Get to know Joe

Nobody Knows Joe is the podcast that proves age is just a number.

Hosted by Joseph - a hospitality veteran who’s spent decades in the restaurant and bar scene - this show is equal parts wild stories, unfiltered laughs, and hard-earned wisdom. Joe isn’t your typical 58-year-old. He still goes out. He still parties. And he’s still the life of it.

From behind-the-bar confessions to outrageous life moments, unexpected interviews, and surprisingly sharp advice, Nobody Knows Joe dives into the chaos, comedy, and clarity that only real experience can deliver.

You think you know Joe?
Trust us - you don’t.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, nobody knows Joe. Welcome to the first episode of Many. We're gonna talk about everything under the sun, but no politics, no racial stuff, no slurs, just clean fun with everyone. We'll talk about bagels, mental health for men, women, children. We'll talk about whatever you want to talk about. But we'll talk with me first. I'm uh I'm in my 50s, recently uh broken up with a girlfriend. I'm 240 pounds, 6'5, and I've cried. Many times, many nights I've cried. But that's okay. I'm seeing a therapist, everyone should. I have a good friend, I have a good family, so anything goes, and recovery is a great thing, and life is beautiful, and we shall all be happy about that. So let's start with my story. I'm a Toronto kid, uh North York, that's Rockford, Fisherville, Unambrook, and the North End. And now I'm downtown. I live alone, I have two kids, I'm divorced, 19 years divorced, and a good thing happened. Me and my ex are becoming friends again. After 19 years, we can be in the same room sitting and talking and laughing again. And the kids are happy about that. I work in the city. Right now I'm not gonna tell you what I do, where I work, but you might see me on the streets of uh Dundas and Osington just say hi. I'm friendly, I'm nice. And I'm very, very kind-hearted. And uh let's start this. Nobody knows Joe. So this came upon, I don't know, three years ago when a friend of mine did his own podcast and I was on there, and I just popped in and sat down and started to cabys with him and his friends, and it just made everyone laugh. I remember one thing we talked about was bagels in Toronto. Who had the best bagels? And then it lasted like for 25 minutes of who had the best bagels.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

That was your second time coming, by the way. You came twice.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, the second time. The second time the first time I didn't say a word. I let I let uh the other person talk all the time. I wasn't in my comfort zone there. But bagels, I'm in my comfort zone. I like a good bagel.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

What defines a good bagel?

SPEAKER_00 2:38

A good bagel is defined by if you can schmear on it or not. Montreal style bagels, you can't schmear on it.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

You can't. What's schmear?

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Like spread on it, you know? That's the Yiddish word, you know, like to put cream cheese on it. Montreal-style bagels, they have the big hole in the middle and everything falls and it's very messy. Tastes great, but messy. And they have other bagels that are closed in the middle that you can do a nice spread and put your cucumbers or your whatever people put on there tomatoes, lettuce, whatever you put on there. And you used and it tastes great. And there are many places in Toronto that have great bagels, not just one, where we're known. Uh not as well as New York, but we're known. And uh we'll talk about that in the future with the bagels. Today we're just getting to know who I am and what I'm doing. And that's it, it's just the whole thing. This is my first one. This became a while ago I wanted to do this, and a good friend of mine who's narrating with me brought me a mic because I was in a hospital bed for three months and I couldn't move because I tore my quad. And going stir crazy, he brought me the mic. I pretended I was on mic, but I wasn't. At nighttime when I couldn't do anything. You know, when you're around with crutches, you really don't want to be on them, so you just lie in bed and woe's me, woes me, but not anymore. I'm running, I'm walking, I'm living life. I go to the gym three to four times a week. I was 270 pounds, now I'm down to 237, still working on it. I enjoy the gym. I'm learning a different health style now. I'm doing fasting. Uh just the other week, uh Super Bowl. I started at 8 o'clock at night during the Super Bowl, and I went for three days. Just water. No food, no nothing, just water, and just sat around. Didn't go to the gym because I didn't have energy and I didn't want to hurt myself in any shape, way, or form. And we did that, and it was it worked out well. And it worked out well. I was happy with it, my body feels better, and we're just going on and doing all this stuff. Now, me and Hayden, I'll say his name once, but then he's just a guy. Uh me and him talked about this for so many years. We even did a little film together back in the day during COVID, which I wasn't good at, but he was great in. And uh he's a very good, good producer, good film guy, good sound guy, all around good guy. I'm lucky I met him many years ago, and we're still friends, which is a great thing. He's a really good guy. So back to me. What do you guys want to know about me?

