chemo treatments, really committed.
It's accountability because you're on a team.
The only team in the world where saying,
"I can't. I have breast cancer,"
Is not cutting it as an excuse.
[laughing]
The name of their team is
Women alike abreast a river.
I like it, it's very poetic.
[laughing]
"oh, my god, who got into the garbage?
It's everywhere!
Women alike abreast a river, was that you?
Did you do that?"
[laughing]
There's teams all over atlantic canada that
Compete against each other every year.
We won race on the river
For the first time in ten years.
They won this year's
Atlantic race on the river cup.
[cheering & applauding]
Faye and liz told me they won the cup,
But neither one of them is sure what size the cup was.
[laughing]
I was going for, you know, like b, c.
She thinks it's an h.
[laughing]
I thought things topped out at dd.
[laughing]
♪
They invited me to go out for a run in the boat,
And they said I would be the drummer.
I don't know anything about it.
We'll show you how to do it. -Okay...
Turns out the drummer has to wear a special outfit.
[cheering & applauding]
Nice legs!
[laughing]
And, the tutu was very short.
[laughing]
I did have boxers on under it.
I hate to break scottish tradition in this part
Of the country, but I also didn't want to
Break any laws, so... Kept my underwear on.
[steady drumming]
And in the dragon boat, the drummer is up front.
Just like with the phil collins band.
[laughing]
I'm watching the front two paddlers.
I'm trying to match their rhythm.
And then the rest of the paddlers can hear it
And match that pace.
I couldn't believe when they started doing
The hard strokes, the power strokes...
[drumming faster]
♪
And I almost came off my seat.
The power, you wouldn't believe it!
It's like the boat lurches up out of the water.
I was drumming with one hand.
I swear to god, I had to hold on to the seat.
It's like the opposite of being in a plane taking off.
[drumming, cheering & applauding]
[cheering & applauding continues]
It's just a tremendous amount of physical effort.
That's why I'm more into things with motors, right?
I mean, I'm a fan of the cause.
I'm a fan of breasts in general, but...
[laughing]
If I could somehow motorboat for breast-
Or hang on a minute.
[laughing]
[applauding]
♪
[cheering & applauding]
♪
You can look at the miles of running and
Hear the dragon boat strumming.
It's incredible here what people have overcome.
But you're reminded of history here, though,
Painted portraits of the civil rights hero.
You keep an eye on the past to see how far you've come.
It's been mighty great to meet ya and
Try your brown sauce pizza.
I've never had a better breed around me.
I'll tell folks who want to make the most of their trip
To our country's east coast, "give new glasgow a call,
Or better all of pictou county."
Thanks for coming out, everybody,
You've been great!
[cheering & applauding]
Thanks for having us, pictou!
Season 10, that's a wrap!
-See ya! -[applauding]
Jonny was 100% best in show tonight.
♪
He is much prettier in pink.
He looked very dressed up today.
The pink really set off his eyes.
-Oh, for sure. -What do you think?
-I just love the... -Yeah.
[laughing]
The laughter was great.
And he certainly brought that out of people
And made them feel good.
♪
[laughing]
Fantastic, ah, comedy genius.
Really, that's the way I look at it.
♪