Bon Victoriage!
Coming April 8, 2025
Bon Victoriage! is a new eight-part documentary video podcast series produced with the support of TELUS STORYHIVE. It will premiere on April 8, 2025 on TELUS Optik TV, Stream+, STORYHIVE’s YouTube Channel, and @bonvictoriage.
The show offers panoramic views of Victoria, narrated by an eclectic mix of locals as they travel around the city on a pedicab, rediscovering the place they call home alongside program presenter (and driver) Johnny Brenneman.
Half travel program, half interview podcast, Bon Victoriage! is intended to be funny, emotionally resonant, and informative; think Seinfeld’s Comedians in a Car Getting Coffee meets Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, with a splash of Humans of New York. Though all ages will enjoy this show, our target audience member is aged 20-40, well-informed, socially conscious, and curious about different peoples and cultures.
Each episode emphasizes places that are important for the highlighted community, sometimes travelling along the same street as in a previous episode while seeing it through entirely new eyes. In perceiving a city from so many diverse perspectives, we gain a better sense of the broader community we share, while also learning more about communities of people among us whom we don't necessarily always see.
Season One
Episode 1: We Came Here with Nothing (54:02)
Starring: Charlayne Thornton-Joe, Sam Low, Nora Butz
Camera: David Malysheff, Shane Battley
Secondary Pedicab: John Taylor
Victoria’s historic Chinatown is Canada’s oldest, and has been described by some of its own residents as a “living museum.” A couple members of Victoria's Chinese-Canadian community show us around this unique district, sharing stories, both personal and passed down, from a community which has had a presence here for approaching two centuries.
Learn more about the Victoria Chinatown Museum, DJ sLow, Tam Kung Temple, Wah Lai Yuen, Victoria Pedicab Company.
Available to Stream from April 8th.
Episode 2: Pathways off Pandora (49:29)
Starring: Grant McKenzie, Sean Woodford
Camera: David Malysheff, Shane Battley
Secondary Pedicab: Andre Steinhausen
Drug addiction, mental health, and homelessness issues have been on the rise in urban areas across North America, and Victoria is no exception. A veteran social worker living and working here—for the nonprofit Our Place—shares some of his experiences working in the trenches with some of Victoria’s most vulnerable populations, while discussing the difference empathetic policies can make.
Learn more about Our Place Society, MyPlace Transitional Housing, Caledonia Place (“Tiny Town”), Capital City Centre (CCC), New Roads Therapeutical Recovery Community.
Available to Stream from April 8th.
Episode 3: The friend you don’t yet know (51:36)
Starring: Jimbo the Drag Clown, Mary Insell, Rebecca Lofsnes, Sasha Lofsnes, Eddi Licious, Brady Taylor
Camera: David Malysheff, Shane Battley, Ryan Landa
Secondary Pedicab: Kevin Cherry
In this episode, one of Victoria’s most famous drag performers, Jimbo the Drag Clown (winner of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 8), brings their mother Mary on a pedicab tour down memory lane, to revisit some places that have made this city home. Along the way, we meet an iconic local drag king, eat some chowder, buy some hats, and discuss the threads that connect such disparate topics as anthropology, clowning, and of course, drag.
Learn more about House of Jimbo, Red Lantern Tattoo, Victoria Event Centre (RIP), Eddi Licious, Roberta’s Hats, Red Fish Blue Fish.
Available to Stream from April 15th.
Episode 4: Drag and The Great Unknown (47:16)
Starring: Eddi Licious, Sean Guist, Henrietta Dubet
Camera: David Malysheff, Shane Battley
Secondary Pedicab: Russell Molnar
Victoria has become known as a bastion of progressive values, and nowhere is that more clear than in the ways proud 2SLGBTQIA+ representation has flourished, even while performance venues themselves are increasingly scarce. Eddi Licious, a legendary local drag king, takes us to some of their favourite spaces around the city, sharing personal anecdotes, breaking down gender stereotypes, and providing historical-and ancestral-context to the topic of drag.
