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00:00Enjoy.
00:01Hi, everyone.
00:02Hi, Alan.
00:03Hi.
00:04Thank you for coming all the way from Newfoundland.
00:06Oh, thank you.
00:09Hi.
00:10Hi.
00:11What type of dog do you have?
00:12I have a King Charles Cavalier.
00:14I said it would be fitting if your dog was Labrador.
00:16It's like Newfoundland and Labrador.
00:17I know.
00:18We're a Newfoundland dog, the big ones.
00:20Oh, okay.
00:21But I don't.
00:22I have two tiny little ones.
00:23Oh, okay.
00:24That's nice.
00:25Do you speak any other languages?
00:26I barely speak this one.
00:28Yeah.
00:29Except for Newfoundlandese, I guess.
00:31Newfoundlandese.
00:32You probably speak a bit of that.
00:34I do.
00:35Yeah?
00:36I do, yeah.
00:37I have a question.
00:39Did you work with Russell Crowe?
00:41I did.
00:42Oh, my God, yeah.
00:45Wait, are you friends with him or not?
00:47I am.
00:48Do you guys know who Alan Doyle is?
00:50Yeah.
00:51Great Big C.
00:52They went out one night and Alan invited me to join them
00:55because I lived in Toronto at the time.
00:57And, uh, we've been friends ever since.
01:00That was 2003.
01:02And then when I, Republic of Doyle, the second that we got a green light for the show, Russell
01:07was like, I'll come do it.
01:09It's so cool.
01:10I know there's a new show out now, Saint Pierre.
01:13Yep.
01:14Here in that one too, I remember.
01:15That's my show too, yeah.
01:16I was researching that on the internet.
01:18Oh, okay.
01:19Was it good things or?
01:20Oh, good things.
01:21Yeah, yeah.
01:22Okay, everybody is here.
01:33So, TJ, do you get to open the show for us?
01:36Of course.
01:37Welcome to the assembly and collect autistic and neurodivergent viewers.
01:45We are very delighted to have you join us today.
01:48The rules are no sharp jets out of bounds, no questions off the table, and all might happen.
01:54Can you please tell us your name kindly?
01:57My name is Alan Hocko.
02:00Good name.
02:01Thanks.
02:06Our first question is from Nick.
02:15Hello there.
02:16Yeah.
02:17Now, my question is, I'm an actor myself actually.
02:20Are you?
02:21And yes, there was one particular role I had in a music video which was extremely ridiculous and degrading.
02:26I had to wear a cheap and really awful costume, and I had to force a plastic smile through the whole thing.
02:34My question is, what was the worst role you've ever taken?
02:41I'm sorry you went through that.
02:43When I was starting out as a young actor, I worked at a modeling agency where I had to be a stripper at a hairdresser's convention.
02:55Not...
02:56Oh.
02:57Oh.
02:58Oh.
02:59Did they have showers there?
03:00Did they have showers?
03:02It wasn't, it wasn't full, but it still was bad enough.
03:06Hmm.
03:07And once I was fired...
03:08Whoa.
03:09That's not good.
03:10...from being a background performer on a Resident Evil movie in Toronto, I was really resentful that I was a background performer and I wasn't in the show.
03:23I broke one of the rules.
03:25I was playing a zombie in a...
03:27It's alright.
03:28And I wore like a hoodie because it was cold.
03:31Wardrobe was all zombie wardrobe and then I had this new hoodie on and then someone saw it and they got mad and then I spoke back to them and I got fired.
03:40Mm-hmm.
03:41Oh.
03:42Oh man.
03:43Yeah, you wanted to be the center of the stage, huh?
03:45I wanted a role, you know?
03:47I wanted to do the job that I get to do now.
03:50The background community is so valuable, but I didn't know that then.
03:54I was so mad at the world.
03:58Yeah.
03:59Yeah.
04:00Good question, Nick.
04:01Yeah, thanks.
04:02Corinne, you're next.
04:07So, back in 2022, I spent about 15 minutes filling out its mission form on Impulse because I was bored, not expecting to hear anything back from it.
