Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Ep 141 | The American Dream - Nik Wallenda Is Living His...

Episode Date: July 5, 2019

Nik Wallenda an American acrobat, aerialist, daredevil, high wire artist, and author. He is known for his high-wire performances without a safety net. He holds nine Guinness World Records for various acrobatic feats, but is best known as the first person to walk a tightrope stretched directly over Niagara Falls. He joins the show today to share about his life, his family, and what's next for him!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you live in America and you don't know about the flying Walendas. Get out. Get out. The who? Get out. No, but seriously, the what? The flying Walendez. Is that like a dish?

Get out. He served out with Brazilian. Like I said, get out. If you don't know who they are. Get out. Joining us now is Nick Willenda on chewing the fat. Nick, how in the world are you, sir? Good to see you.

I'm doing great. And Sunday night was another exciting Wellenda walk with you and your sister. How much fun was it or wasn't fun at all? It was fun once I got on the wire, but there wasn't much fun leading up to it. I'd spend about six years in the making and took an act of God to get New York City to approve that walk. Again, once I got on the wire, I was relieved, especially once the tension was poor right and it was stabilized properly. And I knew that my sister was comfortable and I was able to kind of take it all in and enjoy it. That's almost, it's almost a family affair.

Your sister said about the same thing that she was so nervous and, you know, since her fall and her accident and, you know, she's been struggling and she wanted to get back up there. And once she was back up there, she said, all was right with the world. Yeah, yeah. You know, it was one of my biggest concerns, you know, those you know my history, walked over the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, 11 Guinness World Records, et cetera, et cetera. You don't need to talk down to me, Nick. I got it, I got it. I'm fairly comfortable on a wire, obviously. but the fact that my sister was going to be joining me after this near fatal accident a little over two years ago

we fell recreating an eight-person pyramid over in Sarasota, Florida. And I was able to catch the wire. She wasn't. So five of them fell to the ground. She was banged up pretty bad. In fact, in the coma several days, didn't expect her to live. So I was very concerned that I wanted that wire to be perfect. In fact, I didn't sleep much leading up to that walk because I was out personally rigging it, the four-night-old.

leading up to it. But again, wanted to be as perfect as possible so that when she got it, she would be comfortable and all as well that ends well, and she was very comfortable, and it was an amazing night for our family,

and I think the, you know, millions that viewed it live. You know, speaking of the millions that viewed it live, I saw where the numbers were not as good as some of the past walks. I mean, you still won, I mean, the ABC still won the night, obviously, I got it,

but, you know, it wasn't as good as some of the past nights. Now, I didn't see a lot of promotion for this either. I was a little disappointed, actually. Yeah, so they're, unfortunately, you know, ABC has a little bit of a different angle in marketing, and they really stick mostly to their network, whereas in past I've had agreements or contracts with other networks that kind of broaden a bill market everywhere, including billboard, et cetera. ABC is very much they keep within. But I will say that, you know, the TV world is certainly the dynamics. the TV world are changing and very few people are watching TV, to be honest.

Right. ABC executives were beyond thrilled with those numbers. I personally, when I first saw them, was pretty disappointed. However, they, you know, they said, look, the TV world has changed so immensely that you should be extremely proud because people just aren't watching network TV like they used to. There's just so much out there. So, you know, in the end, all the articles, including, you know, on the TV side of thing that I read, including the Hollywood Reporter, we're all about ABC winning the night,

the longest winning streak they've had since, I think, 30 years, as far as their rating in 18 to 49, which is the demo we try to hit. I mean, you were right there with the mini golf show, Nick. So, I mean, the one that we led, that came on right after me. That's right. That's world class. It was, again, for me, I wasn't very excited about the numbers for the network. they were. They're the ones that pay the bill. They were happy. But to tell you, we won the demo that

night, and there was only a point nine. We're watching that night in our demo. So that just tells you how few people are watching. I know. I know. It's frustrating for the networks. No kidding. So, look, you are, what, seventh generation of the flying great Willendez. You know, at any time, you know, I know was your great-grandfather, right? Or a great-great-great. Yep, Carl was great-grandfather. all, yeah, you know, started working for Barnum and Bailey and, you know, came here from Germany. Is any time in your life did you think, you know what, I just want to work at the circle, Kay? Yeah, last week when I was trying to finalize those permits in New York City.

Yeah, look, there are certainly times where I think that without question. In fact, you know, my sister said in an interview the other day, she's like, sometimes I look at what our family does and think, what are we, there's something wrong with us. So look, we're real people. I like to think that we're down to earth, no pun intended. But we totally, look, we live, eat, breathe, sleep, walking a wire. My family's done it for over 200 years. It is certainly our passion and what we love doing. But there have been times.

