Born Aug. 16, 1972. Raised by his Ukrainian mother in Ajax. Lives in downtown Toronto. Single, two cats (Snake and Minnow). Former host on MuchMusic; new face of youth on CBC Newsworld.
Before becoming the personality that drives CBC Newsworld's much-publicized The Hour -- billed as "an irreverent, round-the-world, mile-a-minute look at news and current affairs that's actually fun to watch" -- George Stroumboulopoulos spent five years hosting MuchMusic shows such as The NewMusic, The Punk Show and MuchNews. He made the leap to the public broadcaster after appearing on the CBC series The Greatest Canadian as the advocate for Tommy Douglas. After the viewership named his candidate the greatest of all, CBC brass made Stroumboulopoulos an irresistible offer.
So what are you trying to do with The Hour?
We're trying to strike a balance between news programs and funny current-event shows. I think that's the challenge right now and we're about 50 to 60 per cent where we want to be. People ask us if we're doing Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. And we say no, but we're kind of doing the show he was talking about: We saw Stewart on CNN's Crossfire [in October, complaining that the mainstream media, his hosts included, were far too soft on politicians] It described exactly the show we were building, which is to be smart, funny, angry and curious. For example, we had Roméo Dallaire talking about soldiers and post-traumatic stress syndrome and, on the same show, we had Pauly Shore.
CITY-TV station executive David Kines said in an e-mail that CBC "made [you]an offer he couldn't refuse." What couldn't you refuse exactly?
It definitely wasn't the money. CITY-TV offered me way more money. Here's what it is: I'm a Canadian who grew up without cable so I watched CBC because that's all I had. I watched Seeing Things, I watched hockey and The Journal. So I knew and loved the CBC. Also, I was at MuchMusic for five years. . . . CBC said to me, Here's a time slot and we can build a show that you'd like to do.
There's a huge cultural difference between CHUM and CBC. How do you find the culture shock?
It's another world. Being at CHUM was very much about the lifestyle. When you work there, you can walk down the hall on a Friday -- Fashion Friday -- and there would be 15 gorgeous models in the hallway. And then Kid Rock would come in and do a show and Mayor David Miller would be on the air. At CBC, we're in this insanely big building. The most different aspect is that we're not on the street. I want more than anything to put our show on the street and have people come in and talk. I also have to say, it isn't true that the CBC isn't cool. If you walk through here, you'll find amazing people who are young, fashionable, literate and interested in the world.
You were at CHUM both pre- and post-Moses Znaimer. Was there a big difference after he left?
A huge difference. You couldn't see the difference on air right away; I mean, Moses hadn't been involved in MuchMusic for a long time. But internally there was a culture shift, for sure, without him. He was such a dominating figure and was so involved that when you lose him, it's noticeable.
Peter Mansbridge has called you "one of the bright interpreters of the current generation." Interpret that generation for us.
I think that it's an extremely conflicted generation. By the way, I think if you're under 50, you're in this generation. Our intake is faster than our ability to process. Everything moves so quickly that we don't have time to actually go through things in their own natural way. The result is that we're both savvy and cynical. I think it's funny when people say that the youth are apathetic because they don't vote. I say kids have seen politics to be utter B.S. and so it's not that they're apathetic -- they're just too smart to waste their time on things that don't work for them.
For such a contemporary guy, you're a great fan of old music -- specifically, the southern American blues.
The Delta blues is my thing. I find it magical that a guy who died 80 years ago can perfectly describe how you would feel after getting off the phone with the person you just broke up with. That's magic. The blues are the most honest thing. Plus it's about not going to hell, booze and women. I mean it's perfect, really.
The Greatest Canadian, where you championed Tommy Douglas, wasn't quite the hit that CBC had hoped for. Why do you think that is?
Because nobody wanted to have fun with it in the media and because nobody likes anything the CBC does. It's just a built-in Canadian-ness to bitch about things that happen on the public broadcaster. I remember somebody ripped the Tommy Douglas thing because they wanted it to be more like A&E Biography. And I thought to myself, But you already have A&E Biography. Make it exciting and everybody complains. Make it boring and everybody complains. Make it right down the middle and everybody complains. The people who were excited about The Greatest Canadian were the teachers and kids. They saw it as Canadian history packaged in an entertaining way. I mean, that's why I wanted to do in the first place.