Last Call is a weekly podcast on the stories behind the places where everybody knows your name. This week, Harry's New York Bar in Paris, the home of the Bloody Mary! I’m Richard Crouse. I tended bar for seventeen years everywhere from hot spots to dive bars and I thought I had seen it all… In my life behind bars I witnessed everything from first dates and marriage proposals to knife fights and a woman who brought a pet monkey in for a drink. Nothing could surprise me… Or so I thought… Then I heard about how a lion who visited Harry’s New York Bar in Paris inspired Ernest Hemingway to write one of his greatest novels. And why there are century old chicken bones hanging above the beer-stained bar at McSorleys in New York City. And how Vincent Sardi refused to do business with the mob during Prohibition, so his famous Broadway Restaurant didn’t serve alcohol until the 21st amendment passed, six year after they first opened… With the help of the Last Call radio players, music and interviews, I bring these stories, and many more, to life in my podcast Last Call. It’s fact folded in with a sprinkling of fiction, because, well, who doesn’t exaggerate after a few drinks? So, open that bottle of wine or crack that beer and join me for an intoxicating guided tour of some of the strange stories from some of the world’s best watering holes.

This week on the Pop Life Podcast with Richard Crouse we meet best selling author Darin Strauss. "The Queen of Tuesday," about Lucille Ball, a thrilling love story starring Hollywood’s first true media mogul, it's Strauss’s follow-up to the National Book Critics Circle Award winner "Half a Life," mixes fact and fiction, memoir and novel, to imagine the provocative story of a woman we thought we knew.  Then we ask the Pop Life panel, stand up comedian Debra DiGiovanni, Second City alum Darryl Hinds and Just for Laughs co-founder Andy Nulman, to discuss influences in comedy.  Remember, you can each Pop Life on television and twitter every Saturday night at 8:30 pm on the CTV NewsChannel and midnight on CTV.

This week on the "Pop Life Podcast" we meet “Relax! Dammit” author and law professor Timothy Caulfield. Host Richard Crouse and Caulfield talk about life during the pandemic, how to manage stress and what advice to listen to, and which to ignore. Then the "Pop Life" panel, sleep expert Amanda Jewson and founder/ chef of 'The Nomad Cook' Travis Petersen, discuss the myths and misconceptions that cloud our decision making. Watch the whole thing HERE! (Link coming soon) Film critic and pop culture historian Richard Crouse shares a toast with celebrity guests and entertainment pundits every week on CTV News Channel’s talk show POP LIFE. Featuring in-depth discussion and debate on pop culture and modern life, POP LIFE features sit-down interviews with celebrities from across the entertainment world, including rock legends Sting and Bob Geldof, musicians Josh Groban and Sarah Brightman, comedian Ken Jeong, writer Fran Lebowitz, superstar jazz musician Diana Krall, stand-up comedian and CNN host W. Kamau Bell, actors Danny DeVito and Jay Baruchel, celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Nigella Lawson, and many more.

This week on the Pop Life Podcast we meet Tracy Deonn, the North Carolina author of the bestselling YA novel "Legendborn." Called "a modern day twist on Arthurian legend" it follows a Black teenage girl who discovers a secret historically white magic society while attending a UNC-Chapel Hill residential pre-college program.   Then, the "Pop Life" panel, Mohawk film director and producer Tracey Deer, Publicity Director at HarperCollins Canada Lauren Morocco and rising country singer, songwriter, and musician Madison Kozak convene to talk about the various ways to pitch your creative ideas.

This week on the Pop Life Podcast we meet veteran music journalist Lisa Robinson, Her new book “Nobody Ever Asked Me About the Girls: Women, Music, and Fame,” pulls from four-and-a-half decades of interviews with music’s most famous women — from Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks to Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé. In our interview Robinson reflects on her own career as a pioneering female music writer and editor of Music Scene Magazine. Then, Robinson joins the “Pop Life” panel, Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, the first all-female band to have a #1 album in the U.S and Rookz Eastmond an entrepreneur and producer who specializes in urban music, to talk about being a woman in the world of music.

This week on the Pop Life Podcast we meet international publishing phenomenon Angie Thomas. Her debut novel "The Hate You Give" debuted at number one on The New York Times young adult best-seller list, where it remained for 50 weeks. Her new novel, "Concrete Rose," is one of the most anticipated books of the year. We discuss growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, pitching a book on Twitter and much more.   Then, the "Pop Life" panel, Angie, broadcaster, author and elected MP Marci Ien and diversity, equity and inclusion consultant Camille Dundas, discuss making a difference in the world. Watch "Pop Life" every Saturday at midnight on CTV.

This week on the Pop Life Podcast we meet rock and roll legend and author of "Do You Feel Like I Do? A Memoir," Peter Frampton. We discuss his new book, his guitar heroes and an old friend named Dave... (that's David Bowie to you and me).  Watch "Pop Life" every Saturday at 8:30 pm on CTV NewsChannel and midnight on CTV.

On the Saturday December 19, 2020 episode of “Pop Life” the “Pop Life” panel, “eTalk” senior correspondent Lainey Lui, UK Correspondent for CTV News Daniele Hamamdjian and National Affairs Correspondent for CTV “National News” Omar Sachedina, look back the memorable stories from a year we’d rather forget.

This week on the Pop Life Podcast we meet Harnarayan Singh, host the Punjabi-language broadcast of "Hockey Night in Canada" and author of a memoir called "One Game at a Time: My Journey." In this interview we talk about the FIRST memoir he wrote... when he was six years old, what it was like growing up as a Sikh kid playing hockey in rural Alberta and much more. Then, the Pop Life panel, former professional ice hockey player and mental health activist Theo Fluery, NHL player and executive and hockey agent Eustace King and TSN - SportsCentre anchor Lindsay Hamilton, discuss diversity in hockey. Watch "Pop Life" every Saturday at 8:30 pm on CTV NewsChannel and midnight on CTV.

Welcome to the Pop Life Podcast. This week Royal Watcher Robert Lacey, author of "Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult." We talk scandal, the rift between the brothers and whether the twio princes will ever reconcile.  Then, the Pop Life Panel, Lacey, CTV NewsChannel anchor Beverly Thomson and Chef John Higgins, who has cooked for the Queen at Buckingham Palace and on the Royal Yacht Britannia. They discuss the obsession with Royals and what the future holds for the Royal Family.  Watch "Pop Life" every Saturday at 8:30 pm on CTV NewsChannel and midnight on CTV.