Do Go On - 174 - Andre The Giant

Episode Date: February 20, 2019

He was a man who "transcended wrestling", a literal giant among men... And this week he is our topic! It's Andre the Giant! Hear how he got his start in wrestling and ended up a movie star...We are appearing at the 2019 Koh Samui Podcast Festival. It's Do Go On, live on a tropical beach! Ticket details:https://dogoonpod.com/event/koh-samui-international-podcast-festival/More Koh Samui event details and links to discounted accommodation: http://littledumdumclub.com/kohsamui/ADELAIDE: Live show on March 10...https://www.trybooking.com/BABRYMELBOURNE COMEDY FESTIVAL, four shows:https://www.trybooking.com/ZYYPSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPodSubmit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] Book tickets to Matt's stand up show (in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne) with the early bird discount code: dogoon via mattstewartcomedy.com/gigs  Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://omny.fm/shows/bookcheatPrime Mates: https://omny.fm/shows/prime-mates Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasREFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_the_Gianthttp://www.directexpose.com/behind-andre-the-giant/https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/andre-the-gianthttps://www.grunge.com/83278/untold-truth-ric-flair/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98NqYMnZgL8 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amarna, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there.

Canada, we are visiting you in September this year. If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates.

Hey, Dugunas, Dave here dropping in at the start of the episode to make a very exciting announcement. Do go on, are hitting the road again and are doing some more live podcasts overseas, this time in Asia. Or as that would say, Asia. We are now officially part of the 2019 Kosamui International. podcast festival. Now, what the heck does that mean? Well, to explain, the Kosovoi International Podcast Festival is a pod festival on a tropical island in Thailand, Kosovoi, attended entirely by podcast listeners from other countries.

We'll be joining Comedy Podcast and Friends, The Little Dumb Dumb Club for five nights of comedy podcasts, stand-up comedy and more surprises from June 11 to June 16. Four months, baby, get pack in. It's all staged at one resort, the Ozo Chuang Samui, a fantastic hotel on the beach where they build a stage on the beach for the podcasts. So we will literally be doing Do Go On live from a tropical beach. Man, I'm excited. I will be holding a pinacolada at all times. The Ozo Chuang Samui offers a great deal for accommodation for guests of the podcast festival who are staying for five nights or more. if you book directly through them at OzoHotels.com slash Chuang dash Samui and use the code word podcast 19.

This gets you a big discount on an awesome resort that hosts a live comedy on the beach at sunset. I say that again. Wow. You'll also need to separately purchase a ticket to the festival if you want to come along. All the details and the links and all that stuff I just said are at do go onpod.com under the events tab and I've included direct links in the description of this episode. If you want to get clicking away, seriously, check out the Ozo-Chuang Samui website, and you'll see the resort and go, yeah, I want to go there. This is the third year the festival has run, and it's attracted hundreds and hundreds of people from Australia, the United States, the UK, Switzerland, China, all over the place people have gone. And I've actually had a cheeky look at our stats, and we actually have a few listeners in Thailand.

So maybe you guys will become the first locals to ever attend the festival. So just to recap, the Kosomuwi International Podcast Festival is from June 11 to 16. It's on in the heart of the Australian winter. So if you want to get away to an island paradise and hang out with us and a bunch of other podcast listeners on the beach, head to do-go-onpod.com. And get in contact with us if you have any questions. Man, we are excited. We hope to see you in Thailand.

Now on with the show. Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dave Warnocki, and I'm here with just... Perkins and Matt Stewart. Oh, hello. We're doing a podcast now. Yeah, I didn't give you enough to know. Sorry about that.

I thought we were getting manny petties and best friend massages. Yeah, we've got the portable recorder out. Yes. I thought we're having a little best friend Pamper Day. I've got Aaron working my toes. Aaron. Christina on both of my hands. Well, don't Christina, both hands.

Yep. Good job. One at a time. Is she the masseuse or the manny pettie man? She's very qualified. overly qualified. Yeah, which one's which. Manny is the masseuse.

Is the child. And petty, I think she's getting the drinks. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, Mani is the child on Fudd and Family. True. What are we talking about? What's happened?

I just said, it's the child. And then Matt kept moving and I'm like, if I don't explain this, it's going to sound really strange. Mani, that's the child. Someone out there would be like, what's happened today? Yeah, why is he? Is he? okay.

I am, but I need to explain. Is no. But great to be pampered. Yeah, we need, we deserved it. I don't even notice them in here. I thought we were going to do a train where someone was the front one and then someone was the middle and then someone was at the back. You don't want to be the back one.

Oh, unless you're completing a circle and I don't think three makes a circle. We don't have enough. Yeah. That'd be a triangle. That would be. What shapes this, Dave? Triangle. Triangle.

Very good part. Such good stuff. Now, before we get into the episode, we should tell you, good people of Adelaide. We are coming to your fine city next month. Just a couple of weekends now. March 10th, we'll be there hanging out, doing a live show. Sunday afternoon, going to be a great time.

Sipping on a red at the national wine centre. Nothing I was going to say local about that place. Well, they're just so close to the Barrosa, with the famous big bodied reds. You know? Strawberry notes. Oaky. The infamous Penfold's Grange.

Oaky. Oaky. I'd describe it that way. Strawberry notes. I used to work in a bottle shop and I sold a couple of them and they did look oaky. Never got to try one in terms of taste, but I did get to touch one and it felt oaky. Well, glassy. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. But sometimes a well-treated oak. can feel like glass. Yeah. If you smooth that baby down enough, sand it down to a nub. Yeah. Delicious nub.

And then throw that out and put the wine in a glass bottle. Yeah. Then... That's how it'll feel. That's how it'll feel. That's how it works. That's how it works. That's how he works.

We can try Gary's nub at the venue. That's what we're talking about at the National Wine Center in Adelaide on Sunday March 10. And also in that same venue for even more time. A couple of hours. weeks worth. Oh yes, I'm there doing the bone dry show, which in part talks about how I didn't drink alcohol for the majority of the year. So you're going to cut loose? Yes. With the nub. I've already had one beer since I've been back on it. And holy moly. How was it? It felt, it felt and tasted good. Did your taste buds just explode? Yeah, it really did. It was just a, it was kind of a,

what I was told was a subtle pale ale. And it felt big to me. It was it, do you make the noise that my dad makes every time he takes a sip of his Bundy and Coke, his first Bundy and Coke of the evening. He does this, he takes a sip and he goes, oh, you know? Well, I don't, I don't think so. That's a John specific noise. Interesting. Johnny P can only make that. And obviously, Jesse P.

Only when mimicking. Yeah. I did it. I take a sip of a drink, go, whee-hm! I do that for a bit. I do a little dance or I wiggle. Yep. And, uh...

Great on a first date, you are. I bring the chinks cut out What I say is And they go check please I normally say Mm hmm Enjoying this responsibly Yeah

That's what I say in case any kids are around Yeah good Every time Every sip Every time Mannie you never know where manny's going to be Nippin at your heels Manny is a child Yeah

Context It was provided Man is a kid You know he's been a good kid of mine. What a way to find out, Bob? He had a kid called Manny. Called Manny.

I know, I didn't. Short for Manuel. Manfred. Oh, Manfred. Great name. Great man. Well done. He's a good boy.

He's a dog. What? No, he's just a good boy. You got a fur baby? Or you got a skin dog. Skin dog. That's an Alastair Trombi Birtchal bit. Is it?

I think it is. I think he said it to, anyway, can you edit that out? That's doable. Oh, that's doable. One of the best. All right, let's crack in, crack on with the show. Crack in and on and around. And the one that's cracking in.

The one that's cracking in the most this week is you, Jess, because it is your turn to report on a topic. Yep. This is what we do here. We're taking in turns. Often the topic is suggested by a listener. Matt and I have no idea what you're going to tell us all about. Pronounce matinee.

And this has been suggested. by many listeners. And my question to you is... Who was the tallest cast member... Oh, Larry Bird. On the 1987 film, The Princess Bride. Andre the Giant? Yes.

Andre the Giant, we hardly knew you. Really? This is a big topic. Pun intended? No. No, pun king, losing your edge. Come on, mate. I really thought you were going to ask the tall cast member on Space Jam, but not to be. And who would that have been one of the monsters?

Oh, yeah, I was hoping for Larry Bird, but it was probably someone else, to be honest. What a tall people in that movie. That's a little known fact. Space Jam had a lot of tall actors. Really? You hear all about that on our Space Jam episode. Yes, we've done an episode on Space Jam. Yeah.

We're great. But Andre the Giant, that's very exciting. Yes. So he's been suggested by lots of people. and I put it to our Patreon to vote on and it was a landslide. Were they all big people? Yeah, was it, which giant actor

would you like to hear a report on? No, this one was funnily enough. It wasn't that question. This one was actually just a lucky dip and I just, I blindly picked out of the hat. If you're going to do a lucky dip, you're going to pick out someone big, aren't you? Because they're taking more space in the box.

Yeah, so that does make sense that he's in there. I don't have any explanation with the others. You wouldn't have picked up an ant or something. What are the odds of you picking an ant out of a lucky dip. Good luck, Adamant. Yeah. Like an atom. Yeah, atomant.

Or a grain of sand. Yeah. Imagine, you should do a report on a grain of sand one day. I haven't even done this one and you're already telling you what to do. I reckon you've always got to look ahead. Don't get bogged down in the present. No, you're right. I'm sick of all this mindfulness.

Let's look forward all the time. Never look back. Never look down. Always look out. The present sucks. Always look out because the future sucks. The past generally sucks. The present's average.

Yeah, that's why they call it a gift that you hate and you want to return. Get out of here, time. Yeah. I hate you. I hope you kept your receipt. It's junk. I want a refund for this time. Time.

Current time. All right. So this has been suggesting. by, you're going to love this so much. Luigi Delos Rays. Are you not done yet? That's Luigi's name.

