Long Night with Vish Khanna lands its own television spot

Talk show series makes a leap into the television world

Local radio hero Vish Khanna took his show Long Night with Vish Khanna to television last week. The talk show was taped during three separate nights, each with different themes.

The show is normally staged at Long Winter events, which take place in Toronto every few months, and recorded as a podcast. As the host, Khanna invites musicians and prominent figures in the industry to talk about various topics and perform.

The new talk show was taped in front of an audience at Longboat Hall on from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1. Sporting a ’70s-themed backdrop, each episode was filmed live on set, with intermissions in between, and Toronto band The Bicycles helping ease transitions with short musical performances.

James Keast, editor of Exclaim! magazine, played the role of Khanna’s “sidekick,” providing introductions and friendly banter.

The first episode invited critic Carl Wilson, rapper Shad, and Weaves’ singer Jasmyn Burke to discuss the burning question, “Is rock music dead?”The three discussed how the perception of rock and roll has changed in a culture where streaming is the dominant source of music discovery.

Wilson stated, “Rock is not central to the culture.”

Listeners do not take the opinions of their parents, but rather seek opinions and suggestions from the internet. Burke discussed the idea that there needs to be “better representation” within the industry.

The second episode posed the question, “Do women thrive in the music biz?” and featured Denise Donlon, Sandy Miranda of Fucked Up, and April Aliermo of Hooded Fang.

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Aliermo and Miranda discussed their experiences playing in bands that were prominently dominated by men and what it was like to go on tour. Donlon, former president of Sony Music and recent author of an autobiography, discussed her experiences with being an executive in the music industry.

The guests also discussed how during interviews, they are frequently asked about feminism and highlighted that male musicians needed to be asked about feminism more often.

The Ontarion had the opportunity to sit down with Khanna after the tapings to discuss the history of Long Night and his experiences with the talk show.

“The conception of Long Night was a full-on late night talk show with all the trappings of a conventional late night talk show,” said Khanna, explaining that the taped shows are less self-involved than the usual one-on-one interviews at Long Winter.

The tapings for six episodes spanned three nights, with the second night’s themes exploring “How do our voices work?” The third and final evening’s tapings included “Why have indie-rock and indie gaming fallen in love?” and “Are we too desperate to be famous?”

As for the switch between recording a podcast to filming a show, Khanna explained that he grew up watching late night TV, so the flow came pretty naturally.

“I threw myself into it and decided to go with the flow as much as possible,” said Khanna. “The diversity of the guests brought different perspectives to the show. It’s a comfortable atmosphere to get heavy, but also make light of stuff.”

A premiere date for Long Night with Vish Khanna has not yet been announced, but the show will be available to watch on Fibe TV1 and YouTube in the near future.

Photos by Amy Wilson.