Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, a.k.a. Off the Record or OTR, is a Canadian sports talk show on TSN hosted by Michael Landsberg. Since the program debuted on TSN in 1997, it has become the longest-running sports talk show on Canadian television.
History[]
The half hour show features guests from various backgrounds, ranging from the sports athletes to reporters to political figures or even entertainers, participating as panelists in a round table discussion on notable sports events of the day, with Landsberg serving as the moderator. Occasionally, an episode would feature just one guest in a one-on-one interview with Landsberg, usually from the sports world or WWE personalities. Prior to the second commercial break of the show, a portion of the commercial bumper includes a "Quirky Fact" shown on the screen related either to the major sports topic of the day, or in relation to the guest being interviewed by Landsberg. Prior to the third commercial break, a portion of the bumper includes Landsberg reading a witty e-mail to the show from a viewer, often a shot directed towards him. However, when there is a one-on-one interview that Landsberg is conducting with someone that is dealing with an issue of seriousness or solemness, this segment is omitted.
During its initial years, Landsberg would always preface before the discussion with his guest panel or one-on-one guest interview that whatever opinions were stated by his guests on the program would be off the record and could therefore not be used against them. This practice, however, eventually disappeared in later seasons.
In recent years, the guest panel segment has been sandwiched between the opening "Up Front" segment (where Landsberg asks a guest one-on-one questions in relation to a sports issue of the day) and the closing "Next Question" segment (where Landsberg quickly rattles off a series of one-on-one questions that relates to the guest's interests and background).
Clips of Off The Record were featured in the 1998 documentary film Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows.
List of Interviews[]
- Vince Mcmahon - February 24, 1998
- Steve Austin - May 5, 1998
- Vince Mcmahon - May 16, 2002
- Hulk Hogan - December 24, 2002
- Undertaker - February 3, 2003
- Bret 'The Hitman' Hart - February 11, 2003
- Shawn Michaels - March 24, 2003
- Eric Bischoff - March 24, 2003
- Jim Ross - June 19, 2003
- Trish Stratus - December 2, 2003
- HHH - December 7, 2004
- Edge & Christian - March 17, 2005
- Chris Benoit
- John Cena
- Kurt Angle
- Legends
- Mick Foley
- Paul Heyman
- Ric Flair
- Ric Flair 2nd interview
- RVD
- RVD 2nd interview
- Note
- This is not a complete list of interviews.
Images[]
External links[]
- Off The Record site from TSN.ca
- Off The Record on Twitter
- Off The Record at the Internet Movie Database