Oh, I thought it was Delos Rays, Carlos Amigo. One or two, a three, four. He's, I'm pretty sure, a Patreon who we recently, he dubbed himself, second of Mario. No, the green Mario. That's right, because he lent into it. I love that, lean in.

Which we love. Go with it. It's also been suggested by Braden Thompson. Mackenzie Fraser, Lisa Honeyford. Mackenzie Fraser, phrasing the bar. Good, and Kevin Packrad as well. He is, I reckon he must have had more topics get up than anyone else. Yeah, he's had a few, but he makes good suggestions.

And popular ones, maybe that's it, you know, because it's in the hat more popular vote. More likely to get. He's your sort of, he's your populist politician. Yeah. He's your, hey, I'll get a deep friar in the canteen kind of. of year 12 candidates. They walk straight off stage and the teachers like, you know, we can't do that.

We probably can, but we won't, Kevin. Okay. Yeah, miss, all right. Yeah, we'll see you in SRC meeting and we'll discuss further. I'm sure I've told you about the guy at my high school. When I was in year seven, he said, all he promised was, if I, if you vote me as school captain, I'll grow an afro. He won.

and he grew a really sweet Afro. Oh, that's great. Great campaign. So there were probably other people, like, really qualified, like, oh, I love, you know, I love the community. I want to do all this kind of stuff. He's like, yeah, I'll get an Afro. Cool.

And everyone was like, this guy rolls. And he did it, though. I love that he followed through. So many politicians don't. And so many schools would have rigged that election so that guy did not want to go. Well, by the time I got to year 12, the teachers just chose.

You weren't a letter vote anymore. Oh. You lost that right, from the Afro. The Afro guy. Because he got home. Rewilled it for everyone. Because he got on. That is good stuff.

All right. Do you want to know about Andre the Giant? I'd love to know. I'd love to. Okay. Seriously. I'm a wrestling fan. Well.

I forget he's a wrestler and actor. He's a double threat. He's the modern day rock from the past. Yeah. It's a real giant of his field. The modern day rock, who's still quite active. Yes. Of the past.

Oh, you meant the rock? Yes. Right. I thought you just meant a rock. He's a rock. A rock from Beastie Boys. Oh, boy. Okay, so.

That's Ad Rock. That's Ad Rock. Boris and Marianne Ruzimov migrated to France, settling in Moli Ann, which is around an hour out of Paris. Boris was originally Bulgarian and Marianne was Polish and in May of 1946 they had a son named Andre. He was one of five kids and the family spent a lot of time on Boris's farm as he was growing up and I read a few different ages

but somewhere between the age of 12 and 15 was when Andre started to really grow. Right, so it was not like a giant baby. No, no, no, pretty like an average size kid. So there's a chance for me yet to become a giant. Are you past 15? Well, in some ways. Not kilos. Yeah, that's right.

Anytime now. Yeah, you're getting there, buddy. Yeah, so some report said by the age of like 12, he was already six foot tall. Others said, I'm going to trust his family because there's interview with his brother saying when he was about 15, he started to really grow and grow very rapidly. And his mother at one point, yeah, she was worried he wouldn't stop.

He can't be stopped. He's just gone. But yeah, apparently he'd reached 6'4 foot 3 or 191 centimetres and a weight of 94 kilos or 208 pounds by the age of 12. Whoa. So that's a very tall 12 year old. Yeah. And also makes his brother seem like he's not paying much attention.

He's like three years later. He goes, whoa, he's shut up. Yeah. Have you had a buddy look at your brother? Who is this? Who is this? Is this big guy? Heads through the ceiling in the living room?

Yeah. Have you spoken to your brother in three years? No, but I've got some bullies I'd like him to talk to you. I don't think I could tell you much about my brother's teen years, to be honest. But I was seven years behind. I was too busy. I had Barbies to attend to. Too busy catching up.

Like barbecues. Yeah, it was a real social butterfly. Yeah, right. I love to host. I love to host. Flipping burgers at age six. Yeah, I love just like topping up people's drinks, having half conversations with them. and then excusing myself to go check on the potato salad.

Good to see. We should catch up again soon. Let's do this again. Hang on. I'm just going to check on dad on the barbecue. You know what he's like. Everything's always charcoal. It really is.

Anyway. My dad too. So he's very tall at a very young age. He was a pretty good student, but he dropped out of school in eighth grade because he didn't think a high school education was necessary for someone doing farm labour. That's what he was basically going to be doing.

I'm a giant. I don't need to be here. I'm a giant. According to his brother. I'm a giant in the field. field. That's when he was doing the farm work. Ah, he's a giant in the field.

Yeah, but it's also, that's like a term people use about people who are good at, you know, say mathematics. Oh, so you were sort of doing like a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of aub. Oh. Is that an onton? Or does it have to be sexual to be an entend? I believe it's a pun. Oh, I don't know about that. What are you doing a pun?

A bit of wordplay, sure. Well, in a way. In a way puns are the ultimate wordplay. That's right, ultimate. And you're a giant in the field of puns. It is really good to learn about puns from you too, because you got a big knowledge on them. Hey, we're not pun royalty like you.

I'm still, I'm learning what they mean. Dave's a little pun prince. Thank you. I'm a little pun princess. We love it. You're our pun king. We bow down all over to me. I'm the punk king.

That's right. I'm a bad. Stop hating your role as pun king. much. Let me come up with a great pun before the end of the episode. All right, cool. I'm sure you'll naturally will. Can you actually, because I generally don't fully know what it means, can you distill

the definition of pun? It is. It's essentially a play on words. Play on words. Okay. I'll do one of them. I do them sometimes. You do do them all the time.

All the time is a stretch. You play with words constantly. That's your art. Don't be ashamed of that. Yeah, I've got some alphabet blocks at home. And you play with them. You love it. That's how he learns.

I built a word the other day. Bar. It's what the sheep says. How many A's did you put in? Seven. Good. You had seven A's in that alphabet? Uh-huh.

Do you buy seven sets of the alphabet? Well, I don't know what an A looks like. I just put seven blocks together. Assume that A's. Can you count to seven? Yeah. One, seven. Okay.

Done. Two. He put two down. Okay. Anyway, so, yeah, he's dropped out of school because he's like, oh, I'm just going to be a labourer. According to his brother Jacques, he could perform the work of three men on the farm. He's so strong.

Oh, what an artist. Performing. But what they didn't mention, it wasn't strength-based work that he could do three of. He was able to milk three cows at once. Yeah. He had really big gaps between his fingers, one hand. one hand. Yep.

Just bang, bang, like this. Yep. They also had tiny cows. Why is he spitting on a cow? That's the process. Don't question the process, Dave. You're a city kid. I know, I'm not a man of the field.

You don't know anything about cows. Or milk in the country. Come on, mate. I've been in the country for the first five years of my life. The most formative in farming. Those are the big farming years. Yeah. that, you're useless on a farm.

Yep. So, Andre started playing soccer when he was about 11 years old. He was quite an active kid. He said he played for four or five years before he changed to playing rugby instead. And as part of his rugby, imagine him coming at you on a rugby field, far out. While he was sort of training, as part of his rugby training, he'd go to the gym to work out where he met a lot of men who were training and they were wrestlers. And he used to kind of train with the wrestlers.

and he befriended a lot of them. And one night, one of the wrestlers was injured or sick, and Andre was asked to fill in. And that's kind of how the whole thing started. Right. They're like, we need a really big kid. Yeah. He's like, I don't know how to wrestle.

And they were like, wait a do, come and give it a try. And so he did. And at the age of 18, he moved to Paris and he was taught professional wrestling by a local promoter who recognized the earning potential

of a man of Andre's size. He was like, this guy's going to. make us some cash. He trained at night and he worked as a mover during the day to pay his living expenses. Right. I want him moving my piano. On his own.

Yeah. Just picks it up. Oh, so good. Because he's got that deaf touch. Yeah. He's a gentle. Yeah. Gentle giant.

So how tall are we talking to this age? Well, in 1966 at about 20 years old, he was already about 6 foot 9 or 6 foot 10. Wow. He wasn't finished growing yet. I don't think I've ever met anyone that tall. No. What is that in centimetres? Over two.

Over 200. Yeah. Or closing in on to it at least. Spider Everett, he is 201, I think. That's tall. AFL player? NFL, but the tallest ever AFL I think is like 218 centimeters. Wow, it's huge.

But Andre's not finished growing yet. And he was around 380 pounds for 170 kilos. And this is when he's 20. And I've seen this footage of him training and he's like, obviously very tall but he's really skinny. Like he's really slim. He's not finished growing yet. So the man that you're imagining,

it's just like a third of the size. He's tiny. Wow. Yeah. So originally when he started wrestling, he was billed as Jean Féri, which was based on a French folk hero. And he began wrestling in Paris and surrounding areas.

And the character's backstory. because you know how they all have backstories in wrestling. He was a lumberjack. Yeah. Who was discovered in the woods, lumberjacken. And he would lumber. What does that mean? Lumberjack.

Jerking off a tree. Yeah. Yeah. On the jacking it. Oh, right. Gotcha. And he would just lumberjack by day. Was that a pun?

Ressled by night. Essentially, yes. I did it. Well done. Thank you. Good job. Feels good, man. Workplay.

You feel alive? Yeah. Yeah. Good for you. You deserve this. I really don't think I understood what a pun was. Which is weird because you're the king of them. Yeah.

That is confusing. A guy called Frank Valios, who was a wrestler and promoter from Canada, met Andre very early on in his wrestling career around this time in 1969. And he became his advisor and business manager. And Andre began making a name for himself wrestling in the UK, Germany, here in Australia, New Zealand and Africa. He's traveling all over the world. Right, even as an young man. Yeah. He made his Japanese debut in 1970.

