George Stroumboulopoulos brings Canadians together, one hour at a time

REGINA (CUP) -- George Stroumboulopoulos doesn't sleep much. The former MuchMusic VJ and current host of CBC's “The Hour” has had a lot on his mind lately.

Aside from his daily duties at the CBC as host and producer, his rock radio show, the Strombo Show, went nation-wide last week; he has recently received an honorary degree from the University of Calgary; was the host of this year's Gemini awards; and to top it all off, he has a broken collar bone.

It's understandable, then, that he only manages to squeeze in two or three hours of sleep a night.

I met Stroumboulopoulos in a hotel lounge in downtown Regina. He arrived a few days early to do some pre-Gemini publicity.

“I'm into politics because when I was 10 years-old, I heard the Clash,” he said when I ask him about his shift from music to politics. “I don't think there is any difference. I think you are talking to people about people and ideas... that's it.”

Stroumboulopoulos and “The Hour” are different. When the show first aired three years ago, it was largely criticized by news media for dumbing-down the news and for making light of real news subjects. With rapid-fire segments, punk references and a youthful edge, some passed it off as another lame attempt by the CBC to pander to a younger audience.

George admitted that when the show first went to air, they got killed by the critics. But, he said, when people actually sat down and watched an episode, once they got to know him and what he was about, the audience began to understand that he was doing something different.

“CBC hasn't ever really had a fuck-you guy. I'm kind of a fuck-you guy,” he said, hunching over close in that signature Stroumboulopoulos style.

“You see someone like me who is wearing black t-shirts, is making Slayer and Hendrix references on air, and you have a tendency to be like ‘we don't do it this way.' Well to tell you the truth, I don't really care. We are not bullshitting anybody; we're not trying to be anything we are not.”

His no-bullshit approach to the world is even more evident in person than it is on TV. He is definitely punk rock — the piercing, the black t-shirts and the motorbike aren't just an act.

Throughout his work, there is an overtone of youthful alienation, angst and anti-establishment in both his show and personality. Over the course of our conversation, it became clear that he doesn't lie about who he is, on TV or in person.

“I treat every interview the same way I treat Thanksgiving with my family,” he said. “There are a million conversations; a million ways it can go. There's laughing, there's yelling, but if you listen, you can pick up on people's sensibilities.”

Part of Stroumboulopoulos' charm is his ability to bridge not only gaps between cultures, but also the gaps between generations. He said that when he got to the hotel the previous evening, an elderly couple approached him and complimented him on the evening's show.

The two guests on that show had been Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court who is dealing with the genocide in Sudan, and Kid Rock. The gentleman said that he had enjoyed that evening's program, especially the interview with Kid Rock, who, he believed, had some interesting things to say about the war in Iraq.

“That guy would have never watched a Kid Rock interview, but because we had the guy from Sudan he stayed through and did. Same goes for my MuchMusic audience who are watching for Kid Rock ... they never would have turned on the TV to see Luis Moreno-Ocampo speak,” he said.

“I always laugh when people say, ‘How can you do both things?' I'm like, what are you afraid of? Are you afraid of ideas?”

This year's Gemini Awards, which Stroumboulopoulos hosted and co-produced, were evidence that his style is catching on. George traded in his Hendrix t-shirt for a black suit and tie for the event, but the laid-back, edgy style of his show seemed to permeate the awards ceremony. There was a skit with puppets going down on each other, and one of the presenters slipped and said, “What the fuck” on national TV.

Stroumboulopoulos himself still seems miffed by his celebrity status. When asked how it feels to be a Canadian sex symbol, he flat-out denies that he is. Despite the fact that he exudes the confidence to talk knowledgeably about everything from hockey to music to politics, and the fact that college-aged girls and boys all over Canada swoon over him, he still maintains his punk-rock humility.

“Some guys act like they are in Motley Crew, I act like I'm in Black Flag,” he said. “When I first went on the air there were a lot of preconceived notions. Like what the fuck does this kid know about politics? But because I look the way I look on TV there are a lot of people who watch and go, ‘oh you don't have to wear a suit and tie to be taken seriously.'”

After our interview, Stroumboulopoulos puts on his jacket and scarf and is rushed off to one off his million other things to do on three hours of sleep. But on our way out, a middle-aged woman, probably in her early forties, stopped him. “You are a very smart man,” she said. “Keep doing what you are doing.”

Stroumboulopoulos' new radio show, “The Strombo Show” kicked off on November 4 and airs every Sunday night 5 p.m.-8 p.m. on FM96 in London.