/
1x
Advertisement
Proudly Canadian, obsessively Toronto. Subscribe to Toronto Life!
Culture

This American Life comes to Toronto to do a story about cocaine

By Steve Kupferman
Copy link
this-american-life-logo

Maybe this post’s headline should have been "Rob Ford delivers promised boost to tourism”?

In any case, the first five minutes of this week’s This American Life are very much worth listening to, and not only because This American Life is great. As the lead-off to an episode titled “I Was So High,” the venerable public-radio show included a segment by producer Sean Cole about the role cocaine plays in Toronto’s bar scene. (People who do cocaine in bars probably don’t need a radio show to tell them how pervasive the drug is, but to the rest of us it’s news.) Cole interviews a few local bar workers and concludes that coke is like “fuel for the staff.” Naturally, mayor Ford gets a mention. One gets the sense that his spectacular public-relations work on behalf of Toronto’s coke scene may have been what got the story green-lit.

Host Ira Glass seems duly nonplussed by our mayor, but you know what? This American Life is based in Chicago. To the best of our knowledge, Ford is their problem now.

Audio of the segment can be found on the show’s website.

THIS CITY

Obsessive coverage of Toronto, straight to your inbox

By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Big Stories

The $4-Million Girlfriend Experience: The thief, the cam girl and their whirlwind fraudulent romance
Deep Dives

The $4-Million Girlfriend Experience: The thief, the cam girl and their whirlwind fraudulent romance

Inside the Latest Issue

The July issue of Toronto Life features a behind-the-curtain look at the insatiable political ambitions of Doug Ford. Plus, our obsessive coverage of everything that matters now in the city.