"GoOD NEWS" says Hurricane Andy!

I guess Andy might be right, this is good news! So what do you think guys, does it look like the Gemini award might be a good fit. How do you think the Gemini looks on me, too shinny maybe?

Its been an interesting week thats for sure. Its only been a few days now but it's already starting to sound and look like my Gemini nomination might actaully be one of those moments I can look back on in a few years as one of those times when something happened that sent me back in the right direction again.

It seems like every so often over the last six + years, always when I was finally half preparing myself to maybe just pack it in and give up on this crazy ass stupid dream of mine, something always has happened to get me fired up again and then kept me rolling along for another two years. It's amazing actaully!

For those of you who have been hangin in there with me for all these years and know all about what's happened in my life all this time or for those of you who have spent some time catching up by reading my show history page, you will know how absolutely true this is. For that matter, you just had to be reading a few of my more recent blogs to know that even lately I've kinda been stugling at sort of a cross roads a bit and then sure enough..... right out of the blue, I got the news on Tuesday. Wow! I recal reading a dudes post on my facebook wall just a week or so ago and thinking, this kid totally has me pegged! Well here we go again....

No worries though because it looks like I'm back on track and all geared up now for another couple of years! That's the way it works or at least it always has for me that way. It's crazy I tell ya!

I know alot of you seem to feel like maybe I should have for some reason been nominated for a Gemini way before this which is awesome by the way. Thanks again to all of you who have been sending me messages and posting on my facebook wall. The thing is though, I've never actually been eligible for such a nomination until now. Up until the new folks in charge there at Global hooked me up with Producer Tim Alp who hired me to host his series which we eventually called "BE REAL with JR DIGS", I was really just independently producing my dunb no-budget little latenight show which technically is and always was just paid programming. That's why I have never had any actual budget to make the show with and have always had to rely on volunteers and sponsors to somehow keep the show on the air.

Masking my half hour of air time to look as much like a real show as I could never in any way was considered to be a real television series. It still isn't! Be Real with JR DIGS on the other hand was a network television series. It wasn't my show but I got to host it which was cool. It was an amazing experience working with Tim Alp and the rest of the crew he had chosen to work with me. Go to www.berealtv.ca and check out on the show extra's page some of the behind the scenes footage that is there. You will see how much fun it was for me to be working on a series with a full crew and a budget. Making my latenight show all these years has been fun for sure but I would be lieing if I said it hasn't also been tough creating episodes week after week for literally a couple hundred dollars an episode.

Maybe that's part of what makes me feel good about this Gemini nomination. In the back of my brain, maybe I think that members of the acadamy have actually somehow noticed what I have been doing in latenight all these years and my gig as host for my very first network television series finally gave them an opportunity to recognize your pal Digs here. Who knows if thats true or not but it makes me feel good to think it is so why not feel good about something for a change. Who knows how long it will last.

This post has lasted way too long I'm afraid, so I should bail now, take Emma for a walk and figure out what my plans are for the weekend. Have a great one everybody. Watch the show on Saturday night if you are near a Tv set and I'll blog back here again next week.

Gemini nomination is getting media attention!

Doug Foley
The Hamilton Spectator
(Aug 30, 2007)

Most people are honoured to be nominated for a Gemini award.Burlington's JR Digs was flabbergasted."Man, how desperate do they have to be where they have to reach so far down the barrel to pull my name out?" the ebullient Digs said with his trademark loud laugh.

Digs said he was caught totally by surprise yesterday when he learned his late-night show, Be Real With JR Digs, was nominated in the Best Host in a Lifestyle/Practical Information or Performing Arts Program or Series, for the Canadian TV awards."I didn't even know I was eligible," he said. "I was always just a low- level infomercial. This was my first network show, and now I'm a nominated Gemini dude.

"After six years, JR Digs is finally a legitimate host television guy, but give me 10 minutes and I'll spoil that. This ain't gonna last long."Digs certainly exemplifies the stick-to-it attitude, having gone from hosting a minimal-budget midnight talk show to a Gemini-nomination.

Digs started six years ago with the JR Digs Show of crazy skits and silly ideas -- and paid Global television to air it.It ended up costing him more than $115,000 but not his sense of fun or determination.It led to Be Real With JR Digs, in which he took to the streets seeking out people to feature on the half-hour reality TV show, and to a broadcast deal with the Global network, TVtropolis, and to his Gemini nomination.

