Will no one rid us of Peter Mansbingo?
Bad enough the CBC’s former “Chief Correspondent” prolonged his retirement with a year-long victory lap that ran until Canada Day.
But like a bad smell, he lingers on and on and interminably on.
This fall, Mansbingo will embark on a cross-country tour touted as the “Stories Behind the Stories,” in which Petey will reveal “all the details that never made it to air. “
Hmmmm. Sounds a lot like Mike Duffy, Peter’s old drinking buddy from the eighties. Who can forget how Duffy once told TV Guide that he, “knew where the bodies were buried in Ottawa, what scandals went untold, but that he would always keep silent about them, in the public interest.”
“This isn’t a journalist,” replied Frank’s Geoff Heinricks, “He’s a co-conspirator.”
Of course, Mansbingo’s behind-the-news “revelations,” won’t include the question on everyone’s mind: Just how much is he trousering for this meander down memory lane?
Consider that top-of-the-line tickets for his smallest venue in Newfoundland, Oct. 21, go for $107. At the National Arts Centre, tickets run to $350.
According to David Lavin, Mansbingo’s agency supremo, the Giant of Journalism™ charges between $10,000 to $15,000 minimum per appearance. Readers may recall that for years Mansbingo was pocketing as much as $20,000 per speech for sharing his deep thoughts with the likes of CAPP, oil patch kids and assorted other climate-stupid organizations.
The subsequent conflict-of-interest uproar forced the Corpse to pull the plug on paid speaking engagements for Mansbingo, Ian Hanomansing, Wendy Mesley and countless other National Treasures. Poor Petey lost an estimated $200,000 a year and had to struggle to survive on his meagre $1-million a year salary.
Thankfully, his First Annual Farewell Tour will restore some of the lost income to which he was so rightfully entitled.
At $15,000 per appearance, Mansbingo will make approximately $240,000 on the 16-city toot, which expires at Massey Hall, Dec. 7.
Along with his taxpayer funded $500,000-a-year CBC pension, Mansbingo’s intake this year will be in the vicinity of $750,000!
Pip, pip!
A turd clinging to the bowl.
Just astonishing people would pay anything to see this guy. Didn’t they get enough for an eternity on their TV sets. You even used to be forced to watch him on Air Canada international flights where they would run a tape of him reading old news off a TelePrompTer.
My sense is that he’s trying to reassure himself that he’s still worth something. I get that. Peter has to recover from the bad press he got over his various speaking gigs, which made him look like a classic shill, almost as bad as Rex.