The sock is feeling feisty.

You remember Ed, the cigar-chomping hand puppet who regaled MuchMusic and City TV audiences with his foul-mouthed put-downs of pop culture and music videos during the Chr�tien era.

After an absence of 11 years, he's back, baby, more outraged than ever, with a "War on Stupid" comedy tour to educate and enlighten audiences that, to hear Ed tell it, are desperately in need of his wise counsel.

On the phone, the gravel-tongued curmudgeon sounds a lot like his humanoid alter-ego Steven Kerzner, the 52-year-old rabble-rouser who uses his pompadoured foot accessory to strike a blow for truth, justice and giving the finger to has-been celebrities such as Vanilla Ice.

But as he assures me several times during our interview, other than those green velveteen eyebrows, they are one and the same.

You've been happily retired for 11 years. Why come back now?

People need someone to speak up for them that isn't crazy right or crazy left, because most people aren't either, so I tend to straddle the line.

Let's face it, with the increase in cable news and the need to constantly draw clicks or eyeballs, what you end up getting is opinions from people who set themselves on fire, because that's what attracts attention.

The entire middle of the conversation - the majority of people who are reasonable individuals, who want to make decisions based on actual facts and thoughts and don't see someone with a different opinion as the enemy - are completely drowned out.

But it's important that we have that voice, and that voice is ME.

But you're a sock.

I'm the person who always said things that got you thinking and used humour as a lubricant, to help you digest some thoughts that perhaps might be uncomfortable.

There's nobody else out there right now speaking for the vast majority who are actually decent people with a decent attitude toward others, with empathy and compassion.

Are you politically correct?

I was doing an interview and mentioned the term "transsexual" and my comedy partner -who's much more tuned in to the world - said "No, it's "transgender!"

Somebody might call you "transphobic" for saying "transsexual." Now, I'm not transphobic at all. But there are people who - because I didn't know what the current term is - would jump on me and accuse me of being transphobic.

That's politically correct. But I just didn't know.

And you feel this is responsible for the rise of populist politicians such as Donald Trump?

It's people saying "Enough of this crap! I'm not a bad person and I'm tired of being restricted and told what I can say and can't say!"

People just got sick of always being "wrong" with what they said, and feeling they were being made out to be racists and homophobes, so they gravitated toward people who say what they mean.

Unfortunately, these people saying what they mean say stupid things - things that are without thought, evidence, without fact. They're just people's gut feelings and they don't have any greater authenticity or accuracy than that.

Which brings us back to you.

I've always said what I meant, but what I meant came about as a result of reading and research and thought and consideration and critical evaluation, as opposed to some notion I'd gotten in my head somewhere at some time from some TV show at Christmastime.

When I speak my mind, my mind has actually been active.

You're a superhero - a revolutionary!

I'm not Che Guevara. Yes, at that time in Canadian media, nobody else was doing what I was doing. And now, even less people are doing what I was doing.

You don't have a place like MuchMusic anymore that allowed someone like me to go out there and express opinions and challenge people's thoughts.

Even then, you pushed the envelope.

It's always easier to be a non-human when telling people stuff where they would otherwise they defensive.

If it's a human being, there's an immediate reaction: "Who the hell are you to say this to me?"

But when you've got me, "The Simpsons" and "South Park," an "observer" status is granted so people don't get quite so defensive. You're not just another slob like them.

What role does humour play?

You can bypass that defensiveness people have.

And let's face it: The terrorists in France - who did they attack? They didn't attack the newspaper printing editorials denouncing them. They didn't go to the TV and radio stations doing the same thing.

They attacked the humour magazines, because comedy is exceptionally powerful, because once a bully is made fun of, it robs power from them.

You sound like a university professor. Ever thought about teaching a course in social politics?

In my "Fromage" series, I was already teaching people media literacy. That's what that whole series was about - pointing out the images and messages, but doing it with humour.

It's funny, because I always viewed you more as a lightweight comedy prop than CNN-styled outrage pundit.

The comedy was about something. I wasn't doing knock-knock jokes and puns. I'm Canada's inner voice, spoken out loud.

As Canada's inner voice, let's get your impressions about:

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•The state of modern entertainment.

There's so much that's new. It's hard to get people to sample new products in media. It's a paralysis of choice.

• The Woodstock 50th anniversary concerts planned for this summer.

Who's gonna go? Are we gonna get people who were there in the '60s who are gonna go out of nostalgia? You're going to need a lot of oxygen tents and Poligrip.

Or are they gonna get the people who went to Woodstock '99?

They were going because they heard how cool the one in the '60s was. But the one in '99 was not cool. It was a lot of vendors trying to rip off a bunch of rich kids. And it turned into "Lord of the Flies" by the end.

There's not a whole lot of goodwill. "Hey, remember when we were being charged $8 for a small bottle of water the whole weekend and then we overturned garbage cans, set fires and started beating on them like it was some kind of tribal thing? Yeah, let's do that again!"

I just don't see how this is supposed to appeal at this point in time.

• The Oscar-winning movie, "Bohemian Rhapsody."

I didn't see it because I couldn't get past the prosthetic teeth. Any time I saw any trailer for it, all I saw was prosthetic teeth. Why do people need to look exactly like the people they're portraying? It just took me out of the reality of the film.

• Perennially perky talk-show host Ben Mulroney.

Listen, I got nothing against Ben Mulroney. I saw "Westworld." I understand androids.

• Millennials.

All the people in Generation X are complaining about millennials. Who the hell do you think raised them? Whose kids do you think those are?

You're the ones who helicoptered around them, arranged playdates and now you have the nerve to complain? Physician, heal thyself.

• Your worst celebrity interview.

Vanilla Ice. He was going on about how his life was so horrible and kept taking shots at me.

And finally I said "Oh yeah, are we gonna see Sally Struthers do a commercial for you?"

He paused and goes "Puppet! Gimmick!" and I go 'Yeah, but one that's still working!"

• Your "War on Stupid" comedy tour.

We'll be looking at various flashpoints in culture today and pointing out with humour all the enmity and jargon and "what aboutism." We take left and right, hold them up to the light and we'll spill their Kool-Aid, no matter which side they sit on.

The underlying point is we're finding humour in tension and conflict.

jrubinoff@therecord.com

Twitter: @JoelRubinoff