Jacob Tierney
5/28/202633 min
This week on It’s Open, Ilana sits down with Jacob Tierney. Best known as the writer and director of Heated Rivalry— the TV adaptation of Rachel Reid’s hockey romance that positively rocked the culture in 2025— Jacob is a staple in Canadian television. He created the beloved series Letterkenny and its spin off Shorsey, and now Jacob discusses his personal career journey from Canadian child-actor through his teenage years, against the dark backdrop of Miramax in the 90s, to the present, where his professional prowess and creative energy is impacting the culture. He and Ilana discuss writing queer stories in the industry today, the yearning of a weekly release, and his submitting to the connectivity of the universe.
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Host: Ilana Glazer
Producers: David Rooklin, Annika Carlson, Madeline Kim, Kelsie Kiley, Glennis Meagher
Video Producers: Lexa Krebs, Louise Nessralla
Audio Producers: Nicole Maupin, Rachel Suffian, Rebecca O’Neill
Lighting Director: Kevin Deming
Editor: Tovah Leibowitz
Graphics: Raymo Ventura
Outro Music: Don Hur
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsIlana Glazer· Host0:00
Welcome to It's Open with Ilana Glazer. Oh my God, I am lit up for the conversation I just had with the creator, writer, director of Heated Rivalry, Jacob Tierney. Ah. He's so many things. He was an actor as a kid. He's a healthy person also, and he made the show Letterkenny, but damn, Heated Rivalry shook up the damn world, and I get to talk about it with him here today. So come on in. It's Open. [gentle music] Jacob Tierney.
Jacob Tierney· Guest0:33
Ilana Glazer.
Ilana Glazer· Host0:34
Oh my God. [laughs] Jacob, like, you, you created Heated, Heated Rivalry.
Jacob Tierney· Guest0:39
Mm-hmm.
Ilana Glazer· Host0:39
You wrote it and directed all of it.
Jacob Tierney· Guest0:40
Mm-hmm.
Ilana Glazer· Host0:41
It literally changed the world.
Jacob Tierney· Guest0:43
[laughs] I mean- People are fucking losing- Yeah ...
Ilana Glazer· Host0:47
their minds.
Jacob Tierney· Guest0:48
Yeah.
Ilana Glazer· Host0:49
Have lost their minds over Heated Rivalry, but in a way that, like, also almost, like d- like, melted away layers that, of programming that they, like, f- found themselves. Women found themselves through Heated Rivalry.
Jacob Tierney· Guest1:01
Yeah. Yeah.
Ilana Glazer· Host1:02
Did you... Like, did you know it was gonna be so- No.
Jacob Tierney· Guest1:05
I don't think you can predict this kind of- Yeah ... thing, right? Like, I, I, I can now say after, uh, you know, a few months, uh, of, of having lived through this, like, I, I get it. L- like, it is one of those shows that, like, took over the conversation for the time when it was out, like a, you know, like a Squid Game or like a- Mm ... Baby Reindeer or something like that where, like, you're like, "Why is everyone talking about the same thing?" Like, it, it does- Right ... I get it that that