Learn more about Eddi Licious, Sean Guist, Intrepid Theatre, Logan’s Pub (RIP), Henrietta Dubet, The Vicious Poodle.
Available to Stream from April 22nd.
Episode 5: The Singing Fish (54:55)
Starring: Sarika Cullis-Suzuki
Camera: David Malysheff, Ryan Landa
Secondary Pedicab: Ashley Dreher
Residing in a coastal city, Victorians live in close proximity with whales, porpoises, seals, and other marine wildlife whose lives are often both invisible and alien to us. Along with Sarika Cullis-Suzuki, co-host of CBC's The Nature of Things, Johnny takes this episode to peer beneath the waves at some of the fascinating species who share their ecosystem with us, most especially a singing fish.
Learn more about Sarika Cullis-Suzuki, The Nature of Things, the Gorge Waterway, and the Plainfin Midshipman.
Available to Stream from April 29th.
Episode 6: Jazz and the Flow State (46:24)
Starring: Wes Carroll (and the Wes Carroll Confabulation), Kelby MacNayr, Nathan Shelby, Rowan Farintosh, Sam Low
Camera: David Malysheff, Ryan Landa, Claire Cacheux
Secondary Pedicab: Nathan Shelby
Hosting everything from an international summer festival to a nonprofit society and a beloved club downtown, the city of Victoria is a rich hub for jazz musicians and enthusiasts. Wes Carroll, a local modern jazz and fusion musician with a strong social conscience, takes us around to some of Victoria’s best venues, introducing us to some friends along the way.
Learn more about Wes Carroll, Rowan Farintosh, Jazz at the Church, Kelby MacNayr, Victoria Conservatory of Music, Nathan Shelby, View Street Social, Hermann’s Jazz Club, Arts on View, Coda, DJ sLow.
Available to Stream from May 6th.
Episode 7: Those Who Never Leave (53:42)
Starring: John Adams
Camera: David Malysheff, Ryan Landa
Secondary Pedicab: Adrian Van Drunen
For its compact size, Victoria has a startlingly high number of streets and buildings considered to be haunted. Along with the acclaimed historian and guide John Adams, we explore some of Victoria’s most credibly haunted sites, while also learning about the historical context behind these stories.
Learn more about Discover the Past Walking Tours.
Available to Stream from May 13th.
Episode 8: The Journey Behind the Journey (41:37)
Starring: David Malysheff, John Taylor, Andre Steinhausen, Kevin Cherry, Russell Molnar, Adrian Van Drunen, Claire Cacheux
Camera: David Malysheff, Claire Cacheux
The final episode (for now) brings members of our crew together for a rotating discussion about the experience of making this series, and what it taught us, both about Victoria and ourselves. Host Johnny facilitates these conversations, shares a few personal stories, and wraps it up at the end.
Learn more about Gamut Productions, Victoria Pedicab Company, CineVic, Short Circuit Film Festival, TELUS STORYHIVE.
Available to Stream from May 20th.
The team behind the scenes
Bon Victoriage! is the brainchild of Jonathan Brenneman (Johnny). Prior to moving to Victoria in late 2021, Johnny worked for fifteen years as a radio host, travel journalist, podcaster, and radio play producer for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) in Vienna, Austria, working in both German and English contexts. He interviewed storytellers in 60+ countries, including labour activists in Bangladesh, Arctic explorers in Svalbard, conservationists in Borneo, and many more. He’s also interviewed politicians, award-winning authors, physicists, and other celebrities, even hosting a live Q&A with the acclaimed music producer Brian Eno in 2021. On-camera experience includes music videos, commercials, and documentaries.
David Malysheff, a principal of the Victoria-based production company Gamut Productions, has 35 years of television production experience in film and video formats. Recently honoured with a Leo Award for Best Cinematography for the documentary Listening to Orcas for CBC, David’s credits also include the Gemini-nominated Take Off, which won an Award of Excellence from the Children’s Broadcast Institute. He travelled the world for the TV series The Best Places to Kiss and Off the Map, both of which aired on the US Travel Channel and on Canada’s WTN. David also shot and directed the History Television documentary The Immortal Beaver with Harrison Ford.
