Alan Zweig talks to Ralph Benmergui about trading his
What’s the worst that could happen?
documentary camera for a podcast microphone— to ask celebrities terrible personal questions
PHOTOGRAPHS BY NAOMI HARRIS EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
W hile widely recognized for looking in the mirror to capture himself as the narrator of several documentary films—that started with his compulsive record-col- lecting confessions in the 2000 release Vinyl —a new chapter in Alan Zweig’s career begins in September as host of The Worst Podcast produced by Canadaland, the media company founded a decade ago by Jesse Brown. The task of getting celebrities to disclose their most loathsome behaviour alternated with the making of a movie in which he retraces the steps of friends who died by
suicide, a production that has taken him as far as Cambodia. Confessions have long been a fixture of his work, from talking to naysayers in I, Curmudgeon, to probing the romantically challenged in Lovable . Later films had greater emotional intensity: the saga of one-legged cancer fundraiser Steve Fonyo, ex-convicts readjusting to society, and former police officers recounting their traumas. Zweig was also behind When Jews Were Funny , an exploration of how the ethnic hu- mour he grew up with faded from fashion. It’s a topic aligned with the passions of
Ralph Benmergui, who was initially known in Toronto as a stand-up comedian— but that came after he got some seminal screen time, thanks to a slightly older friend trying to find his own way with a camera. Now, as Benmergui settles into steadily hosting Not That Kind of Rabbi for The CJN Podcast Network, he paid a visit to Zweig’s house in the Junction neighbourhood of Toronto, to catch up and contemplate how their paths are still crossing, 50 years after a deal involving a waterbed. This interview is edited and condensed from a dialogue that took place hours
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