Digs is especially proud the episode that earned him that honour was one he taped in Hamilton and featured an aspiring professional wrestler, dubbed The Asian Nightmare."Good things happen to me in the Hammer," said Digs. "People are always saying they want to get out of Hamilton, but not me. I love it. Nothing good has ever happened to me other than from being here."I can try and get a discount on a souvlaki dinner at Tony's Corner and win a Gemini all because I'm hanging out on King Street."

The timing of the nomination couldn't be better for Digs. His new show, In The Can With JR Digs, debuts Sunday morning at 12:30 on CH.Each week he gives a video camera to an aspiring filmmaker and a two-day deadline in which to make a short film for the show, while Digs tries to make the process challenging and funny.

Digs's Gemini competition is a formidable bunch -- Rick Mercer, for Canada's Next Great Prime Minister; Marilyn Denis, for CityLine; Bryan Baeumler, for Disaster DIY; and Kevin Brauch, for The Thirsty Traveler.

Digs doesn't know if his category will be announced at the Gemini Awards show Oct. 28 in Regina or at the industry galas a week earlier in Toronto .But he plans to be there.

"Usually I've had to sneak in, but not this year."

dfoley@thespec.com (Photo by Loreto Mancini)

Too much to blog about today!

I was planning today to announce who my 1000th new friend was on facebook since I now have more than 1000 people who I can all call my friends but there is only one who I can call my 1000th! I was going to blog today about what I was planning to do for lucky # 1000 but that will now have to wait until another day.

Not because this isn't important stuff to blog about, its just that I got an interesting phone call today with some very interesting news that I want to share with you guys while the news is still fresh and fun to blog about.

At around 11:15am this morning I got a call from the producer of "Be Real with JR DIGS" which is the series I shot last year around this time. You guys remember...I use to blog about it all the time...it was my very first network produced series, we actually had a budget, we had a full crew, I was hired as the host bla bla bla! Well anyways, apparently the Gemini Awards for this year were announced this morning and well....quess who was nominated for Best Host in a Television series? Of coarse Rick Mercer and all the usual suspects but quess who else!!!!

What the what! Turns out I was announced this morning as one of five people nominated, crazy eh! Until Tim called me this mornng with the news, I had no clue that I was even being considered.

See over the last six years, I've always gone to the Gemini awards but I have always had to sneak in and worm my way close enough to the red carpet to maybe talk to some people and have some fun. One year I snuck a camera into the area where the bar was and talked to people, I remember that was kinda fun. Now this year it sounds like I'm going to actually be invited!!!!! How wierd is that!

I don't have a ton of details yet, I have no clue where the awards are even being held yet but I definately just wanted to tell you guys about the news. Cool eh!

I'm heading out for a couple beers right now to kinda celebrate and see some friends so I'll bonce back and blog more about this on Wednesday.

Interesting day I had today!

Back & Blogging!

It's a little after midnight and I thought I would quick pop on here to blog long enough to say "hey guys, I'm back"!

Yes I'm back from kind of a mini vacation and was gone away just long enough to know that I wish my entire life was more like the one I had when I was away. I have way too much shit going on back here in my normal every day life or at least that is what I have come to realize over this last week or so while I was away from it all.

I think that when it comes right down to it, I'm kind of a lazy guy who has forces himself into a life that requires lots of multi & mega tasking! Lots of irons in the fire, lots of juggling and wrangling! Lots of gettin what has to get done kinda stuff! Lots to think about and deal with for a lazy dude who mostly wants to enjoy life and be lazy.

Looks like I have a full day planned Tuesday mostly filled with meetings and shit, nothing too exciting. I do have some big news to talk about on facebook this week though.

I'll blog about that later!

Talk to you guys next week...

On vacation and enjoying a little time off. Hope everyone has had a great summer and is taking advantage of these last few weeks like I am right now. I didn't want anybody to think I had forgotten about my blog, or the people who regularly check in here to see what I'm up to, so here I am saying hey.

Another new episode of In the Can with JR Digs airs on Saturday night. If you check it out, drop me a line and let me know what you think of the short film by the Casey Brothers. I'll get back to you next week sometime.

Have a great weekend!

Dog days of Summer are going fast....

