Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Ep 409 | Fat Pile Friday - Eating Contest EDITION | Guest: George Shea

Episode Date: July 3, 2020

Nathan’s Famous will conduct the 2020 Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest in Coney Island on Saturday, July 4, 2020. The annual contest, an American holiday tradition that traditionally has been held on the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues for generations, will take place in a private location with COVID-19 safety measures in place. It is one of the first major [televised] post-COVID competitive events to be held in the United States. The event will feature 10-minute competitions for leading male and female eaters, including Joey Chestnut of San Jose, CA, and Miki Sudo of Torrington, CT. Twelve-time champion Chestnut holds the world record of 74 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. Sudo, whose all-time best is 41 hot dogs and buns, has won the contest six times. The women’s world record is 45 Nathan’s Famous hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. This year, the contest -- which features an annual donation of 100,000 Nathan’s Famous hot dogs to Food Bank for New York City -- will be dedicated to raising funds for food banks and to raising awareness of food bank needs. Major League Eating and individual eaters will make donations to food banks and use the contest as a platform to highlight the work of these organizations. The contest also will be used as a platform to honor essential workers in New York City, many of whom have not received recognition for their efforts. On a typical July 4, thousands have made the pilgrimage to Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island to watch the event in person. While this is not possible this year, ESPN will air its 12 noon ET telecast of the contest, which routinely draws an audience of millions. Each of the contests will include five eaters, rather than the usual 15, to allow for social distancing. According to Major League Eating ("MLE") archives, the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest has occurred each July 4th in Coney Island, NY, since 1916, the year Nathan Handwerker opened the legendary restaurant. MLE, the governing body of all stomach-centric sport, sanctions the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Circuit and ensures the contests are judged professionally and that safety standards are in place at each event.  This Week Sponsor: Get your life back with Relief Factor and its 3-Week Quick Start for only $19.95. If you are in pain, what have you got to lose? Go to https://www.relieffactor.com Subscribe on YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get no frills delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for $2.50 a month. Learn more at pceexpress.ca. And now a Blaze Media podcast. Hello, and welcome to Chewing the Fat Friday, July 3rd, 2020, for those of you listening live. Today I just wanted to give you a quick recap of an interview I did a couple weeks ago or a week or so ago with George Shea. The man who is the leader and founder of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, which is going to take place July 4th, 2020, tomorrow, for those of you listening live.

And yes, it's not canceled, even with the pandemic, but they do have some pandemic mandate rules that they have to follow. and they're doing it in a secret location. But you can still watch it on ESPN as usual. He also is the man who started MLE, the Major League eating. And he's a fascinating guy. I hope to talk to him sometime next week and talk to him about post-2020 hot dog eating contest. But give a listen. And he's an interesting guy.

And have a great 4th of July 2020. And if you're listening to this after July 4th, 2020, just know that George Shea is a great guy. And I hope that you had a great Independence Day holiday this year. So things are getting canceled all over America. And we talked about it, you know, at nauseam, about if you are planning on an event that you were used to going to and used to loving, plan on not going.

because it's been canceled. Well, we've been proven wrong because the hot dog eating contest, extraordinary of July 4th, the Nathan's hot dog eating contest, I believe, is ongoing in 2020, despite the canceled culture of events. And George Shea,

the man who is the inventor of the Nathan's hot dog eating contest, the man who is the inventor of it, all, MLE, all of it, joins us here on Chewing the Fat. Welcome, sir. How are you? I'm doing very well and thank you for having me. Absolutely. So the event is happening? We are going to conduct the Nathan's famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at high noon in Coney Island, as it has been for generations and generations. You can cancel Thanksgiving. You can cancel anything, but you cannot cancel the Fourth of July.

That is awesome. So it is in Coney Island. Now, I thought I read where it is at some secret bunker location. It is going to be in a secret undisclosed location because we are concerned, and specifically the city is very concerned that a crowd will form to see Joey enter the arena, as it were. And so we have to be, we have to be secret. So, and it's being, and it's being broadcast on ESPN, correct? Yeah, it'd be live on ESPN. I'm not sure if it's ESPN proper ESPN 2, but yeah, it'll be on ESPN and it'll re-air that day.