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Well, why why the uh transform? Like how how were you ten years ago? Would you drink vodka Red Bull?

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Oh, ten years ago. It was bad. I was doing Jameson. Uh no, not ten. Let's call that 12 years ago. I was doing Jameson. I was doing a bottle a night. And I don't know, I wasn't right, and had fun, had a great time. I was home on a Sunday morning, and I my son was staying with me, and he was like, I'm like, son, oh again, I won't say his name. I said, son, uh, I think something's wrong, you gotta take me to the hospital. He's like, okay, Dad, no problem. I'll uh I'll call an Uber. I'm like, yeah, just call an Uber. So he calls an Uber, we're downstairs, we're getting an Uber. And I mean he's the guy who's at the Uber driver, he's like, okay, we gotta stop here. I'm like, what do you mean you gotta stop? He's like, well, we gotta stop. This is Uber Share. And I'm like, what? I'm dying. What are you doing, Uber share? And I looked at my son, he's just laughing. I'm like, here's a hundred dollars, just get me, just get me to the hospital, please. I'm like, I'm I'm dying. And finally got to the hospital, they checked me in, everyone came, my family came, they're all around, everyone's worried. And in today's day and age was the same as back then. I was in the hallway for 15 hours. They put me in a room, my kids were gone, everyone was gone, I was alone, and the doctor said to me, You're lucky you came today. Because if you didn't come today, I don't know, 48 hours, 72 hours, 96 hours, you would have gone to bed and you went to woken up. Your body's shutting down because you're just abusing your body. So I said, No problem. I stopped drinking, I got better, and that was 15 years ago. Then everything's great, I go back drinking, and one night, one night I said to one of my other buddies, and I said, you know what? What's a good cocktail for me to drink? What's girly and I can drink, you know, like I'm a man's man, I need a girly drink. And you put me on this thing called paper plane. I'm like, okay, I'll try it. It was good. A lot of alcohol, tastes great, no problem. So I started going around the city and trying different paper planes and who had the best one. Well, when you get drunk, they're all good, so it doesn't matter. And then one night I met my uh my girlfriend, and we're out, and I had to go the next day. I think I was going on a trip to Panama or Costa Rica, I can't remember my family. And I literally did 19 paper planes in a night, and then I had to head to the airport. Man, was that fun. You know, like good times. As I'm crossing the border, my daughter looks at me and I'm like, just keep it cool. I cross over. She's like, You're drunk. I'm like, no, no, no, I'm just feeling good. She goes, no, Dad. I said, no, no, I'm feeling good. Let's just go have fun. I get there and I see my brother, my brother-in-law, my sister, and my nephew. We're all sitting around, and then my brother-in-law looks and he's like, I think it's time for a beer. And I'm like, Yeah, it's not stopping, let's go all the way, let's do it. And they're all like, what do you mean? I'm like, I haven't stopped drinking, and it's what, six in the morning? So again, I don't advise it to anyone. Stupid, stupid choices. I've lived it, I'm on it, I'm cool. And then I got into the kick of vodka Red Bull, which was again crazy. I don't do drugs, I only drink alcohol. So to keep up with some people in this world, I had to have like eight, nine cans of a Red Bull. So just think every every va every Red Bull is two vodkas. So if I have nine cans, that's eighteen drinks. So again, I'm not the smartest thing in the world, but I'm survived. And now I just do a three drink maximum. I only have three drinks, and my drink of choice is gray goose and water. It's just clean and simple.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Does that get you a buzz these days?

