Beauty and the Sock: A Conversation with Ed the Sock and Liana K

Ah, the late night talk show.  That special program that comes on after the last news broadcast of the day in which celebrity guests can come on, have lively banter with a charismatic host, and plug their new movie or album.  In America they have plenty of Late Night hosts to choose from – David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Maher… the list goes on and on.  However, in Canada there is a late night entity like none of these hosts who is living the dream that I can only wish to achieve.  The name of this unusual TV icon is Ed the Sock.  He may be only a piece of footwear, but Ed the Sock has been living the kind of life that most can only dream of – women, fame, and doing interviews with some of our biggest pop culture icons.  From Hillary Duff to Hulk Hogan this surly cigar-smoking sock has been meeting the biggest names along this pop culture journey, and asking the questions we wouldn’t dare, or even think, to ask.  In fact, nobody does an interview like Ed the Sock.  He’s rude, aggressive, insulting, and fearless.  In fact, the only things that Ed the Sock probably fears is getting lost in a dryer or a restraining order from Lambchop.

Ed’s story started in 1987 when he crawled out of a drawer, lit a cigar, and began his own talk show on a local cable access station out of Downsville, Ontario.  He quickly caught the attention of the folks at Toronto’s CITY TV and became an occasional VJ on Much Music.  The success of his VJ gig led to the birth of Ed’s Night Party, his own late night talk show on CITY TV in which he became the ring master of more debauchery, lewdness and titillation then an old Benny Hill rerun.  However, the show gained a brand new sense of intelligence when Ed found his own answer to Ed McMahon (only much, much sexier) in Liana K.  As smart as she is stunning, the clever and quick-witted Liana had been working on Ed’s Night Party since 1997 and had been acting as senior producer and co-head writer prior to gaining fame on the other side of the camera.  Often working as a voice of sensible reason to Ed’s snide and aggressive persona, a natural banter between the buxom redhead and the angry sock made late night television magic, leading to the program’s name being changed to Ed and Red’s Night Party.

Now I had seen Ed at work a number of times over the years when we covered the same events around Toronto, but I first actually met and approached Ed to do an interview in May 2006 when he and Liana were promoting the first issue of their comic book Ed and Red’s Comic Strip at Toronto’s Comic Book Convention.  Leaving Liana, who was dressed as Power Girl, to the legion of drooling fan boys, Ed and I slipped out to an abandoned hallway and talked about the comic, if he’d rather have sex with Betty or Veronica (he chose Betty), and talked “shop.”  However, as a result of some faulty equipment, the entire interview was lost.  Thus, upon my next meeting with Ed a year later at the same convention, where this time he and Liana were promoting the second issue of Ed and Red’s Comic Strip, I meekly asked Ed and Liana if they’d do it all again.  I knew that I was going to get some flack from Ed for losing the first interview, but he and Liana agreed to talk to us again.

So, at long last, get ready for my lively conversation with Ed the Sock and Liana K about the topics that interest you, the Pop Culture Addict readers.  I asked for their insights on the topics that you write to us about, as well as other odds and ends from the summer of 2007 as

CONFESSIONS OF A POP CULTURE ADDICT TALKS TO

ED THE SOCK AND LIANA K: 

BEAUTY AND THE SOCK

I spoke to Ed the Sock and Liana K at the Toronto Comic Book Convetnion in May 2007

Sam Tweedle:  Okay, so we were talking last year…

Liana K:  We were talking last year!

Ed the Sock:  Were we?

Liana K:  How have you been for the last year?

Sam:  I’ve been doing good this last year.

Ed:  I did this last year?

Sam:  Yeah, but I lost the interview because I was using bad 1983 technology.

Liana K;  *gasp*

Ed:  I don’t even…if I remembered I did this last year I wouldn’t be doing this this year. 

Sam:  Alright, do you want me to…

Ed:  Don’t remind me.  You were ahead before I knew I had already done this.

Liana K:  It’s like Groundhog Day.

Ed:  Oh.  I’m reliving it?

Liana K:  Your reliving the same interview over and over and over.

Ed:  Well, he knew I was reliving it over and over.  I had no idea.

Liana K:  Well, now you do.

Ed:  And maybe I don’t want to do that.  You better move on before I change my mind.

Sam:  Well, why don’t we talk about different stuff then we talked about last year.  You got the new comic book.  Ed and Red’s Comic Strip #2,

Liana K:  Ed and Red’s Comic Strip.

Ed:  Yeah.  #2.

Sam:  Tell me about that.

Ed:  Umm… well.  It’s a comic.  It’s got thirty-two pages.  Uh… how many stories in this one?

Liana K:  You were totally not prepared for that one, were you?