He was billed then as Monster Ruzimov. He went by lots of different names at different times. So yeah, he's the monster in Japan. In 1974, he wrestled for the first time in North America, where he made his debut in Canada. And he was advertised as being 7'4, 390 pounds, and the giant from the French Alps. because it had to be somewhere that

like Northern American audiences could like if you just say he's from Moliere and they'd be like where is that? What does that mean? So they said the French Alps. Just he's a giant from the Alps and they're like, ooh, so interesting and mystical. Their company who were putting on the shows,

they were called Grand Prix Wrestling and they were selling out shows five nights a week all over the country. People are paying a lot of money to come and see him. I watched this amazing documentary that came out towards the end of last year called Andre the Giant. I love that. Simple.

Is that all part of the title? Yeah, it's called Andre the Giant. I love that simple. Is that like a quote from him or? No. Oh, okay. It's a quote from me. Oh.

They consulted me on it. Wow. It's called Andre the Giant. And that was your favorite, the one that you consulted on. Seems a bit like. What? It's just a bit cocky. Bit up yourself, really.

How so? What? What? What? Who? You? Me? Yeah.

What? Ma'am. Oh. Dave's furious. You were looking at Dave back up there and he was not interested in helping you. No, I was looking at Dave to see what he was up to and he just looked angry. Sorry, I think I got something in my eye. Is it rage?

Nothing. Yeah, yeah. Wow. Can't get it out. Is it pure, unadulterated rage? Simple. I have that effect. Anyway, so there's this doco that I watch.

and it's excellent. It was HBO, you know. It's great television. And there was a guy named David Shoemaker, who was a wrestling historian. That's his job. So cool. He made the comment that wrestling was,

wrestling comes out of circus side shows. And in a lot of way, Andre was a side show spectacle. This is a quote from him. He said, anybody would pay a quarter to line up to see him, but you don't go back a second or a third time. So at a certain point, the move with a wrestler like Andre is to move on,

to migrate to a different territory, to try greener pastures. So basically there was like, there'd be a huge rush of people to come and see this show, but then they've seen it and they don't need to see it again. So he just had to keep moving around. It's interesting. Why is that different to any other wrestler? He hadn't built up a character, a compelling characters yet or something? Maybe it's not so much about the character.

I think people were just interested in the novelty of his size. Right. So once you've seen that, you're like, well, I've seen it. If you go see Stone Cold Steve Austin, you're like, this novelty's never going to wear off. Look, he's got a bald head. Well, he's going to drink beer all day. And he crashes beers. Could watch that again and again.

Again and again. But I've seen the big one. Yeah. I've seen the bigon. You know? So he just starts moving around. And in the 70s in the US, wrestling was very territorial. There was dozens of separate territories running their own programs with their own stars.

and TV stations were more localized. There wasn't national TV like we're used to now. So your audience was only as big as your TV station reached. Right. We touched on this a little bit back in the Montreal Screwjob episode if people do like hearing about wrestling. There's a bit of a crossover here as well. But yeah, so just to recap in case you haven't heard that one,

there was rather than just like big organizations, there was like lots and lots of smaller ones. And while traveling around the States, Andre was billed. There was a few different names. At one stage he was the Polish giant. Because of his mum. I guess.

Andre the giant Frenchman. Because of his. Frenchness. Frenchness. Or just by his actual name. Because of his. Name. Birth certificate.

Birth certificate. The first time he was billed as Andre the giant, though. The name that would stick with him throughout his entire career was in Chicago. Oh, Chicago. Chicago. city. He would circulate through the various territories in the US, performing for six or seven weeks and then move on to the next territory.

He was just travelling around all the time. Vince McMahon, senior, was a powerful figure in wrestling in those days, and he ran the large New York territory. And he heard about Andre, and he met him, and they hit it off. And Vince started booking Andre for his shows. And this is great. There's a guy on the documentary called Dr. Terry Todd. Terry Todd.

He was a journalist at the time. And he heard about Andre and he was fascinated. He wanted to interview him and learn about, quote, what it's like to live in a world that's not made for him. And there's this famous photo of their hands next to each other and the difference is insane because Andres is like easily double the size. And Dr. Todd said that Andre's hands are approximately as wide. as that of a gorilla.

Like he's just the, even just the, like, his fingers. Yeah, I talk of my language. Yeah, I figure, I literally put that in there thinking matter like this. Thank you so much. Because I, yeah, I don't actually see things in human hands. Yeah. If you want to tell me how big someone's hand is, what are we talking, like a mama set, like a tamarin or what would this be, do you reckon?

My hand. Oh, your hand is like a baby bonobo. Yeah, I do have a little baby bonobo hands. I think I've got a large lemans. Paul. Yeah. Yeah. But not Andre.

Yeah, with the sort of clawish hands, Dave. Yes. Look. He's always ready to pounce. Always ready to, and as we, as, you know, listeners to primates would know, lemurs, they like to have stink offs. And Dave is involved in that too.

I'm ready to stink. What's a stink off involved? They sort of, they, um, they pad their hands on their tails, getting sent, and they'll, they'll fight. I'll have stink wars. Cool. I've never lost a stink war.

undefeated. Really? Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it? You're the stinkiest. Yeah, yeah. Congratulations. That's very cool. That's why I's here today.

That's why I spent most Saturday boning on the top of a cactus. As we know, the winners get to do. Oh, fun. On top of a cactus. You could choose anywhere to go. You want to keep up the charade of how much of a badass you are. Yeah.

So you bone on, so you can't even enjoy it. Oh, absolutely not. You're on a cactus. It's all for a show. Yeah. It's like, wrestling in a way. Ah, now I get it.

People like to watch. Okay. In a sort of one-off weird event in 1976, Andre fought professional boxer Chuck Wepner in an unscripted boxer versus wrestler fight. The fight ended when Andre threw Wepner over the top rope and outside the ring and won via a countout.

Just chucked him. And that was unscripted. Unscripted. Just threw him. Whoa. It's pretty wild. And during this time, there were wrestling magazines that chronicled what the various territories of wrestling.

So even if people hadn't seen Andre, they'd heard of him. They might have seen pictures about him on the magazine. And so it sort of built this excitement and this intrigue, and it really helped sell tickets when Andre was coming to town. And word of mouth was huge in this era as well. So you'd hear rumors and stories and be so excited and interested to see them in the flesh. So that's kind of how it kind of built a lot of buzz.

And Hulk Hogan, who by the way, from this documentary, seems like an absolute sweetie. Really? He's so cute. Really? Terry. Terry. His real name is Terry. Do you mean Hulk?

Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan. What name's Terry? He... This makes me laugh. Hey, brother. Hey, Terry. Hi, Terry.

He, look, I've done zero research. on Hulk Hogan. But just based on this documentary, he seemed like a cutie, patootie. I think I want to hear a Hulk Hogan report in the future. Yes. I think that's in the hat. I'm sure it is. But we're not talking about him right now,

but he does come up a bit in this one. I saw him wrestle once. Did you? Real cool. Did you? Did you? By the way, it was my dad when the WWF came down when I was 12. And because my dad had been a fan since he was a kid

and Hulk Hogan's been wrestling that long, we both got to see Hulk Hogan. Oh, that's pretty cool. Was that a nice bonding moment? Yes. What did Hulk Hogan do? Kicked ass. That sounds about right.

That does sound about right. Was he a heel or a face at that stage? Because he's switched around alone. Yeah, no, he was back to being the goodie, back in the red and yellow. He was a villain. He was a heel originally with Andre because Andre was the face. Right. Because you couldn't really defeat Andre to then make him a heel fighting

for the, his title again because like it was never all that believable that people could beat him. Right. So they just kept him on top. Anyway, so Hulk Hogan says this of Andre. He said, this is a place for entertainers, not tough guys. And anyone who thought they were a tough guy, Andre straightened them out real quick. Because he was like, he was a gentle giant, he was a real team player from what his fellow wrestlers say about him. He would sell his opponent, which means he'd go along with their actions and moves reacting as if they'd hurt him.

He'd make them look good. He'd always sell his opponent. But for the most part, the understanding was that while he would sell his opponent, he would always win. So he'd be like, yeah, no, no, you've got a couple of good hits in there. But I'm going to magically come back. But this is all scripted, right? Oh, yeah, it's all sort of planned.

I don't know how meticulously rehearsed and scripted it is, but they definitely all knew what was going to happen. What's the term again, mofo, co-fo? Kay-Fae. Kayfabe. Kayfabe babe. K-fabe babe. Yeah.

I was so proud that I remembered. Did that come up in this report? Do you remember from the Montreal Scruetrop? I just remember from Montreal. It didn't really come up in this one. So basically, if you haven't heard, that means the storyline. And it's kind of like the pretense that it's all real. Yeah, yeah.

So you keep it going even when you're off stage. Yeah. If you bust him in an airport, you're like, you don't want to be seen talking to Hulk Hogan if he's a bad guy. Yeah, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant couldn't be seen at a restaurant having dinner. just as mates. Unless one of them's throwing the table. Someone comes up and goes,

hey, don't you guys hate each other? Damn right. You have to trash the restaurant. And then you send the bills of Vince McMahon Senior and say, sorry, but it was K-Fabe. Sorry. Sorry, babe, K-Fabe, babe. So, yeah, he was a team player.

He took care of his fellow performers. He was very proud that he didn't actually ever hurt his opponents. But there were definitely performers that he didn't like. And he was known to be less of a team player with them. For example, he hated Randy Savage. He just hated him. In real life? Yeah.

Oh. And he hated baby oil. For some reason, he just hated baby oil and Randy Savage used a lot of baby oil. I was going to say, I thought baby oil was the rest of the night. Yeah, me too. No, the oil for babies. Randy Savage was known as macho man. Yes.

We'd cover himself in baby oil. Yeah. What a macho man. And Andre hated him. And he didn't like him and there would be a few times. This is all through Hulk. talking. There was a few times that Randy would sort of be in the ring with Andre and

Hulk Hogan would be watching like, oh man, he's going to kill him because Andre would be like really rough with him. Right. And this isn't, this isn't k-fabe. This is all. Genuinely didn't like him. Right. And same with the Iron Sheik.

