Things That Move tracks helicopters and Zambonis

by Tim Arsenault
The Halifax Chronicle Herald - Monday, October 3, 2005

Jeff Douglas didn't set out to be the host of a television show, but the concept is starting to grow on him.

Jeff Douglas, a 34-year-old actor originally from Truro, attained fame five years ago as Molson's Joe Canadian. His latest venture is host of History TV's new series Things That Move. Truro native Jeff Douglas hosts History TV's series Things That Move, beginning Monday at 7 p.m.

The 34-year-old actor, who is originally from Truro and attained fame five years ago as Molson's Joe Canadian, is featured in Things That Move, a series premiering Monday on History Television.

Airing weeknights at 7 p.m., each episode of the 20-part series produced by Toronto's Primitive Entertainment focuses on the development of a particular motion machine.

The first batch of shows covers everything from the bicycle to the Zamboni. The producers are pleased enough that they're already planning a second series of shows.

"They just called me and said 'We're interested in you to host this show,' " Douglas said during a phone interview from Toronto.

"I wasn't really interested in hosting because I'm a performer. I've seen hosted shows and just wasn't that into it."

Douglas, who said he's a regular viewer of History Television, had his initial reluctance overturned when he met with the producers and got an idea of what type of show they had in mind.

"I describe my role in the show as the ultimate amateur," he said.

"I'm just a guy who's interested in trying all these things but has minimal knowledge, hopefully, below where the audience would be."

"As a Maritimer, it's a really good gig because it's basically just going out and meeting people. A huge part of it is storytelling, sharing stories with other people and trying to get their stories out and what's the important and colourful parts of the story. Coming from Down East, where I think it's a little more of a storytelling culture, I really draw a lot on that and just the Maritimers' gift of gab."

While Douglas initially worried about coming off as a stereotypical television presenter, the format of Things That Move is breezy enough to benefit from his innate curiosity and likeability. He finds out about the contraptions from the people who build and use them. "I

learned a lot doing an episode on wheelchairs. I spent a day in a wheelchair and it gave me awhole new awareness. I felt incredibly conspicuous. You're aware that you're different and people either pay a lot of attention to you or none."

It turns out, though, that there are limits on what the host is allowed to do. "

They let me fly a helicopter but they won't let me drive the Zamboni. Funny, huh?" Douglas said.

His diverse career has included roles in feature films (John Q with Denzel Washington), television series (Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, This Is Wonderland, Missing, Sue Thomas - F.B. Eye) and theatrical performances, but it's six hours of work in the winter of 2000 that has been his lasting calling card.

"Professionally, there's sort of three separate entities that have arisen. It's really fun. I certainly don't have the career that I maybe would have liked to have when I was in theatre school. I wanted to be a big movie star making really violent action films," Douglas recalled.

"I'll go to Pearson airport and get recognized by 13-, 14-, 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kids for stuff I've done on TV. I'll go out to a rugby game and be recognized as Joe Canadian. Hopefully, now people will be looking at me as a television host, which is bizarre to me. It's sort of three separate professional identities, which I like."

It's not surprising that people still spot Douglas from his "I am Canadian" rant. During its brief run, the commercial for Molson's Canadian beer brand gained popularity above and beyond its intended purpose.

Ordinary people would recite the rant ad nauseam and Douglas was enlisted to appear on the Today show and in People magazine.

"I'm not a lumberjack, or a fur trader, and I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dog sled, and I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada, although I'm certain they're really, really nice," the flannel shirt-garbed national everyman said at the beginning of his speech.

"I have a prime minister, not a president. I speak English and French, not American, and I pronounce it 'about,' not 'a boot.'

"I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack. I believe in peacekeeping, not policing; diversity, not assimilation; and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal. A tuque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch and it is pronounced zed: not zee - zed. Canada is the second largest land mass. The first nation of hockey. And the best part of North America. My name is Joe. And I am Canadian," he concluded with increasing enthusiasm.

Douglas was an unwitting part of a pop culture phenomenon that was almost cut short after Molson's marketing department received research indicating that a lot of viewers didn't even realize what product the commercial was supposed to be selling.

"What amazes me is the impact that commercial had on people's consciousness and, gratefully, in more than a commercial sense. I'm happy about that. The whole thing was just an amazing thing to be a part of. I was like a bystander, but in a very central sort of way. I was in the middle of it but it was so odd and so weird when it was happening," Douglas said. "If

I was going to Victoria and doing that little speech in front of a hundred thousand people, I could see the way people reacted to being Canadian and I could actually get a visceral sense of Canadian patriotism. That to me was the most amazing thing from people who are typically quiet."