Juno and Jayne are bringing joy and laughs

Juno Rinaldi and Jayne Eastwood are two funny women teaming up for a live chat with interesting Hamiltonians. Next up is retired Ticat Simoni Lawrence on Dec. 7.

So what happens when two Hamilton comedic actors get together for a gab session with someone in the city who interests them?

Laughs and surprises are a certainty with Juno & Jayne Talking and Learning Stuff, a new live show hosted by Juno Rinaldi and Jayne Eastwood.  

The two funny women met through film director and producer Shelly Hong who figured they would hit it off. That happened immediately. 

So Hong, who moved to Hamilton in 2020 and settled in Eastwood’s North End neighbourhood, then pitched the idea that Rinaldi and Eastwood do a podcast. 

“Shelly was really the brainchild of it all,” says Rinaldi, a Vancouver native who moved to the Gage Park area in 2013 with her husband Mike Rinaldi, a TV writer, and their two sons.

“She was the one who was like, I think it would be an amazing idea to get these two women together in different parts of their careers and talk about what it's like and what advice they would give each other.”

When Rinaldi and Eastwood hashed out the idea, they agreed they wanted to build on their theatre backgrounds by doing live shows, rather than podcasts. 

“There was definitely that draw for both of us in being live. It’s fun. It's very energizing,” says Eastwood. 

“It's hard for people right now so the idea to bring laughs and just joy with this symbiotic thing that was happening between audience and us was really enticing,” adds Rinaldi.

For Eastwood, the model is BBC’s The Graham Norton Show and Rinaldi is building on her work in the short-lived but hilarious YouTube talk show parody My Special Guest with Jenny Young, a friend from theatre school. 

With Juno & Jayne, there is a lot of improv with the guest but also in answering questions that come from the audience. 

The pair launched the series in September with Hamilton-born actor Kathleen Robertson. Eastwood played her mom in Robertson’s first movie, 1985’s Left Out, and the two reprised their mother-daughter relationship in Down the Road Again in 2011.

“She's wonderful and she was really fun,” says Eastwood of the show. 

There was a technical glitch in the sound in a video recorded of the event. It didn’t affect the sold-out show for the live audience but it meant the plan to post the session to YouTube had to be scratched. 

You live and learn, say Rinaldi and Eastwood. 

The pair’s next guest on Dec. 7 is Hamilton Tiger-Cats linebacker Simoni Lawrence. Tickets are $20 and the event will benefit Food4Kids, where Lawrence is a board member.

The chat with Lawrence will really involve some learning for the hosts.

“I said, ‘But I don't know a damn thing about football.’ And our really sharp producer said, ‘That's what's gonna make it funny,’” says Eastwood. 

“It's exciting for us because we get to learn about these things that maybe wouldn't necessarily be on our radar,” says Rinaldi. “Kathleen, for sure, was on our radar. She's a very successful actor, writer, and a friend of Jayne’s. So that was in our wheelhouse. But Simoni is, wow, a new world.”

Lawrence, who wore No. 21, played for the Ticats for 10 seasons and is the franchise leader in total tackles (734), defensive tackles (727), and single game tackles (17). His 742 career defensive tackles rank 10th in CFL history. He’s a three-time CFL All Star, a five-time CFL East Division All-Star and was named the east division’s nominee for Most Outstanding Defensive Player three times.

He is among the city’s most committed community ambassadors and has participated in more than 500 events and dedicated thousands of hours of his time to the causes he holds dear during his time as a Ticat. 

Though he retired from football in February, Lawrence, who grew up in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, remains in Hamilton. 

Known for his gregarious, fun-loving personality, Lawrence now serves as the brand and community ambassador for Hamilton Sports Group, which includes the Ticats and Hamilton Forge soccer club.

“Simoni is very charismatic so he’s going to be a presence that night,” says Rinaldi. 

Juno & Jayne want to ensure their shows shine a light on Hamilton and its interesting characters from all walks of life.

“There's so many fantastic people in this city and we want to let people know who they are and what they're doing,” says Eastwood. 

In what can only be described as a very Hamilton moment, artist Julia Veenstra spotted Eastwood in a Value Village a couple of years ago and introduced herself. The two hit it off and from there, participated together in a fashion show and then a live painting event at Crown & Press, the gallery and café on Ottawa Street North that Veenstra operates with her family. 

When Eastwood asked if Crown & Press could host the Juno & Jayne shows, Veenstra jumped at the chance. She provides the large event space for free.

“I just couldn’t be happier to have Juno and Jayne do their shows here. We couldn’t have envisioned this when we opened, but it’s amazing.”

The three women have bonded over their love of painting.

Eastwood has been acting professionally in movies, TV and theatre since 1970, when she starred in the iconic movie Goin’ Down the Road. She’s been in everything from King of Kensington and Little Mosque on the Prairie to Hairspray, Chicago and the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise. 

Among her more recent projects is Hey Lady!, a CBC Gem series about a feisty senior prone to swearing, anger and disruption. Her gravelly voice and comedic timing have also led to a series of voice roles in animated movies, including that of Helga Humdinger in PAW Patrol.

Eastwood has been a fixture on SCTV and did sketch comedy in “Women Fully Clothed,” which toured across southern Ontario for 21 years and also featured Robin Duke, Kathryn Greenwood, and Teresa Pavlinek. The quartet have revived the show into a “best of” run they are billing as their first farewell tour.

Rinaldi is most known for her five seasons playing real estate agent Frankie Coyne in the Emmy-nominated Workin' Moms, for which she received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for best supporting actress in a comedy series in 2021.

The CBC series gets praise for its honest, fearless and funny depiction of the life of modern motherhood.

Rinaldi says the Juno & Jayne series is part of a long list of self-started ventures, including teaching and writing projects. She learned in theatre school that you have to create your own work. 

“You can’t wait for somebody to hand you a job. Just keep creating, keep creating, keep creating. With young actors especially, that's my biggest advice for them.”

Eastwood, who once aspired to a career in serious theatre, says she is only interested in doing comedy these days. 

“Interviewers would say, ‘So you’re a comedian, right?’ And I would say, ‘No, I’m an actress who does comedy sometimes.’ But now I say I’m a comedian. That’s all I want to be,” she says. 

“The antithesis of this time is being able to have some joy. That's why I love doing comedy, is because it gets people laughing. That is so valuable because it’s healing.”

Eastwood lived in Dundas, Flamborough and Ancaster before settling back in Toronto. But when her husband David Flaherty died seven years ago, she moved back to Hamilton.

“My late friend Sue Upton, the makeup artist, told me, ‘Honey, you’ve got to move to the North End. That’s where all the cool kids are’ and she was right. We drink at each other’s houses and I’ve never had so much fun.”

Tickets for Juno & Jane Talking and Learning Stuff with Simoni Lawrence are here.