04:21And I eventually ended up alone on a stage in front of 5,000 people on national television trying to make them laugh.
04:28Uh...
04:32Yeah, so my question is what small random impulse or moment had the biggest unexpected impact on your life?
04:39Yeah, oh, great question.
04:41First of all, congrats.
04:43That's one of my greatest fears.
04:45If someone's got that question, that's what's my greatest fear.
04:48That's one of them.
04:51Stand up.
04:52Scares me.
04:53Well, I am incredibly brave.
04:55So...
05:00An impulse moment that I'm glad I took...
05:04I was auditioning for a play at Soulpepper in Toronto, which is a really well-established classical theatre company.
05:14To get in that company was like a big deal, and I was blowing my audition.
05:18I was just not doing great.
05:22And I was leaving at the end of my audition, and you could feel everybody was looking at me like I was a disappointment to them.
05:28And on my way out the door, I stopped and went back and asked them to let me do it all over again.
05:33And it was an impulse moment that I'm glad I...
05:36It probably changed the trajectory of my career because I got in the company that year.
05:40So once I was in that company, the industry looked at me in a different way, and then everything changed for me.
05:46That's awesome.
05:53What is that?
05:54It means clap.
05:55ASL.
05:56That's how deaf people clap.
05:58Okay.
05:59Liam is next.
06:01Hi.
06:02Hi.
06:03Hi.
06:04The character of Jake Doyle has become as iconic as any other fictional detective.
06:10Holmes, Poirot, Columbo.
06:14My question was, were there any, like, performances in detective fiction that you drew on when developing Doyle?
06:21Or did you just go your own way with it?
06:24I was extremely influenced by a lot of people as an actor.
06:30However, the goal for me is to be as much of me in the part that I'm playing as possible.
06:38But I'm not cool.
06:40Jake Doyle is cool.
06:41I am not.
06:46Like, Jake Doyle in Republic of Doyle, we really went into a deep dive on all of that stuff.
06:52Jim Rockford, Big Time, Sonny Crockett, Miami Vice, Remington Steele.
06:57Yeah.
06:58A lot of the 70s, a lot of the British stuff we drew heavily on.
07:02I love detective fiction.
07:03I love that stuff, too.
07:04Me, too.
07:05Yeah, I love it.
07:06It's so good.
07:07Yeah, I love, love, love it.
07:08Mm-hmm.
07:09Yeah.
07:12Uh, Luca, you are next.
07:14Okay.
07:15So, um, hello there.
07:19Here's a question.
07:20I'm not sure if you'd answer this very well, but have you ever been rejected by somebody
07:27that you love?
07:28Oh, yeah.
07:30You have?
07:31Oh, yeah.
07:32Was it because they thought you weren't, um, the good-looking or something?
07:36Probably.
07:37Or something.
07:41You know, what's funny about my career as an actor is you are rejected constantly.
07:49Ninety percent of the job is not getting the part.
07:53It's extremely challenging to face those odds.
07:58And the way I deal with it is the same way I dealt with it back in my youth when I was
08:04rejected by a girl that I loved or thought I loved, is what are you going to do about
08:09it?
08:10You just got to keep moving on.
08:11Yep.
08:12That's the mindset that I have.
08:13That's good.
08:14What else is there?
08:16You can't be what someone else wants you to be ever.
08:18You can only be you.
08:20You can be a better you and you can work on being a better you as much as you possibly
08:24can.
08:25But you can't be something else for someone.
08:28Yeah.
08:29You can't force yourself into a space that doesn't work for you.
08:34Understood.
08:35Great.
08:36Thank you, Luca.
08:38Matt, Nicole, you're next.
08:41My question for you is how old were you for your first kiss?
08:52Wow.
08:53My first kiss was pretty early.
08:57You know what?
08:58My first kiss, I think I was five.
09:02Oh.
09:03That is pretty early.
09:05And it might have been four.
09:07Oh.
