“Basically I was discovered ‘cause of the internet. But you come to L.A. with a little bit of heat on you and people blow smoke up your ass,” says Jon Lajoie. “You have to take it all with a grain of salt.”

Honours for excellence in Canadian TV will be doled out tonight in as the 26th annual Gemini Awards take to the Canadian Broadcasting Centre. The show is being hosted by Canadian comic Russell Peters.

While some of the material found on TOTW is similar to the shtick that kept Hotz’s last series, Kenny vs. Spenny, afloat for six seasons, he said he made a conscious effort to produce a show overtly different from KVS.

Whether 10 Days Across Canada addressed the evasive question of a Canadian identity is another question. What is certain is that it helped accurately highlight the virtue for which Canadians are best known: kindness.

Catapulted to fame early in his career, as the ubiquitous protagonist of cult classics like Bio-Dome and Encino Man, Shore had empathy for stars dealing at a young age with the pressures of Hollywood.

In November 2006, Ray Zahab ran across the Sahara Desert. He ran 40-50 miles a day for 111 days straight, through 74,000 kilometers of what is rightly regarded as some of the most gruelling terrain on earth.