An alumni of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Róisín Adams is an immensely prolific composer, pianist, bandleader and educator. In 2013, she founded the improvisatory instrumental jazz quartet Hildegard’s Ghost, with whom she performed a wide range of her own compositions, including This City—which has become the theme song of Bon Victoriage!
UPCOMING EVENTS
April 1st, 2025
Paul Phillips Hall, 1923 Fernwood Rd.
Victoria, BC
Community screening for Episode 1, We Came Here with Nothing. 7-11 p.m. Doors at 7 p.m. Sliding scale, $10-20 suggested donation, no one turned away. All net door proceeds go to Victoria Chinatown Museum Society, Yen Wo Society Community.
Featuring:
Live Q&A with Charlayne Thornton-Joe, Sam Low, Nora Butz.
Baked goods by Friends & Family Bake. Live Set by DJ sLow.
Hosted by Fernwood Community and Arts Association.
April 5th, 2025
The Vicious Poodle, 726 Johnson St.
Victoria, BC
Community screening for Episodes 3 & 4, The friend you don’t yet know and Drag and The Great Unknown. Doors at 6:30PM, show at 7PM
In support of Rainbow Railroad. No cover.
Featuring:
Live Q&A with Eddi Licious, Henrietta Dubet, Jimbo the Drag Clown and guests.
Live drag performances from episode guests.
Hosted by The Vicious Poodle.
April 29th, 2025 (TBC)
TBC
Victoria, BC
Community screening for Episode 6, Jazz and the Flow State. 7-10 p.m.
Sliding scale, $10-20 suggested donation.
Featuring:
Live Q&A with guests TBC.
Live performances TBC.
Hosted by Journey By Johnny.
May 6th, 2025 (TBC)
TBC
Victoria, BC
Community screening for Episode 7, Those Who Never Leave. 7-10 p.m.
Sliding scale, $10-20 suggested donation.
Featuring:
Live Q&A with John Adams and other guests TBC.
Hosted by Discover The Past.
PARTNER OPPORTUNITIES
Organizations Facilitating Tourism & Regional Promotion
Traversing a city in an open air vehicle (with five camera coverage!) is a fantastic way to explore a city, and not only for episode guests. With each filmed episode, the program’s audience become better and better acquainted with the neighbourhoods, parks, streets, and alleys that make Victoria one of the central characters of Bon Victoriage! Fans who visit the city will be thrilled to see some of the places they saw on TV, in real life.
Local Businesses, Nonprofit Societies, Venues
Whether we’re highlighting a weekly jazz night, a nonprofit society benefiting the city’s unhoused population, a 2SLGBTQIA+ performance space and cultural venue, or a museum dedicated to the Chinese-Canadian families who’ve made Victoria home, with each episode we’ve aimed to bring exposure to the initiatives and organizations that provide spaces for local communities to meet, share ideas, and work together.
Storytellers
More than fifteen years working as a travel journalist has sharpened my instincts for how to bring out the best stories from the storytellers I meet. Starting in the preliminary conceptual stages, I help my guests map out a route that braids together the philosophical with the political, allowing space to develop the safety and intimacy usually found only with close friends.
Platforms
Bon Victoriage! has been made possible through the support of TELUS STORYHIVE; we also benefit from access to SH’s built-in audience via Optik TV, Stream+, and STORYHIVE’s YouTube channel and other social media platforms. At the same time, Journey By Johnny retains the IP to Bon Victoriage! and the right to expand the program’s reach through agreements with other streamers and platforms seeking out local Canadian, community and/or travel-related content.
Passionate Donors
I am very proud of our work this season, and look forward to sharing it with as large of an audience as possible. I also wish to continue filming it—this funky little city is chock full of stories, and we’ve only just scratched the surface! There are multiple ways to support this program, including with equipment, expertise, and of course, you know, money.
If anything in this section speaks to you, scroll down just a little further….
I want you to get involved with this project!
Venues, donors, and platforms, oh my! Please get in touch using this contact form, and I’ll be sure to write you back shortly.