09:08And it wasn't like a big kiss or anything, but she was a little bit older than me.
09:15And I had a bit of a crush.
09:17Wow.
09:18By how much?
09:20Two years older than me.
09:22Two years older than you?
09:23Yeah, but we were...
09:24Wow, man.
09:25I thought it was seven years older than you.
09:27No, it wasn't that old.
09:28No, no, no, no.
09:29That would have been weird.
09:30Have you ever kissed a boy?
09:32Never kissed a boy.
09:35Oh.
09:36Oh, man.
09:38I've never even kissed a boy in acting.
09:43Like, I've never played a gay character.
09:46Wow.
09:47Interesting.
09:48Or a character who's curious or any of that.
09:51Oh, okay.
09:52Thanks for answering.
09:54Next is Daniel.
10:02Um, my question is, um, what piece of Newfoundland slang do you wish would pick up and spread throughout the country?
10:11Do you want me to teach you one?
10:12Sure.
10:13Yeah.
10:14Yeah.
10:15Yeah.
10:16Yeah.
10:17Teach me.
10:18Okay.
10:19So, what are you at?
10:20What are you at?
10:21Yeah.
10:22It's not, where are you at, which people everywhere say, where are you at?
10:26Yeah.
10:27In Newfoundland, we say, where are you to?
10:30Uh-huh.
10:31Where, where are you to means, where are you?
10:33Oh.
10:34So, stay where you're to, till it comes where you're at.
10:37But it can also be, stay where you're at, till it comes where you're to.
10:40Which also means, stay where you're to, till it comes where you're at.
10:44To say, what are you at, is, what are you doing?
10:50And your answer doesn't have to be specific.
10:53Your answer can just be nothing.
10:55Even if you're performing surgery, you would say, nothing, what are you at?
11:04Well, thank you.
11:09Connie, you are next.
11:12Hi, Alan.
11:13Hi.
11:14What are you at?
11:16This is it.
11:17Um.
11:18Did I say it right?
11:19You said it perfect.
11:20Awesome.
11:21Okay.
11:22What was a belief that you had in your 20s that you don't believe today?
11:29I used to believe that Newfoundland should be its own country.
11:32Oh, no way.
11:34Why, man?
11:35Like, passionately.
11:36Crazy.
11:38I was just really passionate as a Newfoundlander.
11:40I loved the culture, place, the history.
11:43I was really, really into it.
11:44And Newfoundland joined Canada in a strange way and we were all obsessed with it.
11:48Right.
11:49And I got over that because I went to Bosnia in 2004 or something.
11:55So it was, like, very shortly after the war.
11:58And I saw firsthand what nationalism can do.
12:01Right.
12:03And I love Newfoundland and Labrador.
12:05I love the place.
12:07But life has changed.
12:09Like, Newfoundland has so many people from other parts of the world that lived there.
12:13Right.
12:14Closing it off into its concept of what a national identity is or something.
12:18It's, like, racist.
12:20It's archaic.
12:21That's crazy.
12:22Your whole perspective, it kind of just flipped on a dime.
12:25Well, you go to a place where they experience bloodshed and war.
12:30Yeah.
12:31If there's an us and there's a them.
12:32If you were an alien to look down at us, you'd be like, but what's the difference?
12:36Exactly.
12:38I got over that real quick.
12:39Yeah.
12:40All right.
12:41Thank you so much.
12:42Next is Austin.
12:43Um, okay, so let's get straight to it.
12:47What is the dumbest thing you have ever done that, like, just haunts you?
12:51Probably...
12:53I have to think.
12:54I have to think.
12:55What is the honest answer to the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life?
13:00What is the dumbest thing you have ever done that, like, just haunts you?
13:14I know the answer.
13:15I knew it would come to me.
13:17I started smoking when I was a kid.
13:20What's the smirsch?
13:22Smirsch.
13:23I was 13 years old.
13:25Um, you know, my parents weren't smokers.
13:30No one encouraged me to do it, but it's just something I did, and it's haunted me my whole life.
13:36I don't smoke now.