Emma and I have loved hangin out at the cottage this summer. My sister "Buck" has the two little squirts in the above pictures with Emma. The cottage is paradise for a dog. They probably like it more up there than we do. Well maybe not, it's awesome having a family cottage to go chill out at.

Check out my new/old boat my sister and I are sitting in! It was free so the price was right, I got it from are neighbor. Now I'm looking for an old wood boat to put this old motor on after I get it running a little better.

Busy making movies this summer....

Over the next couple weeks I will be swithching gears again and getting back to shooting an independently producing Another Crappy Canadian Latenight Talkshow that will be airing on Global and on the E!Network this fall. Before I dive right back into that crazy mess again, I'm actually scheduled to go out on the road and shoot a pilot for another new hairbrained idea I have for a series that I would like to get on the air in 2008 sometime.

It's been a wierd summer a little bit so far. Although I have been up north at the cottage a fair amount, its mostly been to relax and escape this complusive desire I have to keep working on stuff even if I think it might actually be half killing me. Every time we go spend a couple days with a new film maker, we shoot around ten hours or so of footage to make up the behind the scenes part of the episode. That's the easy part, the mind swelling part is the looking at and editting of all the footage afterwards. I hate the feeling that if I don't look at every frame of footage myself, I might miss something that was shot that would have been interesting to put in the episode. This Saturday nights episode for example, features a couple familiar faces, one being Todd who I cast in this short film. I sprung this idea on the director Mike Dawson on the first day of shooting and it turned out to be an awesome and hilarious idea. Check out the episode for sure on Saturday night if you find yourself near a television set.

Some pictured were taken over the couple of days while shooting the movie so here is a bit of a photo gallery for you guys to check out if you want to...clickhere!

Awesome new video of my guts...

Arthroscopic surgery isn't really that big a deal but it's nice to know that so many of you were conerned that I was on my last legs earlier this week!

I ended up in the hospital up north in Huntsville for a little bit of arthroscopic surgery this past Tuesday to check out some wonky stuff happening in my stomach. It kinda knocked me on my ass for the day but it really was no big deal. Sure every once in a while I end up being unable to swallow pieces of meat and I pretty much chock to death for a few minutes. Plus for years now I have been taking meds to stop the gut wrenching pain in my stomach because of some pesky ulser thing that I apparently have, big deal! Too much stress, not enough sleep, compulsively working wa, wa, wa!

At least I was smart enough get this tube sucking surgery crap done at a hospital up north near the cottage so that I could chill up there for a couple extra days earlier this week. Now I'm heading back again for the long weekend.

I guess it's good for me to be taking a little time off these days and as long as I'm around here, I can't help but feel like I should be working on the show and stuff. I'm running on about three hours of sleep right now but I'm pumped to pack up some shit and get heading up north within the hour.

Just wanted to say "hey guys" and thanks for the emails and messages earlier this week guys. Have a great long weekend everyone.

WakeStock with Todd!

I know, I know....I should be blogging more often than I have been recently but undersatnd that I pretty much hate banging away on these keys on the best of days and besides the fact that I haven't been in front of a computor screen all that much lately, I'm also really slow on the keyboard which makes me hate using it even more!

Not sure where to begin with regards to catching you guys up on stuff but I can tell you for sure that we had a good time at WakeStock on the weekend and we shot lots of hilarious stuff with Todd that will air this fall on Another Crappy Canadian Latenight Talkshow. I'll start talking more about that when September rolls around.

I can tell you that I am starting to air some performances from past musical guest from the show on Thursdays @ 1:30am on Globals CH stations nationally. Music acts will continue to be a cool part of the show this fall on the E!Network and previous bands that were booked to perform on the show all played at least a couple songs each that never aired on the show. Until now that is! Check it out starting this Thursday night in the wee hours when some of you will be getting home from some patio somewhere.

I wish I could say that I have been out lots this summer so far enjoying the patio's of Hess village but it's mostly been all work and no play except for the few weekends I have slide up north to the cottage. I need to keep doing that as much as possible yet this summer because fall is creeping up on us way too fast.

I did end up at the cottage for kind of a family night on Sunday night but ended up in the hospital in Huntsville getting arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday but I'll have to fill you guys in on that when I blog again in a day or so. I'm pretty bagged right now and need to crash.

Blog back later guys....