Furious George Stroumboulopoulos takes on the nooz

I remember walking into the 102.1 the Edge (a.k.a. Edge 102, FM 102, CFNY-FM, respectively) studio on Yonge St. many years ago while George Stroumboulopoulos was interviewing the once-future-present Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. I sorta kept my distance from the pair during the interview since he had come off a recent battery charge - you remember... then one against Vancouver Island-raised bimbette Pamela Anderson, eh?

After the interview, I asked George, who was already getting known as a very opinionated sonofabiatch on radio, how he felt interviewing Lee. His answer was quite simple: just be cool and objective, and focus on the subject. Then he turned on one of the studio's TV monitors showing Pamela Anderson sucking Tommy Lee's dick. (Or maybe that was before I asked George - my memory is a bit hazy.)

Fast forward to today and George has his own news show on CBC Newsworld called "The Hour". Not too much of a stretch considering that Mr. Stroumboulopoulos had done time at Muchmusic doing "The New Music", "Loud" and "The Punk Show", and interviewing numerous celebrities, including one infamous moment when Eminem took a nice little potshot at him after being asked a slightly personal question.

So how's George Stroumboulopoulos as a journo? He needs a little bit of work, considering that in spite of the show's live, irreverent bent, this is still a CBC Newsworld joint. But he did touch on a few interesting subjects such as the recent tsunami in Asia, Donald Trump's longevity on the celebrity scene, the ongoing, never-ending, mental masturbation of the NHL lockout and an interview with ex-Boomtown Rat Sir Bob Geldof.

He closed out the show with a nice slap at a US Army deserter asking for asylum in Canada because he didn't want to serve another tour of duty in Iraq (poor muffin), stating that signing up for the military was a responsibility and that the deserter should've known better before sticking his John Hancock in, and that if anyone wanted to get a post-secondary education without completing high school, there's always jail.

And that was all.

I'll give Stroumbo a month to settle in and square off. Then maybe I'll start enjoying the show.

But I also have to remember that this is CBC Newsworld, part of the CBC: a Crown Corporation rife with moonbats and pro-government (read: Liberal) hacks. So if George toes the line, he stays. If not... check your local record store: he might be there to help.