After their sports career ended, many athletes turned to the media. Few, however, have done so with as much panache and self-mockery as Mike Bossy, who became an integral part of Quebec popular culture in the 1990s.
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After his retirement, Bossy held all sorts of jobs. He notably joined Titan then Karhu, two equipment manufacturers, as well as the insurance firm Cumis. On the sidelines of the ceremony organized by the Islanders for the withdrawal of his number 22, in 1992, he confided to the New York Times that he turned out to be a “poor salesman”, but that he has a good command of public relations, “because[il] love people”.
This is also a quality that all the people who have worked with him unanimously evoke. And that’s one of the reasons why the public has always faithfully returned this love.
In the early 1990s, he made his first appearance in the Quebec media sphere by participating in the televising of the Quebec Nordiques games. However, it is really his leap to commercial radio that strikes the imagination.
In August 1992, he joined the team of Crazy lunchtimes, at CKOI, program led by Richard Z. Sirois, of the group Rock et belles oreille. His sense of humor lends itself perfectly to the recommended tone. After his baptism of the waves, The Press writes: “At first a little lost, Michael has found his place for a few days within a group of licensed comedians. His prepared lines pass the airwaves better and he even allows himself to improvise gags of his own. Last week, he didn’t give up his place to impersonate Elvis Presley. »
Consecration
In 1994, he was recruited by Yé too early, by far the most popular morning show in Quebec. He must mainly present a sports chronicle, but his role quickly exceeds this framework. That’s when star host Normand Brathwaite “falls in love” with “one of the funniest and brightest guys” he’s come across in his career. In his eyes, Bossy contributed to breaking the image of the sports presenter “in a suit and devoid of a sense of humor”. He lent himself to the game so much that we “forgot that he was a hockey giant”.
“Hosting a show and making people laugh is hard to do and hard to learn,” Brathwaite said in a recent interview with The Press. Mike arrived in a profession that he had never done, whereas us, it was our job. He was amazing. He impressed me a lot. »
“He was a champion in everything he did,” characterized by the humility and desire to improve of a model student. “I know people 1000 times less well known than him who are 1000 times cooler,” illustrates the host.
The two men have thus created a real bond that has survived the test of years. “When you work on a morning show, you see more of your colleagues than your family members,” Brathwaite points out. The “bum” of beautiful and bum recounts having attended many games at the Bell Center with Bossy. “One evening, I said to him: ‘Everyone is watching you, but you’re not listening to the game!’ And he replied: “It’s okay, I know what the players are trying to do…” I’ll always remember that. He really made me laugh a lot…”
Shamelessly
Other projects have smiled less on him. This is particularly the case of the comedy talk show Virus, animated by François Massicotte, whose Bossy was the acolyte. After only four months on the air, in the winter of 1993, the TVA network put an end to the experiment.
The ex-hockey player, however, had more success during his appearances on the show Hot pepperagain under the direction of Normand Brathwaite.
He who has never feared ridicule – in the most positive sense of the word – has been the subject of multiple parodies. His most famous incarnation certainly came from André-Philippe Gagnon, who made him one of his favorite characters.
Interviewed as part of a documentary devoted to the career of Gagnon, Bossy attends in real time a number of the imitator. Laughing heartily, he himself recites a few lines. He also says he recognizes himself in the approach of someone who, at the time, was enjoying an international career.
“He smiles all the time, he is always in a good mood; he does gags and laughs at things. That’s me! says Bossy de Gagnon.
The most famous imitator in Quebec recalls having camped for the first time the Islanders player in a special end-of-year program hosted by Michel Jasmin, on TVA. Paul Houde played Guy Lafleur.
However, it was the 1986 issue – the one in the video above – written by Stéphane Laporte, which was a hit. Gagnon reproduces the athlete’s facial expressions and permanent smile and plays with his slight English accent, while ironically describing the exploits of Wayne Gretzky.
The comedian had integrated this number into his very first show, which Bossy had gone to see in Laval. The two therefore met after a performance.
At the other end of the line, Gagnon evokes “the sense of humor and generosity” of the man whose exploits on the ice he so admired. The two reunited at a charity match a few years later after Bossy retired. “He spent the game sending the puck to me, but I never managed to score…it was a bit embarrassing,” the impersonator recalled with a laugh. He kept an autographed stick from that match, which he still has today. They have also met several times over the years. Never past jokes have been the subject of discomfort.
More recently, in 2018, Marc Labrèche also camped it out as part of the show Info, sex and liess.
Without ever taking himself seriously, Mike Bossy also participated in a few advertisements, both during his sports career and afterwards. In the 1980s, he was the Quebec face of the KFC fast food chain.
And in the late 1990s, when he worked in public relations for Humpty Dumpty, he himself appeared in ads for the potato chip manufacturer.
The company will make him its sales manager in the province. In 2005, a report from the magazine Sports Illustrated recounts the surprise of consumers when, in a Montreal supermarket, Bossy went himself to bail out empty shelves.
Return to hockey
In the same article, the Quebecer recalls having always dreamed of reconnecting with the world of hockey. He says he contacted the Montreal Canadiens a few times in the 1990s to offer his services as a specialized coach. “They never called me back,” he said. In 2002, when his former teammate Bryan Trottier became the head coach of the New York Rangers, he firmly believed that he would finally be given his chance. But it didn’t happen.
Twice, the Islanders offered him a job. In 2003, he was assigned to client and fan relations. Ten years later, the organization made him its vice-president of sponsorships and business partnerships. He has also collaborated with the American network MSG.
During the 2014-2015 season, he told the young TVA Sports network, after giving an interview to one of his reporters before a match between the Canadiens and the Islanders, that he wanted to return to Quebec for good and that he was interested in an increased presence in the media. The response was quick. “It was a no-brainer,” says Louis-Philippe Neveu, general manager of the station. The “baggage” and the “personality” of this “legend”, as well as the “love of hockey fans” for him quickly opened the doors of the official broadcaster of the Canadian.
A first collaboration in the playoffs paved the way for a long-term contract. At a station in its early years, he established himself as a “leader” within the team, playing a “leading role” in signing hockey coverage.
“Each analyst has his own specialty, his own style,” underlines Mr. Neveu. He is an emotional guy. We wanted him to watch the games through the eyes of Mike Bossy the scorer, the winner. That’s where he was the best. »
“As he always had a sense of showmanship, he knew exactly how it worked. So he was told, “Let yourself go.” »
He also created lasting friendships with his new colleagues. Michel Bergeron, great rival in the junior ranks, has become an accomplice. Host Louis Jean accompanied him in the last days of his life.
It is also through TVA Sports that Bossy announced last October that he was suffering from lung cancer which forced him to retire from the airwaves.
In a letter to the fans, he hammered home his will to fight with “the determination and the ardor” that he had displayed during his career on the ice.
He made an appointment with the spectators “soon, after a very eventful hockey game”. Unfortunately, the reunion did not take place. But the mutual love between this icon and his audience will forever remain alive.