In the province of Ontario and parts of Manitoba, Atlantic Canada and the northern United
States, Joe is remembered for his work on TVOntario from 1994 to 1999 hosting What and
The tvokids Crawlspace. One show you know, one you probably don't, but both provided
Joe with his first industry memories and career experience.
WHAT (May 1994 - January 1995)
Joe was still attending school when his friend Stephanie Gonos (in his opinion, "one of the best") saw an ad in the paper for a show looking for a 'Host With The Most'. It was an open call (anyone
could audition), she thought it sounded like something up his alley and Joe agreed to go out for it. He had to bring a photo and a one page write-up about himself. Joe felt it would be a good experience "to go out to a real 'cattle call' and test the skills against some other young people who wanted to work in television." Well, "some other young people" turned into 350 women and men vying for a shot at hosting this new live, late-night, phone-in program called What. Joe handed in his 'bio' and a pic of himself jumping on beds in a Montreal hotel room to producer Janet Thomson (StreetCents, CBC News). He made enough of an impression to get a callback with 170 others, then another callback for the final eight. "I was so pumped about my last audition I walked for an hour plus, from
TVO all the way home to East York." A couple of days later, Janet called Joe to say he would host What's pilot episode on May 30th, 1994.
Seventeen episodes of What were produced: the pilot, Ifs Ads or Butts, then 16 more shows Tuesday night at 11pm on TVOntario from September to January. Joe had dubbed What "TVO's Most Dangerous Half-Hour" and with good reason - it
was live, had musical acts, colourful language, and was very different from anything else on the station, or on T.V., at the time. Everyone who worked on that show feltlike the program was on the fringe, and it was. On late at night with little marketing, a tiny budget and no support, the staff
of the show was told that a viewership of 25 000 per episode would be a miracle. At the time, Joe was going to school with Jason Barr, producer and performer on the Humble & Fred morning show on CFNY 102.1FM in Toronto. Jason put Joe on the show the morning of the season opener, Body Part Art. "That is something I still can't thank him enough for." Humble gave Joe a little advice off air, and that night 75 000 people watched a guy get his nipple pierced live on the show. "From there," Joe remembers, "we just started Rollin' Out Of Control In The What Machine.": Joe dyed his hair red (!) for Hair - Whaddup Wit Dat, invited eighty of his friends to studio to talk
about recreational alcohol abuse for Party Hurl Party, garnered critical raves for Living In A World With AIDS and Remembering Dec. 6th, a look at violence against women stemming from the murders at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Quebec in 1989. Talents on the cusp of bigger things appeared and performed, like hip-hop artists Ghetto Concept and Saukrates. They even took the head of TVO's most beloved icon in the series finale, the "War Of The Worlds" homage episode TV Armageddon. At the time the show was cancelled, What was averaging 26 000 an episode ... or a miracle a week. The short half-year run of the program garnered accolades including a Golden Sheaf Award nomination, a trip to Input '95 (held that year in Italy, an international conference for groundbreaking television), and a nomination for a 1995 Gemini Award for Best Youth Program in Canada.
What ended, and Joe was content to get back to his university studies. Producer Janet Thomson, however, encouraged him to consider TVO's offer to co-host one of their other programs.
