Rob Ford makes his pro theatre debut alongside Thomas the Tank Engine, giving train metaphors new life

If anyone wants to see Mayor Rob Ford on stage—and we mean in an actual theatre, not political theatre—the time and place is this Friday at the Sony Centre. The mayor will be doing a walk-on cameo during Thomas & Friends (which, it turns out, is no longer hosted by Ringo Starr). This is not, despite the publicity, the mayor’s stage debut—during the AGO debate last year, Ford mentioned that his love of the arts stems from his role in a school production of The Princess and the Pea. Most importantly of all, this resets the clock on all of the media’s “train”—and possibly even “gravy”—metaphors. Headlines that would have been groaners only days ago can now be used again with abandon. So get to it, scribes.