The Globe and Mail did a brief Q-and-A with George Stroumboulopoulos, host of the much-hyped The Hour, on CBC Newsworld

It's worth a read.

Here's an excerpt:

Born Aug. 16, 1972. Raised by his Ukrainian mother in Ajax. Lives in downtown Toronto. Single, two cats (Snake and Minnow). Former host on MuchMusic; new face of youth on CBC Newsworld.

Before becoming the personality that drives CBC Newsworld's much-publicized The Hour -- billed as "an irreverent, round-the-world, mile-a-minute look at news and current affairs that's actually fun to watch" -- George Stroumboulopoulos spent five years hosting MuchMusic shows such as The NewMusic, The Punk Show and MuchNews. He made the leap to the public broadcaster after appearing on the CBC series The Greatest Canadian as the advocate for Tommy Douglas. After the viewership named his candidate the greatest of all, CBC brass made Stroumboulopoulos an irresistible offer.

So what are you trying to do with The Hour?

We're trying to strike a balance between news programs and funny current-event shows. I think that's the challenge right now and we're about 50 to 60 per cent where we want to be. People ask us if we're doing Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. And we say no, but we're kind of doing the show he was talking about: We saw Stewart on CNN's Crossfire [in October, complaining that the mainstream media, his hosts included, were far too soft on politicians]. It described exactly the show we were building, which is to be smart, funny, angry and curious. For example, we had Roméo Dallaire talking about soldiers and post-traumatic stress syndrome and, on the same show, we had Pauly Shore.