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Mark kicks off the podcast by asking Joe and their guest, Blair Young, if they have a favorite alien character.

Blair loved the book and movie Contact. He especially liked the alien that looked exactly like the main character’s dad. “This is just so you’re not scared when you first meet us,” Blair explains the aliens’ motivation for appearing that way.

Full disclosure: Blair and Mark are old friends from Queen’s University, and Joe has his hands full keeping the conversation on topic.

Blair is a working stage, screen and voice actor and the president of ACTRA Alberta, the acting union for screen and voice performers.

He shares some fun acting stories and explains how various actors pursue their art before talking to Joe and Mark about the play that still inspires him, Little Shop of Horrors.

He got to see the show at the age of 17 on the West End. That version starred Ellen Greene, the original Audrey on Broadway. (She also plays the character in the 1986 movie version of the show.) He loved the characters, the songs, the puppet that is the alien, and the chorus, which sings do-wop songs. At the end of the show, tentacles dropped from the ceiling into the audience. The whole thing blew his mind.

“This is what I want to do,” Blair said after seeing the show. He was in Grade 12.

For pure fun and laughs, this is an episode not to be missed!