In fact, when I turned 18, I was accepted to go to go to a college and wanted to be a pediatrician. but I love performing, and the reason why I was going to do that is because my turn has pushed me another direction because they felt like, you know, the whole starving artist, and that's certainly been the world of the circus the last decade, several decades. It's been a real struggle, so they really wanted me to go a different direction, but we went to Detroit in 98 and recreated the seven-person pyramid. That was when I was 18, just about 19. Right. First time since it fell in 62, and at that point I realized that by the attention we had, which was basically media outlets from around the world,

I realized that there was a future. We said to change the way we were doing it, the way we were presenting it, still do the same thing, but bring it to a new audience, and that's kind of what I set out to do, and then I struggled and starved for the next 15 years, and continued to pursue my dream,

and eventually was able to get those permissions and laws changed to walk across Niagara Falls, and that sort of set my career in the direction that I always wanted to go. So do you ever have any pushback from, Any of the networks, any outlets that are saying they want to deal with you and produce you with your belief in God and your vocalness of belief in God? Does anyone ever give you any pushback on that? Never.

And, you know, I think the reason why is it's just who I am and there's no, you know, I'm not preaching, that's for sure. It's just me living my life. But you are. I mean, that's important, right? I mean, by doing what you're doing and using your faith, you are preaching. I mean, that's important. Well, I think living my life in the open is what I'm doing more than preaching,

and that is truly who I am through and through. In no way do I feel urged or, like, prepare what I'm going to say before these walks. Again, it's just my life and who I am, and they've all embraced it. And, I mean, look, Howard Stern said, I'd be praising the name of Jesus if I was walking over the Grand Canyon, too, and he's Jewish. So, you know, they all, everybody, every media outlet, including the late night hosts, comedians, they've all been very, very respectful throughout my career. And again, I just think because what I do is so raw and real. It's not rehearsed. It's not practiced.

It's just me living my life. So, I mean, you and your family came here, you know, your grandfather came here, you know, 150 years ago or whatever. I mean, you are the epitome of the American dream. I mean, your family is living it, and you've traveled this country and traveled the world doing what you love. I mean, it's amazing. I think that's the key right there is that we do what we love. I think so many people are held back by fear, and it's not the fear clearly of getting on a wire over the Grand Canyon. It's the fear of stepping out of their comfort zone to get to a point of living your dream and doing something you love.

So many people go to work every day miserable, and they go because they have to pay their bills, and they all have dreams, and they're held back by that fear. And that's really what our message is, is, you know, don't let that fear get a hold to you because fear is telling you that it's keeping you safe. But the reality is it's often keeping you miserable because you're not willing to step out and go pursue what you really want to do. And yes, there's risks with that. Of course, we all have bills and mortgages and kids to raise and all of that.

But again, I think if you do what you do with the right intent and work hard enough and live by those where it never give up, you too could be happy with what you do in your career. So where are you headed now? You just left Times Square. You did your New York gig. You're going to rest for the next six months? Are you big time movie star? You're not doing anything now?

I wish. No, you know, it's funny. I'm in a vehicle, as we speak, driving to Calgary. It's about 3,000 miles from Sarasota. You know, they've developed a thing. I don't know if you know this, Nick. That's just between you and me. It is just between you and me here on Chew of the Fat.

They've got a machine that they call an aeroplane. That floats, almost. Yeah, or fly. I've heard that. Yeah, you know, it's just, this is what I grew up doing, and I know people, people say that. Look, my managers think I'm nuts, but I grew up traveling around the country with my family, and I'm literally in a vehicle right now with, I realize the vehicle is not, ever, I realize the vehicle isn't a Kia. I got it.

I was just. But we are, we are driving there. Again, I enjoy that. I relax, but I'm heading to Calgary. This will be my last event with my son. before he goes off to the Army. I've got a 21-year-old at the Marine, and an 18-year-old that goes to the Army.

He actually flies from Calgary and goes directly to basic training. So this is kind of our road trip leading up to that. So I'll be doing a walk that's about 1,800 feet long in Calgary on the 8th of next month, and then working towards another big dream of mine, which is a volcano. It's something I've talked about for about six years now.

I did a BuzzFeed, did a major profile article on me and spent about a month with me. And in that, I talked about wanting to find an active volcano, and I've been searching since then. I have found it. I actually found it, and am close to closing all of the deals that I need to, in order to make that what happened before I closed everything in Times Square,

but timing, of course, is key here. So I'm hoping within the next six months, maybe a year at most, you guys will see me on ABC walking across. Boy, six months? Six months is a short period of time to get everything set. up to walk across the volcano, my friend. It is. It is.

But, you know, that's the way I've lived my life, and I've tried to do things. I do things, and it also lead by example, but that are nearly unachievable, but I know that within my grasp, and this is one that I know that I can make happen. Again, with the right pieces falling into place, but they always do.

I mean, I wouldn't use that phrase right pieces falling into place too often, Nick, but you're not going to put a net. You're not going to put a net. You're not going to put a net. net or something underneath the other volcano or you? I'm not watching if there's not a chance of you falling in that damn thing.

