Six months of spooky silence … I bet you thought it was over, didn’t you, Raisin Gang?

Wrong!

I even remember who was next on the list: Mary Kelly

Back when the Gang was in its public phase, Mary styled herself as an audio expert. It seems she liked to surreptitiously record and listen to certain conversations and other “ambient sounds”. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but so did the Stasi.

The dots connect just a little too well. After all, blackmail is used primarily by people pulling strings from behind the scenes, and I can’t help but notice Mary’s nearly ubiquitous absence from the Gang’s productions. To the best of my knowledge, she only makes two appearances in their videos.

One is a walk-through role, almost as if some sort of subliminal trigger, in the ultra-violent “Precision Elevator”.

The other is a hallucinogenic, MKUltra-esque nightmare called “Frasierberry Soda”.

While Mary is one of the more elusive background members of the Gang, I was able to find what seems like her abandoned online profile. The face fits. The timeline fits. The city fits. And to add more credence, I note that although the profile is clandestinely sparse, even then it boasts managing people from behind the scenes.

Understandably, details are thin.

The only established claims are that Mary was a literary administrative assistant with GLAM for a couple of years after splitting from the Gang. After that, the timeline has her landing a production coordinator gig at Nelvana for just over a year. Then, on May 2014, she disappears.

Maybe I’ve got the wrong Mary Kelly. Maybe there never was a “Mary Kelly”. Doesn’t matter. If the Raisin Gang are going to start a Frasierberry, they’d better be prepared to finish a Frasierberry. If some innocent people get caught in the crossfire, well, that’s just more sticky liquid on the Gang’s hands as far as I’m concerned.

So here we are. By my count, only Dan Ramos and James Boyd remain. Still willing to roll the dice on your covert operations, fellas?

You know where to reach me.

Unfortunately, further productions by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol are no longer welcome around here.

Shame because I enjoyed Nirvana The Band/Nirvanna The Band The Show. I mean, it got a bit long in the tooth near the end but the premise was fun: two lifelong buddies try creative ways to get booked to perform at the Rivoli. The execution/production of the show was great, they had good chemistry, and the ubiquitous backdrop of Toronto circa 2007/2017 was gratifying.

Besides, they clearly worked hard on it.

However, having sat through Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie I can now confidently say that the shark has been thoroughly jumped. Aside from the quirky humour, one of the appeals of the original series was the captured reality of urban Toronto. In other words, the earlier episodes didn’t feel like they needed a whole studio production crew.

Unfortunately this feeling has been lost. The budget’s grown, the jokes feel tired and hackneyed, and then there’s the time-traveling RV with a contrived plot involving spilled Orbitz. Even the movie poster’s kinda lame.

If you’re looking to see a recorded slice of Toronto and get in a few chuckles then I can recommend (most of) Matt and Jay’s old series. The movie … not so much.

With a little over two months since my last devastating revelation I’d bet that the Raisin Gang thought I’d forgotten about my efforts to expose them to the world. Well, they’re wrong!

Cue the next target: Kye Fox

Living up to his sly title as the “Fox”, Kye has proven to be considerably more elusive than his fellow Gang members. Although he’s occasionally included in the credits of the Gang’s roster of videos, to the best of my knowledge he’s only ever appeared in an “official” Raisin Gang capacity one time:

I know I’ve included this video in a previous post but given the wily nature of this particular individual it’s the best I could muster. At this point I can only speculate but maybe Kye’s hidden-behind-the-scenes strategy has something to do with regret and contrition. This may help to explain why he ended up ostensibly parting ways with the Gang and becoming a certified addiction recovery coach.

Truth be told, I suppose that after witnessing what the Gang was capable of I too may have encountered problems with pain-and-memory-killing drugs. Would I be open to vicariously sharing such a history with the world? Hard to say, but then again I was never a nefarious Gang member.

It’s difficult to estimate exactly how long Kye has donned this phoenix-like persona but according to his LinkedIn profile he’s been “helping people” for a few years. Between the periods of his contemporary “rebirth” and his membership in the Raisin Gang, the only reference I was able to find was an old online ad for a seven-bucks-a-pop “1-2-3 Laughter!” show that doesn’t even mention any of the Gang members by name. Not sure why it popped up in the search results, and maybe the timeline’s a bit wobbly, but all of it spells “evasive” to my mind.

Other than what appears to be Kye’s reading list there’s little else that I was able to find but you may be able to extrapolate more information about Mr. Fox from his linktr.ee profile. Nevertheless, I would caution that what you see may not necessarily be what you get. Call me crazy but I believe that a fox never changes his stripes.

So what’s it to be, Raising Gang? Are you prepared for more public infamy, shaming, and anthropomorphising, or are you ready to come clean?

My patience is wearing as thin as a moulting coat.

If the Gang thought that I’d lost interest in pursuing their unholy organization, they were sorely mistaken. I also recall mentioning that the timing of these exposés wouldn’t be on any sort of regular schedule.

So it is in this context that I introduce: Michael Peddle.

Micheal Peddle, a.k.a. Mike P, appears so far to be the most elusive of the Gang. Apropos, then, that he should also appear to be mostly absent from the original contact with TCL.

Thankfully a more extensive archive exists:

Guy sure had a hard-on for peddling his “religion”, huh? And what about the following attempt to manipulate and warp young minds?

Scrambled eggs indeed.