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Or no, it's just a social thing. It's just, you know what, just holding a drink. Sometimes when I go to a place, again, I don't want to mention anything, but I go to a place, I go to the bartender, and I'm like, do me a favor, one ice cube, just water. Let me look the part, because I really don't want to drink the part. And they're nice and they do it, and they're like, you know, everyone's cool about it and they understand, and again, do I have a I I call myself a functioning alcoholic, am I? I think I was at one time. Does that stigma ever go away? I don't know. I just live with what I did in the past. I own it. You know, like I can't run away from stuff that I've done. You know, I've done stupid things in my life. I own it. I keep going straight. I try to be a better person every time. I'm in therapy for that, which is a great thing. And in the summer, I did something stupid again. Not gonna name names or anything, but I did something really stupid. I hurt someone, I ran away, I came back, I fell into a bad depression, and I needed help, and I got help. You know, my sister, my daughter helped me, my sister helped me, a lot of people helped me, my friends helped me. Mental health isn't uh isn't uh isn't a thing that you have to run away from, it's something that you have to tackle because we all have it. We all sit around, we all have bad days, we all don't get along with our partners, with our friends, with our family, but in reality, everyone has it, and you just have to know how to cope with it. And sometimes we're not equipped by ourselves to cope with something that you need to talk to someone. And sometimes friends and family are great, but they're biased. They listen to you and they're like siding with you because they love you. They wanna they want to see you happy, they want to see you do all these things, like flourish in life. And sometimes they won't be honest. And sometimes honesty is what you need when you're falling into a spiral that you don't know how to come out of and blame yourself for stuff. You know, again, a breakup was two-sided. Every breakup in this world is two-sided with your partner, with your loved ones, with your family, with your business partners. It's always two sides. There's never there's never one side, and there's no one wrong, one right. You know. My therapy has helped me get back with my ex-wife to be friends. We uh after 19 years of not speaking to each other and literally going out of each other's throats. I've changed, she's changed, we're trying to work on it for the kids. You know, we're trying to work on it for us, we've grown. You know, I can see the great person that she is, she can see the great person that I am, which is going forward. And we see what life has to bring in that aspect. You know dating's a hard thing, especially when you're in your fifties as a man, because you don't know who wants you, what they want. You know, there's a lot of women out there, and you don't know what people's motives are, and that's the one thing I'm scared of. Like, I got kids who I take care of whenever they need whatever they want. But I don't need a girl coming to me and saying, Oh, can you pay my rent or can you do this? It's like that's not who I am. I'm not that guy. I'm I'm a straight shooter. I'll spoil you rotten, just like I spoil myself rotten, but it has to come from inside of me. It can't be asked. That's the one thing that it's hard to do with someone asks you for something, especially when you're in a vulnerable situation. And I feel still to today, you know, seven months broken up. I'm still vulnerable, but I'm taking it day by day. She pops into my head once in a while. You know, not a bad person. Just we had issues and we're just dealing with it. Doesn't matter. One day, maybe we'll talk. Maybe I'll bring her on the podcast, maybe we'll talk and sort it out. I don't have no idea what tomorrow brings with all that stuff. But I do know I am loved by a lot of people, I'm liked by a lot of people, I'm respected by a lot of people, which is a good thing. You know, and all this is with therapy, mental health, going to the gym, working on myself, you know, doing my fasting, you know, doing my little things that I do here and there. And it's not easy, but you know what, I'm determined, you know, like I did a three-day fast, and you know, people say you're nuts, and I was I had to make sure that I have the willpower in me to do it. Because sometimes in depression you lose your willpower and you just want to fade away. And I'm not that. I don't want to fade away. I have willpower and I want to use it. I want to use my willpower all the time. So I know that my strength is for me and for anyone who needs it from me. I don't want to be selfish with my willpower and my strength that I have inside me. I think uh helping people is a good thing, especially when it comes to family. You gotta be level-headed, clear, not hate, just love, understand, listen. And that's it. And like I said, I'm a 6'5, I was 270, and I cried many times. And will I cry more? I probably will, I hope not. I hope to find happiness in what we do. I hope to find happiness in everything that we can see. And again, day by day, friends here and there. It's all a good thing. You know, it's a very good thing. So let's get on to the show. Yeah, it's a little about me. Let's talk about other things in life. Let's talk about travel. You know, how great travel is for everyone. And traveling is my one of the best things in life for me. I've traveled on my own, I've traveled with partners, I've traveled with friends. And every everyone asks me, they say, Joseph, Joe, you know, where's the best place? I'm like, there is no best place. Because everything has an experience, everything has fun. You know, I went to LA five times in my life, and each time was different. I went once with Hayden, who's right beside me, who we had a blast. I remember we were in the hotel room and we're both in our uh in our boxers, and I said to him, my legs are a 10, yours are a seven.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

And a little 9.5. You said 9.5. 9.5.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

I said literally, I think at that same time, I can't remember if he called or his girlfriend called, and she's like, What are you doing? He's like, Well, we need to draw a compare of legs. And he said, What?