Well, I'm almost willing to bet that it will be on the major ESPN because they are dying for content. So I'm willing to bet that, although, you know, like you say, it's possible that it could be on one of the other ESPN entities. So let me ask you. The first question I have for you is, how are the hot dog eating contestants going to eat their hot dogs with a mask on, George? They are not. They are going to be separated six feet from each other. And I believe we're going to have plexiglass dividers on top of that. Wow.

And they are going to eat mask-free. There is a question, of course, how am I going to yell and scream and call down the heavens with a mask on? And that has yet to be determined. Frankly, I don't want to wear a mask. I wonder if I have to. So I have to check that out. I don't, I mean, if you're, the rules usually, if it's the, you know, special mask mandate from most of the, from most of the cities and counties, if you have to wear a mask if there isn't a six foot divide between you and other humans. So I think you'll be good.

Yeah, I'm going to stand back seven feet and go big. There you go. You'll be good. So, George, let me tell you. I mean, I am a fan of you and your ideas and your genius plan of making, you know, bringing this together. How many years ago now? So the first one I ever went to was in 1988 when it was really a very, very small event. And I took over in 91. So, you know, 30 plus years. Wow. That's incredible. And, you know, while I've said for years and years and years, you know, I'm a fan of the speed. eating contest. I'm more of a Kenya eater, a distance eater. You know, the speed eating, I can't really keep up. But the distance eating, I'm good. I've been good with that my entire life.

Day in, day out. Overweight. Yes, absolutely. So when you started all this, did you ever really imagine how huge it was going to become? Absolutely not. And you know, it's funny. There was never a time when there was like a business plan and a plan of action. There really wasn't. We always just did what we thought was funny, you know, and if something started, you know, we'd just do it. And, you know, my brother joined me in 97 and my partner, Dave Baer, both of whom are really very funny, very smart guys and really much better businessmen than I am.

And they, you know, but it was always driven by like what's funny. And so, you know, every time that it has increased in stature and importance, it kind of just, it blows me away because I'm sort of still back when, you know, you know, we were developing the rivalry with Japan. You know, my mind goes all the way back to that. But, you know, the one thing that I have accepted and that I certainly rely on is this massive crowd on the 4th of July, which we're not going to have this year. That's going to be a big difference to the eaters as well.

No doubt. No doubt. Because the, I believe that this is. the current thinking, that the area will be temperature control. So there will be AC and that it will probably be cooler, probably. Right. So I don't know. But it is anticipated that it will be cooler than outside.

Right. And the hot dogs may be in a slightly better condition because they're not out in the hot sun, right, the buns and stuff. But I wonder, I don't believe those sort of more favorable environmental circumstances. would offset the loss of the crowd. I think they're going to be, it's going to be, and I will be screaming,

I guarantee it, but I think they lose something without that crowd. Yeah. Oh, they definitely will. I would say that, you know, what's the record?

74? 74. For males? Yeah. I'm sorry, I don't want to, I hate to distinguish between men and women,

but they are different. So the males are 74. I mean, that's the record. I would almost make a bet that you're not going to hit that this year, right? You know, it's so hard for me to tell. I'm guessing you're right.

If I had the handicap it, it would be lower. But I really just don't know. You know, I just truly don't know. And Joey Chestnut is such a champion that it's just, it's hard to ever. And that's who we're thinking, honestly, would be in that number. It's hard to ever really count him out or say, you know, I just don't know. Well, now, George, let's be honest.

Even without a crowd there, you're going to have, I don't want to get you in trouble with any of the municipalities or your special bunker eating contestant building. But, I mean, there's going to be maybe a few people

sneak in, you know, up in the rafters, obviously a social distance away from the contestants, maybe doing a little yelling. And then, you know, you mentioned that you, of course, will be doing your usual