Ed:  What?  An actual question?  No.  Not from him.

Liana K:  It has five stories.  Two of which I wrote.  I collaborated on with two different artists.  One was Sean Ward who also [helped] me put the book together.  He did the activity pages and everything like that, and the cover.

Ed:  And the editing.

Liana K:  And the editing.  Yeah, I have two stories in it this year.  One is a story called “Painting the Roses Red”, which is Alice in Wonderland Ed and Red style, and the other is a really kinda surrealistic slice of life that deals with using your imagination.

Sam:  So do you really love nerds?

Liana K:  I am a nerd.  This shirt is a bit of a… well, I guess I love nerds because I love myself.

Ed:  And of those of you who are [reading], what he wasn’t describing is the fact that Liana is wearing a shirt that says “I Love Nerds”, hence the question.

Liana:  Unfortunately you can’t see my boobs in [print].

Ed:  No.  But you can imagine them.

Sam:  Okay, well I want to ask you a couple of questions…

Ed:  What were you doing before?

Liana:  Questions are good in interviews!

Ed:  What were those?  Pre-questions?

Sam:  Well I shouldn’t have said questions.  I guess what I meant were opinions.

Ed:  Alright.  I have those.

Sam:  These are on topics that are topical on my website, as well as things my PR guy tells me I’m not supposed to talk about.

Ed:  Alright.

Sam:  Okay.  First.  Jenna Von Oy’s butt.  It seems to have a cult following. 

Ed:  Who the hell!!!  The broad from Blossom?

Sam:  Yeah.

Liana K:  Who?

Ed:  What the hell?  You know.  The broad Seven, or whatever the hell she was from Blossom!

Liana K:  Vaguely.

Ed:  The blonde. 

Liana K.  I care very little about her butt.

Ed:  You know.  The friend!  People still talk about her butt?  Blossom was off the air ten years ago! 

Sam:  We get pictures of her butt sent into our website all the time.

Ed:  What… what… her naked butt?

Sam:  No.

Ed:  Is she going around places showing her butt for pictures to be taken?

Sam:  Well… yes.

Ed:  Alright.  Well you gotta do what you gotta do to make a living.

Sam:  Okay, so my arch nemesis is Bobby Curtola, who is yours?

Ed:  Bobby Curtola!  He’s the guy who spells Bobby with one “b” right?  B-O-B-Y.  That’s screwy!  Ummm… arch nemesis.  Who do we hate?

Liana K:  Skinny bitches?  I don’t know.

Ed:  Yeah but wasn’t there a person?  I’m trying to think.  There was somebody we don’t like and I don’t remember who it is.

Sam:  Well don’t you hate everybody?

Ed:  Naw.  That takes way to much effort.

Liana:  LeVar Burton’s publicist.

Ed:  LeVar Burton’s publicist?

Liana:  LeVar Burton’s publicist was really mean to me.

Ed:  Yeah.

Liana K:  Really, really mean to me.  He yelled at me.

Ed:  And it’s “LeVar fucking Burton.”  Keep your head on straight.

Liana K:  And I loved Reading Rainbow.  Reading Rainbow is now ruined for me forever.

Sam:  You know Chewbacca almost attacked me once.

Liana K:  Really?

Sam:  Yeah.

Liana K:  Was it the real Chewbacca?

Sam:  Yeah.  It was the real Chewbacca.

Liana:  Okay.

Sam:  He was a bastard.

Liana:  I’m sorry.

Sam:  Oh.  It’s okay.

Ed:  Well you know, there are people but I can’t remember who they are now.

Sam:  Okay.  Michael Jackson’s fifty-foot robot that shoots laser beams from its eyes in the Nevada desert.  What the hell’s up with that?

Ed:  I haven’t even heard of this.  What are you making up?

Sam:  No.  I’m not making it up.  Michael Jackson is building a fifty-foot robot replica of himself that will shoot laser beams out of his eyes that will roam around the Nevada desert. 

Ed:  (Pause) No he’s not.

Sam:  Yes he is!

Ed:  No.  He’s NOT!

Liana K:  If anybody’s going to do it Michael is, and I say all the power to him.

Ed:  Well, first of all they do not currently have lasers with that kind of defensive capability, and if it shoots lasers it’ll be nothing.  Like laser pointers.  Big deal.  Secondly, that guy doesn’t have enough money to be building robots.  He owes more money then you will ever make in your life. 

Liana K:  Well, it’s a noble idea though.

Ed:  It’s an idea.

Liana K:  Well we’re talking about ideas here.  We’re not believing that this is really going to happen.  This is playtime.

Ed:  Well is that robot going to hang out with Astro Boy?  Inappropriately?  Sleep in the same bed?

