Toronto Life – December 2018

photographs: baroness von sketch courtesy of cbc; the weeknd, taylor, ismail, ondaatje by

getty images;

henein by

evaan kheraj

78 toronto life December 2018

the funniest foursome in

Canadian comedy is following the

same path to global stardom blazed

by Kids in the Hall, SCTV and, more

recently, Nathan For You. The show plays

on IFC in the U.S., where it’s just as

appreciated as another cultural export

(“Baroness Von Sketch Show Is The Best

Thing To Come Out Of Canada Since

Ryan Gosling,” exclaimed Vogue). Their

niche is richly produced, tightly edited,

wickedly funny send-ups of urban liv-

ing—book clubs where no one has read

the book, inspirational tattoos, short-

lived marriages—with a serious Toronto

bent (think white squirrel cameos). In

the era of #metoo, some of their best

sketches are savage takes on male power.

friends in high places: Samantha Bee is

an admirer.

Baroness

von sketch

(^25) Comedians
atwood isn’t the only Toronto author
enjoying a renaissance. In July, Ondaatje’s
1992 masterpiece, The English Patient, won the
Golden Man Booker Prize, a one-off award
for the best book to win the prestigious hon-
our over the past 50 years. He was a con-
tender for the 2018 Man Booker, too, with the
long-listed Warlight, a shadowy novel about
two teenagers in post-war London. The book
received glowing reviews and earned a spot
on Barack Obama’s summer reading list.
up next: Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon
Beaufoy is adapting Ondaatje’s In the Skin of
a Lion into a film.
the biggest name in
Canadian law has taken on
another high-profile case:
Mark Norman, the former
vice-admiral implicated in a
thorny supply ship procure-
ment deal that might spell
trouble for Trudeau. In Sep-
tember, Henein, who has a
predilection for smoky eye-
shadow, big hair and couture
everything, appeared on
The Social with a forceful message about fashion and the work-
place: “If you make the mistake of conflating what I look like
with my capability, you’re in for a sorry lesson.” side gigs: She
found time in 2018 to go on a mini speaking tour.
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Michael Ondaatje
Author
28
marie henein
Defence lawyer
the weeknd,
la mar taylor
& ahmed ismail
Entertainment moguls
CIVIC boosterIsm has traditionally been Drake’s thing, but this spring,
the Weeknd got in on the act. Along with his artistic director and long-
time friend, La Mar Taylor (they met on the first day of high school), and
marketing guru Ahmed Ismail, the Weeknd launched HXOUSE, an incubator
for creative young people based out of the Artscape Daniels Launchpad on
the waterfront, doing for artists what already exists for tech. Musically,
the Weeknd’s hitmaking ways continued, with “My Dear Melancholy”
reaching number one on the U.S. Billboard top 200. Up NEXT: Touring the
HXOUSE model to cities around the world.
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