Paul Myers was touring Canada as the frontman of the alt-rock band The Gravelberrys when he heard the news about John Candy.

It was March 1994, and the band had landed in Whistler, B.C. for a few days. Myers went to a cafe that morning, and a radio was playing. He heard the announcer say, “Sad news from Los Angeles: John Candy is dead.” The loss felt tremendous.

“Everybody looked up,” says Myers, in an interview from his home in California. “People talk about John F. Kennedy being assassinated, and people crying in supermarkets. But everyone in this Whistler cafe looked at each other like ‘Are you getting this?’ It was a real community moment.”

Myers does not recount this tale in his new biography, John Candy: A Life in Comedy. He does, however, quote his younger brother Mike Myers, a m

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