Simu Liu on imitating Chad Kroeger: 'You're cookie monster, but he's kind of going through puberty'

The Juno Awards are almost here, taking place in Edmonton on March 13, and the host of this year's festivities sat down with Q host Tom Power last night in front of a live audience at the Winspear Centre in the host city. 

Shang-Chi and Kim's Convenience star Simu Liu is the master of ceremonies for the second straight year. His conversation with Power was wide-ranging, and ended with Power giving Liu a Canadian music pop quiz — including a challenge about one of Canada's biggest bands, and this year's Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees, Nickelback.

Below is their exchange, including a hilarious backstage story from Liu's Junos rehearsals. Listen to the full interview below as well. Catch Liu hosting the 52nd Juno Awards at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on March 13, on CBC, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One and CBC Listen, and stream globally on cbcmusic.ca/junos.

Q21:15Simu Liu on the many hats he wears — from actor, to author, to back-to-back Juno Awards host

Simu Liu is a lot of things: an actor, a former accountant, a published author, a superhero...Now, Simu is back to host the Juno Awards for the second year in a row. He sat down with Tom Power — in front of a live audience — to talk about writing his memoir, learning to do a Chad Kroeger impression, and what he has in store for this year's Juno Awards.

Simu Liu on impersonating Chad Kroeger

Tom Power: Finish this classic Nickelback lyric.

Simu Liu: OK.

Power: Look at this photograph, every time I do it makes me laugh. How did our eyes get so red. And? 

Liu: And what  the hell is on — Joey's head! [Sings] What the hell is on Joey's head! This is where I grew up. 

Power: [Laughs]

Liu: I met Chad just literally yesterday and he's got every bit the legendary voice that you imagine. You meet him and he's like [puts on Kroeger's voice]: It's not like you, it's not like you.

None of this will make the final [Junos] show. So I feel like I can talk about it. But we had all these jokes. We had a Chad Kroeger-off at one point in the monologue that like, it had me and Chad giving notes to each other about how to do the best Chad Kroeger voice.

And one of them was like, "No, like you just swallowed a bag of nails." OK. [Puts on his Kroeger voice] Look at this photograph. "No, like you're your cookie monster, but he's kind of going through puberty." [Puts on his Kroeger voice] Look at this photograph.

But it's a hard voice to do and he's a legend.

Power: And let's be honest, Nickelback, they rule, man.

Simu Liu is back to host the 2023 Juno Awards on Monday, March 13, at 8 p.m. ET. Tune in on CBC, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One and CBC Listen, and stream globally on cbcmusic.ca/junos.