I loved the CBC radio show Wiretap. Sadly, the CBC website has gone through enough redesigns in the years since its broadcast that there doesn’t seem to be a canonical website for Wiretap anymore, hence the Wikipedia link.

Jonathan Goldstein, host of Wiretap, is a Canadian national treasure, even if he now works for a US company in New York since acquired by a Swedish streaming conglomerate legally based in Luxembourg.

Goldstein now hosts the Heavyweight podcast, and it is a worthy spiritual successor to Wiretap.

I usually dislike the feeling of being aware of the writer when watching or listening to a narrative like a TV show, movie, or podcast. In fiction, I find this happens when the writer is clearly smarter than the character (or worse, wants you to know how smart they are*). When the cleverness of the author bleeds through, it breaks the four wall and takes you out of the moment. That said, in episode #31 of Heavyweight, Goldstein had a line that did shine a light on the cleverness of the writer, and I was 100% on-board:

There are no mobius-strip-shaped roads in a euclidean space, like Canada.

Jonathan Goldstein, in episode #31 of Heavyweight

If you liked Wiretap, you’ll like Heavyweight. If you hated Wiretap, you’ll hate Heavyweight.

* (I am smart)