He really didn't like the Iron Sheik very much either. I think it was anybody who was really like. Covered in baby oil. Yeah. He didn't like loud mouths. Like anybody who was too showy, which I suppose is all part. I know. It's so weird.

but these two in particular just really good on his nerves. Yeah, and go backstage and be like, hey man, that, how I, I obviously am not like that. But maybe some of them are. Maybe they're the ones he doesn't like, the ones that don't really drop it. Backsad he is genuinely still covered in baby oil. It's like, oh.

There's not a moment that macho man is not covered in baby oil. They're all going to the pub after it. So hang on, my baby oil's dried out. Yeah, well, your actions may be acting, but that baby oil is real and it's all over me. I'm slippery, can't get a grip on anything. I can't get it out of cotton. Yeah.

In all of my shirts. That's right. Unbelievable. There was also another wrestler called Big John Stud. Do you know Big John Stud? I don't think I know Big John Stud. He was about 6'10. He was about 3.50 pounds.

He was another big guy. Andro was still bigger, but this guy was big. Hence the name, Big John Stud. Right. And And Andre didn't like that Big John Stud was also billed as a big guy and he liked being the giant among giants. He was like, it's my thing. He's medium man stud.

Come on. Come on, he's like a mid-star. That seems pretty silly. I know, but he also really didn't like that John would, he would enter the ring by stepping over the top rope, which is what Andre did, because the others sort of obviously go through the middle because they're not seven foot tall.

Yeah, their legs aren't physically big. But Andre would just sort of very easily step over it, and Big John did that too, and Andre didn't like that because it was, like, he didn't respect that it was his thing. That's funny. It's like, hey, you know that thing that I do just because it's easier? And you obviously are in the same boat

because you're a similarly sized me. Well, I don't like it. You hurt your back and go under that road. Come on. It's my thing. You know how I drive a car?

That's me. Now there's all these other people driving cars on the road. That's my thing. No, I eat corn flakes. Me! That's my thing. The only thing I won't do

is cover myself in Babiol. Yeah. That's Rant. Savages thing. Hey, if you want to do that, Big John, go for it. Go for it. Please.

Still his thing. Take that up with Randy Savage. But do not steal my heart. things. So you get it. Put the baby oil on and then just slide in under the ropes. Slipping slide. Slipping slide in.

And then keep going up to the other side. Like a baby seal. All the way out there. Yeah, they all slide. Or penguins. They do it a bit too. Oh, man, it looks so fun when they do that off the ice and sort of jump in. Yeah.

Love that. I love that. And I also like that because I hate sort of waiting into a pool or waiting into the ocean. Just get in. Are you a runner? You running? Yeah, got to. Otherwise, I won't, I just won't make it.

Ripped the band at all. Yeah, I just have to sprint until I fall over or jump into a pool. That's a funny image. That's literally what I do. It's not attractive. Arms and legs everywhere. Yeah, just flailing. Sometimes I don't even get to the water and I fall in over.

A beach day with Jess. Tumbling down the sand. All my friends are like, Oh, she's fun. There she goes again. Off she goes. Oh, it's good fun coming to the beach with Jess. Jess, we're just going to go over here and play some volleyball.

You're good just having a tumble. You're good? Like you're wrapped up in a tower with a bucket and spade hanging out and cobwebs in your hair for some reason? Beach cobwebs. Seaweed. Seawood, okay. That's what they're called. Oh, okay.

So basically, he was gentle and he was very friendly, but he did have a bit of a fiery side as well. And if he didn't like you, you knew. But for the most part, he was very nice. So Big John knew he didn't like it. Oh, yeah, he feared him, but that's okay. Throughout the early to mid-80s, Andre and Big John starred fought all over the world

battling to try to determine who was the real giant of wrestling. Do you get the feeling that Andre is physically taller? He is, he definitely is. All right, well, he's the real giant then. Yeah. But do you get the feeling? I do get the feeling mostly from looking at, pictures and being able to tell.

Because Big John was 6 foot 10. Andre is about 7.4. Oh, this is not even close. Yeah. Wow, he's half a foot taller. Yeah, it's quite a bit taller. Big John stud, more like little John dud. Probably about 100 pounds more as well.

Is that a pun? Is that a pun? Yeah. Everything's a pun. If you believe. So here's a couple of examples of fight. that Big John and Andre had. So in 1984, Big John Stud took the feud to a new level when he partnered Ken Petera,

and they knocked out Andre during a televised tag team match and proceeded to cut off Andre's hair. Is this scripted? I think so, but that's weird. That's good. I bet that would have got people talking. Yeah. They gave him a haircut. Haircut.

He looks great. He looks. I love this new look. Oh man. Big John Starr's trying to read Rand as the barber. Yeah. The bloody barber. Do you know what?

I love a makeover show. Yeah. Oh man. But if you get wrestling involved. Yeah, even better. Oh, what about that? He makes people over surprise wrestle makeovers. So he'll take someone, wrestle them in a ring.

He's picked them up in a sack from the side of a road. They didn't know. Why were they in a sack? Well, he put him in the sack. Okay, they weren't just hang out in the sack. No, they weren't hanging out. They were walking their dog. They didn't see this coming at all.

They weren't just having a fun time hanging out in their sack. They had signed release forms. They weren't sure why. Someone said, you want to be on TV? They're like, sure, I'm confused, but of course. And the next thing they know, they've been taken away in a sack. Wow. Then wrestling in a ring.

Yep. They get knocked out by Big John Stud and some other guy. Sure. Who cares who? Yeah. probably little Johnny Weasley. Yeah, little Johnny Weasley. And they get in together and they take him down.

And then they give him an undercut. And it changes his life. He walks taller. He gets that promotion. Yeah. He gets that date that he's been after. He wins a million dollars. Because, you know, when you put out those good vibes,

lotteries start coming in. The secret. Yeah. Hey, you know it too? Don't tell anyone. He doesn't know. There's not enough lottery to go around. Imagine if everyone secretly wishes for the lottery.

We're going to have to split it millions of ways. Well, speaking of big stacks of cash, Andre... Is that another wrestler? No, but that would be a good one. They call me big stacks of cash. Hey, I'm the big guy around here. I'm the big stack here. Andre and Big John Studd met in a body slam challenge

at the first WrestleMania held the 31st of March 9th. In 1885 at Madison Square Gardens. Andre slammed Stud to win the match and collect $15,000 prize and then proceeded to throw cash to the fans. Wow. That is cool. Can I ask? Is Cash the wrestler?

Big cash stack? You threw a big cash stack out to the fan? Currency. Oh, currency. Is that another wrestler? Oh, God. Johnny Currency? Any word can be a wrestler.

You know, Big John Stud? Yeah. short, that'd be BJs. Huh? I would. Hell yeah. Yeah. Big, big BJs.

That's just big, big John stud. That's how he's trying to piss up Andre. He calls himself Big, Big John Stub. Yeah, you're just, Andre the Giant. Whatever, yorn. I'm Big, Big, Big John Stud. I'm big, big John Stud stud. I'm sorry.

Sorry if I sound naivvy. But what is a body slam championship? When they body slam you. Next. Dave, you're the wrestling fan of the three. I know, I've just never seen. Would you know the move body slam? Hell yeah.

I reckon it's going to have something to do with that. I know this. I won't it from the Spice Girls. Slum your body down and find a side of brown. Slummer down and a zigazig. Is that another wrestler? Ziggasigar, yes. Ziggerzegar.

They're all a bit racist. A lot of the wrestling. Ziggasigar is racist. Come on, mate. Think about Ziggasigar. Oh my God. I don't understand anything. Nothing makes sense anymore.

So the following year at WrestleMania 2, they thought the first WrestleMania was so good. Let's do it again. Andre continued to display his dominance by winning a 20-man battle royale. Love it. Which featured top national football league stars and wrestlers. Battle Royale, for those who don't know,

is when all the players are in the one area and it slowly shrinks down until there is but one winner. And that winner was Andre. And he, the last person to be eliminated was Brett Hart. Hitman. Yep. From the legendary wrestling Hart family. And the Simpsons, you pitiful pencil neck.

This place is old man stink. That thing I said about the Battle Royale, is that actually true? Yeah. So like 20 of them in the ring and then they just sort of fight each other. physically shrinks? No, it does not do that. But it shrinks in the number of people that are in it. I believe there are two types of things.

Now they also have a thing called King of the Ring where there's four people in the ring at any one time. And when someone gets thrown out of the ring, another person runs in. Oh, fun. And it's the last man standing. I think they usually do that at WrestleMania these days. And the last person left at the end wins.

But I think, yeah, I think you're right about a battle right out with us. Everyone, it's just a melee, basically. Yeah, I've seen some footage. and like you'll see little pockets of wrestlers fighting and Andre like nobody's really keen to attack him they're kind of like oh god can't I just take this smaller guy and Andre's just like picking people up and throwing him it's awesome Andre just sat in the corner for 25 minutes until it was just him and hitman left and hitman's like oh crap he just sort of leaves his leaves the ring goes all right Andre catch you later see yeah bye bye in Andre's prime he was known all over the world holg Hogan said he

transcended wrestling. It was so much more than just wrestling, he was world famous. Right. So he was probably the most famous wrestler then. Yeah. Bigger than Hulk. Yeah, he was huge. And his life was traveling for wrestling.

That's hard work for a big man. In one year, he was on the road for 300 days. Whoa. Well, hopefully he was getting first class treatment because economy class, that size would be. You just couldn't do it. You couldn't. I don't think you could physically fit. Well, it's funny that you say that because my next sentence is about the logistics of being his size

because traveling so much, you're in hotels. There's no beds that are big enough for him. There's no, you can't sit in a chair. Cutler is too small. Apparently he couldn't fit inside the toilets of airplanes. Yeah, I bet, yeah. Oh, no, what would they do? Just close him down.