George Shea yelling. In fact, perhaps even just for chewing the fat, you know, just you and me hanging out. You know, you give us an idea of perhaps what you're going to be yelling. Okay, listen, this is, this is highly secret. One sec. I just have to, I'm literally, you'd be, you would be ashamed at how late I am on getting this done. but I've had so much to do and it's been so, you know, the stressful, but I was working yesterday on a few intros,

and I'm not going to do it full voice, but I will tell you, if that's what you're asking. Absolutely, yes, I am. Yes, I am asking that, Jordan. No, this is raw. You can't hold me to this, but this is what I'm going to do, something like this from Mickey Sudo,

who is the female champion of the world 41 Hot Dogs and Bun in um in uh ten minutes yeah and it'd be something like this in nature dominance is beauty sympathy is corruption that spills from the fallen to darken the soil with disgrace a warrior's love is on yielding control in the cause of triumph to negate every achievement of her rival to erase their legacy to rip hope from their torso until they are sterile and barren of purpose, et cetera. That's awesome. That's awesome. I'm going to heavy on that.

I haven't really figured out Joey. You know, the whole thing with Joey is he's such a, you know, like in a sense, he is a, he is the vessel of America. He is the, he's a mirror of America. So in today's environment, I almost feel, and what I've been working on is that we are, you know, and me, you're right, me in particular and everybody, I really have taken a beating, you know, and it's not just being inside for three months. It's, it's economic. It's like, you know, it's like looking toward the future. I'm 55. These were my big earning years.

I took a dent. I'm going to take a dent this year, right? A beating. And then, you know, I will be back. Everybody will be back. But right now, it's like you feel beaten. And so that's where I'm going with Joey is, yes, you know, you are, you have taken a pipe, a beating with a pipe, but you are going to come back.

I will come back. There is only one way and it's Joey and it's forward and it's onward. Like that's, that's where I'm going with Joey, but I haven't got it figured out yet. So I'm and and this is just a you know thought off the top of my head. I'm guessing that it'll be a little bit louder. I'm going to go. When I go, it will be full voice.

But I just don't, I'm in my backyard and I worry my neighbors will think I've lost my mind if I go big. Oh, the heck with them. Let them call the cops on you. So normally now, I mean, you had to have, I mean,

you almost, we should have had you do it at Mercury Studios in Irving, Texas because we go, know, a 10,000 square feet studio you could use. I mean, with you, with, how many contestants are going to be there? Because normally there's quite a few to be a part of the contest. Have you whittled it down a little bit? Yeah, in fact, we have.

And, you know, it's funny. It's five and five. But what's funny is we thought there was a moment when New York City just wouldn't let us do it even if we did it in private. I bet. If we didn't, even if we adhered to all the sort of as of right rules, we worried and we thought of going to Texas, you know, and because we thought Texas or Florida would let us do it. Heck, yeah. It would be the perfect place to go. So literally, that was in our thinking.

But what we were going to do because of the reduced size and, you know, the restrictions, we're going to have five women and probably five or six men. they'll come up separately, right? The women will come up first, then they will leave, and then we'll do the men. There will be media, but I don't know how many. We may only have 20 or 25 total individuals allowed into the space, in which case I probably have 15 all in, you know, me, Nathan's, the Eaters, etc. So we would have to have only 10 members of the media. Usually we have 50 to 60.

How do I do that? So these are all things that we have to figure out. And frankly, it's like everything in these times, as I was saying, it's so much uncertainty. It's really hard to get a hard and fast answer on anything. Well, I would love to sit down and talk to you in private about some ideas I have about that. But I'll save that for another time. I'm really looking forward to the event, that's for sure, as always.

and I hope that it still has that feel. I know that's what you're attempting to do, but I really hope that it still has that feel. And if nothing else, right, you've got the, you'll have the COVID-19 hot dog eating contest year to look back on, right? There's no doubt. I will say this.

For me, there is no difference. I love that crowd, right? I love that stage. For me, there is no difference. If there are four people in the food court of a mall somewhere, I'm going 100%. The volume will be 100. That's where I'm going this year.

I'll be there. And I think Joey will too. Your questions, like so, but what will happen anyway? What are the circumstantial changes that will happen? I don't know. But the energy will be there. That's awesome. So how is everything, I mean, you talk about taking a hit.

I mean, MLE, Major League eating, has been, I mean, you aren't really doing any contests, are you? No, I mean, this is what I'm saying. I don't say in a, you know, woe is me way or in a downbeat way, but I really think that nationally, you know, it's very interesting. There are folks whose environment has not been changed, right? So they had to be home for three months and, you know, you can't go to a restaurant. But they're still full salary.