13:37Good for you.
13:39Yeah.
13:40But I've struggled with it my whole life.
13:41It's like an addiction you can't control, and I wish I'd never taken that first puff, because you get addicted very quickly.
13:49Did you stop shortly after?
13:51No, I smoked all through high school until I got to theater school.
13:57You could smoke inside the building in Quebec at that time.
14:00It was...
14:01No way.
14:02Yeah, it was really...
14:03Different times?
14:04Different times, yeah.
14:06But challenging to quit when it was all around you, and I did.
14:10And I have fallen off the wagon a number of times and picked it up, but I've always stopped, and I hope this time is my last time.
14:18That's my honest, stupidest thing I ever did, yeah.
14:21All right.
14:22Thank you, Austin.
14:23Great question.
14:24Karen, you are next.
14:27Oh, hi.
14:29I'm so sorry.
14:42Can I come closer?
14:44When I feel nervous, my thoughts go up, and I stare lost to speed. How do you manage your anxious?
14:56How do I manage my, like, anxiety?
14:59Yeah.
15:01I get very nervous in public speaking.
15:12I meditate.
15:13I try to meditate.
15:14I try to remember that everybody that I'm speaking to wants me to do well.
15:22I just try to breathe, focus on my breath.
15:27It's hard.
15:29Is it?
15:30Yeah, it's hard.
15:31Amazing.
15:32Thanks, Karen.
15:34Alexis is next.
15:38Hi.
15:39Hi.
15:40Hi, mom.
15:41So, as a child with a religious upbringing, I understand, like, that your mom was a nun
15:46who later became a teacher.
15:47And I want to know, like, if you ever felt pressured to kind of follow a very specific moral or religious
15:55kind of path as you were growing up.
15:59I don't know if I'd say pressured, but we were raised in a really staunch Catholic household.
16:08And I'm a very curious person.
16:11I constantly ask the question, why?
16:15It's never enough for me to be, well, this is the answer.
16:19You have to do that.
16:20This is what you're told.
16:22Even as a child, I just didn't subscribe to that.
16:25But I was the youngest.
16:27I'm the youngest of four.
16:28Yep.
16:29I'd say my oldest sibling, Michelle, might have felt more of that pressure.
16:33But as time went on, my parents were very busy.
16:38They just chilled out.
16:40You know?
16:41So being out partying or drinking or whatever in high school, which I did tons of.
16:47But they kind of gave me a wide berth to make my own choices and be responsible.
16:53Yeah.
16:54And there was a number of dumb things that I did during that time.
16:57I had this one trick that I used to do when I was a teenager.
17:01Is I used to call home from the party I was at.
17:03Because I was, my room was in the basement.
17:05So I would call from the party.
17:07And my mother would answer the phone.
17:10And I would say, I got it, Mom.
17:12And then she would be like, okay.
17:14And hang up thinking that I was home and I'd answered the phone.
17:17But I've confessed that to her a number of times.
17:24Yeah.
17:25Thanks, Alexis.
17:27Julia, you are next.
17:29Hey, Alan.
17:30Hi.
17:31When I was younger, me and my friend used to fight quite a bit.
17:42And one time she pulled the chair and I fell over.
17:45And then I sharpened my pencil and I put it under her bum.
17:48She still jokes that she has lead in her bum.
17:55And so I was just wondering, did you ever fight with your siblings or friends?
18:01Yeah.
18:02I grew up in a tough town that had a lot of physical fights.
18:06Like I used to have to get, I used to have to get in fights a lot.
18:10And I didn't like it.
18:12So it was never really something I liked to do.
18:15And my problem is that when I lose my temper, I can lose my temper.
18:20But it doesn't last long.
18:22So I got in a fight once with a guy in my school.
18:27A bunch of guys were picking on me and I got really mad.
18:30And I said we were going to fight each other at 3 o'clock.
18:33And that was at 10.
18:35And by 3, I forgot what we were mad at.
18:38Wasn't mad anymore.
18:39He beat me up pretty good.