No, they'd, like, pull a curtain around and he would relieve himself in a bucket and then they'd empty. that bucket into the toilet. I mean, the hose sounds probably like a better option. Almost. Big nappy? I don't know. But it's not... Is that another wrestler?

The big nappy. But yeah, it's just kind of like you don't even really think about the logistics of it. But even just like sitting in a chair was impossible. Everything would have to be custom made. Yeah. Apparently in his house, like it's been really exaggerated. Some people had sort of said that everything was custom made. to his size, but it's not necessarily true.

He had like a few bits and pieces. He had a chair that was his. In the doco, his brother shows a chair that their mom had specially made for him. It was Andro's chair. And it's like triple the size of a normal chair, but it's just, it's his chair, which is really nice. But yeah, you just couldn't. But he's traveling so much as well. Like he's traveling all year, but he doesn't fit anywhere.

It must have been so frustrating. Is that, and is that a WWE thing? Dave or just, you know, with the world travel thing? Or was he fighting for lots of different places? Yeah, because these days it's more like, because WWF is the big one and there's also one in Japan and things like that. But I think you stay with your code basically. Right.

But back then you'd jump around different ones? Yeah, because it sounds like he was touring and wrestling night after night. But I think mostly in WWE now, there's like Smackdown and Raw. I think they were the two main ones about 10 years ago. And that's like, there's two events a week basically. then you wrestle for one or the other. Yeah. For most people.

So you're wrestling one night a week. And sure, it might be Chicago one week and then Boston the next. But you could still be at home. Yeah. Yeah. So he was around while it was changing when cable TV came in. So the TV stations became more national. So then all these cable channels are trying to tap into all these markets so that they can show.

So wrestling became a lot more national. And so you weren't just only. seen in one little area you've seen all over the country. So it's kind of both by later in his career and that Vince McMahon was doing a lot and then he sort of passed it on to his son, Vince McMahon. And then, um, Vince Big Boy. He's not yet a man.

We would probably say McMahon, but they say McMahon. So I'm going to say McMahon. It's an MA-H-O-N. McMahon. I would say McMahon, but they say McMahon. McMahon. McMahon. I even had to write McMahon next to it, so I didn't say McMahon. Isn't that funny how different we are?

I know. In 1987, Andre said to Vince McMahon, Jr. that he was done. And when he said that, Vince knew that he didn't mean he was just done with wrestling, but Andre was done with living. His health deteriorated so much. Each move in wrestling was painful for him. He'd been advised by his doctors that he needed a back operation, but he'd always declined. He's like, I just don't want to go through it. There's all these stories as well, which is speculative, but about anathetus not being able to dose him properly to put him under

because he was so large. Too big. So they ended up sort of using his alcohol tolerance as a gauge as well. They'd be like, how many beers it take to get you drunk? And they'd sort of figure it out that way as well. He was a legendary drinker, is that right? Yeah, I have a couple of fun facts about that at the end. There's a lot of stories, but hard to say,

which is true. But yeah, so I believe he did actually get the, Vince convinced him to get the surgery on his back and to come back for WrestleMania 3. He kind of wanted to give him something to look forward to to work towards because he was in so much pain and he was just kind of, he was done. So the idea of WrestleMania 3 was that Andre would fight Hulk Hogan and he would lose and that would sort of pass the torch to Hulk to be the crowd favorite it to set him up to where he needed to be in his career to move forward.

Okay. So you should watch the part of the docker where Hulk talks about this because he tells it really well and it's really, really sweet. But leading up to the match, Hulk Hogan was really nervous because any time he tried to speak to Andre about their plans for the match, Andre wouldn't really give him much. He'd be like, so what do you want to do out there? And Andre would be like, mm-hmm.

And then even at one point he was like, we're okay, boss? we're going to be okay? And Andre is like, I don't know. Like quite menacing. It was a bit scary. But Andre was super calm. Everybody else is really tense. Yeah, because they're the people that could probably get killed by him.

He could literally kill you out there. Eventually, Hulk Hogan sort of walks away, comes back with a play-by-play. He's written it down on like, you know, one of those yellow legal pads. He's written it down play-by-play of what the match should look like. And he gave it to Andre and he left it at that. And then so if they go out, they enter the ring, There's 93,000 fans in the crowd.

And the match starts. And out of nowhere, Andre throws the first punch. And Hulk blocks him, hits him twice, and then they fall back together, like they fall to the ground, just as Hulk Hogan had planned it. So Andre's read it through and he's going through the steps of what Hulk had planned. The entire match was working around Andre's limitations. His back was so sore. He could barely move. And Hulk Hogan was doing everything he could to make.

make the moves as easy for Andre as possible. It's all still looking very dramatic, but Hulk Hogan's explaining it. He's at one point, Andre has him in like a bear hug, and he'd normally kind of pick him up off the ground and wave him around like a rag doll, but Andre, he couldn't do it.

He couldn't lift him, and he couldn't bend. So he's holding him, and Hulk Hogan's just kind of, he's still, like, kind of playing dead. Like, he's looking like, oh, I've passed out, but he's standing up as straight as he possibly can so that Andre doesn't have to bend at all.

Like, it's so swearing. that he's like oh I don't want him to hurt himself so he's standing up as straight as he can but he's still playing the part and then the ref lifts Hulk's lifeless arm and he's like if the arm falls down then he does it again and the arm falls down like he's he's done and then the commentator says if that arm falls down one more time it's over and finally enough he lifts his arm one more time and he has it raised up in a fist and the crowd's like so it's crazy the match goes exactly as planned. It's like I'm there.

And Hulk Hogan says he hears Andre yell slam, meaning he wanted Hulk Hogan to body slam him. So he's like, all right. So he goes and so now Andre's calling the shots and he's like, here's how it's going to end. So he goes and body slams and he hears. So he picks up Andre the giant and throws him down. He picks up Andre the giant. He picked up Andre the giant and threw him. So he's actually holding him.

Yeah. Off the ground. Yeah. Whoa. Very temporarily, but he picks him up and chucks him down. Still. But you know with wrestling, like, they're both doing a lot to get that move happening. So Andre...

Yeah, but there would be nothing that you could do with me to get you me to hold a big man. No, what Andre is thinking, light thoughts. Yeah. I am a cloud. I am a cloud. So he body slams him. And then he hears Andre say leg drop. So he goes to do it.

He goes to do that move thinking that Andre will kick back. He'll kick him off and they'll keep fighting. But he kind of lets it happen. And that's the move that solidifies Hulk the win. Right. So we pinned him. Yeah. And it's pretty wild.

It's like an awesome. And the crowd's going absolutely insane. And Andre had done all this trash talk at the start like, I'm going to win tonight. So then he kind of walks off like, oh, no, he's all like mad and in shame. But it was all to plan. It's pretty cool. And after this, he did continue to wrestle, but not at the crazy frequency that he was before, obviously. And he moved into some other projects as well.

Obviously, I've just picked up bits and pieces and I've tried to patch together a bit of a story. There's so much to his wrestling career. I've just sort of picked bits. But I also wanted to talk about his acting work because his acting debut for the US was playing a Sasquatch in a two-part episode aired in 1976. on the television series, the $6 million man. And there was a quote from that wrestling historian before who was like, before CGI, there was just Andre the Giant.

Like it's just him with like some fake extra hair on his face and stuff. But it's still like you look at it. You're like, yep, that's Andre the Giant. Wow. It's really cool. And then he. They did not have the technology. No.

Which is a reference to the $6 million man where the tagline is, we have the technology. Hell yeah. Yeah, I did it. I did it. Is that a pun? Is that a pun? It's a reference.

So not a pun. I'm so confused. Yeah, I don't. Now I can't tell. That's word play. I can't. I think he's making it up. I don't think he knows.

I'm not the pun. He's a math man. I'm not the pun king. You're the pun prince. Thank you. I'm learning every day. Under the Giant also appeared most notably as Phezzik. In 1987's film Princess Bride and both the film and Andre's performance

retain a devoted following. And his co-stars spoke very, very fondly of him as well. Billy Crystal's in this docker and he said he had that Andre had a wonderful sense of humor about himself, but there was also a real sadness there as well. It's kind of bittersweet. And during the filming, he was still in a lot of pain. There's a fight scene kind of early on with Wesley that Andre found incredibly difficult to perform, not because he wasn't strong enough, but because his body was just giving

up under the extreme weight and pressure of his size. So his back was really bad, in particular, his knees, his ankles, everything was really sore. And friends of him, friends of Andre have stated that he was so proud of being in Princess Bride. He carried a copy of the movie everywhere he went and watched it whenever he could. That is so lovely. It's so good. It's so lovely though. He's got a copy everywhere he goes.

Yeah. But you wouldn't want to invite him over for movie night. Oh no, not again, Andre, please. We can watch something else. Yeah, I know it's great. Back to the future. Fred Savage, he's so cute in it. Can you pass the popcorn at least?

Oh, you've eaten it all again. You know all the popcorn again because you have a huge metabolism. And they were treating him to a garbage bag full of popcorn. Simpsons. Wine in a garbage bag. On the Simpsons. When Homer puts on all that weight and he goes to the cinema and they won't let him, he's too big for any of the chairs.

And to buy him off, they say, I could treat you to a garbage bag full of popcorn. You can't buy me. It's so funny. I like that he really liked that movie. In 1993, Andre returned to Paris after the death of his father and he wanted to attend the funeral. And while he was there, he decided to stay a little longer

than he'd originally planned. He wanted to spend some time with his family, catch up with some friends. And none of the family are giants. No. They're tall, but they're like... Sure, you wouldn't look at them. walking down the street you wouldn't be like whoa. No.

They're just average size people. Out of politeness. Yeah, you do it behind their back. Oh, okay, sure, sure. I mean, that was internal. I don't war-wit people unless they're really big. I do. Not big if they're really hot.

