Are you all for body positivity, as long as people stay healthy and don’t get too fat? Have you spent the last 3 to 45 years trying to lose 10 to 97 pounds? Welcome to fat liberation with Emma Lanza.

Emma Lanza is another crowd favourite in the Montréal storytelling community. Her stories dive into mental health and hypochondria, obsessions and crushes, body image and fat liberation, and her undying love for musical theatre, especially Stephen Sondheim. Recently, Emma has bestowed herself with the official certification of FAT BABE, and everyone agrees. She is committed to celebrating the beauty and power of fat bodies. And just when you think Emma couldn’t be any cooler, well, guess what? She launched a Fattie Book Club, a fat studies book club that she runs on Instagram. She is also a devoted cat and dog Mom to the adorable Scout and Oscar.

“My crush is drooling all over my hot BFF.” “My boss took advantage of me during my internship.” “I ran into my toxic friend on the sidewalk and didn't say the right thing.” Caroline and Erica can’t fix it. But we have thoughts.

Welcome to our first ever all-listener question episode. Chiming in with her sage advice is the elegant and eloquent Caroline. Caroline is known for her reasonable decisions and excellent sense. She has her YouTube PhD in attachment trauma, toxic relationships, and facial yoga. Every week, Caroline reads a self-help book and shares what she learns with her grateful gal pals at Pizza Night. Caroline is impeccably qualified to solve our poor listeners’ dilemmas. And she prefers to remain relatively anonymous so we have represented her here with this splendid, contemplative flamingo. (Caroline’s on the left and Erica’s on the right.)

Michelle Syba is the first published author and Harvard graduate to appear on This Is Your Strange and Beautiful Life. This year, 2023, Michelle released a remarkable short story collection called, End Times. Precise yet nuanced and laugh-out-loud funny, the book delves into the minds of people from all walks of life, from fervent evangelical Christians waiting for the Rapture to left woke atheists scheming to prove the Jesus People wrong. If you don’t know what the Rapture is, we go over this in our episode. It is educational, but also very clever and funny just like Michelle Syba.

I’ve gotten so much good dating advice lately, that I decided to invite a stranger on the pod for the inaugural, real live first (and blind) date. The stranger’s name was Amir and it was deeply generous of him to show up. Going into the date, all I knew about Amir was that he worked a bank and that he went camping on Labour Day weekend. He had every opportunity to stalk me online but I don’t think he did. For optimal success, we prepared gripping and mildly invasive questions. You might want to try these out yourself for your next winning first date. Let me know how it goes!

Abby Stonehouse is English Montréal’s wildly popular stand-up comic, writer, podcaster, and producer. Six years into her comedy career, she is known for her honest, autobiographical, storytelling approach. Abby is committed to building up the Montréal comedy community, and creating onstage opportunities for diverse and emerging voices. She is a pioneer in making comedy hearing accessible. Her addictive House of Stone Podcast offers professional captions and ASL interpretation on YouTube. I have devoured every episode and it was a thrill to have this influential comedian on the pod. We bonded over boobs, small town living, food, booze, eating disorders, hearing accessibility, and all things comedy.

Alexia Côté is a beloved Montréal storyteller who brings us hilarious tales about life, love, and dating. Though Alexia is quite young, her fascinating trajectory has included approximately 100 jobs, as well as a stint at Model UN, and appearance as a debutante at the Montréal Austrian Society. If you’re wondering what a debutante is; if you (or your dear ones) are stumbling towards precarious mental health; if you’re worried you’re going to be single forever; if you’re struggling with family pressures; if you’re hoping to kickstart your creative process, you will love this episode.

Taes (Tess) Leavitt is known and loved as the founder of the Big Heart Journey and “Boots” in the wildly popular children’s music duo, “Splashnboots.” She is also my darling and extraordinary big sister. Friends and fans of Taes can rejoice in this VIP, family-friendly episode.

Kristin Govers is the star and creator of the smash-hit Fringe play, The Awkward Ballerina. Her playful, heartfelt and gripping one-woman show tells a true story about growing up with big dreams of becoming a ballet dancer, when you also have cerebral palsy. Although she never made it onto the Nutcracker stage, Kristin is the most beautiful and sincere ballerina that I have ever met. Her message is close to my heart, since many of my favourite peeps have cerebral palsy, including my dearly departed honorary brother Glendon. And the great news is—Kristin’s episode is relatively family-friendly!

John Cotrocois is a Montréal comedian whose captivating stand-up has earned him a spot on Just For Laughs Montréal 2023. John found his way to the stage as a storyteller where he became so popular, he got his own t-shirts. Then he migrated to comedy, endearing the Montréal scene at ZooFest & OffJFL and all kinds of clubs across the city. In 2020, the Comedy Nest named John Comedy’s Rising Star. And now the star has risen. Congratulations, John! Your fans are so proud of you. Within seconds, John had me laughing impossibly hard. For best results, please laugh right along with us.

Bean Nunnerley is an artist, massage therapist, self-taught, builder, mother, swimmer, and long-time singer in the Montréal women’s choir Choeur Maha. I knew Bean would be the perfect guest when, during an unbridled discussion about boundaries, Bean asked me, “What colour are yours?” In this wholehearted episode, we dive into boundaries, mental health, neurodivergence, PMDD, what it’s like to be diagnosed with ADHD at 49, and how to find the healing we all seek.

Here come more of our favourite and fabulous Fringe performers. Today, we have Francesca Esguerra, writer, performer, and cherished member of the Montréal storytelling community. Enjoy Francesca’s unrivalled wisdom rocking your life as an only child, making as much shit as possible, weeding out boring peeps on online dating, plus pro tips on heartbreak, procrastination, online dating, chlamydia, and more.

In Part 2 of my interview with Paul de Tourreil, we return to Attached’s Letter, where Paul offers zero-bullshit advice. (. . .) the ensuing revelations left Paul with magnificent fodder for his fringe show which we all can’t wait to watch. And for our last topic, we delve into ROUTINES. Morning routines, creative routines, cleaning routines. If you’re stuck on a creative project, or just looking to get things done, this is your episode.

This Is Your Strange and Beautiful Life is delighted to welcome Paul de Tourreil. Paul is a writer, fight choreographer, non-practising biologist, retired kung fu teacher, and self-described Swiss-Indian weirdo. In Part 1 of this two-part episode, Paul shares his theories on adult default settings and how to avoid becoming a bitter and resentful human when you grow up, plus how to be a loving partner, friend, and parent, even if you didn’t get everything you needed when you were a kid. Paul has written, produced and directed countless plays as part of the Montréal Fringe Festival. This year, 2023, Paul is thrilled to be performing his first ever solo show, 9 Lives, 8 Near Misses: Life Lessons from near-death events.

Everyone says they have the best grandma. Not everyone is right. I am right. My grandma is the best. Her name is Mary Louise Adamson Owen, and back in March, she agreed to be my very first guest on This Is Your Strange and Beautiful Life. “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she said as we started recording. (…) This episode is so special, I tear up just thinking about it. Love you, Grandma!

It’s a miracle! I managed to launch my podcast. Welcome to This Is Your Strange and Beautiful Life, a podcast where I talk to people who may—or may not—have had the chance to transform their lives into a spectacular TED talk. In this debut solo episode, I introduce the show and do my best to interview myself. (. . .)