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A little known fact about Andrew Phung is that he loves hosting.
The veteran comedian and actor enjoys hosting events on a level that is, frankly, kind of surprising. It’s something he’s loved doing since his days in Calgary’s improv scene in the late ’00s.
“You know, improv allows you to make dozens of dollars,” he says. “That’s the peak of improv. Hosting was this next thing where someone was like, ‘Hey, you want to come host this event? We’ll pay you 500 bucks.’ I’m like, ‘Excuse me? You pay me $500? To host this event? OK!’ And so I started hosting a ton of events. What I love about improv is I love the spontaneity, I love making people laugh. And I get that — and more sometimes — with hosting.”
Phung is hosting the 14th edition of the Canadian Screen Awards on May 31. To warm up, and get his old hosting muscles back, he’s been MCing all types of awards shows. He’s hosted award shows for the convenience story industry and the eyeglass industry and a whole bunch of real estate award shows .”I hosted so many awards to prepare for this moment.… I love being the master of ceremonies.”
WATCH | The trailer for Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie:
This edition of the CSAs comes at a time when Canadian film and TV are having a moment. Crave’s Heated Rivalry was arguably the biggest TV show in the world in 2025, while Canadian films like Mile End Kicks, Undertone, Blue Heron and Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie were all favourites with critics and audiences. Phung calls it “a perfect storm of the right projects,” and that success has put a lot of eyes on Canada’s film and TV industry.
That’s a result of “the Canadian tenacity,” Phung says. “It is people not giving up. It’s people working relentlessly.” As examples of that, he points to Mile End Kicks, which took writer Chandler Levack most of a decade to make, and Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, a film based on a series from the late ’00s. “We have to keep fighting,” he says. “And that’s been a very Canadian thing. We have to keep fighting to have our stories heard.… [Nirvanna] took years to make … and would they have been able to make it without the success of Blackberry?”
Another thing that has helped create this moment, he says, is the level of mutual support in the Canadian film and television industry. “Filmmakers are so supportive of one another,” he says. “You’re seeing Matt Johnson rolling into [Blue Heron director] Sophy Romvari’s Q&A and [moderating] the Q&A for her.”
WATCH | Watch the trailer for Heated Rivalry:
Phung is, himself, a huge fan of so many of the shows and films nominated this year, and he is quick to pick out a few of his personal favourites. “After watching Blue Heron, my wife and I laid in our bed and talked about it for 45 minutes,” he says. “That’s the power of filmmaking. I love Blue Heron. Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie was incredible. 40 Acres, RT Thorne … that Canada was able to make a post-apocalyptic film, that’s really exciting.”
On the TV side, he says, there are also a ton of gems. “Office Movers is very good,” he says. “I grew up in the northeast of Calgary, so it feels like a lot of guys I grew up in Northeast with. I think we need to talk more about Children Ruin Everything and their incredible run…. I remember watching the pilot of North of North and texting my wife like, ‘You need to come home and watch this. I will watch it again with you.’”
In fact, Phung feels like more people in the industry should be shouting out their favourites if they want this “perfect storm” of shows and movies to keep growing. “ I get to tell the cast of Abroad, this Filipino sketch comedy series on Omni … ‘Every sketch [you] put on, I love it.’ ““I think we should absolutely have our favorites,” he says. “We should tell people why they’re our favorites, because we don’t do this enough. We do not do this enough and we need to do it more.”
The Canadian Screen Awards air May 31 at 8 p.m. (9 p.m. AT, 9:30 NT) on CBC, CTV and Global (check your local listings), with streaming on CBC Gem, Crave and STACKTV.