18:41Mom, I'm sorry.
18:44Well, thank you.
18:45I try not to do a lot of fighting.
18:47On purpose.
18:51Alex, you are next.
18:57Hello, I'm Alex.
18:59Nice to meet you.
19:00Hi. Nice to meet you.
19:01My question for you today is what is the hardest thing you've forgiven yourself for?
19:05Hello, I'm Alex.
19:22Nice to meet you.
19:23Nice to meet you.
19:24Nice to meet you.
19:25My question for you today is what is the hardest thing you've forgiven yourself for?
19:29I don't know.
19:30It's probably stuff around my father.
19:36Yeah.
19:37I get that one.
19:38It's hard with dads.
19:39Since he's passed.
19:40I don't know.
19:41I don't know.
19:42I don't know.
19:43It's probably stuff around my father.
19:46Yeah.
19:47I get that one.
19:48It's hard with dads.
19:49Since he's passed, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the positives, cause when he
20:11was alive we had a lot of conflict.
20:14He had so many great qualities.
20:16Yeah.
20:17He was a great father in so many ways, most of the time.
20:22He had demons, you know, we all do.
20:26No one has ever one thing.
20:30We made amends and everything, so I feel okay about that.
20:34And at the end of the day, he was insanely supportive of me going into this really ludicrous career,
20:44particularly from the place that he came from and where I came from.
20:48It didn't feel like a feasible thing to do, and really, it really isn't.
20:52It's a strange and very complicated career, and he wasn't, he never questioned it.
20:59Yeah.
21:06If you'd like to end there, that's okay.
21:09Yeah.
21:09Just for my mom's sake, I think.
21:11Yeah, that's fair.
21:12Again, he's not, he wasn't like a super bad guy or anything.
21:15We just had a complicated thing.
21:19Yeah.
21:19No, relationships with parents are very difficult.
21:22They can be challenging.
21:23Yeah.
21:24Thank you for your answer.
21:26Thanks for your question.
21:27Of course.
21:31Devin, you're next.
21:32Hey, Alan.
21:39Hi.
21:39My question is, do you move to America, pay for more money?
21:51I think you're asking if I would move to America to make more money?
21:58Yep.
21:59Okay.
22:00Yes, I would definitely make more money if I were doing what I do now in America.
22:06But I never wanted to live anywhere else.
22:10I like living in Canada.
22:14I lived in Toronto.
22:16I lived in Montreal.
22:18I love living in Newfoundland.
22:21I love Newfoundland.
22:23But I didn't want to live anywhere else.
22:25I wanted to stay here and tell our stories in Canada.
22:30I've been very lucky to get to do that.
22:33Great.
22:33Thank you, Devin.
22:37Alex, would you like to close the show for us?
22:40Yes.
22:44So, first off, I wanted to say thank you for coming today and being vulnerable with us.
22:48It's not easy to do this.
22:50So, on that note, how was this experience for you?
22:55It was hard.
22:57But it was also lovely.
22:59Thank you for your compassion.
23:01You asking me your question, you were very compassionate about bringing me out of where
23:05I was going.
23:06So, thank you.
23:06Of course.
23:07And thank you to everybody.
23:09This was, I'm from the theater.
23:13I love the truth.
23:14I'm kind of bringing a real experience to life, which is what you guys do so effectively.
23:20And I'm honored to be here.
23:21So, thank you.
23:22Yeah.
23:22Thank you for coming today.
23:23We appreciate it.
23:24Yes.
23:26Thanks.
23:28Nice tossing to you.
23:30Me too.
23:32I made a new friend today.
23:34Yes, me too.
23:38Where are we going?
23:39Where are we going?
23:40For the photo.
23:40We're going to have a photo shoot.
23:41Amazing.
23:42Are you a star-shot of Star Wars?
23:44I like both.
23:44I like both.
23:45I like both too.
23:47Yeah.
23:47Good job.
23:47Good job.
23:47Good job.
23:47Good job.
23:54Smiles.
24:11I'm loving it.
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