Quirky Events With Sherwin Tjia
Sherwin Tjia is Montreal’s most original and magnificent artist, writer, poet, graphic novelist, workshop leader, walk-a-holic, and quirky event planner. Since 2001, Sherwin has published nine books including the acclaimed graphic novels The Hipless Boy and Plummet, plus a trilogy of choose-your-own-adventure novels written from the perspective of a cat. Sherwin is the beloved founder of Sherwin’s Quirky Events, in which he hosts life-changing, one-of-a-kind evenings such as Strip Spelling Bee and Queer and Mixed Slow Dance. He is also famous for his hilarious and entertaining walk reports which you can read on his Joe Catman Facebook Page. And finally, Sherwin is my creative and technical advisor and most cherished friend. I couldn’t wait to have him on the podcast!
Discover the quirky human behind the quirky events in this generous, jam-packed interview.
Content Warning: Strip Spelling Bees, naked descriptions, and Sherwin uses the words butyraceous and oolidge in a sentence.
Follow Sherwin on Facebook, and Instagram @inconsolablecat, join the group, Sherwin’s Quirky Events, and join his Patreon for exclusive, unpublished works, a VIP podcast, and more!
Sherwin Tjia, Episode Breakdown
0:00 Intro Song
0:52 Quick and very fun break (Please follow the pod and leave a kind review!)
1:27 Sherwin’s Bio and Introduction
5:51 What is a Strip Spelling Bee?
15:01 “The words are as hard as Sherwin’s cock.” But Sherwin will help by using the word in a sentence. Hear Sherwin’s hints for butyraceous and oolidge. Not recommended for young ears!
26:00 What is Slow Dance? Memories of this beloved event, past and present, plus a sneak peak into the life of a quirky event planner.
37:49 Sherwin’s career as a medical illustrator, his first event ever, and how he made the transition to working as a full-time artist.
45:53 The downsides of a 9-5 and how art and sports are on opposite poles.
48:03 Sherwin’s early days as an event planner and weird events that didn’t quite pan out. For example, Dollar Dare Night and Speed Spooning. Sadly, most of us missed our chance to sniff a stranger’s butt for $1.
58:03 How Sherwin became a walk-a-holic.
1:06:07 How Sherwin’s nearly viral Facebook walking updates were born.
1:15:36 Sherwin’s soothing and generous view of the afterlife. (Loving shout-out to Andy Weir’s Short Story, The Egg)
1:27:10 Sherwin’s morning routine and bonkers sleeping schedule
1:39:10 Half-Bad Ukulele Segment: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2. Loving shout-out to UkeBreak for the lovely arrangement.
Mixing, Ukulele, and Cover Art by Erica J. Schmidt in Montréal, Quebec.
Follow Erica on Facebook or Instagram or check out her website at ericajschmidt.com. You can also make her day by sending her a listener question to any of these places.
Thank you as always to Taes Leavitt (darling big sister, Big Heart Journey), Sherwin Tjia (technical and creative advisor, Sherwin’s Quirky Events), and my dearly departed aunt Eileen Gun, whose generous gift helped to fund my new podcast equipment. Thank you so much for listening! Stay tuned for more episodes extra soon. Don’t forget to follow This Is Your Strange and Beautiful Life on your favourite podcast platform. And if you enjoyed the episode, I would be immensely grateful if you could share it with a friend and/or leave a kind and enthusiastic rating and review.
This Is Your Strange and Beautiful Life is brought to you by Lil and Bud dog cards, purchasable at ericajschmidt.com/merch. If you would like to sponsor the podcast, I would love to plug your product, service, or project as long as it doesn’t harm any people or their bodies. Please get in touch via my website or Instagram.
