Episodes

Who dun it?

On October 6, 1894, 18-year-old Frank Westwood answered the door of his family's Toronto mansion, Lakeside Hall in Parkdale. Someone standing outside shot him through the gap left by the door chain. In part one of this two-part Victorian true crime story on Canada Is Boring, Rhys Waters takes Jesse Harley through the Parkdale Mystery, the Toronto murder that caused a newspaper frenzy in 1890s Canada. Before Frank died of his stomach wound, he described the gunman as a man in dark clothes with a ...

Meet Dusty Friesen

Rhys and Jesse dive into the surreal and surprisingly inspiring story of Count Binface, the intergalactic space warrior with a bin for a head who keeps showing up on UK ballot papers. Starting from the obscure 1984 sci‑fi film Hyperspace and the original character Lord Buckethead, they trace how a low‑budget movie villain evolved into a viral political figure who has stood against multiple UK prime ministers and, most recently, Nigel Farage. Along the way, they unpack the darker side of UK poli...

Mob Justice on Grand Manan Island

Eccentric Millionaire’s Bizarre Baby Contest in Depression-Era Canada In this episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys Waters and Jesse Harley dive into the unbelievable true story of Charles Vance Miller, a wealthy and eccentric Toronto lawyer whose bizarre will triggered one of the strangest competitions in Canadian history: The Great Stork Derby. Miller, a successful Toronto lawyer, O’Keefe Brewery investor, and racehorse owner, used his fortune to play elaborate pranks that tested people’s greed,...

Supreme Court Smackdown

How a Teenage Hoax Became an Internet ‘Legend’

Rhys and Jesse dive into the mystery of the “extinct” Eastern Cougar in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick—sharing sightings, sketchy government responses, dubious DNA tests, and why officials might prefer this big cat to stay officially dead. Along the way, they detour into conspiracy vans in Vancouver, wild listener theories, dating updates, autobahn anxiety, and the surprising sex lives of kangaroos. 0:00 – Sleep Tracking & Being Exhausted 1:00 – Introducing the Eastern Cougar “Cryptid” 2:20 – ...

In this episode of Canada Is Boring: The Tinfoil Touque, Rhys Waters and Jesse dive into Project Magnet, Canada’s secretly funded UFO research program from the 1950s, led by government engineer Wilbert Brockhouse Smith. They unpack how a respected radio and broadcasting expert went from establishing ionospheric monitoring systems and TV allocation standards… to claiming telepathic contact with “space brothers” and linking UFOs to psychic phenomena. Along the way, they explore: How Project Mag...

In this episode of Tinfoil Touque from Canada Is Boring, Rhys and Jesse dive into the viral case of Andrew Dawson, the TikToker who claimed to film a giant on a BC mountainside—then later posted strange follow-ups about government agents, mysterious helicopters, and being stalked… before tragically dying a few months later. They unpack: The original “giant on the mountain” video near Valemount / Canoe Mountain, BC Possible mundane explanations (CBC transmitter mast, SkyTram station, firefight...

Are aliens surgically mutilating cattle across the Canadian prairies… or is there a far more grounded (and grosser) explanation? In this episode of Tinfoil Touque, Rhys Waters and Jesse dive into decades of bizarre prairie cattle mutilation reports from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and BC. We talk missing eyes and tongues, vanishing sex organs, no blood at the scene, strange surgical cuts, and RCMP files that still aren’t fully released. Along the way we explore: Classic conspiracy explan...

In this episode of The Tinfoil Tuque, Rhys and Jesse dive into one of Canada’s most famous UFO cases: the Falcon Lake incident. Was Polish immigrant and amateur prospector Stefan Michalak really burned by a UFO in 1967—or was it a bizarre self‑inflicted hoax? Along the way they rant about conspiracy theories, flat‑Earthers, media bias, cops, and how the internet turned every would‑be investigative journalist into an online conspiracy-hunter. They also talk about the legacy of the case, from go...

In this debut episode of Canada Is Boring Presents: The Tinfoil Touque, Rhys and Jesse dig into one of Canada’s most famous “evidence of time travel” photos: a 1941 crowd scene at a bridge reopening in British Columbia featuring a mysterious man in wraparound shades, a logo sweater, and what looks like a modern camera. Was he really a time traveler… or just a fashion-forward hockey fan with a new Kodak? The pair break down how this single image went viral in the 2010s, why people are so eager t...

In this premium “special friends” episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys shares a surprisingly heartwarming Disney-level story from his own Nova Scotia neighborhood: a mother black bear and her two cubs, one of which, soon christened Kelly the Bear, ends up roaming alone through suburbia and ultimately being “relocated” to a wildlife park. Rhys also announces their upcoming summer mini-series, “Tin Foil Touque” a run of conspiracy- and paranormal-themed episodes featuring UFOs, frogmen in lakes, rad...

Picture this: it’s too hot to think, the news is depressing, and your brain wants something fun and strange that still feels entertianing. That’s Tin Foil Touque. This summer series is Rhys and Jesse taking a detour from “respectable” Canadian history into all the stuff your high school textbook pretended didn’t exist. It’s not the usual “9/11 was an inside job” sludge or hour-long Illuminati diagrams. It’s the fun side of paranoia, a weird Canadian summer of conspiracies, cryptids, and campfi...

In this episode of Canada Is Boring, Rhys and Jesse dive into the life of David Thompson, the Welsh-born orphan who became one of the most important mapmakers in North American history. Along the way, they detour through tales of the Lake Louise Tea House, roast the bizarre social-media energy of Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry, and debate whether Thompson was more cat or rat on the Katy-cat/Katy-rat spectrum. You’ll hear how Thompson: Went from a charity school in Westminster to an apprentice w...

Broke in, Fed the Horses, Stayed for Coffee

The Fading of Pierre Poilievre

How Patrice Runner Sold Magical Promises for $175 Million

Corporate Spies!

Rhys and Jesse dive into the legendary Canadian documentary Project Grizzly and the life of its unforgettable star, Troy Hurtubise—the man who spent years and thousands of dollars building bear-proof armor so he could safely get face-to-face with grizzlies. They cover: Troy’s near-fatal first encounter with a grizzly and how it sparked a lifelong obsession The evolution of his absurdly overbuilt Ursus bear suits, tested with trucks, swinging logs, and baseball bats His later inventions, from fir...

The 9 year con to escape prison.

The comedy podcast proving that Canada is anything but.