Liana K:  If he were to do this and if it became a reality I think it’s a very good idea.

Ed:  Well okay.  Your more sold on it then I am. 

Sam:  Okay.  Paris Hilton does jail time.

Liana K:  Ohhhh…

Ed:  Not enough.

Liana K:  If she actually “does” jail time.

Ed:  Well, she’s back in jail now.

Liana K:  Yeah, she’s back in jail now but for how long.  This is the thing about Paris.  First of all, I don’t really want to talk about Paris Hilton because the more you talk about Paris the…

Ed:  The longer her time is.

Liana K:  She’s like Beetlejuice.  Say her name three times and she’ll appear.

Ed:  Yeah.  Let’s not talk about her.

Liana K:  Yeah.

Sam:  Alright.  Alright.  How about Hasselhoff and the hamburger?

Ed:  Hamburger?

Sam:  The hamburger.

Ed:  What’s that?

Sam:  You haven’t seen this on YouTube?

Ed:  Oh.  The one where he was drunk?  Yeah, yeah.  You mean Hasselhoff and the juice.  Not Hasselhoff and the hamburger.  The hamburger is not as big a factor as the fact that he’s pickled.  You know what?  David Hasselhoff has always been very nice to us. 

Liana K:  I don’t want to… I mean it’s tough.  Even on YouTube they can manipulate it so who knows what the whole story is.

Ed:  Well, actually, he’s actually come out and substantiated it and said that was him and he was drunk.

Liana K:  Oh.  Good for him.  See, that I respect.  I respect that he actually owned up to it.

Sam:  Well, I like to say have faith in the Hoffer and he’ll have faith in you.

Ed:  Well I don’t waste my time having faith in him.  He was a nice man to me but he’s an actor.  What do I give a rat’s ass!

Sam:  Well that’s a good lead in to, well, let’s call it my last question.

Ed:  Okay.  Good.  We could call your other one your previous one your last question and say goodbye but, alright, we’ll do this one. 

Sam:  Now you’re a sock.

Ed:  Yeah, yeah.

Liana K:  You’re very observant.

Sam:   You’ve interviewed politicians…

Ed:  Yeah.

Sam:  Musicians…

Ed:  Yeah.

Sam:  Actors…

Ed:  Yeah.

Sam:  Who wouldn’t talk to you because you’re a sock?

Liana K:  Lots of people.

Ed:  Because I’m a sock, nobody.

Liana K:  Because you’re an abrasive jerk, lots of people.

Ed:  Because they’re assholes I’m sure there are people.  Who walked right by us?

Liana K:  Billy Corrigan, which broke my heart.

Ed:  Yeah.  Billy Corrigan.

Liana:  That was a tough one.  I was a big Smashing Pumpkins fan and it’s tough when you’re in the industry and people whose work you respect don’t get you.

Sam:  I totally understand.  Tommy Page won’t return my e-mails.

Ed:  That’s terrible.  Who is he?

Liana K:  He was a one-man boy band back in the day.

Sam:  He opened for the New Kids.

Ed:  I thought he was the kid who played Eddie on The Munsters.  You know.  Little Eddie?

Sam:  That was Butch Patrick.

Ed:  Butch Patrick!  Okay.

Liana K:  He was like Mark-Paul Gosselaar on Saved By the Bell only he sang.

Ed:  No idea.  Way over my head.

Liana K:  Not your era.

Ed:  No.  Nor my interest.

Sam:  Well thank you very much.

Ed:  Yeah.  Alright.

Sam:  Any last words?

Ed:  Yeah.  Bye.

Liana K:  LAST WORD!

And with that, Ed and Liana headed to the Canadian Comic Book Awards.  I am sure that it won’t be the last time I have the pleasure of seeing Ed and Liana again, but you can watch this entertaining pair every Friday night.  In Canada, Ed and Red’s Night Party is on at 11:30 pm on CITY TV, but you can turn off Conan and watch Ed and Red in the US on Fridays at 12:30 am on G4 TV.  You shouldn’t watch Conan anyways.  The guy likes to steal other people’s material.  Also, make sure to check out Ed and Liana’s website at http://www.edthesock.com where you can purchase issues of Ed and Red’s Comic Strip, which are both fun reads, as well as watch videos, see Ed’s interviews, buy lots of other great merchandise, read Ed and Liana’s blogs, and lots of other fun stuff.  Finally, Ed and Liana are available on YouTube as well so make sure to check out the best of Ed on your computer anytime you want.  My personal favorite is Ed’s intervie with Hanson.  Yeah….Hanson.  Now if I could just get the opportunity to interview Hanson….