Hot. Yeah, whoa. I go right up close to them. I get like three centimeters from their face and I go, whoa. That's actually how Jess and I met. Yeah. What have we here? People don't know that about us.

They think are probably just running in the same comedy. circles or something or no no but uh there's a real weird moment yeah saw him and thought whoa so then i went over and i went up close to his face and i said walt and we've been friends ever since and i said nice to meet you yeah he's very polite most people get a restraining order anyway so he's in paris and he's having a nice time and then uh on the morning of the 28th of january in 1993 um his driver arrived to pick him up and the hotel staff called up to his hotel staff called up to his room. There was no answer and they tried again a bit later.

They thought maybe he'd gone out, but I hadn't seen him, but you'd probably notice. I thought maybe he's sleeping. By about three o'clock in the afternoon, they'd called several times, and there was no answer. So they broke down the door, and they found that he had passed away in his sleep of congestive heart failure. So he had like a heart attack the night before, so 27th of Jen. So he wouldn't have been that old then? No, I forgot to look up how old he was. He was like 40-something.

No, that can't be right. Is that right? Yeah. Was he born? For 1946. Well, that makes him a little older. 47? 47.

That is so young. Yeah. But he lived giant years. True. In giant years, he was a good innings. No, but I read, sorry, in this documentary, I was a doctor talking about treating him. And the condition that he had, I've got the, in a fun face. here. He had, I can never say it properly, because I had to keep looking up how you say it. Acromeligali.

Acromegaly. Acromegaly. I think that might be right. Anyway. Is that a pun? No. It's a disorder of the pituitary gland that causes way too much growth hormone. So that's why, and he wasn't showing that until he was like a teenager, early 20s. It's sort of like the big nose and his forehead kind of jutting out the shape of that. And the doctor was sort of saying like it can be treated, not reversed or cured, but it could definitely be like slowed down. But he never really had treatment for it at all.

Same with all the issues that he was having with his back. And like there was definitely things they could have done, but he was always just like, nah. Because somebody was saying he kind of got the feeling with him that he knew he wasn't going to live for very long. Right. So he just sort of didn't bother in trying to fix things. or prolong the inevitable.

I don't know. That's kind of people putting words in his mouth and then I'm repeating those words. But, you know. And do you think that he would have, say, let's just say he hadn't have been a wrestler. He hadn't lived a physical life, 300 days on the road a year,

getting body slammed, wearing out his joints. Do you reckon he maybe would have lived longer or is it his heart gave out? He still would have been doing a lot of physical labour because he was going to be on the farm. What if he got into IT? Yeah, but sitting down. Not so good for your back.

Standing desk. Standing desk. Which is basically like he'd just be at the top shelf of a shelf. Yeah, I don't think he'd fit in a building. And clothing? Like, he can't buy clothes. That'd always be specially made. You'd have to shop at Lowe's.

Yeah. By where the big man'd buy. So anyway, he, yeah, he, yes, Matt. I was just trying to get my head around what you said before. He said, they put words in his mouth and then you took those words out of his mouth. I didn't take the words out of his mouth. Although if I did, must have been. while I was kissing him.

Right. You did make out with it. Because you were three, no, you were two when he died. Yeah, two and a half. Okay. Okay. Okay. Sorry.

Don't be a prude. Get little smooches. So yeah, he passed away and apparently his family wanted to, they sort of thought it might be nice to bury him near his father, and then they sort of found out what his wishes were. So they took him, he was taken back to the US. he was cremated and his ashes were scattered at his ranch in North Carolina, which was a place that he loved to spend time at because he could be himself away from prying eyes.

One of my favourite states every time I hear it. Why is that? I don't know. I've just got an affinity. One of the reasons I love it is because basketball are Michael Jordan. Another tall man. Yeah, played college ball in Carolina. And he wore his college shorts underneath his uniform when he played for the Chicago Bulls.

He actually had to get bigger shorts to fit over them. And that started a trend in the NBA where basketballs wore big baggy shorts. Wow. I reckon Andre the Giant would have worn big baggy shorts too, don't you reckon? I reckon he could. Well, they would have been big. He would have had the legs for skinny jeans. Yeah.

Oh, cutoffs. Denim cutoffs. Oh, with the pockets hanging out, that is sexy. Oh, yeah. That is sexy. They've got to be big pockets to hang out for him. So I do have a couple of fun facts as well Like I said earlier

I kind of just pulled out a few stories Of his wrestling life And a few bits and pieces But I do have a couple of fun facts If I may share them with you Please Please Sure

Dave, please I mean if it can top that fun Michael Jordan fact I'd be surprised Good luck One of them I had a lot of fun Kind of trying to research Because I read somewhere

very, like it was just quickly mentioned that he had a daughter and I was like, but it never mentioned anywhere any kind of like relationships or it was just like a one-off line so I was like, I need to dive a little deeper. You're making a fine glass out.

Yeah, I did. You were on the case. I put on my journalism hat. It says press. And I found this cringe-worthy 90s news story. It's so, so bad. It's, it must be, it's probably more like 80s because his daughter's like 12 at that time.

And is this a piece of television or an article? Television. Wow. It's so terrible because it's just his daughter and her mom kind of shitting on him for not being a very present dad. Right, because he's dead. No, he was alive by this one. Right, because that would have been probably late 80s early. Pretty cruel. Very, very early 90s. So what it sounds like, I was writing down notes while I was looking this up. So the mother's name was Jean Christensen. And she met Andre while she was working apparently in PR for the wrestling in 1974, but also I read in a different spot that she used to do costumes for them.

And now she runs like a costume shop. So she was doing some sort of work for wrestling. You can do both. Of course you can. I'm just a bit confused. To me, it sounds like she's in the witness protection program. Yeah. Because that is a wild story.

And this is how she describes her relationship with Andrei. She says there was no spark there. She just liked that she was a, she's quite a tall woman herself, and she liked that she could wear her highest heels, and he was still taller than her. It's a little things. Yeah, that is a real small thing. That's a real, I mean, it is, it is nice.

I'll be honest. That is a nice perk. But it's not like, if that was the only thing I liked about a person, that would be a bit of a red flag for me. Maybe PR stands for pretty robes. So it actually was both. Yeah, I think you might be right. She worked in pretty robes.

That's what wrestlers wear. Don't they? Yeah. Silt been robes. Back me up here. There's more of a boxing thing. Oh, here we go. Yeah, no, the wrestlers don't really work.

Hey, could you ever lift me up rather than always dragging me down? I told you I can't lift shit. You did say that. Sorry. Even if you thought about the light as cloud, I could not get you off the ground. Fath, cloud, cloud, cloud, cloud, feather cloud, feather cloud, feather cloud. Light as a feather, stiff as a board. What is the feather stiffs a board.

So this is the best, this is a line I wrote down from the news story. So it's one of those like shock jock terrible news. It's not a balanced news story at all. They're just like, oh, he's awful. And this is it. They said, Gene and Andre might have. only gone one round. But Gene was in for a big surprise. Oh, that is classic writing. How good is that? In for one round. They banged. Wink, mum and dad at home watching this with your kids next to you.

And she was like, before, before this happened, I was told he was sterile. Oh, that's no good. So like the kid must be feeling so wanted and loved. Is the kid there when she sang all of this? No, but I mean, the kid probably watched. Did she sing it? Did she sing it? She sang? She sang. all that. Saying. Oh, saying. I thought he was sterile. I didn't want a kid.

If Andre's told her that he was sterile, that is. That's rough. But somebody else, I think she'd just heard. She had a rumor. That's silly. That's so dumb. Right. But then she sort of banned wrestling in the house.

She didn't want her daughter to be around that kind of world. And with Andre away 300 days of the year. He wasn't around all that much. So they saw each other very intermittently. I read somewhere that they were married, but I don't know if that's true. I think they were married very briefly and then. But then there's also stories. There was nothing there.

There's no spark. But imagine how good she would have looked in the wedding photos because he's taller than her. And she can wear her biggest heels. That's all she cares about. She was wearing stilts. There was also, it said they were married, but then divorced not long after the daughter was born. But I don't know if that's right because I read other stories about him going to a doctor's office to get blood tests because he didn't know that the daughter was his.

So, Jean seems a bit that shit to me. But that's okay. Anyway, how's the daughter her name's Robin? Let's go easy on Jean, hey? Allegedly, that covers you. Thank you. She's allegedly but bad shit. Anything dodgy we've ever said, allegedly.

Yeah, sorry, I was meaning to say that, allegedly. And the daughter. Robin. Right, so she'd been in the 30s? Yes. No, she'd be a bit older. I think she was... Oh no, she was 12 in the 80s.

Right, right, right. So I've got a couple of other fun facts and then I've got one more thing about Robin as well. There are a lot of stories about his drinking habits, like we said before. Allegedly, one time he consumed over 100 beers and a single sitting, that's a story that sort of goes around. That's so much liquid. I know.

Yeah, you'd have to pee a lot, wouldn't you? Oh, God. I mean, the bucket would be overflowing. Ridiculous. Most of his colleagues, like his friends and fellow wrestlers, they report that alcohol had surprisingly little effect on him. He didn't have hangovers. He didn't slur his speech.

He was like he was just fine. It's not that surprising. He's just like the biggest man. He's huge. It makes so much sense. There were a handful of exceptions. According to his co-stars in Princess Bride, Andre once drank enough to pass out in a hotel lobby.

And they couldn't, it's impossible to move him. So the hotel employees just put a velvet rope around him. So nobody bothered him and he just slept on the floor of the lobby. That's badass. That's bad ass. I imagine you'd be posting for photos with a past out Andre the child. You'd have to. A couple more fun facts.

Because shopping, like going shopping could be a real pain in the butt for him, quite cumbersome because he's so big. He grew really fond of QVC, which was the Home Shopping Channel that launched in 1986. And his friends recalled that Andre bought several steam cleaners and lots of porcelain butterflies. I like that he likes little butterflies. That's cute.