SPEAKER_01 17:07

No, no, no. He said, My kids telling me that your legs are seven and a half out of ten. I brought to go to the rainbow bar, which is a famous bar, and um, I guess like months later I sent him a documentary and I was like, Oh, that's such a cool place. I'm like, Yeah, you remember being there? And he goes, No, and the far turn was bringing him vodka stones, but it was like, this is the rainbow bar. So when you ask for a shot, it's like a triple. She was bringing you triples or fourbles of vodka and then the cane on the side. Yeah, you remember that, right? I remember that. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

I remember crossing the street to another place and me stopping traffic in the middle of uh Hollywood Boulevard.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Right? Yeah, I remember that. Oh yeah, and then singing a plus below.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Surprised the Uber driver didn't crash, but yeah, so that's the experience there.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Me and another friend used to travel a lot too, and everywhere we went we always had fun and we always met people. Travels with my family to destinations of warmth and beautiful. And every time, like I've been to Panama four times in my life, three times with three different people, and once by myself. And it different experiences all the time. So, Costa Rica, I went a few times, Europe I went so many times. It's all different, it's all great. So, when everyone says to you, Oh, do you have a favorite place? Really think about it. Because there is no favorite place when everything's amazing when you have different experiences, and that's all it is. When you experience something with one person and you experience something with another person, it's still an experience. But I gotta say this, in 19 years of traveling a lot after my divorce, I traveled a lot. Again, not because of the place, but when I went this Christmas with my family, it wasn't a good trip for me. I was depressed, I was hurt. You know, thank God for my sister who helped me see some stuff, but it's like I missed everyone. I missed my family, I miss my kids, I missed I missed my partner, I missed everyone. It was just not a good not a good place for me. But I went, I came back, and I haven't traveled since because I'm still trying to recoup and mentally and going somewhere now, I gotta go with friends and I gotta figure it out and I gotta get back on that bag wagon. I used to travel literally once every three months, once everyone's like, Joe, you're not traveling. I'm like, yeah, I know it's hard for me right now. And like, are you okay? I'm like, yeah, I'm just getting better. I'm just dealing with it, and I gotta be in the city, I gotta work out the problems that I'm having and just get through it. But all honesty, it gets better day by day. You know, it's it's hard in in in the city to date. I will never or won't go on an app again. I went on apps back in the early 2000s when I got divorced. What, 2007, 2008? I went on, I I don't know if it still exists, I have no question, but it's called Lava Life. I have no idea. Now there's all these different ones that are on your phone, and I won't go on them.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

You should try grinder.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

I should try grinder. I don't even know what that is. So if that's for uh men like you men, then that's not for me. I'm still uh uh a gentleman who loves the ladies. And I love them a lot. So little things like that. I go and I, you know, every day. I hang out in you know, places on Dundas and Osington area. I like to go outside that area too. I like Thor Street, I like Yorkville. You know, I like going to Leaf Games and uh Raptor Games and concerts. You know, on Valentine's Day, me and a friend went to uh a comedy show, which was very good. Again, I won't say his name because I don't know how these podcasts work. I don't wanna coattail anyone, I don't wanna phoning me and saying, why'd you use my name? But it was a good show. We had fun, then we went for dinner, and then we just relaxed, which was great. You know, and we all we do is uh all I'm trying to do is now is move on slowly but surely, have good friends again, like I said, and just living life, trying to get back into the saddle again. But you know, I've been speaking about a podcast for I don't know, three, maybe four years already that I wanted to do one. I just made the call and I'm like, Hayden, we gotta do this. I just gotta talk, you know, and bring some guests on, which I have people lined up for the future, and see how this goes. If I had a voice, I'd be a rock star. I don't have a voice. I apologize for that, but I'm doing the best I can with what I got. And I think I'm okay. And we're all okay in different ways. And that's it. It's like I'm just gonna go forward and do these podcasts and have fun with you guys. So why don't we start moving forward? Let's introduce my name is Joseph, but we're gonna know me as Nobody Knows Joe. And my sidekick partner, the man in charge, is Hayden, which we'll call him Hayden in this. Because Hayden knows more than I do. Because no one knows me, but Hayden does. So anything else anyone needs to know? Let's like move forward. And do you have any questions, Hayden, that you want to?