They never missed a beat or they're in a situation where it's just not an issue. And for those people, I think what they're looking at this is like, holy cow, this is some crazy year, right? But that is not the case. If you lost your job, you worked at a restaurant, you haven't worked in three months, you're on unemployment, you have a small business, whatever it is, then you're kind of going like, this is catastrophic. This is not a phenomenon. No kidding. This is a catastrophe, right? And that's really, that's what I was trying to say is that, like, I think that a lot of people don't understand that.

And I think there are many, many people who, you know, are going through a difficult period. And certainly, MLE, we will be fine. But MLE went from 55 events to one, right? That's that. That's that, you know. And we will be back next year. We've had, by the way, a ton of inquiries. Really funny, like people calling up going, I want to do an event.

I'm going, this year. And they go, well, no, next year. This year, you know, I think you could only honestly do it like in Florida, Texas. But no, we've had a lot of inquiries. A lot of people saw that we're doing the contest. They're like, rock on. I'm going to do that. We're going to do it.

So, like, you know, next year, 21 is going to be a thing. But, you know, I enjoy being out there on the road doing all these events getting ready. And I just don't have that. You know, there's a business element to it. But there's also a personal element. Like, it's the, just the process of it is very fun. And it's just, I got to tell you, I mean, one of the reasons that I'm looking forward to it is that, you know, it does make it seem like it's starting to get back to some kind of

normal, right? All these events have been canceled. And really for, for you guys, there are mirrored events around the country, right, that, you know, our hot dog eating contest from, you know, Bill's hot dog stand in Montana or wherever it is. And those contests are, you know, few and far between, I'd be interested to see if any of those take place. So, I mean, it really does matter that this is taking place. I know that sounds weird and it's a hot dog eating contest and it's major league eating. I got it. But it does make you feel like we're starting to get back to even the new normal.

And I love it, George. Thank you. Yeah. No, and you know what? It's the absurdity of this contest is unavoidable, right? You know one would ever say anything different. But there is an element to it where people, people really do enjoy it as silly as it is, and it's part of people's tradition.

So that's why we never intended to quit, but I will tell you, it took a long time to figure it out. I bet. So screw your neighbors. Give me one holler, and then we're out. Okay, I'm going to do, I will do, I will do joys from last year or the year before, all right? But if I get arrested, that's true. It's all me. I got it.

I got to cover it. All right, so into the red here. In a world of nothing, of barren hills and cracked earth and once proud oceans drain to sand, there will still be a monument to our existence, bleached by the sun perhaps and blunted by time but everlasting. For this man represents all that is eternal in the human spirit, the courage to go on when all others fail or turn away, the strength to recognize the value of freedom and pay the cost, no matter how great.

Awesome. Through the curtain. One sec. I forgot it. Through the curtain of the Aurora, a comet blazes to herald his arrival, and his victories shall be transcribed into every language known to history, including Klingon. Okay, that was 50%. That wasn't 100%.

Well, the honor of the old gods and the new gods, George. Thank you very much, George Jay, from Nathan's hot dog eating contest. 20. Thank you so much, man. I appreciate it. Thank you. Good luck. I told you was a great guy. Thanks for listening to Chewing the Fat. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast, Chewing the Fat, on whatever little platform warms the cockles of your heart. Okay? So, you know, whether it be, I don't know, just I'll pull one out of my hat, Spotify or iTunes. Subscribe to Chewing the Fat with yours, truly, Jeff Fisher. And just enjoy. the daily podcast and the things that we try to do.

And you know, if you're in the subscribing mood, you might as well subscribe to my YouTube channel as well, Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher. I mean, it's free. So you may as well go ahead and do it. Right? Right. That's what I thought.

Thanks for listening to Chewing the Fat. It was the night before the gathering and all through the house. The host wrapped a cozy cashmere throw from homesense for their spouse. Kids toys for $6.99 under the tree. And crystal glasses for just $14.99 for their brother Lee. A baking dish made in Portugal for Tom and Sue. And a nice $5.99 candle. Perfectly priced just for you.

Happy holidays to all. And to all a good price. Home sense. Endless presents perfectly priced.