That is cute. That's very cute. One more thing. He also apparently enjoyed sort of pranking his friends. He didn't do, like, he didn't lift weights or anything to get strong. It was just his body was strong. So his form of resistance training was just moving his friend's cars around at night. So they couldn't find their cars.

Like picking them up? Yeah. We might just push them, but you could probably pick it up. Just little cars. It's Europe. That is amazing. How good is that? Anyway, so Andre the Giants' career spent 27 years,

six continents and over 5,000 matches. That's heaps. And when he died, he left his entire estate to his daughter, Robin. Oh, great. Everything to Robin. Yeah. And that's the story. story of Andre the Giant.

Fantastic. Can I ask you a question? Please. I've often wondered if this is true. I've heard it a couple of times. Did you come across this at all? Is it true that when he was growing up, he was a family friend of Samuel Beckett, the French playwright? That was a fun fact that I did come across.

It wasn't necessarily that they were family friends. Apparently... So Samuel Beckett is a famous French playwright, one of the most famous ways of the 20th century, waiting for God, written by him. Oh, yep. Um, I did, it was something about, I think he lived, Samuel lived in like the same kind of area and he would sometimes offer the kids

lifts to school. Right. It wasn't just Andre. It would be like other kids in the area. So I remember if he had, like, some sort of truck that he could drive Andre in to school because he was such a large child. Oh. I just Google it.

I love Snopes.com. It's sort of like a fact. Yeah, yeah. Because I've wondered if it's true. It's got. It says it's mixture. Yeah. Oh, you got it?

Yeah. No, go on. says, what's true? When he lived in the French town of Usi-sumane, that's what it would be called, in the 1950s, Beckett was one of several adults who sometimes drove local children to school, including Andre and his siblings. So there was no school bus. What's false, Beckett did not exclusively give rides to Andre.

Private rides were not necessary for Andre because he had grown too big for the local school bus, and Beckett did not form a special bond with Andre. Yeah. There you go. But they did cross paths. The seat of it was true. Yeah, yeah, because I've heard that they were good friends and that he drove him in the back of his pickup

because he was too big for any other transport. And Goddow was actually based on Andre. Yeah, right. So that's pretty interesting, isn't it? Hmm. But yeah, I did read that, yeah. And there you go. No, I'm glad I finally know.

What a life, huh? He's done a lot. It is a wild. I think that my parents, because they were into wrestling in the 80s, I think that they saw him when he came to Australia once, I've told me before. Yeah, right. Pretty wild. She's really cool.

Yeah, I think he came out here a fair bit. And I think a couple of big wrestling types, people, not quite as big as him, but still very big. I think they have had similar issues, like a similar reasoning for being that large because the gland is, you know, working too hard. I think the big show. Oh, yeah. Yes, yep. Big show had the same. But I think that maybe he's had surgery to correct it to stop him, you know,

So he's still wrestling now and, like, has less health issues, I think, because of that. But they, didn't they sort of bill him as like a relative of Andre the Jazz? Maybe when he first started. Yeah, it was like son of the, yeah, something like that. Yeah, yeah. And I did read that he had a similar kind of condition. But it's something that can be, like that doctor was saying, it's like, it's treatable. It's not curable or reversible, but definitely it can be contained or can be managed.

But Andre kind of, they got to it too late for him anyway. but also he seemed pretty hesitant to do anything about it. So pretty interesting. Seems like quite a nice, well, from what everyone says, quite a nice big, gentle giant. Nice guy. I'm a nice guy. I love the Princess Bride too.

Yeah, it's one of my old-time faves. So good. I haven't seen it in a while. Should check out again. It doesn't have a primate in it by chance, non-human. I don't think it does. No. That would be good.

I'll tell you probably, would you count the Sasquatch in the $6 million man? Yeah, I think Sasquatch is a non-human primates for sure. Great. Wonderful. There's no doubt about that. I mean, no one's ever been able to check them out like a body or anything, but I think it's pretty clear there. Some sort of primate, right?

We'll get them eventually. Yeah, I reckon. And, hey, another thing that we always do on the podcast is that we thank some of our Patreon supporters. That's right. And the first way we do that is via the fact quote or questions segment. And before we get to that, should we explain to possible new people, new listeners, what the Patreon is? Sure.

It's a way of supporting the show and not just this show, but also Dave's fortnightly show book cheat, which is where Dave reads a classic novel, so you don't have to. And also my show, Primates. I'd say my show is, you know, it's all shared. I'm just the common host. Jess has been on both podcasts a bunch and we bloody get on each other's nerves and also podcasts all the time. Mostly nerves. Primates is about primates in popular culture, silly show each week.

It's about a different topic like normally a movie or a TV show or a comic book or even a famous primate from reality. Like a little while ago, we talked about Harambe. Very good. The ape that launched a million memes. But what we do with people who are supporters on Patreon, we thank them at the end of the show, including one member of the Sydney Shineberg level who we asked to give us a fact quote or a question.

Whichever they choose. This week's fact quote or questioner is Danielle Summers. So third time on the segment, and she wants to be called her title. You get to give yourself a title as well. Her title this week is this week's Ringo. And she asks a question, and her question is, do you all have favorite lame jokes? I should read these beforehand so we could prepare maybe.

Favorite lame jokes as in like recurring bits we do? Or can it be a knock-knock joke? No, like a knock-knock joke. Oh, yeah, 100% I do. She's given an example. She said her favorite lame jokes. joke is what do you call a fish with a bowtie? What?

So fish ticated. That is good. That is very good. I've got two. Yeah, it is. That is a pun. I've got two. Okay, great.

Can I have one of them? All right. This is my favorite one, ready? It's a knock knock. Can you participate for me? Yeah. Knock knock. Who's there?

Interrupting cow. Interrupting cow. Moo. Sorry, interrupting cow. Moo. That doesn't get it. It sounds like the doorbell. So I'm so sorry about this.

The doorbell is really playing up here. How are you ruining such a fun and whimsical joke? I love it. This is another one a favourite of mine. Yeah, this is my favourite. Yeah, this is your favourite because you love the nostalgia of it because my cousin Jack used to say when he was little, remember? Yeah, yeah, little Jack.

Little Jack when he was about four, he used to tell this joke. And he'd talk about a duck walks into a bar and he says, you got any bread? And the barman says, no, I don't have any bread. And the duck goes, you got any bread? And he goes, no, I don't have any bread. And the duck goes, you got any bread? And the barman says, if you ask one more time if I have any bread, I'm going to nail your bill to the wall.

And the duck goes, you got any nails? And the baron goes, no. And the duck goes, you got any bread? The timing when Jack told it when he was four, oh boy, I've never been proud of. That sounds like a sophisticated joke for a four-year-old. I've never been proud. I would have been about eight. And I thought, this kid's got it. He does.

And that kid went on to be Jack the Ripper. Yeah, we're very proud of him. I don't tell many people. You could not think of a famous Jack. Yeah, there are there. There's so many. No, I was sure to bully him. Jack Nicholson.

To make sure he didn't have the confidence to go into comedy so it could be my thing. Right. Don't you have a cousin that does comedy or something? No. No. Only me. I thought she does. No.

Jack the Ripper is my cousin. Do you have a favorite lame joke? Ripping yarns. Yeah, to be honest, I don't have a famous joke, so I've just Googled top 50 worst Christmas jokes ever, according to the telegraph in the UK. This is number one. Who hides in a bakery at Christmas?

Who? A mince spy. Oh, that's bad. That's real bad. Thank you, Anne. Good night. It's no good at all. All right, well, I've found this site,

chartconns.com slash lame jokes. You have your favorite. And their number one is Two peanuts were walking down a spooky road at night One was assaulted That's terrible That's not good We are laughing at a crime

That is not good But thank you Danielle for making us Go down that road Why am I the only one who knew lame jokes Oh Oh I know boy So thank you, Danielle.

Now it's time to... Yes, thank you so much for your joke segment. Now it's time for the second part of our Patreon exclusive. I'm bad at this, but I'm just trying to get it moving along. No, we thank a few people by name and we read out where they're from. And we usually make a little joke connected back to the topic or a little something something. We are 100% giving them wrestler names. Oh, that is great.

Matt, you okay with that? Yes, I've just read it. more. That was as good as they got. That was... That joke? Yeah, I just read another 20 of them. Okay. They're bad. Well, let's read some names then. Why do we... We started with such a, with that fish, sophisticated. Yeah, because Danielle nailed it. We start, well, I'm so sorry that we brought you down from there. Yeah, but now we're going to read some good names. Okay, great. And then we're going to give them wrestling names. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Give me a little tummy rub.

Shall I kick her off? Yeah. Well, I'd love to thank you. from Seattle, which is, as you know, Supersonics country. Or it was. I'd love to thank one of our favorite, as all these people, one of our favorite supporters, Mr. Brian Colella. Okay, something about collar. Like the, not collar bomb, but like the white collar. Oh, yeah, like the fraudster or something like that.

Yeah, can you, does that make sense? Yeah. Help me. Yeah, yeah, the fraud. The fraudster. Yeah. So just the fraudster. Flordster.

I think that's great. He just comes out in a suit and like he's just like laughing about how he's like ruined your family's retirement. He's like, you can't touch me. I got the best lawyers in the land. Yeah. Yeah, love that. Good one. The fraudster.

Thanks Brian. I like Brian. He talks, he listens. He takes music tips from me. Oh, that's good. Or he did one time. Not many other people have. I had a new tip for Brian.

Oh, a new tip. I mean, it's all old news. Do you know what song you introduced me to that I can't stop listening to? What's that? It's Midnight Oil, Read About It. Oh, great song. So good. Love that cowbell.

Maybe Brian and Seattle would not be familiar. Yeah, Brian. Midnight Oil, read about it. It's a classic Ozzy rock song. So good. And it's got a cowbell-esque beat and also just a real sick riff. My favorite line is Nothing really matters. Love that.

So true. Nothing ever happens. Nothing really matters. But there's a pause. And I love pauses in songs. I'm a na, na, na, na, na, no, no. Pause. I love yelling out, pause in pauses.

Thanks so much, Brian, for your support, a.k.a. The fraudster. I'd also love to thank from Birmingham in the UK, Mr. Troy Swoffer. Oh, Troy. What are you feeling for Troy? Sounds like swaffers. Is that a bit like a swashbuckler? Oh, is you a pirate?

Yeah. Pirate, Pirate Pete. Shiver me timbers, Troy. Walk the plank. Troy. Captain Troy? And walk the plank could be his special moves. Yeah.

He makes them walk the plank. And he also, he draws an X before he knocks someone out. Yeah, that's good. X marks a spot where I'm going to kick your ass. Yeah. Yeah. Love that. Yeah.

And sometimes they film some stuff backstage. Like maybe even around. The wrestler opens their locker and there's a black spot in there. They know Captain Troy's on his way. Davey Jones's locker. Yeah, all the way down. They film him and he's just surrounded by treasure chests full of gold. He's laughing about it.

His bling, yeah. That's awesome. The swashbuckler. Thanks, Troy. Very good. Can I thank a couple of great, great wrestling friends and fans? I would like to thank from Los Angeles, California. if I'm saying that right.

I believe so. I think it's California, yeah, but sure. Oh, thank you. Thank you for picking me up there. That is Aaron J. Kalea or Salaia. Oh, Slayer. Sleyer.

The Sleyer. And then what, is he the Slayer like thrash metal slayer or Buffy? Vampire Slayer. Buffy. What about both? Yeah, great. So he's a vampire slayer,

but he walks out to a Slayer track. Right. Rain in Blood. Yeah, the famous ones. Yes. That's good. The only one I can name, so that's a good one. Yeah, that's perfect.

Aaron Salea, the Slayer. I think my favourite song of there as a disciple. Can we change it to that? Absolutely. Thank you. We can. Thank you so much. Very good.

And that's my tip for Brian to check out a new track for the Slayer as well as midnight to all. Thank you to Aaron. Now, I'd also like to think from Bradford in Yorkshire over in GB. I would like to thank Zander Marston. Zander, like Xander. Zanda.

Zanardu. Yes. The Red Panda. The Red Panda. They're often like... From Zanadu. The panda from Zanadu? What are they doing?

Zanadu. Do they ice skate? Roller skate. Roller Skating Red Panda. Oh, that is fun. He's on skates. Because often there are like little fun ones. Like I used to really like Scotty too hottie.

Oh, is that what they're. that is. He was a... He was a hip-hop hip-hop themed wrestler from the early 2000s. I was trying to think of an equivalent for Matt.

And all I could think was Maddie too fatty. Oh no. Nice. That was confusing. I'm sorry. Maddie with a hatty? Oh, that's good too.

Matty did a shattie. Fuck, you are good at this. Matt has got to have the most rhymes of anything ever. Yeah, all right. Batty, catty. You are catty. You're being a bit catty right now, to be honest. Me-ya-o.

Thank you, Zanda. Zanda, the roller-scating Red Panda. And bringing it home, I'd like to thank a couple people, if I may. Pleasy. I'd like to thank from Amsterdam in Connecticut. Jacob Specter. Oh, I mean, he's done a lot of the work there himself, hasn't he? No, that's good.

The Inspector? Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, because often they do have a pun name. For example, one of the wrestlers is Justin. Credible. Yeah. Oh, that's bad. That's real bad.

That's very bad. Credible is also such a, you know, that's the opposite of what he's trying to call him. Yeah. His surname's just credible? Okay. So the inspector? The inspector. Yeah.

Who's a ghost? Who is a Spector? Oh, I love that. Yes. So Spector is underlined. Yeah. And does he come out to music like, ooh? But he's got a like a magnifying glass.

Yeah. And a Deer Stalker hat. Deer-Socca hat, and they put like dry ice at his feet, so it looks like he's floating because he's wearing a pretty robe. Yeah. As all wrestlers do. Yeah. And any time they try to punch him, it just like go straight through him somehow.

Yeah, he actually doesn't exist. Yeah, he's fake. It's a sheet. Yeah. But it's pretty cool. So thank you, Jacob. And finally, from Sacramento in California, I would like to thank Michelle Gunvarian.

Godal. Oh, Goddraudal. So you got gun in there. I'm so sorry, Michelle. Garnet. Sacramento basketball team of the Kings. Oh, that's good too.

Gun, Tote and King. Oh, I love that. Yeah. You are good at this. Have you considered a career in wrestling? Wrestling names. Yeah, oh God, no, you die in wrestling, wrestling. You, you're Chris the Wall, man.

I can pick you up and crush you right now. No, absolutely don't wrestle. No. But just name them. I'm very fragile. I got brittle old bones. What would you call Jess and I if we were a wrestling duo? Oh, the sick dogs.

Oh, okay. I like that. Woof, woof. The puppies, sick puppies. Yeah. Oh, no. And we'd have fake vomit, right? You'd come out on leashes and you'd be vomiting.

Oh, yeah, we're foaming. We've got rabies. Oh, they're sick. They're sick puppies. And you'd say to everyone, you go, I'm a sick. The sick little boy, rah. Yeah, we say rah.

Ra, like dogs do. Ra. Yeah, don't come near me. I'll nip at you. I'll give you a little nippy nip. I'll nip your ankles. Yeah. And they'd try to kick you away.

You'd watch. Yeah, lock jaw. Yeah. That's your classic move, the lock jaw. It does sound like that. We will not let go unless you put a finger up at butthole. Don't do that. Which I've heard is a way to get him to stop biting you.

Oh, quick. Allegedly there. Yeah. Quick. Yeah. Allegedly, anything I've ever mentioned about butts, allegedly. He has 100% done it. Where you put a finger up a dog's chuff?

Hey. Hey. I mean, you do what you have to do to survive. Yeah, that is true. It's beautifully put. Thank you. Words of wisdom there. Thanks to everyone that supports us a Patreon.

Genuinely makes a big difference and makes this show tick along. And it's one of the real reasons we haven't missed a week in over three years. So thanks to everyone that does support the show. Thanks so much for everyone. Hey, thanks to us for that. Hell yeah. And we're doing more than one show a week because we do two a month for Patreon only,

that are Patreon only episodes. And Dave's in charge of these this month. Last month we had a couple of our best ever, I reckon, with a live report about the Battle of the Sexes and our 2018 do-go honors. Okay, the shiny Gordon Garys. Which are the trophies that you win? It was a nightmare.

edit. I'll I listen back. Can I say that fantastic work. Thank you. I really set you up. Yeah. Dave threw you under the bus a few times.

I mentioned. You follow those? Of course I did. I mentioned a full live band and I kept shouting out to them. And they were all there. They were all very talented. Thanks, Bob, that's great.

Yeah, great work. I really appreciate that. So a lot of fun stuff to check out there. And you better believe that we'll be putting on our comedy festival poster coming up, a winner of multiple shiny golden gallery.

I also So on that episode, I laughed. I broke down laughter for the biggest way that I have in a long time. And then I was telling someone, someone asked me why, because they saw a video of me laughing. I said, what happened? And I said, well, and I had to start breathing real slow and deep.

And I'm trying so out not to think of what I was actually going to say, because I was about to tell the story, and it was welling up in me again. It's like Voldemort or something. and I can't say it, otherwise I'll lose my mind. Matt laughed to the point of nearly not being able to breathe for two and a half minutes. And I only started recording about a minute in. I got a two and a half minute video of you.

At one point I thought he's not actually laughing anymore. He's crying. Yeah, like he's struggling. Yeah, and I was like, I stopped laughing because I was like, oh, no, something's happened here. This isn't okay. And then he was just laughing some more. And so I was like, permission to laugh. Yeah.

No, yeah, I was always fine. I was just trying to get myself out of it. I was in a laugh hole. I was trying to drag myself out. Nah, I reckon just let them happen. They're the best. And it happens so rarely and you can never force it. Let it happen when it happens.

It must be, yeah, whatever those chemicals that have been released. One happened for me. Sorry, we really need to get out here. What happened for when I was on schoolies? And my friends and I were probably a bit hungover. We're sitting around watching Disney movies and watching Hercules. And at one point, Hercules sort of just like very casually throws. throws his fist back and he hits the bad guy in the face and his face kind of caves in.

And I laughed so hard at it. My friend's like, what? And I said, how's the view? Bum face? Because his face kind of looked like a bum after that. Wait, did he actually? What's this guy's face? No, it's like a cartoon.

Oh, okay. It's a cartoon one. I thought this was Kevin Sorba. No, no, no, no. I thought he would cave in a man's face. Disney. Right. Sorry, I missed that key info.

Oh, I laugh so. And that was 10 years ago. My friends still bring that up sometimes. So we'll still be bringing this. Yeah, it doesn't even make sense, but I was howling laughing. Sounds like a line from Batman and Robin. Thank you. A big, big blockbuster.

Take that as a compliment. Great film, great film. Well, that just brings to the end of the show. Thank you so much for listening. You can get in contact with us anytime. All the links to all the stuff I'm about to say are at do go onpod.com, including the aforementioned Patreon. But you can email us do go on pod at gmail.com.

And we are at do go on pod on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and we're YouTube.com slash do go on pod. If you want to check out some live videos that we have published over the last few months or so, always fun to do that. And also all this stuff is in the description of the episode. If you just want to get one click away from all those things. That's right. And if you have the time, please give us a five-star review on iTunes or whatnot. And tell us what you're ready, your bloody think. But just do it with a five-star review.

Thank you so much for everyone who does listen. Tell your friends, if you know anyone who might be interested, we really appreciate all the people who share the good word of the pod. And you guys just let me go here. Okay, thanks everybody. Now we're going to lather up with baby oil as we always do. Thank you and goodbye. Later.

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