Q&A: Author Paul Myers talks John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, and working in Vancouver media

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Paul Myers could be mistaken for his brother Mike in a few ways. They look very similar, they share a sharp sense of humour, and they both have an unmistakable Canadian-ness about them that decades living in the U.S. have failed to wipe away. 

But while his younger brother was becoming one of the most famous actors in Hollywood due to roles in films like Wayne’s World and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Myers found his own corners of fame. In the early ‘90s, he was the frontman of Toronto band the Gravelberrys, which topped Canadian alt-rock charts with its album Bowl of Globes.  

A few years later, Myers launched a journalism career that started in Toronto and included a book about the Barenaked Ladies, Public Stunts, Private Stories. He moved to Vancouver from 2001 to 2006 and became a fixture in radio and television, primarily through his “The Movie Guys” program on Shaw TV with Patrick Maliha. (He also wrote many film reviews for an esteemed local publication.)

Myers moved to California after his Vancouver stint, but he remains very much a Canadian abroad and has stayed interested in Canadian stories. In 2018, he wrote The Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy, about the legendary sketch comedy troupe. In October of 2025, he released John Candy: A Life in Comedy, a biography of the famed comedian. 

On January 21, Myers stops by Granville Island’s Revue Stage to talk about Candy with comedian Charles Demers in an event presented by the Vancouver Writers Fest. We caught up with Myers via Zoom call before his return to Vancouver. 

GS: Hi Paul, how’s it going? 

PM: Yeah, I’m good. Are you… are you in an actual office? Like a Georgia Straight office?

I know, this is going to be shocking, but I am; you can see all the merch and everything. 

Wow. So yeah, I wrote a weekly column for the Straight about 20 years ago. 

Right. I knew a bit about that. Did it have a name? It was about movies, yeah?

I don’t think it had a name, but I wrote about movies and television and stuff like that. I also had an old TV show on Shaw TV with Patrick Maliha. We’d do movie reviews, kind of like Siskel and Ebert, and we had slightly different tastes. It was fun—sometimes we’d really disagree. I liked art house films; he didn’t generally. 

How long did you live in Vancouver for?

From 2001 to 2006, it was a perfect five years. And then we left on July 4, 2006, which is kind of fitting. [My wife and I] really liked it in Northern California, and we had work visas there. Growing up in Toronto, I didn’t really connect with how much the West Coast could mean to me. And I will say that I became westernized. 

So you’ve lived in the U.S. for almost 20 years now.

Yeah, and for better and for worse, right? There’s a new anthology out called Elbows Up, which I was asked to contribute to, and I wrote a story called “The Canadiafornian”, which is all about the unique experience of being alienated from the rest of the states as a Californian. It’s about how we have much more in common with Canada here than most of America.

How have the last couple of months and years affected you as a Canadian living down there?

I would say that the Trump administration radicalized me. I was always a left-leaning, progressive person, but oh my God, when they redefined what the centre is they pulled the rug out from a lot of us. And so now I think it’s pretty easy to be on the wrong side of history if you’re with them and the right side of history if you’re not with them. And I don’t know how long that’s going to stand, but I actually have citizenship in the United States, which is something we did because we wanted to have voting rights. 

OK, let’s talk about the book. Obviously John Candy was also a very Canadian person who made a home in the States. Where did you get the idea to do a biography on him?

So [publisher] House of Anansi had published my Kids in the Hall book and it did well enough to be adapted into a documentary called Comedy Punks. I was an executive producer on that, and we won a Canadian Screen Award. And they said, ‘Do you want to do another book?’ And I said, ‘Well, there’s a Canadian comedy book that would follow this up really well.’ It was Second City Television, but at the time there was a documentary that Martin Scorsese was filming, and it was coming out soon. So then Douglas Richmond [editorial director at Anansi], said, ‘Why don’t you just do John Candy from Second City?’ And I jumped at that because it was really important to me and as a Canadian living in California and working in media, I kind of understood his journey a little bit. 

He lived in Brentwood, California, but he also kept a place in Queensville, Ontario. And so he was always treading this idea that he was friendly with Americans and Americans were friendly with him, but he was always undeniably Canadian. And so, to me, what was fascinating about him, on that level, was that this is a guy who managed to stay true to his own values and still work and live in Hollywood. But he also [became a co-owner in] the Toronto Argonauts—he saved the CFL for two seasons. I think there’s something really relatable there. People could relate to it on both sides of the border. He stood for decency. 

The book came out at almost exactly the same time as a movie about Candy, I Like Me. Was that coincidental?

So when I got approached four years ago and decided to do this, I immediately emailed Jennifer Candy-Sullivan, his daughter, because I sort of knew her. So I told her and her brother Chris that I was going to do an honest book about their father to tell the truth of his life and I wanted them on board. And they said, ‘We would absolutely do this but we’re going to do our own movie.’ Nothing had been announced at that point about [producer] Ryan Reynolds or [director] Colin Hanks, but eventually that was announced, and I was very excited for them. 

For most of it, we kept it separate: church and state. Then we announced our publishing date of October 7 of last year, and shortly after that, they announced the premiere at TIFF and then a streaming date of October 10. My book was almost called “I Like Me”. We mention that line in the very beginning. 

Eventually, I got a phone call from Ryan Reynolds. And he goes, ‘Listen, buddy, we’ve been doing these [showings of the movie], and we’d love for you to come to the Boston show, the last show of our tour.’ And my friend Steven Page was going to be there, so I thought it was a no-lose situation. I did it—big crowd in Boston, it was amazing. Ryan ended up writing a social media post about how great the book is. So I ended up getting all this extra word of mouth promotion and an endorsement. It was kind of nice after not knowing if they would ever talk to me. But the bottom line is that it’s about John Candy and telling the story of this remarkable Canadian. 

Do you think that timing has benefited the book from a sales and marketing perspective?

Yeah, it’s sort of like that idea of the zeitgeist, right? If somebody’s name is in the news and their image is all over the place, it helps younger generations that didn’t know much about him learn. I didn’t put photos in my book, and now the movie exists, so if you stream it, you can see all these images and clips of things that I talk about. So it’s the companion to the movie, and they’re the photo section of my book. And Ryan’s social media post helped it a lot as well. He endorsed it, and that was really beautiful. 

You talked to so many people for this book. 

Yeah, hundreds. 

I know this is going to be tough to choose, but who was the most memorable interview?

Oh, man, you know, there was nothing like talking to some of the real icons. But I will say that, off the top, Dan Aykroyd turned out to be such a great resource. Aykroyd, it turns out, was key in pushing Candy into joining Second City. And as it turns out, you’ll see in the book, he wrote the eulogy at the L.A. funeral for John Candy that everyone I interviewed said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to track down Dan Aykroyd’s eulogy.’ It’s beautiful and moving, but it’s also funny. The timing is perfect. It’s like a Shakespearean speech. And I did find it at the Hollywood museum where it’s on display. 

After all of that, Dan was such a big part of the story, I thought, ‘Do I dare ask him to write the foreword?’ Sure enough, within a week, he sent me something. He didn’t say yes or no; he just sent it over. So I’d say he’s the MVP, and that’s why his name is actually on the cover of the book. And other people like Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, and Steve Martin. To talk to those icons. Their memories are so vivid of this man that they knew for so many years and that they wish was still here. Thirty years after his death, they’re still talking about the effect of this man. 

What was the most surprising thing you learned about John while putting this together?

A couple things, I’d say. One is that he had started out with every intention of being a dramatic actor, a serious dramatic actor. And when you look at his work in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, or, to some extent, in Uncle Buck, but also in Cool Runnings or Only the Lonely, you can see that. And of course he had a pretty serious part in JFK. I didn’t realize he’d done Toronto stage dramas before he discovered Second City. He could well have gone that well, he could have won an Academy Award. 

And the other thing I discovered was the depth of internalizing he did about people making comments about his weight and his appearance. And also the fact that he was such a people person. He spent a great deal of his time wanting to be there for all the fans. I don’t know how much it was taking a toll on him in terms of stress. He would spend hours shaking hands and signing autographs for people. 

How has the book tour been going so far? You’ve done a few different stops across the continent. 

Yeah, the crowds have been great. I was a musician, and I used to have a bit of stage fright. But I’ve found with this book, because it’s not about me, it’s about John Candy, that the crowds have been so loving and positive and kind of eating out of my hand when I tell stories from teh book. And it’s been nice to realize that I absolutely love talking to people. We did an event in Edmonton, where they shot some seasons of SCTV, and a lot of the audience had worked on the show and had stories about driving Candy to the set and things like that. 

And of course in Toronto I was on stage with my brother Mike at the TIFF theatre, and it was sold out, and we just kind of riffed off each other. I don’t know if I was as funny as him, but I think I got some laughs. 

I’m also looking forward to specifically coming to Vancouver again because I spent five important years of my life there. I learned to become a weekly writer there. I learned to be a broadcaster there; I kind of found a new calling in my life after being a musician for most of it. Vancouver was really nice to me. And I’m not just saying I’m excited. It’s not like when you’re heading to Pittsburgh and you’re like, [radio voice] ‘Hey, everybody in Pittsburgh, looking forward to rocking with you.’

[Laughs] There’s that radio voice. Where did you live when you were here?

I lived in the West End on Jervis Street. Right near the Earls, and there was a London Drugs there as well. 

What are you looking forward to doing while you’re here?

Well, the show’s on Granville Island, and I’m excited to grab some Siegel’s Bagels and maybe some salmon at the Market. 

Last one: since you’re a movie guy, I have to ask for your favourite films of 2025. 

Well it’s controversial, but I loved One Battle After Another. It’s a fantastic parody of people who get involved in cause but don’t always have the same reasons that you think, and also the nature of revolution. And then there’s this beautiful sort of younger character who is the only one who’s got her head screwed on straight as all these old revolutionaries are freaking out. I also loved Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier. And Hamnet was great, too. 

Thanks so much for doing this, I really appreciate it. 

Thank you!

Books & Ideas: Paul Myers on John Candy comes to the Revue Stage on Granville Island on January 21. Tickets here.