If I do that, it'll just dissipate in the heavy gasses anyway. In fact, we even have these uses the cable to sail because of the sulfuric gases. I mean, there's so much involved from heat to gas to the shift in winds, you name it. How high do you have to go above

to not have to really be worried about that? I'm really now I'm fascinated by I'll be well over a thousand feet above the actual lava flow still though man that's that would be

that's fantastic I would I'm looking forward to that so I've always envisioned Mario when I was growing up playing with Mario Brothers and when he misses it lands in that lava

yeah yeah that's what I've always always envisioned it's been a dreamlike for a long long time and haven't made it public like I said about five years ago I made it public

yeah that was something I was pursuing so if people want to you know have an opportunity to see you they can go to nick wellenda.com and that has your uh you know your event schedule uh with you and your family what uh what are we looking forward to doing in calgary is it just another boring show

where you're going to walk across a couple of bowls in an event performing performing with my wife i have a motorcycle that's on a wire there uh that we've developed and then i also have a uh we'll be performing a couple sway poles which are basically a flagpole that goes up about 65 70 feet that we climb and they sway back at four and we switch poles and then also doing a walk again that's almost 1,800 feet long over the top of the Calgary St.Pi. I mean, it's amazing. You guys are amazing.

I mean, I can't tell you how many times I climb flagpoles and just, you know, way back and forth. It's just a weekend. How many times? How many times? How many times? A couple times a weekend. Just for fun. A couple times a weekend.

Yeah, just for fun. And before I let him go, Jeffrey, because I have questions, too. You know, I really wanted to do this interview, Nick. but Jeffrey took it from me. So it's my show. It's funny how that works. There's a couple of things that you said during the walk. You kept saying the wire's good.

Is that for something that you were like mentally getting prepared yourself or was that something for like you were saying like for your sister? You know, I would say a lot of it was from, well, I was saying that because for my sister, so she was aware that she wasn't going to have to face that wire moving a lot. You know, part of our training is training on a wire that is very unstable and one of our concerns in Times Square because of the way we were. were forced to stabilize it, we were concerned that it might be moving quite a bit under our feet as we were walking.

And I was very, very pleased once I got on the... ...to find out that it was stabilized and that it wasn't wiggling when I could put her feet. And I was doing that for her because I was more worried about her mentally. Physically, she had it. She walked on a wire that was bouncing literally 12 to 18 inches. And I did that because I wanted her be prepared for anything. But, again, it was very, very stable.

and I wanted her to know, okay, mentally, all right, I don't have to be worried about the wire. I just need to do my part, stay calm and get across the other side. And then she practiced 25 times her sitting on the wire, correct? Well, she practiced 25 times nonstop. In one setting, she got up, sat down, got up, sat down 25 times. Wow, and then also I also remember her saying that, thank God for the pine cone training. What is this pine cone training? Yeah, that's funny. I didn't hear her to say that.

So when we were growing up, my mom and dad would actually throw pine cones at us in the backyard when we weren't looking as we were on the wire so that we were prepared for distractions. I do that to my kids now. That was clearly an inside joke directed at me and I didn't even hear it unfortunately. Oh, okay. And then lastly, you went downhill on the wire and then she went up. Yep. And that's a strategic because according to the commentaries that were there, they're saying like going down is easier than going up, correct? Down is harder, so walking downhill, if you imagine, it's harder probably more mentally and a little bit physically, but if you're going downstairs and you trip, it's a lot further to go than if you're walking upstairs in the trip.

Awesome. You're so stupid. I am. I know I am. It's funny because as I was watching this, and as soon as I saw the event, I was like I knew I was going to try to get a hold of you and get into it. So I'm writing pages of notes. I am, so Jeffrey asked most of the question. I asked some of them, but it was seriously.

It was an amazing event that I was able to watch with my son. My son was sitting next to me. He's like, is that live? I'm like, yeah, they're happening right now. I was like, what if they fall? I'm like, I don't think they're going to fall. I don't think. They got this.

He had a rope on. He was fine. He just going to swing around a little bit. What's going to happen? Did they show on the network towards the end where I reached to the back and I said, should I take this thing off and actually unclipped my harness? Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yeah, I wasn't sure if they did or not. But I actually undid the Caribbean. I'm like, uh, you know, the problem is I would lose my. contract with ABC, which is what pays my bills and it's for me to raise a family. I understand, Dave. Much as I wanted to, and I can tell you, I practiced that more than anything, and it's true in practice, with taking the feather off.

Because, to be honest, the concern is if I think it's twisted or tangled up, I don't want anything to do with it. I want it out of there. So, again, it's always a challenge, though, whether you want to dance with the devil, and that's an issue with the network, especially that's owned by Disney, to pull that tether off and probably be a bad thing for my future, at least with that.

Yeah, no kidding. Nick, thank you so much. Safe travels to Calgary and the rest of your performing destinations. I went to Nick Willenda.com, and it flies me up to highwirelive.com. So you can go to Nickwellenda.com or highwirelive.com. Thank you so much.

I appreciate it. If you have any huge events, like a pre-and-post volcano, I would love to talk to you. Oh, my gosh. we have to set that up. Thank you, Nick. I appreciate it. Appreciate it.

All right. Bye, my guys.