SPEAKER_01 23:14

I think maybe um maybe just a random topic that you can talk about. The Olympics right now.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

The Olympics. I watched that lead I watched the Canada play uh Technia. Man. Six people on the ice, and we had five. Hey, refs missed that. But if you look at payrolls, what would we have? Like $170 million payroll to $70 million in payroll. All the power to them. I vote for Canada. I saw Crosby score the winning goal in overtime against the United States. I was with my son in my living room. We both jumped up and down. We had a great time. Olympics are amazing. Figure skating, so classy, so nice.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Matt, back to the men talking. So, Marner, you're you're a Leafs fan, obviously. I'm so big. So Marner hitting that goal.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

I jumped in the air. I'm so proud of him. He'll always be a leaf to me. I didn't want the trade, but he wanted the trade, no? He wanted the trade. I heard different things. I heard that, again, he was in fear of his family's life because someone did something stupid. I don't know the truth. I have no idea, but you know what? In sports, these guys, just let them be. You know, just let them play the game. You know, some of them have off days, some of them have off weeks. I know Marner and Matthews and all of them are great, and then when it comes to the playoffs they have a hard time. That's okay. You know what? It's okay. I've waited. I've waited so long for a cup. I can wait a couple more years. I'm okay with that. You know, they give their 100%. That's all you ask for. And if they don't give a hundred percent, treat them. That's as simple. But you know what? It's all about management. You know? Everything. You know, it's like, you know, you talk about an accounting firm. It's not about the guys working at the bottom, it's the management upstairs, if the guys want to work or not. It's all about management. It's not about the players, it's not about the employees. They're employees. They do what they do best. Managing is different. They're not managing. You have to manage them. You have to sit there and you gotta manage them. You gotta tell them, you know, and you gotta help them. You know, if if in accounting, if you need a piece of paper, give the guy paper. If you need a pencil, give him a pencil. In hockey, if you need a defense guy, get him a defense guy. You know, if you need a winger or a goalie, get him.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

So yeah, the Leafs haven't hit it, but like what about the Jays last year?

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Oh, that's beyond. You know what? I was there in '92 and '93 watching them. It was fantastic. I took my nephew to game one, which was amazing. It was an experience that he won't forget, and I won't forget me taking him. And then I went to game seven. I had to mortgage five people's houses to get a ticket, but I did. And had fun, and we were up, and everyone thought, but the ball game is stuck under the mat. You know what? It wasn't meant to be this year. Right? So next year.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Well, that was cool because like you know, I just kind of got into it, but having Treyia Savage come in, because he only played like two games before the World Series.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Is that I I think he played, yeah, maybe two games, maybe three, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Yeah, and he just and he he didn't go to uh the minors, he went from university. And this kid. You know what? They give him a contract. Let's hope it's good. Let's hope uh, you know, he pans out. He was great in his first outing, which everyone loved. And see, but I think this is what he called management, you know. The Jays are looking and they picked up a few people and they like this and that. It's like, you know, they're doing what they have to do to get back into the game, which is a good thing. Because Toronto, good or bad, tickets are so expensive. It I find it crazy if a family of four go out, it's a thousand bucks. And you know what? The average person in the city, it's too hard. So at least let them want something good on TV. Give them what they want. If they can't go to the game, give them something to root for us, give them something to laugh about, give them something to be proud of. And Toronto's one of the best cities in the world, and I've been to a lot of cities. And everyone says to me, Where would you live? I said, I would live anywhere in the world. But Toronto's my home base. I gotta come home, take a shower, and then go off again. Because I know Toronto's water is great, and I gotta be home for a week, and then I can travel the world again. But I gotta be home. I gotta come home all the time to get a nice clean shower. That's how I see it. You know, it's all good, all dandy. And the best person I've ever traveled with is my daughter. It's like crate. She's easygoing. She likes me when I'm crazy and I'm silly. We go to a candy store and then a music will come on, so and then I'll start singing to her. And she'll walk away and I'll follow her singing loudly, and people just looking. And she's just smirking. And she's like, Dad, I'm like, what, honey? I just love singing. And she's like, okay, go for it. You know, we're in Italy, everyone's taking a picture of this beautiful ceiling. I say, honey, hold this. She holds my backpack. I lie down in the middle of the floor, and I look up and I take a picture. And she's like, Dad, what are you doing? And then I said, looking around, people are taking pictures of me lying on the floor, taking a picture of the ceiling. And then she just starts laughing. She's just like, she gets it. She gets my silliness. She gets that life is way too short to be serious all the time. So while we call this one a rap, you know a little bit about me, I know a little bit about you. Welcome to Nobody Knows Joe, and we'll get to know him soon. Thank you so much. Have yourself a great day.