The last trace of “Mike” was in 2007 when he appeared as a writer and voice actor for the animated short “Coffee Mishap“:

I prefer my coffee mishap-free so I can’t say that I’m eager to partake of this “humorous” outing but if I get more info on “Mike” I’ll be sure to post it here posthaste.

In the meantime, the timer’s still ticking. Are you still paying attention, Raisin Gang?

Another two weeks down and still nothing. To make matters worse, I know that the next focus of my exposé was active as little as a couple of hours ago (as of this post).

I’m talking about Daniel Kurland:

His penchant for impersonation and deranged thinking led him to be involved at all levels in the Gang hierarchy:

But even among his peers Daniel is exceptional due to his antisocial and inhumane tendencies:

As demonstrated early in his career, Daniel fancies himself to be a bit of a pop culture aficionado:

Using his position as a writer for Den of Geek, Vulture, Bloody Disgusting, CBR, and ScreenRant, Daniel has managed to spread his nauseating ideology beyond the confines of the Gang. He’s even gone so far as to promote his activities on his own website, via podcasts, as a Rotten Tomatoes critic, and presumably targeting children via graphic novels.

In short, the guy’s a real piece of work. To think that he’s been operating for over a decade and a half (to the best of my knowledge), is frankly unfathomable. He’s lucky he’s moved to New York where I can’t get at him.

To any Raisin Gang members reading this, a message: the list of names is dwindling, along with your opportunities to contact me!

Does it seem like the time between posts is getting shorter, Raising Gang?

Well, I’m not amenable to schedules so … TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK!

Thus, without further delay … today’s target is: Mikey (a.k.a. Michael) Kolberg

You may or may not remember him trying to ignominiously usurp the renowned role of a beloved cripple:

Here’s another clip of Mikey (terribly) impersonating Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson, all the while belittling stalwart Canadian icons, the Timbits:

I care not one iota for hockey, moderately enjoy confectionery, and yet I’m thoroughly disgusted when I see the lengths to which Mikey, and by extension The Gang, are willing to take things:

Classifying Phil Kessel’s mom a “whore” seemed like a new low until Mikey ended his exposition of the hockey player’s mother by calling her a “bitch”. Wow.

Not long after this Mikey tried to pass himself off as a celebrity:

We can see him again later following familiar patterns:

By all accounts Mikey has continued his grifting ways and still “performs comedy” in Toronto to this day.

Is that enough yet, Raisin Gang?! Get in touch.

With another couple of weeks gone it appears that my threat of an exposé wasn’t sufficient so now I’m forced to take the next step. Keep in mind that this is all on you, Raisin Gang — YOU FORCED ME TO DO IT!

Next target: Marissa Caldwell

I first noticed this Gang member when she impersonated Babette “The Fishin’ Magician” Sinclair. The following video aptly demonstrates why the cruel and deceptive Raisin members need to be exposed:

You may have noticed another Gang member, Thomas P. Conway, posing as Marissa’s hapless sidekick. They’re all in it together!

Should there be any doubt regarding the Gang’s callousness, here’s another video in which they harass writer, actor, and director Dan Ramos:

There’s yet another clip in which Marissa confirms her sadistic tendencies but I’m sure that by now you get the idea. It should therefore come as no surprise that after she split from the Gang she spent some time producing filthy corporate videos and luring children overseas. Proving that evil knows no bounds, she’s currently an intellectual property lawyer.

Maybe I’m nuts to make such an offer but I’m still willing to reel this series in if anyone from the Gang reaches out to me. However, time’s running out and my patience will soon disappear!

It’s been well over a month and no one from the Raisin Gang has bothered to get in touch so … I’m making good on my threat.

Might as well start with the guy I featured in the initial post: Thomas P. Conway

Here he is, ostensibly auditioning for Saturday Night Live as the cast of Seinfeld:

Despite the stellar performances I don’t believe Tom was ever included in the SNL cast.

Shame.

He did nevertheless give us a great send off as the late Andy Rooney.

I was able to find a bit more info on Tom and it turns out he’s not dead or starving in a gutter somewhere. In fact, he ended up being a talented TV writer (and comedian), despite his dyslexia.

Moreover, he did a great impression of Sean Connery which, to me, suggests that his focus on writing is simply a front for sublimated impersonation, even if only in the form of voice-overs.

As previously mentioned, I strongly encourage Tom to get in touch before I expose any of his compatriots in a similar fashion. Y’all been warned!

Not long after I got comfortable with TCL I happened upon a local comedy troupe called The Raisin Gang. Unfortunately, their official website is now defunct, their X account hasn’t been updated since it was called Twitter, and little remains of The Gang but their YouTube channel.

I did a little expectant spotlight piece a while back but, to my discredit, I have not done much to follow up since then. In my defense, neither did they. Every once in a while, though, I flash back to the first Raisin Gang video I ever saw and wonder whatever happened to them.

The concepts were ahead of their time, the production values were great, the skits were well written, and the execution was excellent. For a while there I thought Toronto might have a “new media” Kids in the Hall on our hands.

Alas, as far as I know this never materialized. Maybe it was bad timing. Could be a lack of follow-through. Possibly the participants got into the hooch a wee bit too often.

Perhaps they’d care to contact me to explain themselves. As an added incentive, failure to do so will result in more videos being posted at unspecified future times, possibly with additional context.

And yes, that is a threat.

There’s just not much money in it: